Mixtape Review-Pulp Fiction by Miloh Smith

by Dan-O

I always feel that the best mixtapes are made by people having fun. Even Hell Rell. A lot of them are free agents looking to get signed making music that they would like to hear. Even signed artists have less oversight to deal with on a free release project. In any sense the hardest mixtape to make is R&B: 1. if the beats start sounding the same its boring 2. if the content is too similar its boring 3. if everything is being sung the same way its boring. The best R&B mixtapes are little miracles born from a genre that in its modern form both takes itself too seriously and not serious enough.

Miloh Smith made an R&B mixtape called Pulp Fiction that not only uses that movie for a theme but starts with the first voice you hear being Freddie Mercury of Queen. Pulp Fiction pulls in so many different directions its amazing how comfortable the transitions are; from the sleek warning of Revolver to the noisier smirk of “Bad Muthaf*%$er Samuel Jackson” on VHS Tapes. What about Miloh rapping? Mr. Wallace is one of my favorite tracks of 2014, her verse, bouncing doubled vocal and that deeply engaging hypnotizing instrumental. She doesn’t take spitting any less seriously than singing. Wavy Wallace deserves a lot of credit for perfect production pitch on both VHS Tapes and Mr. Wallace.

How weird is Pulp Fiction? Both Walt Live and Go! Ricky! Go! Of the indescribably weird Indeed show up. Miloh has a vision for what this should all sound like. The tracks twinkle and glimmer under her pristine vocals and gentle chords but after she sings her @$$ off on Starz she starts talking about how she used to work at Directtv and now she’s going on twitter and asking for someone’s Netflix username and password. It’s jarring but it doesn’t take you out of the song. If you trust the vision you can get stuck in the loop of infinitely listenable songs like Intexication that sits you right in front of the narrator as she stews in inebriation with nothing but her phone and contacts to keep her entertained. You get a vicious verse from Miloh and Cyhi The Prynce that fit well enough together to be the lead single on Church, marvelously manipulated hand claps by Jordan Ware on Come Alive.

It’s so easy to downplay a great project, or play it up for the wrong reasons. I’m not making the case that Pulp Fiction is great because of how many times it doesn’t fail(not failing is a great start though). The sense of joyful experimentation runs the whole twelve tracks. It’s the hard work that makes all the musical moments hit as well as they do, that keeps me listening to it again and again even when I have other things to listen too. She celebrates a love of hip hop just as much as she does R&B to the point where the two don’t seem separate at all. Different bunk beds same room. The experimentation smiles at you from afar with the artistic confidence to know a win.

Stream or Download Pulp Fiction below:
http://www.datpiff.com/Miloh-Smith-Pulp-Fiction-mixtape.578844.html