Monsieur Job is one of the biggest names in the Colombian music community right now, and if you’re even a moderate fan of the work they’ve submitted to date, the new album W.T.F.! is something you need to get your hands on a lot sooner than later. It almost feels inaccurate to call W.T.F.! an LP when, in reality, it’s actually six or seven LPs compiled together in a fantastic tour de force specifically tailored to the eclectic music fan. From dark hip-hop grooves in “Suenan Las Balas en la Noche” to crisp, exotic melodies in “Varanasi” and exceptionally seamless hooks like the one we find in “La Historia De Mi Barrio,” this is a record that will surprise you as much as it will awaken your taste for the experimental.
WEBSITE: http://monsieurjobofficial.com/
There’s so much flavor everywhere we look and listen here – dissonant pop harmonies ala “Red,” crunchy synth componentry flanked by psychedelic-tinged guitar parts in “Es Tan Facil,” surreal beats in “I Dream in Colors,” bruising Latin pop supremacy in “En Tu Corazon” – that it’s hard to believe we’re listening to the works of a single act rather than a couple of dozen. This isn’t to say that there isn’t some sense of consistency in the tracklist; after all, no matter what the tune is in W.T.F.!, grooves are usually the most potent tool Monsieur Job has to wield and shape the narrative. Physicality is the great uniting element in this LP, and it’s something these players have no trouble pumping out.
The production quality in W.T.F.! is really top-notch, and I like that Monsieur Job utilized different degrees of polish in the master mix for tracks like “I Get High,” “Junto a Ti,” and “Tu Boquita.” There’s a lot of individuality to these songs, and although there are 120 different compositions to browse within this album, no two can be accused of employing the same format, blueprint, and execution on the part of Monsieur Job. Toby Holguin is a player who knows that there’s a lot of personal investment behind every stunner of a song, and this is an instance in which every track on the record is single-worthy not because of glitz and glamour, but because of the sophistication and effort put into every second of audio here.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/w-t-f/1582811975
Monsieur Job’s W.T.F.! is a masterful opus and perhaps one of the only LPs I’ve reviewed in 2021 that can be confirmed as everything it was billed as beforehand. It’s hard not to fall head over heels for tracks like “No More War,” the acrylic “Chiringuito – Remix” with Jhonpri, “Estoy Ready Pa Ti,” the chillwave-influenced “No Tengo Nada Que Hacer,” and “Nucita,” but they’re joined by a plethora of material that leaves listeners bookmarking where they left off in the album much like they would a fantastic novel. It’s an immersive listening experience that demands the full attention of anyone who happens to be listening, and this fall, I think it’s a contender for some serious recognitions from critics around the planet.
Troy Johnstone