This is tied with Mac Miller’s “Ballonerism” as my album of the year thus far. I knew it was going to be good when I kept replaying the first LP over and over wondering how the rest of the album will top this six song run. As I put on the second LP i found myself intoxicated by the atmosphere of this project. It’s truly something you can feel in your bones. I find it fitting that Ethel Cain procured the synthesizer used by Angelo Badalamenti for “Twin Peaks” ... read more

Despite “Musicology” being commonly seen as Prince’s comeback record of the 2000s I find this album to be a marked improvement on everything its predecessor did so well. “Musicology” was Prince very consciously modernizing the sound of his greatest hits. “3121” was Prince modernizing the stranger more psychedelic direction that followed those greatest hits. It’s truly an album due for a critical re assessment as it’s up there with “The ... read more

I had the pleasure of seeing Buddy Guy perform on June Seventeenth. It was second only to Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour as the best live performance I’ve ever seen. Buddy’s stage presence was impeccable and his crowd interactions were effortlessly charismatic. With a voice that has ripened like fine wine and a heavenly guitar tone the concert flew by. His recent studio albums have done a solid job capturing his essence as a performance with his new one being his most concise work ... read more

Curren$y’s second project of the year makes it feel like he slowed down to focus on quality over quantity. Last year was his weakest in recent memory but with an artist as prolific as him thats an inevitability. As with the fantastic “Never Catch Me” this release has him locked into the chilled out lifestyle music that he built his career on top of. The production on these tracks never misses and all the transitions feel so seamless that the album floats by like the smoky ... read more

73->77 Due to the nature of being a substitute teacher I found myself with no source of income this summer. Therefore, I have resorted to selling my car’s old soul to DoorDash. My car has no aux player or way of connecting a phone so I’ve had to resort to my CD collection to keep me company on these oft grueling drives. One of the CDs I have is this one, as well as the other two volumes in the trilogy. All this to say this CD has been in consistent rotation throughout the week ... read more

Clipse discography dive Part 1:
I have listened to this album many times but this is my first time examining its consistency while officially giving it a rating. Well the first eight songs are amazing, almost every one has a hook that’s relentlessly catchy and the beats are way ahead of the curve. Pusha T would become a better rapper on the follow up album but here he is oftentimes outshined by Malice’s effortless mic presence. Pharrell’s hooks on “Virginia” ... read more

I’ve never listened to a Quedeca album and honestly I didn’t even know who he was till this album. Seeing how high the scores were and loving the genres it inhabits I decided to check it out. I absolutely loved it. It really was a fantastic accompaniment to a really emotionally turbulent summer. I have yet to finish the visual album but I plan on doing so next week. I was truly blown away by how this work keeps a sonic thru line despite having so much diversity. I can only see my ... read more

Its hard for me to have a fully formed opinion on a album the day it comes out and honestly I don’t trust people who do. Enjoying this album a lot though on first listen, feel like it’ll grow on me too.

Not just a good little batch of tunes, this work is a sonically ambitious collection that competes with the already perfect “Bookends” for the best S&G effort. Sure the final three tracks aren’t as amazing as the first eight but the first eight tracks are some of the best songs ever written. A album I can play on repeat and never get tired of the tunes contained therein.

Dark as hell, imperfect and made during a turbulent time. In other words, it has all the making of a cult classic. I’m glad it’s getting a re-evaluation. “Pea” is my anthem, justice for Pea!

Maybe not objectively perfect but to me this is the best Zeppelin album by far. It’s also a album that really benefits from vinyl as each side feels like its own suite. Sides one through three in particular are a collection of the best music Zeppelin ever made. It blows my mind how a good amount of these songs are outtakes from their first five albums. “The Rover” and “Houses Of The Holy” in particular could’ve replaced “Dy’er Maker” and ... read more

The most underrated Led Zeppelin album by far. Some of their most interesting compositions musically.

Holy shit….. my expectations were high but this surpassed all my wildest dreams for a Clipse reunion. The beats are so creative and varied. Every verse hits perfectly, the features are great and these are the hardest bars I’ve heard all year.

There’s no artist that better represents the contradictory emotions of being working class in America than Bruce Springsteen. He has crafted a nearly seamless discography often alternating between crowd pleasers and more challenging works. However, said career has always had a bit of a “lost era” in the 90s. With the epic “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” Bruce proves that the 90s were far from the musical nadir that many critics point to it being in retrospect. In ... read more

I’ve had this album on repeat all week. “Deer Dance” has never felt more vital. Never been a huge metal fan, my anxiety makes it a bit difficult to get into. However, I’ve loved this album since Unc Alexyo was a kid 17 years ago. It wasn’t till a few years ago that the lyrical density of this album really hit me. As we continue to suffer from imperialism, and the many evils brought forth by post 9/11 America there are very few albums that reflect the times so well.

Lil Wayne is my personal GOAT so my hype was through the roof and I almost pre ordered the vinyl, glad I didn’t. My disappoitment is immeasurable and my day would have been ruined if it wasn’t for the amazing new Little Simz album and the two new Brian Eno albums. All of which I will review later, I just had to get my feelings about this unworthy addition to the otherwise fantastic Carter Series out of the way first. I will just pretend this was a six song EP and ignore the rest. ... read more

I’ve always had Miley Cyrus as a bit of a guilty pleasure enjoying releases such as “bangerz” and even the contentious “dead petz” but still seeing her as an uneven artist when it came to full length albums. Then with “Plastic Hearts” she came pretty close to a fully cohesive record and I felt she had a genuine masterpiece in her. Unfortunately, “Endless Summer Vacation” was very much not that and I had begun to write her off.
When I ... read more

“Grinder” is a gay anthem and you won’t convince me otherwise. Happy pride month! Also, this album deserves higher than 75. I didn’t grow up on these singles so this album really blew me away. Its not in my top 5 Judas but that speaks to how insane their discography is.

Is Billy Joel innocent? I dug into his discography to find out! The past month his music has made up more than half of the music I’ve been listening to. My verdict: guilty of creating too many bops for this one man court to count. This album is my fourth favorite of Joel’s albums. The first three being “The Stranger” “52nd Street” and “Turnstiles”. As a huge fan of doo wop groups like The Supremes this album was an absolute pleasure from start to ... read more

Now it’s back to my ongoing series of Fela Kuti reviews, specifically focusing on his many records that aren’t talked about at all. Given that the last record I talked about was a live record with Ginger Baker I thought it stands to reason that the next project I picked is produced by the aforementioned Cream drummer for my next review. With only twenty six ratings and zero reviews on AOTY I figured its time to give this album its time to shine.
On the opening title track you can ... read more