On Sunday night, I lugged a big bag filled with recently-washed clothes into my dorm room. When I fold my laundry, I typically like to open my Spotify account and blast whatever music comes to mind just to break up the monotony of a mundane task. If I can play a new album I’m trying to listen to, then great. If not, that’s also fine.

However, this week, I knew ahead of time that I wanted to listen to Anderson .Paak’s newest album Ventura. Before I delve into the album itself, I must make it known for transparency’s sake that I’m a huge Anderson .Paak fan.

I’ve enjoyed his music since he was releasing loosies on SoundCloud with the likes of José Rios. He’s the only musician I went out of my way to markedly introduce to my previous significant other. His cover art has been my Twitter’s cover picture for over two years now.

Basically, I really like Anderson .Paak.

Based on that premise, I knew that I was going to like Ventura. Or parts of Ventura. Something about Ventura was going to be good. Admittedly, I wasn’t overly impressed with Oxnard last year. It was a fine album, but I expected either a bigger development from Malibu or for .Paak to really consolidate his persona.

Oxnard was caught somewhere in the middle of a progression and a consolidation. It was a very commercial album, which isn’t always bad but didn’t particularly work in this case. It was muddled with features that, as per the commercial drive behind the album, weren’t that effective.

As I started to fold my first couple of clothing items, part of me was worried that Ventura would run into the same problem that Oxnard encountered. Those concerns quickly dissipated as I was met with vibrant beat after vibrant beat and as Anderson .Paak’s melodic voice dripping with charisma poured out of my speakers and curled into my ears.

Ventura is Anderson .Paak at his best. It’s the beachy, R&B-fused, crooning sounds listeners were introduced to in Malibu combined with the impeccable production of Oxnard.

This album is lightning in a bottle–not in the sense of a lucky act being caught, but in that Ventura captures .Paak’s magic in 39 minutes (that feel far too short when dealing with an album of this caliber). His unmistakable magnetism oozes from every song. The features accentuate every song–take André 3000’s runner of a verse on “Come Home”–rather than away from .Paak (see: T, Pusha in “Brother’s Keeper” [a good song with genuine replay value, but one that feels more like Pusha T feat. Anderson Paak rather than the other way around]).

I could go into the specifics of the lyricism or the production values, but I truly feel like Ventura is something every listener has to experience for themselves and draw their own conclusions on. Few albums in 2019 feel like an experience.

After all, how many times have we seen an up-and-comer try to mimic Migos’ trap bangers? How many times have we seen Drake take a look at an unexpected name on the iTunes top 100 charts and CTRL+C, CTRL+V their vernacular? How many times can a SoundCloud rapper use the same Generic_SnareDrums_01.wav before people grow tired of it (apparently not enough)?

Ventura is an experience.

It’s the type of album you want to buy a vinyl of.

It’s the type of album that leaves you wanting more–come back to me at the end of 2019 and give me a better nine minutes and 34 seconds than “Make It Better” and “Reachin’ 2 Much.”

It’s the type of album that made me want to write about music again for the first time in two years.

Best songs: “Make It Better” // “Reachin’ 2 Much” // “King James” // “Come Home”

Best feature: André 3000

Grade: A+