If you're looking for the quintessential Korean Hip-hop (KHH) record this is it. One producer (Obi Klein) and one rapper (E Sens) made this record in three weeks and is unanimously considered the best Korean rap album made. I think Korean hip-hop has come a long way since this record and I'm not a E Sens stan/bias but Like TPAB that had released the month before this record and had spun side by side for me throughout the next year its influenced the scene its from like no other.

In the same way Kanye went about deconstructing hip-hop with Yeezus, Mino has spent his solo career deconstructing k-pop. There are some overlapping elements that made me think of this comparison (abrasive cuts in the composition of each song juxtaposed by instantly catchy hooks).

The key thing here is, nobody knows pop music like K-pop artists, so for MINO to tear it apart, the results are always so odd and jarring almost avant-garde that I can't help but see the little snippets of a really ... read more

nah.

It's pretty good man.

Meh, can definitely see why they didn't make the cut.

Just realized what "Autumn Leaves Don't Come" reminds me of! It is James Blake less so instrumentally more in the way she delivers her opening line. I will say that by the time she delivers the refrain, "I've been living in the sky too long" the song completely becomes its own gorgeous shimmer.

Can't fault anything found here, the string arrangements are masterful, her lyricism is filled with a uniqueness only birthed from actually spending time with the words you're ... read more

A collection of love songs spun tight together by little instrumental skits making sure every moment remains locked in this love-dream. The record is clearly a part of a whole, providing more mood than answer. It's a little maze of a record with half-songs teasing a melody only to make way for another.

Her melding of rock and r&b is something you'll struggle to hear anywhere else, maybe Yves Tumor or Sogumm if you squint hard enough. She has huge hooks, that you'd usually find on a rock ... read more

Needed BRUISER Brown to attack this beat, not whoever that back up singer was.

Don't get too close, destroy before listening to.

The two bookmarked sounds of Paramore collide on This Is Why. Their newer bubbly synthpop sound is augmented and brought back down to reality by pop-punk instrumentation that is both intricately developed and somehow still nostalgic in its melodies. Not only can Paramore fans have their cake and eat it but this record stands out as their best-written and most well produced album (except C'est Comme Ca). The album does miss the immediate punch that say Riot or Brand New Eyes had but in return ... read more

Sprawling hip-hop, always for artists making challenging works and this is Lil Yachty likely making the music he listens to. Inspirations are numerous and easy to point out but they come off more as homages or are straight up produced by these artists so can’t fault Yachty at all in fact I’m here for it. Diana Gordon absolutely killed it all across this album.

All that said Lil Yachty cannot sing, even with auto tune the listens are toooough at points, and what was that rap verse ... read more

They've only written another masterwork, I hardly noticed. What is this service to film that makes an artist weave such potions of sleep, some of these pieces are just so haunting. The scores far outdo the films they're in, here it isn't such a hard task but in other places its mesmerizing. Reznor spoke of being in service to someone else's vision unlike with NIN where it was his own. Does servitude outweigh freedom in the creative process? Limitations are what can make a great debut album and ... read more

This record is so fucking good.

I'm so happy I can join the party of enjoying a Beyonce album (Lemonade was a dark time for me). 16 tracks is still too damn much for me and some songs still make me gag but the majority of these songs are festivals moving through city streets, alive and bubbling and constantly moving and building upon itself and Beyoncé's voice is quite perfect. I would say the lyrics are poorest here but its going for universality so yeah, there's at least 5 writers on each track too so its clear what ... read more

Always loved the idea of what Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was going for, the same can be said for The Car, this form of confessional poetry meets a lounge band, its what I imagine people thought when cool jazz first rolled by, "oh wow, how effortless this sounds, lets get a drink here" but execution is the toughest to go through. I've got to applaud AM for actually trying to reach that star in the sky, they're much closer here than with their Casino lost to space. I hope AM ... read more

Earl Sweatshirt going through the motions and still makes one of the most articulate hip-hop records of the year; with a pen like his its always worth a read.

Tiny Desk so mad rn

There's this great story here of an obsessive ex whose lost their mind due to a breakup (and the back and forths off and on again love games that were played on her) which seemingly lead her to kill her ex. The "Gone Girl" and "Kill Bill" references are quite on the nose here. Too bad that story is completely lost by the sheer volume of added tracks that only repeat the same themes over and over and 1 hour later, again.

This record has a mix of influences like Blonde, Anti ... read more

Feels like I'm peering through the window into NIN's studio, I can just about make out the instruments they've been tinkering away with, the little spells they've been inscribing along their discography.

When "Man on the Moon" comes on they take a left turn and by "Crucify Me" I'm actually sad they're breaking up because there is definitely something here that hadn't yet been done by the collective. Its a great signal for something new in their respective solo works. (my money is on Matt Champion dropping the best solo project of the group.)

To me, this is the first time they've done something new since they first facefucked the scene with the saturation trilogy. Everything ... read more