I love when someone loves music. Therefore, I love Nujabes. No one has ever done lo-fi like this guy, and no other hip hop artist can make me feel as at ease. A really lovely album, and a very unique one too.

Favourite Song: Luv(sic) (Pt. 1)

Best: Luv(sic), Pt. 2, 3, 4, 5, Grand Finale

Worst: N/A

When the only words you can make out throughout the entire album are 'heaven' and 'Las Vegas', you know you're in for a good time.

Serene and heavenly, and a classic for a reason, but what the actual fuck is this woman saying.

Favourite Song: Heaven or Las Vegas

Best: Cherry-Coloured Funk, Pitch the Baby, Iceblink Luck, Fifty-Fifty Clown, Wolf in the Breast, Frou-Frou Foxes in Mudsummer Fires

Worst: Fotzepolitic

Total Life Forever has a great blend of danceability and melancholy. The first few tracks get right under your skin with how bouncy they become, and the vocals being consistently drowned out helps to create a fascinating soundscape that immerses you in this wonderful indie world. One of the highlights at the tail end of the indie sleaze era.

Favourite Song: Spanish Sahara

Best: Blue Blood, Miami, Total Life Forever, Black Gold, This Orient, After Glow, 2 Trees, What Remains

Worst: Alabaster

The sweet sound of my childhood. No, it's nothing life changing, but you have to admit that the breakout version of Maroon 5 was so damn promising. Just a shame they became... Maroon 5, I guess. I genuinely love the passion behind some of the songs, like the bitter hatred in Harder To Breath, going to more endearing tracks like She Will Be Loved and Sunday Morning. It's a really easy to listen to album, and production wise it's fairly impressive too. For a piece of pop rock it is ... read more

The Zebra album isn't as black and white as one would think. Mixing shoegaze-ish emo-ish elements with perfectly unbothered and meandering vocals with a heap of fuzz and distortion in the background makes Astronaut spacious and exciting from start to end. It's melancholy in just the right ways lyrically, whilst still having the capacity for real thrills with the riffs and more overt shoegaze sections. It feels like such a simple album in theory, but it comes together beautifully in a ... read more

Flying cars they said, now we have dubstep neoclassical djent in the big 2025. Strange times.

It's alright, but let's be honest, every song is pretty much the same. Still goes relatively hard.

Favourite Song: Tombe

Best: Couronne, Mauvais Œil, Charnier, Faux-Amis, Épreuve, Défiance, Confiance

Worst: Présage

Oxbow are a very intriguing band to me. The vocal style reminds me of Protomartyr (which may be an insane comparison to make) with this half melodic half ranting/screeching tone, with lyrics that ramble more than they unfold or compliment, and the production is expansive and colourful, creating a very different brand of rock LP. It all makes for a very theatrical and entertaining listen, it ultimately just gets a bit one note at points, especially near the end.

Favourite Song: Letter of ... read more

Pretty, honest and refreshingly human.

Favourite Song: A Case of You

Best: All I Want, My Old Man, Little Green, Carey, Blue, California

Worst: This Flight Tonight

A great collection of hazy haunting ballads and fuzzy driving bangers. Lanegan's voice has a commanding presence despite its limited range, making for an eerie yet enticing listen. An extremely cool album, and versatile too, like if 'Lullabies to Paralyse' hit a sombre joint.

Favourite Song: Hit the City

Best: When Your Number Isn't Up, Wedding Dress, Methamphetamine Blues, One Hundred Days, Strange Religion, Sideways in Reverse, Come to Me, Morning Glory Wine, Head, ... read more

Timeless and meanderingly brilliant. A very unique rock album and a killer debut. Far from the sound of 'Float On' though, which was a little jarring at first.

Favourite Song: Dramamine

Best: Breakthrough, Custom Concern, Might, Lounge, Ionizes & Atomizes, Head South, Tundra/Desert, Ohio, Exit Does Not Exist, Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset,

Worst: Space Travel Is Boring

'This is a De La orgy.'

I've cited my convoluted relationship with boom bap on here before, but strangely my usual complaints about samey production within the genre can't be found on 3 Feet High and Rising. The sampling is fantastic and the beats are constantly fresh with every song. It's just everything else that's the issue. I find the De La Soul trio to be extremely infantile in their approaches to lyrics, skits and attitudes, from saying the word 'doo ... read more

Pastel Blues is a really solid soul and blues album of its time, until it gets to its final two tracks, at which point it turns into a timeless spectacle.

I'd argue that outside of the six really good but generally quite predictable tracks making the meat of the album, there's three defining songs which separates Nina Simone from other powerhouses of the 60's soul and blues scene. The first is Be My Husband, an almost entirely acapella song which utilises the strength in ... read more

Songs of a Lost World is formulaic, but it's a good formulaic. The album is a grand testament to how incredible The Cure's sound is, and it's inconceivable how they're sounding this good after 45 years.

Favourite Song: Alone

Best: A Fragile Thing, Warsong, Drone:Nodrone, Endsong

Worst: All I Ever Am

Hot Fuss is a lovely bit of pop rock, and although Mr. Brightside will be the one song from this that'll be remembered for the rest of time when looking at its current trajectory, there are other great songs on here too. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine and All These Things That I've Done are fantastic deep cuts which deserve a bit of limelight, but they're forgotten about, as is much of the rest of this album, because the second half becomes particularly unremarkable. The Killers had ... read more

No Name captures the long gone 2000's garage rock sound almost too perfectly, and it makes for a hellishly fun and fuzzy result.

Favourite Song: That's How I'm Feeling

Best: Old Scratch Blues, Bless Yourself, It's Rough On Rats, Archbishop Harold Holmes, What's The Rumpus?, Tonight, Number One With A Bullet, Morning At Midnight, Terminal Archenemy Endling

Worst: Underground

Exhilarating Eurobeat euphoria.

Favourite Song: Can You Feel The Sunshine?

Best: Living In The City, Back In Time, Work It Out, Diamond In The Sky, Super Sonic Racing, Number One

Worst: N/A (I can't even put the damn ten second fanfares here, this soundtrack is masterfully curated)

Mysterious and enchanting, but lacks memorability due to a fair bit of track blending.

Favourite Song: I Want

Best: How many miles, Are You Looking Up, DNM, Alesis, Dream police

Worst: New Low

Mayberry's first solo outing away from CHVRCHES is quite misguided, and often lacks the punch of her feministic approaches found in her work for the afore mentioned band. A couple of good songs but overall fairly underwhelming.

Favourite Song: Something In The Air

Best: Crocodile Tears, Anywhere But Dancing, Sorry Etc, Mantra, Are You Awake?

Worst: Punch Drunk

Fun and vibrant indie pop, with Remi's personality bursting at the seams. Big Ideas is at its best when the fun wins out over the slower stuff.

Favourite Song: Cinderella

Best: Soup, Toro, Alone in Miami, Kangaroo, Pitiful, Wave, Slay Bitch

Worst: Just the Start

God I hate John Mayer. Possibly the best living guitar player with a distinctive voice and an unmistakable style of coolness and heart. How dare he. Bastard.

He's certainly more so an artist who thrives in a live space, hence why this album is so incredibly rewarding. Going from just him, then going to the band, and then constantly mixing the production up surprisingly never got jarring. I will say that although the 'John Mayer Trio' are undeniably talented and brought much ... read more