Sam Harkey

To be honest, The Black Keys often leave me feeling conflicted. Typically, I find that the last 5 records (including this one) had some glimpses of brilliance and ripe creativity, but the rest oft fall flat. Ohio Players is the most recent example, where I think the back half carries the front half. Songs like “Paper Crown” remind me of how novel BK can sound, and “Every Time You Leave”, “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” and “Read Em And Weep”’ take us back to previous sounds and experiments and show us they still have the capacity to make some great rock. But many times throughout they made the same attempts and fell short. At the end of the day,… More

I appreciate the vision behind the project relating to the 10 commandments in the Torah, but in practice, I found myself getting tired of the sparse smooth jazz. There are definitely some heavier jams like "Soul Spark". However, I was left wanting to hear more of Yosef's impressive musicianship instead of restraint.

I thought this was solid. A few good country and prog pop tunes to come back to, but I also found some tracks to completely miss the mark. At the end of the day, I was left wanting more out of their 1st record in 11 years.

To me, this is when Bowie was really starting to find his voice. Yes, it's very hit or miss, but you get some classics like "Space Oddity", "Letter to Hermione", and "Cygnet Committee".

A very solid and long-awaited debut for Elkka. You can tell this is meant for late nights in the club when you're looking to get lost in the music and don't truly care what's playing. However, not much is inventive, no matter how catchy and vibey the performances are. While there are no "duds" per se, there aren't many, if any, dedicated bangers. The album floats along, sometimes a bit aimlessly.

Don't let the first two tracks fool you, because after a hot start that feels reminiscent of their french disco and electropop roots, the band reverts back to their comfortable sound as a slightly dancier Khruangbin or less rocky Parcels. With some smooth jams interspersed with quality features from Flatbush Zombies' Erick the Architect or Maggie Rogers, about half of this record will fade into the background of their discography and overall aesthetic.

It was all very OK. I miss the days of Once through her DJ Kicks mix, instead of this poppier sound that is quickly becoming the new big room. That said, the beats were slick and everything flowed well.

Not crazy about this debut release. Definitely some strong signals, but overall just sounds like another slickly-produced R&B/Pop record. That said, her talent is undeniable and should feel more free to experiment with her sound in the future.

While there were some standout instant heavy rotation cuts like “RESPEK”, “I LIKE U”, and “KILL_U”, the rest quickly fell back into background music, all sounding uninventive for Travis this late into his career. Overall, it was too hit or miss, even if no particular song is bad, per se.

I find this to be a slight improvement from 3.15.20, but the content and songwriting are inherently not where it needs to be. I find that some tracks like "Algorhythm", "The Violence" and "Why Go To The Party" definite benefitted from a second look and are very solid inclusions into Childish Gambino canon, but the features and poppier cuts are still only okay at best. He did trim out some fat in favor of more cohesion and better listening experience.

About half of this record were some absolute heaters and the other half was a bit of a snooze.

Not a big fan of the departure from a more emo-heavy sound of Flowers of Devotion, which now seems like a very distant past. The sound is sleeker and the harmonies are more sophisticated, but they come at the cost of less raw and emotional songwriting. It's too polished and poppy for my taste as the band continues to grow.

Really left a lot to be desired. I enjoyed the genre fusion in a few of the tracks, showing some real growth. But then the other half of the record shows signs of no growth, so I'm confused.

Not the biggest fan of this new direction they've gone in, where they have opted for a more commercially friendly sound than on Champagne Holocaust. Definitely some heavy hitters like "John Lennon" and "Feed The Horse", but surrounded by too many misses.

One of Taylor's weaker releases. Since 2020 brought us folklore and evermore, Taylor has tried going back to her signature sound, but has struggled to come up with much original music. I appreciate the angle being a little more raw and real, but it comes with too many cliches and blatant copying of some of her peers Ariana Grande and Olivia Rodrigo, with the latter really doing it best right now.

30 songs is mighty long, but overall Bladee (alongside Drain Gang, who is all over this mixtape) are perfecting their quirky cloud rap in a palatable way. There was definitely a solid amount of fluff, but the diversity in sonic profile is refreshing.

I was a little let down on this album after how promising the singles were. It was too lengthy to the point of become unfocused and meandering at times. Overall, I appreciate the progression he's made since Wild Wet World, as this effort was much less comfortable and pushed the boundaries of sound composition further. He's one of the most unique artists out there now.

Blane is continuing to develop, mature, and hone her sound. This EP (almost LP). However, it seems that the collaborators shined over Blane on this EP. "mr useless" is overrated, but "4eva" and "f@ke" have me excited for what's to come next.

Yeat's really honing his voice and sound here with tons of futuristic hypertrap, but this album was too disjointed and lengthy.

Very listenable and smooth, but too comfortable musically. While this record dives in a lot more personally than November and Chasing Summer, the album tends to meander and doesn't offer tons of musical diversity. The features are all showing out, though.

Another step back from Thank U, Next lyrically (about on par with Positions). This album is super smooth with mostly great production, but it kind of masks some iffy verses.

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.

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

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

Half of it is super creative. The other half I could do without.

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

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

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.