POP/ROCK

Blood Orange, "Angel's Pulse" (Domino)

Blood Orange, aka Dev Hynes, says he always makes a little mixtape as a party favor to give to friends after each album he puts out, and following last year's "Negro Swan," he decided to make this one public. In the year of the R&B Mobius strip (including Solange's fairly improvisatory "When I Get Home"), the collagist behind 2016's brilliant "Freetown Sound" assembled one of the best. Go figure.

Maybe it's the length — 14 songs in 32 minutes run the pace of a J Dilla beat tape if not quite the song-per-minute mileage of Philly's own sui generis Tierra Whack. Or maybe he's so songful that legitimate tunes like the opening "I Wanna C U" and the arresting "Gold Teeth" sound like fully realized transmissions of Prince rarities from a passing radio. In fact, they beat actual Prince rarities.

And the guest list is a where-are-they-now trip of recent vintage that brings along Arca, Tinashe and, on the best moment, triplet-wielding Three 6 Mafia alumni Project Pat and Gangsta Boo. Now release the others.

Dan Weiss, Philadelphia Inquirer

Jaden Smith, "ERYS" (Roc Nation)

Blood Orange, “Angel’s Pulse”

Willow, "Willow" (Republic)

This is hardly the first time that the children of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have made music. Willow's 2010 pop-hoppy "Whip My Hair" went double-platinum, making her the youngest artist to do so. Brother Jaden that same year flirted with guest features (including Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never"), and dropped his own kitchen-sink-filled debut album, "SYRE," in 2017. This is, however, the first time the siblings have released new music in which they seem so sonically and spiritually aligned. That is to say, goofy.

Inspired by Kid Cudi and Tyler, the Creator (both of whom appear on "ERYS"), Jaden's sophomore effort is more straight-ahead rap than his new wave-hip-hop-EDM debut. Like its predecessor, "ERYS" is weirdly focused on a single central character, this time driven, then destroyed, by crushing ego. The overall production of "ERYS" is rhythmically complex, maybe too much, but melodically mostly flat, and boasts such as "I'm Han Solo with the rips/Kobe with the pass, had to hit it no assist," don't have the musicality to back them up.

Willow is more confident as a vocalist than her brother, and her "Willow" isn't quite so top-loaded with octave switches and scratchy reverb. Instead, she chirps her way through the sing-songy "Like a Bird" and the positively empowered "Female Energy Part 2" with charm and gusto. As with "ERYS," however, eventually the lack of solid melody on "Willow" lets her down and the album begins to rely on production tricks on too-aptly-titled tracks like "Overthinking It."

A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

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