I gotta be honest, at first, this project wasn't clicking with me. I listened to Zach Bryan's self-titled to prepare for The Great American Bar Scene, liked it, then went into it and found it to lack the incredibly heights that his last effort offered to me, and kind of wrote it off as "good not great" aside from 2 or 3 songs. Then I went back in his catalog, listened to all of his LPs, found myself falling more and more in love with his storytelling, voice and touchingly ... read more

Zach Bryan's debut album is honestly one that makes me choke up a bit. Not only because it is so inconceivably impressive to release such a potent and powerful album as your first project, but also because the writing on here, to this day, is still the emotionally rawest he's ever been and absolutely floored me with its subtle beauty, heart-wrenching magnitude and moving storytelling. With the record being named after his passed mom, it's hard to forget that there's always ... read more

Wasn't crazy about this one, I think it starts pretty well but sort of fizzles out. It's definitely got Waits already at a good level of quality with nice writing, smooth production and obviously his awesome voice, but it surely lacks consistentcy, especially if it tries to be so devoid of adventurous ideas in comparison to Waits' later projects. Still a really enjoyable listen, just nothing that I see myself returning to all too often.

Easily one of the most gorgeous listens that you can get in 2020s Neo-Soul. I wish I had given this a chance when it came out, I always wrote it off as that one album that has a pretty cool cover of a Radiohead song and that's it, but the writing, production and singing on this LP are absolutely phenomenal, just pure heaven for your ears with some really resonant lyrics attached to it. I wouldn't say it's a mind-blowing project, but man is it a pleasure to listen to, it's ... read more

'Dylan' is most likely the first truly throwaway LP that was released under the Bob Dylan name. I had a hard time defending Self-Portrait at least a little bit, but this one is the first one that's almost irredeemable as a complete album. It's basically just outtakes of covers that the studio took and just put out from what it seems like, and yeah, that's exactly what it sounds like. Hardcore Dylan fans like me might get a kick out of hearing ol' Bobby covering ... read more

Definitely a bit of an underdog in his catalog, but New Morning is definitely one of the stronger records Dylan put out before he truly came back with Blood on the Tracks. While it may not have some of the most lyrically potent tracks he's penned, it does deliver some pretty fun and well written rock tunes that manage to be engaging to listen to without demanding much from the listener. Some of the highlights on here, like the title track, Man in Me or Day of the Locusts are pretty good ... read more

This is my first experience with a Porter Robinson album, mostly because I just loved his single "Cheerleader" so much and wasn't ever really interested prior, but this album is pretty great. It's a mix of sugary sweetness and bittersweet angst that I feel like would often be something I dislike in records, but Porter manages to capture this Internet/Indie/Anime/Quirky/UwU sort of vibe in a way that is playful, charming and most importantly backed by some great production ... read more

Late to the party, I know, but better late than never. I was apprehensive towards Quadeca and hesitated to listen to his music because of the whole Youtube "Rapper" thing, but yeah this is pretty awesome. I fell in love with A LA CARTE when it dropped, and now I've finally stopped to hesitate and just listened to the full mixtape. I think I like this even more than his last actual LP, it's not honing in on some concept as hard and the music on here is varied, adventurous, ... read more

[EDIT 80-->93]: I don't know what has happened to me over the course of the past few months, but I've just been obsessed with Zach Bryan's music. I only listened to this self-titled record to make myself familiar with his sound and prepare for his new record, but somehow, with the release of his new LP, I've just revisited almost all of his music now and am head-over-heels in love with it. I think the first time I listened to him, I wasn't really grasping just how ... read more

Obviously not nearly as sonically rich as his later projects, but man, if you want the moody Alicks, this is the go-to. It's pure melancholia, nostalgia and somber intimacy, with a tinge of mid-2010s sadboi hours, but hey, if that's what you're into, it's one of the best to ever do it.

Phoebe Bridger's sophomore record Punisher might not pack a gut punch that is as immediate as her previous album, but as a concise piece of art, it is undeniably a lot more consistent, focused and rich in sound and substance. It kind of boils down to what my relationship with Mitski's Bury Me at Makeout Creek and her album Be The Cowboy is: the former is an indescribably raw showcase of emotion and artistic strength that I connect to on a deeply personal level, whereas the latter is a ... read more

The cameo wasn't that bad I guess! I definitely enjoy this genre-pivot of Yachty's much more than his attempt at Psychedelic Rock, even though he's always been very psych-influenced, his voice didn't do enough for me to carry those grand instrumentals (that weren't even that amazing in the first place) and the songs themselves always seemed to shock more than they actually impressed, but with his already kind of weird and warbled voice, the ambient, Art-Pop electronics ... read more

This is a gorgeous, rich and emotional Big Band record, and easily one of the best within the entire branch of Jazz that it originates from. I know the Duke is an absolute legend, and I have huge respect for the man, but I can't say I personally listened to much of his work so far, I have more historical knowledge about Ellington and passively heard his music through Jazz documentaries and media akin to that, but I've mainly stayed an admirer from a far, with the exception of his ... read more

nostalgia,ULTRA. is a weird tape, and that's undeniable, even as a hardcore Ocean-stan. Him essentially picking some random instrumentals from big hits to sample and then just singing over them for a good chunk of the album is certainly an odd choice (and the reason why this project is not on streaming), but I would overall say that this is something incredibly worthwhile for anybody who loves him as an artist. I think the biggest weakness that this project has is the approach - it simply ... read more

Pretty gorgeous Cool Jazz project by Chet Baker, not necessarily anything revolutionary or something to write home about, but I did enjoy the time I spent with this record. It's smooth, moody and contains some pretty impressive performances throughout. I'm still not entirely in love with his music, but as it is, this is definitely a worthwhile 50s Jazz LP.

Phoebe Bridgers has been one of those artists that I've always enjoyed from a far but never gotten extremely deeply into. She has your very typical Indie Folk sort of vibes going on, very heavy influence of the music from artists such as Elliot Smith or even a Sufjan Stevens to some extent, but I don't think I ever dove deeply into her work because of the fact that she seemed to be an addition to a canon that already has better versions of the same sound within it.

I never really got ... read more

It may sound a bit weird or ignorant of me, but I'm always a bit skeptical when it comes to famous white artists within Jazz. Not that I believe that a white musician can't make great art within the genre, but just that a lot of my experiences with them have often been moments where I felt as though their contribution wasn't as essential as other less famous black musicians and mainly popular so that a bunch of white guys could have some other white guys to root for, but as I ... read more

Inarguably one of the greatest debuts of all time, with a tight list of 10 tracks where not a single second is wasted: all killer, no filler, and pure smoothness from start to finish. While I adore his sophomore record Voodoo (which I consider to be one of the best LPs period) a bit more for its ambition, immaculate craft and writing, Brown Sugar finds an almost sweeter, and to some extent even a bit prettier first incarnation of D'Angelo's sound that manages to be just as easily ... read more

Extraordinary Machine is considered Fiona Apple's weakest project, and while I must say that it definitely lands towards the bottom of her discography for me personally, I still think this record is quite underrated in the grand scheme of things.

It definitely feels a bit more out-there and adventurous than her previous projects up to this point, and you can certainly feel that this LP originated out of some weird lack of inspiration that somehow therefore turned into inspiration, as she ... read more

I've always loved the sound of this album, but it took me a good while to get into the actual substance of it all. I found the lyricism to be a lot less striking and potent than her efforts that would come after, especially When The Pawn..,. which released only 3 years after Tidal, felt like a much stronger artistic showcase of her talents, but what finally made me click with this album is grasping the fact that she wrote this at 18. An EIGHTTEEN YEAR OLD made this, and some of the tracks ... read more