Last month, this Texan collective of musicians, rappers, artists, filmmakers and creative outsiders followed up their acclaimed debut mixtape All-American Trash with first track of the year ‘Face’, featuring the singing and songwriting talents of JOBA, Matt Champion and Ameer Vann, as well as a shimmery production from Kiki. Once again the Brockhampton crew are back in a slightly different arrangement, with group founder Kevin Abstract is a consistent fixture, who directed ‘Face’ and can now be seen directing and performing throughout newest compilation ‘Star’. The surreal antics of this so-called American boyband reach new levels of weird and wonderful in ‘Star’, which includes blue body-paint, a golf cart, a giant pencil, Ameer Van’s tin-foiled blue head in an oven, Dom McLennon in a doctor’s outfit, and a glass of orange juice being thrown in Abstract’s face. It’s a head-bopping, fist-bumping kind of rap song, with those heavy, brooding beats repeating the same bar, but is kept super fresh thanks to Van, McLennon and Abstract’s spectacular verses. Cultural references, pure put-downs and their brutal honesty collides in lines like “I’m the only pop star with no money. Can’t drive, so I’m still running. Uber taking all my show money, but that’s okay, I got more money.” You also get an extra bonus with ‘Star’, which cuts out around 2:50 to a preview of another, very different song. It’s a woozy love song led by Abstract’s pitched-up vocals and a more straight-forward, but nevertheless effective visual. We’ll be watching the space for sure. - HT