Album Review: Midnight Club by Autumn!

By Tyson Taylor

Music Journalist

Over the past few years, the underground rap scene has seen numerous new faces come and go into the spotlight. If you have been following the underground scene for a while, you are most likely familiar with the rapper Autumn. On Aug. 22, Autumn released his fifth studio album Midnight Club. This is his second released album of the year, as he released Golden Child, Chapter 3 earlier this year in March.

In my opinion, the past several months within the underground rap scene have been a little dry and in need of something fresh and new. In all honesty, I believe Autumn has finally brought that breath of fresh air back into the underground scene along with a new sound.

The Lafayette native rapper and producer rose into the underground scene in 2019 with his debut album called 4. This was around the same time the subgenre of Pluggnb was starting to gain attention around the country. If you’re unfamiliar with Pluggnb, it’s a subgenre within underground rap that emphasizes loud bass, heavy-hitting drums and melodic synths. Most of the songs that are considered Pluggnb are just old R&B songs that were sampled into Hip-Hop beats. If you are familiar with the subgenre, then you know that Autumn is one of the founding fathers of Pluggnb, really putting the new wave on the map. In the year 2021, several artists by the name of Autumn, Summrs and KanKan, took the Pluggnb scene to a whole new level. It’s been a fun couple of years for fans of this subgenre, but it does seem as if the genre has been drying out a little bit due to a lot of artists copying the sounds and styles of others. However, this is where Autumn’s Midnight Club comes into the conversation.

Now let’s discuss the album. In my opinion, I would say that Autumn’s Midnight Club is quite different from his previously released projects. However, I do see influences from a couple of his previous projects such as his 2022 released album, Antagonist! The only resemblance I noticed between the two projects is the trap flow that Autumn uses on several tracks on both albums. However, Antagonist is more of a heavy-hitting and upbeat album, while Midnight Club is a much more chill and mellow album. I think the production in this project is very good as all of the beats sound very clean and well-mixed. Similar to other Autumn projects, Midnight Club has zero features. I also thought that 12 songs for an overall listening experience of 32 minutes are way more enjoyable and cohesive than the 25-track projects that are quite common nowadays. I noticed that several tracks have nice acoustics and live-sounding drums, which gave a whole new sound from Autumn than we’re used to. I very much enjoyed the overall sound of the project as I actually felt as if I was hanging out in a midnight club.

Alright, it’s time to dive into my favorite tracks off of the project and get them into your playlist. I want to say there weren’t any songs I particularly didn’t like off the album, however, I would say some tracks had a bigger effect on me than others. In most of the tracks on the album, Autumn discusses his relationship with women, living a lavish lifestyle, and working hard to get where he is today. There were a couple of songs on the project where I could tell that Autumn was experimenting with his sound and I was all for it. One of those songs was “SURVIVE THE FALL!” I love the acoustics in this track as well as the live drums I previously mentioned. This track is one of the slower and more emotional ones on the project, yet it still transitions into a fun and energy-filled song as you listen through the track.

Another track that I loved the production on was “FAITH!” I love the repeating acoustic melody that plays from the beginning of the track to the end as well as the underlying synths that come and go. While a majority of the songs are on a slower, midnight club type of pace, I like how Autumn still integrates fun and lively energy within the tracks.

My overall favorite song off of the album would have to be the intro song, “TWO CHROME NECKLACES!” This song is just an overall banger and a very fun listening experience. You are almost certain to hit at least a couple of head bops listening to this track. While I find the production and mixing to be very good on this track, Autumn’s flow brings a lot of energy and bounce to the song. Not to mention, I like the message at the end of the song as I feel it’s relevant in today’s society. Autumn discusses how a lot of people nowadays just do things for money, and not because they actually love doing it. I personally agree with Autumn, I feel like people would be a lot happier if they focused more on their passions rather than the quickest ways to get rich. Not just because of the message, but I feel like Autumn is expressing himself more on this project and you can really see his personality come out.

Overall, I think Midnight Club is a solid project and will age like fine wine within the underground rap community. I hope to see more music like this from Autumn, and hope he continues to test the boundaries of underground rap. The community and the subgenre needed new music and I find this project to be a step in the right direction. If you haven’t listened to any other of Autumn’s discography, be sure to check it out as he has a wide variety of music.