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Aug 25, 2017Most of the tracks come in at under two minutes long; short drafts and ideas stitched together with smoky loops and obscure vocal samples. An atmospheric and pensive sound shrouds the majority of Rainbow Edition - the only thing missing is the underlying grooves that were found on their past releases, leaving some of these beats slightly too industrial and cold.
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The WireOct 11, 2017The whole thing seems to aim for slightness (of the disc’s 20 tracks, only seven are over two minutes long), but many of these sketches have the gorgeous, pastoral-futurist texture of Boards Of Canada or The Focus Group. [Oct 2017, p.53]
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Oct 4, 2017It explores a plethora of bold sounds and styles with a distinctive ethereal edge--and just a touch of delectable curios
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Aug 25, 2017It lacks the depth, intrigue and smirking beauty of the group's best work—a product, presumably, of Blunt and Copeland's peculiar chemistry—but doesn't replace it with anything fresh. For all that, it's not bad.
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Aug 30, 2017Aside from a few bright spots, Rainbow Edition is ultimately a thin record of short, demo-quality beats. Like so many of Hype Williams’ records from the past, this one will feel like a curio or better yet, another reason to ask the question: Who the hell made this?
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Sep 20, 2017The album does lose focus somewhere around the halfway mark, unfortunately, the playful titles (“Cockblocker Blues,” “This is Mister Bigg. How you doing Mister Bigg”) not reflected in barely-formed tracks that disappear into the haze of their own making.
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Sep 12, 2017It lacks an authorial voice. Since no one made this album, no vision binds it together with its identity--it doesn’t cohere.
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Aug 28, 2017With celestial choral waves (Spinderella’s Dream), glitchy hip-hop confidence (#blackcardsmatter) and prismatic swaths of synth, it might feel aimless, but the meandering is beautifully immersive.
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Aug 25, 2017There’s none of Blunt’s deadpan chat and only a couple of (possibly Copeland-delivered) female vocals, a shame as some of the tracks are pleasingly punchdrunk trip-hop instrumentals that cry out for a top line, however meandering.
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Aug 25, 2017Anyone who missed Hype Williams the first time around should start with any of the group's early albums rather than this, but there's no guarantee that they'll make any more sense.
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Sep 20, 2017Most of it just feels utterly disposable, a series of tracks put next to each other for no discernable reason, leading nowhere in particular.