Music Reviews

Kevin Parker’s third studio album „Currents“ was what originally introduced me to the mastermind project that Tame Impala is – the production on there was very drugy, psychedelic and instant and conceptually it was really cohesive – what made me fall in love with Kevin’s music though, was it’s predecessor „Lonerism“. That album was just a pure psychedelic bliss, with some really relatable themes going on, talking about self-isolation and loneliness in general – it really is a one-of-a-kind listen.

So maybe it was because of my high expectations going into this record, but I’m kinda conflicted on this one – for once, the production doesn’t feel as instant and explosive as on Kevin’s previous efforts (with some exceptions, but I will get to that later) – it’s rather more low-key or dance-oriented, trying out different sounds and experimenting, so it just comes off as not that cohesive of a work. Though I will say, some of the band’s best material to date turn up on this album, such as on the song „Posthumous Forgivness“, where the experimentations really pays off – the wall of psychedelic synths comined with that heavy kick and compressed drums on the chorus sound like being transfered to another dimension. The lyrics on this one hit as hard as the sound of the song, if not harder, talking about the passing of Kevin’s father – the vocals feel tortured even through all the layers of effects on them. It just hits all the right notes for me. On other tracks, the experimentation doesn’t alwys work out so well – a greay example of that being „Tomorrow’s Dust“, which isn’t per say bad, but with those gentle guitar melodies, sharp drums and layers of compression, just end up being really boring – like, the song has no bussiness being 5 and a half minutes long. Some other dancier tracks turn up on here, such as „Borderline“ and „Breathe Deeper“, which both feature some really nice keys and melodies – the production is rich, the imagery painted is beautiful and it’s just a good vibe overall, with „Breathe Deeper“ also featuring some really catchy basslines and more intresting structure to it – it end up being one of my favorites on here. Then we have the two pre-released singles „It Might Be Time“ and „Lost In Yesterday“, both of which are great in their own categories – It Might Be Time is perhaps the most experimental song on this whole project, making it a questionable leading single, but c’mon, this thing is a banger. It has probably the rawest mixing on here and is somehow pretty intense, even though it doesn’t sound intense at all – it starts off really laid back actually and plays on that note for most of the song. Lost In Yesterday on the other hand is one of the more dancable track here, with it’s slick bassline, sharp drums and godly vocals from Kevin Parker – it’s just a nice laid-back Tame Impala song, what else is there to say. The song „Is It True“ is as direct as it gets on the album, being one of the only instantly-catchy songs on here, with some heavy synths and electric guitar melodies, that just won’t leave your head for days to come. The most intresting songs conceptually though, are the opening and the closing tracks „One More Year“ and „One More Hour“ and how tie into each other. The opener sets the mood for the album just right, being one of the more low-key cuts here, it leaves a lot of room for the story/message to get across. The conept is pretty simple, with the protagonist on the first track just wanting to enjoy his year and on the last track just reflecting on it within the last hour. Both songs play off of each other very nicely and really tie this otherwise unorganised and somewhat disoriented album together.

And with that the album concludes, finnishing as strongly is at started. Now does this feel like a little bit of a let down from Kevin’s previous work? Kinda, but more then that it jsut feels like another natural artistic progression his music goes through – and even though this one is probably my least favorite of thos progressions, I stile enjoyed it quite a bit and genuinely can’t wait to see where Parker decides to go from here – whatever it is, I’ll be there for it.

strong 7/10

After enjoying Wilbur’s „I’m in Love with an E-girl“ and „Internet has Ruined Me“, both songs featuring some surprisingly beautiful chord progressions and clever comedic bittersweet songwriting, I was pretty hyped for this album when I first got it recommended. What I EXPECTED were songs with similar sense of ironic comedy to them, with some nice crisp production. What I GOT instead was something much more personal, and dare I say mature – of corse the comedic songwriting is still present in some form or shape, but he’s taking it much more seriously this time around, and as a result, I take him more seriously.

The songwriting is probably the selling point on this album, because the production usually just features Wilbur and his guitar, doing his thing, while he pours his expiriences on us. You could even call this a concept album, the concept being his expiriences with the city he’s been living in, London. The first song, „Jubilee Line“, illustrates that perfectly, with it’s lowkey guitar melodies, slowly raising in intensity as the song progresses and the lyrics talking about blaming the city for all the strugless in his life – the song takes a rather dark turn by the end, talking about the people that commited suicicde in the city’s underground. The song sets the mood perfectly for the album with it’s direct lyrics, but still leaving some room for interpretation. The following track „Saline Sollution“ follows a similar forula as the first one, this time focusing on solving the problems the city has forced upon him. The „sollution“ we’re presented with is kind of a sarcastic one, probably taken as a methaphor: salline sollution refering to the process of drinking salted water, for either regulating normal blood levels, or just throwing-up. Instrumentally the song, again, progresses to get more intense with some aditional low-key drums and horns this time round – it’s a really powerful moment on the album. „Since I Saw Vienna“ is instrumentally probably the least intresting of the bunch, but the lyrics are what sells it here, taking a different approach to saying, that London sucks, by basically comparing it to Vienna – it has a rather nostalgic vibe to it, but overall, there isn’t much to say about this one. „Losing Face“ has a much more direct and exciting instrumentation, with some intense but laid-back guitar chords, low-key crunchy drums and some aditional guitar tones in the background, really completing the atmosphere. This song marks the lyrical shift this album takes in the second half, now more focusing on a classic love drama. The lyrics compliment the tortured vocals really well, and you can feel the emotion pouring from the track – it’s a simple, yet effective way, of conveying the song’s message, something this album in general succeeds at. „Your Sister Was Right“ continues on that note with some nice vocal layering an adding context to what actually happened between these two in the lyrics – the instrumental is rather unintresting on here, but it does it’s job. „La Jolla“ is the longest song on here and it’s a pretty good way of summing up the whole album so far – the protaganist doesn’t feel good enough and sort of defeated and just wants to escape this god-forsaken city, which can be taken as a metaphor to all his problems in general. He hopes to one day move on from everything and live his happ life – that’s why Wilbur sounds so defeated and quiet on this one. The instrumentation is again really simple, but this time it actuall compliments everyhting elese that is going on pretty well, considering the track’s more low-key and defeated sound. The final song „I’m Sorry Boris“ is Wilbur reflecting on everything that has been leading up to this point and realising, that even though the goverment is destroying the city, he has all the people he cares about here and can’t just leave them behind – instead of running from his problems, he faces them. It transitions extraordinarilly well from the last track to this one, with the first cut having a more defeated tone and this one right here showing us the brighter side of things – in other words, the perfect closer.

And yeah, that pretty much concludes the album – short, but straight to the point. I think the message of this one is something really unique and the simple sound of the album leaves a lot of room for the message to get across. Though it also leaves a lot to be desired – don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the hell out of this thing, but sometimes, when the lyrics didn’t instantly grab me in, I just became real bored real quick, and that’s essentially the biggest issue I could find with this album – sometimes it’s just not exciting enough. So yeah, I think the instrumentation could use a little bit more spice here and there, but other then that, it’s a pretty solid listen – the songwriting is there, the intensity aswell and the message comes across. So overall, not bad at all, for a first release.

strong 6/10

Ok, so real quick my basic overview of the band’s catalog up to this point: I found their deathcore roots to be really amateurish and too melodramatic, their more metalcore side is where they peaked in my opinion, with record like There is a Hell,… and Sempiternal. The experimentation with other genres on That’s the Spirit mostly payed off for the band, with the record’s more alt-rock oriented sound and catchy explosive choruses. They would continue with the experimentation on their next studio effort Amo, where they prooved that they were more then just another face in the crowd and that hey could pull of mulitple genres and aren’t afraid to go out of their comfort zone. Which bring here, to Post Horror: Survival Horror and I gotta say, this thing is amazing.

From the very start, you can tell that the band is dedicated to combine everything they’ve learned up to this point, to create one rather short, but cohesive expirience with this 9-track EP. Not a single song on here flops, everything is a hit, each track in different regards. The opener sets the tone – „Dear Diary“ is an agressive metalcore-fused rager, with the lyrics being a meditation on the current chaotic state the world is in right now. The guitars riffs are heavy, the screaming feels raw, yet fitting and the additional production choices from none other then the music god himself Mick Gordon only add to the intensity of the track. Also the breakdown is really tasteful and refreshing, all of the breakdwons on this album are honestly. After that we get a series of singles released prior to the albums release, all of which bring different things to the table: „Parasite Eve“ is a more heavily structured, long-winded look at things, with some really epic glitchy production and an absolutely orgasmic Mick Gordon breakdwon, that had to be brought up right from the pits of hell. „Teardrops“ is a Linkin Park worshipper, with some surprisingly moving lyrics – they didn’t come off as corny at all, rather they complimented the atmosphere of the track really darn well. Oli sounds genuinely defeated on this one and the chorus just absolutely slaps – it’s one of the many grand explosive choruses on here. And finally the song „Obey“ is a punk-aesthetic nu-metal banger with some insane synths and booming guitars – also the Youngblood feature was a surprisingly wise choice, probably the best he has sounded since – well, ever. Again, the chorus just absolutely rocks and the breakdwon on this one is probably the most passionate out of those three – like seriously, if Parasite Eve’s breakdwon sounded like the pits of hell, then this one are the demons coming out of there. After those three gems we get a much needed break with the interlude „Itch For The Cure“, which serves as a preparation for what is to come next. And what actually comes next is my favorite song on here „Kingslayer“ – not only because of the insane energy that is radiating of of this thing, but also because of the unexpected, but welcomed feature from BABYMETAL and again some amazing production from our lord and savior Mick Gordon – like if this combination doesn’t tell you it’s gonna be a banger, then I don’t know what does. The song is from start to finnish just packed with energy, with those fast paced guitars, epic synth leads and agressive vocals from Oliver Sykes – this is easily the most brutal he has sounded since the release of Sempiternal. The BABYMETAL feature, as mentioned before, somehow fits super well in this and offers a nice change of pace to the track – they also absolutely nail the chorus on here. Overall it’s just a fun and exciting track, and at the end of the day what else do you need? Oh, another Linkin Park worship? Well Bring Me the heavies got you covered with the song „1×1“, which may be the on-first-listen least intresting song on here, and admiteddly isn’t as exciting as per say Teardrops, but it’s still a nice nu-metalish alt-rock tune with a melodically pleasing chorus and some nice electronic effects worked in. Then there is the song „Ludens“, which sounds like something from the bands That’s the Spirit, but with a more glitchy and electronic production this time around. This is basically as experimental as it gets for the band, and even though some of the transitions between the song’s passages may feel a littler rushed nad akward, overall I found it to be a pretty cohesive listen, especially by the end of it, when it all just makes sense in the end. For the closer the band decided to go with a hell of a slow-burner of a ballad with the song „One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death“ (yes, that’s how the song is actually titled), which features the amazing Amy Lee from the band „Evanescence“ on the vocals. Her voice I’d say blends pretty nicely with the song’s more low-key and slow-paced easthetic – it’s haunting yet beautiful. The hauntingness, aswell as the tention, continues to grow throughout the whole track, finally reaching it’s emotional climax towards the end, with Oliver’s quiet screamed vocals, that are slowly turning up in volume, until the song suddenly stops – a really cool detail and a great way of ending the album off.

Look, I was pretty hyped for this thing, especially considering how much I LOVED every single one of the teaser tracks, but what we got is so much more then I could ever expect – it’s the definitive Bring Me The Horizon expirience. Yes, there are some flaws here and there, and the runtime of the album could use a little bit more tracks, so it feels little more cohesive, but at this point, I’m really just nitpciking. This was a really solid listen and I can’t wait to see, what the band continues to do next.

strong 8/10

6ix9ine stands out as one of the most provocative and hated controversial figures out there right now, but you gotta give it to the guy. he can make some kick-ass songs. The first single of of this thing „Gooba“ is what got me initially intrested in checking this whole project out, if it can live up to the energy that that track gave off. The following singles „Trollz“ featuring none other then Nicky Minaj and „Punani“ featuring autotune were both solid songs with „Trollz“ being kinda a guilty pleasure for me – so with that being said, I went into this thing expecting nothing bangers. So is that actually what we got?

The answer is simple – no, not even close. What we got INSTEAD is a bunch of unfinnished forgatble songs, if you can call them that. I genuinely can’t recall a single other track on here. Well, maybe besides the opener „Locked Up Pt. 2“, which is probably the most ambitious cut on here – the production is direct and it serves as an alright introduction to the album. But beyond that? Except the mentioned singles, there is literally nothing of substance here. To take it track by track, the second track „TUTU“ has that generic tropical vibe to it, with some really awful braggadocious lyrics and forgetabble autotune passages – no reason to come back to this song ever again. The song „Wait“ pisses me off, because the beat had so much potential, but is utterly ruined by 6ix9ine’s sloppy vocals that don’t compliment the gentle accoustic instrumentation at all. The production is essentially the only selling point here, but again nothing else of a substance to be found. „Charlie“ tries to go really hard with those typical 6ix9ine’s screamed vocals, but the produciton is so bland and forgetabble, that by the end of it, I genuinely couldn’t recall how the song actually sounded. Though by far the worst offender on this thing has to be „NINI“ with the featured Leftside on the vocals, which follows the same formula and production choices as songs like „BEBE“ from the 6ix9ine’s previous studio effort – that is essentially just a latin American beat with a modern trap twist to it, that sounds like if torture was a sound. Luckily the song is just around 2 minutes long, even though it feels like 5 minutes. Similar waste of time and space is the song „YAYA“, which for a change features 6ix9ine on the vocals, which really isn’t a saving point – also the beat is just horrendous, I can’t stand it. Then we get some more forgetable tracks such as „LEAH“, „GATA“ and „GTL“, all of which I can’t recall a single note or vocal passage from – there is literally no reason for these songs to exist. The last song „AVA“ tries to go for a rather emotional climax, but it completely and I mean COMPLETELY rips off Travis Scott’s „Yosemite“ – from the sound, to the structure, to the production – everything about this song screams Travi Scott. Except maybe 6ix9ine himself, which just screams awful.

This really is what it means to fall off – because belive it or not, I did quite enjoy some of the moments from the guy’s first studio album „Dummy Boy“, especially in the latter half – the production on that thing was out of this world compared to this. And the quality gap between that album and this one right here is really kinda unreal. Not only in production, but also in 6ix9ine’s flows, his delivery – basically everything, the only exceptions to this being the singles. Si in conclussion, this was just not that great and more than that just boring – can we just end the 6ix9ine trend now?

decent 2/10

Gorillaz will forever have a special place in my heart, even though their, up to this point nearly flawless, discography was kind of dumbed down by the virtual band’s last two LPs „Humanz“ and „The Now Now“, both of which have their own problems – Humanz was blouted with features, safe production choices and really uncohesive structure, while The Now Now was in my opinion just really boring and only had a few stand-out tracks – it more felt like Damon Albarn, the mastermind behind Gorillaz, was just trying to cover up for the mixed reception of Humanz with an even more mixed release. But here we are now, Song Machine is finally out, so let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Right of the back the album kicks off with the keys-heavy „Strange Timez“, which is just a great opener – it sets the dark, but still that remarkable Gorillaz sound, with those haunting piano melodies and wirling keys, while Robert Smith give us a pationate vocal performance, with some fitting lyrics, that compliment the sound pretty well. Then it explodes into these walls of sytnhs towards the end of the track, with 2D and Robert Smith singing the chorus – by the end of it, it just comes full circle and feels like a complete song, but more importantly a grand opener. The following track „The Valley Of Pagans“ is just a good time, with the track’s up-beat sound and fast tempo – also the featured artist Beck really kills his performance here. I also can’t stress enough how insanely detailed the sound of not only this song, but the whole album is – the layers of pianos, guitars and sharp drums just sound so refreshing and sweet to the ears. What also sounds sweet to the ears is the follow-up track „The Lost Chord“ with it’s spacy and mysthy production and the absolutelly GORGEOUS ascending vocals on the chorus. It’s a nice more slow-paced moment on the album and it somehow still keeps the momentum going. The next song „Pac-Man“ is easily the most catchiest tune here – the chorus on this thing is absolutely phenomenal and could go toe-to-toe with something of of the band’s „Plastic Beach“. The ScHoolboy Q feature was also a nice touch, with the second half of the track changing from the electronic crispy beat, to a more natural and free production, where ScHoolboy really shines and takes on a more introspective last verse. The next song „Chalk Tablet Towers“ is probably one of the weaker ones here, especially momentum-wise, where the song is basically just a filler. Though it features some really good production and vocal melodies, but you could say that for the whole album really. Though the next song „The Pink Phantom“ picks things up again, with that absolutely stunning Elton John feature, low-key production and some really impresive vocal layering in the later half. 6LACK is also on here, but he is just kinda there, even though he compliments Elton surprisingly well. The song „Aries“ was probably one of my favorites released prior to the album’s release – the gentle guitar plugs, the synth-based summer-oriented beat and 2Ds passionate vocals make up for one of the best songs in the band’s catalog. „Friday the 13th“ is an intresting one, because originally, I didn’t really care about this one, but damn if this isn’t a huge grower – this song is the definition of „the more you listen to it, the better it gets“, because it really grows on you substantially with each listen – the summery production with the off-beat Octavian feature combine into a pretty laid-back expirience with a nice piano beat-switch in the second half. The song I was most worried about, when I first heard it though was probably „Dead Butterflies“ – right off the back the more trap-inspired beat made me kinda worried at first, but once those pianos come in and 2D starts singing, then I instantly knew this was going to be one of my favorite here – and I was right. This is the most passionate 2D’s vocals sounded since the Plastic Beach era – like seriously, those vocal melodies and the overall performance are just stunning. It also smoothly transitions into the next track „Désolé“, which is a French ballad, with some of the best and most gorgeous produciton I’ve heard this year – the sharp drums with the gentle guitar melodies make for a haunting, yet somehow soothing atmosphere. And don’t even get me started on the feature – Fatoumata Diawara absolutely kills her vocal performance here, easily one of the best features of the whole album (which is saying a LOT). The closer is the one song, that started it all – the first single released before the album itself „Momentary Bliss“, which if that isn’t a statysfying finnish, then I don’t know what is. It is perhaps the most raw-sounding song of the whole album, which compliments slowthai’s rather agressive style really well. The booming guitars and agressive keys just make for a banger of a tune, that is a worthy closer, for such an amazing album.

This album is what you call learning from your mistakes – it takes everything the last two Gorillaz albums failed at and makes it succeed at every single one of those things. The production is top-notch, the features are amazing and it all comes together by the end – it just felt like a really cohesive compilation of songs. That’s right, I said compilation, because if there is something to be left desired on this album, then it’s the fact that it doesn’t really feel like a Gorillaz studio album and more just like a collection of Gorillaz songs – though great songs at that. But beyond that, there is nothing negative I can really say about this one – it’s just a hit after hit and I’m only curious, where the band take their sound from here.

light 9/10

My introduction to Neil’s music was through the emerse praise his last album „Mouth Dreams“ recieved in the music comunity – I found that album to be really enjoyable and succesfull at colliding all those different songs into each other – the mix on that project was surprisingly rich and cohesive and the whole project was overall just a really fun listen. It’s a shame really that I can’t say the same about this new project over here – don’t get me wrong, there are still a handfull of songs that work quite well – but this album is essentially an album of high and lows, where the lows just can just easily take you out of the whole vibe this album goes for. Maybe it’s partially due to the high expectations I had when going into this, but I just found some of the mashups and experimetns on here kinda bland and unintresting. Also in the later half of the album features these weird transitions, where the song just completely cuts off out of nowhere and the next song just starts playing – I don’t know what Neil was trying to do here, but it just comes off as really akward and unfitting.

To take it track-by-track, the opener „Yahoo“ is actually a really nice kick off to this album – the spacy synth-orianted production works quite well and it sets the mood just right. After the short-winded „Mouth Dream – intro“, that doesn’t really add anything to the expirience, we get the next song „Sponge Rock“, which is just absolutely hillarious – in a good way though. It’s a combination of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song with Queen’s „We Will Rock You“ and even though it’s a little rough around the edges, it just comes off as really funny. The follow up „Just a Baby“ is easily one of my favorites here – it’s a really well constructed ballad featuring the classic 2000s rock tune „The Reason“ by Hoobastank and vocals from the Johny Cash classic „Folsom Prison Blues“ with some additional vocals/instrumentation from Justin Bieber and MGMT. It really plays into the whole aesthetic of this album and comes around full circle by the end. „Superkiller“ is a funky banger with the sample of the 80s classic „Super Freak“ by Rick James, with the additional Can’t touch this vocal lines we all come to know over the years and the absolute bagner of a song that is „Psycho Killer“ by Talking Heads. But from here is where the album starts to get really forgetable – except the intresting sample choice, the next few songs are just not that remarkable. The album looses momentum quick and there are only couple highlights in the later half. There are some cool ideas here and there, like the mix of Foo Fighters and Aerosmith on the song „Aerolong“, or the amayingly-titled „Where is my Mom“, which as the title suggests features „Where is my Mind“ by Pixies and Fountains of Wayne’s „Stacy’s Mom“, but both of those song have a runtime of an interlude and have those exact weird transitions I was talking about before – the ideas are great, but the executions is just not there (which basically sums up the album pretty well). One of the highlights later on though is definetly „1000 Spoons“, which features one of the wildest combinations of songs here: Black Sabath’s „Iron Man“, Alanis Morissette’s „Ironic“ and the Knight Rider theme? As ironic as it sounds, this is actually one of the most well-put-together songs here and offers a really nice and intense change of pace from the other poorly mixed and just downright boring cuts here. The album finnishes of with the super unintresting „Ain’t“, which for some weird reason just feels very weirdly paced and kinda anticlimactic – which is everything that a closer shouldn’t be.

So yeah, this one is kinda middle of the road for me. If I had to give this album something, it’s that it stills is one of the better examples of mash-ups in proffesional music scene – but as I said before, the weird transitions, boring songs, the slow pace of the album and just the execution overall is what brings this album down from me. I still found it to be somewhat of an enjoyable record, but it’s far from the quality of it’s predecessor.

decent 5/10

My personal expirience with X’s music is rather mixed – I found his debut studio album „17“ to be really blunt and melodramatic and I can’t really say I enjoyed his second album „?“ either, even though there was a more genre variety and experimentation going on, especially in the realms of emo and rock music, but a lot of those experiment just fell flat on their face. Still though, the legacy that X has left upon his passing is undeniable and the impact his music had too – therefore it’s a shame, that this new posthumous record over here, is taking such a big dump on X’s legacy. When I was going into this, I already didn’t have my hopes up, concidering what the label decided to do with the man’s last posthumous LP „Skins“, but on that record I can at least say that it sounded like something X would make – it still sounded like an XXXTentacion album for the very least. What happens on Bad Vibes Forever is more sad then anything – the label just trying to squeeze every last penny out of the man’s name. This album is essentially a compilation of 25 cuts, all of which have X’s demo-ish poorly recorded old vocals or literally just a few vocal lines, mixed with a trap or an accoustic beat and some feature slapped onto it. Not only does it come off as extremely lazy, but also extremrely ignorant to the man’s passing – I can guarantee you, that if X was still alive, he wouldn’t have wanted any of this. But more then anything, it just doesn’t feel like an XXXTentacion album at all – just because you can release something like this doesn’t mean you should. Anyway, let’s take a closer look on some of the tracks, shall we?

The whole thing kicks off with another introduction, as expected from an XXXTentacion album – and even though I admire the message in this one, I can’t get behind how tounge and cheek and melodramatic it sounds. The following track „Ex Bitch“ is one of the few tracks here that I actually like and that resemble some sort of effort in them – the nice accoustic beat goes pretty well with X’s dramatic yet powerful voice, and it all just comes together pretty nicely. But it’s pretty much downhill from here – half of the songs just sound like unfinnished demos, the feature are most of the time really out of place and unfitting and the overuse of accoustic beats in the first half of the album is actually kinda insulting. The title track is your typical melodramatic accoustic love ballad, the Lil Wayne song „school shooters“ has some of the worst and most trying-to-be-deep lyrics I’ve heard this year and the Noah Cyrus song „Ecstacy“ as whole is just extraordinarily bad – like seriously, why is this the longest song on here? The song „I Changed Her Life“ featuring Rick Ross (again, why is Rick Ross doing a feature on a XXXTentacion album?) has actually some quite nice synth-driven production to it, but is overall just really fogetable – as most of the album anyway. The song „LIMBO“ has some big potential at first – I love Killstation’s appearence on here, he absolutely destroys his verse – but is in the end completely destroyed by the weird beat-switch, if you can even call it that, in the middle of the track. I can kinda see what they were going for there, but it just ruins the song in my opinion – again, another lazy and poor decision. One of the worst songs here has to be „Hot Dyal“ though – why in the world would we want a spanish Despacito-like pop song on an album like this is beyond me. On the other hand the song „Daemons“ offers a nice change of pace, with its very lo-fi and moody aesthetic and Joey Bada$$ is one of the features, that actually makes sense here. I quite enjoyed the introspective lyricism, that for once didn’t come of as corny or too melodramatic. The song „Eat It Up“ ruins all of that though, with it’s borderline unlistenable vocal melodies, that sound like if X was trying to do a Travis Scott impression at 3 AM and without the autotune. „Hearteater“ could’ve actually been a fine song, if it wasn’t for the absolutely horrendous guitar „solo“ in the middle – excuse me, but have you ever heard a guitar solo before? And the harmonizing on this one is also just something else – if it weren’t for the rest of the instrumentation kinda carrying the rest of the song, then it would be an instant skip. The album throws at us another cornball of a song before it finnishes, with the song „NorthStar“, which was already a bad song to begin with, but when Joyner Lucas came in starting doing his gotta-rap-fast flows, that ultimately say absolutely nothing, then the song was just in complete shambless. The closing track „IT’S ALL FADING TO BLACK“ for some unexplainable reason features the pop punk act Blink-182, which is out of all those features, I have already listed, probably the least fitting one – like in what universe is Blink-182 an apropriatte feature on a XXXTentacion song? Anyways, the song itself is a complete throwaway – it has some on-the-surface intresting ideas it goes through, but is ultimately just boring, even though it tries to be super climacitic and inspirational.

So yeah, this was „Bad Vibes Forever“ by The Label. In all honesty though, this thing was just horrendous, but more then that, it’s just sad what is being done with X’s legacy – how can you possibly realease something like this under the name of a deceased artist, as that artist’s label, is something I will never understand – this is genuinely some of the worst music that has entered my ears this year and the context of all of this makes it just ten times worse.

strong 1/10

After the mixbag that was 2015s „Starboy“, The Weeknd realy needed a new direction to go to. And I don’t think that anyone expected the direction to be 80s inspired R&B dream pop. Though this album still has that signature The Weeknd sound, with its overuse of hi-hats, structured trap beats and obviously the godly voice that The Weeknd offers. The album sounds nostalgic yet somehow futuristic – this new approach resulted into The Weeknd’s most conceptually realised album yet, with its simple yet powerful songwriting and broken aesthetic through out the whole album, with few exceptions here and there.

One of the exceptions is definetly the first single „Heartless“, which is easily the biggest banger of this whole thing. But even though this song just slaps, it still has that significant dark undertone, that’s present through out this whole project. The opener „Alone Again“ on the other hand is a slow-paced low-key track, with some really captivating production – and then when the actual instrumentation kicks in? Oh boy, you know you’re in for something special. The song „Hardest To Love“ features some of the most beautiful vocal melodies I’ve heard all year and it really shows how much has Abel grew as vocalist over the years. „Snowchild“ is this gentle and sweet track with moody synths and raging hi-hats, that has some big potential, but is kind off ruined by the second verse of the song – it just felt really out of place and disengenious. „Escape From LA“ is another miss for me – while the song’s introspective lyricism might be enough for someone to keep their attention through out the whole thing, I just find the instrumentation surrounding it to be really weak and forgetable, that I really just can’t pay attention to the message of the song. But it’s truly only hits from here – „Faith“ is a beautiful and heartbreaking gem in the track list, that always manages to make me teary-eyed, „Blinding Lights“ is an absolute 80s inspired masterpiece with melodies that will be stuck in your head for days to come (same goes for „In Your Eyes“, but with a more thick instrumentation this time around) and „Save Your Tears“, even though it sounds like a more well-produced rip-off of Post Malone’s „Circles“, still has that emotional power to it, that you just can’t deny. The only weak track in this half of the album is the interlude „Repeat After Me“, which is, in two words, just forgetable. But then we get the absolute best song on the album, the title track „After Hours“. This 6-minute behemoth of a song is really something else – from the atmospheric and genuenly haunting intro, to when the drop finally kicks in and you just feel like you entered a different dimension. The keys and bass in this are absolutely out of this world, the singing feels tortured, yet gorgeous and the lyrics really tie this whole album together. Then plays the last song „Until I Bleed Out“, AKA the last cry for help – truly a teriffying, yet somehow fitting way to close off the album.

Abel has once again proved, that he isn’t just another cash-grabbing face in the never-ending pop crowd – he proved that he cares about the art that he makes and that he can manage to make a conceptual maserpiece, such as this one, while experimenting with other styles and genres. This really was a ride, from start to finnish, even though I didn’t feel like every song hit the nail on the head, it still was a fulfilling listen through out and in the end felt like a complete and statysifing expirience.

Decent 8/10

After their last studio album „Comedown Machine“ in 2013, the band decided to take a much needed break – they’ve been releasing albums basically every 2 years for the last decade. But now they came back, better then before and I’d just like to say, that this is easily their best album since their debut „Is This It“ in 2000.

The sounds on this new projects over here feel nostalgic yet brand new and fresh. For example the song „Eternal Summer“ is one of the most beautiful sounding songs I’ve heard all year. The whole thing kicks off with the song „Adults Are Talking“, which is this care-free vibe of a song, that perfectly sets the mood for the whole album. Julian Casablancas, as always, absolutely kills it on the vocals, not only on this song, but through out this whole project. The follow up song „Selfless“ sounds somehow even better then the previous song, with its luscious keys and sharp drums – and when the guitar kicks in, you just feel like you transcended.“Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus“ starts off with those cheap sounding synnths, which made me a little worried at first, but then the whole instrumentation kicks in and all the worrying sudenly goes away. „Bad Decision“ is probably the most forgetable song on here, I genuenly can’t recall how it sounds without playing it first – how was it a single instead of something like Eternal Summer, I will never get. The actual first single was „At The Door“, which is a heavily synth/based ballad with little to no drums or any instrumentation what’s so ever – the real selling point here are Casablancas vocals, but you could basically say that for any track on this album. On the other hand „Why Are Sundays So Depressing“ sounds exactly how the title sudgests – depressing, but also somehow still care-free. „Not The Same Anymore“ is a more slow paced track with a somehow haunting twist on it. One of my favorites songs on the album though has to be the closer „Ode To The Mets“ – it starts off similary as Brooklyn Bridge, but somehow even more cheap sounding – but then those walls of beautiful guitars slowly start fading in and you just know that you’re in for something. The melodies on this track are absolutely gorgeous and honestly out of this world.

And that’s it, that’s all there is to this album – 9 ok to amazing tracks, and it’s more then enough. Honestly the 7 year wait has really shown on this one – the sound of this thing feels really mature and the tracks are overall well put together. The long break has really paid off for The Strokes and we can only wait to see, where they go from here.

Strong 8/10

George Miller, famous internet YouTube star turned proffesional artist, AKA Joji, was someone I never expected to like, After the colosall failure that was in my eyes Joji’s debut EP „In Tongues“, I pretty much wrote him off as another face in the ever expanding sad boy trap genre. But Joji came back swinging – with his 2018 single „Slow Dancing In The Dark“ he proved that he had potential – great potential in fact. The follow up album „Ballads 1“ didn’t necesarry meet the expectations that Slow Dancing set the bar for, but it still was a reasonable effort from Joji – more then In Tongues anyways. But now we’re here, on Joji’s second studio album „Nectar“.

Before I start to talk smack about Joji like I usually end up doing, I would like to just say, that this is EASILY Joji’s most profound, well-produced and admirable record to date. The singles tha dropped before the album’s release all showed that Joji is taking this whole music career thing really seriously and that he is taking the steps to become a better not only vocalist, but artist overall. „Sanctuary“ is a synth-driven 80s inspired ballad with some really sweet vocal harmonies and melodies. „Gimmie Love“ is your classic lo-fi Joji sad-boyish song with an accoustic twist in the second half, while „Daylight“ is a little pop tune with some amazing production choices from none other then „Diplo“. And don’t even get me started on „Run“ – that’s, in mz opinnion, easily Joji’s best song, period. But this is also the biggest sin that this album commits – releasing all the absolute best songs as singles before the albums’s release. Not gonna lie, I had some prettz big expectations for this album when it came out – but what we got wasn’t anything like what the singles promised. Instead, it’s an 18-track long lofi hip-hop album, when it could’ve been just 12-tracks long. Also when I say lofi hip-hop album, I REALLY mean that – at least half of the songs on here follow the absolute same formula and sound. And to be honest, it gets really tiring – like what do songs like „Nitrous“ or „High Hopes“ truly and honestly bring to the track list?

That being said, there are still some highlights in the tracklisting here and there: the opening track „Ew“ is a moody and powerful opener which sets the tone for the whole album really well. The following track „MODUS“ is the start of the lo-fi hip hop tracks trend on this album, though this one actually has some nice melodies and especially instrumentation. The same goes for the songs „Afterthought“ and „Mr. Hollywood“, which both again feed into the same formula as MODUS but actually have some substance – especially Mr. Hollywood, that song is just gorgeous. „Tick Tock“ is another intresting one – it starts with this corny low-pitched rapping that is luckily quickly over and this nice accoustic beat comes in, while Joji is giving us those nice vocal harmonies. Then there is the surprisingly crushing „Like You Do“, which is this piano ballad about one’s persons love being more then the love of all the others – „no one loves me like you do“. It’s definetly a beautiful moment in the album, but the album could really use some variety – the closest thing to that we get on „Pretty Boy“, which is easily the catchiest song on the whole album – the beat’s pretty simple, but it works in the song’s favour. Also Lil Yachty’s verse is surprisingly awesome, the two of them with Joji have some really nice chemistry. Finally the song „Your Man“, that closes the album off is a trendy EDM banger, which is a overall a nice send off to the whole thing.

Now there are a LOT of things I didn’t like about this album – some of the songs, like „Reanimator“, should’ve really just been longer and some other songs like „Upgrade“ should’ve been just cut completely. But while there is a lot to not like about this album, there is still a lot to enjoy here. And I can only commend Joji for trying new things and experimenting with his voice and his music aswell. As I said, I still think that this is Joji’s best realease yet and I can’t wait to see where he takes this next.

light 7/10