It feels poetic that my final score for this album is hovering right around the 50% mark. How better to sum it up? "TYRON" is perfectly split into two halves. It is fourteen songs spread evenly in half across two discs. And to my ear, it is also half-assed, half-baked and only half of it is worth listening to.

As it happens, I elected to listen to this tale of two discs largely because of the statistics kept by my music application of choice. According to Tidal, slowthai is among my ... read more

Huh. So this is how pop is supposed to sound.

Despite her "geese screaming" (as @BaddieBaphomet described it) being a bit much for me at times, there is no denying the raw beauty in Polachek's voice as it launches itself across multiple octaves, always staying one step ahead of expectations while always finding the right notes to land upon. I found myself equally as moved by her vocal harmonies (see "Hopedrunk Everasking") as I did by her voice's standalone brilliance (see ... read more

Skrillex is both probably the most polarising yet influential figure in the electronic dance scene of the last decade, due to an almost reckless willingness to push synthesised sound to places where it's not obvious that it should go. In the past, this has resulted in albums which are difficult to hold up on their own merit, as while some of his experimentation pays off, some of it also misses the mark.

However, with each aggressive stride into uncharted territory, its clear that Skrillex had ... read more

A very worthwhile way to spend the evening.

I didn't know who Danger Mouse was to start this particular listening session, but I damn well know about him now. What was stunning about this album is that even during songs I thought were misses, the sheer brilliance and creativity of the production was undeniable.

Take "Cheat Codes" for example; I couldn't really get around the track on account of the repetitive notes being played on every beat in the background. It made my head hurt ... read more

To be fair, if Charli XCX wasn't going to do it for me, this wasn't either. Hard to wrap my brain around how hyperpop seems to demand more respect than plain pop does. That being said, Rebecca can seriously sing and has managed to mesh her voice well with some quality edm production on some of these songs.

With delightfully inventive lyrics, "This Is Why" covers all the material you'd expect in an observational stand-up comedy gig, in the space of thirty-six minutes. It turns out that the antidote for the absurdity of 2023 was to make some songs about it. It's not perfect - some tracks border but fail to breach the standard of listening pleasure required to warrant their addition to consistent rotation - but most of them certainly do.

This album is relatable, enjoyable and, I think, ... read more

I'll make this quick -

"hugo" was an very enjoyable listen and I'm glad I followed up on Carner after "Hate" found its way into my playlist. He's a skilled rapper who thrives off the exceptional piano pieces weaved throughout the boom-bap and jazz inspired production of this album, which often overlap each other on the same songs. Carner's lyrics are simple but effective, expressing a story of emotion, intergenerational fatherhood, crime and the experience of having no ... read more

In 2020, Machine Gun Kelly (aka MGK) turned many heads in the music industry after undergoing a fairly severe change in musical identity. With the release of "Tickets to My Downfall," the man who had listed Eminem, DMX and Ludacris as his primary influences took a bold step into the world of pop-punk, permanently altering the trajectory of his career and the public's perception of him as an artist. It was a lesson to the world that hip hop artists often had more to their musical ... read more

I admire what 1300 does as a group of artists - I'm fully in favour of language blend rap, when it's done well.

It's hard to shake the feeling that they're still very much in a learning stage in exactly how they're going to do that however, based on this first album. They've made enough noise in the Australian music scene to indicate their potential, but for now, there's more being indicated for the future than there is laid out on the table in the present. Consistency will be key going ... read more

What does a Flume album inspired by native birds sound like? Let's find out.

I have to be honest, I don't think this album started off very well. If you're a fan of 2014-16 Chainsmokers, then "Highest Building" is for you, but if you're like me, you'll find this to be extraordinarily simplistic. No amount of percussion manipulation from Flume was going to change that, and I certainly think this was a stumble out of the gates.

Had Flume started with "Say Nothing", he might ... read more

Poor Denzel Curry - it was meant to be his year, but he happened to choose the same three months in which the king returned to hip hop from his long absence. Sadly, his album is now just one more to be swallowed up by what is guaranteed to be the hip hop album of the year, and likely the album of the year as well in the eyes of many.

To say that Kendrick makes up for lost time in this is an understatement.

While the album is not as complete as some of his previous works, with missed shots ... read more

Alison Wonderland has always been an oddity to me. She's someone whose polish clearly ranks her among the top Australian EDM producers, yet at the same time, she reliably uses that polish to clean up the edges of what are for the most part banal and simplistic creations. This album is no exception.

"Forever" and "Safe Life" are so safe in fact that they don't quite do enough to warrant listening to on a regular basis. There's just not enough variety here - not in the ... read more

Following his last album, I realised that Jack Harlow has all of the elements required for members of music review sites not to like him. With well produced yet generic beats designed to woo the general public, and lyrics that are equal parts arrogant, sexual and simplistic, the man presents as a white, and worse, version of Drake. And we all know how much AOTY loves Drake.

Fair enough, too.

"Talk of the Town" is boring ego inflation music masquerading as thoughtful and reflective. ... read more

Following in the footsteps of Carnage, with "MIDNIGHT", Whethan takes his place as the latest instalment in a micro-trend of edm producers who are trying their hand at rage and trap beats. The results are, well, mixed to say the least. That would be the most charitable way of putting it.

In terms of beat production, Whethan is actually quite good, but unfortunately for him, in order to enter the aforementioned genres, you also need to work with trap, rage, and mumble rap artists. ... read more

Not bad at all. "History" is a fun walk through a number of disconnected yet nonetheless uplifting synth-pop songs, which are perfectly acceptable to listen to during chilled out moods. The album is remarkably consistent and there are no real moments in which we see the quality drop by any significant amount.

With that said - this won't be winning any awards. There's a certain simplicity that is present in all of the tracks, and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing in general, ... read more

Yeah I have to be honest, I thought I was impressed by this at first listen, as I'd come to believe that King Push would have moved past his prime, and only expected an average album. But now, comparing my assessment to other reviews, it appears I was disappointed in comparison.

Pusha T has been one of my favourite artists for a while, and he will go down a legend, both in my books and those of the hip hop genre. But I guess his style has finally begun to wear on me, and perhaps this is a ... read more

It should be noted that the Deluxe type is a better version of this album, as it adds "All Me", and "The Motion." That is the version that my rating refers to.

This is by far and away the best album Drake has ever put out, and the only album where his tendency to pump out sixteen or more songs per album has not held him back from producing quality work. Are we going to get blown away by Drake's lyrics, which he probably didn't write? No, of course not. But that doesn't ... read more

When DAMN. first came out, it immediately presented itself as a warning sign to me that just perhaps, the work of Kendrick Lamar was starting to get swept up in a hype bandwagon, and that even an artist as prolific as him was capable of putting out a vastly overrated piece of work.

DAMN. is, of course, a very good album. I don't think anyone could really deny that much. But did it deserve all the critical acclaim it received? I'm not so sure. To reach a more accurate perspective, one has to ... read more

I wrote a several thousand word piece, over several months, explaining in detail why I thought that this album was the greatest album I had listened to to date. Sadly, it failed to post, and in an instant my work was gone.

I don't think I've got it in me to write it again, or write another one, so I'll just leave it with this: Kanye West was one of the greatest creative minds of a generation, and this was his greatest masterpiece. Rarely have we seen such a prolific combination of production, ... read more

Who would have predicted that in 2022, if ever, we'd be getting a 17 song album from one of the most influential house music supergroups of all time? Certainly not me. More surprising though, is that rather than being left behind in 2012, Swedish House Mafia have been able to adapt their music to modern tastes, without ever losing their unique feel or flavour. Rather than dragging edm backwards to a time of glory days past, it seems like the acclaimed trio have called upon their vast experience ... read more