Taste is a funny thing. Especially with music, it's easy to write something off and misrepresent it in your mind before giving it a chance, and this almost happened in the opening moments of iMAGINARY, the first track of ANYTHING BUT. I'm not even sure why but my gut reaction was "Oh, this isn't really for me", but quickly moved to "Although the skittery beat is pretty cool", and then "And the vocal delivery is solid, too". It's actually a solid track, and I think really what was going on was a mild and subconscious annoyance that I had to scroll down so far past the massive header and video on the release's Bandcamp page to get to the play button. That was about me and my relationship with the the page and not about the release at all.
The second track, GAZEBO GHOST, was more immediate. With its extremely sparse production, the focus is entirely on the flow and lyricism which gives it more than a hint of Kendrick's N95. But then what's that? The track is speeding up and slowing down on a whim that gives it this disjointed and slightly unhinged feeling, and it ends up being a real stand out on the album.
One thing that's pretty evident when listening to this stuff is that GENERIK loves what he does. The whole album is full of passionate emceeing and fun production decisions. I suspect that a lot of the production comes from experimentation rather than intentionality, and that leads to all these strange beats and wobbly synth sounds, and fantastic moments like the "Coulda, woulda, shoulda" breakdown on KNUCKLE BALLROOM.
I do think it's a little front-loaded, mind. I was having a great time with the album until SAUDADE, which honestly fell a little flat for me. The track is about nostalgia, and as a deeply nostalgic person born only a year before GENERIK (or at least the subject of this song), you would think that it would be right up my street. But sadly, the song is really just listing a bunch of 90s stuff but doesn't do much to make me actually feel those feelings, and I ended up a little bored.
The next track, MABUTI, is similarly a little on the shallow side, but I think in this case it's a bit more successful as it's clearly just meant to be a party song. It's got a dancehall beat and asks the crowd to shout the title at the end of each line and so while I don't personally love it, it's kind of harmless.
That's where the lull ends, though. ABANDONED MANSIONS is dark and introspective and is one of the most effective tracks on the album as a result. GENERIK then brings it home with the synthy and aggressive SUPWITIT?! and it's a satisfying end to a solid album.
ANYTHING BUT isn't perfect, but there's so much invention here that I can accept a couple small missteps and overall I had a really good time with this album.