Awful Records are a tough bunch to pin down. For starters, there are fifteen of them, and everyone seems to drop a new project every three or four months. Then there's the fact they seem to lack a unifying sound, all going off in their own directions, each one seemingly more leftfield than the next. While this might give some managers and industry folk headaches, for listeners, it's a definite blessing. Take a week to get acquainted with one Awful project, and by the time you check back on their SoundCloud, three new ones will have surfaced.
Lead by the raunchy minimalist Father, whose "Look At Wrist" has been the squad's biggest hit to date, Awful's many members make music that ranges from traditionalist boom-bap to drugged-out trap, and even to electronic-leaning drum 'n bass. Scattered, generally unpolished and unapologetically weird, the music of Awful Records is an outlier, even in an Atlanta that's currently producing colorful characters like Young Thug and Trinidad Jame$ left and right. They're in their own lane and recognize it, as Father has said that nobody's looking to sign record deals at this point. Instead, most of Awful's catalog is available for purchase on Bandcamp.
Read on to get a full roundup of each and every Awful release to date (at least all of the ones that are readily available online), and a brief description of each members' sound. Five of the core members were on hand to speak about their own music, so that provides an interesting insider perspective on some of these. It's also worth noting that artists like iLoveMakonnen and Tyler Major, though frequent collaborators of Awful artists, are not included here.
Check out our recent interview with Father, Archibald Slim and Playboi Carti below.