Hi, everyone! Remember when I said March was busy? Well, I may have outdone myself last month… April was even crazier than I expected. My website has taken a complete turn for the better, as I have been constantly networking and interviewing musicians like crazy. I never would have thought to get as many interviews as I did. Despite having a lot on my plate for the site last month, I still made time to listen to a solid bunch of albums.
ALBUMS I LISTENED TO/MY OPINIONS:
Lush- Snail Mail
I’ve heard a couple of singles off of this record already, but I did not listen to Lush in full last year. This was the debut release of the teenage singer Lindsey Jordan, and I’m disappointed that I didn’t check this one out last year. If I could edit my best albums list of last year, I would definitely make a spot for this. While I love a lot of the sounds on Lush, Jordan’s superb songwriting is probably the real standout. I think this new, younger generation of songwriters are going dominate the charts because they’re at such a ripe age to be speaking about their experiences. Jordan talks about unrequited love, heartbreak, and many other teenage and young adult topics. Ballads like “Pristine” and “Heat Wave” are great examples of what I’m talking about. If you read the Genius annotations for any of those songs, you’ll get a rich and detailed explanation for each line in a song. All in all, this record really showed off Jordan’s potential as a singer/songwriter. I am now very inclined to buy tickets to her show when she comes to Cleveland, and I hope she keeps releasing amazing stuff in the future! 9/10
Ventura- Anderson Paak
This is Anderson Paak’s second release in the last 6 months, the other being Oxnard in November, 2018. While I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of that project, Ventura was a voyage into pure R&B rather than him putting so many West Coast elements into it. The production and instrumentals were pretty crisp, and a definitely a lot better than Oxnard. Songs like “Make It Better” and “King James” could be considered some of Paak’s best songs in a while, but I still feel like some of the tracks could have been sharper- or scratched altogether. As previously mentioned, Paak’s strength is in the production and instrumental side of things. I had no complaints about any of the sonic aspects of this album. My criticism is that he’s much weaker when writing some of his own tracks. “Winners Circle” and “Chosen One” still seemed very lyrically empty compared to a lot of other songs on this record. Despite a few hiccups, Paak has definitely shown improvement from Oxnard. 7/10
Fishing for Fishies- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Two years removed from dropping 5 amazing albums in a year, the Aussie rockers seem to have quickly plummeted from their apex with this latest album. I found this album actually kind of plain from the rest of their catalog, and was really lacking a lot of that classic King Gizz feel. I think the bluesy and boogie influences on this album just weren’t great style choices for them. Some might argue that trying their hand at folk music on Paper Mache Dream Balloon was far-fetched, but I was actually a big fan of that record. I noticed that a lot of the instrumentation was not as diverse as their previous records, and the production feel was a little boring and not experimental. That’s been the ethos of King Gizzard since the beginning. If I had to pick one song (and probably the only one) that I enjoyed the most, it would probably be “The Cruel Millennial”. Other than that, most of the tracks couldn’t grab my attention. I’ve been a huge King Gizzard fan for a while, but I’m disappointed to say that this album just completely missed the mark for me. 3/10
Grey Area- Little Simz
I had heard good things about this album from a variety of sources, so I figured I would sit down and check it out. I was actually pretty impressed with what Simbi was putting out on this album. I’ve never been much of a UK rap fan myself, but this record had a pretty solid sound. The grimy production and samples were fresh and were pretty well-compiled. Grey Area definitely seems to take influence from more rock and roll instrumentals, as many of the bass and drum lines sounded very like a lot of Brit hard rock from the 60s and 70s. A lot of her rhymes were very sharp and in-your-face; it was pretty atypical of anything I’ve heard in the rap game in quite a while. I will say that was a refreshing change. At the same time, her more mellow tracks were just as solid as the hardcore ones. Songs like “Offence”, “Wounds” and “Pressure” were some of the big players on this one. Overall, I really liked Grey Area’s sound, as it seems really ahead of its time for the time being. There were very marginal complaints on my end, and should deserve a great score from any critic. 9.5/10.
Hi This Is Flume- Flume
This year, Flume will be headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago, so seeing new music from him was inevitable. I decided to give this record a listen, hoping it would be a solid release from the Aussie producer. I will be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Sure, it’s got that glitchy and techy production per the norm, but HITF left me disappointed. His remix of “Is It Cold In The Water?”, “How To Build A Relationship” and “Spring” were the only real highlights off the album. The other 75% of the album was just quick and sporadic interludes. I guess it is considered more of a “mixtape”, so it made sense to put them on there. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get into a lot of them, and I wish I could have heard some more amazing full-length tracks such as the ones I previously mentioned. All in all, I felt that this mixtape lacked the same charm Flume has had on his past releases, and I was hoping to see a lot more musically from a producer I really enjoy. 5.5/10
SONGS OF THE MONTH
One- Swedish House Mafia
Story 2- clipping
This Life- Vampire Weekend
People Everyday- Arrested Development
Borderline- Tame Impala
Make It Better- Anderson Paak
Leather Symphony- Flatbush Zombies
Pressure- Little Simz
lovely-ryoga
The Devil's Dancers- Oppenheimer Analysis
Hope you guys found some great new stuff to check out from this list! Thanks again for reading this article, and more great stuff is on the way soon!
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