Modern Vampires is the perfect album for the coming Atlantic summer. Think of it like saltwater taffy: bright and sweet, with plenty to chew on.
The follow-up sometimes feels like it’s coasting down a long but not-so-steep hill, with warm synth melodies and soaring choruses stretching out forever. Still, it’s a lovely ride.
At 17 tracks, Paramore’s self-titled release seems like it should also be a textbook victim of its creators’ self-indulgence — but in fact it comes off like the great Blondie-indebted 21st-century new-wave album that No Doubt were trying to make with 2012’s Push and Shove.
On her confident, melodic major-label debut, Musgraves’ vocals are pleasingly agile, but what Same Trailer Different Park continually showcases is her writing prowess.
Nothing Was the Same bristles with epiphanies, absurdities, and plenty of bluster, but it’s all fodder for a hyperrealistic portrait of Aubrey Drake Graham, not some coronation ceremony.
As much as he pushes the envelope aesthetically, Yeezus isn’t quite the hardcore manifesto that early signs indicated.