Magdalena Bay wears their influences on their sleeves, but maybe a little too much. On Mercurial World, you can almost hear the moodboard drawn up by Grimes, the blueprint laid out by Chairlift, to the point where the duo's voice can get lost sometimes. They eventually find their way out however, with a thorough understanding of what a good pop song entails. Sleek production: like what's offered on the haunting and hypnotic "Chaeri", succinct yet sharp pop songwriting: such ... read more

hounds, someone's tugging your crown!

one of the most unique soundscapes I've heard in any album, ever. Pure madness in the form of music, so much character and energy that never once slowed down throughout the whole tracklist.

Favs: sat in your lap, suspended in gaffa, pull out the pin
Least Fav: title track maybe

Even on a short throwaway project, Simz is still very entertaining, experimenting with genres like house, jersey club and brazilian funk. Though with its short length, most songs didn't stick as much or weren't as memorable as those in her regular LPs, but I thought that the sounds that Simz toyed with in this EP showed great promise, and I would not be against her expanding upon them on her next album.

Favs: Fever, Torch
Least Fav: I Ain't Feelin It

Grey Area can feel a bit too reserved at times, but its strength is in its consistency. Across all 10 tracks simz showcases great rapping and writing, she's not afraid of touching on heavy topics, and u can see how it laid the groundwork for SIMBI

Fav tracks: Offence, Selfish, Wounds
Least Fav: 101FM

Kate Bush is singular. And what makes her so is her refusal to meet the listener halfway. Her music, especially her earlier works, exist within a higher register. From the unusual subject matters of the songs to her theatrical, unrelenting soprano. One thing that Kate Bush cannot be is grounded. It simply does not exist in her vocabulary.

With Never for Ever, these qualities remain. Kate slowly pieces together her own fairytale world. With each song, Kate inserts herself as one of the ... read more

Mixing trusty pop formulas with bright synths and Grimes-fashion high-pitched vocals, Art Angels sounds like if Emotions by Carly Rae Jepsen was made with alien technology. It sounds futuristic yet traditional, effervescent but also grounded. While the album had a bit of a shaky start, with the overtly bubblegum "California" and the confusing inclusion of the rap rock song "SCREAM" sung by a Taiwanese rapper with no vocals from Grimes, the album swiftly corrected course and ... read more

Edit: 78 —> 92
Ignore all my criticisms, this was excellent.

Call me Fantano cause…

Look. I didn’t know what to expect. Jumping from “When The Pawn…” to this might not have been the best idea. While the former was structured, polished, and carried pop sensibilities, “Fetch The Bolt Cutters” was the antithesis of all of that. You’re getting hit in the face with frequent and radical tempo and key changes and wild and unpredictable ... read more

When I listen to music, I have always preferred and sought after something that is attention-grabbing, something that hooks you from the start and heightens your senses. 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' however, commands you to lose focus, lose yourself in the luscious atmosphere of the songs, and ride the waves of its ethereal soundscape.
While I can unmistakably see the appeal in the immersive quality of the record, 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' doesn't quite work for me, mainly because ... read more

My first late-era Björk album. After Medulla (which I loved) I thought I could handle any kind of experimentation that this weird icelandic lady could throw at me. But upon listening to Vulnicura for the first time, I came out of it unsatisfied, hesitant on the overall slow pace of the album and its often lack of melodic structure. However, upon relistening I now identify it as one of the album's greatest strengths. It demands focus on the incredible lyrics and makes every ... read more

Her worst mistake is ditching the r&b sound from the two singular acts and adopting these singer-songwriter aesthetics that she doesn't really have the prowess or musicality to make interesting. Pls make another 'tell em', 'paris' and 'pushing 20' again I know you have it in you.

The 'i'm horny' thing she tries on this album yielded some funny one liners but I really wished the instrumental matched the sexiness of the lyrics. The songs on ... read more

Can't believe I'm about to use the word 'mid' to refer to Björk.

'Debut' is unfortunately, too frontloaded, with an ebuillient, energetic and evocative first half that was unable to carry its momentum to the second. After 'Big Time Sensuality' everything just sort of fell apart.

Bjork's music has been notoriously difficult to get into, an experience shared by myself. But even with the weirder cuts on her subsequent 3 releases, upon first ... read more

I do have to dock a few points from this EP because apparently the concept was that each song represented one of Shygirl's 'aliases' but the whole project sounds rather one-dimensional to me, but a heck of a dimension it is.

This type of grubby, grimy club music feels so... cinematic to me for some reason, like it could be the soundtrack to Gotham City. Shygirl's breathy vocal delivery with the often added distortion only enhances the menacing atmosphere that this EP ... read more

I say this on every twigs project, but the sound design is absolutely stunning. This type of ethereal, glitchy and abstract style of R&B absolutely belongs to her, she should just trademark it at this point.

The highs on this album are really fucking high, songs like ‘Two Weeks’, ‘Lights On’, and ‘Pendulum’ feel like a corporeal cleansing, where my spirit has exited my body and I’m experiencing the song on a higher plane of existence.

But ... read more

I was delightfully surprised that the other songs on this short but sharp EP hold up quite well against the juggernaut that is 212, which is arguably the greatest hip house song of all time. I do wish they would've cut out that creepy pitched down 2 minute outro on 'Van Vogue' though, but otherwise a great set of tracks to listen to, especially when you feel like you're in a bitchy mood.

Favs: 1991, 212
Least Fav: Van Vogue Outro (first part is quite good actually)

Quite possibly the most intricate, futuristic and mind-bending production I have heard on any music, ever. Twigs' artistry undergoes a total domain expansion here: Not only is she incorporating new genres such as industrial and house music, her sound also gets progressively adventurous as we get deeper into the EP, becoming more abstract and deconstructed, creating this atmosphere that's simultaneously haunting but strangely intimate as well.

Overall this EP manages to stay within ... read more

“Through the warmthest cord of care, your love was sent to me”

The first lyric of Björk’s revered masterpiece Vespertine, quite literally captures the overarching theme of the album — she has found love, and she is not shying away from exploring every sensual, deep and intimate corner of it. Opener “Hidden Place” sees Björk detailing her serendipitous encounter with a love hitherto undreamt of, she doesn’t know what to do with it other than ... read more

It's like they're scissoring

This album has experienced some sort of critical renaissance among the ariana standom while retaining a generally middling reception from practically everyone else since its release. I sit somewhere in the middle. While the album is in my pov (pun-intended) definitely overhated, it's also not the misunderstood masterpiece that ariana fans would mislead you to believe. It mainly suffers from a lack of dissimilarity sonically that does critically obstruct it from garnering much replay value. ... read more

This album's like the Pink Friday of the 2020s, and it's not difficult to deduce the reasons for its prolonged ubiquity. The biggest hits on "Planet Her" check all the boxes, catchy melodies, trendy trap-infused production and just the right pinch of quirkiness to make the music sound so characteristically Doja Cat. But this is another one of those albums that would've benefited from spending a bit more time in the editing room, cutting some clunkier tracks and ... read more

Is the album rather uneven? Could the tracklist be condensed into just 10 songs and it would've worked the same and likely better? Were Doja Cat's antics leading up to the album annoying and unnecessarily condescending? The answer is yes to all those questions. But I continue to stand by my opinion that Scarlet contains some of Doja Cat's best songs, especially towards the latter, more R&B and neo-soul inspired half. "Agora Hills", "Can't Wait" and ... read more