Gourgeous and lavish soul. Some of the best I’ve heard in a while. Beautiful production that complements the emotional singing. Good range of song topics and styles. The horns and pianos are especially chilling, but the album still has a warm, summery vibe.

Favorites: Morning in America, Don’t You Know, Circles, Court of Love, Long Way Home, Walk Away, Sea Gets Hotter, How Can I Be Sure, True Love

Worst: Too Many Tears

The songs are fun and catchy, but anything beyond a surface level listen just illuminates the issues with the songs’ topics, vocal delivery, and the overall lack of interestingly written songs.

Favorites: Can’t Knock the Hustle, Living in L.A, Piece of Cake, California Snow

Worst: Byzantine

Solid.

Edit: Super solid. Previously a 70.

Favorites: Offence, Boss, Selfish, Wounds, Venom, 101 FM, Pressure, Sherbet Sunset

Worst: Flowers

Very serene and chilling compilation. Would fit well on a puzzle game like The Witness or Monument Valley. Good to zone out or focus in to.

Favorites: Glass Chattering, Ear Dreamin', Variation•III, Blink, Praying For Mother/Earth Part 1,

Worst: Ishiura (Abridged)

This is cringy and gaudy. 2 Chainz is also a terrible conscious rapper. The production is cheesy and reeks of the feeling of filthy wealthy. The rapping is so bad I can’t think of any other adjectives.

Favorites: Money in the Way, High Top Versace, Whip, Momma I Hit a Lick

Worst: Forgiven

A beautiful, aired-out, down-tempo, R&B jam with smooth and laid-back vocals and chilling but chilled-out production.

Favorites: Things I Imagined, Way To The Show, Can I Hold the Mic (interlude), Stay Flo, Dreams, Almeda, Time (Is), My Skin My Logo, We Deal with the Freak’n (interlude), Jerrod, Binz, Beltway, Sound of Rain

Worst: I'm a Witness

I don't doubt their ability to understand or speak English, but their English rapping is literally just rich rapper buzzwords, naming out expensive brands as if they just use them as metaphors for their supposed wealth without actually knowing what they are. Their rapping is decent, and the album is fun enough to listen to, but anything beyond a listen to their overall vibe doesn't produce more to the listening experience. Also, almost every feature is terrible, even from the more talented acts ... read more

The comic book production is creatively intelligent, quirky, nostalgic, and amazing, and it’s not even the best part of the album. The Czarface rappers and Ghostface rap with old-school flows, but bring some of the most advanced and intricate deliveries and lyrics.

Favorites: Back at Ringside, Face Off, Czarrcade ‘87, Powers and Stuff, Masked Superstars, Morning Ritual, The King Heard Voices, Mongolian Beef, (Post Credit Scenes)

Worst: Listen to the Color

At first it just sounds like weird production and awkward singing, but the quirkiness and synthetic style of the album really shines after a few listens.

Favorites: Dolphin, Cranked, Token, Master, Buoys, Home Free

Worst: I Know I Don’t Know

I'm pretty sure I like this.

Edit: Fell off hard

Favorites: Girl With Basket of Fruit, It Came Out as a Joke, Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy, The Wrong Thing, Mary Turner Mary Turner, Normal Love

Worst: Amargi ve Moo

These songs are the living embodiment of "It's funny the first few times, but gets boring quick". And by first few times, I mean the first few songs.

Favorites: Garage Talk, Benz Boyz, The Life, From the Start, No Clout Chasin, Stoned Gentleman, Plot Twist

Worst: Forever Ball

Is this what you youngins call dubstep?

Favorites: RAT WARS, STRANGE DAYS (1999), SLAVES OF FEAR

Worst: GOD BOTHERER

The opening track is this beautiful piano instrumental that introduces this album as an alternative folk masterpiece. Too bad Pratt ruins everything with her terrible singing and decision to go to a more guitar driven acoustic coffee-shop sound. The guitar (and other instruments) melodies are intricate and enchanting but you can’t hear them without Pratt’s awkward, fake-mystical, whispery singing. That opening track is so good though.

Favorites: Opening Night, Poly Blue, Crossing, ... read more

The singing is really good; Ariana’s voice has a wide range and never seems uncomfortable on the mic. The album sticks to its theme of relationships and the romance, breakups, solidarity, and confidence associated with it, but the songs that do depart from this (7 Rings) feel very out of place, even if they are perfectly good songs by themselves. The main weakness is the production that sounds like it was written by a robot who listened to trap music and tried to make its own beats, but ... read more

This might be the best rapping you'll hear all year, at least in the "old-school" style. The chemistry between the two is insane, and the production is killer. The song topics are varied; they talk about topics that range from their legacy and fans to their families to climate change. The rapping is extremely consistent throughout the project, with only a few awkward flows on the album. Overall a great album, and will probably be one of the best of the year.

Favorites: Encore, Reach ... read more

It's like Fall Out Boy if Fall Out Boy was a little more aggressive and a lot more talented.

Favorites: i apologise if you feel something, in the dark, medicine, why you gotta kick me when i'm down?, mother tongue, heavy metal, i don't know what to say

Worst: ouch

A chilling (get it?) journey through the dark world of the film, with some suspenseful moments of thrill. Great interpretation of the film, which I have never seen but assume carries the same vibe. I only wish the "drama free" track was left off and released as a separate single, but knowing how music media is sold on the internet, that track had to be included. Overall, it does what a soundtrack is supposed to do, and it honestly would work as a separate entity.

Favorites: somb, ... read more

I love the underground lo-fi vibes, and I like Kill Bill's verses. However, the sung hooks are kinda painful to listen to, and many of the features are disappointing and uncomfortable. The production is a real vibe though, and those TV samples are creative.

Favorites: Passionfruit, Lovedrug (Off That), Sleeptalking, Saffron, Cult, Fair One

Worst: Lil Empathy

At first it might seem that the production and rapping just clash, but it’s a lot more intricate than that, as the complexity and eccentricity of the two dichotomize to form a uniquely quirky combination. You definitely have to hear this at least to the end, though, as the first half pales in comparison to the second half, even after multiple listens.

Favorites: Corn Maze, Dog Years, Acid King, Suicide Big Gulp, 1+1=13, Churro, Purple Moss

Worst: Sword Box

I don't know what to put here.

Favorites: Lolsmh (Interlude), Soho, Skydive II, Whose Fault, No Warning, Self Destruction

Worst: Silent Ride