By John Morris, Staff Writer
I love Watsky. I will never not love Watsky. His latest album, which as a whole is one of my least favorite collections in his discography, was still no different. “Placement” is good. He’s trying to be modern and, at times, a bit hypermodern. Watsky spends much of the album mixing his quirky and unique person with the trends in hip hop at the time. This time there’s too much experimentation for the quality of the sound that’s produced. It’s worth a listen, and the best songs from this very short album are some of Watsky’s best works. Despite “Placement” being weak for Watsky work, half of the album still holds its own pretty well.
“Advanced Placement” opens the album. It’s weird. I wasn’t expecting anything like it, and it showed longtime fans that they were in for something different. When this came out as the single, I distinctly remember hating it because the intro alone was so out-there. It’s become one of the best things I’ve ever given a second chance to. Watsky’s unique ability to always feel completely genuine is complimented by an impressive evolution that makes him feel hypermodern. That feeling carries throughout the rest of the album, only going away for a song or two.
“Best Friend the Floor” is pretty listenable, but has a problem that the first half drags a bit too long. The first half is decent, but tires quickly and could have been cut for a much better song. Definitely worth a listen, and after the first you can just make sure to skip to the good part on future listens.
“Savage” is good. It could be better with a bit shorter of an intro and outro (which is a problem for most of these songs, which is a bit disheartening due to the album being only 9 tracks to begin with). The verse is good, the outro’s great parts shine, and it has a nice sound.
Watsky released “Undermine” as a single with a note about how much the song meant to him. I can hear the effort in it, with intricate details in the instrumental or subtle delivery tricks. I don’t know that it has a sound that I want from a track he put effort into, but I respect him for creating an impressive song because he cared about it so much. Worth a listen.
“Dreams & Boxes” is my favorite song from this album, though I’m sure it won’t be a common choice for the best song from “Placement.” I get impatient with just about every song, with a section that isn’t that great or a part that sounds nice but is too lengthy. Being just five seconds shy of eleven minutes long, it is magical that this is one of the few songs I’m absorbed in from start to finish every time I listen. The entire song, composed of three separate sections, has fantastic sound. Watsky’s delivery is impressive with every line. It also serves as his most clever of the album. It is completely wacky at points, but Watsky paints his world in a way where you suspend your disbelief of what music should sound like. It is possible that it just fits what I like, but genuinely this is one of my all-time favorite songs, and deserves an honest listen.
I like “The Price of Growing Up,” but it sounds far too slow, and for what the song is, a minute and a half too long. Still worth a listen, but if I have to pick a song from the album I can’t ever hear again, I’m not that sad giving this one up.
Coming in at two minutes and six seconds , “Border in My Heart” is the only track under three minutes. Unsurprisingly, it is one of the better songs on the album. The chorus isn’t the best, but the verses make up for that shortcoming tenfold. I’m glad this, a political song about how now needs to be the time for action, is as well-done as it is.
I want to like “Embrace the Quake,” but there is just no reason for me to listen to this song for four minutes. The latter half of the track is very conceptual in nature, and I get it, but there is no reason for it to be two minutes repeating the same two lines that have been repeated so many times already in the song. Better than “The Price of Growing Up” probably, but expect to switch it in the middle of the song.
“Black Hole Eyes” sounds like it was a decent track, and then they threw too much into it. Fans of noisier music will like it, but it sounded too unpolished for my taste (even if that’s the point, it doesn’t make it more listenable). This song is at the bottom of a list of every Watsky song for me, and is probably just the worst track on the album.
If Watsky could have broken this album into only the solid songs and released it as an EP (or just made a new second half of the album), this album would probably feel much stronger. There’s definitely hints of Watsky’s growth as an artist, but with this being his most recent work I genuinely am a bit scared of the direction going forward. While there have been small drops in his quality, it’s never felt like he’s grown less between his albums. That could be because of being rushed in trying to bang out a second album in his trilogy, with “Placement” coming out just past a year from “Complaint” compared to the three year gap between “Complaint” and “x Infinity.” However, there are still very good songs. “Dreams & Boxes” might be my favorite Watsky song to date. I’m hoping he takes his time so that whatever comes next can prove my fears of him suddenly lacking growth incorrect.
