Average Rating: 4.10 Rating Variance: 0.51 Objectivity Score: 54% (Somewhat Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicAlvvays Blue RevDeclan McKenna ZerosInfatuated with this album. Is it because I'm a fruity young adult who's a sucker for catchy melodies and heartfelt lyrics that are kind of nonsense at the end of the day? Maybe! But I'm still gonna belt out every damn word of this album whenever it comes on, it's so full of nostalgia, hope, and young-adult fuck-this-shit-up energy that is my life fuel.Iosonouncane IraSuch a strange and beautiful world of sound to get lost in. It's a long album, and some sections can feel a bit too still or repetitive, but it's still so densely packed with beautiful sounds, hard-hitting melodies and sonic surprises that these moments fade away in the big picture. Something very tribal and powerful about this - hard to pick highlights but hiver, ashes, nuit, prison, horizon, piel, and soldiers are all incredible.Jessie Ware What's Your Pleasure?Ok. I give in. I first heard this album and thought it was nothing special, but I found myself giving it another spin. And another. And another. I can now safely say that this is nothing but pure bops, and the quality doesn't drop in the deluxe edition tracks (which actually, in my opinion, are of a more consistent quality than the standard tracklist). Save A Kiss is one of my favourite tracks. Ever. I must have listened to it 100+ times by now and it hasn't gotten old yet.Lorde MelodramaFrom start to end, this album knows what it's doing and it does it damn good. Yes, it's a pop breakup album, but it displays so much depth in its lyricism and nuance in its songwriting that the tired label doesn't even begin to suggest. Antonoff and Lorde are just fully on the same wavelength here, and the production and her voice interplay perfectly. Melodrama is not experimental, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does something universal to a level that hasn't been matched before.Seiko Oomori SennouUnhinged, ear-to-ear smile-splitting fun. Verse? All hooks. Chorus? Even better hooks. Melodically, you can't ask for anything catchier than this album, and thankfully the instrumentals, sheer energy, and wacky song-structuring all bring their A-game too. I prefer the up-tempo tracks on this, but the slower ones are pretty pleasant too. Seiko's vocals are so confident, charismatic and full of humour - the little 'eh?' at the end of the album makes me laugh every time.Yeule softscarsmy two favourite artists are following the same trend of having a 3 album discography, all of which are incredible, and the third of which is more shoegazey than the others and pretty much an instant all time classic. Alvvays and Yeule try not to make masterpieces challenge (difficulty impossible)4.5 superbBen Howard I Forget Where We WereMelancholic, but not defeated. Ben Howard does a lot with a little, and he knows exactly when to expand a song beyond the guitar + minimal drumline/synths to absolutely floor you.Charli XCX BratGenesis Owusu Smiling with No TeethBeyond being inventive and superbly crafted, this album is just so much damn fun to listen to? There's been a lot of albums this year that I appreciated a lot from an 'intellectual' or musical perspective, but few things come to mind as being so easy to listen to as this. Owusu's optimism runs through the whole album, and it's infectious.Little Simz Sometimes I Might Be IntrovertI love the theatrical nature of this album, with the often band-like instrumentals and interlude skits. It really feels like watching a grand play unfold. It's a big album, and some tracks lull a little, but there's so much rhythmic invention and variety from track to track that it's still a great experience.Marcus Whale The HungerHidden gem. Atmospheric, moody, gets more and more immersive with each listen. The concept behind the album is great, and drenches the whole thing in fairly dark emotions. As soon as I heard the transition from the intro track Cowboy Song into Two Holes, I knew something special was gonna happen. Portal & Familiar are the other album highlights for me. Hope a few more people get round to listening to this, it?s good stuff.Oneohtrix Point Never R Plus SevenThe album art perfectly captures the listening experience - an otherworldly modern art gallery. Lopatin has a great command of the balance between uncanny sounds and traditional beauty, and the album ebbs and flows between the two so naturally until we explode into the transcendence of Chrome County.Oneohtrix Point Never Garden of DeleteThe darker counterpart to R+7. Instead of wonder at beauty, this album is filled with an electronic angst, a technological reflection of hurt and confusion. The rock-influences make a lot of this album just plainly catchy, especially in the opening singles Ezra and Sticky Drama, but what keeps me coming back to this is how it manages to capture human feeling in such an alien soundscape.Phoebe Bridgers PunisherI'm on the Punisher > Stranger in the Alps team, mainly because there's a greater variety to the sounds on display here, and the ebb and swell of the album is so much more engaging. There isn't a single dud on this tracklist, and the highs of Kyoto, Chinese Satellite, and I Know The End are so involving and beautiful. Sophie ProductBeneath the famously plastic sheen of SOPHIE's music, there's a real human heart. What can easily be dismissed as shallow, dance-club lyrics are full of life-affirming joy to match the playfulness of her sound. These tracks are so ahead of their time, and the sonic invention - as incredible as it is - is never at the expense of song structure or listenability. The closing track, Just Like We Never Said Goodbye, makes me tear up even more now, knowing that we lost this visionary talent too soon. r'Do I make you proud? I try so hard.' Yes, you do, SOPHIE. Yes, you do. For music-lovers, for aspiring artists, for queer communities everywhere - you make us so, so, proud.St. Vincent MasseductionSt. Vincent's sound gets rounded out into something fuller, and, in my opinion, more satisfying. The production gives some much added oomph behind Annie's somewhat thin (IMO) voice, and the tracklist never falters from being banging or emotionally affecting, or both at once. Yes, it's a much more radio-friendly, pop-oriented sound. But how can I complain when the songs are this good?Tkay Maidza Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3Such a buttery smooth sound. While the album is a little off track-to-track, the transitions inside each song are pulled off impeccably. Eden is such a tightly wound, impressive intro, and the final run of High Beams, Cashmere, and Breathe is basically perfect.Tkay Maidza Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2If Last Year Was Weird Vol.3 was smooth as butter, this one is crunchy peanut butter. And I mean that in a good way, because I like crunchy peanut butter. Still dizzyingly skilled at taking a listener from A to B, this central instalment to the LYWW trilogy drops any semblance of chill and goes HARD on the killer track run of 24k, Shook, Awake, and Grasshopper, with some evil production. Every hook lands perfectly, and the comedown to the more relaxed last three tracks allows Tkay's effortless charm come into the spotlight.4.0 excellentAlvvays AlvvaysThe hooks in this album are perfect. The energy lulls a little in the second half, but 'Archie, Marry Me' and 'Party Police' are pop classics (with the latter being a really clever song that only slowly reveals how sad it is).Andrew Prahlow Outer Wilds (Original Soundtrack)People who have Sufjan Stevens as their go-to cry music clearly haven't played Outer Wilds, because once you've been through that experience this soundtrack is tears on tap.FKA Twigs EPAche and Breathe are incredibly immersive, and I might be in the minority that enjoys Weak Spot's spoken-word vibes. The closer is kind of weak and meandering, though. If you swap out 'Hide' for 'Ultraviolet' from EP2, you get a 5-star EP. FKA Twigs MagdaleneI love almost all of the tracks here individually (other than the painfully slow/repetitive opener, and the baffling inclusion of holy terrain), but taken as a whole the album feels slightly stuck in its very beautiful and very sad ditch. On paper, it's the more accomplished and more emotionally involving experience of FKA's two albums, but the variety and experimentation on LP1 wins out for me.Kero Kero Bonito Bonito GenerationThis album is the source of 90% of my serotonin these days. Hidden behind the kiddie aesthetic of the sound and lyrics are some real nostalgic emotions. When I finally finish this degree that is killing me, I'm going to blast Graduation on repeat for the entire day.Phoebe Bridgers Stranger in the AlpsI admit it, I am a Phoebe fanboi. I actually think this album is a little more homogenous than its successor, especially in the second half (which is saved by Georgia, the best song on the album and hugely underrated IMO), but when it hits, it HITS.Ruby Haunt Watching the Grass GrowVery comforting album. Hypnotic in spite of its simplicity. 'Pyro' is warmer than a heavy blanket in winter.Sevdaliza ShabrangI have to be in the right mood to listen to most of this album, but when I am in that mood it's heavenly. Mostly quite restrained and reflective (and really beautiful while its at it), I might be shallow for loving the bangers the most - Darkest Hour, Oh My God, and Eden is such a great run of tracks, with Eden being the peak of the album and basically a perfect edgy-but-gets-you-moving song.St. Vincent ActorThe aesthetic of this album is incredible. Housewife in purgatorial suburbia, with prim tweeness barely covering a constant feeling of dread and danger. Clever musical motifs run throughout the entirety of the album and make it feel really cohesive. Still, there's something slightly thin about the production of St. Vincent's earlier work that stops me from fully loving this album.3.5 greatclipping. CLPPNGSome really awesome tracks on here (Work Work, Summertime), but also a lot of stuff that overstays its welcome - when the hooks lose their strength, entire tracks can feel bloated. (Although 'Story 2' is possibly the best thing on here, and has no hook, so clipping definitely has it in them to do better.)Kitty Miami Garden ClubThis is fun, sugary goodness. As a polar opposite to most albums, I don't like the opening few tracks of this that much, but I think the second half of this album is chock-full of great songs like If U Wanna Come Over, and Asari Love Song (from Asari Love Song to the end, really, but it's definitely the highlight of the last three tracks.)Lightning Bug FloatersReally quite an alluring album. Something fairytale like to the whole thing, you can almost sense 'normal' pop songs that have been blurred at sunset, had a few colour filters passed over them, and then handed back to you. That's not necessarily a bad thing.St. Vincent MassEducationMuch less trivial and trifling than you might expect, although there are several songs skate too close or too far from the originals (to underwhelming effect). Strips away almost all of the sexiness of the original to reveal how surprisingly vulnerable and beautiful the songs at the heart of MASSEDUCTION are.3.0 goodBillie Eilish Happier Than EverThe up-tempo stuff on this is all great, but unfortunately the album is slightly lethargic overall and the slower stuff doesn't really stick, for me. Still, some tracks like GOLDWING are so compelling that I can't help but come back to this every now and then.FKA Twigs EP2FKA and Arca should be my crack, but somehow this EP is mostly underwhelming to me. There are interesting sounds, but most of the tracks really lack the direction and growth that makes FKA's LP1 so enthralling. The exception to this aimlessness is 'Ultraviolet', which in its binary form hits the highs I wished every track here did. (Papi Pacify aims for some great moments too, but doesn't seem to know what to do with the time in between them)Miracle Musical Hawaii: Part IIUsed to be a big fan of this album, but it's grown off me a little - there's a sheen of overthought-ness to it all which stops it from really clicking on an emotional level, even when it tries on the slower tracks. Murders and The Mind Electric are the two most exciting and eclectic cuts on the album.Poppy Poppy.ComputerIs it musically compelling? No. Is it clever, deep satire? No. But does it make me smile and is it immensely easy to sing along to? Yes. Poppy goes a long way from this debut album, but I still think it's some catchy, mindless fun that ticks the dopamine boxes.Weyes Blood Titanic RisingIt's pretty, I guess! I love the lush instrumentation of this album, but find the songwriting to be lacking on a lot of tracks to be honest. I've listened to this quite a few times now and I can remember like, four actual melodies from the whole album? When a solid song is the foundation of the gorgeous aesthetic of the album, though, it really soars (A Lot's Gonna Change, Wild Time, Picture Me Better).2.0 poorPhoebe Bridgers Copycat KillerThis version of Kyoto is stunning, but uhhhh maybe release that as a single instead of phoning in three other string arrangements that don't really need to exist at all. There's a weird disconnect between Phoebe's vocals and the orchestral backings that makes most of these just sound awkward.
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