Knoxville’s Rellyo Bambini doesn’t make albums so much as build neon worlds you can get lost in. Cloned & Upgraded, Insert Soul Here (Rebirth Edition) is a full-on sci-fi mood board turned into sound, with dark electronic, psychedelic hip-hop, and futuristic rock stitched together with the big question hanging over every track—what’s left of “real” when everything can be copied, tweaked, and resold?
Right from the start with “Big Bad Love,” Bambini brings a catchy, thumping beat, wrapped in shimmery haze, and the voice slides in with pop-level stickiness, singing, “With you by my side, I can conquer it all… Oh, your friends are so fine, but it’s you I crave.” It’s sweet, devoted, and immediately replayable—like a love song beamed through a cracked visor.
Then the album starts bending genres like it’s bored with straight lines. “The Story of Oedipus” is the glitchy gut-punch, with buzzing, gritty, grating rhythm patterns that graze your ears on purpose, while a melancholic delivery threads through the chaos. The shrill falsetto gets properly heady against the vibrant pulse, and the refrain—“You’re finally free”—lands like a coded message in a dystopian corridor.
By “Intensely Last Lost Love,” the record pivots into defeated, dreamy propulsion. The drive builds slowly, the voice stays measured and worn-out, and somehow it’s still catchy.
Later, “Semi Truck Driving” hits with punchy synthwave swagger, the beat snapping in perfect sync to lock you into a specific side-to-side sway. It’s highway music for a cyberpunk night run.
And when “Scammer’s Anthem” arrives, Bambini flips the whole thing into pure confidence, with thumping beats, catchy riffs, and energy. It’s got that “Uptown Funk” bounce.
The best part about Cloned & Upgraded… is how it refuses to be one thing. It’s messy, cinematic, funny, bruised, and bold—like a future where the machines learned to feel, then put on sunglasses about it.
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Review by: Naomi Joan