I rarely listen to R’n’B/Trap/Hip Hop (or whatever you call it nowadays) non-ironically. But when I do it’s usually some underground shit, cause you know where it’s at, brah!
OK, I’m really trying to make this less awkward, but I know it won’t help much.
Souvenir is the debut album from Oakland-based singer and producer Lizard Bitch. If you look closely you’ll probably notice that Lizard Bitch is also one of the members from RAGANA, and if you don’t know RAGANA you’re not my friend.
Anyway, this is a radically different project. It’s some kind of very chill, bass-heavy electronica with trap/hip-hop elements. So it’s really far away from the screeching-guitar-noise-tupa-tupa you lowlifers are so used to.
Lizard Bitch’s pop noir is intimate, familiar, and refreshingly experimental.
Lizard Bitch names some alternative R&B influences such as Tinashe, Abra, FKA twigs and Jhené Aiko. I don’t know any of these, besides maybe Abra. Her sound is described as “at once sensual and otherworldly, seductive and sassy, pairing hazy, hypnotizing melodies with icy, trap-inspired drums to weave her unique take on contemporary pop”. I feel that this is on point.
It’s dark and hazy, but also has this poetic, velvety beautiful touch to it. Great lyrics as well, covering “universal themes like love, drugs, and loneliness”… you get it.
I don’t feel well equipped to describe or analyze this album in depth, but I have to say it stayed on my phone for a good 3 months and I listen to it fairly often. I suspect it goes really well with recreational cannabis use, if you’re into that.
It’s a good album and you should check it out.
