This was the album showdown I've been waiting for: Benny vs Conway, Tana Talk vs God Don't Make Mistakes. Finally an opportunity to see in 2022 which artist has got the gangsta rap game in the tighter stranglehold.

It almost feels like Benny's cheating when he kicks off this album with Johnny P's Caddy, simply because it is such a phenomenal single - probably the best hip hop single of the year so far - and if he just stopped there he'd still have my support. One might also wonder whether it ... read more

Absolute, utter, MADNESS.

That's the first thing that comes to mind in "John L", and when you look at the album cover, it's not unreasonable to assume that this is what the album is going to be about. It is, but "Marlene Dietrich" demonstrates it's also about much more than that, and make no mistake, this album has captured your affect and you are going for a ride.

I should add at this point that while the atmosphere of Marlene Dietrich certainly eases the nerves, the ... read more

There is no question in my mind that, at this stage of the year, Bonobo's "Fragments" should be at the top of all leaderboards for electronic music album of 2022.

This might not even be Bonobo's best work, but it doesn't need to be either, because even an album full of middle-of-the-pack songs by his standards is still a better album than most electronic producers. Of course, I have no doubt that the average music listener need an abundance of songwriting and lyrics to be satisfied ... read more

I don't want to be too hard on Dave here, but imagine this represents a step back from "Hoffa" overall. There's not much that's awful in this album per se, but there's also not much included to really capture a listener.

Dave is starting to burn out in trying to find new stuff to talk about that we haven't heard for his entire career, and when he does find something new, it hasn't exactly produced spectacular results. "After Taxes" is probably the best example of this, in ... read more

It's been a long time since 2016, a year in which I had "Westside Bound 3" on repeat, persevering through multiple playlist culls and ultimately reappearing several times in the years leading up to now. For some reason, while recognising Saba as an artist I enjoyed, at no point did I think to go back and listen to the album from which it originated - until now. And I'm happy to say, I'm very glad that I've done so.

Coming off listening to Saba's "Few Good Things" recently, ... read more

After my algorithm put me onto "Chaeri" late last year, I found it to be a great shame that it took me until today to realise that Magdalena Bay had in fact released an album at the same time which has now been out for a full five months. Better late than never.

While my music taste generally doesn't lean in the direction of pop of any kind, I found it difficult not to enjoy this album. MB is truly a dynamic duo, seamlessly integrating Mica's pop-perfect vocals over the top of ... read more

Obviously this shouldn't be competing for AOTY, as it's already been released offline in the form of what was, in my humble opinion, the hip hop album of 2021. Peggy's layers of production are phenomenal and now that the mastered version is on Tidal, I can say it's been a privilege to listen to. I can't think of a rapper/producer this talented and creative since Kanye West in his early years.

"HAZARD DUTY PAY" is a masterpiece, while "DIKEMBE!" and "UNTITLED" are ... read more

Twelve songs which range from slightly above average to totally unlistenable. There were at most three songs in this venture that was worth listening to a second time. DaBaby has stalled as far as his creativity is concerned and we haven't really heard anything new out of him now in a little while, while Youngboy NBA remains an intriguing and unique artist with an unpredictable autotuned voice that is as likely to sync well with a beat as it is to totally ruin a chorus. The production was ... read more

With a disappointingly but ultimately unsurprisingly dull album, Diplo continues the longstanding EDM artist tradition of creating excellent singles before packing them into bland albums. I am actually an EDM fan generally, and somewhat of a Diplo fan too, but there really is no way someone can fall back on a four chord piano mixture this much and expect to receive a positive review.

It's only fair to acknowledge what Diplo has done right. Teaming up with Miguel on "Don't Forget My ... read more

When I began listening to this album, my first thoughts were, "My god, I cannot wait for Denzel to blow this to smithereens later this year." After seeing HipHop DX and exclaim describe Conway as one of the "best lyricists" and the album as smartly written, I almost stopped listening to the album after "Lock Load" and "Tear Gas" proved to offer not much more lyrical genius than one can expect from any run-of-the-mill hardcore hip hop artist these days. ... read more

There should be no debate that "MAN PLAYS THE HORN" is so far the most artistically ambitious hip hop album of the year. What Earl Sweatshirt did with ten songs, Cities Aviv has tried to do with twenty-six. There's just one problem - he hasn't pulled it off.

Don't get me wrong, I am an enormous fan of this album and it was an incredible introduction for me to Cities Aviv as an artist (I have yet to listen to his other productions). His production is unlike anything I have heard in ... read more

We've yet to breach March, and as such it's a bit early to be making any predictions for AOTY of any genre. With all that said, Saba's "Few Good Things" has come out of the gates strong and ought to be considered the hip hop album of the year contender to beat.

While it's true that Saba fails to cover any real artistic ground with this album, instead choosing to tread the well worn path of expressing the lived rags to riches experience like countless hip hop artists before him, it ... read more

In this excellent debut album, Lamorn displays far more polish than might be expected of someone of his age and experience. While operating in a down year for EDM (2021), he has produced an EDM album of the year contender in just 8 songs, and a timeless individual piece of work in "Encore" that will likely persist long beyond this album's release. "Missing Voices", "Physical Layer", "Between Us" and "Lonely Light" are similarly well made, ... read more

Rezz will always hold a place in my heart as the mother of midtempo bass house, one of my most beloved subgenres of electronic dance music over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, this album suffers from the same issue that the genre as a whole seem to be having: a dying struggle to take its music anywhere new. Rezz certainly has a valiant shot at it, with the addition of better vocals overall, the inclusion of beautiful higher pitched tones in tracks such as Paper Walls, Vortex and the ... read more

After an excellent beginning, Fred's second album of 2021 starts to lose steam in its second half. With that said, the album as a whole remains a worthwhile listen and a window into the emotional life of its artist. It speaks volumes to his talent that an album of this quality and length could be developed in under 10 months, off the back of his relatively successful debut, the first "Actual Life."

In a year where electronic dance music offers us very few candidates for album of the ... read more