Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & Surf Gang ‘Pompeii // Utility’ Review

Listening to this album makes me want to play Skate 3. Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and Surf Gang come together to give us 33 bouncy indica tracks built for head bobbing and zoning out.

Split double albums, where each artist controls their own side, are rare. Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the most well-known example. But if you’ve been following Earl and MIKE, this pairing makes complete sense. They’ve appeared on each other’s projects in recent years, shared stages, and have both been gravitating toward the same introspective underground rap space. It makes sense that Surf Gang would be the ones to bring them together. The New York-based collective, known for its spacey, syncopated production style, provides a platform here that feels perfectly suited to let both MCs get their bars off. The result is sample-free, mechanical production scattered with rattling sounds throughout, giving the project a scrapbook texture that feels intentional and lived in.

MIKE’s half opens with “The Fall,” a short track that sets the tone immediately, reaching for your goals even when you’re running on empty. Something about it feels comfortable but quietly concerning at the same time. On “Man of the Month” he raps about restlessness and substance, painting a picture of someone running in place. He talks about filming without vision, tripping without falling, it’s hazy but purposeful. The whole side is dreamy and fuzzy, the kind of music that sounds best at 2 am with nowhere to be.

Earl’s half sounds like PlayStation 2 beats on lean. “Don’t Worry” is a standout; it feels like Earl trying something we haven’t heard from him before, delivering his lines with a higher inflection that’s almost carefree. It’s a different energy. Meanwhile, “Sisyphus” pulls in the opposite direction. Earl rapping about the weight of pushing forward when the days blur together. He touches on mythology to talk about something deeply personal: the crash, the bruises, the slow climb back. It hits hard without trying to.

Together, Pompeii // Utility feels like a late-night drive with nowhere to go, unhurried, textured, and best experienced in full. The two sides complement each other without copying each other. MIKE floats, Earl grinds, and Surf Gang holds the whole thing together without ever getting in the way. If you’ve been sleeping on either artist, this is a good place to wake up and listen.