This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones), commonly referred to by its subtitle Bait Ones, is a demo album and the debut project by British musician Jai Paul. It was released on 1 June 2019 by XL Recordings. The album, which mostly consists of unfinished songs and demos recorded between 2007 and 2013, was initially leaked and illegally sold through Bandcamp under the title Jai Paul on 13 April 2013. Following the incident, Paul largely withdrew from public view and took an extended hiatus from music production. Despite the unauthorized release, some publications ranked the leaked project on their year-end best-of lists, including Pitchfork and The Guardian. Six years after the leak, Bait Ones was officially released by Paul. Only the album's singles, "BTSTU" and "Jasmine", had previously been given official releases. Bait Ones received critical acclaim for Paul's unique production style, which was praised for its blend of various genres including electronic music, hip-hop, and R&B. Several artists have cited the album as an influence on their work and contemporary popular music in general. It debuted at number 100 on the US Billboard 200, and was named as one of the best albums of the 2010s by Pitchfork. The album consists of 16 songs, most of which remain in their unfinished states with minimal retouching aside from higher fidelity adjustments. Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork called the incomplete tracks "eternal works in progress", commenting that Paul's decision to keep the original mixes untouched "seems less like soothsaying and more like a compulsion".
This should come with a warning label, sort of like strobe effects in a movie can cause seizures I felt like this was going to cause me a seizure. I could only listen to half of it. 2 stars.
Didn't think I'd be giving a demo tape this high a rating, but here we are. I remember the hype when this official LP dropped in 2019, but the context was well before my time as a music nerd and I couldn't fully appreciate the narrative behind the release. Hearing these tracks now, I'm floored by how well-realized and rich this tape is melodically – Paul is willing to saturate the entire production space at once, but does so masterfully without destroying the mix or fatiguing the listener. While it understandably reads in a disjointed fashion, this LP has such high highs that I'm willing to overlook the lack of flow. The arrangements and synth timbres are just too good to deny, and I appreciate how Jai came back to what must've been a crushing artistic blow and reclaimed it in his own way.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Str8 outta Mumbai, Genevieve, Jasmine, 100.000, BTSTU
Good. I liked it
Bubbly and quirky and pretty fun to listen to in its best moments. The fragmented aspect of these songs wore thin with me though, as did the start/stop effects and fluctuating volume. At times I felt like I was listening to an old chewed up cassette. Fave Songs: Genevieve, Str8 Outta Mumbai, Jasmine, Crush, Zion Wolf Theme
I find it strange that an unfinished album is so high acclaimed. I did not really enjoy listening