Rare comeback

Funny story, I was rewatching Fury v Wilder 3 and I saw Fury was singing in the post fight interview. Found the track which was a hit, albeit before my time, titled Walking in Memphis. Heard some references to blues music in the track itself and it sparked a spontaneous interest in the genre. It made me realize that I hadn’t really checked out the genre and I found a highly rated electric blues record that was enticing and this is it. With the lore out of the way, I can say ... read more

The King’s debut record

It’s about what you’d expect, but it feels like so much more. The tracks are menial, yet so lively and colorful. He lays down some quirky vocals over a quick and upbeat backdrop, and he shows off his beautiful vocals in ballads about romance. His knack for energetic and charismatic performances pushed his music further beyond any other solo artist in history. It’s one thing to be one of the godfathers of rock and roll, but it’s completely ... read more

Literal Guantanamo Bay music

Kind of. An idiosyncratic debut from RHCP regardless. I can respect the potential in the instrumentals in spite of their amateurishness, but the vocals and writing could be punished by law. Kiedis goes for an off-kilter delivery that feels like something off of a drugged up Beastie Boys leftover every track. And the mundane and mindless lyrics don’t help the band’s cause either. The production is also flat as well. Mediocre songs have even less impact ... read more

Back in the saddle

Surprising it’s already been so long since this came out. I remember anticipating this releasing and skimmed through a track or two on Christmas morning and forgot about it. Anyways, now that I’ve listened to it more than a few times, I can say that it is contagious. Credit to the production, credit to Carti’s vocals, this record experimented and flourished. There’s not much to it, Carti does some vocal experimentation and works with harder beats than ... read more

Back in the saddle, maybe

As a preface, I’ve never listened to any other of Sturgill’s material. I’ve heard that his earlier work and pretty much anything other than this project is more true to country roots, but I digress. So it’s apparent that this record is more than a slight shift. It’s more of a transformation of sorts. An utter transition from a genuine country formula to uhh.. blues rock and electronic music? Though somewhat oxymoronic with a decent chance ... read more

Rediscovered a lost hobby for a second I suppose

This is easily the most inconsistent of the “vol” trilogy. It’s nearly the same tracks from before, but with intermittent attempts at variation that don’t pan out well. The last two tracks in particular are quite lathargic and dull. It seems they attempted to be laid back, but failed. Then other tracks are merely repetitive instrumentally and/ or hook-wise. It’s just hit or miss with the hits hardly outweighing the ... read more

HWE4 is a further demonstration of the exhilarating gangster rap laced with boom bap beats that Westside Gunn has showcased on past installments in the series. Its apparent that Gunn doesn’t need to change his style as every outing in the HWE series has been anywhere from good to great. Notably, The Cow serves as an engaing and enduring intro that really highlights Conway’s rapping ability rather than Gunn’s. This is by no means a bad thing as Conway is very in depth about ... read more

Despite being well known as a founder of the famous rap group Three 6 Mafia, I’ve never yet listened to a Juicy J solo project. I also don’t have much experience with Three 6 Mafia in general as I have really only listened to a track or two by them in the past. I was intrigued by the gimmicky cover art and came away from this album relatively satisfied. Juicy J’s entire purpose on this project is to make bangers and he succeeds for the most part. He is by no means a lyrical ... read more

As someone who heavily disliked the original Savage Mode for how uninteresting the production and vocals were, I can say that Savage Mode II not only trumps the original, but is leagues better. Like the first Savage Mode, the second is a collaboration between 21 Savage and producer Metro Boomin. While I previously mentioned that I didn’t enjoy the first Savage Mode, I at least respect how well the vocals matched the production and the same can be said for Savage Mode II. The first Savage ... read more

Conway the Machine of Griselda fame drops a fantastic debut record. I’ve known of Conway for some time, but he has always been the most overlooked Griselda member of the big three for me. He is by no means bad, but I’ve always been drawn to Benny the Butcher and Westside Gunn more, but that may change now. Conway isn’t some lyrical genius similar to other Griselda members, but he doesn’t need to be considering the great production and the conviction he brings to every ... read more

TattleTales is essentially what 6ix9ine has made in the past, except with auto-tune. Similar to his past material, TattleTales isn’t very interesting and 6ix9ine is unbelievably boring much of the time. Its especially worse when 6ix9ine sings with auto-tune/ auto-croons throughout a track, as I would argue tracks like these are some of the worst he has ever released. Not to mention that a majority of tracks here have one-dimensional instrumentals and this ruins some tracks with legitimate ... read more

This is a random release early on in the atmospheric black metal scene and I believe it to be one of the first atmospheric black metal releases. The music itself here isn’t much different from other atmospheric black metal releases at the time. The recording is extremely lo-fi and the instrumentals are solid, but nothing groundbreaking for the genre. This project also has these satanic/ growled and reverberated vocals that remind me of Bathory’s vocalist, except if he were one floor ... read more

Asides from a couple of tracks, Smile is a mostly uninteresting and generic dance pop record. I appreciate Katy’s impressive vocals here, but much of the production here has been done so many times before that I can’t help but feel uninterested and numb to much of the material here. Never Really Over and Smile are really the only tracks here worth coming back to unfortunately.

Favorite Tracks: Never Really Over, Smile

Least Favorite Track: Harleys in Hawaii

This is another extremely short album within a minute. The album/ track istself is a windy and watery cesspool of noise. These type of albums aren’t interesting or funny, but at least I can’t say they waste my or anyone else’s time considering their length.

J. Cole’s KOD is yet another somewhat mild release from the rapper. Cole continues to be inconsistent here, as he fumbles multiple hooks and is underwhelming much of the time. Of course you have your fair share of solid tracks like ATM, a banger that deals with money and another banger being KOD, a track detailing drugs in Cole’s youth and Cole being braggadocious about his success. A J. Cole album couldn’t be a J. Cole album without a few duds such as Photograph, an awkward ... read more

After Fantano’s meltdown over Twitter, I decided to listen to this Redveil project and I was pleasantly surprised. Redveil has an obvious Earl Sweatshirt influence, but that doesn’t stop him from being unique in the current world of abstract hip hop. There are some laid back and hopeful cuts here, but there are some in your face bangers as well, which provides for nice variety in the tracklist. There really isn’t much to dislike about this project and this is especially good ... read more

I think its brief tracklist and runtime does hinder the impact of it, but besides that Dos Siki is a wonderful album. Its so colorful and punchy that its hard not to fall in love with it. Dos Monos showcase that they know how to make fun and vibrant Japanese rap on this project and I would recommend it, especially considering its brief length.

Favorite Tracks: All

Least Favorite Track: N/A

FlightReacts or Flight, is a popular YouTuber known for his reactions and basketball matches against other YouTubers/ friends. He has released many singles over the past three years and Walking W is his first album to date. Right off the bat, knowing Flight’s music before this album, I knew likely how a record from him would go. It would be very dumbed down and not substantive, with the lyrics revolving around money and sex. This is definitely what is on Walking W. Flight proves here he ... read more

Nas returns after two years with a solid follow-up to Nasir. I love the production here, coming from executive producer Hit-Boy. It is classy and elegant and it reminds me somewhat of production that would be on some of Nas’ older material. Not to mention that Nas fits well over these instrumentals as do most of the features. Nas is as focused as ever, rapping with determination and he writes about some important topics as well. Nas raps about race and his career, but mostly about women ... read more

Microphones in 2020 is a graphic reflection of Phil Elverum’s life that paints a picture the audience has not seen up until this point. Phil writes of many specific times and moments throughout his life at varying ages and alludes to why this project is released under The Microphones name. Phil writes that he made a boundary between two eras of his life, being The Microphones then Mount Eerie, but he realizes in hindsight that he can’t leave The Microphones name in the past, similar ... read more