Despite a few snoozers and the lack of subtlety in Tinashe's simplistic lyrics, "Songs For You" is a great sounding album that just screams alternative with its mashup of R&B, synthpop and trap music. When they all go together is where this record is at its best.

Fav Tracks: Cash Race, Feelings, Die A Little Bit, Know Better, Hopscotch, Stormy Weather, Perfect Crime, Save Room For Us

Least Fav Track: Link Up

Score:
7.7
Very Good

"Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery" is the most unique jazz album I've ever heard, and I'm not even a fan of jazz. The Comet Is Coming pulls from so many pleasing sounds to make a gorgeously produced, groovy and ethereal fusion. It's easily one of the best composed and produced albums of the year and I can't wait to see what the group does next.

Fav Tracks: Blood of the Past, Summon the Fire, Birth of Creation, Super Zodiac, Unity, Timewave Zero, The Universe Wakes Up

Least ... read more

I know this review is gonna be one giant cliche but...

They sound like Deafheaven, they play tightly and excellently like Deafheaven, it's as beautiful as a Deafheaven record and it has many amazing, memorable moments that resemble a Deafheaven record... but what, you know, separates it from other acts that sound like Deafheaven?

There can only be so much love for another band poured into it before it ends up sounding like a carbon copy of it. It's not bad, and I like it, it just feels ... read more

Definitely one of the most creative metal records I've heard this year, "Hidden History of the Human Race" is a technically impressive, sonically brilliant and beautifully-written set of existential death metal tracks with an enveloping sci-fi concept.

Fav Tracks: The Giza Power Plant, Awakening from the Dream of Existence to the Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul), Inner Paths to Outer

Least Fav Track: I dunno

Score:
9.3
Outstanding

"Reflections" shows yet another welcome addition to the PC Music catalog, with Hannah Diamond showing some great production, catchy hooks and a bunch of that standard PC Music personality thrown in for good measure.

Fav Tracks: Fade Away, Concrete Angel, Invisible, Love Goes On, Make Believe, Reflections

Least Fav Track: The Ending

Score:
8.1
Great

"Temporal" is a gorgeous trip through a haunting realm of pure blackness. It's a wholly atmospheric listen that can be taken either as ethereal background music or as an intimate, dimly-lit bedroom experience. This is probably one of my favorite classical albums of the year.

Fav Tracks: Last Hour Story, Sheared, Imbalance, Conditional Features, Floating City

Least Fav Track: Through the Window

Score:
8.7
Exceptional

There's really nothing that separates "Nowhere Now Here" from post-rock albums of the past two decades, but there's still enough sonic beauty and some great crescendos for genre diehards to feast on.

Fav Tracks: After You Comes the Flood; Sorrow; Nowhere, Now Here; Meet Us Where the Night Ends; Vanishing, Vanishing Maybe

Least Fav Track: Funeral Song

Score:
6.6
Decent

"&TWICE" isn't quite as enjoyable as its Korean EP counterpart, there are a few songs that stick to j-pop genre cliches and "Be OK" is such a horribly put together mess of a song, but it's still a catchy, varied and well-produced pop banger of a record that shows lots of potential for this j&k-pop band to blossom.

Fav Tracks: Breakthrough, Fake & True, What You Waiting For, HAPPY HAPPY, POLISH, Changing!

Least Fav Track: Be OK

Score:
7.8
Very Good

"Hyperspace" is easily Beck's biggest flop to date. A majority of this album resorts to bland trap beats, lackluster writing and a host of bad production ideas, even when Pharrell is behind it. The second half fares a lot better, with some great grooves and some solid instrumentation overall, but the first half is so lifeless and generic that it doesn't help freshen up my experience with this album.

Fav Tracks: Hyperspace, Star, Stratosphere

Least Fav Tracks: Saw Lightning, See ... read more

Never have I ever had such high expectations for a Coldplay album and "Everyday Life" comes in to prove me wrong. This is a double LP that focuses on really heavy subject matter. Gun violence, police brutality, racism and other sociopolitical issues inhabit the majority of the record. These topics are extremely important and could be told well through good writing. Sadly, Chris Martin hasn't changed in the songwriting department, instead resorting to shallow lyricism and predictable, ... read more

"Mosquito", like the cover, is an ugly step down from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' previous works. "Sacrilege" is the only fantastic song here, but everything else pales in comparison in terms of ambition and writing. It also lacks the energy of everything else they've done, making it their most sluggish listen.

Fav Tracks: Sacrilege, Despair, Mosquito, Wedding Song

Least Fav Tracks: Always, Buried Alive, Area 52

Score:
5.5
Okay

While a lot of indie/garage rock bands from the early 00's have kept their classic sounds with mixed results, YYYs show that they can completely change their sound without sacrificing what makes their music so joyous! "It's Blitz!" mixes the blaring guitars of indie rock with the glitzy synths of dance music seamlessly here and the results are as infectious, energetic, blood-pumping, well-produced and fun as ever, and Karen O still shines through with some of the best, and most ... read more

"Is Is" takes a somewhat darker tone... by Yeah Yeah Yeahs standards. It's still a very fun, catchy and charismatic indie record with all of the stuff you expect from Karen and crew.

Rockers To Swallow: 9.5
Down Boy: 10
Kiss Kiss: 9
Isis: 8
10 x 10: 8.5

Score:
8.8
Exceptional

It's more of the same from YYYs, but "Show Your Bones" is still a great shift in perspective from the sexual urges of "Fever To Tell". It's also a softer sound compared to that record, but it doesn't hinder Karen O's vocals and catchy, introspective songwriting at all.

Fav Tracks: Cheated Hearts, Dudley, Way Out, Turn Into, Gold Lion, Phenomena, Sweets

Least Fav Track: Honeybear

Score:
8.5
Exceptional

"Fever To Tell" is pretty much Yeah Yeah Yeahs at their peak. It's pretty much early 2000's rock summed-up in one package. The instrumentation is great, the production is noisy, the songwriting is great, the hooks and melodies are ear-pulling and Karen O has to be one of the most eccentric female vocalists out there! I can't forget about "Maps" either, such a powerful, perfect tune.

Fav Tracks: Maps, Y Control, Pin, Rich, Man, No No No, Date With The Night, Tick

Least Fav ... read more

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' self-titled EP is surprisingly raunchy, sexually-driven, noisy, punky and energetic with some great writing (except for the "girl/world" lyrics on "Mystery Girl", ugh) and fun vocals from Karen O! It's far from being well-engineered, though, with some noticeably mediocre mixing hampering what are acceptably lo-fi aesthetics.

Bang: 10
Mystery Girl: 6.5
Art Star: 10
Miles Away: 9
Our Time: 8.5

-2.5

Score:
8.3
Great

If you take the pain away from a Nick Cave record, what you're left with is your average rock record with Nick Cave singing on it. Unfortunately, "Nocturama" is that record. Nick's vocals are great as always and "Babe, I'm On Fire" is a fantastic song, but the lyrics feel like they were written a day each and there are quite a few awful blunders in the tracklist, like the dreadful attempt at radio rock that is "Bring It On".

Fav Tracks: Babe, I'm On Fire; ... read more

[Treasure Tuesday Ep. 15]

I guess some hipsters in Japan really love their Iron Maiden. Is it of the times? Abso-fuckin'-lutely! But I also enjoyed it and I cracked a stupid smile at how campy it is. The instrumentation and riffs are awesome and the choruses ring out that signature 80's arena cheese that's hard not to admire. The best experience I got from this album was "The Demonic Symphony Suite Opus 666 In Dm" series. It's all in Japanese so I didn't know what the overarching ... read more

Honestly, I think "No More Shall We Part" is one of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' most personal and beautiful records. The instrumentation is simply beautiful and the lyrics are as incredibly-written as ever. He's been constantly dropping albums in his solo career for 21 years by this point yet he never runs out of ideas.

Fav Tracks: As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, And No More Shall We Part, Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow, Hallelujah, Oh My Lord, Love Letter, The Sorrowful Wife, Darker ... read more

"The Boatman's Call" takes a Leonard Cohen-esque piano rock approach compared to "Let Love In" and "Murder Ballads", but it never sacrifices Nick Cave's signature poetic lyricism. The minimal approach is beautiful and the stories he tells are pretty depressing. Still, though, this is kinda what we know him for.

Fav Tracks: Into My Arms, People Ain't No Good, (Are You) the One That I've Been Waiting For?, There is a Kingdom, Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?, ... read more