Travis Scott
Astroworld

A smoky melody followed closely by a distorted 808 bass and powerful drums opens the new album by Jacques Webster, aka Travis Scott. It is the long-awaited beginning of a monumental work started in 2016 and seen by everyone as an unforgettable event: a two-year long frenzy of anticipation, likely due to Scott's incredible résumé of past works (Owl Pharaoh and Rodeo above all).

But let's take a step back: it was 2005 and in Houston, Texas, the popular amusement park "Six Flag Astroworld" was closed and subsequently demolished to make way for new residential areas. The park was a must-visit for Travis's generation, and its closure was like a transition from carefree youth to adulthood. In an interview, he indeed talks about the deliberate choice of the name: "it will sound like an amusement park taken away from the people."

Well, the promise has been kept: the album, in its entirety of 17 tracks, is structured like a theme park, a psychedelic musical journey full of surprises, particularly the incredible number of artists involved in the album and not revealed in the titles as featuring, making them surprising on a first listen: Frank Ocean, Drake, The Weeknd, James Blake, Tame Impala, Stevie Wonder, and many, many more known or less known have contributed to the album. Some of these features are used unusually (kid cudi, pharrell, sheck Wes, etc. contribute to the vocals in the background, while Stevie Wonder plays the harmonica in "stop trying to be God") and others help to create the mood of the track (for example, Tame Impala produces the song most distant from Travis’s standards, or Thundercat who adds his personal touch to the Astrothunder base) not to mention the number of producers who have worked on the diverse musical tapestry, among others that Mike Dean who defined the sound of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" in 2010.
From this group of musicians comes a concentrate of current Urban music, a spacey and acidic trap music; "Stargazing" takes you directly into space only to surprise with a sudden beat change, as does "sicko mode". The dreamy mood prevails, particularly noteworthy is "stop trying to be God", a highlight of the album; more unexpected is the outro "coffee bean" on a beat that remodels the sounds of the '90s, beautifully closing out an amazing album.
Another peculiarity is the numerous tributes to Houston's rap scene, which boasted a living legend like DJ Screw to whom a song is dedicated: the influence of his Chopped 'n Screwed style is constant in Scott's works, who has always united all his favorite artists to create something unique, including Kid Cudi and obviously the Kanye West of 808s & Heartbreak, especially for the innovative use of autotune, no longer as a corrector but as a means to better express emotions, making the voice effectively a musical instrument that perfectly blends with the base.

Astroworld is a journey, a masterpiece of sounds and melodies that transport the listener to another dimension. It took a long time to come out, but it was worth the wait. For now, it is the best album of the year and one of the most complete and interesting projects of recent times.

Rating: 9.5/10