I haven't been conflicted about an album like I have been with this one in a long time...

There was a point in time where JPEGMAFIA was dropping some of the most unique, abrasive, and lush experimental hip hop. He has a great ear for sampling, a great ear for beats, and flows/melodies that just work, but don't take away from his fantastic production. My hopes for Experimental Rap were quite high given how great his track record has been since Veteran to I Lay Down My Life For You. ... read more

Even with my issues with modern Green Day, this album still rocks 30+ years later.

Growing up on lots of alternative rock/pop punk, this obviously had to make my rotation at some point. And once I got to high school, it was the time I truly got into Green Day. Four of the bands most iconic tracks come from this album, some of the most iconic pop punk songs of all time (Welcome to Paradise, When I Come Around, Longview, Basket Case). But from front to back, there's not really a single weak ... read more

If you're looking for an album and a new NY based "boyband" to fawn over, WHATMORE is completely fine. In fact, it's great in certain moments. However, this is where having your influences on your sleeve really impacts the overall product. It's inevitable that these guys would be compared to late 2010s "boyband" BROCKHAMPTON, from the promotion to this album to the group aesthetic, it's hard not to compare the two. The issue with having a rap group like ... read more

A reasonable step down from "Dead Silence", "Afraid of Heights" is the weakest album Billy Talent has ever done. While it starts off solid enough from tracks 1-5 (yes, Louder than the DJ is fine fight me, it's still more interesting than anything in the 2nd half of the album), tracks 6-11 suffer from a serious case of unoriginality, messy song structures, and feels all around less memorable than the first five tracks. Which is unfortunate, because usually even in the ... read more

While the weakest of the original trilogy, "Billy Talent III" is still one of the best Billy Talent albums to this day. On the surface, the production might seem a little lacking, but I truly think this was the turning point in terms of the band maturing from their earlier emo-pop/punk rock roots. On songs like "White Sparrows", "Saint Veronika", and "Rusted From the Rain", we get a much more somber sound, with an improvement on the lyrical front across ... read more

Where every song sounds like you're literally Mid-Air, in slow motion, on a motorbike. It's a lot of fun, doesn't take itself super seriously outside of a few introspective moments, and is fun from start to finish. The influences are palpable across the record, but holy shit I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun listening to this album from start to finish. New English was probably my least favorite track on the record due to its monotonous beat and flows, but ... read more

God dammit, JPEGMAFIA is the only artist I’ll give this much time before I actually sit down and put my thoughts down to my keyboard when writing reviews.

Easily one of my runner ups for AOTY right now. One of Peggy’s most personal projects to date, while still managing to be as creative as ever with his production. It’s production like this that gives me faith that hip hop still has so many unique sounds that other artists can implement through JPEGMAFIA’s sound ... read more

Rating is a little on the nose, but this is honestly Logic’s best project. Most fans would arguably say it’s his best project since The Incredible True Story, which this album is a prequel to. The skits are at their least annoying for any Logic project, and are actually quite fun. They really bring out both sides of Logic’s personality together, and the dialogue is a lot less on the nose, and more just played for laughs. Even if the album could have been better without them, I ... read more

Man, I used to think this album was good back in my first year of high school, what was I even thinking?

Despite loving Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, Camp is far and away the worst Childish Gambino record, and it’s not even close. There’s a lot of good ideas here, I can see what he was trying to go for by the end of the record with the themes and subject matter. But a majority of the record has two things; inconsistent, mostly repetitive production, and some serious groan-worthy ... read more

This is probably the most fun I’ve had listening to any music this year. It’s such a great throwback to stuff like the Beastie Boys but implements a more modern production style on that signature sound. Joey really has a great ear for production, both him and Brad also have the swagger, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and charisma to make these songs so enjoyable to listen to from track to track. My only gripe with this album is just with the Intermission track and WHAT U NEED (they’re ... read more

If this is the start of a new album rollout, this is a pretty solid single to start off with. Really feels like Peggy went back to his Black Ben Carson sound and cleans up the production. I’d love to be able to hear what Freaky is saying on the back end of the track, but for most of the runtime it slaps, hard.

For as great as the production from KAYTRANADA is across everything he does, the album is a little too one note and bloated for my liking. For every great instrumental he produces and for every good to great feature he has on some tracks, it can become very repetitive about halfway through the first disc. Disc 2 might as well be tracks that could have replaced some of the tracks I was not a massive fan of on the first disc (like Please Babe, Seemingly and Stepped On), and it would have easily ... read more

It’s heavy, it’s vibrant, it’s out there, it’s got a little something for anyone that’s grown up with emo music, metal core and even hyperpop. I was pleasantly surprised by this project, I even went back to POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR and found that the production alone sold me on wanting to look at the concept of this album more, which I’ll likely do when I have free time. Some of the interlude cuts I can do without and the last track overstays its welcome a ... read more

10 tracks of sheer, utter domination of the ears. Immaculately produced, lyrically insane, and some absolutely bone-crushing riffs, this album so far might be my Album of the Year for 2024 so far. My only gripe is that I wished it was longer, but it’s better to be short, sweet and to the point than having it overstay its welcome. There will be some certified gym bangers found on this album for all you metalheads out there.

This weaves so many elements of various EDM genres/sub-genres so well that it straight up sounds like you’re having the dopest rave in the middle of the ocean. I don’t think there’s a single miss here, the production is tight and the album flows consistently throughout its runtime. The intro track doesn’t truly set you up for what the album sounds like, New Species however…

This’ll probably top my year end list for sure. Only a few listens of this album ... read more

It took me a while to rate this, literally almost a year, but I think in terms of Genesis Owusu's two released albums, this one is more straightforward with its themes, production, and overall album length. As much as I loved Smiling With No Teeth as a debut record from him, STRUGGLER is genuinely a great listen across the board with less misses and a great flow from start to finish. While I'm not too hot on the closing track, everything track from 1-10 has everything I enjoyed from his last ... read more

I remember initially not enjoying the second half of this mixtape as much as the first half when I was first getting into it. Now in hindsight looking at Danny's career as a whole, it's impossible to even think he was making material this insane at the age of 30. He's not only gotten sober but even more laid back than he ever was on this record and Atrocity Exhibition. It's full of bangers and introspection on his addictions at the time, with super raw production and great features across the ... read more

This is one of the most complete, richly produced hip hop albums of all time. Even if All My Heroes Are Cornballs is my favorite album from Peggy, this undeniably comes second in his catalogue, basically neck and neck with Veteran. While Veteran has fantastic experimentation with its unorthodox song structures and more industrial beats, Cornballs had a superb flow from track to track with tons of melodic choruses, LP mixes elements from both of these albums seamlessly to create a more ... read more

THIS IS GHOULISH OVERKILL

This is legitimately the scariest shit I’ve ever heard. Scarier than any horror movie I’ve seen in the last 10 years for sure