BY JOSEPH DEBELL, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Album score: 4/5 stars
Stars are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Singer, songwriter, rapper and producer Aidan Vaughn (VGHN) is an up-and-coming artist from Southern California. Although most people discovered Aidan Vaughn from his cover of Revenge by XXXTENTACION, I first heard of him when he released his cover/feature of Quadeca’s ‘Live Like This’. His vocals add an excellent complement to the song and are an uncomplicated yet captivating way of adding to the song.
I continued to follow his music up until his 2020 album ‘Since The Sandbox’ was released, where he improved his musical talent. However, the album he released last year titled ‘No Name’ is the most underrated hip-hop record of 2022.
Showing signs of early Tyler the Creator and Quadeca, this album takes pieces from records like “Voice Memos” by Quadeca and “Wolf” by Tyler the Creator without sounding derivative. Instead, “No Name” helps solidify his music carefreely and displays how much effort he puts into every single one of his songs.
That’s the main reason why I’m giving this record praise. Most times, when people take influence from other artists, they can find themselves mirroring their style too much, making the listening experience more grating. ‘No Name’ is the opposite of this.
Highlights from this record are songs such as “3DOTS,” “SHOELACE,” and “AIDAN.” Similar to “Wolf” by Tyler the Creator, “SHOELACE” has the same vocal effect Tyler used on his voice for his LP. There are also songs in “No Name” that utilize this deep voice effect as a character talking to Vaughn.
While still early in his career, his production is one of the more admirable and impressive aspects of his music. The most prominent example of this is the song titled “AIDAN.” The level of ambition in this song’s production and lyrical side is something to behold. What’s also noteworthy is that pieces that are sonically compressed, such as “AIDAN,” work as a double-edged sword. They can be sonically impressive but difficult to mix and produce without the entire song going to waste. Aidan Vaughn avoided these mistakes and explored a more engaging side of his musical talent, not just in “AIDAN,” but in the entire record ‘No Name’.
Recently, he has been experimenting even more with different genres. It’s a guess, but not unreasonable to say that we might get a new look into how deep the water is in Vaughn’s discography. Some of the artists he lists as inspirations also had their fair share of trying different genres and have had success doing so. Hopefully, Vaughn continues to build on the incredible ideas he had on “No Name” and can give something equally or more textured and memorable sometime soon.
debelljb22@bonaventure.edu
