Artist: Cody Brandell
Title: Retrospect:The Beginning EP
Released: April 21, 2013
Hood: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Genre: R&B, Soul, Electronic, Abstract
You Will Like This If You Like: Drake, Marcus Canty, Chris Brown, Weeknd
We dig this EP from Baton Rouges singer Cody Brandell. It feels like the future and producer B. Holmes does a decent job weaving synth lead grooves with Cody’s sometimes playful singing and rapping. This EP certainly has a commercial sound and some of the tracks should find their way onto a few R&B mixtapes. Although enjoyable, many of the tracks sound like riffs or unfinished grooves. The possible exceptions are Commitment, which hints at more depth in songwriting but still falls a bit short of the mark needed for a breakthrough hit and MF, a club banger that would fit nicely beside some of today’s hits.
Overall, this is a very solid effort and deserves a listen. Our advice would be to strip the tracks and effects back a bit on a a few songs so that Cody’s voice can really be heard instead of being masked by an array of production techniques, which, while contemporary, can make it hard to really hear his voice. Well done gents!
Favorite Tracks: MF, Novia 2, Friday Night Lites, Commitment
Rating: B+