By Cristian Padilla
The cover of “Pinball II” by MIKE & Tony Seltzer. Photo from MIKE & Tony Seltzer’s Bandcamp.
“Pinball II” is the successor to “Pinball” by MIKE & Tony Seltzer. With a runtime of 33 minutes and a tracklist of 17 songs, we can only hope the duo ran it back with even more great music.
MIKE, a somewhat underground artist, has been garnering a lot of attention recently. His alternative style, flow and overall consistency have been launching him into stardom. With his new release “Pinball II” with Tony Seltzer, he’s proving himself to be one of the best out right now.
“Pinball II”, released May 7, uses heavy 808s, pitch changes and the artists’ charisma to establish itself as one of the best albums to come out of 2025. While MIKE is impressive, both lyrically and vocally, the album exceeds expectations because of Seltzer’s beats. His unique style, similar to the rage beats in hip-hop right now, blows you away with its heavy bass. It’s a lot of bass. However, there are so many layers to the beats: sampling, beat switches and what you can tell is genuine love for the sport that shines through.
Then MIKE comes in. While he might not be some people’s cup of tea, he truly is doing something we’ve never seen before. Starting out in the abstract hip-hop scene alongside artists like Billy Woods and Earl Sweatshirt, he has grown into his own as an artist with a cult-like fanbase. When he decided to collaborate with Seltzer on “Pinball”, he completely switched up his game. Now on the successor, he shows his growth and talent.
He shows off his unstoppable flow on the opening track “Sin City.” He continues this trend throughout the project. The way he bounces off other artists is incredible on songs like “Shaq & Kobe” with Niontay and “Jumanji” alongside Earl Sweatshirt. The song that sells the project as a whole is “Jumanji.” Earl jumps in mean, as many expect him to.
The whole project is a great successor to “Pinball”. Now, while I did enjoy it, it’s not “Pinball”. “Pinball” had charisma that was almost matched here. Almost. One of the great things about the original was that it was new, fresh, something MIKE had been experimenting with on features, but never to an extended degree. Also, he sounded hungrier on the original with the need to prove himself and show people who he really was. That he deserved his newfound fame. Now with “Pinball II”, he seems to be comfortable.
On top of that, most of the songs blend into each other. Very similar, with decent variation between tracks. It’s just not enough though.
Overall, I give this album an 8 out of 10. It’s a good listen for most and a great addition to MIKE’s discography. For people who are already fans of either artist, it’s great to see them spin back one more time for some fun songs.
About: Cristian Padilla (He/They) listens to a lot of music. He likes new music and, on occasion, older music. He writes about things he enjoys such as music. Some of his hobbies are listening to music, and scrolling on Pinterest listening to music. He is also a casual film enjoyer, who specifically likes Dragonball while having music in the background.