joey valence brae no hands album review
Music, Sounds

Joey Valence & Brae, NO HANDS: REVIEW

by Darcy MacDonald

“Joey Valence & Brae have it all the way in them, and guest spots from Danny Brown and hip hop DJ extraordinaire Z-Trip stamp their approval.”

Joey Valence & Brae, NO HANDS (independent)

Who would have thought the world needed another college dorm rap group, much less one that blew up on Tik Tok? So begins the tale of an MC duo that grew up together in rural Pennsylvania, sharing an affinity for ’80s and ’90s hip hop and club music and the wildly creative beat production styles birthed in New York, Miami and L.A, for starters. Their 2023 LP debut PUNK TACTICS was impossible to hate on and its successor keeps the flame hot. Throwback music is always better through the lens of imaginary nostalgia as opposed to pandering back-in-the-day bullshit. If something you’ve heard a million times manages to sound fresh, real heart went into it, bet. Joey Valence & Brae have it all the way in them. Guest spots from Danny Brown and hip hop DJ extraordinaire Z-Trip stamp their approval. NO HANDS is all in good fun, and in equal parts, too. 8/10 Trial Track: “BUSSIT”

For more on Joey Valence & Brae, please visit their website. This review was originally published in the July 2024 issue of Cult MTL.

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Posted in Music, Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.