I love everything about how this record sounds. The haziness of the vocals, the noisy guitars, and punchy drums make for such a fantastic sound palette. Alvvays are able to keep their songs so vibrant despite them being as noisy as they are. I think this is partly because of the female vocals. The brightness of her voice adds so much to the tone of these tracks. Take Velveteen, possibly my favorite song here, for example. The vocals get a bit drowned out because that’s just the stylings ... read more

I actually didn’t mind this one in comparison to what I expected coming into it. It’s still got the problems that the other early Beatles albums did, those being songs sounding similar and generally being nothing special. It’s definitely not to the degree that they were on With The Beatles though. I don’t love every song here and I don’t think there’s really a standout track but every song here ranges from pretty good to great. Although this isn’t my ... read more

This isn’t even a hot take anymore with how many people say it, but J. Cole has always just been an alright rapper in my opinion. He has some great tracks, however, he’s never stood out to me as one of the best rappers, especially not in the way his fans want you to think he is. His biggest fans are the main reason that saying J. Cole is, I hate this word, but overrated, has been such a hated take, I mean they are ravenous. Born Sinner continues the streak of J. Cole being good but ... read more

Wow, I’m so glad I decided to check this one out. Chris Stapleton is a name I’ve known for years at this point. I’ve heard the hits, including a few off of this record but I always wrote him off as “country bad so I don’t like this guy.” This was a great listen though. It’s got such a classic sound that anybody who even somewhat enjoys country could appreciate and, despite him not doing the pop/trap country stuff, he’s still getting hits. Joy Of ... read more

A Hard Day’s Night is the first truly great Beatles album. It still falters to these tracks sounding relatively similar but it’s far more consistent in how quality each song is. They sound so lively here, in a way that only specific highlights on the previous two records did. They were really starting to figure it out here with the production quality feeling much higher and all of these tracks being written by The Beatles themselves. The background harmonies here are fantastic too. ... read more

The Beatles had found a formula at this point and stuck with it to a fault. The formula works, nearly all of these are enjoyable tracks, but they all sound so similar. I’m glad records were as short as they were back in the early 60s because if there was even 10 more minutes of this, I think my score would go down significantly. There are a few highlights in this tracklist though. All My Loving has some fantastic vocal lines and I love that constantly strumming guitar. I’m not sure ... read more

This was an interesting listen. For it to come only two years after Blue, it’s a completely different album. It’s so raw, both lyrically and production-wise. The mix is disorientingly noisy with its noise wall guitar tones that bury any of the lower drum sounds. This is to the point where the quiet, acoustic closing track, Butterfly, is a real breath of fresh air after over 30 minutes of pure noise pop. Now, it may sound like I’m saying all of this as a negative, however, ... read more

Rumours is an insanely well crafted album that definitely satiates my hunger for that classic 60s and 70s pop rock sound. Every guitar and vocal layer is arranged perfectly and these songs are just so nice on the ears. They’re also extremely catchy, I’ll have The Chain stuck in my head for the next month. I also enjoy how varied these tracks are with the amount both Stevie and Lindsey sing being split about down the middle. There’s not a single miss here, every track adds so ... read more

I enjoyed this album but I’m not sure how much I can say past that. Other than a few mixing issues that may have only come with the remaster, the production quality is great. The hits like Imagine and Jealous Guy are easily the best tracks here. Crippled Inside is amazing too, I love how those drums compliment the guitars and that piano is fantastic. Others like It’s So Hard, Oh My Love, or How? are really just there. I liked them while they were on but I’m not sure if ... read more

While not as emotionally potent and raw as his self-titled album, The Great American Bar Scene sees Zach Bryan continue to do what he’s best at. The instrumental arrangements combined with his rough and gravelly voice create such a powerful feeling in the listener. Even if you can’t relate to a lot of the lyrics here, he still makes such captivating stories and paints each scene fantastically. My main issue is that there isn’t much variation from song to song. That ... read more

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) is an album I took too seriously on the first listen. I didn’t review it back then, I only took a few angry notes about it that mostly went on my twitter but I despised it. I was going to give it a 43 before this listen. Maybe it’s just the fact that I know how bad Eminem can get now but it grew on me significantly. I still think it can be extremely annoying when he’s talking about getting canceled and Gen Z and pronouns on every ... read more

Although I doubt I’ll be coming back to this much, it’s not the worst thing I’ve heard all year. It’s far better than that ian record from a few months back, but I mean most things are. I find it funny that the deluxe edition of her debut EP is longer than this, her debut album, however, I do appreciate how brief this is, as my score goes down every minute this generic ass drill lasts. The beats are alright but they’re extremely forgettable and Ice Spice’s ... read more

While I enjoyed the main album, Music To Be Murdered By - Side B feels like pure filler. I don’t think an entire 52 minutes of new music was necessary when the original was already over an hour. I’m not sure if these are meant to be outtakes from the Music To Be Murdered By sessions or if they’re entirely new tracks still based around the original concept but this doesn’t add much substance to the main experience.

I like the circus beat on Alfred’s Theme and ... read more

This compilation of Shady Records signees is mostly just forgettable track after forgettable track. I don’t think this proves anything about the people Eminem was signing, as I’ve heard great performances from most of these artists, they just weren’t putting their best work forward for this record. There are a few great songs like No Apologies or You Don’t Know but a standout like that is rare in this 22 song tracklist. I don’t love the fact that they shoved a ... read more

I did not expect to enjoy this half as much as I did. It’s still not great, but for Eminem’s post-2010 standards it’s relatively impressive. He stopped with that annoying punchline delivery, he’s actually rapping about something other than the critique his last few albums had gotten, and he brings on some competent producers and features. I’m not sure if he’s just adapted more to trap beats since the last few times he tried rapping over them, but he has some ... read more

Kamikaze is far more listenable than Revival, but god is it uninteresting. All Eminem does on this record is, once again, complain about the reception of his previous album, makes the worst disses imaginable, and be weirdly misogynistic. It feels like he uses these fast flows and less than meaningful disses to hide the fact that he's either saying barely anything or repeating the exact same things he’s been saying since Recovery. I can’t even really appreciate his wordplay a ... read more

It was looking so up on The Marshall Mathers LP2, what happened :(. So, Revival. Yeah, I was the opposite of excited to finally hear this one. It has quite the reputation as the worst album in Eminem’s discography and as truly just one of the bad albums of all time. Now that I’ve heard it in all of its glory, I can confidently say it deserves that title. This thing is such a mess. I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with the few positive things I have to ... read more

In a shocking turn of events, I fucking loved this album. It’s no Marshall Mathers LP 1 but this is the most entertainment and skill I’ve gotten from Eminem since The Eminem Show. I’m glad that energy from his collab record with Royce Da 5’9”, Hell: The Sequel, comes back here. This is the best and most self-aware writing I’ve heard from Em in a while. The production has also aged surprisingly well for the most part.

Now, this isn’t just hitter after ... read more

Minecraft - Volume Alpha is an album I can always go to to feel happy. It brings me back to a simpler time, a time where my only worry was whether there was a creeper sneaking up on me or not. I’m not going to vent too hard here but I’ll just say it’s been pretty hard to be happy recently and knowing I have something like this is extremely comforting.

It’s an odd comparison for sure, but this album holds a very similar place in my heart to i didn’t mean to haunt ... read more

I smiled! :D. 10/10.

So Porter Robinson, the EDM producer, turned electropop god, turned anime boy has returned with this new record, SMILE :D. I’ll admit, I’m very new to Porter’s music, I actually only got into him back near the start of March, when teasers for this new music started. I immediately fell in love with Nurture though, and it’s still one of my favorite albums I heard this year. SMILE :D takes us to a bit of a different sound than Nurture, it’s still ... read more