Cordavision Music Reviews

Guys, I think his favorite color is blue. I feel awful that this is the first time I’m covering Blu. Johnson Barnes III, professionally known as Blu, is a Los Angeles rapper and if I’m being honest, why does no one else talk about him as much as someone like Kendrick Lamar? Even if they’re his two newer projects, A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night (an album with Oh No) and Miles: From an Interlude Called Life (a 90-minute epic with long-time collaborator Exile) are still incredible projects. I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t formally review Miles when it dropped last summer. Now, we have The Color Blu​(​e) , his fourth solo album. I’m going in blind on this, so there’s not much else to say other than let’s get into it. Based on the title of the album, every song has the word blue. Actually, in this case, blu(e). My spelling check is going off the walls typing that. Either way, let’s get into the production. It’s very jazzy throughout, and that’s just playing to my personal...

With Poppy making and releasing so much music recently, it’s no wonder that this album’s called Flux . Poppy is one of those artists that really wouldn’t be up my alley on paper. A musician/YouTuber who used to make bubblegum pop and slowly went into a more heavy metal route and actually made one of this decade’s highest acclaimed metal albums so far. That album, I Disagree (and its deluxe reissue), is her most accomplished work yet, and even if I didn’t bring this up in my review of it, many saw her sharp turn to metal as a gimmick. I couldn’t argue those claims, but there was at least artistic merit and value there. Now, after a pretty nice EP called EAT and a noise album, we have her official fourth album, Flux . It’s not really a metal project this time around, mainly because it leans more on alternative rock and shoegaze influences. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into Flux . Before I get into Poppy herself, I’d like to shine a light on the producer of this album, Just...

Read my review of Side A by clicking this link . Okay, this doesn’t have that much of an intro, mainly because the first half of this album dropped only last month. Westside Gunn has been hyping the fuck out of this half of HWH8 , probably more than the first half, and after hearing who was involved in terms of both features and production. In terms of features, we have AA Rashid, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, Jay Electronica, Trap-a-Holics (THIS IS A CERTIFIED HOOD CLASSIC), Chase Fetti, Flee Lord, Heem, Mach-Hommy, 2 Chainz, Armani Caesar, Billie Essco, Keisha Plum, Jay Worthy, Larry June, TF, Rome Streetz, Stove God Cooks, Tiona Deniece, AZ, and Tyler, the Creator. This is genuinely stacked, and I hope Gunn sticks the landing on it. Let’s get into Side B of HWH8 . It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the HWH series of mixtapes have been pretty influential in the revival of boom-bap. It’s been going since 2012 and has been pretty important for putting Griselda on the map, a...

Well, well. My first video game OST. Let’s see how this goes… Okay, this is a brand new world for me. I don’t know that much about video game music, but since my friend made a massive playlist of video game music on YouTube and sent it to me, I decided to try and give my shot at a review of a video game OST. Might as well be something big, right? So, Undertale creator and composer Toby Fox has been working on the kinda-sorta sequel to that game, Deltarune . It’s divided up into chapters, and this is the original score to the second chapter of the game. That’s really all I got as the intro. Let’s get into the score for Deltarune Chapter 2 . Compared to the Undertale OST, this is much shorter. Apparently, 46 songs and 50 minutes is short for a soundtrack like this. I mean, I can safely say that I do like this more than the Undertale soundtrack, mainly because I just think that this would just be that soundtrack but cutting out all of the fat. I guess the biggest problem I have with th...

Alright, I’m reviewing the score of a movie that hasn’t even been released yet. This is my redemption arc. If this is successful, I’ll be in the upper echelon. I gotta admit, I’ve never heard of a concept like this. Legendary composer Hans Zimmer is known for his pretty great track record for his film scores. His work in film has been absolutely stunning, and this is a brand new experiment for him. Denis Villeneuve’s new film, an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune , has been in the works for a while now, and it has a massive cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem all star in it. When I heard that Zimmer was going to compose the score, I was so excited. Along with that, word got out that Zimmer had made not one, not two, but three separate scores for the movie. The first ...

If you’re curious about Ayewa’s activism and Black Quantum Futurism, check out the group’s website here . Most of the people reading this probably don’t know who Camae Ayewa is, and that’s fine. I’ll try my best to educate you. Ayewa is a poet, activist, musician, writer, and most recently, a professor hailing from Philadelphia. She also formed Black Quantum Futurism with fellow activist Rasheedah Phillips and is the leader of the ‘liberation-oriented free-jazz collective,’ Irreversible Entanglements. Outside of her activism, she’s dabbled in music under the name Moor Mother and has collaborated with artists like Billy Woods and Mental Jewelry. However, her debut album, Fetish Bones , is what I consider her best solo project. The massive book of poetry that comes with it is also a great read. Now, we have her seventh studio album, Black Encyclopedia of the Air , and I’ve been excited for this one for a while now. Along this ride with her, we have Pink Siifu, Elucid, Lojii, Brother May,...

Fuck, man… This is gonna be rough to talk about. Injury Reserve is an Arizona rap group with members Ritchie With a T, Parker Corey, and Stepa J. Groggs formed in 2012 and had a good amount of projects before breaking through with their 2016 mixtape, Floss . It was a great breath of fresh air into the underground scene. In 2019, they ended up capitalizing on it with their self-titled debut album, which ended up not only pushing the group closer to the mainstream but it’s also one of the best albums of the 2010s. It’s a bit of a hot take, but it’s that good, trust me. The next summer, Groggs suddenly and tragically passed away. To my knowledge, the cause of death was never revealed. Because of how integral Groggs was to the group, many assumed that this would be where the journey of Injury Reserve would end. That wouldn’t be the case. Over a year after Groggs’ passing, their second studio album, By the Time I Get to Phoenix , was officially announced, and with its lead single “Knees,” i...

So, based on the pregnancy marketing, would this album be 15 inches and 46 pounds…? It’s no secret that Lil Nas X is one of the biggest stars in the world right now. What everyone thought would be a one-hit-wonder in “Old Town Road” ended up becoming a pop icon within the past couple of years, and it’s really astounding to see. Especially for the rollout for this album, we’ve seen him go through controversy after controversy. Granted, I think most of these are just very stupid. Giving the king of Hell a lapdance, making Satan shoes (come on, guys, this isn’t the Salem Witch Trials), showering and dancing with a group of naked men, and calling your album your baby while going around looking pregnant for a few weeks isn’t worth the controversy. I actually think the marketing ended up working in his favor, making Lil Nas X seem like a very genuine and likable guy. It also helped that all of the singles for this were fantastic. His debut album, titled MONTERO , has some pretty high-profile...

I really do love the retro aesthetic of the cover art, though. I don’t cover country music that much here, but I honestly think I should try and give modern country a shot. Why not let it be Kacey Musgraves? Her last album, 2018’s Golden Hour , ended up taking the coveted Album of the Year trophy at the 2019 Grammy Awards and she essentially became a critical darling. In between albums, she ended up going through a divorce, and most of the content on this album is based on Musgraves’ emotional reactions to past events. It could be good, and with the appealing title of star-crossed and a nice album cover, I feel like this could at least be good. So, is star-crossed any good? Let’s see. Look, I don’t wanna start off being negative at all, but what the hell happened with the writing? Even if I’m not the biggest country fan, I do think Musgraves has been a good writer. If this was the first record I’ve heard from her, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me her writing was good. It’s...

No, this is not a Christmas album. I love finding new artists, and honestly, I didn’t find this group off of Twitter or social media. I actually heard of them through word of mouth. I don’t know a lot about Sleigh Bells, but they’re an alt-rock duo from Brooklyn and this is their fifth album as a duo. I haven’t heard their other albums, but I do know that one of them is called Jessica Rabbit , so that’s a plus. This album’s called Texis , and I honestly don’t know what else to say about it. Let’s just listen to it. Alright, I’ve spent a couple minutes trying my best to figure out how to describe the sound of it, so I’m gonna do it, even if it’s a little clunky: metal-influenced layers mixed with rap beats and R&B vocals. There’s also a bit of electronic and industrial music in here too, and I think that this is one of the more unique albums to drop this year. There are also a lot of synths on here, and I like that mainly because I just think synths are cool. Something that also is ...

If everything was right in the world, she would be a lot more popular. As much as I’ve listened to her music, I don’t really know a bunch about Tommy Genesis. The first time I heard of her is her self-titled debut album from 2018, but when she really got big was when she had a prominent feature on JPEGMAFIA’s song, “Rough 7.” This happens to be my favorite song from both artists, so I was trying to stay aware of whenever Genesis was gonna drop next. Now, we have that drop, titled goldilocks x . I intentionally avoided listening to the singles because I was just excited to listen to the whole thing. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into goldilocks x . Now, if I had to describe this album in a word, it’d be sex-positive. Does that even count as one word? I’m gonna make it one word for the sake of reviewing. This thing is raunchy as fuck, and it revels in that. I’d say that this is the album’s defining characteristic. Outside of that, Tommy’s pretty laid back on her delivery for ...

Top of the morning. So, you may be on the same page as me that I was on a few weeks ago. Who is Baby Keem? Well, he’s a California rapper and producer. He also happens to be the cousin of Kendrick Lamar, and he’s had pretty eventful past weeks. The most recent single from this album, “family ties” featuring Lamar, made huge waves with it being Kendrick’s comeback, but along with that, Baby Keem ended up holding his own against him. In the past week, he also appeared on Kanye West’s last album, Donda , absolutely killing the song he was featured on. Now, he’s taking advantage of the opportunity and dropping his debut album, The Melodic Blue . Along with three Kendrick Lamar features, it also features Don Toliver and Travis Scott. Having heard all the excitement around this, I’m pretty hyped to see what’s in store. Let’s get into The Melodic Blue . I can say right off the bat that Keem knows how to make a catchy song. Even if the track “pink panties” isn’t my favorite song off it, I can’...

Did Lin Manuel-Miranda fall off the Hamilton star or something? Well, Imagine Dragons is quite easily one of the most well known bands in the modern age. That’s wild to think about, if I’m being totally honest. They haven’t done that much at all, and this new album here is their fifth album in nine years. They typically take their time with their albums, and whatever the quality of the album is, I can really appreciate that. Now, reading this title is odd: Mercury - Act 1 . Is this the first part of a double album? Is it a chapter in a story? They haven’t specified what this exactly means, but it’s a little clunky to read. Great start, right? So, let’s just get into it. I forgot to mention one big part of this album. Rick Rubin is in the executive producer chair on this, and for his more infamous projects that he’s been a part of, he’s also been a part of some great ones too. So, I’m just gonna say it now: I did not like this. Actually, I think this is probably one of the group’s wors...

If you wanna watch my review of the movie, click this link ! You know how Top Dawg Entertainment did a soundtrack to Black Panther and it was a massive hit? Well, Marvel is seeing if lightning can strike twice with their newest film (and one of their best yet), Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings . This time around, Marvel has tapped 88Rising, a label that has many Asian American and Asian artists. They have a good lineup like Rich Brian, NIKI, Warren Hue, and the Higher Brothers, but the label’s biggest star, Joji, is oddly absent from this album. There are also the non-label artists here and a star-studded lineup from Swae Lee, Jhene Aiko, 21 Savage, Anderson .Paak, Guapdad 4000, Earthgang, Rick Ross, DJ Snake, and Saweetie. Even the lead actor of the film, Simu Liu, has an appearance and a song on his own. So, is this album even worth listening to? Does my MCU bias get the best of me? Let’s get into it and find out. Alright, this is gonna be a shorter review for a couple reas...

Okay, who gave Eddie the sword? Iron Maiden is one of the most iconic and beloved metal groups ever. They don’t need much of an introduction, so I’ll just leave it at that. They recently dropped their first album in six years, Senjutsu , and it’s reportedly one of their more progressive releases. Having been more in the progressive rock/metal area more recently, I find this to be pretty exciting. The shortest song on here is just over four minutes, while some of the longer songs reach eleven, twelve, and even thirteen minutes long. So, can the British outfit capture lightning in a bottle once more? Let’s find out with Senjutsu . Let me just say this one thing about the album: I can really appreciate that the band isn’t taking the safe route with their music. They never seem to stay boring when it comes to creating music and simply putting it out there for not only them to enjoy but for their fans to enjoy. This is the time for pretty long albums, and this is no different with its 82-mi...

If nightcore gets a resurgence because of this album, I won’t know what to feel anymore. I have a fun history with Lady Gaga on this site. One of my earlier reviews was Gaga’s last studio album, Chromatica , and at the time, I was one of the only people in the middle of it. So many people thought it was either her best album or her worst album ever. It was one of the first reviews I posted on Twitter, so it was pretty insane seeing something so small of mine cause a genuine discourse for the first and definitely not the last time. Either way, we have the often-rumored remix album to that polarizing album, Dawn of Chromatica , and it’s a pretty insane lineup here too. While Ariana Grande, BLACKPINK, and Elton John come over from the original album, we have new remixes of these songs from LSDXOXO, Coucou Chloe, Arca, Rina Sawayama, Clarence Clarity, Pabllo Vittar, Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, Ashnikko, Shygirl, Mura Masa, Doss, Dorian Electra (!!!), Chester Lockhart, Mood Killer, Lil Texas, Pl...

I literally went four months thinking that this album was called Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert only to find out there’s no ‘an.’ Little Simz is an artist that has been praised quite a bit over in the U.K., and I know quite a few American fans too. Her last full-length album, GREY Area , is one of the most praised albums of 2019 and ever since I’ve heard it, I totally understand why. Announced back in the spring, her newest album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is highly anticipated by her fans and it’s been highly anticipated by me as well. Unlike most albums that are anticipated by me, I went into this without hearing any singles. It was pretty painful to go four months without listening to it, but I feel like it’s gonna be worth it. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into Sometimes I Might Be Introvert . Um, how do I start this? To my knowledge, I have never started a review like that before. Okay, I’m just gonna go through the basics. The production here is absolutely g...

This has gotta be the worst album art I’ve seen in a very long time, just saying. I gotta admit something here. This past week has been absolutely insane when it comes to this website. Two reviews in a row are some of the biggest albums of this decade so far, and it’s wild to think about that. Either way, I’ve been in the middle on Drake for a very long time. Yes, I understand how influential he’s been but his music has never truly clicked for me except for his earlier albums and mixtapes. Now, after this album was supposed to come out all the way back in January, Certified Lover Boy is here. It’s got a good amount of features from Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giveon, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Yebba, 21 Savage, Project Pat, Tems, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Kid Cudi. So, how did I feel about this? Let’s get into it. Outside of full-on Drake stans, opinions on this have been pretty mixed overall. While I do agree with the notion that this is just another Drake album ...

No intro joke. It’s finally here. Well, it’s been a pretty wild ride. For many different reasons, good or bad, Kanye West doesn’t need any introduction whatsoever. Announced back in July 2020 as God’s Country , Mr. West has been in a rough patch of his life for the past few years. It’s been pretty clear that since the sudden passing of his mother, Donda West, in 2007, Ye has been on a downward spiral. While some of his best music has come from this period, arguably his worst has come from it too. His last full-length album, Jesus is King, was his tipping point. Even if the music was good (it wasn’t), Jesus is King was a manic episode. No one really knows if he’s been taking care of himself since then, but then again, you’re never gonna know with Kanye. After three eventful listening parties, Kanye West’s tenth studio album Donda dropped out of the blue last Sunday to much fanfare. Also, the features on here are certainly eye-grabbing: Jay-Z, Francis & The Lights, Marilyn Manson, V...

No one had to die in this scenario, but go off, I guess. It’s totally understandable if you don’t know who Grip is. He’s an Atlanta rapper and he’s put out two albums before this, but this album, I Died For This?! , is a big one for him. He was recently signed to Eminem’s Shady Records label and this is his debut project for the label, and with that comes from big-name features from Eminem himself, Royce da 5’9”, and Big Rube, along with Wiley from Atlanta, WARA, Dead Cassettes, Tate228, AHYES, Key Nellz, and Kenny Mason. This project has been gaining a lot of traction on social media, especially from Eminem’s hardcore fans, so I decided to check it out and see how it is. Let’s get into I Died For This?! . When it comes to the writing, Grip is mainly speaking on his struggles and contemplating every little moment that made him get to the point he’s at in his career. I have to admit, it’s a little standard, but his flows and overall lyricism help keep the attention on him whenever he’s ...