Arts & Life The first masterpiece of 2023

Lil Yachty’s newest record is a psychedelic revelation

Reviews

By Cesar Soto Staff Writer

The artist who brought you viral hits like “Minnesota,” “One Night” and “Poland” has just made the wildest 180-degree flip of their career. On Jan. 27, Georgia rapper Lil Yachty released “Let’s Start Here.,” a psychedelic rock album featuring 14 tracks and running just under an hour long. It is not only the biggest surprise of the year thus far but an early contender for best album of the year.

First experimenting with psychedelic music on Tame Impala’s remix of “Breathe Deeper,” Lil Yachty shows his deep passion for the genre from the very beginning of the album. “The BLACK seminole.” takes listeners back to Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” running for an impressive span of seven minutes. It features an exhilarating guitar solo in the middle and the use of cymbals, synths and other spacey instruments leads to an explosion of otherworldly vocals from Yachty and featured artist Diana Gordon.

Gordon is not the only artist who made their mark on this project. Many of the collaborators here are mainstays in the psychedelic space, such as Jake Portrait from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ben Goldwasser from

MGMT, the duo Magdalena Bay, and solo artists Alex G and Mac DeMarco. The instrumentation that comes from these artists brings Yachty’s ideas to life in such visionary ways. Yachty’s heavily-processed falsettos and vibratos express remarkable emotion from the artist. On “pRET-

Ty,” powerful energy in his voice is felt throughout, and on “sAy sOMETHINg,” his voice conveys nostalgic feelings of longing for someone’s love. “WE SAW THE SUN!” also creates a gloomy feeling in his voice with the line, “Sun coming up, and I still feel numb,” as his voice reverbs against the ethereal nature of the instrumentation.

His distinctive vocal style makes the sound that much more exciting. Songs like “THE zone~” have significant inspiration from Tame Impala’s drum patterns. “Running out of time” features terrifically funky basslines throughout the track. Another standout on the album is “the ride-” with Teezo Touchdown’s voice adding a captivating layer to such a light and enjoyable listen.

Yachty’s abilities as a rapper and the psychedelic instrumentation seamlessly come together throughout the album.

Embracing nerdy nightlife

‘Black Potion’ is the perfect gaming destination

SA Gems

By Chloe Williams Web and Social Editor

Opened just eight months ago in San Antonio’s historic ported beers available at any given time. The bar area also offers malt beverages, ciders, kombucha and wine. They have you covered with snacks too; in the retail area, there is a section filled with the best snacks for gaming. week, an array of events are hosted both by and at Black Potion. From 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Black Potion hosts a trivia night. Wednesdays feature movie nights and open-play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) for all skill levels with the third-party group, Dungeons of Drunks. Throughout the week, other local groups meet up including Nerds N’ Stuff and the LGBTQ+ group Down2Gayme, which meets biweekly. Black Potion is also in partnership with House Party Improv, which does live improv performances in the theatre area every Friday and Saturday. Saturday afternoons and Sunday nights also include doublefeature movies with a theme. For example, the theme for February is twisted romance and is set to include movies such as “Bride of Frankenstein” and “The Fly.” meetups or parties can be hosted in one of the private room options, which are available to book through Facebook Messenger. These spaces provide privacy for forward, Cortez hopes to further expand the business to a place people can call home and has plans to include coffee and food. Cortez specifies that the goal of Black Potion is not just for gaming, “It’s not just about board games because we’re more than just a game shop. We want to give people an opportunity to make this space their own. Do they love theater arts? Do they love trivia? Do they have board games? Do they just want to hang out somewhere? This is a space that fits all of that.”