Cordavision Music Reviews

The perfect example of saving the best for last. Okay, I’ve officially covered only one vaporwave project ever, and that was my favorite one, Late Night Delight from luxury elite and Saint Pepsi. I consider death's dynamic shroud.wmv to be one of the more influential acts in vaporwave still around next to luxury elite, but what I didn’t know was that dds dropped a whopping eleven albums this year. No, I’m not going to cover all of them, but since the final album in this series, Faith in Persona , was the one that hit my radar (and seemingly other’s radars), I’ll cover this one. Let’s get into it. To know some fan opinions about this album, I dove back into the vaporwave community long after my phase in that community came to an end. People are saying that this whole dds series, especially this album, is the second coming of vaporwave. Honestly, while I may not agree with that statement, I kinda understand why. It’s also probably dds’s grooviest album yet, mainly because I found my

You know, we might as well close out the year with an Alchemist film score. Why not? As I said above, this just came out of nowhere for me. The Alchemist, arguably one of the most prolific producers in music right now, has been on an insane hot streak in 2021 alone. Only one week after his second album with Boldy James this year, he released his first film score to accompany Jason Goldwatch’s short film of the same name, Cycles . Let's get into my thoughts of Alc’s score. I actually really enjoy how unsettling this album is. I watched the short film that this score is a part of, and it’s pretty surreal. The score reminds me a lot of the video game Subnautica’s score, in a very weird way. I don’t know how I made those connections, and I honestly can’t even provide a good example from the game to bolster that point, but it just reminds me of it. The film itself seems like a cult initiation, and Alc’s score seems fit to do that. Yes, it’s a shorter review because it’s a shorter album,

If you want to see my spoiler-free review of the movie Candyman , click right here ! Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe has been working under the Lichens name since 2004, but this is the first I had heard of him. After doing some research, I had found that he had worked with the late Jóhann Jóhannsson and the composer for Joker’s score, Hildur Guðnadóttir on an entire album. After seeing what I think is one of the best horror movies of 2021, Nia DaCosta’s brilliant Candyman sequel, I just had to review Lowe’s score. Granted, I saw the movie when it first released and haven’t seen it yet, but right when I saw the menacing cover art for it, I was entranced (heh). So, let’s get into Lowe’s Candyman score. Like another score this year, Jonny Greenwood’s contributions to Spencer , Lowe does a masterful job at personifying absolute dread throughout the album. Hints of original composer Philip Glass’s material are here too, but they’re typically drowned by noise in spine-chilling fashion. In the film

Better late than never, I guess. I had never heard of electronic act Sam Shepherd, better known as Floating Points, before this album, but he’s been acclaimed for a little bit now. However, if you’ve caught the eye of Pharoah Sanders, one of the most influential jazz musicians ever, you must be doing something right. Along with working with the London Symphony Orchestra, Floating Points and Sanders ended up releasing an entire album together, titled Promises . Before its release, it was being hyped up as the return of Pharoah Sanders. It ended up slipping past me because of a busy schedule, but I knew I had to cover this before 2021 was up. So, let’s not waste any more time because enough was wasted already. Is this an album? Is this a song? It’s honestly tough to tell what it is, but either way, it’s fucking beautiful. I mean, damn. I’m kind of at a loss for words while writing this. Floating Points really makes you float on this ambient/jazz fusion experience, and the performances fr

This album is why I wait to do my album of the year lists officially until 2022. It goes without question that Nas is one of the best to ever do it, and after a little bit of a lull in his discography, he’s had a comeback of sorts. 2018’s NASIR wasn’t all that great, but 2020’s Grammy-winning King’s Disease and its 2021 sequel are great showings that are all aging incredibly well. His new partnership with producer Hit-Boy has been instrumental in the later stages of his career and it’s been pretty great to listen to. On Christmas Eve, we got a surprise release from Nas titled Magic . Once again, it’s entirely produced by Hit-Boy and has a feature from A$AP Rocky, along with scratches and extra production from DJ Premier. Let’s get into Magic , which has been an odd theme so far this week. I don’t remember the last time a rap album made me this mad. Like, how is Nas this good this late in his career? I enjoy that this is short too, only 9 songs and less than a half-hour. It’s almost l

To read my review of the first album she dropped this past month, The Makin’ Magick Album II , click right here ! Alright, there isn’t gonna be much lead-up to this one because it was mainly done in the first review, but to sum it up, DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ is quickly becoming one of my favorite producers ever. Her previous two albums, 2020’s Charmed and the other album released on the same day as this, The Makin’ Magick Album II , are some of my favorite electronic albums in recent memory. Now, we have the wonderful Christmas gift of covering not one but two DJ Sabrina albums. Let’s get into my thoughts on the second album, The Other Realm . See, having to review two albums from the same artist in one day is a little tough. I have to admit, seeing Sabrina go ambient on the opening track “Transcendence” is a welcome surprise. I know we have a working formula in DJ Sabrina’s music, but the ever-so slight change without completely diverging from her sound tends to work in their favor

We’re gonna close off 2021 with a massive series of reviews, starting with this magical one here. This past March, I reviewed what was possibly one of the best electronic albums in recent memory, and that’s the nearly three-hour epic Charmed from London producer DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. I didn’t say it in my review, but after listening to Charmed quite a bit, I could honestly say it’s up there with one of my favorite albums ever and I think it’d eventually be as influential as The Avalanches’s debut project, Since I Left You . After dropping the Charmed review [and receiving a very kind message from Sabrina herself], that’s when I took the deep dive on her discography. Luckily, just as I finished it, I saw that not one but TWO new albums dropped. The second review will drop a little bit later today, but the first album is the sequel to her first full-length project, Makin’ Magick . So, let’s just jump into The Makin’ Magick II Album . For shits and giggles, I’m gonna run back to t

Cache Saturday is a series of unranked reviews where I’m gonna catch up on albums I’ve listened to, whether it’s for the first time or not. I’ll also cover new albums I’ve missed from earlier or were cut from my schedule. Also, they’ll all be done in one paragraph. This week’s entry is the return of Tierra Whack in the form of three EPs: Rap? , Pop? , and R&B? . See, how do I review three separate EPs in one paragraph? It’s a neat little thing called compartmentalizing. The titles of these projects are very self-explanatory. Three tracks of rap, three tracks of pop, and three tracks of R&B. It’s a novel concept, and especially after the insanely creative one-minute track gimmick of her debut album Whack World, it’s nice to see creativity shining through this relatively new artist. However, I do feel like Tierra’s punching a little bit under her weight here. The reason why I think this is so listenable is that it’s Tierra on these songs. She knows her way a beat and if these pro

If you want to see my spoiler-free review of the movie The Matrix Resurrections , click right here ! Okay, I’ve never been that giant of a Matrix fan. My thoughts above will showcase my thoughts on Resurrections on its own, but it never really clicked with me as a franchise. The music, however, really has. The first three films were scored by Don Davis and are beloved by fans, myself included. However, he didn’t return for this. Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer ended up scoring this instead. While Klimek is a newcomer to the Lana Wachowski camp, Tykwer has been working with Wachowski since the early 2000s. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into the score for The Matrix Resurrections . Look, I have to admit. Hearing the opening chime in high quality was exciting, Matrix fan or not. Although, it does seem pretty odd why Don Davis wasn’t asked back, similar to why Laurence Fishburne wasn’t asked back to be in the movie itself. They were both available, so why not? I will say that Kli

If you want to see my spoiler-free review of the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home , click right here ! Really? At this point, was I not going to cover this? Either way, Michael Giacchino has been one of the most in-demand film composers working right now. He’s had his handprints on nearly every modern franchise still going today like Star Wars , Mission: Impossible , Jurassic Park , Planet of the Apes , and Star Trek , along with Pixar’s most memorable movies like Up and The Incredibles . Most of all, he’s been very involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even composing the fanfare that has opened every installment since 2016’s Doctor Strange , which he composed as well. Hell, the bits of his upcoming score for The Batman is already memorable. Giacchino has composed the other Spider-Man films in the MCU, so let’s just say he has the experience. Let’s not waste any more time and get into the score for No Way Home . A constant theme in all of Giacchino’s scores is that the titles are

Oh boy, do I love dog rock. I have to admit, Japanese rock is crossing into new territory for me. I know I’ve heard CHAI and even reviewed their last album, but I’m not immersed in the genre. I’ve always heard the name tricot thrown around as one of the best J-rock groups, and when I was looking around, I saw that they had actually dropped a new album last week titled 上出来 (Jodeki) . I really don’t have a good intro for this other than this is the first time I’m hearing tricot, and I feel like this could be exciting. Let’s get into it. If I had to describe this with any word, it’d be vibrant. tricot seem to know exactly what they’re doing on this album and it actually sounds very innovative. In an odd way, it actually reminds me of Car Seat Headrest if they did math rock. That just might be one of the music-nerdiest sentences I’ve ever written, but it makes more sense in my head. I also loved the group’s vocals a lot too. They really know how to capture the atmosphere of the song and it

Alc did say he wasn’t done with 2021… Yeah, yeah. The Alchemist and Boldy James don’t need any more introductions. I’ve talked about both of them multiple times on this site. Separately, they’ve been on a roll recently, dropping project after project that really can’t be stopped. As a duo, though, this is their fifth project together and each of the past four have been either good or great. This new surprise release, Super Tecmo Bo , has really gotten me excited about the finale of the duo’s great 2021 run. Let’s get into Super Tecmo Bo . You know, going into this, I thought this was just going to be a project of b-sides from their last album together, Bo Jackson , but this really is its own project. Oddly enough, I actually enjoy this more than Bo Jackson . Like the other albums [and EP] they’ve done together, Boldy James was born to rap over Alc’s beats. Alc has really mastered the loop game on this album, even if he’s mastered it in the past. It’s that good. Boldy’s storytelling alw

I just wanna know what’s in the box. (I’ll see myself out.) Ever since Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial dropped just before the pandemic set in, Roddy Ricch has been one of the most exciting ‘new generation’ rappers working right now. PEMFBA was chock full of hits and Roddy himself was just great to listen to. He was one of the only rappers that just clicked suddenly with their debut album. Ever since then, I’ve been waiting for whatever his second album would hold. Now, we have that in the form of LIVE LIFE FAST . Did Roddy live up to the hype on this? Let’s get into it. Right when I had started this album, I knew what my biggest issue was going to be: It was pretty boring. Not to say that it was bad at all, which it mainly wasn’t, but I’d like to bring up something called ‘Drake syndrome.’ His album from earlier this year, Certified Lover Boy , is an album that I overall enjoyed [which I guess is a hot take], but it didn’t take a lot of creative risks. The features here oversh

Cache Saturday is a series of unranked reviews where I’m gonna catch up on albums I’ve listened to, whether it’s for the first time or not. I’ll also cover new albums I’ve missed from earlier or were cut from my schedule. Also, they’ll all be done in one paragraph. This week’s entry is a side project from Weezer, everyone’s favorite band (100% accurate), OK Human . I’m mainly doing this for a friend of mine because I had actually skipped this album since it was released all the way back in January of this year. Along with that, Van Weezer is one of the worst albums of the year, so it made me push back listening to this album. After finally listening to this, I can say that I’m not sure why I doubted this. This album is great, actually. What I enjoy about it the most is the production. I know that an issue on some albums has been overproduction, but I don’t think it’s an issue here. It sounds great here and it’s probably one of the best-produced albums of 2021. Even with the sometimes

I wouldn’t be mad if you told me that this had the best feature list of 2021. You wanna know something crazy? I was in the minority on Russ’s last project, the CHOMP EP he put out last year. I honestly think it’s one of the best EPs of 2020 and deserves much more love, even if I loved more of the features on it than Russ himself. It seems like it’ll be more of the same with Chomp 2 , now a full-length album. The features here are stacked and includes Jadakiss, Jay Electronica, Big Sean, Wale, Lloyd Banks, Conway The Machine, Ghostface Killah, Styles P, The Game, Westside Gunn, Papoose, Ransom, and more. It’s pretty nice, so let’s just get right into Chomp 2 . Let me ask you a question. Look at the features above and then look at Russ. Is he carried throughout the entire project? I believe so, and if I’m being totally honest, so would most people. I like Russ as a rapper, he’s cool, so sure, I understand why he’s gotten all of these features. If I’m being totally honest, Russ does show

I don’t know why he changed the cover at the last second, it was much better. Is it safe to say that Rick Ross is a legend at this point? Hell, the words ‘Maybach’ and ‘Music’ put together remind me of Ross now. That’s a big deal. Either way, Ross has just been vibing for the past few years, making music for himself, and I honestly respect that. Ross has hit that point in the career where he doesn’t exactly have to do everything to stay in the limelight because he made it. Unless something really bad happens, he isn’t going anywhere any time soon. He recently dropped a new album, Richer Than I Ever Been , and it’s a nice change of pace, mainly because it’s only 12 tracks. Let’s just not waste time and get into it. Honestly, what else do I even have to say about Ross? He’s essentially doing his thing. I think 21 Savage has one of his best verses ever on “Outlawz” and the beat on “The Pulitzer” is absolutely insane. The chorus on “Wiggle” made me audibly laugh the first time I heard it,

I just wanna play Shadow of the Colossus now. For obvious reasons, I’m not the biggest fan of posthumous albums. They usually end up being cash grabs. Yes, we have rare exceptions like Life After Death , The Shining , and Circles out there, but we also have Faith , Bad Vibes Forever , and Duets: The Final Chapter . Since Juice WRLD tragically passed away in 2019, it seems like his label has been exploiting him and his music. It’s not as obvious as XXXTENTACION’s estate, but it’s still there. The first posthumous release, Legends Never Die , was admittedly a grower on me, yet it’s still plain as day that they’re just putting out music for the sake of using his name. Now, with Fighting Demons, it seems like it’s going to be the same. Let’s get into it. I have to admit, I’m very surprised at the minimal amount of features on this. Posthumous albums like this tend to be loaded with features, so in a way, I appreciate this for just mainly being a Juice project. That being said, I do think

Cache Saturday is a series of unranked reviews where I’m gonna catch up on albums I’ve listened to, whether it’s for the first time or not. I’ll also cover new albums I’ve missed from earlier or were cut from my schedule. Also, they’ll all be done in one paragraph. This week’s entry is Lancey Foux’s long-awaited mixtape, LIVE.EVIL . I gotta admit, this was a fun project. Only off of one project, I really enjoy Foux as an artist and I enjoy that a lot. I think he has a lot of potential to become a huge name in trap. The production is pretty great here, but Lancey’s the one who stands out the most to me. He has a great personality that gives a lot of energy to some of the less hard-hitting beats, and the features from Lil Yachty and 24kGolden are pretty nice too! Even if there are only a couple tracks that didn’t hit with me, it’s certain to me that Lancey Foux has a great future ahead of him and he’ll certainly be on my radar for it. Listen here YouTube Music LIVE.EVIL is a Human Resou

kiCK iiiii concludes Arca Week on a very luscious note. Okay, after hearing the major differences between KicK iii and iiii , I honestly had no idea what to expect for the final entry in the KiCK series, and boy was I wrong. This is essentially a modern classical album done by an electronic music producer. It’s certainly something I’ve never heard of, but it’s a welcome one. Like the last one, there’s a lot of ambient references too. Arcambient? Let’s go with that. It’s mainly instrumental pieces, and I honestly don’t know how else to explain it. It acts as a very fitting conclusion and a very fitting end to an ambitious project. Conclusion: On the day of the final album’s release, Arca put out a statement about the release of the series. Part of it read ‘For me it is a cycle, like most phenomena in the universe. A prenatal KiCk is the first undeniable evidence that there exists an individual with an expression distinct from one’s mother and father. through this kick, this gesture o

Arca Week rounds third base with kick iiii , if that analogy even works in this context. After KicK iii being the most abrasive and experimental of the bunch so far, kick iiii certainly distances itself from that. iiii is certainly the most relaxed of the bunch, with much more ambient and pop influences throughout it. Even though there are vocals on here, it feels like each aspect is like instruments playing with one another. There’s been controversy with this one about this being the weakest because of this, along with the demo-like qualities of this installment in general, but that’s actually why I like it so much. It feels like an ever-evolving live set, and I think it’s a welcome change in this series so far. I’ve also found out that this is a great album to do work to or study to, as I have finals this week and it’s been a pretty calming album to listen to. Overall, kick iiii is a come-down from the insanity of KicK iii , but the rough-around-the-edges qualities of iiii set i

Arca Week continues with KicK iii , where I start to feel the tiniest bit sorry for straight people. You know, as I said with KICK ii yesterday, I was kind of disappointed by it and I actually got pretty worried about the rest of this week-long trek. Luckily, in casual terms, THIS SHIT SLAPS. Holy christ, man. This might be Arca’s best album. It’ll be hard to top this one. Even though I had said that KICK ii was experimental, that might as well be top 40 pop compared to this. It’s so loud and abrasive that it could honestly pass as a harsh noise outside of an electronic album. Along with that, she’s rapping on this. Like, rapping on it incredibly well. My personal favorite track has to be the instrumental “Fiera,” which genuinely might be one of my favorite songs of the year right now. It’s genuinely psychedelic and if you’re not into this kind of music, it will be very VERY hard for you to get into it. If KICK ii was the countdown, KicK iii is the explosion. This is truly incredib

Arca Week starts today! Tuesday-Friday will cover all four new KICK albums, and I will give my ratings on each album on Friday. Let’s start with KICK ii , the first album to my knowledge that samples Among Us . This is gonna be the only review with an intro, so I’ll just get it out of the way now. Arca is one of the most creative producers working right now. I could honestly go on and on about how many new sounds I’ve heard from her, but that would take forever. The first album in this series, KiCk i , catapulted her into worldwide fame, even getting the chance to work with artists like Frank Ocean and Lady Gaga. Now, in a new experiment specifically to torment my review schedule, Arca has released FOUR NEW ALBUMS in the KICK series. I’ll be covering them one at a time and ranking them on Friday. So, let’s get into KICK ii . In her past albums, there were hints of experimental reggaeton and I enjoyed the little bits of that sound, but here, she goes all in on this sound. Oddly enough

Y’all have to keep me up to date on these surprise drops, I’ve been busy these past few days. Mach-Hommy is a bit of an enigma. Even after what’s considered his highest-profile drop and highest commercially successful project yet in the form of Pray for Haiti earlier this year, he’s still miraculously kept an extremely low profile. The verses he contributed to Westside Gunn’s sprawling Hitler Wears Hermes 8 were top-of-the-line Mach, and even though he’s gone as far as dropping a whopping nine projects in a calendar year, I didn’t expect to hear any new solo material from him any time soon. I guess he proved me wrong with the surprise release of Balens Cho (Hot Candles) , so let’s not waste any more time and get into it. Like on Pray for Haiti , there are many nods to Mach’s own Haitian culture in the form of 50 seconds worth of interludes, and even if Mach’s lyrics aren’t as coded as his older projects, you cannot deny how well-versed he is. ‘Chain snatching to DMCA, either way your

Cache Saturday is a series of unranked reviews where I’m gonna catch up on albums I’ve listened to, whether it’s for the first time or not. I’ll also cover new albums I’ve missed from earlier or were cut from my schedule. Also, they’ll all be done in one paragraph. This week’s entry is the comeback (at the time) of one of the most beloved electronic and plunderphonics groups ever, The Avalanches, with their second album, Wildflower . For those that don’t know, plunderphonics is a subgenre of electronic music where songs are entirely composed of samples, and The Avalanches are masters of their craft. Their most recent album, We Will Always Love You (which celebrates its first anniversary today), actually earned the Cordavision brand’s first perfect score. If I’m being honest, The Avalanches has one of the best discographies of any band working right now. Wildflower is the feeling of that one summer you don’t want to end wrapped in one album. The beat on “Frankie Sinatra” with Danny Br

By the way, I’m very happy Droog beat the ‘sounds like Nas’ allegations. Your Old Droog is a relatively new name in the rap landscape to me, but with his other three drops from this year, including the incredibly personal TIME , which is one of the best rap albums of this year, I was excited for whatever Droog would drop next. The bar was set incredibly high a couple weeks ago because of the mind-melting single “Meteor Man” with Lil Ugly Mane and billy woods. With Space Bar , can Droog continue his hot streak and close out his stellar 2021 with a bang? Let’s find out. Similar to TIME , this has a loose concept about space. I’d honestly call it an aesthetic more than a concept, but it works in favor of what Droog is going for. With production from SadhuGold, 88 Keys, Nicholas Craven, and Elaquent, it sets an incredible soundscape for this intergalactic journey. His writing is still just as good as always, and even if I do personally prefer TIME , there’s still a cool atmosphere here to

Ah, yes. Finally back in jazz rap. If you look at R.A.P. Ferreira’s discography, you wouldn’t see that much there. However, he’s been putting out projects under different names like Milo and Scallops Hotel since at least 2011. The Chicago-born poet and rapper recently hit my radar with 2020’s Purple Moonlight Pages (which will be covered in a Cache Saturday installment next month) and bob's son: R​.​A​.​P. Ferreira in the garden level cafe of the scallops hotel from earlier this year, and while I liked both of those projects, they weren’t absolute knockouts to me. I was waiting for that project still, so I was excited to hear that his next project, titled The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures , would be arriving so soon. Let’s get into it. I’ll start with what I liked the most here, and that’s the jazzy, atmospheric beats. Save for Eldon, I hadn’t even heard of any of the producers that Ferreira worked with on here. Argov, Brendon Caroselli, Gibbsfreelance, Pink Navel, and

Cache Saturday is a new series of unranked reviews where I’m gonna catch up on albums I’ve listened to, whether it’s for the first time or not. I’ll also cover new albums I’ve missed from earlier or were cut from my schedule. Also, they’ll all be done in one paragraph. Here’s the first entry, Jon Batiste’s Grammy-nominated WE ARE . Woooow, how have I not heard his solo work yet? I know he’s also nominated and won for his work on the score for Pixar’s Soul, but this is just great. I’m pretty sure Batiste has a degree as a jazz pianist and it shows here. I love all the influences here like funk, soul, hip-hop, and gospel, yet it doesn’t feel like any of them. I could also tell Batiste is from New Orleans, mainly because the sound just feels born from it. Most of all, it just feels genuine. It feels like there’s a talented man at work here and it shows across the board. No wonder Batiste is the most nominated artist at this year’s Grammys. Listen here YouTube Music WE ARE is a Verve rele

I adore the abstract cover art of this. It’s like seeing a picture of the inside of a volcano, but when you zoom in, the quality goes down and it becomes fuzzy. Okay, okay. I know it’s two short EP reviews in a row, but I’ve been busy, alright? I’ve just really wanted to cover this. Iconic New Jersey producer Clams Casino recently dropped Winter Flower , a beat tape that certainly caught my attention because, well, it’s new Clams Casino. I like him. There was a pretty big part of this that caught me off guard of this project, and that was that this is very skeletal and each track is pretty short. It’s something new to hear from Clams, at least to me it is, and it’s pretty cool. One thing I’ve always appreciated about a good amount of his work, and especially on here, is that it truly does work on its own. Sure, you could probably put a rapper like Yung Lean over it and it could work, but it still works just as well as instrumentals. Overall, Winter Flower is something I’d never compla

Earlier this week, the official nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards were finally revealed, and even if you think the Grammys aren’t hot shit anymore, I think it’s a big deal for newer artists. Having that ‘Grammy-nominated’ or ‘Grammy-winning’ stamp in front of your name is huge for smaller artists or artists who haven’t won Grammys yet. So, I’m gonna go through every major category and the categories I care about and list the nominees, who I think should win, and what I think will win in said category. Let’s get into it. Album of the Year Jon Batiste - WE ARE Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga - Love for Sale Justin Bieber - Justice Doja Cat - Planet Her Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever H.E.R. - Back of My Mind Lil Nas X - MONTERO Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR Taylor Swift - Evermore Kanye West - Donda What Will Win?: SOUR What Should Win?: Donda or MONTERO Record of the Year ABBA - “I Still Have Faith in You” Jon Batiste - “Freedom” Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - “I Get a Kick Out of You” Justi

It’s wild to see someone like Mach-Hommy on the same project as H.E.R. and Thundercat. Alright, short project, short review. KAYTRANADA, who recently swept last year’s dance/electronic categories with his last album, a masterpiece titled Bubba , dropped a 3-track EP, Intimidated , and mostly has the features that I’d expect with KAYTRANADA. Thundercat would most likely work on paper and a H.E.R. collaboration has happened in the past and worked, but the biggest surprise here is Mach-Hommy, one of the most mysterious figures in underground rap right now, being on this type of production. The H.E.R. track is probably my favorite song on here, mainly because of its slickness and because she gels really well with his bouncy sound. The Thundercat track sadly might be my least favorite, but that’s not a knock against him at all because he’s a genuine talent and maybe it’ll grow on me soon. The Mach-Hommy track is honestly pretty nice too, and I don’t have access to the entirety of Mach’s dis

This may not be true, but I saw that 500,000 copies of vinyl of this are being made just for the U.S. alone for this week. Good god. Okay, Adele doesn’t need any type of introduction whatsoever. Honestly, just look at the sentence above. That many copies sold on a dying format is gonna be nuts and this album will easily have the biggest opening week of the year and at least since HER LAST ALBUM, 2015’s 25 . Either way, it’s a pretty huge deal that Adele is back. We know she has a great reputation for dropping great albums since she’s been on a great run, so let’s not waste any more time and get into 30 . I’d actually like to state something about the lyrics and writing here, but it’s worth noting. Adele went through a pretty rough divorce with her husband and it really affected the content of this album. I say that because I think the lyrics could’ve been written a little better, but that’s just a little personal preference. Outside of that, Adele sounds incredible, as always. Her voca

British punk is one of the surprise subgenres of 2021 that finally clicked for me. I don’t know much about Idles, but I had heard a couple of their albums, which are 2018’s Joy as an Act of Resistance and 2020’s Ultra Mono . I ended up liking both of them, so in that mindset, I decided to check out their newest album, whenever that would be released. I was just surprised that it ended up coming out this soon. This one’s called CRAWLER , and like most albums in this genre, I ended up going in blind and not listening to any of the singles. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into CRAWLER . What I think is the biggest thing that sets it apart from the other Idles albums I’ve heard is that this sounds the most intense out of all of them. You know what’s funny? That’s really all I have for it. It was pretty intense, vocalist Joe Talbot is pretty intense most of the time, and the track “Car Crash” is one of the most intense songs I’ve heard this year. I think it’s pretty impressive th

You know what? I might buy this on vinyl for the cover alone. Damon Albarn is a musician I’ve admired for a long time now. He ended up being a gateway to some of my favorite artists ever because of Gorillaz and I’ve always liked his work for Blur, but he hasn’t truly had much of a solo career. He’s released one solo album, 2014’s Everyday Robots, and he confirmed that he has another Gorillaz album planned for some time next year. In the meantime, he’s recorded The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows , announced back in 2019 as a tribute to Iceland. I’ve been excited for this for a while now, so let’s not waste time and get into it. Honestly, there was one album that came to mind when listening to it, and that’s David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar . This album has the oddball, jazzy tone that made Blackstar so beloved and I’m finally glad that there’s a similar album to that. I try not to use direct comparisons like that, but I feel that this was too big to ignore. The pro

I don’t know how Aesop Rock and Blockhead made fanart of my college dorm room. Aesop Rock has slowly become one of my favorite rappers in recent memory. His first couple of albums, Float and Labor Days , along with The Impossible Kid and his collaboration with Tobacco, Malibu Ken , are among some of my favorite albums ever and I pretty much drop everything when I hear he drops. When it was announced that he’d finally make an entire album with his longtime producer Blockhead, titled Garbology , I was super excited about it. I didn’t hear any of the singles going into it, so let’s just not waste any more time and get into it. I think that it’s safe to assume that Blockhead’s produced some of Aes’s best songs, and I’m very glad that this album lives up to the hype. Both Aesop Rock and Blockhead work very well with each other, as heard in the past, and it’s satisfying to hear that the chemistry hasn’t gone away yet. It was also a pleasant surprise to hear Billy Woods pop up on “Legerdema

It’s crazy that literally everyone I know was talking about Silk Sonic and I forgot this dropped the same day. When the first album in this new era of Taylor Swift’s career, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) , I ended up giving it a perfect score. It’s not a giant deal or anything like that, but by that logic, would I have to give the other ones the same score? So, we’re gonna change something up. I’ve heard the original Red album from 2012, and it’s safe to assume that the re-recorded songs are going to be relatively the same. So, here’s what’s gonna happen for this review. I’m gonna focus on the From the Vault songs, the cut songs from the original album that were recorded for the first time. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into Red (Taylor’s Version) . Let’s just get through the most anticipated aspect of this album, and that’s the new version of “All Too Well.” Widely considered to be one of her best songs, there was much to this song that was left on the cutting room floor, a

Holy shit, it’s finally here. You know, I could safely say that this is my most anticipated album of 2021. Who the hell would ever imagine Bruno Mars, an industry titan and hit-making machine, and Anderson .Paak, one of the most underrated yet most respected artists working now (who also happens to be one of my favorite musicians ever), to team up for an entire album under a new name, Silk Sonic? I know a couple of people that doubted this, but right when I heard the news of them working together, I knew this was gonna be an absolute treasure. The three singles released for this album, the chart-topping “Leave The Door Open,” the bubbly “Skate,” and my personal favorite “Smokin Out the Window,” were all damn near perfect. There was a level of chemistry between Mars and .Paak that’s rarely captured in music. I may not agree with this notion, but people I’ve asked have said that this is the closest we’ll ever get to having Michael Jackson and Prince working together. Either way, Silk Son

Hearing that this is already one of the most successful R&B albums of all time on Apple Music is absolutely insane. I’m gonna be honest, I know absolutely nothing about Summer Walker outside of her drama with producer London On Da Track. I don’t even think I’ve heard a song of hers prior to listening to this album. What really got this album on my radar was the stat above, and it really piqued my interest in this album. Still Over It is the title of the project, and there’s really not much else to say about an intro on my end. Let’s just get into it. I’ll say that I do like the vibe that this gives off. It feels like an unreleased 90s neo-soul/R&B album that was finally unearthed for the public to hear. Of course, it doesn't all feel like that because of the occasional trap beats laden throughout, but I still like the feeling of it. I really don’t think Walker is that much of a powerhouse like Tinashe or Jazmine Sullivan or SZA (who has a great feature on this), but I thin

Most of the people I know in my life weren’t even close to alive in between breaks of new ABBA material. It’s no question that ABBA is one of the most iconic and legendary musical acts of all time. I’d say that they’re also well known for their vocal harmonies. I mean, have you heard “Dancing Queen?” Have you heard “Waterloo?” Granted, even with the hype (or lack of hype) for this comeback album, Voyage , I was cautiously excited about this project. Hell, I never doubt ABBA for their artistic quality, but it’s literally 40 in between this album and their last, 1981’s The Visitors . So, does this new album live up to the massive expectations? Let’s see if it does. Honestly, they still have the vocals down pat, but the biggest standout to me is the production. It sounds damn fantastic, and quite frankly, I always thought that this was gonna be the case, but this was pretty surprising. I’d say that the biggest issue here is the biggest issue in nearly all of ABBA’s albums: too many ballad

(A/N: This review will cover the remixes and new tracks on the album. Click here for my review of the base My Agenda album. ) Can they get me early access to the XBOY 360 console? Dorian Electra is an artist that’s increasingly impressed me since they’ve burst onto the scene. Their 2019 debut album, Flamboyant , was something I more appreciated than enjoyed, but last year’s immensely horny My Agenda really shot them into the stratosphere in my mind. To me, they’re the reigning ruler of hyperpop right now. Hell, their remix of Lady Gaga’s “Replay” is one of the damn best songs of the year. Now, we have a new expansion to My Agenda , which includes a slew of remixes, new versions, and even brand new songs recorded during the My Agenda sessions. Let’s get into my thoughts on it. Honestly, I’m just gonna come out and say that the new version of “Gentleman” with d0llywood1 and Danny Brown is my personal favorite track out of the remixes. It’s a rare example of a remix being an expansion o

Synths mixed with indie rock is honestly a combo that shouldn’t work but does. Maryland musician Lindsey Jordan, better known as Snail Mail, is an artist that I never expected to like as much as I did. Her debut album, 2018’s Lush , is one of my favorite releases of the indie rock genre and when her sophomore release, Valentine , was announced, I was over the moon hyped. Honestly, I don’t have much else to say about it. I’m in the dark on it because I didn’t listen to any of the singles, so let’s just get into Valentine and see how it is. This album is short but sweet with 10 songs 30 minutes in length, so there’s not a lot of room for mistakes. The production from Bon Iver collaborator Brad Cook is very sweet sounding, but I do think the standout here is Jordan. I think that it’s a good showcase of how talented Jordan is as a writer and vocalist. It’s one of the rare albums that isn’t great because of how forward-thinking it is but is great for how much progression there is in the ar

No, I’m not going to score this a 2.5/10 because it’s the mixtape title. I’m gonna be honest, Aminé came out of nowhere to me last year. I always knew his name for the “Caroline” single from a few years back, but it just didn’t really appeal to me that much at the time. Last year, that really changed with his last album, Limbo . That project was one of the biggest and best surprises of 2020 to me and there are quite a few tracks from it still in my playlist over a year after its release. Hell, I’ll stand by the fact that it’s one of the best albums of that year. Now, continuing with his release pattern of album-mixtape, we now have the mixtape, the aptly titled TWOPOINTFIVE . I heard the single beforehand, the bubbly and great “Charmander,” so let’s get into my thoughts on it. Right when I finished my first listen to this, there are two albums I thought of: Rico Nasty’s Nightmare Vacation and Kanye West’s Yeezus . When it comes to the Rico comparison, I think they’re in the same lane.

This is a late Halloween tribute right here. Back when I did those bite-size music reviews on YouTube, one of my more popular videos was my first exposure to rapper Sematary and his critically acclaimed Rainbow Bridge 3 . I said that it was ‘loud as fuck.’ At the time, it ended up not being a positive thing, but after some convincing from some friends and a couple more listens, it actually grew on me quite a bit. In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, Sematary has dropped a new mixtape, Screaming Forest . Let’s get into it. I’m usually into the harsher sounds of his music, even if I’ve only heard Rainbow Bridge 3 . That being said, I’ll say that this is a little more subdued. A little. This is insanely loud music. This is the definition of music that will scare the hoes. The little subgenre of trap metal has been very specific and has a very small space in rap as a whole, but with this album, it’s really making a good yet small statement. Although, it feels like there’s a Sematary clone on here

If he isn’t on a label right now, Ransom should join Rome Streetz on Griselda. I have to admit, this was on my list for albums that I’ve wanted to happen. I just didn’t expect it so soon. On their own, Ransom and Rome Streetz are incredible rappers, and they both happen to feature on one of my favorite songs of the year, “Kill All Rats” from Conway the Machine’s and Big Ghost Ltd.’s joint album, IF IT BLEEDS, IT CAN BE KILLED . Now, we have an entire album from Rome Streetz and Ransom, titled Coup De Grâce . Let’s not waste any more time and get into it. There is one massive assumption that becomes clear whenever you listen to artists like these, and that both rappers perform really well. Like in the past, their writing and flows are top-notch and they’re quite reliable. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the best album of their careers from a writing standpoint. However, there’s a big part of this that really hurts this album, personally, and that’s the production. I ju

Ed said that he’d make a death metal album if the demand was there. You know what to do, guys. It’s no question that Ed Sheeran is one of the biggest musicians on the planet right now. At one point, I’d argue that he was the biggest musician on the planet. This series of math-related albums, which has been going on since 2011, is the most successful series of albums ever. That’s a strong achievement, and I won’t be surprised if this album does well here. The second album in this series, X , is pretty easily my favorite of his, but he’s been drastically declining since then. Now, we have = , and if I’m being honest, I haven’t heard a single track from this until now. So, let’s just get right into doing math. I think I’m gonna throw a hot take out here: Ed Sheeran is very much like Drake at this point in his career. They’re both too big to fail now, and they’re both gonna sell so many records before and after their careers finish. In the area of music reviewing that I’m (somewhat) popula