Album Review: Mac Miller - Watching Movies With The Sound Off

Well that was a lot better than it could have been! Mac Miller has always carried with him the air of the also-ran: a bit of college rap, a bit of drug talk, a bit of thug posturing, some weed-laced pop philosophy, a couple of tattoos. It's not the stuff upon which legends are built. This album is some achievement, then. There's the production – some of which Miller handles himself – which is assured and confident, occasionally mesmerising. Watching movies with the sound off? Not an appealing prospect if we were watching with the creator of 2011's clumsy, artless Blue Slide Park. With this new Mac Miller, though, it might just be a pleasant experience, if a little long.

The intoxicated, dazed, apparently drug-addled back drop Clams Casino paints for Youforia – and Miller's earnest sing-song performance on it – probably serves as the album's highlight. Suplexes Inside Of Complexes And Duplexes, horrific title aside, stands nearly as tall. Miller muses in a barely varied monotone, Jay Electronica breaks the spell, and Miller steps back in and gets to re-casting. The album turns from easy and rhythmic to thrilling, though, when battle rap up and comer Loaded Lux pops up after Red Dot Music to spit flames a capella; notwithstanding that his opponent is his host, “Easy Mac with the cheesy raps”.

If you're hesitant to let Mac Miller into your heart or into your headphones – and, based on previous experience, why wouldn't you be? – then Watching Movies With The Sound Off offers up a new way for you to experience the world of M and M.