{"id":212777,"date":"2021-04-12T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T04:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/?p=212777"},"modified":"2024-01-25T00:00:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T05:00:56","slug":"roadrunner-new-light-new-machine-brockhampton-reborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/2021\/04\/12\/roadrunner-new-light-new-machine-brockhampton-reborn\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine – Brockhampton Reborn"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Brockhampton exploded onto the scene in 2017 with no less than three full length albums, their Saturation <\/em>Trilogy, the group quickly established a reputation with their huge lineup of members and their resulting eclectic, genre-hopping style. Few rap groups have ever sounded so experimental and yet so consistently fun. However, the group hit a speed bump in the form of the exit of one of their most prominent members, Ameer Vann, due to his alleged violent behaviour. The group tried to recapture the energetic and aggressive sound without him on Iridescence<\/em>, but it just wasn\u2019t the same. Moreover, his departure and the circumstances leading up to it had wounded the group\u2019s cohesion. The air needed to be cleared, leading to Ginger<\/em>, the group\u2019s best and most polarising record, at times sounding less like a rap album and more like an act of group therapy as the remaining members and some new additions got some stuff off their chests.<\/p>\n As an act of exorcism of feelings of hurt and betrayal, the record was a masterpiece, but it disappointed many fans who had been brought on by fun, hard-hitting songs like \u201cFACE\u201d, \u201cGOLD\u201d and \u201cCASH\u201d, and with the group announcing that they would soon be retiring the project after just another couple of albums, the future didn\u2019t look too bright for Brockhampton. That portent however has been decisively disproven with the release of their sixth album Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine<\/em>, a project that with its very title promised to see Brockhampton return stronger than ever.<\/p>\n Roadrunner<\/em> is simultaneously the group\u2019s most varied, and yet most consistent and cohesive album to date. This is accomplished through the album\u2019s pace and structure, much like another of 2021’s best rap releases, Slowthai\u2019s Tyron<\/em>, opening with a run of hard hitting and aggressive tracks (both Tyron <\/em>and Roadrunner<\/em> achieve this with the help of an A$AP Rocky feature), before graduating into more personal, sentimental and melodic territory. Hints of this latter mode are lain from the beginning with many earlier tracks mirroring this structure, coming with extended psychedelic outros, gently dissipating the bouncy energy they built up across their durations.<\/p>\n The album rollout begins with its opening track, and one of the best singles of 2021 in \u201cBuzzcut\u201d. The song opens with one of Kevin Abstract\u2019s most aggressive verses, only for featured artist Danny Brown to jump on and take the energy even higher with his typically demented squeaky delivery. The instrumental is fantastically layered and energised, with police sirens and breakdowns, finally resolving with the first of those extended psych passages. It\u2019s a hard-hitting adrenaline shot to kick the album off with a highball.<\/p>\n