Album Review: Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
“At times, the album may step one foot too far into that abyss, but billy woods and ELUCID are still operating at another level of genius entirely for the vast majority of We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, and at this point in their careers, one hand could count the number of living writers (in any medium, frankly) operating on the same level and with the same consistency.”
Album Review: Estee Nack - Nacksaw Jim Duggan
“Nacksaw Jim Duggan is a cumbersome, unfocused record that nonetheless stands out not because of any musical fairy dust sprinkled on by Gunn in his role as curator, but as a result of a yet-untapped artistic well at the juncture of his experience and Nack’s unparalleled tenacity.”
Album Review: billy woods, Kenny Segal - Maps
“Maps is in many ways a singular achievement in billy woods’ expansive canon, in no small part due to Segal one-upping their last collaboration and matching woods’ lyrical vision with a set of intimate instrumentals that prove just how much potential the duo have left to manifest.”
Album Review: JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES
“For better or worse, SCARING THE HOES is as its cover implies: an album of JPEGMAFIA’s ecclectic artistry placed front and center, with Danny Brown inserted imperfectly to the side in ways that fail to make proper use of his talents.”
Album Review: Backxwash - HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
“If songs like MUZAKI can be seen as evidence of anything, it’s the potential of Backxwash’s artistry to succeed in all the most brutally unique ways one can imagine, if only she herself can manage to realize them.”
Album Review: billy woods, Messiah Musik - Church
“Church finds billy woods turning inward for its context, and all questions raised by such a hurried release schedule are decidedly answered by both its exposed, intimate nature and its unambiguous excellence.”
Album Review: billy woods - Aethiopes
“It’s difficult to say where the refinement on Aethiopes ends and the fresh perspective begins, but that is merely a symptom of billy woods’ intrinsic brilliance, and his inability to write a verse that doesn’t feel completely revolutionary in one way or another.”
Album Review: Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR
“Olivia Rodrigo deserves her share of accolades for putting together such an enjoyable product on her first attempt, even if the nature of that quality calls into question whether the singer herself will be able to carve out a niche alongside the titans of pop music she is profoundly indebted to.”
AT STATE’S END: The Return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor
“G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! is not a reinvention, either for Godspeed or for the genre of post-rock as a whole, but their confidence in our ability to rescue the world from our own sins is enough reason to separate this album from its legacy and commend it for its own creativity and vision.”
Album Review: Black Dresses - Forever In Your Heart
“Ada Rook and Devi McCallion continue to refine their talents with each new project, yet the intrinsic limitations of their preferred sound remain a constant impediment; for as many compelling themes as this record can boast of, too many are drowned in a miasma of electronic noise that only sometimes complements the band’s appreciable affinity for pathos. Even at its best, Forever In Your Heart asks too much of the listener to truly capture the greatness it is constantly hinting at, but in the entirety of the group’s turbulent existence, said greatness had never seemed more inevitable.”
Album Review: Black Country, New Road - For the first time
“When a work of art as anomalous as this appears out of nowhere, our instinctive response is to retreat into the realm of what is familiar, trying to make sense of the new using what we already know and understand. For the first time challenges with its very existence the validity of that approach, asking the listener to trust that something that appears utterly alien can simultaneously offer both immediate enjoyment and a staggering depth for those who wish to venture further into unknown territory.”
Album Review: Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan
“Even if Ichiko Aoba’s thematic intentions are often murky at best, the feeling of something profound hiding just below the surface is universal within her music, a sense of indeterminate mystery that keeps so many fans spellbound even if her words themselves are beyond their understanding. Windswept Adan is what Aoba’s entire career has been building up to, proving definitively that her artistry is not, and never will be, comfortable with inertia.”
A Quick One: Slauson Malone - Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Crater Speak)
“This is not a straightforward work of art, nor is it a hopeful one, yet Malone’s stripped-down collection of recapitulations is nonetheless compelling in its blatant need to exist. Even without an optimistic conclusion, the act of baring his soul has clearly let him make some sort of peace with his recurring antagonist; that the record still has so much to offer from a musical perspective is merely a consequence of untempered genius.”
Album Review: Conway the Machine - From King to a GOD
“It’s easy to come up with reasons why From King to a GOD isn’t quite as dramatic a statement as it should have been, the most realistic being that it is meant to serve (in Conway’s own words) as an appetizer before the rapper’s upcoming Shady Records debut God Don’t Make Mistakes. Not even this justification, however, can explain why From King to a GOD falls short in so many areas, from lyrics to guest verses to (especially) production.”
Album Review: Lianne La Havas - Self-Titled
“This is neo-soul in its most prototypical sense; not a reinvention, but a recapitulation of the same fervent spirit Marvin Gaye tapped into fifty years ago. If Lianne La Havas were any less of a perfect blend between the old and new of its genre, such comparisons might read as sacrilegious; as it stands, the London-born virtuoso proves here that she will not be denied her rightful accolades, blasphemy be damned.”
Half-Year in Review #4: Pink Siifu - NEGRO
“Pink Siifu’s newest offering is a confusing, often illegible mess of a record, the stylistic equivalent of yanking the steering wheel as hard to the left as possible and plummeting your vehicle off the edge of a cliff as l’appel du vide takes over your once-rational mind. It is also, bar none, the most important album you will listen to this year.”
Half-Year in Review #3: R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages
“If you wanted to pitch milo to an unsuspecting initiate, you could probably spin the rapper’s more eccentric qualities into assets with a little poetic license. Talk about his offbeat flow, his ambitiously understated approach to rapping, maybe quote a few bars and hope they can define Sonderweg but don’t know what futanari is. If you want to pitch R.A.P. Ferreira, just refer them to Purple Moonlight Pages and let the rapper’s newfound candor do the talking for you.”
Half-Year in Review #2: Beach Bunny - Honeymoon
“For all the despondency and heartache Beach Bunny manage to portray in their debut album’s slim runtime, its buoyant instrumentals and enthralling lyricism trick the listener into enjoying themselves far too much for a record written with this much angst. The indie pop quartet may still be dipping their toes into the realm of full-length projects, yet already it is all too clear that their work has mastered the art of not overstaying its welcome while simultaneously leaving the listener in desperate need of more.”
Half-Year in Review #1: Halsey - Manic
“In theory, taking a break from the ambiguously defined Halsey-verse to make an isolated record of heartbreak, doubt, and eventual catharsis is a great idea; in practice, Manic suffers from many of the same flaws that plagued Halsey’s previous albums. At this point, no amount of blatant talent or perceived potential can obscure the unattractive production and regrettable lyricism that ruin far too many promising ideas; if Halsey wants to maintain the same level of intrigue with which many have followed her career up to this point, something on the journey from thought to pen to studio must change, and drastically so.”
Album Review: Run the Jewels - RTJ4
For almost a decade now, Run the Jewels has been a much-appreciated opportunity for two grizzled veterans of the music industry to flex their political inclinations, while also having fun doing so. What made them so appealing to so many, though, can be attributed to a truth self-evident since the release of Killer Mike’s 2012 album R.A.P. Music: two is so, so often better than one. When Mike and El-P come together, the synthesis of their abilities carries them beyond the limits of their individual genius, yet even as they continue to refine their formula, the fruits of their persona threaten to become conventional. While El-P is pulling this much of the weight when it comes to Run the Jewels as a vehicle for social commentary, it becomes clearer than ever that creative beats and hard-hitting punchlines can only carry you so far, and the duo are sorely in need of some fresh ideas. Make no mistake: these criticisms are not uttered because RTJ4 is bad, or average, or even merely good. This is a great album that overcomes many of the flaws of its predecessors, but more than ever before the uniformity of the duo’s style threatens to wholly consume their artistic talent, and it is uncertain how much longer they can stave off the decay of their purpose.