Well, back in March, I reviewed Yellow Claw’s new little EP for “Amsterdam Trap House” and I thought that was pretty good, but I wasn’t expecting a whole new album afterwards but I accepted it with open arms though!
Their third album “New Blood” came out on the 22nd of June, and it consists of fifteen songs with various featured singers and other DJs lending samples of beats to collaborate. Now I will admit, there are a lot of people on this, and some that I’ve never heard of before so you’ll have to forgive me there for not having all of my normal pieces of information about them.
So let’s get started on this, because I’m ready to dance on my bed!
We begin this little adventure with “Lost On You” with Phlake. I thought was so pretty! It starts off so slow and what’s interesting is that it never really breaks out of that chill sound, but the tempo does improve a bit towards the choruses. It’s a very romantic song, and for once I actually like it. What’s wrong with me? Second is “Summertime” and San Holo collaborates with the guys for this. I like the mysterious introduction, but I’m always so iffy with a person speaking into a static-y format. I have a hard time figuring out what they’re saying, but I love the beat. That ominous feeling never really goes away, which I enjoyed and I liked the mild build up to the drop, very subtle but keeps it kind of unique for a summertime song really!
Next we have “Both Of Us” with STORi and again, we have this light beginning but since the featured singer has a very mellow voice too, it actually works well. I really like this, because for anyone that likes to listen to EDM on the radio, this is very radio-friendly with kids, the drop isn’t that intense, but the song in general isn’t so heavy that you’re used to hearing in dance music, it’s really good! Fourth is “Villain” with Valentina and I think I’ve heard this before, maybe I’ve played it before the album came out and I’ve forgotten about it, that sounds like something I’d do really! Anywho, it has a mild beat, and I’ve always had an uneasy time with both chill and house music, because at times they can just be so boring, but I don’t want to say this is that by any means, but I just don’t like it as much.
“Crash This Party” with Tabitha Nauser is next and after having a somewhat dull song beforehand, this pretty much makes up for it! It’s so upbeat and dare I say, positive? I really like the drop, and they insert their “Yellow Motherfucking Claw” towards the end of the track, which instantly made me smile, because it’s not a YC song without at least one of their songs having that somewhere in the track! My only complaint is that it’s too short! The other one, as soon as it started it made me jump! I wasn’t expecting that pop in the beginning to “Public Enemy” at all. I actually laughed at myself! Anyways, this has DJ Snake, and you all should know that I love DJ Snake a lot! This doesn’t feature anybody but him, so it’s instrumental and you definitely know I love those the most! This is just the greatest, I can’t describe it any better than that. I have to find the live version of this, because I can imagine crowds going absolutely crazy for this!
We move on to, “Fake Chanel” with A$AP Ferg and Creek Boyz. I actually remember listening to this when it came out as a single and I loved it instantly! It’s so interesting how I will listen to rappers that appear on EDM music a lot better than rap music in general. I don’t know how that works either! I really love the beat to this, it’s so sharp and different. The drop is insane! After that banger, we go into “Attention” with Chase and Kalibwoy, which as soon as it started, I thought, “oh yay, this will be softer”. Well, I was half right with that expectation! It is mysterious but I was really intrigued with the second voice, he completely changed the vibe that I originally had going, so that was cool! This, as a whole, is a very different track and I love it!
We have “Bittersweet” featuring Sofia Reyes, who has this sweet little voice and I like the fact that the beat itself doesn’t overpower her. It’s a good song! “To The Max” is next and this has a number of people on it, but the only one that I know is Bok Nero. The others are MC Kekel, Lil Debbie, and MC Gustta. This is good, with a nice simple beat and you have like mixture of voices, but it’s not the best. I also think this was the longest one on the album too. I don’t know I really feel about that so we’re going to move onto “Down On Love” with Moski and Yade Lauren, which I know Yade was featured on another of YC’s songs, “Love & War”. This is pretty mellow, but I like it, at least this has an interesting beat and the singer has gorgeous voice.
We’re almost done. I know, even I’m a little sad about that! There’s “I’ll Be Fine” with Kelsey Gill and she sounds like Zara Larsson! I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it was the first that I thought of when the song started playing. This is pretty good, nothing about it is too much, it could get good radio play on pop oriented stations, so that’s a plus! And we have “Waiting” that has Rochelle in it, and she’s also been a guest on their songs before. I really like the dreamy vibe I got while listening to it. It does have the standard build up and the bass drop is really good, but I liked the original beat better. Surprisingly, I don’t think it needed all of that other stuff, even if they had turned it down. I know I’m starting to scare myself now! Lastly, we have “Another Life” with STORi again. I really like the usage of the piano, it gave it a sense of elegance. The beat is really simple, and we finish in the same way we started, so it’s kind of perfect.
I was kind of impressed with this. I figured since they released an album in the summer, it would sound pretty summer-y in the process, but I never got that vibe as I continued to listen to the songs. You have a good mesh of the heavy bangers that every EDM loves, but if you are in the mood for something softer, then you definitely a few to choose from, so it’s a good batch of music.
Have you listened to Yellow Claw’s new album, “New Blood” yet? What did you think? Do you have any favorite(s)?
Got Meghan's Blog 