• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Vinyl Chapters

Vinyl Chapters

The Stories Behind The Music

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • News
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
Home » articles » MXXWLL: Sheeesh – Review

MXXWLL: Sheeesh – Review

May 25, 2020 by Michael Sumsion

MXXWLL

MXXWLL, the Australian beat conductor, indulges a love of G-Funk, P-Funk and West Coast hip hop stylings on a skittish beat-tape-like odyssey that weaves fragments of found sound into its suite of primary colours. 

The fleet-footed, Sydney-born producer MXXWLL is riding the crest of a wave of music industry and media interest, having caught the attention of names such as DJ Jazzy Jeff, Snoop Dogg and J Cole and tastemakers with his Light Turn Green single earlier in the year. His new full-length opus, Sheeesh, crams seventeen J Dilla-flecked, head-nodding cuts into a slender thirty-minute running time, which leaves little time for pruning and sometimes leaves the impression of a shiftless laxity. Self-indulgence and an unfinished sketchiness linger in the background on a project that scampers around, frequently loses momentum and mediates between an aqueous serenity and a day-glo stomp.

The album cajoles a light, airy and retro tone immediately with its sugar-rush hit of 8-bit synth Nintendo console manipulation, Player 1 Start. ROLLITUP is a trippy funk-rock collaboration with the Melbourne soul artist Kaiit which utilises a sample of an a cappella vocal hook from a previously aborted collaboration between the pair; it invites engagement but immersion remains out of reach. 

MXXWLL - Sheeesh

On CRZN, he employs raspy and squelchy synths worthy of prime Stevie Wonder over a classic, swaggering Dr Dre beat, whilst Relax drapes the pallid vocals of Guapdad 4000 around a listless trap backing. More promising is WOAH, a sensuous slice of funk-lite scaffolded by sighing, sweet as syrup chords. Aloe Blacc brings gravitas and grit to the scanty Smoke W U, which only leaves you craving more. Snippets of found sound fragments from LA life are chosen with care, weaving their way into the mix and imparting a sense of narrative and temperature.

MXXWLL brings not just a well-defined sensibility and tasteful old-school chops but also a palpable sense of perpetual forward motion that places him alongside such kindred spirits as Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Kaytranada and Anderson.Paak. Whilst his restlessness testifies to a creative, oddball soul, one can’t help wonder what he could achieve if he just spent more time investigating each trap door. As a consequence, too much of Sheesh resembles an indistinct mush of ideas  – no peaks and dips – that float and dissolve to little effect. Shamelessly goofy and insubstantial, its vaporous brightly coloured baubles, jolts of sound, magpie-plucking and scraps of abstraction make the listener hankering for more heft. 

Score: 2/5

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: album review, Jazzy Jeff, MXXWLL, Sheeesh, Smoke W U, Snoop Dog

About Michael Sumsion

Music-fixated English teacher. Loves jazz and reverie on vinyl. A curious soul.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Recent Posts

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review

JP Hoe

New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022

Footer

Navigation

Home

About

Reviews

Features

News

Submit

Contact Us

Shop

Search

Recent Posts

  • Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review
  • Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review
  • Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review
  • New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022
  • Hayley Kiyoko: Panorama – Review

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Affiliate Disclosure

Vinyl Chapters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In doing so, this helps us continue providing free content. It does not increase the price for you in any way.

Copyright © 2023 Vinyl Chapters | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Editorial Team