im gonna brown

...alright fine it's not that bad...but it's the principle!

The Black Keys are now at a bit of an ugly phase of their career. They've been around long enough that the space they carved for themselves is long gone and all that's left is a grave to dig. I think the choices they have are to continue doing experimental albums like Turn Blue or Ohio Players in hopes that they can draw new eyes to watch them burn out, or they can continue doing back to basics blues rock and cover ... read more

I guess "But Here We Are" was them meeting their good album quota for the decade

damn these honkeys got shooters

The Mountain sees Gorillaz at the best they've been for an album of this magnitude in 16 years. Since Plastic Beach the only album of this scale that has been released was Humanz, which has aged well, but still leaves a lot to be desired. With The Mountain, Gorillaz provides a full meal and then some, but it still has some moments that I find weak.

The last leg of the album is easily the weakest, since The Shadowy Light, Casablanca, The Sweet Prince, and The Sad God all have a similar ... read more

writing is kinda buns but the mix is actually decent

far better than most of what they were doing on I Am Cinco but this mix is really rough

finally a good bleachers single

happy they're bringing energy again after S/T was a bit of a bore. Looking forward to this album.

I appreciate the attempt, but it's clear they are at the "Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" era of their career. I get that Ohio Players didn't land the way they wanted it to, and No Rain No Flowers was an attempt to recover from it, but another covers album isn't gonna save them.

They're just starting a cycle of:

ambitous album -> redo el camino -> covers album -> redo thickfreakness

Can't wait until 2028 when we get another album ... read more

2 for 2 on singles for The Mountain so far, really looking at this being a damn good album from them IF they can keep this consistency over 15 tracks

I might not see what everyone else sees in this tbh. It's bread and butter TBK to me. It's good bread and good butter, not the moldy bread and butter they were using on Dropout Boogie, but it's definitely something we've heard before. Still excited for the LP but I don't see what makes this special.

what the fuck this is actually really good?

This feels like TBK finally doing something new. Like this isn't Ohio Players where they're putting a poppier sound into their previous sound, this feels like something I've not heard TBK explore before, at least not in this way. This is actually getting me interested in the album.

Doechii feels out of place, she needs refining for a beat as chill as timeless, but this is getting overhated as all hell. It's okay, but nothing impressive, obviously just a promo release.

Yellowish Sunbeam is solid, the acoustic cut of Scared is sweet, and the live tracks carry the energy. Not much to separate here for favourites or least favourites. Overall decent deluxe release, reminds me of the one Cage The Elephant did for Thank You Happy Birthday.

Lil Nas X delivers a fun collection of songs, with a couple amazing moments, but this collection definitely feels like a handful of leftovers that won't make it onto the LP.

This release feels incredibly disjointed, but the songs range from "okay" to "really good". I like that Lil Nas X is exploring new flows and styles I wouldn't have expected out of him in 2021. There's a lot of points on this release where the creativity shines through, but each beam of ... read more

Cheekface's biggest strength is that they never take themselves too seriously, and on this album, they play that card well, while delivering some fun hooks and punchy instrumentals to boot. This album has Cheekface sounding their most put together, while also letting chaos shine through when the time is right.

This album is jam packed with bangers and fun songs with a layer of silliness masking genuine anxiety. I enjoy listening to Greg Kat'z deadpan deliveries on some of these ... read more

This is easily the most interesting release from Saint Motel since Voyeur. It's not groundbreaking by any means, but this album actually feels like a step in a new direction, or at least a half step.

I have been fairly vocal about how I found Saint Motel's sound to be incredibly stagnant and bland after the My Type EP. Every other song from Saintmotelevision and The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack felt like it was trying to recreate one of the songs from said EP with diminishing ... read more

This is probably the best way to end an alias. I don't think I can reasonably view this as Abel Tesfaye permanently retiring from music, but to end The Weeknd as a character in that story, it was ended in a surprisingly mature and thoughtful way, especially considering the length of this project.

By all means, this project could've been ham-fisted and rushed out the door, and he could've walked away without any cares, but it's clear The Weeknd had passion for this project ... read more

babygurrrl lemme see you do your dance lemme see you twirl

I like how fun this song sounds while also having a generally somber vibe. I get that this is just more poppy rock that Black Keys fans hate, but I can't hate it too much. Excited to see what this new album brings.