Sam Harkey

The influences here are obvious. Emulating the diversity of KG&LW with spontaneity similar to peers BCNR and Geese, all while plugging into experimentalism like Radiohead, you really don’t know where this goes next. The only issue is a vocal/lyrical performance that doesn’t fully match the rest of the energy. I’m excited for what comes next; they have tons of potential. “Motions”, “Whalefall” and “the CIA” go super hard, though.

An awesome introduction to Fontaines D.C. Infectious energy and clever and chaotic songwriting tied into a cohesive vision.

Awesome experience. Brooding, dark, spacey, yet poignant, urgent, and anxious. Will be up there in my end of year lists.

Gotta love some jazz fusion. Awesome Spanish elements sprinkled throughout a really fun and loose record by Herbie fully loaded.

Absolute classic and staple funk-jazz fusion album. Could be one of the best debut albums in either genre and it shows, being sampled somewhat frequently in hip-hop like "One Beer" by MF Doom and Madlib or "Mural" by Lupe Fiasco or "Exactly" by Earthgang and JID.

Not too many thoughts here. It's easy listening but lacks much return value minus a couple of staple tracks. Still feels like the band is finding their way a decade after the magic of Real Estate, Days, and Atlas.

Not the biggest americana/indie country vibe but I couldn't draw my ears away. Unbelievable songwriting that's a level up from Saint Cloud. Realistically high 8/10 and will likely end up in my year-end list.

Middle of the Top 10 in one of that GOAT's long, long catelog

Overall solid. Definitely lost its way a few times, but was a fan of the many highs.

Been following Packs for a couple of years and love her progression. She's still growing, so not every track is going to land. An acceptable follow-up to Crispy Crunchy Nothing.

So beautiful. The perfect follow-up to their first record. I'm a sucker for the ambient experimental aspect of this that really showcases Jonny's classical passion. Will be up there in my year-end list.

Pretty hollow tracks on there. The feature list is absolutely insane, but the output was mildly disappointing.

Found this record to be a great comeback that is reminiscent of the old days with Future Islands. Was a slower burn, but a solid release overall.

This album is truly fantastic and will be an AOTY contender. The fusion of so many unlikely combos of genres remind me of a more latin-sounding Floating Points or Jon Hopkins at times.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I love this poppier sound by IDLES. They're showing they're still really creative and will hold to that as they continue to blossom into the mainstream.

Really impressed with this record. Showing us he's still got it from his Das Racist days. The production by Lapgen here is unbelievable; really Alchemist-esque.

Enjoyable listening. Some instant classics on here with a decent amount of fluff.

He's on the cusp of releasing something great. I've been following him for years and love his artistic journey. He did his take on more electronic-heavy R&B with a slightly experimental twist. Overall some great tracks on here, but lost its way a couple of times.

Not super great. A lot of forgettable tunes around some alright cuts.

So bad. Why did he decide to release a deluxe to an already mid album?

Pretty overrated from what I've been seeing and reading. Easy listening, but mildly unoriginal.

Gets marginally better with each lesson. Not necessary a sign of regression; I enjoy the artistic vision here.

Better than Crash Talk, worse than Blank Face. There's a lot to like with this. For me, "Pop", "Bluesides", "Yearn 101" is one of my favorite 3-song runs this year.

Decently enjoyable. There's far too many songs that are regrettable sandwiching some absolute bangers like "redrum", "n.h.i.e" or "dangerous".

Pretty mid. Yeah, there are some diluted clubbing hits, but far too many tracks with not enough cohesion. I'd still bop to a few if I heard them in at a Vegas pool or Miami beach.

Love the direction toward dark techno, IDM, and D&B tracks. There's tons to take away from this if you're into this style of music. She's still got it after all these years.

If it wasn't 1MM songs long this could've been a lot better. There are some tracks that show genuine growth alongside some homages to his peak in the 2000s.

Crazy record. Not the biggest fan of that type of punk music, but it's got undeniably infectious energy. Made me want to run through a wall.

He's gone full ambient/IDM in this latest release. While I think it's far in quality from some of his earlier releases through Pink, there's some beautiful moments that show his attention to detail is still at an all-time high.

Truly unbelievable. Cohesive, whitty, genre-bending sequel to The Overload. This will inevitably be an AOTY candidate. Every time you come back, you get a new experience.