I kind of feel like I should love this because it would have probably been my favorite album of the year if it had been released in 2008 or something, but it's 2024, and Harrison Patrick Smith is 28 years old, so "What's Wrong With New York?" just feels like an album that arrived at a party that everybody has already grown out of it.
Not as nostalgic and celebratory as his first record but more introspective, melancholic, and refined. More than that, looking forward to keeping rediscovering it again and again. One of my favorite artists right now.
Just like most of Jake Bugg's albums, it's half pretty good and half generic and forgettable. Plus, pop doesn't seem to suit him, especially when you name your record Saturday Night Sunday Morning, which is a 60s British New Wave film about angry working men. His first record is still the best.
La Femme's third record does not only prove they are getting better on each album they drop but they are also stating that there's no one quite like them or doing what they're doing in the music industry today. Brilliant, exciting, fun, and cinematic.
Mix jazz, tropicalia, pop, and psychedelia with a little bit of Czech film soundtracks from the 60s and you have Mantra Moderne.
It's these types of albums that I like to ask people if they would listen to if it wasn't for Lady Gaga. More consistent than her previous record, Chromatica homages the 80s dance music in unoriginal ways which even though originality was never the intention, it disappoints comparing to her early work. People who love her will love it and people who don't, won't. Not bad but not for me.
Half of the tracks are very similar, almost sounding the same, but the other half is amazing. So happy these guys are back <3
After two outstanding records, Wild Belle mixes their both releases and makes a third with a lot of energy and references, proving that to make good music isn't necessary to be extremely original. On the contrary, just celebrate what you like.