Listening to this anthology, it is easy to see why the Holland/Dozier/Holland trio was one of the greatest songwriting and production teams of all time. Banger after banger after banger. My only concern was with the last few tracks, the lush arrangements of which, in my opinion, do not fit that well to the group's sound. One should dive into these songs at least once, though. They are small little miracles. This anthology has been revised over and over, but I think that the 1974 is the ideal ... read more

Lovely classic songs here, with a generous offering of 50 tracks, the last five of them being live recordings from the Monterey International Pop Festival. Not quite sure if this is Redding's definitive greatest hits collection, but who cares, it's the age of streaming after all.

Call me biased, but for me, Drake is the biggest artistic fraud of the 2010s.

A decade has already passed, and I still haven't found anything particularly likeable about his music. Just a bland, faceless, boring, edgy, overlong and overproduced mess. I first formed these impressions after listening to Nothing was the Same a couple of years ago, a record which seemed so generic to me that I was wondering how the hell did this guy manage to be such a success.

And since this album, along with ... read more

From the very first notes of the legendary Suspect Device, it becomes obvious that Stiff Little Fingers are no laughing matter. Inflammable Material, one of my all-time favorite punk records, maintains a distinctive personality, a unique blend of fiery energy and determination, making for one of the greatest and most inspiring albums of its era.

Since the first wave of punk is not exactly what someone would call diverse, musically speaking at least, Inflammable Material is quite varied. You ... read more

Out of all the obscure punk/hardcore records I have discovered through the years, this must be the one I am most proud of. Simple formulas, gruff sing-alongs in polish (the lyrics of which I am still forgetting and have no clue about - although I have repeatedly asked native speakers, sigh), unique high-tinged slayerish solos.. this album kicks ass.

Tom Jones enters the club of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and a few others who managed to create a late career highlight. Honestly, what I was expecting was a vintage, oldies collections of tunes made solely for nostalgia factor. Instead, we encounter an artsy, adventurous, sonically and compositionally speaking, record with many twists and spot-on stylistic decisions, and one of the best songs of the year with Lazarus Man. I am still grinning.

post-punk is the genre of the 2020s

As a huge skatepunk fan, it is a bit disheartening to listen to records like this.

Offspring was one of my most listened to bands when I was a teenager, but I honestly believe that they should have called it quits after Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace. Their last album had only one track I still listen to (Future is Now is great for power punk playlists) but even it was more than obvious that the band had run out of ideas. Nine years later, there was hope that Offspring would have honed their ... read more

Perhaps the greatest third stream project since Sketches of Spain.

In pure contrast with most conventional jazz releases, Promises abides by the kingdom of minimalist aphaeresis, not that of addition. Silence, as an organic element of the artistic edifice, is not defined in ontological nothingness, but instead forms a solid, restless entity which combats the metallic screams of Pharoah, as well as the eerie flourishes of Sam Shepherd. It would be of a great shame to ignore this internal ... read more

We Are is a unique album, a cosmopolitan 21st century cocktail fusing jazz, gospel, hip-hop, funk and soul in a way that astounds in its originality.

The reason I enjoy this kind of records is that they help people expand their taste in music and discover different styles. Whether cosmopolitanism as an aesthetic approach is graceful for the art is, of course, still debatable (genre-bending fetishization seems to be unavoidable these days), but, in the end, We Are is among the albums that help ... read more

A stomping debut by Pupil Slicer.

Technical without being formalistic, aggressive without being repetitive, dirty without being muddy. The band builds on the legacy of obvious influences like DEP, but its approach is even more towards the hardcore side, especially regarding the vocal spectrum. And Mirrors avoids the pitfall of monotony that tarnishes albums of this kind: there are many brutal moments, yes, like punishing breakdowns or glitchy, hyper-speed guitar screeches, but Pupil Slicer ... read more

In an age where most 90s alternative rock sounds dated af, Automatic for the People is the rare exception, an album that becomes more and more blessed with the passage of time, a glorious, nostalgic landscape of an era long gone.

It is hard to explain what makes this album so special, but, for starters, its ambience is so striking and unique that it remains unparalleled by both its contemporaries and successors. It is extremely difficult to pair Automatic for the People with other projects. ... read more

I want to quit my job, lock myself in my room for 3 months, and play Explorers of the Sky again.

Art can forgive a lot of things.
Blatant predictability is not one of them.

Music life is one of the best and most enjoyable folk albums in recent memory.

Mia Doi Todd has a smooth delivery an eclectic style which is not limited to bland, monotonous indie folk vibes but expands on an adventurous, multi-cultural palette, including latin-tinged compositions (Little Bird) as well as melodies from the east (Mohinder and the Maharani, Wainiha Valley), which are absolute highlights.

And to be honest, there are no boring songs to be found here, as every one has its ... read more

Some 80s nostalgia here.

I hadn't listened to Mekons for seven years or so, but rediscovering this album put a smile on my face. And to be honest, I don't even consider Mekons Rock 'n' Roll a true masterpiece. It starts kinda awkwardly, feeling like some generic 80s mixture of underground rock and post-punk. In the second half, though - Empire of the Senseless onwards - I remembered why this album was so worth the wait. The mood becomes folkier and brighter, the guitar starts sliding gently, ... read more

Unreal. Suicide is one of the greatest psych tracks ever made.

Pleasant throwback to the early 80s.
Heavy, mechanical, proto-industrial sounds (Factory, eh?), robotic gimmicks (check Show Case) and, above all, exceptional bass work. Although A Certain Ratio is a band that loosely belongs to the new wave tag, it is also heavy influenced by funk, as this album grooves a lot more than its contemporaries. The songwriting is not that impressive, as it tends to drag oftentimes, but I can't deny that I'd Like to See you Again is a great document of its time, ... read more

Lael Neale's music is introspective, poignant and nostalgic, a warm summer breeze of a carefree past.

In my view, the two main elements that make the album distinctive is her playful voice, a little buried in the mix, like she is a narrator of a vintage, impressionistic film. The second is her masterful lo-fi synth work, rewarding the listener with sweeping, poetic landscapes and gentle touches, intertwined with Neale's descriptive lyrics and spare but purposeful harmonies. Usually these ... read more

Kind of a mixed bag, I would say.

I can't deny the ambition of this album, but it seems to me that it struggled to find its identity. Sure, there are moments where this multiplicity of sounds works quite well (Dream of You, Play), and the last part of the album shows that CHUNG HA is equally skilled at handling more sober moods. On the other hand, though, Querencia oftentimes gets drowned in its own excess, trying to do literally everything. This was particularly evident on the first half, ... read more