On April 9 2024 Fred Again.., aka Fred John Phillip Gibson, dropped his “infinite album” titled “USB Vol. 1.” Fred calls it an “infinite album” because he’s going to keep adding more and more songs to this trilogy throughout his career. The album comprises a handful of fan-favorite IDs, including “Baby Again..” with Four Tet, “Turn On The Lights Again” with Swedish House Mafia, “leavemealone” with Baby Keem, and many more. Fred Again.. has seen monstrous growth in numbers over the past four years, with songs like “adore u” reaching over 100 million plays on Spotify. With such attention on the project, “USB Vol. 1” has started generating massive numbers since its release; but does it live up to his previous work?
“ItsNotREEAALLLLLLLL” with DuoTeque and Orion Sunis is the first track on the project, and an interesting one at that. The song as a whole has an eerie vibe, with a modified sine wave playing consistent sixteenth notes and raw vocal chops bouncing around the mix. There is not too much to say about this song; it’s a good opener and introduction to the project, but not a whole lot is going on. 6.5/10.
“BerwynGesaffNeighbours” with BERWYN and Gesaffelstein is bad. I was expecting either high-energy or just well-made tracks in general, but the vocals on this are horrible. Producer Paulo agrees, stating that “If a song isn’t taking itself seriously in the first half, it’s harder to retain listeners’ attention when the legitimate song comes in.” BERWYN doesn’t match the dark Synthwave sound that the track is attempting to capture, and the sudden switch-up later in the song doesn’t fit at all. Overall a 4.5/10, disappointing compared to Fred’s normal standards.
“Stayinit” with Lil Yachty and Overmono is the first song that I vibed with off this album. Yatchy sounded borderline angelic over the pad stack that Fred had running in the background. The background vocal chop saying “dry, up” doesn’t fit until the buildup and was an annoyance on my first listen. One thing I like about Fred is his simplicity; he’s able to capture emotion through the rawness of his mixes. This can be heard in the drop of this song, with an LFO modulator on the bass and a screechy sine lead. I give this song an 8/10.
“leavemealone” with Baby Keem was by far the most anticipated ID on this album, playing all over platforms like TikTok and Instagram. I love the instrumental on this song but the vocal chops annoy me. Many people would disagree heavily with this opinion, as it is one of the main drives behind the song’s massive spike in popularity. The parts of the song without the vocal chops are honestly stunning, but I still can’t get over my gripe, 6/10.
Out of all the songs that have been teased at shows from the album, “Baby again..” with Skrillex and Four Tet was the one I was most excited for. I love the simplicity of this song; it just sounds like pure ear candy with house drums on top of it, and I’m all for that. I wasn’t a big fan of the warm synth which played in the background at some parts, but I got over that pretty quickly, especially when the second drop hit. The way the progression molded into a classic house chord pattern had me in a chokehold.
“Rumble” by Skrillex featuring Fred Again.. and Flowdan was previously released on Skillex’s “Quest For Fire” LP. The track exploded upon its release, spreading all over social media platforms. This in turn led to me hearing it 1,000 times, which in turn also led to me getting annoyed at hearing it 1,000 times. I sort of liked this song at first, but after hearing the track so much I got sick of it. 3/10.
“Turn out the lights again.. (feat. Future)” with Swedish House Mafia, is a close contender for my favorite on this LP. The drums combined with Future’s vocal chops and the amazing vocal lead created the perfect ambience. The mix was also immensely clean, capturing the Swedish House Mafia and Fred Again.. sound perfectly. This is one of my new favorite artist collaborations and I hope to see more of them in the future; 10/10.
“Jungle” did what “leavemealone” was trying to do, but miles better. The vocal chops in the drop and break remind me a lot of a Sara Landry mashup. Fred’s sound design skills also show through on this track, with beefy single-layered basses being the main focus of the drop. Fred also did stunning drum work on this track, matching the bass perfectly. Overall 8.5/10.
“Admit it (u don’t want 2)” with I JORDAN is also a contender for my favorite track on the project. The general quality of the songs throughout the album has been decent overall, but this one takes the cake. The vocal chops were done perfectly, and just the right amount of ambience samples combined with amazing layers were used to create one of the most unique ambient house songs out there. Producer Grey Vision highlighted how often Fred Again.. is able to create “super spacey, ambient, and messy yet clean mixes without losing the listener in reverb.” Honestly, this song was one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve heard in a while, 10/10.
“Light’s Out” by Fred Again is a standout track. The song effortlessly blends elements of electronic music with indie-pop elements, creating a mesmerizing experience. The shimmering synths and catchy melodies draw you in from the very first note and refuse to let go. I fell in love with the basic, almost retro-inspired arpeggiated synth in the verse. Fred truly showed his talent and style in all forms on this song — simplicity and clean mixes. I’m going to give this song a 7.5/10.
In general, this album was solid. It had a few misses, but only due to my taste. I didn’t cover the remixes because I don’t find them as relevant to the project as a whole, but they highlight some unique aspects that the original songs didn’t capture. USB isn’t going to be an album I listen to often due to it being more live-oriented, but it’s still really good; 7/10.
