Cordavision Music Reviews

What a wonderful surprise release, honestly. The only strictly vaporwave artist I’ve ever covered on here up to this point is luxury elite, my personal favorite vaporwave producer of all time. She’s been responsible for some of my favorite projects of the 2010s and helped me get into an entire genre of music, so being able to review a new project of hers once it’s dropped is a pretty big piece of my music reviewer bucket list. Now, we have that in the form of ocean pacific , a project that I did the first listen with while sitting in agony with my friend, going through the pain of master-level CPUs on Mario Party Superstars , just as good as a first listen should be. Let’s get into it. Even though I like the vaporwave genre a lot, I think it’s very hard to review, so here I go as best as I can. I honestly found this album very soothing to listen to. It seems like the perfect summer midnight album to sip your Mai Tai on the poolside. I also think it’s a very easy album to listen to, no

The joke of the title and the great cover is a great combo. I’ve covered Your Old Droog before on here, and while I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve heard, I’ve realized something about his discography. It might just be me, but I want him to stay focused on a project and flesh something out. Of course, I love the content he’s been dropping, but it’s just a personal wish of mine. Either way, I’ve been excited for YOD Stewart since I’ve been a fan of his for a couple of years now. Let’s get into it. While YOD is continuing to have great flows and writing, I feel that the best part about this project is the production. It has a more abstract vibe than his last project, the Nicholas Craven-produced YOD Wave , and I personally prefer that kind of production. YOD’s lyrics are more personal here as well and that gives the relatively short project a more intimate experience, at least to me. I also think I’ve realized that I like Droog more when he’s charismatic, and we really don’t get that side

The hoodie with this cover on it is incredible. Ada Rook has been on my radar for a while now. Even if I haven’t covered her solo work just yet, I’ve covered some of her work already. She was one half of the duo Black Dresses, which I’ve reviewed their last two albums, and she mastered Backxwash’s last album I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES . Ever since this project’s been announced, it’s been one of my most anticipated releases of this year. With a surprise drop that I learned about a day after it was released, UGLY DEATH NO REDEMPTION ANGEL CURSE I LOVE YOU is here. Let’s get into how I felt about it. If I had to describe this project in a word, it’d be crunchy because HOLY SHIT this is a loud project. I typically don’t mention mixing and mastering in my reviews, but it’s worth mentioning because I like the angle of just how grimy this is and it just feels dirty and buried into the Earth. When it comes to the writing, this was the album that made me realize how good of

It’s probably just me, but why does this cover make this feel pretentious? It’s been a while since a new Lykke Li project, and I’ve honestly been pretty excited to see what could be coming next from her. I’ve liked her last album, so sad so sexy , although I still have to go through the rest of her albums. This new album’s called EYEYE , and it’s been an audio illusion to try and figure out how to pronounce it, so that would be really appreciated from someone. I really don’t know how else to make an intro to this outside of the joke about the title, so let’s get into EYEYE . You know something? This simply just didn’t do it for me. I’ve typically liked what I’ve heard of Li’s music, but I think it was just too monotonous for me. After looking at the lyrics, though, I think that’s the strongest aspect of this album. While the production was very pretty throughout, I think that her voice just felt… off here. Like, I can’t put my finger on it. I’m typically fine with the airy vocals, but

This cover just looks like a fever dream. We have an odd case for me here. I know what Matmos is, but I haven’t heard any of their projects yet. I’ve also heard about some of the odd concepts about some of their albums. Plastic Anniversary has music made entirely from plastic sounds, and The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form got almost 100 musicians in a room to do their thing for 3 hours worth of material. The concepts here are pretty outlandish, so I figured we’d be getting something similar with Regards / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer . What is the gimmick behind this? Reworking the work of Polish composer and artist Bogusław Schaeffer to make new music. Let’s get into this odd idea. Since this is made entirely off of previous samples, would this be considered a plunderphonics album? Either way, covering more plunderphonics is pretty cool. When it comes to the music itself, it actually sounds like more vintage electronic albums from the 70s and there are some very omin

I just imagine Boldy James as the main character in a 70s crime movie and it all works. Boldy James has been on an absolutely incredible run. Ever since the beginning of 2020, he’s just been dropping great project after great project after great project. I’ve actually hit a point where I sometimes get messages about how bad my review of Bo Jackson , one of his albums with The Alchemist from last year, was, and after a few relistens, it’s actually grown on me quite a bit. The weakest album of the bunch, at least to me, was Real Bad Boldy , the first album between Boldy James and producer Real Bad Man. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it just didn’t click for me. That’s why I went in with just a tiny bit less hype for Killing Nothing , their second collab album. So, let’s just not waste time and get into Killing Nothing . Let it be known that no matter what the production backing him is, Boldy James always kills it with the bars. I’ve just come to accept that he’ll never have a bad verse.

Honestly, this cover’s just pretty. It’s no secret that I’ve been a Harry Styles fan for a while now. Well, at least since the hiatus that One Direction is currently on, which probably won’t stop anytime soon. Even since those times, I could tell that there was more to Harry Styles. While most of the other 1D members’ solo careers have floundered, Styles has been absolutely killing it, even outside of the music industry with being a full-time actor at this point now. Now, about three years after his last studio effort, the incredible Fine Line , we have Harry’s House , which I think is gonna be something more intimate than we’ve gotten in the past. Let’s get into how I feel about it. Let’s do a fun comparison. If Fine Line was Harry’s funk album, this is Harry’s synthpop album, and this is a sound that fits him pretty well. In a couple of places, especially in the first half of the album, there were many parts that reminded me of Prince in a couple of ways. The 80s-rock-inspired produ

“ Yo Gabba Gabba MCs” is one of the best insults I’ve heard in a while. In my opinion, Quelle Chris is one of the most unique rappers working right now. While I haven’t taken the deep dive into his discography yet, I’ve listened to his most recent albums Guns and his Chris Keys collab Innocent Country 2, and he’s impressed me with both his pen and voice. After some great features on some of my favorite albums from last year, I had to get whatever he was gonna drop next on my radar. We now have that in the form of DEATHFAME , which was mainly produced by Chris himself, with extra production from the aforementioned Chris Keys and even Knxwledge in the mix. Let’s get into DEATHFAME and see how I felt about it. Since I had Guns fresh in my mind, I noticed an interesting connection to one of the final tracks on that project to this one. “WDYM” touches on if he’s gonna leave a legacy or be remembered by anyone. This album is that question being expanded upon, which makes for Chris’s dar

Sometimes all you have to do is smile, you know? The idea behind The Smile is actually pretty good. You have two legends in the music business, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, teaming up with jazz band Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner to form a new band. They’ve spent the past year teasing some tracks live and even released some studio versions of them, but I’ve avoided them because I’ve been pretty excited about how this album would turn out. It ended up being a while, but we now have the first album from the group, A Light for Attracting Attention . Let’s get into how I felt about it. It should be known that most of the Radiohead members’ side projects and even solo careers haven’t truly taken the world by storm like Radiohead has. Sure, Thom Yorke has his solo career and Jonny Greenwood’s film scores have been great, but they’ve never gotten the public eye gripped. I feel like The Smile is going to be the first side project that does this, mainly because this is as good

Honestly, I just can’t believe we made it five years. Do I really need an introduction to this? I’m sure if you’re even in tune with the music world, you know who Kendrick Lamar is. You know how long it’s been since his last album DAMN. , and if you’re curious, that dropped back on April 14, 2017. I was a sophomore in high school and the day this dropped, I finished my sophomore year of college. A lot of my life happened in between the two albums, and among many other rap albums, DAMN. was very instrumental in my music taste today. Actually, Kendrick’s discography in general really helped me get into music the way I am today, so to say that this is a big deal to me is an understatement. You know how much expectations fans have for Kendrick when it comes to his projects. To put it simply, he hasn’t missed for a very long time, there’s little reason to doubt him. The one thing that always fluctuates with him is the sound of the album, and we haven’t gotten anything on that before its re

Hahaha, we? I’ve always respected Arcade Fire more than I’ve actually liked them. Honestly, the first time I’ve even heard of the band was when I was watching Saturday Night Live a few years back, and my dad came in and asked why there were so many people on stage. After doing research, some of them perform all the instruments on tour with the group while it’s actually only six members on the studio albums. One of the members actually announced his departure a few days before this new album, WE , released. I’ve only heard a couple of their albums, and I thought they were okay, so I guess I’m expecting the same from WE . Let’s get into it. You want me to be honest with you? I just don’t have a lot to say about this. Just like the rest I’ve heard from the group, they just sound so so pretentious here. One of the other albums from them I’ve heard in full, Reflektor , is a good example of not overstaying your welcome when it comes to music. Yes, fans will know that Reflektor is nearly hal

Have I said how much he sounds like Kanye before? I feel like I have. IDK has been someone I’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. His album from last year, USEE4YOURSELF , was pretty good and really cemented himself as someone to watch out for in rap right now. I’ve been waiting for whatever he’d drop next, but this project just came out of nowhere. A short album entirely produced by KAYTRANADA, one of my favorite working producers right now titled Simple. should be anything but simple to me. Let’s get into it. Honestly, let me just say this: This is IDK’s best album. Like, there’s no way around it. These are his best lyrics and performances yet in my opinion, and if I may be honest, I thought we were gonna hit this point at least a few years from now. He just sounds super focused on here, and I’m also a fan of the subject material. However, what really puts this over the top is KAYTRANADA’s production, which is detailed and layered and really bolsters IDK’s performance. Even the fe

I mean, an album titled A SUMMER WITHOUT YOU should be a great, if somber, summer album. It’s no secret that Bad Bunny is one of the biggest names not just in Latin music, but in music right now. Not to bring up the same comparison from my review of Jack Harlow’s recent album, he’s slowly becoming a Drake-esque figure, and that comes with everything. I actually do prefer Bad Bunny over Drake because I think he’s more creative with his music. I enjoyed his last project, EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO , quite a bit and I still have it in rotation. We now have UN VERANO SIN TI (an already record-breaking album), which admittedly is very long. Bad Bunny has stated this about being a summer playlist of sorts, so framing it like a collection of songs, it’ll be interesting to see how this project shapes up. Let’s get into it. I’ll say that this is Bad Bunny’s most risky project yet. There are a lot more genres at play here like trap, afrobeat, bossa nova, reggae, synthpop, and dancehall, among ma

He made a reference to Mavi and his album Let The Sun Talk on this. That’s just badass. Is it too much to call Jack Harlow a star at this point? Even if he isn’t my cup of tea, I can totally understand why he’s popular. He’s got the charisma that some rappers don’t have. For lack of a better term, he’s Drake at home. I don’t think Harlow’s proven that he’s a hit-making machine, but his feature on Lil Nas X’s “INDUSTRY BABY” really impressed me. Unfortunately, his last album, That’s What They All Say , ended up coming and going in a flash to me. I’m hoping that with this new album, Come Home The Kids Miss You , he tries a little more to set himself apart. The declaration he’s made about only having legends as features rang true, with Drake, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Justin Timberlake being legends in their own right. It seems like Harlow is using this project to prove he can hold his own. Does he do this? Let’s get into it. It’s weird that I can think of two routes a white rapper can go

Keep shining. There are always albums that we don’t think will ever see the light of day. Some may not even exist, but the one inkling of knowing that it’s possibly out there is enough. Dr. Dre’s Detox , a solo André 3000 album, Ms. Lauryn Hill’s second album, the Child Rebel Soldier project with Kanye West, Pharrell, and Lupe Fiasco…I could go on for a while. For the longest time, a second Black Star album was one of those. A duo consisting of legendary rappers Yasiin Bey (f.k.a. Mos Def) and Talib Kweli, their first album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star essentially kicked off their careers and is considered a classic by most hip-hop heads, and I believe that too. Now, 24 years later, Black Star is back with No Fear of Time , entirely produced by the one and only Madlib. How does it stack up? Let’s find out. I’ll start off with Madlib’s beats, and they were much more abstract than I thought they were gonna be. I actually dug the vibe that Madlib was going for with it, but i

No matter how I was gonna feel about the music, I’ll cop a vinyl release of this because GOOD GOD THAT COVER ART IS GORGEOUS. I’ve always felt like I should like Ransom more than I actually do. I’ve obviously never hated him before because I’ve covered projects of his before and have praised them. I just tend to not go back to them as much as other artists in this lane like Rome Streetz. I’m hoping that this can change soon, mainly because he’s got an album entirely produced by Pete Rock on the way, but I’m waiting for that one album that finally clicks with me. I hope that No Rest For The Wicked is the one that does it. Let’s get into No Rest For The Wicked . Out of what I’ve heard from his work, I feel like this is the most introspective I’ve heard Ransom be recently. He sounds more passionate on this than on anything else I’ve heard him on, and pairing that up with his introspection make up a killer combo. I prefer that to the production on here, which just seems very overdone in s

Why is this the most fun album name to say out loud ever? Action Bronson has been an artist that’s only been getting better and better in my eyes. While I really don’t care much for his earlier work, everything since 2018’s White Bronco has caught my eye and ear. His Alchemist-produced EP Lamb Over Rice and his last album Only For Dolphins were the two projects that made me a fan of his, and I’ve honestly just been waiting for him to drop since then. We now have that in the form of Cocodrillo Turbo , with The Alchemist, Conway the Machine, Roc Marciano, Daringer, and more coming along for the ride. Let’s get into how I felt about it. Let’s just get the one thing out of the way, and that’s that the production is incredible here. I adore all of the surf rock samples and the sax solo on the final track is insanity. Bronson himself, though, is sounding the best he’s ever been on here. He sounds hungry and it feels like he genuinely wants to go the extra mile in music for the first time.

Honestly, if the album doesn’t get a good reception, this cover’s totally gonna backfire. Is it weird that I’ve been this excited for a Future album? It’s also coming full circle because one of my first reviews on this site ever was his last album, High Off Life . While I did enjoy that album, I never really went back to it outside of one song. Even after that very disappointing joint album with Lil Uzi Vert, I was still interested in whatever Future would put out, and we now have that in the form of I NEVER LIKED YOU . He typically drops at least one project a year, so taking a year off is very out of character for him. Let’s see if I liked this, even if Future never did. You know, I’ve realized something. These are some of the hardest reviews for me to write. It’s generally the same thing across this album. Future’s a trap legend at this point, and we’re not exactly asking for anything new from him. In a weird way, Future isn’t as toxic here as he normally is. I’m not saying he’s lea