Hi, everyone. Vroomditty Vroomtanno here, the internet's busiest music nerd.

It's time for a review of this new album, Hardstone Psycho, the latest full-length album from a singer, rapper, songwriter, Don Tolliver, who is now on his fourth solo outing.

It's a record that I had measured hopes for going into it, given how the singles to this thing were shaping up. A track like Bandit, for example, is explosive and unhinged by Don's usual musical standards as of late, with a bang and trap beat and punchy rock rift samples, some soaring falsetto vocals, as well It has some hype call and response adlibs, too.

Does it sound a little derivative of his musical mentor, the man who's label he is releasing this record on Travis Scott? Yes, but it's still an improvement over the turn, Tolleiver's music has taken on his past couple of records. Because after his very respectable debut in 2020, Heaven or Hell, Oliver really decided to lean into more of the RnB aspects of his music, trying to make something that appeals on that front while still sitting squarely in that trippy, psychedelic trap lane in the Travis Scott universe, which in concept is not a bad fusion idea.

I mean, Bad Bunny has seen his share of success bringing that together with elements of reggaeton and Latin trap. The issue is on Toliver's projects, Post Heaven or Hell, the performances and production were just so low-key, one-dimensional, and underwhelming. But I feel like on 'Hardstone Psycho,' he's making an attempt to trying to reignite something, get more ambitious, in fact, be it through the harder, louder, more cinematic sounds of some of these beats, or the way he's presenting this thing as a four different disks of tracks, but each disk contains four songs.

So it's not exactly like literally a quadruple album. Again, four disks, four songs, four by four. A bit of a self-reference there to the album itself on some level, I imagine. But these four disks mostly seem like window dressing as there's seemingly very little esthetically or musical separating each section of material. But at the very least, I guess it's nice that Toliver is making an effort to present a project here that is a bit moodier, heavier, darker. Sounds like the soundtrack to you and your boys riding motorcycles and ATVs around in the psych trap Apocalypse, having sex and generally being crazy, which narratively and esthetically is a choice for sure.

The problem is, in the grander scheme of things, this project, even in its best moments, sounds like something Travis Scott has already done in between the period of 2016 and 2018. There are some decent bangers among the 16 tracks on this record, but there are even more songs that stagnate on weak ideas or stumble over themselves trying to sound cool, like the auto-tuned laughs on the song, 'Last Laugh' which sound grading pretty much. Plus, the mix on this track is brutal as hell. It's just unpleasant to listen to. There's also '4 by 4', which what is Don doing on the first verse vocal of this track? "I ride my motorcycle, make her pussy pop." His inflection sounds like Kermit the Frog. I mean, I get between Yeet and Playboy Cardi these days. Doing silly voices over trap instrumentals is on trend, but I don't know if it's necessarily Don's strong suit. There's also 'Deep in the Water,' which is an attempt at a sensual moment in the tracklist with a pretty flavorless beat as well. The illusions to pregnancy '96. And the lyrics are just about the only thing that makes it memorable.

There are some tracks that try to do something weird or standout or alternative, but they don't bring any genuine quirk to the table. There are others that are an even tougher listen because they just have no gas, no juice, no momentum. They go nowhere fast. Like the stuttering high hats and ominous synth bass on the song 'Attitude', the vocal samples, too. I mean, they're pretty good at setting the tone and the mood for the track, but do they go anywhere beyond that establishing intro-type vibe at the start of the track? No. They barely layer, they barely progress. I mean, the song is less than three minutes, but somehow it sounds more than six. Then the two Travis Scott tracks on this record are among the most low key songs on the album, which is a shock. You would figure since it's Travis Scott and Don Tolliver, that there would be some fireworks to be had, that at least one of these tracks would be an anthem, but no. In fact, Ice Age barely even feels like a song. It's just Travis doing a throwaway freestyle with a cute Mike Jones reference over the most generic, spacy trap beat you'll hear in 2024.

This track is really just the definition of meandering. Then inside with Travis Scott changes pace a little bit with some sloshy R&B cords and a cute little refrain about staying in with your boo instead of being out and about, being crazy on your motorcycle. But while the course is solid and Don sounds completely fine on the track, Travis's feature is just as phoned in. And as much as Don is obviously super indebted to Travis Scott's style and vibe, on this record, he's proving to just not be as much of a mastermind when it comes to curating interesting and epic moments and bringing together producers and features that stand out and result in something unique. I mean, there's just so much untapped potential on many of the appearances on this record from guests. There's Tizo Touchdown, who is mostly just a background element on the song Backstreet, despite him being one of the best vocalists who was invited onto the album. Also, Charlie Wilson appears on this record for just a couple of bars, just a couple of bars of Charlie. Are you kidding me? There's also Purple Rain with Future, which I think has a decently strong start with Hendrix sounding pretty passionate at the kickoff.

But the track just slowly fizzles out toward the end, and it seems like nobody involved knows how to just tie this thing off and give us a genuinely memorable ending. Plus, there's also that terrible Kodak black feature on Brother Stone, where he's completely stuck on these awkward staccato flows, but simultaneously can barely repeat them consistently, occasionally throwing in more syllables than he needs to. That Goohoo Gaa bar is just an ass, too.

On the entire project there are a handful of decent highlights, like the opener, like 'Bandit,' like 'Tore Up.' There's also 'Glock' as well, which I think is the prettiest song on the record, though I will say those chord changes and that vocal sample, especially toward the start, is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Overall, sadly, I just thought this was a very underwhelming, very mediocre project from Don. I, again, appreciate that he tried to switch things up, go a bit punchier, a bit more aggressive, a bit more following directly in the footsteps of Travis Scott. In some ways, that is certainly more compelling than the sleepy pop rap he's been engaging in recently.

But the downside of going in this direction, unfortunately, is that it has revealed just how not great Don Tolleiver is at doing it, which is why I'm feeling a strong 4 on this project.

Have you given this record a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What would you rate it. What should I review next? Leave a comment below.

Anthony Fantano, Don Toliver, Forever.