Local Review: Bad Luck Brigade — NOTHING
Local Music Reviews
Bad Luck Brigade
NOTHING
Self-Released
Street: 02.13.2026
Bad Luck Brigade = Thundercat + Mac Miller
On the day before Valentine’s Day and Friday the 13th, Bad Luck Brigade gifted us with their much anticipated album. Clocking in at just over 35 minutes, NOTHING feels like a fresh take on the beloved SLC Hip Hop group that Utah has come to love since early 2022. This collection of 11 tracks springboards off the success of the band’s three previous EPs and dives into new territory.
NOTHING guides the listener through stories of trying to make a splash in Utah’s (sometimes competitive) music scene, falling in love and perhaps #hopecore. Honestly, this album is sexy with its synths, guitar and horns and vocals. Take, for example, the album’s intro track, “THE 4 LOKO MOTIVE,” which has a sort of lo-fi bedroom pop sound, slightly atypical for Bad Luck Brigade, but very much welcomed. The second track, “A LITTLE,” had me asking myself: have these boys found love? Kilow raps, “Shit, I got a lot of loving / I can give you just a little.” Love? Ew gross!
Track three, “FREE CIGS” feels nostalgic with its expansive horns and guitar that shifts back and forth between sounding distant and right up in your ear. Bad Luck Brigade executes this with an effortless sort of “The Way That I Do” by Durand Jones & The Indications vibe. “GET TOGETHER” returns to the classic acoustic guitar tone that meshes with the bongos and vocals in a way unique to the BLB boys. “SHADED” has some of the most happy-go-lucky, #hopecore instrumentals heard from the group, simultaneously featuring some of my favorite lyrics from the whole album: “I said that I’mma give ‘em hell / turning all my cowboys into communists.” This song and the next few tracks, “JACKPOT!,” “SHARING” and “CHANGE TOO” seem to be about navigating relationships with the music industry and the huzz.
However, “MY GOD” stands out from the rest of NOTHING. The track creates an atmospheric layering of driving drums, groovy guitar and booming backing vocals. Put simply, it sounds like being abducted by extraterrestrials. The bright synth cuts above the rest of the mix in an almost cosmic, spacey and fuzzy manner, which establishes the otherworldly nature of the song. Around the three and a half minute mark, you can even hear the scream of agony as the bug-eyed alien takes a chunk out of your head.
If one song summed up the whole album, that would be “LOVER FIGHTER.” It features the best of Bad Luck Brigade’s iconic vocal style and punk-y attitude, but if you turned the groove up a couple notches. The first half is a chill beat chugging along. However, around minute 3 everything but the percussion cuts out and Kilow’s delivery turns punchier, rapping: “go ahead and let the junkies off the leash.” Even just the name, “LOVER FIGHTER” reflects the lyrical content of the album. Bad Luck Brigade has “got a lot of loving” and is fighting to cut through the noise and garner attention for their music.
Finally, Bad Luck Brigade gives us a little unsuspected Valentine’s Day treat. “EASY (SUNDAY THE 15TH)” reimagines the classic Lionel Richie song “Easy” in a way that shows how meticulous and detail oriented the group is. Halfway through the song, a sort of spoken word bridge comes on saying: “came across so many Fridays some are bound to wind up on 13ths and I guess it’s just up to me to decide what that means.”
Ultimately, NOTHING is an easy listen. The tracks are sexy, but punk-y with some attitude and a whole lot of groove. This album has something for everyone and will be on repeat in my house for months to come. —Hazel Paul
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