Genuinely one of the most immaculate records I've ever heard. It's tight, lavish, polished, but it still has an idiosyncratic charm that makes it entirely individual in its near-perfection. I wish I could be more poetic about how it makes me feel, and how luscious and dreamy it is, but in much the same way it's an entirely individual project, it's an entirely individual experience too. The same is true, I guess, of many records, but there's just something about the songs here that touches my ... read more

Eh, I have very little to say about this, sadly. I wanted to like it, and I do, and that's about it. Outside of OTL, the song that made me want to listen to the full project in the first place, there's not much I came away with really loving, but for the most part I liked everything? Some more than others, sure, but I didn't viscerally hate anything. I guess that that's my least favourite thing about this, that it mainly made me feel close to nothing. There's a beautiful simplicity to the ... read more

This is so close to being perfect, so very close, but I still think she can do much better too, which is just amazing to think about really - Phoebe has so much potential, it's so exciting, and I'll be thrilled to hear everything and anything else she does in the future. I wish I could talk more about my feelings on this record specifically but really it just leaves me craving more, that's what I came away from it thinking, which probably actually says everything you need to know about how ... read more

A great album, with some of the greatest songs the rock genre has ever known, but it's just a tad overrated probably? Like many albums it suffers very much from putting its best songs first - the first three tracks are basically perfect, my favourite amongst them forever being I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and then here and there there are a few other highlights too (In God's Country, track 7, being the most notable for me personally), but apart from that, though the rest are ... read more

I've had this recommended to me so much in the last few months but I've only just gotten around to it and yeah, it more than lives up to the hype. I've known American Teenager for a while, and have listened to it, for lack of a better word, religiously since it first graced my ears, but finding out that the rest of the album is of very similar quality was amazing to experience too. Paradoxically it feels both very meaty and very skeletal to me, like a ghost story where not much happens ... read more

Beautiful. Somehow both front-loaded, with its best songs in the first half for sure, and a slow burn, with a lengthy emotional crescendo (the longest song on this thing) to close things out before a cyclical reprise (the shortest song) connects the two, this album is definitely an experience, never wavering in its intensity and the depth of its emotion, steadfast and confident but fragile and afraid nonetheless. It's a very intimate project, and for an artist to be so upfront and vulnerable on ... read more

A Waltz for a Night is an incredibly meaningful song to me, as I'm sure it is for many, because of its beautiful inclusion in Before Sunset (and because I associate it so much with Hannah, my girlfriend, who I watched the movie with recently). Along with the other two songs from this album used in the movie, An Ocean Apart and Je t'aime tant, it was more than enough to convince me to check out the full thing, and I'm glad I did because although it's indisputable that A Waltz for a Night is the ... read more

I'm not really a fan of metal music at all, and for the most part I much prefer the music I listen to to be way softer and nicer on the ears than this, but even I (who should, in theory, dislike this) can see how incredible this album is. It's such a rich and abundant record, and it feels like it has so much to give if you're willing to take it. Sonically, thematically, emotionally - this is thick and heavy, and incredibly energetic, full of so much fuel as though it'll never burn out. I can ... read more

This is easily one of the best electronic albums I've ever heard. I've listened to Justice for years just casually because my best friend is such a huge fan but it's not until now that I finally decided to check out one of their full projects, and I'm so glad I did. It's an incredibly gritty record - at times too crunchy and harsh for my taste - but hidden in that monolithic wall of noise are densely packed layers of production, waves of soundscapes pressed and condensed against each other like ... read more

This is it. My favourite album of all time. I've thought about really making this my longest review yet, about dissecting each and every song and really breaking down why I think it's so good and so underrated, and maybe one day I'll do that, but I think if I did it right now I'd be doing it more defensively than sincerely, more out of a need to justify and validate my own opinions than out of a genuine passion for everything this album is and everything it does. I know this isn't the greatest ... read more

A very cool hidden gem, incredibly vibey, infectiously groovy, and overall just an excellent time, with a very breezy runtime (25 minutes) that makes you crave more. Fire for You is definitely the best song here - no wonder it's the most popular by quite a considerable margin - but none of the others disappoint at all, even if they never reach similar peaks. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for new easy-listening alt/indie dance/electronic music to listen to.

A classic. The title track and a few others - Cream especially - are essential Prince, and songs that anyone with even cursory knowledge of his discography are likely to recognise, but the deeper cuts hit too, and there's no song on this thing that I actually dislike. It's far from the greatest thing he ever made, sure, and fine, I'm a little biased when it comes to his music because I'm such a huge fan, but considering how much people apparently hate his post-80s output, I don't think that ... read more

I thought I knew what good music was and then I listened to Prince. God, I love him so much. This album is truly fantastic, an incredible piece of pop rock/funk R&B history. He was so eclectic, so brilliant, so confident, and rightfully so. This album is a journey, an adventure, and he does everything in his power to make it as fun and thrilling as possible. It's as sexually charged as ever, and surely as audacious as he could make it. I think his run of albums in the 80s was basically ... read more

I'm fully aware that the day I admit to liking Coldplay is the day I lose all credibility in this community, and I guess that day's finally come because here I am, about to say good things about a Coldplay album released post-2008. I like this album. I liked it when it released, and then I pretended not to like it anymore because I realised apparently nobody else does, and now here I am, it somehow having grown on me even more. I've only listened to it a handful of times since early 2020, the ... read more

The response to this album genuinely has me questioning whether I even know what good music is, because I think this is good, but apparently nobody else does? I'm biased, sure - you all know by now how much I love Springsteen, so a passion project like this is something I'm gonna love too - but come on, seriously? Everyone is acting like this is the worst album they've ever heard, I really don't get it. I think it's fun. And it's an excellent demonstration of the strength and style of ... read more

Yet another one of my girlfriend's favourite albums, and one of my favourites that she's recommended to me. I wish so desperately that I was eloquent and thoughtful enough to put into words everything this album does and everything it makes me feel but I just don't have the mental or emotional capacity to accurately or effectively do so. That's a lot of words to basically say that I have no idea what to say, and that where this sits in my heart is a place I can't describe. Many of my feelings ... read more

So underrated. No idea what compelled me to listen to this - probably how 80s that album cover is - but I'm so glad I did because there are plenty of wonderful hidden gems here I likely wouldn't have heard otherwise, as it doesn't seem to be a very popular album for some reason. It's definitely not an 80s classic, and I'm torn on whether or not to call it essential as clearly for many it isn't, but it encapsulates it just about everything it does, so. It's very good, I can at least say that ... read more

Another album I listened to in early November in an attempt to finish Bruce's discography before his latest released later that month, and another I've hardly gone back to since. Whereas The Ghost of Tom Joad is a Springsteen album that, to me, feels nothing like a Springsteen album at all, this one at least does, and is a massive improvement from that project. This is a Springsteen record through and through, and an especially poignant one given it was his first post-9/11 release; Springsteen ... read more

Listened to this way back in early November in an attempt to finish Bruce's discography before his new album released on November 11th (my birthday, so a big deal for me) and... I haven't touched it since. I really haven't. I listen to Bruce so much, so ridiculously much, more than pretty much anyone other than The Killers and Prince, and yet I've never revisited this. It's just... it's not bad, but it's not Bruce, or at least it doesn't feel like him to me. There's something so essential ... read more