AlongCameLife: “Wavees” is both verbally menacing and artistically astounding!

AlongCameLife was raised in Queens, New York. His talents were apparent from an early age when he became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the illustrious, Juilliard School of Music. A multi-talented singer, songwriter and violinist, AlongCameLife is also the Winner of Two EMMY Awards, and the Founder of the famed duo NBS who performed on America’s Got Talent, Dancing With The Stars, The Ellen Show, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, Nick Jr, Fox 5, New York 1 and Page 6. He also performed for President Barrack Obama, and for the Royal Family of Dubai. Recently the duo separated.

AlongCameLife has released various albums and now steps up to the plate with a brand new solo 21 track release entitled “Wavees”. Even if it seems like he came out of nowhere, one good listen to AlongCameLife and you know he won’t be a secret for long. If you can get past the devilish vulgarity, it is easy to see a legitimate creative core inside the alternative madness collected into “Wavees”.

The album is a blend of diverse sounds in the best possible way. It’s the next step in the musical evolution of Hip-hop. The production here is an intricate mix of rock, soul, classic, alternative and hip-hop all wrapped in a beautiful, and, at times, distorted power package.

AlongCameLife raps, he sings, he pays the violin, but mostly there’s a method to his creative madness – he’s not an artist who lets a single note or beat decide his fate. He transcends them with whatever he is doing – be that rapping, singing or playing. He bends sounds, styles and genres to suit his mood and express himself, in any way that he sees fit.

“Wavees” sounds like a bold experiment of musical inspiration. The album shines brightest when AlongCameLife indulges in his atmospheric and trippy neo-soul inclinations on tracks like “Coolin”, “Don’t You Know Me”, “Flying”, “What Up What Up”, “Sert” and “Fire”.

But with 21 tracks available, the choices are plenty. It’s also emblematic that the fastest track on the entire album is called “Nice N Slow”. Often bathed in heavy doses of reverb and echo, AlongCameLife’s vocals bring a strong flavor of shoegazing, dream pop and trip-hop to the recording. These are sounds you will hardly hear on any other rap or hip-hop album – setting him apart from the pack.

That AlongCameLife isn’t your traditional rapper or urban music artist, becomes more than evident throughout the one-and a-half hour duration of this album. He doesn’t confine himself to the rules of making conventional urban music. He breaks those rules then writes his own, and if you can see past the sometimes obnoxiousness and use of offensive cussing, you might find a genius at work.

AlongCameLife is both verbally menacing and artistically astounding. Now if he found a happy middle ground somewhere in-between, he would become more accessible to the masses. But how do you ask a visionary to not look further than the confines of normality?