ARTICLE BY: BIG FLOWERS
If innovation and reinvention of self could pass as a sport, Plaza Llama would contend for a spot in varsity squads. Call Me By Your Name, PL’s third complete project, released on major streaming services in the first week of 2020, under LIFE 2 Records, a joint effort owned and operated by PL and his brother, Andy Frenchtoast, another polymath specializing in sonic and visual manipulation. With vigor and swagger abound on Call Me By Your Name, PL ambles in between his foundation practices of seemingly belligerent commentary and brash deliverance, and an extremely refined and controlled confidence which seems rooted in his departure from external production.
Prior to this release, Andy had exclusively produced for PL, but moving into a new era, processes and protocol needed rejuvenation. Call Me By Your Name sports 10 tracks entirely produced by PL himself. Through some minimal conversation with PL, it was easy to tell how much it meant to him to be completely in the driver’s seat of his own musical career. In solitude as a beatsmith, PL walks a tightrope. On one side lies ethereal, ambient tonal synthesizing, which is harshly and immediately juxtaposed with a mildly violent energy reminiscent of early Odd Future, yet all blended with syncopation that calls towards some of Arca’s more mind-bending releases. These comparisons are not to detract from PL’s efforts to push forward from these influences and blaze his own path. The sample work is tasteful when utilized, but it was evident that PL curated and engineered the tracks with variety in mind. As a new listener, you may make it through the first couple tracks and wonder if PL is an instrumental act, but Pulp Fiction immediately breaks that hunch. In washed out, distant and echoed fashion, PL crash lands onto the microphone. This track is the strongest evidence that he is still the artist he was when releasing Life of Fernando, just with a new essence about him. The lyrics continue in scattered prose, eventually leading to semantic satiation, but it is all constructed. PL divulged that he wanted the production to be the leading voice of Call Me By Your Name, and though future endeavors may do more to feature his lexical capacity, this release was more intended to showcase his production with accented vocals. Pulp Fiction, as well as Money, are songs far longer than conventional hip hop would lead you to believe is still digestible, yet PL’s production keeps you there. Perhaps it’s when you’re not sure if it’s your computer, phone, or speaker that’s glitching out, only to realize it’s all subtle, sly flexes on behalf of PL. When vocally present, PL runs amok, and with the sparing presence of such, it acts as the perfect accent. Tracks like Balamb Garden and Hedgehog don’t come across as they’re missing any lyricism due to the saturating nature of PL’s vocal style. Deep within the almost intoxicated flows and folds of PL’s bars on Call Me By Your Name come honest and deep analyses of life as he sees it, my favorite bar coming from Make Out Paradise, “staring at the vision like TV.” The glimpses of metaphor, the slight non-sensibility, the drawling and haunting repeated nearly percussive lines all wrap into the whirlpool of a modern marvel of production, generating a very rewarding listen. If you want more of PL’s bars, go back and tap into Life Of Fernando. If you want more of his production, keep watch. This man will be doing big things alongside his brother, Andy, who released a fantastic self-produced project, From A Distance late last year as well. LIFE 2 Records are on their way, and I’m beyond excited to be on the watch.
4.9/6 Best Track: Money
Plaza Llama – Call Me By Your Name
