Cordavision Music Reviews

Oddly enough, this is the first split album I’ve reviewed. I’ve been getting into shoegaze quite a bit recently, and one of the first and newest artists I’ve been into is South Korean musician Parannoul. Even if I didn’t get the chance to formally review it, his last solo album, To See the Next Part of the Dream , was released back in February and is one of the best albums of the year. Now, for his second release of 2021, he’s done a split album with up-and-coming shoegaze acts, Asian Glow and sonhos tomam conta, titled Downfall of the Neon Youth . Let’s get into it. I can’t say what I’ve heard of Asian Glow and sonhos tomam conta because this is the first I’m hearing of them, but they’ve all at least put out one project on their own this year, and to my knowledge, this is the first time that any of these artists have worked together. This is 10 tracks overall and just under an hour long. Both Parannoul and Asian Glow get three tracks each, but sonhos tomam conta gets four tracks. It’s...

I’ll be totally honest, I really dig the cover art here. Brooklyn post-punk outfit Parquet Courts is a band I actually haven’t listened to a good amount of. I really don’t know a lot about them either, mainly since I only discovered them a month ago. Either way, I understand why they’re so beloved. To get into them, I decided to listen to their last album, 2018’s Wide Awake! , and I really loved it. I felt bad for not finding out about them sooner, honestly. Now, after hearing that album, we have their newest album out for the masses, Sympathy for Life . This is highly anticipated in the post-punk community, so let’s just get right into it. It might just be me, but this album as a whole just seemed quiet. Liked, mixed quietly. It’s not something I generally notice when I listen to albums, but I caught that on the first listen. Outside of the quietness, this was just surprisingly boring. There really wasn’t any energy put into the instrumentals here, and even if I’ve heard one album fro...

I’ll stand by the fact that Brandon Banks is one of the most underrated albums of 2019 and deserved so much more. I don’t know a lot about Houston rapper Maxo Kream, but this is an artist that I cannot believe isn’t a mainstream star at this point. As stated above, his last album, Brandon Banks , is one of the most underappreciated albums of 2019 and needs so much more attention. After a little break, Maxo returns with WEIGHT OF THE WORLD , and I’m pretty excited about it. With features from Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Freddie Gibbs, Don Toliver, and Monaleo, it’s a pretty stacked list of collaborators too. So, let’s get into WEIGHT OF THE WORLD . What stands out about Maxo is his knack for storytelling. For that reason, much of the production is stripped back to make him the focal point of the songs. Like his past albums, his verses are usually gang tales, and emotions run high on a good amount of them. It’s something I can genuinely appreciate that there are many moments like th...

I got a couple links for you. So, click here for my review of the movie Dune , and click here for my review of Hans Zimmer’s official score . If you haven’t watched my review of the Dune movie, I’ll just keep it at this: It’s my favorite movie of the year so far. It’s incredible, and since the sequel isn’t confirmed at the time of me writing this, please go support it any way you can. Either way, watch it, it’s great. Behind the scenes, though, one of the most intriguing things is happening right now. There’s an art book called The Art and Soul of Dune available to buy, and since composer Hans Zimmer is such a huge fan of the Dune series, he’s decided to create three separate scores for the new movie. The first was based on concept art sketches he got, called The Dune Sketchbook , the second is the one you’ll hear in the movie when you watch it, and the third and final is the score to the official art book. Let’s get into the companion music for The Art and Soul of Dune . Now, this ...

I’m not one to talk about sound quality, but this sounds so much better on Apple Music than on Spotify or YouTube, it isn’t even funny. Was this a surprise release? If it wasn’t, I didn’t know anything about it. Either way, Lana Del Rey has had a pretty weird history on this site. I gave her last album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club , a perfect score and that caused a little bit of controversy. Looking back on it, it may be an 8 or 9 now, but I still think it’s one of the best albums to drop this year and was a great experience listening to it for the first time. Why did I not hear about Blue Banisters ? After doing some research, this wasn’t a surprise drop. It just wasn’t marketed at all, which is very strange for such a big artist like Lana. I forgot that there were singles for this, so let’s just get right into Blue Banisters . Unlike her last two albums, this has no Jack Antonoff whatsoever. The production team includes Lana herself, Mike Dean, Zachary Dawes, Loren Humphrey, Ba...

I’m fully aware that there are two versions of this album, an online and offline version. This will cover the offline version, which is found on YouTube, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp. The Bandcamp link will be below so you can support JPEGMAFIA directly. If you wish to listen to the online version, it can be found on all streaming services. Also, happy belated birthday, Peggy 💕 Barrington Hendricks, more widely known as JPEGMAFIA, has been one of the most prolific artists working in the underground now. At this point, should he be considered underground because of how popular he’s become? I’ve been a fan of his since Black Ben Carson dropped in 2016, but after hearing his projects under the DeVon Hendryx name (especially The Ghost~Pop Tape ), I thought he was a force to be reckoned with in experimental rap. I’d write something up about how LP! is his fourth studio album and his final with his label, Republic, but I’ll actually use his own words from the Bandcamp page of this album to te...

The cover art as a tribute to Octavio Ocampo's Forever Always is an insanely deep cut and I love it. I think it’s safe to say that Young Thug has become a modern rap icon within the past few years. He has a project among some of my favorite trap projects ever, this one being JEFFREY , and he’s close to always energetic when he’s on the mic. I enjoyed his So Much Fun album from 2019, and when Punk was announced last year, I was elated. Now, with it finally being out for the masses and with no singles released from it, I’m ready to dig into this. Let’s get into Punk and see how it was. Honestly, this just felt like a damn good victory lap to me. I was pleasantly surprised at how laidback and relaxed most of the songs felt, especially the track with Post Malone and A$AP Rocky, which will probably end up being my favorite track by the end of the year. Having not looked at the tracklist on first listen, hearing Mac Miller on the closing song really hit a note, and he and Thugger mak...

More like GOODGOODNOTBAD. Man, I’ve really been trying to get into modern jazz lately. An album I’ve been listening to a lot recently when it comes to 2021 jazz is Promises , the new album from Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders. It’s definitely growing into an all-time favorite for me in the genre, but there might be some competition now. I don’t know anything about BADBADNOTGOOD, but after singing the praises of Promises , I got recommended that I listen to this when it dropped. Let’s get into Talk Memory and see how it is. Throughout this album, I’ve really enjoyed how this quartet combines all of the different types of jazz and instrumental hip-hop. Where I think this album stands out the most is its production. I feel like it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Self-production is something that’s always so impressive to me, and there are plenty of artists that don’t get enough credit for it. BADBADNOTGOOD entirely produced this album, like most of their own work, and it...

This album cover really makes this seem like a prog-rock record, so now I want a James Blake prog-rock album. James Blake has been an artist I’ve admired for quite a long time. He’s among some of my favorite artists ever and has worked with some of the more impressive artists working now. I really don’t think he’s ever made a bad album, but after doing some research, not a lot of people were fans of his last album, Assume Form . While I don’t think it was his best album, it wasn’t bad by any means. Now, with a new album titled Friends That Break Your Heart , it seems like he’s back for now. With collaborators like SZA, J.I.D, SwaVay, and Monica Martin, it seems like he’s primed for success yet again. Let’s see how he did. I think that the thing that people go to Blake for is nailed across the board, and that’s the vocals. I’ve always loved them, and they’re still as good as they normally are. I also think that Blake’s songwriting stands out even more here than his past albums. His writ...

It’s cool that the title got changed from LOAD to Life of a Don . As much as I would’ve loved the jokes about it, it would’ve been the only conversation about it. Don Toliver is one hell of an underrated artist. I may have butchered saying that, but ignore that anyway. Don’s pretty talented, and sadly, I ended up not being a giant fan of his debut album, Heaven and Hell . That didn’t hurt how much I’ve liked him, though, since he hasn’t missed on any of his features in between his last album and this one. I’ve avoided the singles from his new album, Life of a Don , so let’s not waste any more time and see how it is. If you’re a fan of Travis Scott, you’ll definitely be a fan of this album, mainly because he’s a Travis protege. At times, it really seems like he’s trying to trend-chase and have a lot of good hooks for Tik Tok, but there’s really nothing wrong with that. Don has good vocals to boot. I mean, did you hear “Moon” off of Donda ? I do think that this is his best full project ...

This is the time for me to say that Bruiser Wolf is fucking hilarious and you should check out his debut album, Dope Game Stupid , if you haven’t yet. I’ve covered The Alchemist so much at this point that he doesn’t really need an introduction. He’s pretty easily one of my favorite producers of all time and has become incredibly prolific within the past couple years, having worked with some of my favorite rappers right now like Armand Hammer and Freddie Gibbs, among many others. Now, he drops the sequel to his EP from earlier this year, This Thing of Ours, Vol. 2 , and includes a whole new set of collaborators. Mavi, MIKE, a few members of Danny Brown’s Bruiser Brigade crew, and Vince Staples show up here. Let’s get into what’s in this box here. Unlike his past EPs (including the last TToO EP), this doesn’t include any of the instrumentals of separate tracks. As someone who's always liked Uncle Al’s production, it hurts a little bit, but that doesn’t hurt my full enjoyment of the ...

If a type of music could be considered dirty, it’d be this. So, what’s the deal with this? I’ve really only heard one grindcore album, and that’s one of the more iconic releases in the genre, Nails’ breakout album Unsilent Death . I’ve always heard the name Full of Hell be thrown around in that conversation, but I’ve never actually sat down and listened to them. So, why not do it at a better time when they drop a new album? Garden of Burning Apparitions is the name, and a lot of power electronics are their game. Let’s get into it. I enjoy how heavy and extreme it is. Yes, it’s a pretty huge oversimplification for such a heavy and extreme genre, I know, but hey, that’s what comes to mind. I’m a fan of metal, mainly black metal but death metal’s pretty cool too, but this little subsection of grindcore hasn’t ever really clicked with me. I’m fully aware that pulling this kind of music needs a lot of skill and it’s done pretty well here, but it might just be a personal thing for me. I mea...

If I’m also a half god, could Wiki and I combine to make a whole god? Or is he a demigod? This is a loaded album title. I honestly don’t know that much about Wiki. All I know is that he’s from New York and is a part of the sLUms movement that includes MIKE and Navy Blue, along with the small Earl Sweatshirt appearance as well. Half God , the newest album from Wiki, is heavily in the sLUms movement, having been entirely produced by Navy Blue himself. Let’s not waste any more time and get into it. Honestly, I do think that this is Wiki’s best work yet. When it comes to his writing and flows, he seems like a veteran and across his last albums, it feels like he’s cut down his albums to the best of the sessions he’s in the studio, and I like that a lot. He’s a lot more introspective and serious too, which I think benefits his tone too. The features are pretty great too, but what I think stands out the most is Navy Blue’s production, more so the pairing of his production with Wiki on the voc...

The double whammy of Dawn of Chromatica and this within weeks of each other is so funny to me. For those that don’t know, this album marks the end of an era for music. Because of his battle with Alzheimer’s, this is the final album of jazz legend Tony Bennett. To end his career on a high note, he’s decided to make another covers album with pop icon Lady Gaga. Their last album together, 2014’s Cheek to Cheek , ended up being a welcome surprise for fans of both parties involved. Now, with Love For Sale , we not only have a second helping of that but along with this being Bennett’s final album, there’s a lot of good expectations for it. Let’s just not waste any more time and get into it. Remember when I covered that Black Keys album earlier this year, which was covers of 50s-60s blues-rock tracks? These are essentially jazz/show tune covers, and really, what’d you expect? Did you think this was gonna be bad? Both Bennett and Gaga are very talented singers, and most of these songs (if not...

I wonder if the cover’s gonna censor itself… Meek Mill has been a rapper that’s been punching under his weight to me. I’ve liked his songs as singles, but listening to whole albums of his hasn’t ever hit me hard. However, his last album, 2018’s Championships , really changed that for me. I actually really dug it and I was curious to see how long that run would go. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, we have Expensive Pain . It’s another new Meek Mill album. Not much else to it, so let’s just get into it. See, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I felt really bored listening to this album. Not to say that this was bad or anything. Mill’s flows were good and his writing was okay, the production was nice, the features did their thing (especially Brent Faiyaz’s), and there were some great songs on here like the intro track “Hate On Me,” which has that incredible Nas sample. I really did wanna hear his take on the slower, R&B-inspired sound he’s been taking on recently, but there just wasn’t e...

L + Ratio + yb better Looking past all of the constant memes about him, I’ve never been a fan of Youngboy’s music. Granted, I do think I was pretty harsh on his last album, Top , mainly because it’s become a pretty big staple among his fanbase. I’ve done my research, and throughout the past five or six years, he’s been consistently dropping music without fail. Even if I’m not a fan of the music, I can appreciate the grind. However, that’s about to come to a grinding halt. At the time of this writing, the rapper’s currently in federal prison for drug possession and is staying there until his trial. The date for the trial is unknown at this time. His last album for at least a while, Sincerely, Kentrell , has been highly anticipated. 21 tracks and no features is a pretty ambitious project for a rapper like him, so let’s just get into it. Look, if I’m being honest, I kinda feel bad for the guy. I’m not gonna sit here and fully hate on this because there are actually really good parts of th...