Surprise releases at the start of a week are working well for Tyler, the Creator. It is not the sole purpose of Don’t Tap the Glass, his latest album following the thrills of Chromakopia, but it does make all the difference. Tyler is sticking true to what he believes is a fundamental gap in how we listen to music. We engage with all the big releases on a Friday, giving little time to digest their worth as works. It is not just music which does this. All releases are on a Friday, no matter the art. Challenging that, as Tyler, the Creator does here and as Sloppy Jane has done in the past, is a breath of fresh air. Don’t Tap the Glass is an excuse for Tyler, the Creator to have some fun. Chromakopia did not lack that, but its focus was on exploring his storytelling style. Don’t Tap the Glass highlights the instrumental appeal of See You Again songwriter.
Sharp lyricism, suggestive as ever, is paired well with a classic hip-hop style. That blur seems obvious at first, but to hear Tyler, the Creator explore it as thoroughly as he does on the sub-half-hour Don’t Tap the Glass is a treat. Opener Big Poe is a punchy bit of fun and transitions well into Sugar on My Tongue. The latter is a tad simpler than anything Tyler, the Creator has written recently, but those lyrics serve a purpose. Listeners can drift away from the writing and focus on the slick production, impressive instrumental sections, which redefine his studio work from the last few years. Catchy is never an aim, but Don’t Tap the Glass has plenty of those moments through welcome repetition. This is not an album aiming to overhaul the meaning found on Chromakopia. Don’t Tap the Glass serves as a return to the lighter side of Tyler, the Creator’s music. A well-deserved stop-off following a few heavy years. Contrast is everything.
Tremendous instrumental layers to Sucka Free and Mommanem show off the aim of this project. Light, breezy, but still with that undeniably tight style Tyler, the Creator has as a songwriter. Chromakopia may have been a selection of hopelessness in the modern world, but Don’t Tap the Glass shows that the short fuse is almost burnt out. Mommanem brings on a fascinating dissonance, which leads well into to the point track Stop Playing With Me. That faux sentimentality is carried between that heavy tone and the groovier, funk-like tone of Ring Ring Ring. Sentimentality is exposed on that track between the dial tones, which acts as the core for the instrumental growth found on the latter half of Don’t Tap the Glass. A tad inconsistent in its transitions, but a small price to pay when hearing Tyler, the Creator experimenting with his style once more. A welcome change to his tone can be found here.
Don’t Tap the Glass serves a real purpose. In the short time Tyler, the Creator has on this release, he reinvents the tone of his music while also keeping the fundamentals there. Don’t You Worry Baby is a magnificent example of this. A lighter sound, a collage of samples and synth, but with that same bold throughline. His focus is still very much on human nature and how relationships are affected by everything from fame to maturity, and back again to the primal, fundamental instincts. All of that comes to a head with a hip house sound which overhauls Tyler, the Creator and his studio efforts. Don’t Tap the Glass is catchy and quick, an excellent addition to that human vitality, that need to lose yourself in dance, and an exceptional piece of work. It does not try to be better than Chromakopia, it tries, and succeeds, in being unlike anything Tyler, the Creator has made before.
