By Kwase Lane, Contributor [Columbia; 2018] Rating: 8/10 Key tracks: “Hot Chocolate”, “Big Bag”, “When Gloves Come Off” Tyler, The Creator’s latest EP is the Christmas miracle that no one knew they wanted until it came. During this most festive of seasons, many artists get overtaken by the all-consuming spirit of wintertide when they decide…
Tag: Album Review
Album Review: Anderson .Paak – Oxnard
By Kwase Lane, Contributor [Aftermath; 2018] Rating: 7/10 Key tracks: “6 Summers”, “Cheers”, “Sweet Chick” In his third studio album and final “beach trilogy” entry, Anderson Paak showers the auditory canvas with musical ideas of different tints and tones. Oxnard shows how far Anderson has come from Venice, even if it isn’t as critically acclaimed…
Album Review: The Smashing Pumpkins – Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.
By Lane Moore, Contributor [Napalm; 2018] Rating: 5/10 Key tracks: “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)”, “Solara”, “Seek and You Shall Destroy” The stone-washed arena grunge of The Smashing Pumpkins was a defining sound of the ‘90s, but the group found themselves at an impasse after the release of 1998’s Adore. As the band fell apart and stumbled…
Album Review: Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – The Capitol Studio Sessions
By Maria Lubanovic, Copy Editor [Decca; 2018] Rating: 7/10 Key tracks: “My Baby Just Cares For Me”, “Me And My Shadow”, “This Bitter Earth” Is there anything Jeff Goldblum can’t do? Because apparently, he is a pretty good jazz piano player and is even better at gathering people to sing with him. Though he graces…
Album Review: Lil Peep – Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 2
By Lane Moore, Contributor [Columbia; 2018] Rating: 3.5/10 Key tracks: “Life is Beautiful”, “Fingers” Lil Peep’s first posthumous record, Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 2, resembles found footage that was sculpted into a full project by Peep’s producer, Smokeasac. Whether it is the result of the record’s unfinished, puzzle-piece complexion or Smokeasac’s tampering, Come…
Album Review J Mascis – Elastic Days
By Abby Jeffers, Contributor [Sub Pop; 2018] Rating: 6/10 Key tracks: “Drop Me”, “Elastic Days”, “Web So Dense” Marketed as a slight electric shift from his previous acoustic albums, Several Shades of Why and Tied To A Star, J Mascis released another project in a string of solo albums, Elastic Days. The frontman of Dinosaur…
Album Review: Charles Bradley – Black Velvet
By Kwase Lane, Contributor [Dunham; 2018] Rating: 8/10 Key tracks: “Slip Away”, “(I Hope You Find) The Good Life”, “Fly Little Girl” Serving as a sort of final gift from the Screaming Eagle of Soul, Black Velvet is a lovingly curated collection of covers and original compositions by Charles Bradley. After being taken from the…
Album Review: cupcakKe – Eden
By Andrew Breazeale, Contributor [Self-Released; 2018] Rating: 8/10 Key tracks: “PetSmart”, “Garfield”, “A.U.T.I.S.M” If cupcakKe’s consecutively released albums are a staircase to her success, her fourth full-length album, Eden, is a giant step upward. The Chicago-born rapper Elizabeth Eden Harris released her second album of 2018 and doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. With…
Album Review: Architects – Holy Hell
By Marvin Dotiyal, Features Editor [Epitaph; 2018] Rating: 6/10 Key tracks: “Mortal After All”, “The Seventh Circle”, “Doomsday” It was already hard enough for British metalcore act Architects to top All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us. After the tragic loss of guitarist and core songwriter Tom Searle, the band was running on empty. Like a…
Album Review: All Get Out – No Bouquet
By Lane Moore, Contributor [Equal Vision; 2018] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Rose”, “Value”, “However Long” If All Get Out used blast beats and china cymbals, then I would gladly let someone mosh me to death as their tunes play. However, these indie-emo rockers are after something more graceful on their fourth LP, No Bouquet. The…
Album Review: Poppy – Am I a Girl?
By Kwase Lane, Contributor [I’m Poppy; 2018] Rating: 6.5/10 Key tracks: “Girls in Bikinis”, “Play Destroy”, “X” Everyone’s favorite robot(?) girl(?) has returned, showering listeners with more sugary beats in her second studio album, Am I a Girl?. Moriah Pereira, more widely known by her stage name Poppy, has had a near meteoric rise from…
Album Review: Cloud Nothings – Last Building Burning
By Dewy D’Amore, Contributor [Carpark; 2018] Rating: 7.5/10 Key Tracks: “On An Edge” “Leave Him Now” “Dissolution” Cleveland’s most well-known garage pop-punk band, Cloud Nothings, took an unexpected turn with their latest release, Last Building Burning. As seen in their previous releases, the band was starting to develop a more clean, catchy tone, but Last…
