James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven
Genre: Electronic; dance; R&B
Review
Just when it felt like James was getting too sonically comfortable, he changes yet again with this new album! Instead of an R&B-driven album, Robots is made for the club atmosphere! This is a sound he used to make when he first came to prominence, but he had abandoned it in favor of the more traditional songwriting. And yes, I don’t think I enjoy this album all the way through as much as his previous couple albums, but the highlights here are still amazing! “Tell Me” has an incredible melody while combining industrial and traditional electronic sounds to create this club-ready banger. The lead single, “Big Hammer”, has this frantic feeling while still providing quality sound design. The back half of the album does get a bit too slow at points, but that’s ok. I don’t know if this was James’s intention, but this entire album fits the feeling of a night time drive perfectly! Everything here is spacey, dark, and full of melodies that come alive at night.
Favorite Tracks: “Tell Me”, “Big Hammer”, “If You Can Hear Me”
If You Like: James Blake from 2010, melancholic dance music
Olivia Rodrigo - Guts
Genre: Pop; pop-punk
Review
I’m sorry, this rules. Yes, the lyrics are still fairly childish most of the time, but that’s to be expected from a 20-year old. Sure, the overdramatizing of relationships she and many other pop acts do is far from what I usually enjoy, but everything else about this album just works. The production is a fantastic combination of upbeat pop-punk and piano ballads. “Lacy” sounds like it could have been on the new Boygenius record, whereas any number of the pop-punk tracks on here sound like a current day Avril Lavigne. Both “Bad Idea Right?” and “Get Him Back!” have this almost spoken-word style delivery during the verses that I’ve never heard her do before, but she pulls it off like a pro! It’s clearly not innovative, but everything on here is a more mature version of her debut album. I can see this album becoming one that current day teenagers will look back on as one of the most seminal projects from their youth. As for pop music and music for younger people to enjoy, this is some of the best in a long time.
Favorite Tracks: “Bad Idea Right?”, “Lacy”, “Logical”
If You Like: Avril Lavigne; Disney channel; breakups
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan
Genre: Country; country rock; folk rock
Review
Country’s newest songwriting extraordinaire is back again with his first album after becoming otherworldly popular. He has done this all while being blacklisted from most country radio stations for going against the Nashville country music machine. Zach didn’t like being associated with that style of shiny, commercialized pop-country, and this album strays far away from that sound. Zach Bryan sounds more like a classic country project than most of what is popular in the genre right now. The focus of this project is clearly the songwriting, which deals heavily in heartbreak, his own faults, and coming to terms with his place in the establishments he’s not a fan of. As for my personal opinion on the music, this is a fantastic overall project! The second half is easily better than the first, especially with tracks like “I Remember Everything” and “Tradesman”. Zach’s producing work does fall flat on a couple of the more bombastic tracks, “East Side of Sorrow” especially. But when the album clicks, it’s some of Zach’s best work, and some of the best country music I’ve heard in the past couple years.
Favorite Tracks: “I Remember Everything” (Feat. Kacey Musgraves), “Tradesman”, “El Dorado”
If You Like: Jason Isbell, classic country music
Zach Bryan - Boys of Faith
Genre: Country; folk rock; indie
Review
Yup, before the actual album review came out, Zach surprised dropped another 5-song EP. First of all, I really appreciate this method of releasing music. He seems like he just loves writing songs and wants to get them out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. So while it might not make for an incredible album every time, I can respect how he wants his fans to have as much music as possible. As for the EP itself, it’s another 5 songs of his timeless country tracks. This time though, there are features from Noah Kahan and Bon Iver. I’m sure the Noah Kahan track will be played everywhere for the next 12 months, as those two artists might be the two most popular new artists the genre has seen in years. The song itself is pretty good too, but I do prefer the Bon Iver collab. It shows Zach going in a more indie direction, which I really enjoyed. “Pain, Sweet, Pain” also feels like a more country version of Mumford & Sons, so that was also a nice surprise. Boys of Faith was a nice little surprise from the new superstar after an already great album.
Favorite Tracks: “Pain, Sweet, Pain”, “Boys of Faith” (Feat. Bon Iver), “Sarah’s Place” (Feat. Noah Kahan)
If You Like: Jason Isbell; the self-titled album
Teezo Touchdown - how do you sleep at night?
Genre: Alternative
Review
Musical outlier Teezo Touchdown has gotten cosigns from people like Drake, Travis Scott, and Tyler the Creator before he ever put out an album! It’s a wide variety of musicians, but Teezo is a unique artist. Even with this debut album, it appears that he changed paths in the middle of this rollout, as two of the three singles don’t appear anywhere on this tracklist. There was also a listening party in June where the people who attended it said that 80% of the music on this album is different. Even though it’s missing my favorite single, this is still a very unique debut album that shows Teezo’s strengths and weaknesses clearly. The songs on here are rock oriented with Teezo singing a majority of the time, and that’s easily the best part of this album! Every single performance from him is full of energy and is completely unique. There is no one that sounds exactly like Teezo, vocally. On the other hand, his lyrics are fairly campy and definitely an acquired taste. Sometimes, they can feel a bit too nonsensical, even for songs that aren’t supposed to be taken seriously. But there are songs like “Neighborhood” and “Familiarity” where the lyrics are integral to enjoying the song. This is a polarizing debut project, but I think where everyone can agree is that Teezo proves himself as one of most unique characters in alternative music, and especially in anything that is hip-hop adjacent.
Favorite Tracks: “Neighborhood”, “OK”, “UUHH”
If You Like: Paris Texas; musicals; Jean Dawson
Cleo Sol - Heaven
Genre: Soul; R&B
Review
It’s been two years since Cleo Sol’s last magnum opus, Mother, but the five albums by her group SAULT from 2022 kept people fed. She’s back with a quick 30-minute project, Heaven. It’s another helping of her healing, timeless soul music! Cleo’s voice is still mind-blowingly smooth, while Inflo’s production is incredible. She also brings on Lianne La Havas to help write the track “Miss Romantic”, in which she looks at how women are in relationships with men who don’t deserve them due to their own lower self-esteem. It’s a song to empower women to get out of those relationships. This project does feel a bit short, but sure enough, Cleo announced another album coming out on September 29th called Gold! So by the time you are reading this review, there is another full length album out by her that I’m already a few listens into. Heaven is another spiritual release from one half of the best couple in music.
Favorite Tracks: “Miss Romantic”, “Old Friends”, “Go Baby”
If You Like: Timeless soul music; healing via music
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - Voir Dire
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
This goes into the category of great music, but released horribly. The rollout of new clues everyday was fantastic, but the result of it being exclusive to an NFT website for at least a month is a terrible ending. Thankfully, it is at least free to stream on the website, so everyone can listen to it. As for the album itself, it’s great, but it hasn’t blown me away so far. I’ve probably listened to it half a dozen times, and even though it’s gotten better each time, I don’t know if this lives up to the hype of an Earl Sweatshirt and Alchemist collaboration project. These are two incredible artists that have made amazing music both together and separately, so their collaboration album could have been mind-blowing, but it’s not. It’s just a bunch of great beats from The Alchemist and great verses from Earl with interludes connecting them. Both of them sound fantastic on their respective parts, but I think the otherworldly expectations that this project could have been has made it feel a bit lackluster for me right now. It was announced that the album is coming to streaming at the beginning of October with three new tracks replacing three of the tracks on here. There are also two Vince Staples songs on the streaming version, so hopefully that’ll give the album a bit more of an edge as well. Either way, I’m glad they now have a full project together.
Favorite Tracks: “Vin Skully”, “27 Braids”, “Sirius Blac”
If You Like: Either of their solo music; abstract hip-hop
Midwxst - E3
Genre: Emo-pop; hyperpop
Review
After close to 10 smaller projects, E3 is the debut album from the 20-year old, and it’s apparent from only the first track that much more effort went into this compared to his previous projects. The first song alone has him trying out new voices and the Sunday Service choir backing him! Even the next track, “pretty girls”, is a fairly standard hyperpop banger, but then it ends with a smooth saxophone solo. The album is full of little moments like that only came into the picture with a major label. Midwxst kept his vocal style the same, which makes it hard to understand the lyrics, but the melodies he chooses are always catchy. You always end up singing the chorus along with him by the end of the track, no matter if you actually know the lyrics or not. Speaking of the lyrics, apparently this is supposed to be a concept album from the perspective of a character called E3, but I haven’t figured out anything close to the concept yet, nor do I feel like you need to in order to enjoy this album. E3 is Midwxst maturing from the childhood hyperpop bops, to a more mature sounding project that both honors his roots and pushes past them.
Favorite Tracks: “Pretty girls”, “s.f.b.”, “heartache blues”
If You Like: Older hyperpop bangers; were in many relationships in high school
Laufey - Bewitched
Genre: Vocal jazz; jazz-pop
Review
Laufey is bringing jazz back for Gen-Z. Not in the wild instrumental side of jazz, but in the vocal jazz arena. Influenced by people like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, she is taking those timeless sounds and making them more accessible to the younger crowd. Not only is she doing it, but it’s becoming wildly successful. It had the biggest first day for any jazz album in Spotify’s history, defeating the latest Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett album five times over! That’s right, it beat the nearest competitor in Spotify’s history by 500%! She has been co-signed by people like Billie Eilish and Ben Folds, the latter of which said he thinks she’ll still be relevant in 20 years. As for this album itself, it’s a great launch into the mainstream! There is still room for improvement, as everything here does feel a little one-note, but she has everything needed to put out a masterpiece. Her voice is lovely, the songwriting is entertaining, and she’s still able to be herself and have a hit song at the same time. I’m not sure I’ll end up returning to the whole album often just due to my music taste, but it’s hard to argue she won’t be at the forefront of vocal jazz for Gen-Z.
Favorite Tracks: “From The Start”, “While You Were Sleeping”, “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self”
If You Like: Disney soundtracks; old school vocal jazz
Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music
Genre: Jazz-fusion; funk; soul
Review
Just another example of how the London jazz and jazz-fusion scene is thriving! In fact, they’ve gotten so popular that another group in the scene, Ezra Collective, just won the 2023 Mercury Prize for best UK album! But back to Yussef Dayes, this is his official solo debut album after being around for almost a decade. He’s put out multiple projects apart of different groups, but Black Classical Music is his debut solo album, and it’s everyone one would have hoped for! Yussef’s drumming here leaves you speechless, meanwhile he gets some other fantastic artists to help provide the melodies above them. Most of the songs are instrumentals, but the few vocal features on here make it count! For example, Chronixx fits the instrumental of “Pon di Plaza” so well it would’ve been weird if he wasn’t on it. The only complaint I have is at 74-minutes, it’s a bit long and starts to feel a bit like filler at points. Some of the ideas feel less essential than others, like this project didn’t actually have to be that long. But still, Black Classical Music is an extravagant solo debut album from one of London jazz’s most accomplished names!
Favorite Tracks: “Pon di Plaza” (Feat. Chronixx), “Rust” (Feat. Tom Misch), “Turquoise Galaxy”
If You Like: London jazz-fusion; timeless soul and funk
Mohini Dey - Mohini Dey
Genre: Jazz; thrash jazz; prog
Review
I had never heard of Mohini Dey until I saw the album cover on Bandcamp, and I knew I had to listen to it. It’s such a simple idea for a cover, but they executed it wonderfully! If I had one word to describe this album, it would be frantic. Everybody on this track is working at lightning speed, whether it’s a heavy guitar riff that should be on a metal record or any number of bass solos from Mohini herself. It’s like they’re constantly trying to one-up each other by playing more complicated parts faster than their other band members. Even the song “Emotion” is still full of manic bass playing from Mohini. The more I find out about her, the more I’m wondering why she wasn’t already getting acclaim. I mean, she literally turned down a full scholarship to Berklee for music because she was already too busy playing in bands. Even after just listening to this album, it’s clear she’s one of the most talented bass players I’ve heard in a while! This self-titled debut album from Mohini Dey is exposing her level of talent and unique take on jazz music to anyone that will listen.
Favorite Tracks: “In-N-Out”, “Introverted Soul”, “Happy To Slap It”
If You Like: Chaos; some of the craziest jazz music you’ve ever heard
38 Spesh & Conway The Machine - Speshal Machinery
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
This may be the best project Conway’s been a part of this year! While the other ones still have their highlights, this project with 38 Spesh is exactly what one would want from them. The beats are menacing and hard-hitting, and both of them sound fantastic over them! They also bring some great features on these songs, such as Benny the Butcher and Che Noir. 38 Spesh sounds great on here as well! I think having a project with Conway helped him make more memorable songs, especially compared to the solo work I’ve heard from him. Instead of just a verse and that being it, having at least two of them makes him flesh out the song a bit more, which is definitely for the benefit. And yes, this does feel more so like a 38 Spesh album with Conway on every song. In fact, I saw Conway live the night this came out, and he didn’t even mention it once. He did his verse from the title track here before it came out, but never mentioned where it was from. Conway and 38 Spesh sound at home at this project while doing what they do best.
Favorite Tracks: “Speshal Machinery”, “Goodfellas” (Feat. Benny the Butcher), “Been Through” (Feat. El Camino)
If You Like: Griselda
Nas - Magic 3
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
Well, it took less than two months this time. After releasing Magic 2 towards the end of July, Nas and Hit-Boy are back again with their sixth, and final, album together! Released on Nas’s 50th birthday, this one feels more intentional than Magic 2. It seems like this was the plan all along, and that Magic 2 was put out quickly in order to get Magic 3 out for his 50th birthday. He’s more personal here compared to his previous projects, which is definitely a positive for me. Hearing someone like Nas still wanting to be personal and tell stories about people he knows after three decades of rapping is incredible! I also have to mention the Lil Wayne feature on here. Wayne manages to chain an entire full length verse while rhyming the same sound and still have the verse thematically make sense! He really is the feature killer these past few years. Overall though, even though this is another great project from them, I’m glad they are calling it here. Six albums in three years together could leave anyone feeling fatigued with similar music. And who knows, maybe they’ll come back after a decade and make another album together.
Favorite Tracks: “Based On True Events, Pt. 2”, “Never Die” (Feat. Lil Wayne), “No Tears”
If You Like: The previous albums; hip-hop in general
Tinashe - BB/ANG3L
Genre: Pop; R&B
Review
Tinashe is someone I’ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never actually heard a full project from her. So when BB/ANG3L was announced and it was only 7 songs, I knew I had to give it a chance. While nothing on here was bad, the quality of songs still varied quite a bit. Some are forgettable, but others are among some of the catchiest pop tracks of the year! “Needs” has an extremely simple beat, but the melody during the chorus is actually insane! I don’t understand how a melody that simple over a beat that generic can work so well! The production behind “Talk To Me Nice” is also fantastic and fits her well. “Tightrope” has production from Machinedrum that works beautifully and Tinashe turns it into a bonafide hit! This short project was a great introduction to Tinashe as an artist! Sure, I didn’t love the whole thing, but it’s still a quality pop/R&B album.
Favorite Tracks: “Needs”, “None of My Business”, “Tightrope”
If You Like: Chloe x Halle; Shygirl
Zelooperz & Quadie Diesel - Quazel
Genre: Experimental Hip-hop
Review
Quazel is a surprise release from two incredibly weird rappers. In the release post, Zelooperz mentioned how this entire project was made within the first 24 hours the two met while being, “probably the highest we ever been making this”. It’s just two of the craziest hip-hop artists coming together for a project of nonstop bangers. I had never heard of Quadie Diesel before this album, but he ended up being just as wacky as Zelooperz. Quadie Diesel handles most of the choruses on this thing, which is where he shines the best. Zelooperz does the crazy flows better, but Quandie Diesel handles the chorus better than Zelooperz. The production here is wild, but sometimes is a bit samey. Quazel has turned into one of the projects I put on whenever I want to not think about anything, and it’s perfect for a half hour of pure craziness.
If You Like: 100 gecs; drinking 5 Red Bulls a day
Buffalo Nichols - The Fatalist
Genre: Blues; Americana
Review
Now this is how you do a blues album that takes a lot of influences into consideration. His voice is gravely, hoarse from telling emotional tales of his life. The songwriting on The Fatalist is still the highlight, as it should be. Nichols is able to write fantastic songs about love, social justice, his place in the world, and more. One standout moment here lyrically is on “Turn Another Stone”, where he looks at the pros and cons of moving back to Milwaukee. He seems to acknowledge that there are many cons of living in the Midwest, but after trying to find his way in other cities, there is some comfort in coming back to a place he long called home. There are other great moments on here besides the songwriting though, the main one coming on the title track. The production is basically a menacing trap instrumental that someone like Future could rap on, but he manages to make it work perfectly for this more blues-oriented track. The Fatalist is another helping of great tracks from a great artist.
Favorite Tracks: “Turn Another Stone”, “The Fatalist”, “The Long Journey Home”
If You Like: Gary Clark Jr.; old blues music
Genesis Owusu - Struggler
Genre: Alternative; indie; punk
Review
After his magnificent debut album, Genesis Owusu is back with his sophomore album Struggler! Even though it’s not as massive as the debut in terms of sonics and themes, having a tighter concept album as a follow up was the right decision. There are a couple ballads here, but for the most part, Struggler is a rocking punk-inspired album that blends a whole mesh of genres throughout all 11 tracks. There are elements of punk, hip-hop, soul, R&B, rock, dance, and much more! Heck, you could even argue that there is disco on here with the groove on tracks like “Tied Up!” and “That’s Life (A Swamp)”. But at the end of the day, everything has a similar punk energy to it! I don’t know if Struggler is hitting me quite as much as his debut album, but I do think that this project is objectively the better out of the two. But Struggler is still a fantastic album from one of music’s best genreless artists.
Favorite Tracks: “Stuck to the Fan”, “Tied Up!”, “That’s Life (A Swamp)”
If You Like: Genre-blending music with the punk spirit
Smoke DZA & Flying Lotus - Flying Objects
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
At only 5 tracks, this project is definitely shorter than I wanted, especially since they released two of the tracks as singles. But for what it lacks in length, it makes up for in quality. Sure, nothing here is anywhere close to their best, especially for Flying Lotus, but this is still an entertaining project. Smoke DZA’s laid back demeanor fits well with Flying Lotus’s airy production, but neither one of them make for the best moment on this album. Black Thought shows up on the lead single, “Drug Trade”, and he absolutely destroys his feature! Smoke DZA clearly improved his rapping on that track compared to the others, but it still doesn’t come close to what Black Thought does with his verse. Also, this is such a weird crossover, but Estelle shows up on the last song here. Like, “American Boy” Estelle. She sounds good, don’t get me wrong, I’m just confused why she's here. Flying Objects may have left me slightly disappointed, but it’s still a solid little EP.
Favorite Tracks: “Drug Trade” (Feat. Black Thought), “Harlem World 97” (Feat. Estelle), “Spiritual”
If You Like: 2010s Southern hip-hop; spiritual boom-bap
RL Grime - Play
Genre: Electronic; trap; bass
Review
RL Grime has been one of the forebears of trap and bass music of the last decade, and this is his first album in nearly half a decade. Play is actually made up of three, 7-song segments. Apex is another helping of his festival-sized bangers, Grid is the pop-oriented electro-pop tracks, and Rush is focused on new sounds for him, breakbeat and deep house. The album is available on streaming both in full, but each section also has its own project if you want to consume it that way. While each segment does sound extremely different, my feelings about them are similar. Each segment has multiple songs that I think are really great! Some of them might even be amazing! But each segment also has at least one track that is just meh, which for an album this long, starts to get tedious. Overall though, most of the tracks are still pretty good, especially on the production side of things. As a whole, Play might not be up to the standard of Skrillex and Eproms’ projects from this year, but the best tracks on here are up there for some of the best electronic music I’ve heard this year.
Favorite Tracks: “Slow Dive” (Feat. Bea Miller), “Jewel” (Feat. ISOxo), “Metro North”
If You Like: Flume; EDM festivals
Diesel - Gorilla Warfare
Genre: EDM
Review
Shaq is back with his debut EDM album under the name Diesel. In case you’re somehow unfamiliar of the situation at hand, one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, Shaquille O’Neil, has become an EDM DJ. He’s played Lollapalooza, Tomorrowland, and many more high profile festivals over the past few years, and he is so committed to this that he made his debut EDM album. Each of the 10 songs here has a feature, so it seems like Shaq is only partly involved in each song, but it's clear what style of music he gravitates towards. All of these songs are hardcore EDM/bass tracks. Think of when dubstep came to popularity with Skrillex back in 2010, but significantly more aggressive. Gorilla Warfare makes “Bangarang” sound like something made for the radio. Everything on here is made for EDM festivals, not for the average consumer. It’s awesome that Shaq is diving into a specific culture that he likes and isn’t trying to make it more palatable to the masses. It’s an album for people who already love the genre. But is this album actually good, I don’t know. It’s entertaining to imagine Shaq playing these songs live, but unless you like bass music, I can’t imagine the average person finding this enjoyable.
Favorite Tracks: “Bang Your Head” (Feat. Hairitage), “Romany Adventures” (Feat. Soltan), “Kxlla” (Feat. TRXGGX)
If You Like: EDM festivals
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