I really like Espresso, thought it was one of the better pop songs in recent memory, so I figured I'd give this a listen given that it's been out for a few months, and it is short, after all.

It's pretty sweet as well, although definitely something you would throw on in the background and not really pay attention to, because some of the lyrics here are definitely among the worst of all time (although to be fair I don't think anyone goes into a Sabrina Carpenter album ... read more

The first track on this album, You Without End, was played by my Spotify DJ, and I was absolutely blown away by it, so I had to listen to the rest of the album immediately. Needless to say, I think a new part of my brain just unlocked and I'll be listening to a lot of Deafheaven in the immediate future.

I didn't really know what I was expecting to get from Deafheaven, but it wasn't this. I knew that they are a very well-regarded black metal band, but I didn't really expect ... read more

Been meaning to review this for a while because this has become one of my favorite albums lately, but I haven’t really been able to put words to this masterpiece. Just an unbelievable album.

Almost every aspect about this album is perfect. The world-building is incredible—From the first moment of this album you’re sucked into a completely beautiful and foreign world. The album cover is really accurate because it really does feel like you’re deep in the ocean, or space. ... read more

I've listened to this a bunch and I'm still kinda in disbelief that he surprised dropped, especially so soon after Mr. Morale and the beef, but here we are and I'm just gonna enjoy it.

I wasn't crazy about this on my first listen, I thought it was kinda one-note and didn't have the nuance and complexity of a typical Kendrick release, and there were a few songs that I didn't really like that much. But after listening to it for a while, wow has this grown on me so ... read more

Production is far and away the biggest make-or-break for me regarding hip hop, so I was very pleasantly surprised that The Alchemist's production on this album is glorious and some of my favorite hip hop production that I've heard. The production is lush and jazzy and really unique and really adds to the songs and gives them so much more flavor. My only complaint here is that this is basically the same song 15 times in a row and I definitely lose a little interest about halfway ... read more

This might not be really very close to the level of other Unwound albums (in terms of musicianship, songwriting, and general consistency), but I might consider this my favorite Unwound album just because of how much fun this is to listen to. The first three tracks are like waking up to ice-cold water being doused onto you. They genuinely get me to hyped and ready for the album because of how much energy they bring and how they're all among the best songs on the album. Demolished has one of ... read more

My favorite part about this album is that when you listen to it on spotify the playback bar turns into a lightsaber

AOTY Recommended Albums #9 (1967)

After almost a decade, the jazz years of this series are over, replaced by psychedelia as I reach the late 1960s. Although there were a handful of popular bands trending towards a psychedelic sound pre-1967, this year was really the seismic shift in popular music. The popularity of jazz and rock and roll that dominated much of the last 30 years had given way, and popular music would never look back.

This album was pretty solid. A lot of the psychedelic stuff ... read more

I've spent the last week inundated with an intense desire to listen to this album, I had tried a few times but wasn't really able to get past the first half for whatever reason. Finally sat down and listened to the whole thing and wow I'm glad that I did. This whole thing was excellent, and while some songs definitely weren't amazing, they all built towards a greater album experience. This was definitely better than the sum of its parts.

This album was one of the only ... read more

This was fine, I guess. Sounds really nice (although that's a given given FINNEAS's standing as a producer. Doesn't stop the album from falling into every pop cliché ever made: instruments cutting out, leaving a stomp/clap/snap acapella section? Check (2001). Brief spoken word segment that interrupts the flow of a song? Check (Sweet Cherries). The chord progressions were actually pretty unique, but it doesn't change the fact that this really just lacks any defining ... read more

For all my life, I've been a devout hater of The Cure. I've always thought of them as being massively overrated, and no song by them was ever able to really gripped me like others were. They lacked any replayability and never stuck with me. This is different though, I'm genuinely in disbelief.

This album is pure sonic catharsis for 50 straight minutes. I can count the amount of albums as evocative as this on one hand, maybe even one finger. I saw some people complaining about ... read more

Bloom has become one of my favorite albums of all time, and (even though it is a very small sample size) I think that Beach House might very well be my favorite band since 2010. Everything they touch turns to gold and I haven't heard a single bad song out of them yet.

This album has a more varied sound than some other Beach House that I've heard, it definitely has their familiar sound, but it also branches out with some other noises. The guitar at the start of Sparks sounds like ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #8 (1966)

The first eight albums of this fun little series that I've been doing have all been of the jazz—more specifically avant-garde jazz—variant. While it has demonstrated to me that jazz has a pretty high floor, it doesn't usually wow me like other genres do. But wow, what a sendoff to the first chapter of the series this album is. This and Coltrane's Impressions are definitely the two best albums of the series so far, so I'm happy ... read more

Oh my GOD Unwound legit might be the best band I've ever heard. If not best then definitely second best. I have still yet to hear an Unwound song that I didn't think was amazing, and this is yet another album chock full of them.

This is noisier and far more emo-esque than some of their later albums, but it doesn't miss a beat. Every song here is cathartic, tight, and uncompromising while having a completely unique sound that never gets old. All Souls Day will fuck you up, and ... read more

AOTY Recommended Albums #7 (1965)

It's impossible to escape Eric Dolphy. Even if you choose to listen to someone else, he will always wind up on the record. At this point, over half of the albums in this series have included him in some way.

This was great, some very engaging and really nice avant-garde jazz that served as a great pick-me-up after the somewhat disappointment of Out to Lunch!. The highs on this record are really high, with some great interplaying between Eric Dolphy and ... read more

AOTY Recommended Abums #6 (1964)

There's clearly something here, and this has attracted a lot of praise, but I just wasn't really feeling it. I've heard a lot of Eric Dolphy over the course of this series. In fact, half of the albums that I've heard have included him (Ezz-Thetics, Impressions, and now this). Given that I had previously really enjoyed his additions, and the fact that this was a well-renowned album under his own guise, I was really excited for this one. ... read more

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, like The Strokes & Interpol, are one of the slew of indie/alternative/punk bands that revolutionized the New York City rock music scene in the early 2000s. This album probably best exemplifies that revolutionary sound, because this album rocks. It just slaps you in the face over and over and never stops. Imagine hearing this in 2003!!!

This album is littered with shorter, more raw songs, several of which don't break 2 and a half minutes, while still managing to ... read more

Some excellent production on this bad boy, which is definitely the main draw for me with this album, given that I've had some issues with barebones singer-songwriter records in the past. This has all the makings of a grower—I've listened to it four times now and I've enjoyed it more every time, and there's always more stuff to figure out about the record. This album benefits immensely from how much there is to dig into, which is the main thing separating this from a ... read more

I went into this expecting to enjoy it but expecting it to be just a pretty good indie album that I listen to once or twice, but I came out of it entranced and honestly a little taken aback by how much there is here. Upon first listen it might not seem like there's a whole lot to take in, but there's really an insane amount of detail in this record. Pinback take these relatively simple sounding song structures and squeeze every last drop of nuance that they could out of every second ... read more

It's no Leaves Turn Inside You, but it's BETTER actually. This is another perfectly crafted album by Unwound that leaves basically no room for criticism. The playing on this album is airtight, and it needs to be because each of the songs revolve heavily around the noisy instrumentation, with the vocals ending up as another instrument going into this cohesive mess of noise. The lyrics are cool too, because why the hell not.

Repetition doesn't lose an ounce of steam throughout ... read more