Clancy opens incredibly strong but begins to struggle in the trailing half. Regardless, Clancy strays from the surface level content of their previous record and benefits deeply because of it.

Breach concludes Twenty One Pilots decade-long saga with several of the most charged tracks in their entire discography. The tracks on Breach don’t necessarily compete with the opening duo of singles on Clancy. Breach, however, has a front-to-back consistency that Clancy just doesn’t match.

Unassuming but very memorable project — and not in a bad way. This album could’ve came off as a surface-level cloud rap project, but every moment is fun and contributory.

Starting with five beautifully sweet and sincere tracks, Alex G strives to paint a nostalgic self-portrait on Headlights, ending up with a project that fails to capture the subject for the full duration.

While rough around the edges, Black British Music demonstrates an extremely high ceiling. The blend, the sample work — this album provides very promising production; with some more practice in songwriting, Legxacy might have the potential to drop some even more incredible projects down the line.

On Vanisher, Horizon Scraper, Quadeca takes us with him to find the sorts of feelings that have been lost to us all. Incredibly ambitious, this record toys with production so cinematically to create genuine masterpieces: GODSTAINED, CASPER, THE GREAT BAKUNAWA.

On the other hand, this experience can attempt to put too much on your plate without fully fleshing out individual elements – it sort of loses itself in the sauce on some of these tracks: NO QUESTIONS ASKED, THUNDRRR. Assuredly, ... read more

As polished as Flower Boy is, its fails to capture the angst that gives appeal to his older records or the songwriting that he delivers on later albums like Igor. Overall, Flower Boy offers a decent set of tracks with a few standouts, but not much more.

Tyler had a lot to show off on Bastard. For a record that’s nearly an hour long, the hardcore teen aesthetic remains fresh throughout, in part because of the personal context Tyler sprinkles throughout the writing. The beats he produced at the time also complemented his style. Overall, this album isn’t incredible, but it’s an accomplishment for a kid like Tyler in 2009.

Unlike Bastard, Goblin’s biggest mistake is having nothing to prove.

I’m tired of music coming out that appeals to the very, very lowest denominator of listeners. This album sucks. This is pure commercial garbage, and even with Boone being quite a talented singer, the style and material of which he performs is completely soulless.

On Throat, Little Women creates an incredibly dynamic range of atmospheres using quite little. The interplaying harmonics to create these stuttering soundscapes; the use of drone and rhythm to create these frantic atmospheres; beautiful melodic movement combined with abrasive technique to continually build and release tension — so much contributes to the sound on Throat (all of this done on a guitar, two saxophones, and some drums). There really are no flaws on this project, but I’m ... read more

And this album came from who? This is one of the strongest independent debuts in memory and one of the biggest surprises of the 2020s. The performances and production on this album are set to the max and maintain constant success throughout the entire record.

Tyler’s balancing act on Chromakopia was a difficult one to succeed at; dividing the scope of this record between fine-tuned production and Tyler’s most intimate lyrics to date leads to an album that isn’t fully committed to either of these. Because of this, Chromakopia is easily some of Tyler’s least unique and daring music… but when taken at face value, the album still offers an incredibly satisfying display of Tyler’s expression as an artist.

After Living Room, AJR having more budget and influence gave them more opportunities to make bad musical decisions, leading to an album which isn’t particularly an improvement over Living Room. This album is one of the most frustrating listens I’ve ever had — they have the means to produce something of quality but suffer from a huge lack of musical integrity.

Otherworldly. Holy shit.

This is a very dense Album from Billy Woods, and I’ve had a difficult time settling on this score; as much as I’ve enjoyed this through my several listen, I don’t think I’ll find myself returning to it very often, because it has such an oversaturated, almost inaccessible beauty.

Although Cherry Bomb provides relatively interesting production, Tyler went in to Cherry Bomb with too much confidence, allowing him to half-ass an album that had the potential to sit alongside his great records. Alas, this confusing and unpolished album continues to be a stain in the evolution of his discography. At least he learned that when experimenting with new sounds, it’s also important to mix and master them well.

Imaginal Disk is a 53-minute, once-in-a-decade mind-boggler; the production continuously refuses to settle into something any less unpredictable and unearthly. And, for a record built around the theme of metamorphosis, it’s truly fitting that it depicts one of the most transformative moments in any pop career ever.

Good kid m.a.a.d city has some of Kendrick Lamar’s most heavy-hitting tracks over all of his discography, more than making up for the lack of mainstream heavy hitters on To Pimp a Butterfly. This record is one of the greatest accomplishments in hip-hop, even with Tpab looming large right over it.

Judging by its title, Keshi’s Requiem is an homage album that came fully from his heart. This sentiment, however, mostly translates like audio wallpaper — crisp, meticulous, and ultimately forgettable and background-ish. Keshi’s skills are undeniable, and a couple tracks, most notably Texas, bring some of that sentiment to this Album. Still, this record is nearly all shine and has very little substance to show for it.