Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus
Genre: R&B
Review
Kali Uchis is back with what is easily her most straightforward album yet! Both Isolation and Sin Miedo were rooted in R&B, but they toyed with electronica, pop, reggaeton, soul, vocal jazz, hip-hop, and so much more. Red Moon in Venus is completely an R&B album. All 15 songs have classic R&B grooves with Kali sounding as angelic as ever on them. The sound of something like “Moral Conscious” is weighty and timeless, whereas “Moonlight” feels like it could turn into another hit for her, especially with that chorus. She’s clearly very in love right now, as she and R&B singer Don Toliver have been dating the past couple years. All of the lyrics are about different facets of love, but it’s still easily enjoyable to people that are not in romantic relationships. She herself even said in an interview clip recently that she makes music for people who feel unloved, so there is still this heavy presence of self-love throughout this album as well. Her tour sold out instantly and hopefully if this album does well, it could give her her first arena tour soon! Red Moon In Venus keeps Kali among some of the best R&B singers currently.
Favorite Songs: “Moral Conscious”, “All Mine”, “Blue”
If You Like: Tyler, the Creator; Steve Lacy; sensual R&B
Don Toliver - Love Sick
Genre: Trap; R&B
Review
Speaking of Kali Uchis, her partner, Don Toliver, dropped an album the week before that is yet another enjoyable mixed bag for him. There are plenty of highlights, don’t get me wrong. “Honeymoon”, produced by Kaytranada, has this weirdly-danceable, psychedelic production and Don somehow makes it work. James Blake showing up on an album is always a welcome sight as well, and he shows up for a beautiful verse on “Let Her Go”! Even Justin Bieber somehow fits in with Don and Future on the song “Private Landing”. The collaboration with Charlie Wilson is also absolutely beautiful! There are plenty of songs that end up having catchy choruses over some psychedelic-trap production, but there are also just as many that feel fairly middling. I do appreciate how he is trying some different production and genre styles on this project, even though all of them don’t hit. Hopefully he continues to push the boundaries even more with his releases, because he still has the potential to make something amazing. Maybe a full album of him over the Kali Uchis style of production would sound good, I don’t know. Even though this has some really good highlights, I just want him to try something different so he could possibly be great.
Favorite Songs: “Honeymoon”, “4 Me” (Feat. Kali Uchis), “Let Her Go” (Feat. James Blake)
If You Like: Travis Scott; auto tuned-singing over mainly trap beats
So!YoON! - Episode 1: Love
Genre: Alt-pop; k-pop; indie
Review
So!YoON! is the frontwoman of Se So Neon, who I had the fortune of seeing on campus last year. The show was easily the best show I’ve seen put on by our club on campus, and by the end of the 90-minute set, I was convinced she was going to make it big one day. This is a solo album from her, and the first since that show, but it’s another step forward towards stardom! The most obvious reason is having BTS member RM on here for the track “Smoke Sprite,” which is a fantastic indie-rock track based around an infectious guitar loop. She tries a bunch of different styles for this project, and succeeds in all of them! “Bad” is an R&B cut that would fit a Kali Uchis project, whereas “Gave You All My Love” feels like a chill, electronic, jazz-influenced pop cut, especially with the watery keys and breakneck drums. There are plenty of transitional moments too, whether they are the transcendent introduction or the few skits on the project. These transitional moments help the album feel like an album, especially with how different each individual song sounds. I do hope there is a Se So Neon project coming at some point because their rock sound is really great, but she proves here that she can make whatever type of music she wants!
Favorite Songs: “Smoke Sprite” (Feat. RM), “Bad”, “Gave You All My Love” (Feat. Jibin)
If You Like: All over the place pop music; pop music that takes risks
Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Genre: Experimental rock; art-rock
Review
This is what I mean when rock music has to be pushed forward. Yves Tumor has always been pushing the envelope, but this album is a culmination of everything they’ve ever done. A song like “Meteora Blues” has a chorus and guitar line that are fairly accessible, but the opening track starts out with nothing but screaming and horror sounds. Yves’s voice is extremely unique, even when they’re doing their best Prince impression on a track like “Operator”. “Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood” has another incredible chorus and drum performance, but it’s the guitar and Yves themself that steal the show yet again. They balance that line between experimental and accessible very well. The only thing that is missing from this project is a mind-blowing moment like on their previous album with songs like “Kerosene” and “Gospel For A New Century”. Artists like Yves Tumor are what makes me excited for the future of rock music.
Favorite Songs: “Meteora Blues”, “Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood”, “Ebony Eye”
If You Like: The future of rock music; weirdness
Algiers - Shook
Genre: Alternative; experimental
Review
This album has some incredible highs! “Everybody Shatter” with Big Rube opens up the album with a modern 80s funk sounding track. It’s heavily reminiscent of Prince’s social-commentary masterpiece “Sign O’ The Times”. The album then transitions to this experimental rock-rap fusion masterpiece with Rage Against The Machine front man, Zack De La Rocha. Zach delivers an incredible verse, but also the vocals and production from Algiers themselves is also mind-melting! “Momentary” with Lee Bains ends the album on a soulful note that almost has a D’angelo Black Messiah feel. Heck, they even have a song with underground heavyweights billy woods and Backxwash on here! But for as many great tracks that are on here, there are just as many that haven’t clicked with me yet. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, they’re not, but they feel so experimental and underwritten that they fade into the background. Maybe those songs will grow on me with time because the best tracks on here are easily some of the best I’ve heard all year!
Favorite Songs: “Everybody Shatter” (Feat. Big Rube), “Irreversible Damage” (Feat. Zach De La Rocha), “Green Iris”
If You Like: Rage Against The Machine; Iceage; weird music
Slowthai - Ugly
Genre: Post-punk; experimental rock; hip-hop
Review
Slowthai has always had a punk energy to his music, but this is the first time he has fully leaned into that sound for an entire project. Honestly, it’s resulted in my favorite full project from Slowthai yet! “Feel Good” sounds like it could become a legitimate alternative hit. “Yum” is easily one of the best album openers of the year too, especially with the crazed production. There’s no accurate set of words for how wild the production on that track is! The introspection on a song like “Never Again” is also something that is admirable and beautiful. The lyrics on this album are heartbreakingly honest. The first three songs are all about doing drugs and being depressed. “Fuck It Puppet” is a 75-second interlude where he has an argument with that-voice-in-your-head-everyone-has and it explicitly tells him to kill himself and do coke. The track is then followed up by “Happy”, which has the hook of, “I would do anything for a smile”. It’s a dark album, don’t delve into this project if you want to only see the good parts of life. Ugly looks at both the negative and positive parts of his life at heartbreaking honesty. This album is the process of someone trying their absolute best to fight the demons in their head, and hopefully he is doing better now than when he made this album.
Favorite Songs: “Feel Good”, “Yum”, “Ugly”
If You Like: Jockstrap; Nirvana
Momentary Warmth - Momentary Warmth
Genre: Indie rock; DIY
Review
Momentary Warmth comes from one of my favorite Youtube channels, Valspire Family. He’s a guy that travels around, lives nomadically, and makes these beautiful films that go with it. They include everything from traveling across the country with someone he’s never met, to throwing an impromptu birthday party in a bouncy house in Texas with a bunch of strangers. This time, he rented a cabin in North Carolina with Postcard Nowhere and a few other creatives for a month and they created this album. Of course, it feels super DIY and amateurish, which is understandable considering he just started playing guitar a few months ago, but it does accomplish his goal, which was for it to have the same feeling of the music he uses in his videos. Whether it’s Caamp or KennyHoopla, the music in his videos is always this anthemic, often melodramatic indie music that sounds like memories being formed. Momentary Warmth feels like those memories being formed, and hopefully he can continue to improve technically from here.
Favorite Songs: “Outside”, “Okay”, “Maybe Tomorrow”
If You Like: Caamp; melodramatic indie music; have the constant urge to run away from society
Xiu Xiu - Ignore Grief
Genre: Experimental; industrial; modern classical
Review
Don’t listen to this album in the dark. Or actually, maybe it was made to only be played in the dark. Xiu Xiu’s Ignore Grief might be one of the most haunting albums I’ve ever heard! The soundscapes they are able to create are awe-inspiring, but also extremely unnerving. Take “Pahrump” for example. The second half of the song is nothing but these droned out chords and synth melody that would fit in perfectly with the newest horror movie. “Dracula Parrot, Moon Moth” has this menacing arrangement of sounds that include everything from saxophones to bells, and vocals that would make conservative Christian immediately call it the devil’s music. Speaking of the vocals, they are often so buried in the mix that it’s impossible to understand, but I think that’s intentional. The album does end up becoming background music for me towards the back half, probably because this is so unlike anything else out there. I highly recommend checking out, even just a song for how unique it is, but I doubt I’ll be listening to this a lot in the future.
Favorite Songs: “Dracula Parrot, Moon Moth”, “Pahrump”, “Maybae Baeby”
If You Like: Horror movies; being scared
Daisy Jones & The Six - Aurora
Genre: Indie rock; 70s rock
Review
Daisy Jones & The Six doesn’t exist. They were a fictional band made up by Taylor Jenkins Reid and her book included a full detailed description of this so-called 70s rock masterpiece called Aurora by this fictional band. It was heavily based on Fleetwood Mac, and now that there is an Amazon TV show based on the book, they decided to make the album in real life! Aurora is made to sound like a 70s rock album, and it does its job fairly well! Sure, not every song on here is a hit, but a track like “Let Me Down Easy” feels like it was pulled straight from a “Number One Songs of the 70s” playlist. It also helps that they had Blake Mills producing the entire thing and were able to get some writing credits from Marcus Mumford and Phoebe Bridgers. It’s clearly trying to emulate an old style of music, but it does it better than many popular bands unironically copying 70s rock. If you want to hear people in 2023 making an album that sounds straight out of the 1970s, this is here for you!
Favorite Songs: “Let Me Down Easy”, “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)”, “Regret Me”
If You Like: Fleetwood Mac; 70s rock
Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation
Genre: Pop
Review
I was really curious to see what Miley would do after her rock-infused Plastic Hearts and incredible Lollapalooza performance in 2021, but while Endless Summer Vacation has plenty of enjoyable moments, it’s extremely safe. For someone who has always been one of pop’s most eccentric stars, the music here is incredibly safe. “Flowers” has ruled the charts for the first couple months of 2023, and it’s still an easily enjoyable tune, even for how safe it is. “River” and “Violent Chemistry” both feel like they could be hits next, and the latter of which has credits from James Blake and Mike Will Made-It. Even with those people on the track, there still isn’t anything innovative, or even somewhat unique about it. This album feels like it was made for her to become even more popular than she already is and not because she actually wanted to. Maybe that’s just me projecting expectations onto her, but her voice is too great to be wasted on this extremely stale pop music her whole career. Even though the album is enjoyable, it would be a shame if her whole career is making albums like this.
Favorite Songs: “Flowers”, “River”, “Violent Chemistry”
If You Like: Pop music; different versions of the same pop song that’s been popular the past decade
Mach-Hommy & Tha God Fahim - Notorious Dump Legends Vol. 2
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
Since Mach’s two solo albums in 2021, he’s been putting out collab efforts with Tha God Fahim. This album is actually their third project together in the last 6-7 months. Notorious Dump Legends Volume 2 is one amazing rapper and one really good one doing their thing over some lighthearted beats. Mach’s rapping is still almost mind blowing at points. Just the way he is able to float overtop of these instruments is incredible, let alone the lyrics and language switching he does on a track like, “Cold Milk”. Tha God Fahim is still a really good rapper, but when you put him up next to Mach-Hommy for an entire project, he comes off a bit plain. I know this comes across as a diss, but it’s really not. Mach is just that insane when it comes to rhyming. Hopefully we do get a full Mach-Hommy solo album by the end of the year, but this collab album is good enough for now.
Favorite Songs: “Olajuwon”, “Cold Milk”, “Bad Hands”
If You Like: Underground hip hop
Conway The Machine & Jae Skeese - Pain Provided Profit
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
This is the beginning of a Drumwork takeover this month. Jae Skeese is finally releasing his official debut album on the label on the 24th, there is a label album, 7xvethegenius’s debut album, and multiple Conway albums coming in the next couple months. This 7-track collaboration project has way more chemistry than I ever expected! There are some tracks, like on “Le Chop”, where they go back and forth for multiple verses. Compared to Notorious Dump Gods: Volume 2, this project feels much more like a collective effort. There isn’t a large gap between the two rappers here, although that likely comes from Conway slightly underperforming and Jae Skeese slightly overperforming. I would even argue that Jae outrapped Conway on a song like “Stephon Diggs 2”, especially if you only compare the two verses. This isn’t anywhere to start with either of these two artists, but it’s a pleasant release nonetheless.
Favorite Songs: “Cocaine Paste”, “Metallic 5’s”, “Immaculate Reception
If You Like: Griselda; old-school hip-hop
Navy Blue - Ways of Knowing
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
Ways of Knowing is Navy Blue’s first publicly available new album in two years, which is a bit longer than expected, but he knocks it out of the park yet again! His ability to write emotionally and poetically, but still have it fit over a soulful hip-hop beat is unique. He’ll have a set of lines like this, “Dealing with a death, I been a pallbearer. All the worry that my palms bear. I'm turning sorrow into self-care. I hope tomorrow bring me calm, I say a long prayer. I put my all in tryna pick apart these flaws that I wear” that are dripping heavily with emotion in a way that no other rapper would say. While mental health is becoming much more talked about, nobody tackles depression and grief quite like Navy Blue. This makes the song “Pillars” a beautiful, but kind of hard to listen to track where he talks about losing his grandfather (who is pictured on the cover). One thing about this album is that instead of self-producing like he usually does, a producer called Budgie did every beat on here, and he killed it! Ways of Knowing is another emotional collection of songs that will leave an impact for a while.
Favorite Songs: “Phases”, “Life’s Trip” (Feat. Zeroh), “The Medium”
If You Like: Poetic hip-hop; poems in general
Rome Streetz & Big Ghost Ltd - Wasn’t Built In A Day
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
Rome Streetz has been a force in the underground for the past few years, and he’s back again with his first project of 2023. This time, it’s produced by anonymous polymath Big Ghost Ltd. Besides Lukey Cage giving a minute-and-a-half speech about how he hates Ken and Ryu from the Street Fighter games, this is another quality rap project that goes as great as any fan would expect. Method Man absolutely kills his feature and makes me wonder why he hasn’t done a solo album in a while. Maybe he could have a Nas-like comeback soon. Besides that, Rome and Conway both absolutely kill it on the song “Suicide”, and it might be the catchiest song on this album. Big Ghost’s production always hits hard, and he brought out some absolutely maniacal beats for Rome Streetz. I’m still not sure if this album is going to stay in rotation for the long haul, but it’s another quality hip hop project from Rome Streetz.
Favorite Songs: “Suicide” (Feat. Conway the Machine & Lukey Cage), “Pz n Qz” (Feat. Method Man), “Majisty”
If You Like: Griselda; old school hip-hop
Logic - College Park
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
College Park is yet another dose of the same Logic but in a slightly different wrapping. It’s another skit-heavy, slightly-conceptual hip hop project about how he has a lot of money and success now, but won’t ever let it change him. This time, the concept is a throwback to when him and his friends were on the come up in Maryland in 2011. While the skits are always endearing, they are not always entertaining. Logic’s flow and lyrics are fairly entertaining, for the most part. It still feels like a diehard hip-hop fan got the opportunity to make an album, especially with all the references. The biggest example I can think of is on “Village Slum”, which samples the same track as the Madlib epic “Road Of The Lonely Ones” and whose title is clearly a reference to Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village. It’s not even that this was bad, it’s an objectively good album, but there is nothing special about this project that would make me want to revisit it.
Favorite Songs: “Village Slum”, “Gaithersburg Freestyle” (Feat. C Dot Castro, Big Lenbo, Fat Trel & ADE), “Shimmy” (Feat. Joey Bada$$)
If You Like: Logic’s previous work; lots of entertaining rap references
Rosalia & Rauw Alejandro - RR
Genre: Reggaeton; experimental-pop
Review
This is a collaboration EP from the power couple of Rosalia and Rauw Alejandro. It's only three songs, so it's a bit scant, but anything Rosalia related is worth at least one listen. Their chemistry comes across in the music, especially with how their voices work together. Rosalia's weirdness helps these songs be memorable, especially when you get to a track like, "Vampiros". The haunting synth-line helps drive the track, especially with Rauw taking the lead vocally here. The breakdown towards the end of the track is definitely the highlight! I would definitely be curious on hearing them do more, but this project is definitely about more than just the music. It was also a way for them to announce their engagement. Rosalia especially has been in the news a lot recently, no matter if it's the Coca-Cola collaboration or the myriad of festivals she's doing this summer, and this EP is a way to make their engagement stand out among the rest of the news. I would be curious to see if they do more music together throughout the years, and I'm wishing them all the best!
Favorite Songs: "Vampiros" & "Beso"
If You Like: Reggaeton; either of their solo work
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