I once saw that FMB&SW was the sunset to Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee, and I couldn’t agree more. It seems that the band is getting older, touching on themes of slowing down, with beautiful guitar backing for a majority of the project. I often had a hard time understanding a large portion of Michelle’s lyrics, but I accepted my weakness as a reviewer and viewed them poetically. This entire album sounded exponentially better live, especially the male vocals that I did not ... read more

I was debating even taking the time to relisten and share my rating/review after the first listen because I did not enjoy the majority of this album. After some time, some of the songs have grown on me, and overall, it is not as bad as I first thought. I frequently grew tired of PND’s vocals as they never meshed with the songs as well as I would have wanted. I can appreciate the few songs that made it into my rotation, especially NOKIA and DIE TRYING, but some songs should have been left ... read more

I think it gets to a point with this band where you have to realize how bad the vocals have gotten. This was excruciating to listen through, but weirdly enough, the best parts of this album were the two beautiful interludes. The album finished strong with “So Long,” but it does not make up for the horrible performance leading up to the album’s conclusion. The messages in this project seem to revolve around the difficulties of meeting industry expectations, but surely we could ... read more

I’ve been following Saint Motel for a few years now, and my expectations for this album were simple: a handful of enjoyable songs with little lyrical substance. My expectations were a little too low, to say the least. This album was full of super fun songs, but they also had some lyrical substance that I was not expecting. The production is especially good on this one, and some of the songs had sounds I had never heard before (looking at you Low Earth Orbit). Overall, this album is saving ... read more

After my Discover Weekly on Spotify recommended “Your House” to me, I decided I wanted to check out Inhaler. This album is the definition of “had me in the first half, not gonna lie.” The first five songs of this album are fun, not amazing, but fun. After “Even Though,” it seems like the album fell off a cliff in terms of production quality and overall vibe. I have seen some reviews mention this is their best work yet, but I sure hope not. I’ll keep the ... read more

When The Weeknd released Timeless and São Paulo, I did not expect much from this album. Hurry Up Tomorrow is clearly a message from the artist that he may be hanging up the cleats soon, a message I did not get from the early singles. I really enjoyed the vulnerability of this project because for some reason The Weeknd seemed like a villain, which he referenced as people making him out to be one. I wonder how much the industry hurt him, and what happened behind the scenes to make him want ... read more

Flipturn’s direction on this album started with songwriting in the mountains, and then it shifted to a very production-focused strategy according to the band. The idea of being on the road for so long and burning out is applicable to just about anything, and I believed the band captured it well by describing being okay with struggling relationships and tough expectations. I think that this is Flipturn’s best production yet, but a small detail I would have liked more of is layered ... read more

I am not typically someone who likes to dance, go to clubs, or listen to dance/electronic music, but I may have a new perspective now. While I doubt I will start dancing more, EUSEXUA is a beautifully produced work of art. The idea of feeling comfortable with expressing yourself when it comes to music and dancing is well pictured by FKA twigs here. Considering how well constructed this album is, this could go down as one of the greatest dance/electronic albums of all time.

Posthumous albums are often received poorly since they are poorly constructed or finalized. This is not the case for Balloonerism. The theme of drugs and fame is common in Mac’s work, but it felt very personal in this one. His questions regarding the afterlife in this album fascinate me. 5 Dollar Pony Rides, Funny Papers, and Rick’s Piano will be on repeat for me.

This was my first COIN project that I sat down to listen to, and it was solid. Many of these songs started great but failed to hit at potentially grandiose moments. Just about every song is enjoyable, but I could have used better production and instrumentation. 222 and Strawberry Jam were exceptions to these points.

SHINBANGUMI is Ginger Root’s 5th studio album, and it brought everything you could expect. Lew will always bring the vibes, but this project was not as dynamic as I had wished for. While the instrumentation and production were great, I would have appreciated the lyrics to be more clear. Regardless, this album has songs I will be playing all the time.

This was a solid sophomore album from Keshi. The production is a step up in terms of instrumentation and clarity. While the lyricism did not improve much from his first project, Gabriel, Keshi provides more vibey songs than his first album. Overall, this was fun and worth the listen.

This is the first release from the newly formed band Degenerate Breakfast! This raw single brings vibes similar to The Strokes, Weezer, and Vacations while having a spark of its own.

This project came after allegations of sexual assault were dropped against Alex, and the emotions were felt. He laid out his feelings about everything here and provided us with a beautiful setlist of songs. Seeing this performed live made it so much more personal, and I hope to get the chance to see Alex perform again.

This is album of the year! What a great surprise album of Tyler's. Mr. Morale in a way, really dives deep into Tyler getting older. Best album of his? Grammy's incoming.

I've been following DCR for a few years now, and I feel that this project will be the one that breaks them out. This album is a very vibey guitar-driven indie rock collection. While most songs sound a little copy-paste, they are always a vibe. Hopefully, this project will put DCR on everyone's radar.

This is my first listen of MB, and this project is full of such fun production. There isn't a single miss on this album, which is so amazing for a first listen to an artist. This will probably project MB's popularity, similar to Chappell Roan, or maybe like Charli XCX's comeback. I expect this album to end up all over TikTok, unfortunately, but it should end as one of the hits of 2024.

Words can't explain how beautiful this album is. Ethan Gruska's help with this one really shines as it does in Phoebe's Punisher. Shout out to HTHAZE for putting me on to Ryan. The poetry in his lyrics, the perfect harmonies, and the occasional snare hit just make this project near perfect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Ever since the singles started to release, I became very excited. It did not disappoint, and California is one of my favorites that was not pre-released. As my first listen of Bea, I was pleased!

This album started off very strong with four back to back great songs. It kinda fell off to be more mid after this, with a few good songs sprinkled in. The last song was a beautiful ending to the album and rounded it off well. Solid album, but I expected more after hearing the beginning.