The best of all James Blake has ever been. The first half solidifies his singer songwriter cred as he delivers thoughtful lyrics wrapped up in atmospherically dense soundscapes. The second half plays more into his enigmatic producer side, with interesting sound changeups and intricate layering adding immense depth to the album. And of course, you get to hear James flex his impeccable vocals the whole way through. Easily my favorite James Blake album.

Fav tracks: I Had A Dream She Took My Hand, ... read more

Confident, well-paced, and catchy as heck. Great production too, it sounds slick and cutting edge. It's a poppier take on the jazz funk sound, and it has plenty of inspired moments that will delight.

RMP feels so well-thought out and also spontaneous at the same time. It has a leisurely pace that I would associate to a chill jam session, but in practice there are intricate, well-prepared layers. I also enjoy delving into the lyrics, the writing style is delicate and detailed, and the vocals just hit right. I haven't heard these guys before, so this feels like the most pleasant surprise hit of the year for me.

This is pretty nice. It's the kind of music that you would stumble upon, maybe playing on a local cafe, and it grabs you in a way that makes you forget why you're there in the first place. 30 minutes just flew by. Technical and groovy instrumentations, with a good sense of pace.

First off, this album sounds exactly like how I expected, purely judging by the cover art. It has this ethereal, fantastical vibe to it that is quite lovely. It's probably the perfect album to play for stargazing at night. I did feel the itch for more dance-able, faster paced moments; the soundscape feels right for a round or two of DDR and the album didn't give me that. But the whole thing might grow on me later, as slower-paced albums tend to.

Cut & Rewind delivers tasteful funk-soul sounds with energetic vocals, and it keeps things mostly tight and to the point. I also like the slightly rough edges of the production, it makes the album sound bouncy and relatable, like it's playing at a local favorite pub.

This album makes me want to skateboard aimlessly through town, it feels perfect to listen to while you're doing anything urban extreme sports related. It's noisy, not too rough, definitely danceable, fast-paced but not intense enough to throw the whole thing into utter chaos. There's an art to the explosion.

This feels less like an album and more like an elongated EP, if that makes sense. Harrison does have a charming sense of messiness and spontaneity to his performance here, and I think that will carry him a long way, especially when he gets to flesh out his sound. But as of now, it feels more like a teaser of what could be in store in the future.

Grey Area rocked my socks off back then, and it still sounds as fresh as ever today. Simz glides through the beatscape with effortlessly intricate flow, and her supply of beats are not lacking in the slightest. Nobody caught slipping. Everybody locked in.

Cheekface is probably one of the very few bands I can think of that makes legitimately funny music, writing wise. They're a very good rock band that should probably go on comedy stand-ups. They're also prolific as heck, and have released a bunch of music in the last few years. But Too Much to Ask is still my absolute favorite so far. It's their most catchy, tightly-packed album.

The most accurately marketed album ever. It sounds like just like the title and cover art! It's like a little 30 minute dance session that you can bring anywhere. I also love how bright and bouncy it sounds. Hopecore vibes, kinda.

Who knew autotuned hip hop would mesh so well with psychedelic rock? Lil Yachty certainly did. His previous work sounded nothing alike, and yet it somehow feels like he was born to make music like this. It is an album that refuses to stand still; it expertly weaves a heck-ton of influences to carve its own path, as Yachty deals with loneliness, love, and loyalty, among other things.

Also, shout out to Diana Gordon for the absolutely angelic features!

47 minutes flew by so fast. I admit I was only a mild Vampire Weekend fan, but this album made me fall in love with their sound like never before. What an amazing comeback after the previous album's borefest. They have an unmistakable sound that nobody else truly emulates; they're the only ones that can push it forward, and they did it here.

Most of this album feels like I'm peeking into James' private diary; he willingly lets himself to be vulnerable and it can feel uncomfortable at times. But man, he certainly knows how to make this therapy-for-all-to-hear session sound catchy and beautiful as heck. He keeps flexing his vocal chops too, I got goosebumps multiple times I can't lie.

The first 4 tracks are some of the most infectious shoegaze-y noise rock stuff that I've ever heard. It slows down after that, but the rest of the album is decent enough. The album is at its best when it conveys a strong sense of nostalgia and longing for something in the past; the raw and buzzing production particularly makes it feel like it's all a haze, an imperfect memory.

Easily their best album to this day. Sharp, tight, diverse, poetic, and filler-less. The absolute peak of Indonesian indie rock.

After a hiatus shorter than anyone expected, LCD Soundsystem returns tired, ragged and disillusioned, resulting in their darkest album yet. They maintained the level of dance-to-me energy as much as they can, and made up what they did lose with a delicious sense of irony and awareness.

Back then, I thought Radiohead had long matured as a band, but this album proved me wrong. The orchestral flourishes, the atmosphere of the synths, Thom's haunting vocals, the expertly meticulous drumming by Phil, and so on. Everything Radiohead are capable of, they did, in a manner no previous album have done.

A masterful rollercoaster ride through the highs of disco, synthpop, and electronic music. These tracks make me want to cry because of how beautiful they are, just as much as make me want to dance because of the inherently astronomical catchiness. Crying in the club, as the kids say.

As a massive fan who waited for years for a new album back then, and have been with them through their experimentative post-FIoE phase, this album feels like the ultimate culmination of not only everything the band does as a collective, but each member's solo journey as well. It feels like all of them finally found and confronted their own identity in music, and they're also able to collaborate with each other in a non-destructive way. The Strokes' sound has finally evolved to ... read more