– Written by John Makela –
454 fans have been blessed with a random drop of his longest tape yet.
454, (also known as Squills) blessed us at the beginning of this month with a tape exclusively on Soundcloud named Casts of a Dreamer. This tape has been extremely praised by fans and critics alike. I’ve also really personally enjoyed this tape. It’s something needed for 2024 in my personal opinion, and it’s one of the most unique drops this year.
This album wastes zero time with a very short intro cutting into what you will be hearing this whole album, bars, over some ethereal ass beats. This feels like it doesn’t stop either, with it being Squills longest project reaching just over an hour.
The features on this tape were strong. Squills brought in all familiar faces with TUTU, and previous stage-sharer Pig The Gemini showing up on multiple tracks. There was also the inclusion of WOODY1K, who Squills had previously cosigned on NTS Radio.
The album also featured production credits from Fresco, DJ Orange Julius, Joy, Chase Alex, DJ Rob A, and GATORFACE.
The tape brought together Squill’s known soundcloud associates, and put them together for a really fun hour of music.
Critics / Fans Reviewing
One thing that is apparent while listening to this tape would be the praise coming from fans. The soundcloud feature of comments popping up while you are listening, left by other fans listening at the same time. These comments love this tape.
Critics have also noticed this album, which is rare for this side of the underground. Pitchfork gave the album an 8.0 out of 10, which is a great score for the platform. It definitely is a deserved appraisal in my opinion, as 454 really proved what he never had to with this tape.
John’s Review
First listen for me was slightly difficult, I found myself struggling to get into the tape. That was up until the 17 minute mark when I heard SPIKES HOTLINE. From that point on I was hooked, and genuinely enjoyed almost every song. I’ve also found myself going back and forth between songs on the tape and at the point of writing this I can say, I like this album a lot.
I really enjoyed M.F.G. at 27:44. WOODY1K definitely did his thing. It was my first time hearing of the rapper and it was honestly a surprise when he came up on a track. This surprise was a delight, and I really enjoyed his feature. I honestly wish I heard more from him on this album.
Spikes Hotline at 17:08 almost made me cry for some reason. It is a very intimate song, using a sample from Jodeci’s Come and Talk to Me. Like a lot of tracks on this tape, it caught me off guard.
The production in this tape is so unique and hard to describe that I find myself literally having a hard time reviewing it. Regardless of how I can identify there is one thing I’m sure. I love this shit.
It seems like there isn’t anywhere this album doesn’t go in terms of experimentation with different flows, sounds, and just overall feel to the songs. I had a really fun time listening to this tape. All 30 tracks just kinda seemed to flow through and make for a really enjoyable listen.
As stated in the soundcloud description of the tape, the mixing is slightly off in a few tracks. I didn’t find this to be that noticeable up until I got to one of the last five songs of the tape, CLOSE 2 ME. I found it quite annoying in that song, which really sucks because mixing aside it sounds great.
The annoying mixing was almost immediately forgiven with some amazing closing tracks in BITTERSWEET, OUTCAST, and DR5 prod. GATORFACE. I’d like to really put emphasis on that final track, DR5. The purely instrumental outro using a variety of angelic but also alien sounding synths closes this tape so beautifully. It was genuinely really unexpected for me but I loved it.
Conclusion
454 has such a unique sound that I actually hate using the word unique to describe him. This dude is distinctive, he is special, he is a genuine idiosyncratic talent of our generation. This album should be listened to front, back, and center. It is an album that deserves the respect it is getting, and for every right reason. I am excited to hear more from 454, and this album has shot my expectations through the roof.
Do us good Squills.
Album Separated ^
SOUTHPORT MAGAZINE 
Leave a comment