Era Vulgaris is a drugged up and off the rails goofy distant cousin to the Queens' earlier work. Homme has a lot more fun with his vocals and lyricism, the guitars twist together in strange ways and overall as an album it's hard to pin point its purpose and sound - but this only adds to Vulgaris' enjoyment factor. Each song contrasts the previous and next track so harshly that it should not work as an album, yet somehow it does. It's a crack potted masterwork of an LP with its downsides only ... read more

A nice little album. :)

Favourite Song: Holland 1945

Best: The King of Carrot Flowers Pt.1,2 & 3, In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, Two-Headed Boy, Communist Daughter, Oh Comely, Ghost, [untitled], Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2

Worst: The Fool

As the year comes to a close, I took a gander at some of the albums that I've missed due to my genres not really reaching out until very late into the year, and this was the one that I randomly decided to delve into after my months of listening to all sorts of rock. I've enjoyed a bit of punk, and as of late am intrigued by what post-hardcore has to offer, but Turnstile doesn't really do either genre justice. Instead it takes the elements of what makes the two prior genres and mixes it with a ... read more

In possibly one of my favourite electronic albums that I've heard, KAYTRANADA makes wonderful electronic funkiness. The production is impeccably polished and groovy, and every feature is worthwhile and adds something to the mix. 99.9% works electronic wonders throughout its almost 1 hour runtime, with the only downsides being a couple of filler type tracks that don't add much to experience.

Also thanks for making Craig David cool KAYTRANADA, he's been a bit of a cringe fest for a ... read more

The Queens' self titled has the riffs and the elements of the band's future work, but it doesn't boast the huge versatility and creativity of their later releases. It has some sensationally hard hitting and great hard rock songs but the catchy choruses, the creative uses of their instruments and the full potential of each band member isn't in full fruition yet. Still though, it's a great album for getting angry or wanting to listen to nothing but mind numbing rock.

Also thanks for blowing my ... read more

Huh. I really expected to like RINA after enjoying SAWAYAMA, but underneath the overbearing and crowded production, there's a lot of sloppiness and less of a heart compared to her LP. It's clear that this came before her debut album. There's a distinct lack of catchiness and strong individual instrumentals, as everything kind of blends into one weird mess of an EP. Plus the key changes are some of the jankiest ones I've ever heard in recent memory, especially on Take Me as I Am. Ultimately ... read more

What a fun family friendly album!

You Won't Get What You Want is a silly little album with some of the goofiest, most fun and softest music that'll definitely make your weekend much happier. There's some really sweet lullabies on here with lyrics about friendship and love, and some nice softcore rock that'll put you to sleep.

I'm kidding. Holy shit this album is a lot to take in but in the best and most fucked up possible way. No filler, just pure insanity.

Favourite Song: Less Sex

Best: ... read more

Pray for Paris is a decent gangsta rap album without much weight to it. Its stunning cover art promises something polished and grandiose, but instead there's some fairly run of the mill lyrics, some nice beats and some good features. It's not that bad but Gunn definitely isn't one of my favourite rappers and is one of my least favourite parts about the album. I don't think Griselda will ever be my sort of thing.

Favourite Song: 327

Best: George Bondo, $500 Ounces, Claiborne Kick, Shawn vs. ... read more

This Is Happening is an important lesson as to why you shouldn't put your best track first. Dance Yrself Clean is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. It's an explosive, funny and lively electronic masterpiece of a track, sung by Kermit The Frog himself. There's an insane beat drop, and shifts of energy and lyrics that creates this fun little world within James Murphy's mind. There's nothing not to love, it's a masterpiece. So after this absolutely incredible opener, there's now an ... read more

The Electric Ladyland is a heavenly place of sweet rock and roll, with some of the most innovative and incredible guitar music known to date soaring through the clouds. And although I can sure as hell say that this album is good, I find myself being more appreciative of this album rather than addicted to it. It's a mesmerising and enchanting experience that keeps you hooked throughout its hour and a quarter run time, yet it doesn't quite have the single power that a lot of other rock albums can ... read more

Lullabies to Paralyze sees the Queens at their most content with their sound, with it not brandishing as much originality or uniqueness as say Rated R or Songs for the Deaf. Instead, this album revels in the distinctive sound that Queens has already created, and takes a very successful victory lap after their last LP's classic status. Even more catchy and noisy bangers await in this more underappreciated album in the Queen's discography.

There's a slight blip in the album however, with a ... read more

The comedy aspect of shut the fuck up talking to me doesn't make too much sense to me since there's only one line that actually made me laugh (AKA the Ed Sheeran Line), but it's still an alright album. The beats are very well made and Zack has a lot of charisma to his character which makes him goofily likeable. It feels more like a parody album overall, with the songs sounding like a polarising version of certain artist's efforts, such as bane mimicking a Travis song. It all oddly works in this ... read more

Ladies and gentlemen, light a candle, grab a drink, and settle down as we experience one of the most overrated albums of this year.

When I say overrated, I don't mean that this album's bad, I mean it's pretty good. Bruno and Andy make some pretty good pop soul songs together. I mean that it's overrated in the sense that this album feels a little underwhelming for what was meant to be; a new age funk and soul masterpiece from the king of mainstream nostalgic pop and the underrated king of ... read more

Funeral feels like a warm piece of art, delicately and intricately painted together with a wide variety of instruments and styles. There's clearly a lot of care taken into this album, and it leaves it feeling very welcoming to the ears. With lyrics about childhood and overcoming the sadness that envelops life, it feels like a release for the members of the band who had become closely associated with death and mourning.

Every song is extremely intricate in its construction, but sometimes this ... read more

Ah yes, 32 minutes of a manic Japanese lady screaming over noisy guitars, what an absolute delight.

Fetch is all about noise and adrenaline. It doesn't matter that you can't hear the vocals or understand at any point what's going on, it's about sheer fun, velocity and audacious ear candy. There's far too many guitars screeching out at max volume, and the singer is ballistic yet sweet in the best possible way, and it all comes together for a really solid and enjoyable album.

Also Zero must be ... read more

OutKast are the infamous kings of hip hop duos, who would make some of the most influential and defining hip hop albums in the 90s and 2000s with classic releases like Aquemini, Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. But before they breached into the mainstream and started making their major mark on musical history, they released ATLiens, which proposes none of their future innovations and instead ends up being a fairly simplistic 90s boom bap album. The start of the album is sensational, ... read more

Not much needs to be said about In The Court of the Crimson King, a prog rock album that has managed to stand the test of time excellently. It's a wild and strange adventure through five tracks of whimsicalness, and definitely deserves its well esteemed title. It could've done without the 10 minutes of prog bullshit on Moonchild, but hey everything else is great.

Favourite Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man

Best: I Talk to the Wind, Epitaph, The Court of the Crimson King

Worst: Moonchild

I listened to Born to Die on a whim shortly before I properly got into music, and I always forget that I did. It felt overblown, and very meh. Lana stunk of generic 'alternative girl' pop and I couldn't find much to like about it other than maybe Summertime Sadness. Little did I know that about 2 years later I'd listen to possibly one of the most intricate, mature and serene sounding pop albums that I've ever heard from an artist I coined as gimmicky. With Lana writing detailed and vivid lyrics ... read more

Abstract hip hop albums are never one in the same. Weird beats, odd flows, no hooks, etc etc. The one thing that every abstract artist retains despite any amount of differences however is creativity, morphing hip hop from one thing into another. Open Mike Eagle takes this creativity and ups the ante. Dark Comedy is exactly what to call these on-the-surface bubbly and comedic tracks, since under their sweet coating is a sour and personal message from a man dragged down by his thoughts.

Mike is ... read more

After two EPs of a lesser and more worrying quality, my expectations for Peggy's next LP were dropped drastically. But although I wasn't exactly begging for more from Peggy, this was a nice surprise from one of the kings of experimental hip hop. JPEGMAFIA has always been an artist that I admire, and that I enjoy listening to, but in terms of creating an album he's heavily favoured making strange experimental sounds over making a fully fledged track list and memorable album experience. Veteran ... read more