A modern classic for how it blends insane, sometimes abrasive and always creative instrumentals with ridiculously catchy hooks. If you’re planning on getting into Death Grips start here because it’s such a fun, energetic listen. Hacker is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.

It’s a massive amalgamation of everything that makes NIN so good. The depravity, the dirtiness, the intensity and the haunting atmospheres are all at their best and at their most here. The Fragile is really long and I do question if it needed to be, but the gluttonous excess of The Fragile only adds to it - with none of the songs being bad, just some (especially on Disc 2) feeling a bit redundant. What your getting is the most album possible though, a massive cinematic soundscape that ... read more

Linkin Park return with a small crop of 10 tracks that prove they’ve still know how to make easily digestible and enjoyable nu-metal, and that proves Emily Armstrong to be a worthy vocalist for the band moving forwards. Moments such as “Overflow” or “IGYEIH” don’t offer much to match the varied decisions across the rest of the tracklist but are enjoyable enough. Tracks such as “Over Each Other”, “Stained” and “Good Things ... read more

With all its experimentation and disorder - which could be fresh and exciting - Bon Iver instead created a record that is less emotionally compelling than his earlier works, despite obvious highlights where awkward auto tuning is abandoned for a more focussed sound.

Full to the brim with captivating compositions, insanely impressive riffs and Greeps eccentric and gorgeous vocals, this solo album is much cleaner than a lot of Black Midi’s stuff. The samba and Latin influences make for something lighter and more digestible - but that still revels in prog rock and constantly goes off the rails. One of the finest albums of 2024 for its sheer insanity amongst some of the most intricately composed, produced and layered instrumentals I’ve heard.

Filled to the brim with synth pop bangers, Mercurial World transports you to a mysterious, bright and mystical electronic soundscape. I massively prefer the airiness seen across Imaginal Disk, but Mercurial World is still such a fun and hypnotising listen.

NeX GEn, despite being the sequel to SURVIVAL HORROR, is really something quite different. This records louder, the riffs are screachier, the production is sometimes muddier but is jumping into creative pools that SURVIVAL HORROR merely touched its toe in. I think this is a messier record, and there are some duds across the tracklist (limOusIne) but there are of course songs that go insanely fucking hard. YOUtopia is an incredible opener and establishes how much more vital the conceptual ... read more

Trent Reznor’s dirty, depraved, disturbing and intense collection of sounds forms a hauntingly beautiful masterpiece on ‘The Downward Spiral’ - the definitive industrial rock album. It may be theatrical in its presentation, but the bleakness and sadness at its core never loses grip. An absolute classic and one of the best closing tracks ever.

I’m not sure if it’s talent or straight up sorcery, but FKA Twigs pulls you into the subdued club of Eusexua and hypnotises you with a collection songs fusing Trance, IDM, Glitch and Pop. It’s a trippy set of songs, but one that begs to be danced to - and where you cant avert your ears. Filled with moments that will make you feel like your levitating, from the noisy outro of “Sticky”, to the breakbeat outro of “Striptease” (this and clipping.’s ... read more

This Is Why is a record which doesn’t do anything terribly grand or mind blowing, but one where I cannot find a single complaint to hold against it. Every single track is fulfilling and pulls you back for more and more listens.

It’s In Rainbows, what am I meant to say except that I genuinely think Jigsaw Falling Into Place might be my pick for the best song ever made.

It is its own little world where things matter but also they don’t really. A sad world but with fairy lights throughout all the pain. A world where you let out your pains and emotions, but as you do there’s bright trumpets and a reassuring “woo”. Every instrument here is purposeful - and so small yet so grand. Phoebes voice is a light guiding you through the stories, often of pain and upset or hope and humility. It all culminates in one of my favourite closing tracks ... read more

Maybe this is the wrong score I’m not sure. “The Rise and Fall Of A Midwest Princess” is an album where I have a clear list of my favourites on the record, and they are all a million times better than the rest of it. Those tracks are:
- Femininomenon
- Red Wine Supernova
- Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
- HOT TO GO!
- My Kink Is Karma
- Pink Pony Club
If the album was just an EP made up of these songs it would be an instant 10. Instead though so the other half of the ... read more

I remember having this album on repeat during a trip to Greece during all the late night coach rides looking out at gorgeously lit seaside towns, and now whenever I listen to it I’m instantly transported back there. Only an album with such a unique and detailed instrumental palette - and a collection of unique yet stunning vocal performances - can pull off such a strong emotional reaction. The flow of this record is immaculate too. As you delve deeper into the tracklist, the songs get ... read more

It’s such a shame that following one of the most explosive and exciting records I’ve ever heard that is brimming with light and colour, Lorde came out with a stripped back palette of instrumentals that ends up feeling really empty and unfulfilling. Unsurprisingly, it’s the tracks such as Fallen Fruit where the instrumentals become fuller and Lorde mixes up generic formulas that act as diamonds in the rough. Considering how much I revisit Melodrama, my lack of motivation to ... read more

A debut album where Glover is trying too hard to be the next Kanye than to just do what makes so many later Childish Gambino projects great. In the end though the whole thing feels really corny and lacks much that feels like it’s desperately calling me back to return. That being said, Bonfire and Heartbeat fucking slap and even if they fulfill every complaint I’ve just listed, they go too hard for me to feel anything but love towards.

It lacks the creativity on the production side that “Skinty Fia” and “Romance” would revel in; and is mostly mission the riotous catchiness seen on “Dogrel”, leaving A Hero’s Death as the awkward middle child in Fontaines D.C.’s discography that I rarely have a desire to revisit, even despite the obvious highlights.

One one hand, DAMN. features the magnificent storytelling you would expect from Kendrick and some of his absolute best material. ELEMENT, PRIDE and DUCKWORTH are easily some of his finest tracks. In the other hands, it features some of the only Kendrick songs I’d describe as underwhelming or in the case of YAH, straight up annoying.

God this one grows on you. The extremely natural, almost retro and super loud sound of this works so well for me. No way to describe how this sounds other than by saying this sounds like is pastel colours were a sound. I love it.

SURVIVAL HORROR begs to be blasted as loud as possible. A cutthroat tight set of 9 tracks including one of the greatest and most insane interludes I’ve ever heard - there’s not a dull moment on the entire thing. 1x1 might keep it slightly away from perfection for me - but every other song is incredible. Dear Diary is a suffocatingly intense, dramatic and thrilling opener; Obey features YUNGBLUD in a completely unhinged verse featuring some of the best yelling and screaming on the ... read more