On paper, everything looks great for HXLT. The Chicago-born singer/producer, whose onstage moniker is actually pronounced Holt, was very recently scouted and signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music imprint. There’s so much focus on Kanye at the moment, as well as various other G.O.O.D Music signees, most notably other new boy Desiigner, that dropping your debut right now seems like a pretty good idea. There’s very few people that could catapult a fledgling music career into the heavens like Kanye West. HXLT isn’t like other G.O.O.D members though.

Rather than being the kind of hard-hitting trap rapper that Ye seems to be into right now, HXLT creates punk music fed through the 808s and precision of hip-hop. We’ve seen our fair share of hip-hop/punk crossovers in recent years, most notably Death Grips and Ho99o9, but where these bands let punk's wildside dominate, HXLT tries to pull it back in, calm it down. In essence, he’s trying to mix hip-hop with post-punk. And this is something I can very much get behind. Just to add another layer to the authenticity cake, HXLT tries to keep everything as DIY as possible (aside from singing to a major label imprint I presume). He has near complete control over the project, having shot and directed every video, and produced every song on the album except for 'Guitar' which was produced by Mano, the guy responsible for The Weeknd’s 'The Hills'.

With that kind of hit making pedigree, it’s no surprise that 'Guitar' is the album’s highlight. It’s also the song that tries least to add punk elements. Sharp drums click in the background, keeping HXLT’s understated vocal in check, before heading towards a big chorus that hears HXLT lament that “I wish I could play guitar and write all the songs that’ll make me rich” under soft padded synths. It’s so smooth, it’s almost Miguel-like. Nothing else quite comes close.