DCCXX

Clawing his way back into relevancy after suffering a crushing defeat when pinned against Donda last year, not many would have expected Drake to bounce back with new material as quickly as he has. Just nine months since the release of the lazy, bloated and forgettable Certified Lover Boy, and the surprise drop of Honestly, Nevermind proved such an unexpected offering that Joey Bada$$ pushed his album’s release date back, knowing it would be effortlessly eclipsed, citing sampling issues. ... read more

When Logic announced his retirement, he really should’ve stopped there. Ever since No Pressure proved itself a passable final leg for a man whose career had only repeated nosedives beforehand, the evolution of perpetual cornball status has only shot right back up to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind levels. Granted, the return of the self-appointed GOAT isn’t quite reaching the shareable Facebook status-style “deep” topics that combined Dhar Mann preachiness with lyrical ... read more

Departing from the orchestral soundscapes that harmonised more on paper than in execution on All Mirrors three years ago, Angel Olsen’s diversion into the soothing sounds of indie folk is a much more rousing affair, allowing her hypnotic singing to transform otherwise plain keys and acoustic guitar into grand and illustrious passages of captivating singer-songwriter music. A modest offering that pares back a lot of the higher-order instrumentation that didn’t always congeal nicely, ... read more

Since his rise to superstardom with early tracks like Congratulations and White Iverson, the key driver of Post Malone’s success seems to go beyond his accessible and radio-ready brand of pop trap. Embedded into everything he creates is a strong sense of self and, while often not to the benefit of his own mental health, an unabashed sincerity and openness that elevates much of his music beyond the playlist fodder it orbits. This isn’t to say that Post is nudging at Kendrick or even ... read more