Bones - Powder (Review)

Bones has released quite a few mixtapes. We're talking vast amounts of mixtapes, showcasing his rapping and musical ability. I've listened to a lot of his music and music from similar artists and the style can sometimes be hit or miss with me. Bones has released so much music and I've enjoyed a lot of it. However, there has definitely been a few songs I haven't been crazy about. His more current releases have started to show some big improvements. His release, Skinny, was interesting and probably one of my favorite releases of his. Rotten followed and it wasn't too bad. So when his newest release, Powder, dropped I definitely decided to see if he could keep his artistic stride going and release another good batch of songs.

Powder is a pretty expansive project at 28 tracks long. It's almost a double album worth of music. It all covers a pretty vast set of genres and moods. There are moments of rap, experimental rap, jazz, rock, and emo. Overall I'd say the general mood of the songs is pretty somber. Bones always has a vibe that mostly leans on lo-fi, cloud rap mood to his music. I think this project continues the trend and in some ways improves it at least from some of his releases. I primarily think of Bones as a rapper, but over the course of these 28 tracks so many different things are presented and he does them pretty well. A lot of this release relies on the instrumental mood and feeling like a lot of Bones music.

Songs like "Falls" come to mind where the song does have vocals but they are low in the mix kind of letting the instrumental take over and be the most important part of the song. The song itself is slow moving and has an ambient vibe. Where a song like "Kale" has these snares that really attack and stick out with some nicely performed rapping that comes in around the 46 second mark. It's a standout on the release. "I Can See My House From Here" sounds like an emo/punk song from the mid-early 2000s with chugging riffs and hardcore vocals. It's an interesting song. For the most part Bones pulls off the track pretty well. The project also features a bunch of Bones affiliated artists such as Eddy Baker, Chris Travis, Xavier Wulf, and Dylan Ross. Most of the features add some pretty interesting stuff to the songs. You can tell Bones and the guest artists vibe pretty well. On a project this long adding some of the guests really helped add a lot for the listener as Powder progressed and as you get deep in the release.

This is a lot of music to digest. It can, at times, take some left turns, but mostly I'd still consider it a cloud rap release. That's not a knock, though, because Bones is quickly becoming one of the more important rappers in the micro-genre. This is a project that shows that Bones has the ability to set a pretty neat mood and vibe and keep it in check even with his musical experimentation. The production is pretty good. It leaves a little to be desired. I would like some of the vocals to be a little higher in the mix. I think the mixing might have been an overall creative decision to allow some of the music to create the atmosphere I think this release has. I probably still prefer Skinny to this release, but I do think it's one of his more notable projects. I'm digging this. It may take you a few listens to get into it, but when it clicks it clicks. I think there is definitely an audience for it. My real concern with Bones is overloading an audience with a barrage of releases that all have a similar style. Luckily he hasn't worn too thin yet on this release and continues to show he can make a pretty cohesive and interesting listening experience.