Songs defined by murky, narcotic production choices showed up alongside the most by-the-numbers club bangers on 2013 debut $AP and its reflective 2015 follow-up, AT.$AP, had moments that bordered on dream pop. Third album Testing pushes A$AP's experimental impulses to the forefront, expanding his boundary-pushing tendencies into the album's mission statement. There's an immediate feeling of creative abandon in the swell of subsonic bass that opens the record and leads into the messy, swimming "Distorted Records." Fragmented vocal samples, quick left-turns mid-song, and barely contained tape echo show up over and over again.
This can be as subtle as the dub-like delays on lead single "A$AP Forever" or as extreme as the Kodak Black-assisted "CALLDROPS." Built on a looping sample of obscure acid folk artist Dave Bixby, the mellow, beatless meditation is more a distant sound collage than anything you'd hear on a mainstream rap record.
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