Cordavision Music Reviews

Did you know that King Gizz’s discography is the length of two football fields? How many times have I raved about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard? Like, I shined praise onto them five times last year alone for all of the projects they dropped. What else can they even do? And yet, they continue to surprise. A huge highlight of not only their 2022 but their careers up to this point is playing three 3-hour shows in a single weekend over at Red Rocks, Colorado. Each of them were completely different sets, and while I was excited to hear about this massive achievement for the group, I’m a broke college student and couldn’t get to Colorado, which I bet I’m not the only one that felt this. However, each show they played has now been released as a massive 86-track, nearly 9-hour box set for the fans to enjoy. It took some time, but I actually listened to the whole thing. Let’s dive into it. I’ve had to edit this review down a couple of times, but I’ve slowly realized that this is just gon...

Loving the Pink Floyd homage, not gonna lie. I think it’s a safe bet to say that Metro Boomin’ is a modern legend. I’ve always liked him and his contributions to rap and trap specifically, and he’s also had a huge hand in some of my favorite albums in trap. His collab albums with 21 Savage, mainly Without Warning with Offset and Savage Mode II , have been the standouts to me. Also, while writing this, I also found out he produced the entirety (sans one track) of Future’s DS2 , one of my favorite Future projects. It may also be a little bit of bias, but he’s also done a good amount with The Weeknd as well, who appears on this album. However, I think his last solo album, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES , is just fine. I don’t really remember a bunch of it, but I still got pretty excited for this when it got announced. Let’s just cut to the bullshit and see how I felt about HEROES & VILLAINS . I’m just gonna say that I don’t know how he connected with Morgan Freeman, but he always sounds s...

Shoutout Hivemind. Right off the bat, I’ll say that I didn’t expect this from Quadeca. The section of YouTuber-turned-musicians that are on my radar are pretty big, especially since I upload on YouTube. Of course, there’s Joji who successfully made the jump, but there are other YouTubers that happen to make music like KSI that really just don’t hit hard to me. Quadeca’s last album, From Me To You , really set up some potential for Quadeca to be a pretty successful YouTuber-to-rapper jump and I still enjoy that project today. His latest release, I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You , leans into a much more experimental and ambitious project. I plan to watch the accompanying visual album too, but it’s just been busy. So, let’s just get into it. So, if I didn’t make it obvious, this project is a whole different beast compared to the other Quadeca projects I’ve heard. This is much more of an art pop album with some alternative R&B, experimental rap, and even a little tinge of industrial thrown i...

If it’s not blocked in your country, I reacted to this album live on my YouTube channel. Click here to watch it. Okay, let me start off with this. I don’t have to do an intro to Taylor Swift. Whether you like her or not, she’s one of the most recognizable names on the planet. Hell, a testament to this is that this album, Midnights , is set to be the first album in six years to sell over a million copies in its first week. The last time this happened was Swift again. In an age where it’s tough to reach half of a million, it’s really impressive. But I’m not here to talk about sales, I’m here to talk about the music. During the height of the pandemic, she dropped two indie-inspired albums, folklore and evermore . Both of these albums, especially folklore, opened my eyes on how good she was at writing these relatively complex stories into her songs when she teams up with The National. I was blown away by it and, for lack of a better term, I realized I was a Swiftie. Now, in the middle of...

I’d like to throw this cover into the fray of one of the most recognizable cover arts of the 2010s. Alright, this may be a surprising revelation to some, but I’ve never heard an Arctic Monkeys album in its entirety. Sure, I’ve heard a couple of songs and most of their last album, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino , but never a whole project. The only song I’ve heard from this project, AM , is “R U Mine?,” which I think is a pretty good song. To my knowledge, AM is considered to be the sellout album in Arctic Monkeys’ discography, and that’s mainly why I decided to pick this as my first dive into the group. On top of their first album in four years releasing this Friday, I figured now would be a better time than ever to finally see what this group’s about. Let’s get into AM . I’ll say this off the bat: you can tell that most of these were singles or really wanted to be. Six of these songs were singles, that’s half of the album. It’s not as bad as the last Joyner Lucas album where there w...

I have a poster of this cover in my room, yet I have no idea why I have this over IGOR . Tyler, The Creator is arguably a superstar now. For the past few months, he’s been on a wildly successful tour, been doing features on some great projects since his last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST , and he’s actually legally allowed to enter some parts of the world now. Personally, I think he’s one of the best artists working today. I definitely wouldn’t have thought that over a decade ago, mainly because I was a kid, but it’s mainly because he was known for Goblin , an album that I think had great ideas [especially that opening track, holy shit] yet is now plagued with material that hasn’t aged well in many different ways. I thought about reviewing Goblin , its better follow-up Wolf, or even give his first project Bastard a second shot. However, I chose this project, 2015’s Cherry Bomb , which I could safely say is Tyler’s most divisive project as of now. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and...

I see where Drake got his inspiration. Do I need an intro? I feel like I should for the sake of covering Beyoncé for the first time on the site, so I’ll be quick. Beyoncé has essentially built this cult-like fanbase over the years, especially within the past decade with the one-two punch of her self-titled release from 2013 and her last official studio album, 2016’s Lemonade, an event within itself that’s cemented its place in pop culture history. Now, after a semi-productive six years that included an entire album with her husband Jay-Z, starring in and soundtracking the new version of The Lion King , and a film on Disney+, we now have RENAISSANCE , the first release in a trilogy of new projects that will reflect on her mental health during the COVID pandemic. How does RENAISSANCE sound? Let’s get into it. There’s an inevitable comparison to come, so I’m just gonna get it out of the way right now. Earlier this summer, Drake surprise-dropped HONESTLY, NEVERMIND , an R&B album insp...

First off, Tinker Bell isn’t overrated. Honestly, I’ve always liked the sound of beabadoobee. The first time I’d even heard of her, like most of us, was being sampled on that one Tik Tok song about a cup of coffee or something. I’m not even bothered to look up what that song is because I’m not even a fan of it. Either way, it helped me discover bea, and her debut album, 2020’s Fake It Flowers , is actually pretty good, so I’d be tuning in to whatever she did next. Lo and behold, we now have Beatopia in our grasp, so let’s just get into it. What I like the most about this is the production and overall vibe of the album. It reminds me a lot of the radio hits of the late 90s and early 2000s, and quite frankly, the rose-colored nostalgia glasses are on for that era. The use of genres like folk, indie pop, singer-songwriter, and dream pop keep the sound of this album evolving throughout to keep the listener on their toes. Combining that with the impressive vocals from Bea makes for a dream...

I certainly hope this album isn’t a wasteland. I really don’t know much about Brent Faiyaz, and I was pretty late to the party when it comes to him too. The first time I heard him was as a feature on Tyler, the Creator’s CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST , and he sounded great. I gave a listen to his Sonder Son album not long after that and liked it too, and it ended up being the same with Fuck The World . It may not have been as long for me as the fans who’ve been with him for years, but we now have WASTELAND , a brand new project from him. How does it sound? Let’s get into it. First off, the production is rich and full of life here. It feels very cinematic, and that’s helped by the surprisingly great skits that are placed throughout the album. It’s not often where the skits can be that engaging, but what about the actual songs? A great throughline is Brent’s voice, which is always mesmerizing enough to keep your attention on the music. Something that I think has improved here is his songwriti...

Cuomoville? More like Cumville… I have the humor of a literal child. Earlier this year, prolific band Weezer announced the SZNZ series of EPs, one project released on the first day of the new season. Back in March, we got the spring installment, which was a set of acoustic tracks that, well, felt a lot like springtime. Now, we have the summer DLC of Weezer. How does SZNZ: Summer hold up? Let's get into it. It’s no secret among my group of friends that I think the worst Weezer project is Van Weezer, and in a weird way, I feel like the sound of this is a spiritual successor to that project. I may be a little hypocritical with this, but I actually think this is one of the most I’ve enjoyed a Weezer project so far. Before you go crazy, I’m not that familiar with Weezer’s discography just yet, so this is coming from very limited knowledge. The alternative/surf rock vibe of this album just defines summer perfectly, and the closing track is one of my favorite Weezer songs period now. Li...

It's kinda crazy that this is so divisive, to be honest. You knew this was coming, right? You know who Drake is, so there’s no reason to give an intro. Drake’s been dropping a project a year since 2015, and that period has had Drake’s highs and lows of his career. Personally, I’ve been wanting a full album of R&B tracks like “Passionfruit” for a very long time, and I hoped for that in last year’s Certified Lover Boy , but even if we didn’t get that, I still didn’t mind it. For once, I seemed to be in the minority on a positive opinion. Now, we have HONESTLY, NEVERMIND , and while I’m hyped for it, we really don’t have a lot of things to go over. It’s a new Drake album. Let’s get into HONESTLY, NEVERMIND . Right off the bat, this has been dividing not just the critics, but the fans. I’ve been seeing both positive and negative responses from quite literally everyone. As I’ve stated above, an R&B album from Drake is best-case scenario for me, and at some point, I figured that ...

Legitimately gorgeous cover art, by the way. It pains me that I’m late to the party when it comes to 070 Shake. Like a good amount of people, the first time I heard her was during Kanye West’s series of mini-albums in 2018, featured on both Pusha T’s DAYTONA and West’s own ye , and being a highlight on both releases. I thought her debut album Modus Vivendi was pretty nice, and I’ve been looking forward to whatever she’d do next. Looking at You Can’t Kill Me , with an oddly bone-chilling cover, I’m pretty excited about this. Let’s get into how I felt about it. We’ll start off with the production first, and even without looking at the credits, I knew Mike Dean had his hands on this. This is definitely a contender for one of the most sonically-beautiful releases of the year so far, mainly because of its very futuristic vibe and how well it blends with Shake’s vocals. Speaking of her vocals, they’re absolutely hypnotic and is the best part of the album to me. They’re very alluring and th...

Every musician’s gotta have that butterfly on the cover moment, yeah? It’s no mistake that Post Malone’s one of the more recognizable voices in mainstream music right now. If I’m being honest, he’s been on a pretty decent streak recently. His last two albums, beerbongs & bentleys and Hollywood’s Bleeding , are some of the best pop-rap albums of the 2010s and most of his hits have aged pretty well over the past couple of years. Even if it’s been oddly silent on the marketing front, we now have his new album Twelve Carat Toothache , a first-world problem if I’ve ever heard one. Because of his track record, I’m actually pretty excited about this, so let’s just get into it. Let me just get the cat out of the bag: This is pretty easily Posty’s worst project, in my opinion. A lot of the songs in here just felt very uninspired and borderline lazy in some cases. However, I won’t say that Posty doesn’t have the range to pull off the pop and rap songs on here because he’s done it in the pas...

I’m just curious to know how this cover was made. Honestly, this is another scenario where I don’t know a single thing about this artist. However, I do know that UMI has a very good cover of Frank Ocean’s “Self Control,” which I’ll link here . Another thing I noticed from this album, Forest in the City , is that she wrote every song on this project. I’ll have to look and see if this is true for the rest of her projects, but I do like a good R&B album when I find one. So, let’s just get into Forest in the City . I’ll start off with this: I enjoy UMI’s writing the most on this project, mainly because it seems very genuine, and that’s a big piece of getting into R&B when it comes to my taste in the genre. I also think that shows when she sings in Japanese and seamlessly transitions to English, and that’s where the creativity in this shines. I can hear the influences here like Brandy and Erykah Badu, but it doesn’t feel like she’s wearing them on her sleeve and is carving her own p...

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...

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...

Literally took a couple minutes to figure out what the hell this cover was, but it’s cool, I guess. I’ve been aware of Yung Lean for a while now and he honestly hasn’t done that much for me when it comes to his music. Sure, the pictures of him with Kanye West and Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion are insanely funny to me, but that’s the most positive I’ve been with him. Finally, Lean gets put in the Cordavision chamber with Stardust , his first project in a couple years that I’ve been eager to check out. Let’s get into it. You know, I’ll give it this one thing: It was never boring. Each track had something I liked about it, whether it was Lean himself, the production, or a featured artist, but for an odd reason, it all never really came together. I know it’s very cliche to compare an album to a rollercoaster, but it really felt like that. It took many twists and turns, and I really didn’t know what to expect from the next song while listening to it. The only track I really did ...

Why is there no blur on the tomatoes? Aren’t they being thrown at him? I’m not gonna get into the Machine Gun Kelly discourse because if I’m being honest, I really don’t care about it. MGK’s time as a musician has been genuinely weird. From pop-rapper to pop-punk rocker who claims to have brought guitar-driven music back, it’s certainly been an interesting timeline for him. When it comes to his last album, Tickets to My Downfall , I’m actually in the minority in the music-nerd space when I say I kind of liked it. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it seems like MGK tried to justify this new direction. He’s now giving it another go with Mainstream Sellout , so let’s get into what I thought about it. This might be considered a hot take, but I don’t think this is all that good. Then again, I really don’t know what I expected either. Even if Tickets to My Downfall seemed somewhat genuine to me, this just all seems fake. Even if some people can’t accept it, MGK is the biggest rock musician in the...

Because of listening to this, I found out that ROSALÍA and Frank Ocean lived together for a bit. Let me tell you this right now: I’ve been insanely excited for this album for a while now. ROSALÍA has been on my radar for a few years, especially after her two breakout albums Los Ángeles and El mal querer . Even her collaborations with Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, and The Weeknd have all hit pretty well with me as well. Ever since MOTOMAMI was officially announced, it immediately shot to the top of my most anticipated list. Even with the rumor of Frank Ocean being a feature ending up being false, that didn’t slow down the hype for me one bit. Let’s not waste any more time and get into MOTOMAMI . In a word, this is explosive. The direction of experimental pop thrown in with reggaeton and R&B is some of the most creative music I’ve heard this decade so far. Each song is genuinely different, and especially with ROSALÍA having a hand in the production on every song, it just cements the fa...

Oh no, he’s hot. I’ve never really heard of Lucky Daye before this album. Even if I’ve heard the name before, I haven’t heard any of his music before. This is a classic example of only listening to an album because of the cover art, because admittedly, this cover’s scratching an itch in my mind. I know he’s a neo-soul/R&B singer, and that’s really all I know. I don’t know how to properly segway into the review, so let’s just get into what I thought about Candydrip . Right off the bat, my favorite aspect of this album is Lucky Daye himself. His vocals are rich and they fit the experimentation in the production. When it comes to the production, it’s a mix of digital modern production and live instrumentation, and it’s some of the best R&B production I’ve heard in a while. The slower R&B tracks really do fit Lucky Daye’s sound and with the mix of new and old production, it makes for a pretty unique sound. Overall, that’s pretty much all of my thoughts on Candydrip . Lucky Daye...