Homework

    Sad to say that I didn't really like Homework very much. This album leans very heavily into being "dance" music, with pretty much every track focused on having a strong driving beat and repetitive melodies and hooks and not much beyond that. These elements are good for that purpose but leave me wanting more from the music. I know that the intention is to get the listener moving and focusing less on the music itself and more so on the rhythm and movement, but it could use more depth beyond that surface layer to give it more staying power; perhaps I've been spoiled by them, but their later albums are able to pull off the same feel while also giving the songs more personality and variety, with more stuff going on throughout that make it more interesting to actually listen to rather than just as background noise to encourage you to do something else. For the most part the music here is largely 'whatever' to me, mostly that emphasis on the beat that makes most of the songs blend together in my mind with just a few standouts. In addition to that, the less refined/more 'raw' sound didn't really mesh with me much. It just came off as grating and unpleasant a lot of the time (looking at you, Rock'n Roll) and made it kind of a slog to sit through. I will say that I could see some potential here if the duo could refine what they have (which, thankfully, they actually did later on to make some truly exceptional work) but it's shocking that this is the same band that would make Discovery just a few years later due to how big the difference in quality is. I hate to say it, but I would skip this one and just get to the really good stuff from these guys.

    Highlights: Revolution 909, Around the World, Burnin', Indo Silver Club, Alive.

Rating: 3/6