Berlin lowkey being one of the best pop songs of the year

Not to flex but I first saw Caroline play live in 2012 when she was in Chairlift and there were all of like 30 people in the venue. Guess what? This is the masterpiece she has been building to her whole career.

Renaissance for people who prefer mosh pits to dance clubs (but you can still dance to it)

An enchanting addition to Bjork's discography, Fossora captures the whimsy and eclecticism of Bjork's pre-Homogenic work. It weaves together techno bangers, woodwind fantasias, heart-tugging chorales, and elegant duets. It contains two tributes to Bjork's recently departed mother, both stunning, and several songs about mushrooms. One of the mushroom songs, the serpentwithfeet duet “Fungal City,” is much hornier than a song about fungus has any right to be, especially when you ... read more

This is a solid alt-pop record, but I wish it sounded more distinctive. I'm All Ears found LEG developing one of the most unique styles in the indie music scene - a seamless mix of progressive rock, bedroom pop, and club bangers, all tied together with gleefully idiosyncratic lyrics. Here, they still bring a strong batch of tunes and some more expressive singing, but they seem a little too eager to slot into the familiar templates of post-Robyn alt-pop. These songs get me bopping, but they ... read more

Never been a huge TyM guy but this is hitting the spot today. You could say its more "vibes" than "songs" but when the vibes are this good maybe that's okay. Also putting the best song last is such a flex. Record just gets better as it goes.

Highlights: The Medium, The Loop, Deja Vu, Days in Love

You have to have pretty immaculate taste to like Spoon. Their ethos is minimalist, utilitarian, perfectionist. They aren't flashy. They don't jump on trends. They're a modern classic rock band who brim with understated soul and swagger. They will never go out of their way to impress you. That's the hallmark of the truly confident, of master craftsmen who have put dozens of perfect songs into the world and know they still have more to give.

Anyway, Spoon albums range from Good to Very Good to ... read more

Well, this confirms it: Annie just doesn't have it in her to make a bad record. It's hard to imagine a fuller 180 from "MASSEDUCTION" than the warm hues and analog textures of Daddy's Home, and while the record might sound looser than its predecessors, make no mistake, our dom queen (now Daddy) is still in complete control, just the way she likes it. It's just that she's replaced the robo rock and future funk of her last few LPs with psychedelic daydreams and deep-pocketed grooves, ... read more

Not one of her best songs ever, but it's fun, funky, and surprisingly addictive. It did its job of getting me hyped for the new era.

“Keep On Calling” is top shelf - a sassy jazz pop kiss off. “Small Crimes” is a haunting art rock track with some sharp lyrics. A promising debut.

Not her best release but still worth hearing, especially the strutting, smoldering “Golden Cage.” The other two tracks dip into an art rock thing that showcases her guitar chops nicely but don’t have as memorable melodies.

Only two songs but they’re both knockouts. “Baby Luv” is maybe her best song IMO, catchy and hypnotic and subtly devastating. “Thanks 4 Nothing” is great too, a tense break-up rumination, though “Heavyweight Champion of the Year” from her following LP is a slightly more realized version of the same template thanks to rawer lyrics and an explosive pay-off.

So far there are 22 Nilüfer Yanya songs (I’m not counting the interludes from Miss Universe or her covers, though the Pixies cover is incredible). Literally all of them are fantastic. The three on this EP? Fan. Fucking. Tastic. Overall this EP leans more toward rock than the pop / soul / jazz inflections of some of her earlier work. That makes sense as a follow up to Miss Universe and also just in general because Nilüfer’s guitar playing is always a highlight. We get some ... read more

Pallbearer have one of the best discographies of any 2010s metal act, but Forgotten Days lands in an unhappy middle ground between the band's original doom metal style and it's melodic rock flirtations. Except for the title track and "Rite of Passage," this isn't catchy enough to work as radio rock. But neither is it intense enough to work as metal. The gut punch dynamics of "Heartless," the despondent atmosphere of "Sorrow & Extinction," and the masterful ... read more

Deftones finally getting the respect they’ve always deserved is the only thing I don’t hate about 2020. Chino, Steve, and Abe reunited with Terry Date (producer of White Pony & Around the Fur) and sure enough the boys are breaking hearts and necks like it’s 1999. Fans will debate where this lands in the bands legendary discography (easily Top 3 IMO), but wherever you rank it, this is 2020’s best rock album and a perfect place for new listeners to jump into the pit.

I'm finding it impossible to write about music these days, or even enjoy listening to it much, so let me just say this: Mike and El have met our moment with their best album yet. Tracks like "walking in the snow," "JU$T," and "pulling the pin" might sound like they were written last week, but that's only because the waking nightmare that is our present reality did not begin when George Floyd was murdered. He was only the latest casualty of a deepening crisis, one ... read more

Welcome to Chromatica, where the house is deep but the tunes are shallow (read: sha-ha, sha-hallow). Gaga’s latest batch of bangers is hooky and danceable enough that we might as well call it a return to form, and consistent enough that you might forgive its failure to add anything truly essential to Gaga’s songbook. Would I want the DJ to play some of these if clubs were still a thing? Absolutely. From the opening salvo of “Stupid Love” and “Rain on Me” to ... read more

This isn’t the best 1975 record, but it is the *most* 1975 record.

Haters will say it’s a self-indulgent mess and they will be right. Stans will say it’s another genre-busting masterpiece from the best pop rock band of this generation and they will also be right. If A Brief Inquiry was a Big Statement Record, Notes is a collage of Small and Medium ones, an approach that plays to a lot of the 1975’s strengths but also exposes many of their weaknesses. That said, I ... read more

I'll wait for Part Two to write a review, but this is already extremely impressive. "Virile" is one of Moses' brashest songs to date, "Catch Me" one of his most exquisite and soulful. If "Me in 20 Years" is any indicator, Part Two isn't going to be a let-down either.

Not a total triumph but not an embarrassment either, this solo album will probably get Hayley a second look from people who have slept on Paramore (don’t sleep on Paramore, y’all). But whereas her long-running pop rock outfit excels at urgent, heart-on-sleeve anthems, P4A goes for something more oblique and “experimental.” I put experimental in quotations because truthfully nothing on the album sounds all that novel: echoes of Radiohead, St. Vincent, Mitski, and other ... read more