Better Days

Stephen ?Liquid? Hawley, formerly of Montreal outfit BranVan3000, offers up a potpourri of influences and styles on his debut album. With an estimated 27 people collaborating in some capacity to the project, the pitfall for potential disaster is great. Thankfully, a portion of the album that maintains quality and craftsmanship, even if in the form of scratching and elongated rhymes. Pipe Dreams offers up some soulful backup vocals over a steady hip-hop feel as does the drum ?n? bass name-dropping of Same Old Same. A few of the songs here are particularly rough, notably the closing demo of Shut The Fxxk Up which ends the album on a low note. Politically Correct is one of the stronger efforts, with a crunchy chord supporting some politically conscious analogies. A couple of the rhymes sound a bit forced and unoriginal, despite how Hawley?s voice rises in anger at times. What is most problematic though is the rhymes and music don?t seem to complement fully, leaving a haggard feel on Pass Me Another and the stutter-rap and inane profanities on Pine Lake. Recorded in a mere six weeks, it?s quite evident some more recording time is needed to give the album some credibility.