If I were to brew together trap music and witch house in the cauldron of my mind, the last thing it would probably end up sounding like is an otherworldly adaptation of an NES era JRPGs OST. But that's why I'm not a hip hop producer and Love Potion is. Their album XXX combines the terse, sputtering beats and rattling imprints of that very Southern style of rap production with a paranatural ambiance, and a handful of fairy dust adjacent chiptuney chitters, to conjure an audible elixir that feels like it contains the distilled essence of all of the universe's love. The mystique of this record is conveyed through spinning prismatic synths that sparkle like diamonds in the rain and a throughline of grooves that strikes you like a lover's gaze. The entire production is awash in an overflow of silky textures that glide around you like warm memories from childhood. Being made up of different, and surprisingly compatible, modern production styles, it would seem right for XXX to have some direct parallels in contemporary pop culture, however the most appropriate comparison I can come up with to describe the album's sound is '80s sci-fi and fantasy films- most likely about an angel who comes from outer space to teach a hard luck, nobody teen, how to love- a story complimented by sets covered in mist and greek pillars, cinematography that impregnates every image on the screen with an intoxicating internal glow, and narrative arches that idealize the sweet promise of youth. If you like transportive sounding hip hop jams and have a weak spot for the nostalgia of your older, Gen X sibling's cultural touchstones, then you probably won't need more than a taste of XXX before you're entirely hooked. I know I didn't.
