Perhaps a proper introduction to their musical prowess, Butane Baby and Brandon Mack offer a helping of solid, diverse hip-hop tunes. ‘The New Era’ is a brief yet promising debut EP that opens up more sonic curiosities for this duo.
Within the Sacramento area, Jimmy Tengan and Brandon Mack had their initial start rummaging and carving off their musical paths before eventually linking up to work together as a duo: Jimmy Tengan started off diverting over on Soundcloud where he consistently puts up songs that tick across digicore, trap, and hyperpop, and Brandon Mack already made his wave through The Burbs where he and Matthew Johnson’s neat skillset as rappers and writers are shown within the flawed albeit potent boom-bap production and melodic sensibilities. Then, starting in 2022, Jimmy Tengan - in this case, adopting the name Butane Baby - and Brandon Mack linked up together for ‘Anh Phoong’, a song that what would’ve been nothing but more but a loosie cut, but instead hinted towards a fresh era that eventually manifested on their debut EP, ‘The New Era’.
With the EP running over 16 minutes, Butane Baby and Brandon Mack give it their all within the various stripes of hip-hop - whether that be the flaring rap rock or the rapid buzzy Miami bass influences that they careen through - where their overall attitude and delivery have enough snapping conviction and well-constructed flows to stick. The production side also shines through in spades, where the mixing has enough balance for the rap duo’s vocal flicks to be heard and not get swamped over the electronic stutters or the rabid guitar works that would follow. The polish and sense of curious growth from this duo translate to most songs that manage to work, such as the foreboding atmosphere on ‘Gloves On’ which has a bit of Tyler The Creator influence to it as the veering buzzy synths that underscore the jumpy sound effects popping all over the song, the bass tune whirling across the alarming intimidation of ‘Shmeat World’, the noisy guitar melodies that allow ‘From The Ashes’ and its already bouncy low-end to just skid with vibrant sparks, and the poppier melodies on ‘Sac Disease’ with the scratching effects, pumping beats, and spiky guitar work that goes off on a blazing solo is wonderful, ending the project on a high note. However, what doesn’t allow some songs to hit more might come to the pitch-shifting effect that can temper the intense flair of Butane Baby and Brandon Mack’s rapping, and especially the hooks that could use some refinement to match well with the performances and the production that offer a lot of bustling quality for the most part.
Although the overall writing is not much to write home about - especially towards the braggadocious flexing that doesn’t always come off interesting - it does make sense for the duo who are still building up their style and flair as they keep on budging around within the diverse subsets of hip-hop and rap. At the very least, the overall rhyming scheme doesn’t awkwardly fumble, and the sense of brash middle finger to every bigger person and group that Butane Baby and Brandon Mack talk shit about does have imposing character to it, with additional details towards success chasing schmucks that left their hometown to chase that success with selfish intents, and the implications that Brandon Mack and Butane Baby might not exactly need a label to be successful, relying on their very own hard work to reach that instead as they’re quite aware of how labels do fuck artists over when they’re not completely well managed.
With Butane Baby and Brandon Mack working together to shine their hip-hop cadences anew, ‘The New Era’ does pave the way for where they could eventually tread further into their future projects, as there’s promise that this duo placed down within this EP. The production has enough balance and punch to both organic and synthetic textures, the instrumental compositions have enough tune for Butane Baby and Brandon Mack’s stark presence as rappers to hit the landing, and even the writing that might come off one note still has character to all of its provocations. A proper introduction to the duo’s curious spirits in their musical prowess, with enough potent execution of these varied ideas shows that this era just begins the roads that will lead to more substantial growth down the road.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Gloves On’, ‘Shmeat World’, ‘From The Ashes’, ‘Sac Disease’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Anh Phoong’