CD Reviews

Gucci Mane | The Return of Mr. Zone 6

Brick Squad (2011)

By CARRIE BATTAN | March 23, 2011

3.0 Stars

After a sub-par, commercially warped album, an arrest followed by a brief stint in a mental hospital, and a supremely unfortunate face tattoo, it seemed Gucci Mane had turned a very sad corner. But his latest picks up smack dab in the mixtape-geared sweet spot he'd settled into before his wackier antics took charge. The Return of Mr. Zone 6 is an album pared down to the elements Gucci knows best - sinister beats fueled by snare pellets and twisted, carnival-like synths, deadpanned prioritization of cash over women, and collaboration with a slew of Brick Squad compatriots and friends (we hear everyone from Birdman to Master P to Waka Flocka Flame, many times over). Gucci has refined this formula so successfully, and used it so frequently, that this disc can feel sedated and slightly monotonous, if not interchangeable with a good deal of his endless mixtape catalogue. But the king of Brick Squad's flame is one that burns slow and consistent instead of bright and fast, and The Return gives it some much-needed oxygen to sate diehards yearning for the reliable, slightly more sane pre-2011 Gucci.

Robyn at the State Theatre, January 29
With each of her three 2010 Body Talk EPs armed with a single-of-the-year contender (in the just-slightly-ironic, pop-chart-averse blog-critic sense), it's been hard to ignore Swedish pop star Robyn's status as in indie icon these past 12 months.
Taboo + Ancestral Diet at the Apohadion, March 8
When I entered the Apohadion, the room was nearly dark and the stage was empty.
Ritualz | Ghetto Ass Witch
A genre of music based in darkness is always the most sensitive to light, especially the kind of illumination that comes from the scorching laser beam of pop-culture attention.
Review: Rio
Love drives this animated 3D flight of fancy from Carlos Saldanha, director of the Ice Age series and a native of the title city.
The good Doctor is in (and out, and in ...)
Let's just allow that Doctor Astronaut is a digital maestro, an enjoyable and entertaining wordsmith, a progressive barrier crasher.
Richard Nelson's big deal
While it's seemingly becoming commonplace for one musician to play 13 different parts or instruments on a studio album, it's getting pretty rare to hear an album featuring 13 musicians all playing at the same time.
The best of Boston's mobile cuisine
Summer in Boston traditionally means exploring the city, getting sunburned, and ironically (but totally seriously) drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade. But now that meals-on-wheels mania has put the boot on our fair city, it also means chasing down every food truck in town.
Review: Wretches and Jabberers
Imagine having as much inside you — thoughts, feelings, desires, needs — as you really do, but being unable to express them.
Make way for cornhole
When I left Chicago for Boston three years ago, I expected to leave a few things behind. Friendliness, for one, and deep-dish pizza, and modernist architecture, and perfect hot dogs, and . . . cornhole.
The secret history of the claw machine
You can find them next to the Kiddie Room at Funspot in Laconia, NH; in the dark depths of the Dream Machine Arcade in the Walpole Mall; and 24 hours a day in the Boston Bowl Game Room.
With Boston Ruit, beer pong gets ready for its close-up
Mikey Connors of Peabody growls at his opponents from across the folding table. Whipping the crowd into hysterics, the beer-pong heavyweight steps back from the edge and starts to kick his heels up like a bull about to charge.
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