Jay-Z offers a solid debut with great rapping backed by quality production.
Recs:
- Politics as Usual
- Brooklyn's Finest (feat. The Notorious B.I.G.)
- Fellin' It (feat. Mecca)
- Friend or Foe
- Coming of Age (feat. Memphis Bleek)
- Cashmere Thoughts
- Bring It On (feat. Big Jaz & Sauce Money)
- Regrets
DLS are back and in prime form with this switch up in sound whilst keeping their effortless charisma and chemistry. Easily their best effort since their fantastic debut.
Recs:
- Supa Emcees
- The Business (feat. Common)
- Yunonstop
- Wonce Again Long Island
- Dinninit
- Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh Baby (feat. Jazzyfatnastees)
- Long Island Degrees
- Betta Listen
- 4 More (feat. Zhane)
- Big Brother Beat (feat. Mos Def)
- Pony Ride (feat. Truth Enola)
- Sunshine
In a strong debut Apple shows of her exemplary talent with her great vocals and captivating songwriting backed by some very engaging instrumental. I've heard a lot of great things about this artist and yeah this live up to the hype quite well!
Recs:
- Sleep to Dream
- Sullen Girl
- Shadowboxer
- Criminal
- The First Taste
- The Child is Gone
- Carrion
B&S offers a nice solid chamber pop release that's full of charm.
Recs:
- Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying
- If You're Feeling Sinister
- Mayfly
- Judy and the Dream of Horses
Tori offers a solid experience overall here with some beautiful music.
Recs:
- Blood Roses
- Professional Widow
- Marianne
- Caught a Lite Sneeze
- Way Down
- Little Amsterdam
- Talula
- Putting the Damage On
A slog of a listen though I did find a number of tracks that was worth the listen.
Recs:
- Episodes
- What They Do
- The Hypnotic (feat. D'Angelo)
Some really solid atmospheric sludge metal emphasis on atmospheric cause damn that thick atmosphere had me enraptured!
Recs:
- Rehumanize
- Purify
- Locust Star
- Strength of Fates
- Aeon
Lauryn HARD carries this. Once her magnifying presence isn't felt this release feels hallow in comparison. Enjoyed a number of tracks but this had potential to be so much more.
Recs:
- Ready or Not
- Fu-Gee-La
- Family Business (feat. John Forté)
- Killing Me Softly With His Song
- The Score (feat. Diamond D)
Ridiculously Hot.
Recs:
- The Urban Theme
- Welcome
- Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
- Dancewitme
- ...Til the Cops Come Knockin'
- Whenever Wherever Whatever
- Lonely's the Only Company (l&ll)
- Reunion
- The Suite Theme
- ...Til the Cops Come Knockin'
Ras Kass offers a solid boom bap West coaster with excellent flow and nice vibes.
Recs:
- On Earth As It Is...
- Marinatin'
- Nature of the Threat
- Sonset
- If/Then
- Miami Life
Here we have some classic punk from 1978 that only managed to release nearly twenty years later from the band called the misfits.
Like many punk records of the time it's a bunch of short bursts of energy done over and over again for thirty or so minutes. It is a fine enough format, but as a whole there's a lack of any distinction for me to draw from. I just hear rather generic punk out of this.
NCBS continue their run of excellence. Everything here is just so well done from the excellent writing to the instrumentation. Good stuff as I have grown to expect from them. Did I mention that this album is good?
Recs:
- Stagger Lee
- Henry Lee (feat. PJ Harvey)
- Lovely Creature
- The Curse of Millhaven
- The Kindness of Strangers
- Death is Not the End
Brutal riffs, drums going crazy, some weird growling, rinse and repeat for thirty minutes and call it a day. There's definitely an appeal to this but it's not for me.
![平沢進 [Susumu Hirasawa] - Siren](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/100x0/album/97616-siren.jpg)
Hirasawa offers another high quality Art Pop Electronic that is sure to captivate and mystify.
Recs:
- first track
- Siren
- Holy Delay
- Gemini
- Day Scanner
- Siam Lights
- tenth track
- Mermaid Song
Sigh……..............................
America is actively sprinting head first into an oligarch authoritarian techno-fascist state by the god damn day and I WISH this was hyperbolic. If we keep letting poopy diaper criminal orange man and Mr. Ketamine criminal space boy walk over the fallen corpse of our falling democracy, I don't know how much longer I can freely listen to music or even have any sort of free speech. Not that it matters since I as well as many others will ... read more
It was just fine. Then the track with the Dr. Dre feature caught my attention. Enjoyed the follow up track making me believe I was starting to warm up to Nas' work then it just became just fine hip hop that doesn't do much for me. Then Lauryn Hill saves it at the end. I guess when I have enough distractions from better artists I forget how just ok Nas is.
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Recent Review Comments
On ねごと [NEGOTO] - アシンメトリ [Asymmetry]
"@themarsvolta not everything, bit a good amount. To answer your question is genuinely I didn't connect with the experience. That's it."
On Black Sabbath - Paranoid
"@frogofprog of course, all the songs listed in the review are great including the all time classic in War Pigs. I just think as an album experience as a whole it could be a bit better."
On The_troll's review of The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time: Stage 1
"You are in for one hell of a ride if you're going to listen to it all the way through at once! Well worth the six hours of investment."
On Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
"@ScottShelby As for what's next for Zappa since I have listened to most of his Acclaimed stuff besides a couple of TMOI releases In likely to finish off that bands offerings before down the road see what Zappa has to offer in his more contentious releases."
On Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
"@ScottShelby That was intentional, got to save some big hitters for the future you to appreciate."
On Bridget St. John - Ask Me No Questions
"@AidenBowe45 she reminds me strongly of Nico so if you are a nico fan, you'll like this."
On Bedhead - Transaction de Novo
"@musicfanboy You looked into that more than I ever cared to so I guess? I don't know. I do generally find slowcore rather boring to slog through, so your probably right."
On Terry Reid - Terry Reid
"@AidenBowe45 He reminds of Paul McCartney at points with how passionately he sings and the instrumental goes crazy. It's a fun album for sure!"
On Muddy Waters - After the Rain
"@AidenBowe45 I honestly am just too familiar with this kind of style of straightforward Blues, sure it's classic but I find it stale and uninteresting especially compared to other styles that bring more to the table of the genre that makes for more engaging listening."
On Herbie Hancock - Fat Albert Rotunda
"@AidenBowe45 Groovy, funky and takes you on a ride. I don't remember if it goes wildly off the track but I wouldn't be surprised if it did with an artist like Hancock at the wheel."
On Harry Partch - The World of Harry Partch
"@AidenBowe45 yeah basically. I'm not here to hear your lips flapping."
On Amon Düül II - Phallus Dei
"@AidenBowe45 I'm excited for whenever you do decide to listen to it, they put you on a wild ride that's the best of both worlds and reminds me why I regard Krautrock as one of my all time favorite genres to lose my mind to!"
On Eyeliner - Buy Now
"@AidenBowe45 I mean it's not the definitive vaporwave experience, but if you're a fan of the genre then there's definitely some solid stuff here."
On girl in red - if i could make it go quiet
"@AidenBowe45 I am likely not the intended audience since I am a grown ass 26 year old listening to these lyrics. I may not be fully aware of what the kiddos are into these days, but when I was an edgy teenager in middle school, shit like this banged for the girlies."
On Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
"@OldTask This album is definitely geared towards the artsy fartsy folks that appreciate just how deep into the rabbit hole this experience takes them. Definitely takes an experienced or a very open ear to truly "get it." Not everyone does, but the ones that do praise this shit up and down like I do."
On Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
"@Moosky This album is fit for a very particular meditative mindset you have to be in for the Inherent strangeness to pack as hard of a punch as it does. Like many albums I love this is like a sonic drug trip that is more to be experienced than enjoyed as regular music. This album has a legendary status because it goes deep into this surreal experimental soundscape unapologetically and not everyone is going to get it, but those who do are immensely rewarded. I recommend you to maybe expand your horizons and listen to ambient/Psychedelic/ experimental releases similar to this so your pallet is more used to what this amazing album has to offer. Cont."
On David Bowie - Station to Station
"@Jakeisthedoctor You mentioned that across the board I have wild takes, are there more recent examples that raises your eyebrows?"
On David Bowie - Station to Station
"@Jakeisthedoctor Man I really should delete and reevaluate these albums I reviewed in my early days when my taste wasn't nearly as refined yet expansive as it is now. Back in 2023 I was throwing my inexperienced taste into classics head first with no idea what I was talking about. It's part of the reason why I am exploring the 60s and 70s again along with bolstering my limited playlists. To great success too with my 60s playlist going from 90 tracks to over 750 and growing as I am now appreciative of the greatness that I am consuming. I promise when I get to these albums again down the road, I will likely have a more reasonable take. For now, just enjoy how unhinged I was in 2023."
On Vapora - Oceanside Mall
"@frogofprog oh yeah, Vapora. I definitely had mixed feelings with this artist. They had some genuinely great vaporwave along with...well ones that missed the mark. Yeah I was a bit more loose with my reviews back in 2023 just experimenting with how I liked to present my reviews. It results in some reviews I am still proud of to some I just go crazy on. It is also an era where I was still forming my tastes on like twenty+ genres at once so don't take my early reviews that seriously."
On Drake - Scorpion
"@Triplo Thanks! I don't often have something to say about an album these days past a standard passing observation, but popular releases from the 2010s are a good way to get be talking at least a little bit."
On Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel
"@RSmithFan What I meant was that this was the first album that felt like it was made in the eighties. Don't know why I phrased it that way either."
On Not Marshall - FRIDAY NIGHT A DRESS2IMPRESS MODEL HAS TO SHOW OFF HER NEW AFRO HAIRSTYLE
"@engar where? what? I don't see anything eyebrow raising."
On Fabrizio De André - Vol. 1°
"@I_love_chickenw 👍 Whatever you say bud. I'll keep on doing what I do regardless of your berating."
On Fabrizio De André - Vol. 1°
"@I_love_chickenw Good for them and the people that praise their writing. That's not the reason I fell in love with music so I don't focus on it. And that is just as fine as those who do the opposite and completely mute the music and gush over the writing. Different strokes, we all appreciate art in our own individual ways."
On Fabrizio De André - Vol. 1°
"@I_love_chickenw Maybe I'll appreciate that part of the experience when I decide to give a shit about the lyrics. Until then, those pink floyd classics offer an amazing sonic experience regardless of whatever they are yapping about."
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