Black Messiah is heartfelt funky neo-soul with a potent message lying underneath. Although not as solid as Voodoo, it's definitely the most cohesive of D'angelo's albums, and the one that resonates the most in terms of current climates. I hope that D'angelo will release something again soon, it's been way too long at this point.

Favourite Song: Really Love

Best: Ain't That Easy, 1000 Deaths, The Charade, Sugah Daddy, Back To the Future (Part I+II), Till It's Done, Betray My Heart, The Door, ... read more

Abbey Road is pop rock delight from start to finish. I can't believe it took me so long to listen to this because of my hesitancy towards older albums, but hey now that I have heard it I can officially say the very unheard of phrase which is that The Beatles are great. This is a very uncommon take since they're a superbly hated experimental post psychedelia dark acid jazz underground band who are just as unknown within the general public's musical knowledge as Nirvana and Tame Impala. But at ... read more

Although not as consistent as 'Origin of Symmetry', Absolution is still yet another enjoyable album from Muse. With the usual theatrics intertwined with a grand narrative of the apocalypse, the heights of the band are amped up to eleven but are occasionally let down by some tracks which add nothing to the grandiosity of the best Absolution cuts. Matt seemed to really want a bunch of more intimate and slowed down tracks, and I guess into terms of an emotional poignancy it has some effect but ... read more

I really didn't connect with this. The singing feels a bit marmite, the instrumentation is generic and the spoken word segments are gimmicky and annoying. Chaise Longue would probably be the only highlight for me, but even then there's so much of that song that I don't really find too appealing. Good for them for getting this big and for being able to make an album that clearly pines to the critics with its simplicity and presence in an era with a distinct lack of rock, but for me this feels ... read more

CHANCE's self titled is an hour of infectious grooves and fantastic production with impeccable sampling from all ranges of music. Strangely soulful, bouncy and nothing too hard to think about, it's just great music.

Favourite Song: Take Two

Best: Burning, A Hole in the Disco, Loser, Still Trying, Ready For This, Just For You, What You Feel, The Street, Don't Stop, Power to the People, Love Went Wrong, Hard to Explain, Things Get Better, It Sounds Familiar, Noise Ratio, Thanks for ... read more

Trip hop hasn't exactly been my favourite of genres, but Massive Attack seems to tackle trip hop in a unique and refreshing way. Mezzanine has a chilled and dark atmosphere, filled with depth through the use of a great range of vocalists. Compared to an album like 'Dummy', I felt like this had much more versatility, and ultimately tackled trip hop more effectively through better aesthetics and an enjoyable moodiness which helped keep it fresh and revolving. It's crazy to think this is a 90's ... read more

What the fuck did I just listen to LOL. Geez this was a weird listen.

Taking Me Back was one of my favourite songs of last year, so I felt obliged to at least listen to the album that it would be attached to. I wasn't too huge on this album's other singles, nor for the singles for the other 2022 upcoming Mr White album, but I thought that because Taking Me Back slapped, the rest would just fall into place. However, this album does not fall into place for me. It's a disjointed and strange ... read more

The Carlydustrial revolution and its consequences.

The Kick is an enjoyable dance-pop album. It's nothing special, but it's still dumb fun and has some sugary, catchy synthpop tracks that'll dig their way into your head. It is however hindered slightly by stale 2010's pop conventions and an over-abundance of influence from Carly Rae Jepsen's 'E•MO•TION' leaving the album with a lack of identity, especially when it comes to saxophone usage. Sorry Foxes, you are not Carly Rae Jepsen. ... read more

Nectar takes the SoundCloud aroma of BALLADS 1 and completely throws it out of the window. I feel like Joji really comes into his own on this album, finally taking ambitious production choices and straying further away from the predominant cloud/emo rap that he was mingling with before (although there's still a fair bit present on this album).

When I say ambitious production choices, I mean that Joji decides to use the likes of string sections, guitar solos and features to the best of his ... read more

I did not have 'saddest song of the year is called HENTAI' on my 2022 bingo check list.

ROSALÍA brings a Spanish heart to a whole range of genres, as she seamlessly weaves between a more hardcore and a more sentimental side of the album at free will. When Micthesnare said that this was like Yeezus, I can strangely see where he's coming from, with a softer underbelly of the album that's covered in hard hitting, experimental forefront elements. The perfect example of this is on HENTAI, a ... read more

Love is Dead sees CHVRCHES at their most sluggish, with a collection of tracks which start to feel like somewhat of a rehashing of some songs off of their past two excellent albums. There's some gaping holes in terms of creativity which last year's 'Screen Violence' helped to patch. Despite this though, the aura of bubbly, enjoyable electropop numbed my braincells into liking this for the most part. It's more commercial than any of their other releases and also more dancey, and to be honest the ... read more

This is a nice follow up EP to the fantastic Fishmonger, with a collection of hyper pop tracks which delves into even more genres than the afore mentioned album but with less of an overall impact. I like a lot of the ideas on display but I think that the singular songs don't come anywhere close to the quality of Fishmonger's tracks. Still, it's some nice B sides to that album and there's a few bops on display, and a song which even features Travis Barker's drumming. Man that guy's doing the ... read more

Topical Dancer proclaims itself as an dance/art pop album with political and social influences, and I can see why other people can love this but personally I didn't quite click with it. The instrumentals have promise but I felt like it was a little too minimalist at times or too clashing, and the vocals are good but the lyrics felt quite blunt and awkward at times despite the intentions behind them being good. It's a decent album for some strange dance pop with a French and socio-political ... read more

Punk has seen it's worst days as of late mainly due to the sudden influx of mediocrity that 20's pop-punk is giving us (thanks WILLOW and MGK), and so when I went into listening to Idles for the first time, I was going in with complete unknowingness towards modern 'non-pop' punk. But holy shit, holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Could these guys make music that goes any harder whilst simultaneously making me proud of having a modern British band which is authentically amazing? The topics, the ... read more

It's hard to tell but this album has a little bit of screaming on it.

Favourite Song: Epilogue of a Carcrash

Best: Le Désordre C'est Moi, Aesthetic Dialectic, In G and E, New Jersey Vs. Valhalla, Weekend at the Fire Academy, Framecode, The Action Index, Boy With No Arms

Worst: Invasion U.S.A.

Recently, Taylor Hawkins (the drummer for the Foo Fighters) passed away. It's horrific news, and his huge influence on rock has left many shocked and saddened, myself included. I listened to The Colour And The Shape for the first time just a day before his passing, and I was due to see Foo Fighters later this year, so the news felt particularly prominent for those personal reasons. But, what truly links me to this band is my youth. I remember one of the first music videos that I ever saw was ... read more

Did you know Tame Impala is sixty nine guys?

God this is so boring that I can't contain my lack of excitement at this unremarkable monotonous drag. I like some of the psych-rock moments that Lonerism proposes but it feels like for the most part this guy is a prepubescent child fiddling with garage band effects trying to make his voice and the background noise as distorted and weird as possible for shits and giggles. It sucks harder because without all of that excess nonsense which makes a lot ... read more

A beautiful yet haunting listen. It literally feels like the album's infested with a ghostly presence, making it feel both uncomfortable yet mesmerising. Uncomfortable in the sense that at times the album can be piercing and starkly glum with its themes and mood, but stunning in its approach to a dark, twisted folk aesthetic which pays off greatly by its usage of grandiose instrumentation mixed with heart-felt lyrics. Not exactly the cheeriest of albums but life isn't always cheery I ... read more

A man, a guitar and a beautiful yet fractured mind. Sometimes all it takes is the bare necessities to make a stellar album, which Nick shows through his masterful poetry and knack for making catchy yet stunningly simplistic guitar ballads. For a 50 year old album, this holds up superbly, and Nick's contributions towards music haven't gone unnoticed after such a long time with Pink Moon resonating with listeners of all ages. I haven't heard many folk and singer-songwriter albums, but I ... read more

My dad's gonna kill me if he ever sees my scores for WYWH and DSOTM.

Though better as an album than DSOTM, I'm still not sold on Pink Floyd like everyone else seems to be. Sure it's a tightly compacted 5 track album of hugely enveloping prog rock, but nothing stuck with me after each of my listens. It's a great album that I never want to revisit again, and that's okay! (I think)

Favourite Song: Wish You Were Here

Best: Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9), Welcome to the Machine

Worst: ... read more