Hi, everyone. B-thony P-tano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Sudan Archives project, The BPM.

This record is the third album from producer, singer, rapper, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, but primarily violinist extraordinaire, Sudan Archives. Since she dropped her first full-length album on Stones Throw Records back in 2019, Ms. Archives has continued to be one of the most interesting, versatile, and dynamic artists on the label active today. I feel like that versatility, that all-encompassing vision, that sheer talent is embodied so well on her previous record, Natural Brown Prom Queen.

That project dropped in 2022 and was one of my favorite albums of the year, albeit an album that was still very dense. 18 tracks on that motherfucker, but nearly all of them were great, and every single track provided a different angle or blend of alternative R&B, art pop, baroque pop, experimental rap, neo-soul, and so on. Now, it's been a minute since that project has been released.

Things have been quiet on the music front for Sudan Archives, but this entire time, I had no doubt in my mind that what was being cooked was going to be nearly as dense and ambitious and all over the place creatively.

The BPM is most definitely that. Really to the point that, as I was hearing the singles to this record, many of which I enjoyed, it was really difficult to get a sense of what direction this album was going to be going in, especially when taking into account the wild range between the somewhat tongue-in-cheek, comedic sex raps being thrown out there on "MS. PAC MAN" versus the smooth, alluring touches of dance and electropop on "MY TYPE" — a track that's just this endlessly groovy description and exploration of what makes Sudan Archives tick romantically.

But now the entire record is out, and now that I have the ability to dive into the whole thing, what this record essentially reads as is two different things going on at once, one of which should be pretty obvious from the title: Sudan Archives' (or this project's) interpretation or summation of dance music broadly. Because while yes, you continue to get touches of hip-hop and alternative R&B like we have on previous projects, there are more tracks than ever on this record also giving us house music, techno, Jersey Club, a little UK bass.

One track in particular that hits us with this Irish dance breakdown at one point, which is absolutely nuts and actually goes over well given Sudan Archives' violin chops.

So yes, The BPM really is like an ode to numerous eras and styles of dance music in general. But on top of that, topically, many of the songs on this record also explore the concept of love and romance. Some expressions of that are quite sad and heartbreaking; others are deeply sexy and alluring. Then many more are playful and silly and flirty and maybe not taking themselves too seriously. Like on "YEA YEA YEA" — a more smooth and cerebral number on the tracklist that's giving some serious Kaytranada vibes. There are lyrics on this song where Sudan Archives professes to be able to turn a straight dude bi.

Now, this is a 53-minute album with a 15-song tracklist; a pretty dense one yet again. When this record is at its best, it's when you're hearing these really creative, unique, one-of-a-kind, 'everything-but-the-kitchen-sink' reinterpretations of different dance styles.

Take the song "TOUCH ME", for example, a track that at its core really feels like a 2000s-era club banger. But then when you actually observe the different bits of percussion, sound effects, and touches of instrumentation Sudan Archives chooses to lace this song with, it sounds a little whacked out and completely deconstructed but will still get you moving despite how quirky and left-field it all presents.

Also, "A BUG'S LIFE" is also very much a hip-house track, but given the production and instrumentation packed into it, it's, I promise you, about one of the weirdest hip-house tunes you'll ever hear. But it's still impeccably catchy and thoughtful as the track serves as part love letter and character portrait, too, with a really anthemic hook to boot, topped with these soaring lead vocals.

Now, as much as I'm enjoying this record — and I am enjoying it for sure — it's far from a perfect album, and there are moments in which I feel like its ambitions are getting the better of it a little bit in a way. Because not only is there no real flow or direction to this tracklist, to the point where it feels like the ending is really losing steam and not knowing exactly how to stick the landing. "LOS CINCI" is this really awkward, short interlude-type moment that feels so out of place. Then the closing track is an attempt at doing a blissful twist on a Jersey or Philly club beat that I'm not really sure quite works.

Add on to that just how much of a sore thumb that "MS. PAC MAN" feels like, and then the title track, which, instrumentally and aesthetically, I just read as a bit of a mangled mess. I feel like this song really highlights specific issues that I have with particular songs on the record: this 'kitchen sink' approach, this 'Let's try it all!' formula Sudan Archives tries to hit some of these songs with.

Most of the time, it pans out in lots of thrilling, exciting songs that are quite genre-bending, daring, and adventurous. Then on other tracks like "THE NATURE OF POWER", it just feels like there are so many separate moving parts that it's difficult to get a sense of what it is or what it's trying to do because there's so little cohesion between all the different passages, changes, and reference points. It feels more disorienting than entertaining.

I feel like a really great album is in the mix here, but due to the lack of a cohesive vision and direction for The BPM, there are just a good handful of tracks in this tracklist that just feel like duds to me, or tracks that could have taken more time to develop and introduce some of the many ideas they're trying to pull off.

For example, "NOIRE" is one of the few tracks on the album where I realized toward the end of the record, for as much as The BPM is indebted to dance music, there are so few songs here that have some of those trademark patient, slow, gradual, electronic dance music-type progressions and builds so that getting from point A to point B really feels like a journey, and you feel every change like a step along the way of that journey (as opposed to being overwhelmed with just a collage of different switch-ups).

Now again, not every song on this album is like that; in fact, it's definitely the minority. But it still was enough to make the flow of this album feel inconsistent and a little daunting, especially toward the end.

With that being said though, The BPM is undeniably a creative record. There are not many other electronic dance music albums you're going to hear this year that sound like it or are willing to take so many risks. Plus, it's rare that you hear an artist these days who is just such a fucking multi-talent, who seemingly has so much depth and so much knowledge and also ability to pull on all of these different sounds and influences and execute them in a way that feels unique and authentic, even if sometimes the end result is a bit cluttered. I'm essentially feeling a light to decent 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Sudan Archives, Forever.