Sam Harkey

One of the best starts to an album I’ve heard this year; “Aey Nehin” through “Bolo Na” is really perfection. The features help to elevate pretty much every track on the record. My only complaint is that the album starts to get repetitive, where the latter tracks don’t hold up to the first half (including “Last Night Reprise”). Overall, I’m extremely impressed and this will be a top 10 record for the year come year end.

Honestly, there were a few tracks that made me nostalgic (“Fuel” and “Guilty Conscience 2”). Besides those bright moments, I found this album to be precisely my issue with “new Eminem”: he’s trying too hard and it comes off stale and corny here.

While definitely becoming a bit more formulaic than their previous two records, Fontaines continue to explore new ways to push forward post-punk, this time through more prog and traditional rock. This is a dip from their last two records, but still contains some of my favorites in their canon, like opener "In ar gCroithe go deo" or "Roman Holiday".

A strong follow-up to Dogrel that sees the band maturing in lyricism and song structure, while continuing to push forward their punk spirit. More morose and intimate, this record solidifies their place as one of the most important post-punk bands of this era.

Extremely whimsical record that actually sees Hiatus Kaiyote experimenting with new genre fusion, with incorporations of smooth jazz and hard rock (even some metal?). While I'm not in love with some tracks on the record, I deeply appreciate the novelty of their explorative nature, even if some of the attempts don't land. It's a good reminder of why they are one of the more important bands of this generation.

I was really impressed with the creativity deeply embedded in this experimental fusion album. Simultaneously and easy and challenging listen, forcing you to be engaged as we sprinkles in some crazy star power into the composition of the songs instead of featuring the artists over the tracks. "Body To Inhabit", "I'll Do Whatever You Want", "Insecurities" and "Kiss Me Before I Forget" are the prime examples, with really awesome interludes like "The Wounded Need To Be Replenished" to carry you from one to the next.

It's easy listening and can definitely rock you to sleep. Unfortunately, it's nothing new or even challenging for them. They more sound fatigued and cathartic as they chase their early successes. However, some tunes like "Crushxd" and "Dust Bunny" are wonderful, so I know they're still capable of better.

Still chasing the high of Golden Hour, I have to tip my hat to her ability to come up with some raw emotional content that fits in well with her last few records, but provides something refreshing. However, this record falls short from time to time with songs that don't do her musicianship enough justice. I know she's capable of more, but this record is still a nice easy listen and I was generally impressed with the content.

The decline for Cage is real. After starting to switch up to a bit poppier direction with Social Cues, they continued seeking out some new directions, but unfortunately at the cost of a real vision for the album. Some tracks really hit, like “Good Time”, “Out Loud”, “Rainbow”, and “Neon Pill”, but overall they appear to be more of a one trick pony in finding what really works for them.

This is a solid follow-up to Juno that finds Remi getting more serious about her musicianship, without losing her quirkiness. I appreciate her changing pace on songs like “Soup” and “Just The Start” while continuing to push out fun party hits like “Toro” and “Frog Rock”. While I wasn’t in love with everything (some songs definitely lack character and the middle of the record runs forgettably), this is a positive sign toward what’s to come.

This was a bit of a head-scratcher. Coming off their most commercially successful album, Glass Animals took the sounds that produced the most streams and just turned it into a 40-minute album. Dave, coming out of a relationship, was primed to take them back up a level to the How To Be A Human Being days of experimentation and raw energy. Instead we got some half-baked over-polished emotional cliches. “Wonderful Nothing” is a banger, though.

I definitely appreciate this heightened sense of maturity in subject matter, but this album isn't dynamic enough to show clear growth in her musicianship. All in all, I really hope her Immunity doesn't end up being her best, because she has undeniable appeal and talent.

To be honest, The Black Keys often leave me feeling conflicted. Typically, I find that the last 5 records (including this one) had some glimpses of brilliance and ripe creativity, but the rest oft fall flat. Ohio Players is the most recent example, where I think the back half carries the front half. Songs like “Paper Crown” remind me of how novel BK can sound, and “Every Time You Leave”, “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” and “Read Em And Weep”’ take us back to previous sounds and experiments and show us they still have the capacity to make some great rock. But many times throughout they made the same attempts and fell short. At the end of the day,… More

Honestly am impressed by the sonic direction and musicality behind that powers this record forward. Unfortunately, I found myself wanting the lyrics to match the energy a little bit better. There are some undeniable jazz rock tracks that set the pace right out of the gate, especially "the fear is not real" and hit single "symptom of life". Unfortunately, the album hits a bit of a lull in the middle, but picks up strongly to close.

Overall was definitely a fan of 3/4 of this record. "Hell is Near" through "Big Time Nothing" did a great job of being playful with many signature sounds of rock, from NIN vibes on "Broken Man" to a more current post-punk sound on "Bit Time Nothing". However, enter the back half of the record and pace slows down, relying on the strength of her lyricism alone, which makes them much more hit-or-miss than the days of Strange Mercy. Definitely satisfied overall with her musical and personal exploration on this record. Very solid.

I appreciate the vision behind the project relating to the 10 commandments in the Torah, but in practice, I found myself getting tired of the sparse smooth jazz. There are definitely some heavier jams like "Soul Spark". However, I was left wanting to hear more of Yosef's impressive musicianship instead of restraint.

Really interesting and engaging progressive rock and experimental music. It gives me some Godspeed, You Black Emperor vibes. It requires multiple listens to pick apart each instruments role in the journey that is each track. Extremely excited for what comes next.

Overall, this record feels uninspired and mildly unimaginative. While I'm a big fan of a darker tone like on "Second Sight" and "Letting Go", as well as some Poolside-esque highlights in "Wait on You" and "Waking Up", I don't find much return value to about half of the album. We are so far from the days of High Times and even Mister Mellow. At least there's a clear vision with this record.

Extremely solid album. As per usual, she showed great restraint throughout the record, which creates some powerful tracks like "Bittersuite" and "Lunch" to match the obvious hits of "L'amour de ma vie" and "Birds of a feather". However, I found myself wanting slightly more out of her on several tracks that held me back from rating this higher. Definitely one of the better 3.5/5 albums of the year, though. I'm waiting for "the one" out of her that really shows the growth and experimentation I know she's capable of showcasing.

This album has a little bit of everything, so it’s near impossible to not enjoy in some capacity. Calculated and cohesive, there’s very few misses. Most tracks showcase the individual musicians’ artistry that finds the collective group feeling conviction toward their experimentation at the heart of the record. Definitely much room to grow from a lyrical and songwriting standpoint, but an impressive debut nonetheless.

Bad. Pretty corny and heartless. The features don't add too much minus a couple of standpoints from Lil Wayne, Westside Gunn, and surprisingly Kanye.

Not much to write home about here. Headie One has been an artist that has ridden the coattails of other Drill and UK Hip-Hop artists for a while, being able to secure some creative and high fidelity collaborators. The outcome: diluted "hip-pop". I will get it credit, the album has cohesiveness and consistency, just not at a very high bar. it's easy listening for the most part, but a listen through in one swing is a challenge.

This album feels all over the place, which is at least consistent with the window into Matt's brain that he's allowed us to see over the years. Overall, there may be one of two tracks that I'll return to, with about half the record being promising. The other half, not so much.

I thought this was solid. A few good country and prog pop tunes to come back to, but I also found some tracks to completely miss the mark. At the end of the day, I was left wanting more out of their 1st record in 11 years.

The production is consistently great on this. However, it's still missing the magic of 99.9%. The features are more hit or miss and some of the instrumentals struggle to get anywhere. The front half of the record (minus "Dance Dance Dance Dance") is really terrific and there are consistently enough bangers that you don't have to wait too long between them. This is definitely an album to be experienced live, just like Bubba. Overall satisfactory, but not wowing me.

It took a couple of listens for this album to start really clicking with me, but now I really appreciate it. Opting for much sparser production and a smoother sonic landscape, this album really needed tracks to be mostly be under 3 min. I love the dichotomy of a darker side to .Paak's vocals over "baby-making music". Most of the features were spot on and the album plays through tremendously well. However, a couple of things that hold it back are that there isn't enough sonic diversity to make some tracks stick out from the rest and sometimes the length of the tracks leaves some tunes feeling half-baked. Overall, an awesome experience and a satisfactory follow-up to Yes, Lawd!

A classic that pumps so much energy into your blood, you're ready to flip a car.

A true formative album for techno, big room, and the 90s/00s rave scene. I would do just about anything to see them live.

To me, this is when Bowie really started hitting his stride, where you get assurance that he's going to a force to reckon with. Opting for more of a traditional rock direction with some baroque and glam elements, songs like "The Width of a Circle", "Black Country Rock" and obviously "The Man Who Sold the World" showcase his songwriting and composing ability. Obviously this was a wonderful tee-up toward the next stretch of records...

To me, this is when Bowie was really starting to find his voice. Yes, it's very hit or miss, but you get some classics like "Space Oddity", "Letter to Hermione", and "Cygnet Committee".