Figured I should actually listen to some of this modern pop stuff so that I could actually keep up with big releases, and Charli seemed to be a good place to start. Honestly, I had very low expectations for her work. The only thing I heard from her beforehand was Boom Clap, which certainly isn't a bad song, but with it being as overplayed as it was and it being as conventional as it was... yeah, I wasn't expecting I'd actually be enjoying a full project from her. Unsurprisingly to pretty much ... read more

Miles Ahead is Davis' second album released on the Columbia label and his first collaboration with arranger Gil Evans since the Birth Of The Cool sessions. It shows Miles picking up the flugelhorn for the first (and I think the only) time in his career whilst also being backed by 19 musicians, giving this a very unique sound in his otherwise samey early discography.

Honestly, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this album. While I think this is one of the strongest albums I have ... read more

Two hours of utter destruction and devastation has never sounded so beautiful.

Wintherr started the Paysage d'Hiver project over twenty years ago, and since then he has only been releasing demos, and doing so very infrequently. Each one, from his debut Steineiche in 1998 to his last release Das Tor in 2013, have added something to his sound. While he has very rarely shifted drastically from the usual Burzum-tinged atmospheric black metal that you would expect from him, each release up to now ... read more

After Miles was approached by Columbia to join their label, he took his quintet and recorded a ton of material in just two days to make up the final four releases he had in his contract with Prestige so he could go on to do better things. These recordings resulted in four Miles Davis Quintet albums - Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', Steamin' - all of which are seen as being apart of his classic run despite them being released on a label that he was apart of during what is widely seen as one of his ... read more

I don't think anyone's going to argue against the fact that this is easily Neil's worst release in his classic '70s run. But in the case of American Stars 'n Bars, 'worst' doesn't necessarily mean 'bad'.

You're probably wondering "What is it that makes American Stars 'n Bars weaker than everything else? Surely one of Neil Young's classic albums isn't that much weaker than everything else? It has Like A Hurricane on it, after all!" And honestly, yeah, you would be right. If you look ... read more

Having finally recorded enough material to fulfill his contract with Prestige, Miles releases his first album with Columbia. That album would then go on to prove that Davis was more than just another jazz artist making hard bop records that didn't amount to too much in the grand scheme of things, with it becoming one of jazz's leading forces' most recognized releases.

Sure, you could argue that 'Round About Midnight doesn't show any major improvements in Miles' musical abilities. He's still ... read more

Neil Young reunites with Crazy Horse and makes an album that you would expect if you heard their first release together: an album that is much more focused on the instrumentation than on the writing, but that doesn't mean Young doesn't give us anything worthwhile in the lyric department.

I do have to note that I do think that this is the weakest Neil Young album lyrically in his classic run. Where every single album in his '70s discography could be picked apart and analyzed endlessly, Zuma ... read more

That moment when one of the best singer-songwriters of the '70s holds off on releasing an album for 45 years just so that he can get album of the year in 2020.

Homegrown was always going to be one of the most interesting and likeable projects of whatever year Neil decided to drop it in. It being one of those albums that he just didn't release when he originally intended to, and one that he would perform the tracks of live over the years, causing more intrigue to the album, to say that ... read more

Phoebe Bridgers has been an artist that has always impressed me but also failed to really captivate me. The other two projects I've heard from her - her debut and Better Oblivion Community Center -both left me satisfied but equally wanting more. It's undeniable that she has always been a good lyricist, and her music in general it usually really good, but I've always left these albums wanting more. They left me equally satisfied and unsatisfied, if that makes sense. Like I loved what was there, ... read more

This is an album that screams polarizing. Just after my first listen, even before looking at the ratings here, I knew that this would be an album that equally amazed some and underwhelmed others. Wicked City is just so... uncanny in its presentation. Even though it doesn't exactly do anything out of the ordinary for a glitch pop record, Jockstrap clearly have their own distinct sound of absolute randomness, going anywhere from conventional glitch pop, conventional singer-songwriter, to a more ... read more

Mr. Bob Dylan needs no introduction at this point. He's one of the most influential and important figures in modern music, and is often noted as one of the best songwriters ever. His contributions to music in the '60s and most of the '70s was undeniably amazing, with him somehow pumping out masterpiece after masterpiece. Saying that, you should always look at modern Bob Dylan releases with skepticism, regardless of how much you love his work or how highly praised it seems to be. Especially ... read more

Black Eyed Peas in 2020.

"Bratatatata
Bratatata, give me action
Bratatatata
Brata, give me satisfaction
Bratatatata
Bratatata, give me action
Bratatatata
Come on, brr, brr, woo"
- The chorus for ACTION.

As you can clearly tell, this is a lyrical masterpiece. These guys have completely perfected music. There's no need for us to continue with this medium anymore, it can't get any better than this.
...

Okay, so out of all the new releases today, this is the only album I feel ... read more

The only Neil Young album that still hasn't been reissued once to this day. I originally wasn't going to bother even listening to this, but I've pretty much decided that I'm going to go through Young's entire discography - because why not? - and, of course, why wouldn't I go through a soundtrack that Young himself hates and is seen by fans as being the worst album he released during his classic '70s run? So, after a few hours of searching the web, I finally found it, and honestly this album ... read more

Getting this record out the way now so that I don't have to rate a random reissue in the middle of my binge through his classic run of albums. I listened to this album after listening to 'Round About Midnight a couple of times, and it definitely left me very underwhelmed coming back to this older, less inspired Miles, so I can only imagine what it would have been like coming to this record after Milestones, Porgy And Bess, Cookin' and some other Miles Davis classics that were released ... read more

Something that not enough musicians do when they make a live album is making a live album with original material. There are only a few musicians that I can think of who have ever tried something like that. Neil Young is someone who is known for doing this a lot. Many of his most famous albums are these live records. And Time Fades Away is the first of these.

It's quite shocking reading up on Young's feelings on this record and finding out that he considers it one of his worst. For an album ... read more

Tonight's The Night is another Neil Young album that I struggle to get a solid grasp of. However, unlike On The Beach which was more of a struggle due to it being tonally all-over-the-place, Tonight's The Night is more difficult to get into due to its powerful performance and mournful lyrics. This album is one of grief, with all of the songs being written after the death of of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and his friend Bruce Berry. And as you would expect given the context, the album is ... read more

The last Miles Davis album released before the acclaimed 'Round About Midnight, as well as the last Prestige release that is often seen as sub-par for Davis. After Collectors' Items, Miles would go on to release nothing but great works, beginning his career with Columbia and finishing his time with Prestige with a bang. But how well does Collectors' Items hold up? Is it perhaps an overlooked masterpiece, shadowed by the fact that everything released after it is so damn good? Well...

When it ... read more

This is probably my first hot take with Miles Davis, and I wouldn't even say it's that much of a hot take.

Yeah, Quintet/Sextet has been my least enjoyable Miles Davis album thus far. The thing is, it's not even that bad. Every performer here does a great job, but there's two major problems with it. For one, there is WAY too much vibraphone. Props to Milt Jackson, because he is clearly talented at his craft, but vibraphone has never been one of my favourite instruments. It always overwhelms ... read more

Just like many of the past few albums, this is just another reissue of earlier work. It comprises of the entirety of both The Compositions Of Al Cohn and his contributions to Modern Jazz Trumpets, as well as a track from Blue Period. Pretty much the only reason I had for listening to this was to hear Miles' songs from Modern Jazz Trumpets, which is the only album from this early point in his career that I haven't heard yet, and even then those songs really do pale in comparison to everything ... read more

Just a bunch of tracks previously released on Miles Davis Volume 3 and Young Man With A Horn, as well as a few alternate takes. Honestly, just listen to the original album, as this compilation doesn't really do anything. Only listen for the alternate takes, which are admittedly really interesting.