Hi, everyone. Trampany Stamptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Matt Champion album, Mika's Laundry. Here we have a new LP from rapper, singer, and songwriter Mr. Matt Champion, a Texas native who was once a part of the now defunct boy band known as Brock Hampton, whose unceremonious end back in 2022 feels like a lifetime ago for some reason, maybe because the writing was on the wall for a while, as eventually, breaking up has been a part of the Brock Hampton narrative, really since the group blew up. Seeing the group start to unravel just before their 2018 record Iridescence only seemed to bring on this inevitable point faster. Now, another inevitability is that various members of the group would start dropping solo material, which also hasn't been going as planned per se, if there even was a plan. Of course, Kevin Abstract recently dropped a solo LP with not just new music, but a new sound and direction, too. However, he already had a head start in the music career department. While there have been some solo tracks here and there from various members of the group, more formal, lengthier projects have been few and far between.

However, Matt Champion here has managed to launch a full length album into orbit on RCA Records with a handful of teaser tracks, too. And honestly, it sounds like he's on the search for a sound, trying a little bit of everything in the process. Take the lead single from this thing, Aphid, for example, which is a feel-good piece of bedroom alt RnB, where Matt is really showing off his vocal chops, even through a few layers of pitch-corrected harmonies. I think it's a great tune, even if the vocal processing is a bit heavy-handed. There's a good Dijon feature on the track, too, which is good because I think if Matt didn't include Dijon in this track, he would get called out for ripping the guy off, as he really does seem inspired by his sound here. So contrast this song with the following Deep Cut Steel featuring Dora where you have a bit of '80s yuppie pop revivalism, all on 1975, but with a slightly lofi twist. And while it's cute and it's groovy, it's maybe not Matt's strong suit. And there are other places I can go if I want to hear this thing. Meanwhile, the opening track, Green, is an adorable bit of woozy, loose, lofi hip hop, with droopy little synth notes tumbling down through the mix that underscore these very moody, introspective vocal passages from Matt, with him saying, You You would always get shy for me.

You ain't ever going to ride for me. In the back with no seat belt. Always tell how she felt. But maybe the most attention-grabbing thing about this track is how Matt stretches his vocals out into the squinkiest upper reaches of his vocal range in order to pull off the hook of the song. Oh, bless you. Thank you. But yeah, quite a range of vibes and styles flowing throughout the first three tracks on this record. Matt continues to road test a a bunch of different ideas from here. With G-Biv, we have some heavy dark industrial hip hop with some trap style high hats, a lot of spare and repetitive bars on it, too. I could actually imagine this song being a very hard core cut that could land on a Rock Hampton album, but the structure of the song is a bit lopsided as it ends out of nowhere. Meanwhile, the song Purify sees Matt back in his RnB bag, and while the nuanced swells of keys and vocal harmonies are nice, I think the vocals come across to disengaged, to manipulated, to really stand out and grab my attention. The whole thing really breezes by, which is a shame because a lot of the instrumental ideas are beautiful, and I know Matt is capable of a standout vocal performance.

There are similar shortcomings on the song Code Red, too. To switch things up again, Matt also flirts with more of a singer-songwriter direction on the song Dogfish, with some mostly nude guitars, fiery rambling lead vocals. Hilariously, the whole thing reminds me Counting Crows or something along those lines. But once again, on this track, we get hit with a fizzled-out ending, and musically, it doesn't really blossom beyond the groove and musical themes it establishes in the first leg. Because for sure, Matt does have an expressive voice. He is picking some evocative production here. He has a good sense of melody and rhythm, too. But on this record, there is a serious lack of follow-through on the songwriting side, which I think is really my biggest issue with the album overall as I listen to it over and over. Actually, the written and structured songs on the entire LP are the three singles Matt teased toward the album with, including Slug, which is a great piece of weirdo synth funk that has this amazing shot of full set of vocal harmonies with just a great upward slide. I can't even hit it. It's nuts. Then there's also slow motion, which is a low-key, beautiful head nodding bit of throwback dance pop with some speedy stuttering beats and a great vocal feature from Jenny of Black Pink.

When When I first heard this track, I wasn't super impressed with it, and Jenny's inclusion felt a little out of place. But hearing it more, they actually do have a lot more vocal chemistry than I originally thought. But yeah, beyond these songs, I'm hearing a lot of good ideas. I'm hearing some bursts of emotion. But when it comes to structuring these tracks out, I'm just left wanting more. Whether Matt's delivering something with a cute '80s flair on Aren't You Excited, or if he's taking his knack for RnB tunes in an even looser and wilder direction on Everybody Likes You. Overall, in my opinion, this record shows quite a bit of promise and proves just how little of Matt's range and talent we were hearing in the context of Brock Hampton. There is clearly a lot more to him than maybe even some of his biggest fans thought because the vocals, the rapping, the lyrics are all pretty solid. Again, he's making very good creative production choices. There is a lot of esthetic and creative consistency on this record, even if he's aiming for a lot of different styles and genres across the track list. But really, again, it's the brief and anemic songs and just lack of gratifying structure that leaves a lot of these tracks feeling underwhelming.

If Matt could build on that going forward, he will have an even better album coming down the pipe. Feeling a light to decent six on this one. Transition. Have you given this album a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What would you rate it? You're the best, you're the best. What should I review next? Hit the like if you like. Please subscribe and please don't cry. Hit the bell as well over here next to my head is another video you can check out. Hit that up or a link to subscribe to the channel. Anthony Fantano, Matt Champion of Forever.