Zachary Campos – Profound Knowledge

Zachary Campos – Profound Knowledge – EP Review

Part of me was wondering if I’d be able to fit in one last review before I head out on vacation, but then I remembered I had this Zachary Campos EP and that I could find an extra five minutes to spare.  Dude ain’t exactly building his brand around making long songs, you feel me?  Word on the street is that the Profound Knowledge EP comes out this Friday…at least hopefully.  The man has been trying to keep him down & stop him from releasing his latest material, but I’m sure he’ll find a way to get past all the suits and ties of the industry to get his music out there to ya where it belongs.  Fingers crossed, yes indeed.

So…I’ll say this off the drop, because a couple things can be true here.  One thing being that I had a read through his lyrics prior to even having a listen this time around, and sure, I’ll definitely vouch for the fact that Zachary is rapping about topics that are a little bit more thought-out and varied, which is a step up!  The other thing is that Profound Knowledge is just about the riskiest title for a record you can think of.  I remember thinking I had discovered some Profound Knowledge as a kid once…those were good times.  Then I got into my twenties and had a laugh about what a stupid kid I was, because I finally knew what real Profound Knowledge actually was.  Then I ended up in my thirties wondering what the fuck was so wrong with me during my youth because I actually thought I had a clue about what Profound Knowledge was supposed to be about, when clearly I had a way better grip on it than ever before.  Now I’m in my forties and I know there’s actually no such thing at all.  We go through phases where we think we know stuff, only to learn more, grow more, evolve more, and that everything we do is part of the experience.

Anyhow.  Campos is plenty younger than I am right now…so he’ll look back at all this and laugh one day.

He sure is having some fun though ain’t he?  Guy has been pumping out new music like he needs to in order to keep breathing…and the main advice I’ve got for the man beyond anything else is to slow it all down.  Ain’t no reason to rush, no legacy is built in a day, and the hardest thing for a musician to establish beyond identity is perspective.  The only way to achieve perspective is with time.  I know there’s a mountain of difference between what Zachary creates and what Tool puts out there, but there’s always been a reason they’ve taken like, six or seven years between records, and that’s to gain some perspective.  The ability to look back on what we do, and make adjustments.  Without that, you’re pretty much setting yourself up to make the same things over and over again…and no artist wants to do that.  As I listened to “Flow,” I could feel that urge to hit pause on Zachary’s career so that he could get to that point of clarity.  Musically, “Flow” is freakishly rough I ain’t gonna lie…it’s that song you create and then put back in the box to forget that you made it and move on from – there’s just not enough there my brother.  If you wanna know a great way to confirm that as being the truth, listen to the way that Campos raps his way through this one like he’s taken a handful Xanax.  He’s expanded his word selection and theme a bit here, which again, I like – but the words we choose as artists matter a great deal.  When you’re adding in words like “energy” and “inspired” into the mix, and you sound like you could potentially fall asleep standing up at the mic, that’s an issue in my opinion.  It’s like how a ton of people out there use the word “crazy” in their shit and it always sounds so bloody normal and boring – we choose words for a reason, to reflect who we are, say what we wanna say, and communicate what they mean to us.  Zachary is kind of saying one thing and doing another on “Flow” – he says he “can’t rest, I’m too inspired” – but when you listen to this opening track you have to wonder if that’s the truth.

As bare bones as it is, at the very least, “Spirituality” has a tangible groove to it that we can all get behind.  He’s gonna have to explain to me one day why a track that has this much potential needs to finish at just over a minute in length…because I’m not sure that I’m fully getting why that would be.  If he were to take the time to expand this idea and somehow get it to that three-minute mark, he’d have a single-worthy song on his hands without a doubt.  I know we’re living in an A.D.D. world and all, but c’mon y’all…we need more than a minute’s worth of song, don’t we?  “Spirituality” draws hard on what Rock has been built on throughout the length of its legacy, ever since we started plugging in guitars really – but like I said, what Campos has got here really works.  I’m totally fine with the idea of monotone singers – I listen to plenty of’em from The National to The Editors to Interpol, so on and so on – all Zachary has to do is recognize the difference between what makes “Flow” an okay song, and “Spirituality” a great one.  It ain’t tough brother – it’s the melody in your voice – that’s where the real magic is on “Spirituality” and what’ll keep people coming back to listen despite its way-too-short length, even me.  I freakin’ love this song if I’m being completely honest with ya.  Musically, it’s still thin, but it’s not all that much of a distant cousin from something I’d probably listen to in like, L7 or something along those lines.  I’m not gonna be the guy to tell ya that’s what is making the difference for me here, because it’s not – the real difference is in how Campos sings this one.  For the record, we’ve known him to be mainly a rapper from what we’ve heard in the past, or a Hip-Hop artist, whatever you wanna call it – but it’s tracks like “Spirituality” that confirm he’s a whole lot more than that, like I’ve been tellin’ ya all along.  One of these days, he’ll snap out of the ‘my name is Zach and I’m here to say, I smoke these spliffs in a major way’ stuff & start a band.  And when he does, he’ll be rocking songs like “Spirituality” to a whole new level, and I’d be willing to bet that every single one of us will be into what he creates.  This song is a huge step in what I’d not only say is the right direction, but also the inevitable one for him.

“Waves” is somewhere in between the first two tunes…probably a little closer to “Flow” for me than “Spirituality” I reckon, but I ain’t hatin’ on it.  At under a minute, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this song is ridiculously short – but here’s the rub y’all…if you’re not doing enough, you’re probably not all that inclined to keep something going either, right?  Dude’s gotta be seriously mindful about how much isn’t there at times…musically, “Waves” has my heartbeat at a flatline on the scale of excitement, and that’s something to consider.  If I’m being completely honest with ya, it doesn’t sound fun to listen to OR play…and just like how we outgrow our Profound Knowledge from year to year, our skills and abilities as musicians grow too.  Campos is gonna look back at “Waves” in about a month and know he could play this song in his sleep…but that’s not the cue you want to push record, that’s the reason to run away in the complete opposite direction.  I don’t mind the vocals in this cut…I like some of the lyrics he’s got here too…and I still feel like he could probably challenge himself to do a whole lot more with both of those elements at the same damn time.  Performance-wise, he’s on-point…I ain’t gonna just create issues out of thin air – if he wants to continue to do the monotone thing, and that’s what he digs on, then have at’er I say.  He’s proven he can do more, so my recommendation is to continue exploring how he can do that, but at the very least, he knows he’s got a reliable baseline for his material that he can rely on in that regard too.  Lyrically, I’m still gonna front – lines like “what I have longed for has been past the door” – what are we doin’ here bud?  Everyone has different theories on what lyrics should or shouldn’t be about…to me, it’s about much more than mere rhyme time – it’s about saying what you really wanna say.  That line is as vague and hollow as it sounds…so in my opinion, there’s gotta be a more potent and memorable way to go about saying what he’s trying to say in a line like that.  The most he’s rockin’ with is a couple of two syllable words in “Waves,” which makes this whole thing seem super choppy…and when it ends abruptly on “love that’s in my heart and we’ll never part,” it’s kinda welcome.  Like I said at the start here, if there’s not too much goin’ on, there’s really no reason to keep it all going.

You can hear the similarities in the way these short songs are ending, right Campos?  It’s like you’ve reached the end of your thoughts, strum that last chord, let it ring out, end of idea.  I’m not sure that’s gonna cut it time and time again homie.  I like the underground vibe of a track like “Soul” and feel like there is some potential here…but I still feel like in about two years or less, Zachary ain’t gonna want to play a song like this anymore.  What concerns me the most in a track like this one is the lead-in time he takes before the vocals start…because if you’re reading along with his lyrics, you already know exactly where this is gonna go, how he’s gonna sound, and precisely where the words fit.  This is what I’ve been rappin’ about when it comes to talking about gaining perspective in what we create – “Soul” is about as predictable as we can imagine Campos ever being…and I suppose I’m of the mind that art and music is meant to be more challenging & exciting than he’s currently making it seem like it is for him.  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all gotta walk before we can run, and Zachary is still waaaaaaay on the early side of his career in the long run, but it’s also songs like “Flow,” “Waves,” and “Soul” that confirm that more than he’d probably like.  This is where things start to be truthful…these are the blocks that he’ll go on to build something more substantial out of later on down the road.  They’re sturdy enough to be encouraged to keep going, but do you wanna design a square-ass house for commercial use, or do you wanna become a genuine architect that brings something undeniably unique and different to the game?  Vocally, I feel like he’s put in another solid performance on “Soul” and that’s the song’s main strength…the music, I don’t mind it, like I said it’s got a gritty underground vibe to it that I can get behind, even if it’s still a little on the spare side of sound…but yeah man…it’s definitely a cut I could see coming from a mile away after having been immersed in the music of Zachary Campos for what feels like this entire month so far.

“Calm” is a fantastic song, straight up.  Very much like “Spirituality,” not in sound necessarily, but in terms of how Campos has given this song everything it needed to have.  It’s short…which is almost cruel when you find a jam THIS good…and I dunno…I suppose I’m not in love with the lyrics, but I’m not really hatin’ on’em either because it does feel like everything fits the song.  And I like that the man has written this record from a more humble perspective & got a lot more diverse with what he chose to write about as well.  What’s REAL, is that Zachary has once again proven me right, and I love that.  I’ve been tellin’ ya from the first moments that I started reviewing his tunes that he’s got something genuinely special about him…an X-factor personality that’ll take him a long way…an unrivaled desire to make music, and most notably in this particular instance at the end of this EP, he’s got a great voice when he wants to use it.  So here’s what I’d tell Zach…if I was to ask him what his own favorites on this record are, how many of you out there would agree he’s likely to feel the same as I did?  If you’re paying attention to what I’m saying and/or having a listen for yourself, you’ll definitely feel the same as I do, and you betcha, I’m sure that Zachary agrees with me too.  Here’s why – he’s rockin’ with universal sound that’s sincerely appealing AND he’s trying NEW things in each of those songs, to see what he’s capable of.  That’s exciting!  To me, you can feel the energy and the INTEREST in those two tracks the most, and it makes a massive difference in the level of accessibility.  Where things get fun in the art of making music, is discovering what it is you can do…then you take it even further by refining it more & all that good stuff, through time & experience & whatnot.  But look at it this way – he’s proven through the course of this lineup that he’s got both the main ingredients of bigger songs locked down tight in these shorter bursts – now it’s just about putting it together, you know what I mean?  If he wants to primarily be a rapper, then go for it – but realize how short these tracks are, and recognize that a song like “Calm” reveals how strong you can write and supply a hook.  So you see what I’m sayin’ my guy?  You take something like “Waves” and add “Calm” to it, then another “Waves” and another “Calm” to it…verse, hook, verse, hook…that’s the recipe for singles right there yo.  Even as it stands now, I’d be floating what he’s got in “Calm” out there to other rappers to use as the main hook in one of their songs if he isn’t gonna do that himself.  Anyhow.  It can often be the case that we’re the most successful in our craft, or have our most groundbreaking moments, whenever we step the furthest we can outside of our comfort zone.  Listening to “Calm” felt like experiencing a real breakthrough cut in the Campos catalog and I’d definitely encourage the guy to keep going in this direction…and start that band I was talkin’ about earlier.  The more he believes in what he can do, the further he’ll go I can promise ya that…I like where he’s heading right now… armed with Profound Knowledge and a little perspective, this dude’s future is very bright.

Find out more about Zachary Campos at Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/zacharycamposmusic

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