Sam Densem, better known as SD-2100 (a brand of metal detector but that's not what he's named after), is aggressively prolific. By the time this review is published he's already released two more EP's and a compilation. About a year ago muzic.net reviewed his SD-2100 vs The World EP and now he's come back to us with Not Bred to Feel the Fat; a 20 song LP with a screenshot of a half-finished photo cutout as the thumbnail.

The album is a collection of song-like vignettes. Easily digestible suggestions of new song ideas that someone might describe to you before cutting themself off saying "and yeah it goes on like that, you get the idea," which is par for the course of this genre of hip-hop, lying somewhere between the very end of the crunk era and crushed ADHD medication laced with fentanyl. There are no middle 8's or rambling fade-outs in Not Bred to Feel the Fat. It's 20 tracks squeezed into a 43 minute run time. All concept, all action.

The entire album feels like the worst part of being too drunk, where you lose all your friends and forget how to talk in a club full of people that hate you. This album casts off the playful side of SD-2100 vs The World and collapses face first against  the shoulder of a sad, cynical robot having a stroke from drinking too much lean. It half dances, half teeters in the middle of a busy nightlife street at the start of closing time, unaware it keeps getting into fights because it can't see, hear or feel its face.

Among the themes of hopelessness for the future and a general sense of disillusionment and disconnection, the song I'm Not Your Entertainment is a standout. The extra dimension of the dissatisfaction being aimed at either his own audience or just the idea of being perceived is fun to hear him unpack. The spooky Greek references like "bury me with a bust of Apollo" and repeated mentions of Icarus and the sun make it a memorable entry in the track list. Amidst the sea of barely surfaced emotions and opinions all bathed in brain fog and existential confusion it's fun to see that frustrated artist streak emerge out a little sharper. Which is ironic for a song called I'm Not Your Entertainment. Which is also fun.

Behind the blackout lamentations there are some strange, cool little gems of musical influences. Your Aloof Friend has some kind of resample of a country folk violin that's really heartwarming and soft. She Dances has super deformed Turkish vibe and a beat that almost approaches a Latin groove. The track, Copy (Intermission), frames itself as hold music. Pushing On has this mind numbing refrigerator hum combined with the album-wide tape warble effect that makes me feel like my nose is bleeding.

The disquieting track, You Asked Me To Help, samples Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah as well as birdsong,  reversed tones and various rattles and noises like an auditory poltergeist. Two separate songs seem to have a relationship to Stevie Nicks' Landslide. Spend has a nearly note-perfect resemblance to the arpeggio and later in the album Yesterday has the same chord progression. There's also at least two times in different songs he says spend the night. That's probably not a thing but it feels like a thing.

There's a couple of songs that stick out to me as affecting and evocative, elevating above the rest of the album. Spiked and Uh Oh both have a slice-of-life relatability to them. What they have in common is they're both sort of microcosms of life in your early 20's (or late 30's if you're a scumbag or a DJ.) The line in Spiked, something like "Where's my girl? I think she lost the vibe. I don't blame her, I feel the same," is just a pitch perfect bottling of the sort of muffled terror of a bad night gone too far into your brain juices. "I wanna call an Uber but my hand's stuck in my jeans." For me it also brings up memories of early morning Hamilton specifically, in the hour where the only people around were the homeless and the joggers. That time always made me feel uneasy.

The other song, Uh Oh, feels like the story of trying to pull yourself out of the cesspit, but the only people you know are cesspit people, so you keep getting lonely and falling back in. But it's got a backdrop of delightful elevator muzak and preset keyboard beats that catches you off guard as you listen to the strikingly present lyrics like "She spends 6 hour days watching reels. All these fake philosophers telling her how to feel. Like yeah baby I am a narcissist. And yeah baby it's me that's wrong with the world."

Not Bred to Feel the Fat is an album that has a lot of fat. It feels like the shortlist before the tracks were chosen for the real album, or the anniversary special edition with all the b-sides and rarities on it.

Several of the songs start with the exact same vocal melody. But amongst the chaff are some real insightful observations and mind bending sonic manipulations. Sam Densem is a really gifted and creative artist and musician who seems like he got a lot of school reports that said, "could excel if he paid more attention in class." The prolific churning out of music means he's still probably making half a dozen amazing songs every year, which is more than  most can say for a decade. SD-2100 sounds like either a clever guy who skillfully produces art about things that slightly bug him, or a deeply, deeply unhappy human.

• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  The Boondocks
• 8
  Springloader
• 9
  Us As Robots
• 10
  Chasin Wolves

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• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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