X.U.L. is a Dominican artist currently residing in South Carolina. He found his love for music at the age 17. He got his start in 2019 originally being signed as a producer for the Florida based independent record “February’s Finest Music Group”. To date he has produced records for several up and coming artist in the South including Jeff Stones and Dee Wile. In 2020 X.U.L. decided to take his shot at recording music in addition to producing. His latest release “UNKNOWN” is an 11 track album that showcase he development and growth not just as a producer but as a recording artist as well. The album’s chock full of strippers and drugs, and our narrator navigates a succession of dimly lit clubs and private afterparties with devilish gusto. All of this is carried out in a vocal delivery that fuses an R&B singer’s melodic finesse with the percussive wordplay of a rapper.
“Calling My Phone” is a reminder of how great X.U.L.’s songwriting can be. Here, he seems to take us throught the twist and turns of possibly cheating, But X.U.L. doesn’t apologize; instead he turns his phone on DND as he enjoys his night. He and frequent collaborater Jeff Stones take turns bouncing over the exquisitely produced track “DARK, DEVIOUS”. If you close your eyes you might mistake this song and its oscillation between X.U.L.’s baritone and Stones’ high tenor ranges for a lost Drake/Weeknd collaboration. X.U.L.is a talented singer, but sometimes you get the impression he’s better at twisting and recapitulating sounds than inventing them.
The inarguable triumph of X.U.L is actually his production. He tucks unexpected elements in spots they may go unnoticed at first. These are the rewards of a studio rat given free reign, where awe is found in the novel arrangement of sounds in space. The downside: left unchecked, this freedom can devolve into self-indulgence. On “Lite” and “Slide” the atmosphere crosses the line that separates intoxicating from suffocating. Though the overall sound isn’t anything too new or groundbreaking, X.U.L. is just divergent enough that it maintains refreshing replay value.
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