Against The Current - In Our Bones

Against The Current’s long awaited debut record In Our Bones is finally here! The band’s five-year growth has finally led up to their first record from Fueled By Ramen, and brings up the electronic influences to create a slightly poppier sound than previous releases while still maintaining the core pop-rock vibe.

The first thing to note about the record is the appeal. It’s definitely an Against The Current release, it has the core elements of the band written all over it, but, perhaps by the hands of Fueled By Ramen, has a lighter approach to it. No giant guitar bridges are present and the electronics and Chrissy Constanza (up there for cutest frontwoman out there) seem to take a more important place on the record. The music seems to be more of a backing to Chrissy instead of all of them being equally important, as past efforts seemed to do. The electronic influence is definitely something much more prevalent in the album, most evident in songs like ‘Forget Me Now’ with its synth intro.

While electronics are now a major component of the tracks, there are a lot of raw moments on it. Title track ‘In Our Bones’ is an acoustic track backed by strings, piano, and guitar, lacking any overarching presence of electronica. That being said, the song is pretty cheesy, while still being sweet. Stronger songs like ‘Wasteland’ blend the elements of both ends of the spectrum together into a massive track, filled with atmosphere and giant guitar punches. The vocals also remind me of Bea Miller, for some reason. Intro track ‘Running With The Wild Things’ also has a similar punchiness that perfectly hypes up the record. Some songs take a more safe path, ‘Runaway’ working off the classic formula of U2 with powerchords in the verses and sweet riffs splashed in delay. 

Chrissy crushes it with her stellar vocals on this record. Her vocals demand attention with their confident belting and fullness. Her melodies are fantastic, ‘Blood Like Gasoline’ being a prime example of a great melody that compliments the instrumental wonderfully. ‘Chasing Ghosts’ highlights the strength of her voice, really showing off her great range. The verses take it slow and mellow, while the choruses explode with soaring notes. 

As much praise as it deserves, this album paves the way for the band’s follow up to it. There’s a lot of room for improvement. One problem with it is that it almost feels like the album is having an identity crisis, as if it can’t tell whether it wants to be a pop rock anthemic record or one fit more to a comfortable radio-friendly sound. It doesn’t take many risks, which is, perhaps, to be expected of a debut, but after being in the game for half a decade, the band should be ready to try some different tactics. Some songs on the record just find themselves contradicting themselves in ways and defeating their purpose. ‘Roses’ has a sad but sweet meaning to it, but that meaning is lost with how happy the instrumental is. It’s not even that there’s a strong optimism to the subject, it’s just a misplaced mood of the instrumental to the lyrics. ‘Demons’ is a pretty standard song, but as a record closer, lacks a sense of finality that would end the album on a high note. It feels like another song you’d find in the middle of the record and skip on a casual listen. 

Debut records always make or break a band. Luckily, In Our Bones is a pretty solid starter for Against The Current’s career. It struggles within itself to find its own purpose as well as compromising some of its songs’ own meanings, but part of evolving is learning from mistakes. The band’s follow up will show whether or not they harbor these faults or correct them. There’s a good amount of time before that LP comes around, and luckily, this record has plenty of jams to keep that time gap filled.

Favorite Tracks: Wasteland, Blood Like Gasoline, Running With The Wild Things

Least Favorite Track: In Our Bones

Rating: 7/10

Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

“Badass” is probably not the first word that comes to your mind when discussing Ariana Grande, but her new album may change that. Dangerous Woman is a confident, huge pop record that brings good-girl Ariana Grande to a whole new level.

The album begins almost deceptively. ‘Moonlight’ opens the record on a sweet key introduction followed by gooey vocals and light orchestration. This song is almost lullaby-esque, a quiet and sweet introduction to the album. ‘Moonlight’ doesn’t exactly embody the whole “danger” factor of the album’s title. It has some great vocal work and is by no means a bad song, but it doesn’t go with the record. After ending on a plethora of harmonies, the badass kicks in with ‘Dangerous Woman’. It starts similar quiet as the song preceding it, but explodes into a confident and threatening track. Ariana has some amazing belts throughout the track, especially at the end of the track, which is just fantastically huge. Ariana has lots of amazing vocal moments on the record: ‘Leave Me Lonely’ in particular, as a whole, is a stellar vocal performance. ‘Greedy’ is another stellar song on the record, which is driven by huge amounts of groove and soul (complimented by the giant harmonies on the track). Not to mention, the song is pretty much how my girlfriend and I act about our time together (I love you, Halli!). Ariana isn’t afraid to get a bit dirty on this record, either; ‘Touch It’ brings a personal and sensual touch to the end of the record, while ‘Everyday’ explores love as a drug (or just drugs in general, it’s pretty hard to tell with this one). The guest spots - which, honestly, I expected to be awful - weren't half bad, either. Nikki Minaj and Future both held their weight on their tracks, and in style. Future was actually interesting, for once! It's a miracle!

The downfall of this record is that amidst all of the great moments on it, more than half the tracks just have nothing going for them. Every track is different and infectious in their own right, but there’s just no big punch to them that, as a record that is to exude confidence and strength, just don’t help the album progress. The latter half of the album has a bunch of bland songs, including the closing ‘Knew Better / Forever Boy’ and ‘Thinking Bout You’, which was perhaps the worst decision for the album. Those songs are just so bland and average, it ends an album that started so strong on a disappointing note.

Dangerous Woman is definitely a big jam of a record, despite its shortcomings. There are lots of huge pop bangers on it that will dominate the airwaves soon enough. If only the album was more cohesive in its theming, could it be a real statement. Every track has it’s own charm (whether it be the cheesy guitar licks in ‘I Don’t Care’ or punchy chords of ‘Bad Decisions’) that gives this album personality, though. It can’t be faulted. It’s a good record, but no masterpiece.

Favorite Tracks: Dangerous Woman, Greedy, Touch It, Into You

Least Favorite Tracks: Knew Better / Forever Boy, Thinking Bout You

Rating: 7/10

Issues - Headspace

There isn’t anyone that sounds quite like Issues does. Their self-titled debut record from 2013 set them on the course of success, landing them on big tours and a developing cult fanbase. Their follow up record Headspace shows their growth from their first album, and while is overall more creative and diverse, has a small lack of cohesiveness that, at times, makes the album more left-field than it needs to be.

Right off the bat, you’re dropped into ‘The Realest’, a groovy, jazzy, djent-influenced banger. You might have to question whether or not this is the same band from their first record. ‘The Realest’ has so much color and groove, and it just overall so definitively different from their other material, it’s a real refresher for those going in expecting their scene trends to skyrocket with their sophomore release. The trend of originality doesn’t last long, though, with ‘Home Soon’ feeling a bit safer. It feels like they tried to capture the sound they had trademarked and flip it up with more soul and the progressive vibes of ‘The Realest’, the transitions between verse and chorus feeling like to lack cohesion and sound almost detached. ‘Lost-N-Found (On A Roll)’ has a similar problem, though it isn’t detached, it still sounds too safe.

Remember the mention of the scene sound not skyrocketing? Well, that wasn’t entirely true. There are some very cringey songs on this album that try way too hard to sound edgy and relatable to the stereotypical scene teenager. Even the title of ‘Yung & Dum’ is so cringey (which speaks for the rest of the song) that you can tell that the band tried way to hard to be rebellious. ‘Flojo’ has so much nu-metal angst in it, though the chorus is pretty groovy. Interestingly enough, the band’s DJ Scout Acord even contributed vocals here, though it really doesn’t add much. In other spots, they seem to have sacrificed quality for the “wow” factor, such as in ‘Blue Walls’, which is, admittedly, a huge heavy jam, but the guitar riff is as far as the song goes. The heavy factor took place of the quality of the track.

Negatives aside, this album does have its fair share of great moments. ‘Coma’ is basically the quintessential Issues song. Fantastic and driven instrumentally, with samples thrown in there to cover the nu-metal side of their sound. Tyler Carter and his fantastically soothing and pure voice create epic verses and choruses, and Michael Bohn even takes a stab at clean vocals in the pre-chorus before delivering his brutal screams in the absolutely massive bridge. ‘Someone Who Does’ continues with the wonderful melodies found scattered throughout the album, before the album concludes with the combo of the out-of-place instrumental ‘I Always Knew’ (that just doesn’t transition well into the final track) and ‘Slow Me Down’, which closes the album on a huge note, the instrumental being massive and the bridge having a particularly great melody.

Issues have definitely come a long way from their self-titled album. There were some pitfalls in this album, but nothing that can’t be grown from. This album would’ve been near perfect had the bad tracks (theme-wise, such as ‘Yung & Dum’) been replaced by meanings with more substance. Issues need to hone their ability to write stronger songs, since they have their sign down pat. The only growth from here is maturity, and they’re already on the steady road there. This band has big things in their future.

Favorite Tracks: Coma, Slow Me Down, The Realest, Someone Who Does

Least Favorite Tracks: Yung & Dum, Flojo

Rating: 7.5/10

Skepta - Konnichiwa

Skepta’s fourth full length LP, Konnichiwa is the first grime album I’ve seen that has taken notice outside of the U.K. Grime has been on a roll lately, the term becoming known throughout hip-hop worldwide now. Skepta’s newest album is a fine piece of it, though it also shows that it has room to grow.

Kicking off with the album title track ’Konnichiwa’, the album begins with an almost stereotypical Japanese scene that actually makes sense in the context of the song - the readying of swords is akin to the sharp verses of the record. The song itself actually bashes stereotypes, even further accentuating the theme of the song. The album itself seems to be a big metaphor for the prejudice of the genre and the struggles within an artist, the pressures of which are seen in the skit at the end of ‘Corn On The Curb’. The instrumentals and moods of the record demand your attention, especially in tracks with grand instrumentals and strong assertions like ‘Shutdown’ and ‘Man (Gang)’. There are little colors splashed in the instrumentals too, like the demanding brasses in the background and the rough orchestras found in ‘It Ain’t Safe’.

Unfortunately, there are not many praises left for the record. The problem with this record, and grime in general, is that at some point, everything starts sounding the same. The beats becoming predictable and uninteresting by the time the second half of the album rolls around, the end of the album being good but bland. The guest spots on this album don’t really add anything, except for JME on ‘That’s Not Me’, which is actually pretty refreshing, since the rest of the either sound awkward (Pharrell on ‘Numbers’, for example) or the guests sound the same as everyone else on the track. And I just have to call this out: ‘Lyrics’ uses that obnoxious goddamn airhorn sample that successfully ruins the entire song. That is no longer a hype thing. It’s just dead.

Skepta’s newest album is a good representation of grime, which is good considering the album’s popularity. This may just be one of the world’s first big exposures to grime, and honestly, it’ll be hit or miss from this starting point. We’ll have to wait and see who follows suit to ride the rising wave of grime popularity this year. For what it’s worth, Skepta got it off to a good start.

Favorite Tracks: Man (Gang), Konnichiwa

Least Favorite Tracks: Detox, Ladies Hit Squad, Lyrics

Rating: 6/10

Melt Yourself Down - Last Evenings On Earth

2016 hasn't had enough weird yet. Melt Yourself Down is here to take care of that, with their newest album Last Evenings On Earth full of crushing bass combined with North African beats and jazzy spirals.

Right off the bat, we get some Lightning Bolt vibes with heavily distorted bass in 'Dot To Dot'. The song features frantic and tribal saxophones over a threatening beat paired with subtle electronics and huge demanding vocals. The wild saxophones run amok all over this record; 'Listen Out' and 'Body Parts' featuring prominent use of the instrument. Pete Wareham really outdid himself - the brass section on this album is killer. Vocalist Kushal Gaya lends his voice in a strong way. A lot of the vocal performances on the record sound bewildered and entranced, as if the music was backing some sort of ritual. Some of the lyrics are near nonsensical, at that, too. I'm not quite sure what language 'Yazzan Dayra' is written in (if it isn't gibberish). 'Big Children (Gran Zanfran)' sounds like French to me, but don't quote me. The vocals are as diverse as being sung in different languages! The percussion features a lot of tribal beats and even steel drums and bongos to add color and authenticity; 'Bharat Mata' and 'The God Of You' make good use of the North African vibes in the percussion. There are subtle electronics hidden throughout the track, except for standout track 'Jump The Fire', where electronics are brought to the forefront of the track. The electronic sound actually lends itself really well to the brooding and bouncy instrumentation of the song. It's probably the most normal sounding song on the record, which is saying something as it's still a pretty weird song!

Melt Yourself Down is pretty crazy. Their avant-garde jazz/tribal fusion is something that no one has ever quite heard before. Grand instrumentation fused with thick tribal beats and fat brasses give the album an interesting and unique sound that has much space for growth and forming a niche. The album does go a tad overboard with how fanatic it is, but that's part of doing something like this. There's no art without a little insanity.

Favorite Tracks: Jump The Fire, Dot To Dot

Least Favorite Track: Listen Out

Rating: 7/10

Pierce The Veil - Misadventures

If Hot Topic was a genre, Pierce The Veil would be at the forefront of it. The cult band’s long-awaited fourth album Misadventures is probably just what you’d expect from the group: the most cliché, trivial post-hardcore sound you could imagine.

You’d think after being in the game for a decade, Pierce The Veil would have matured in sound, or at least found a firm standing. But no, they’re still as scene as ever. But maybe that’s just their style, developing the scene... scene. This album won’t be doing it any favors, though. It begins promisingly with the guitar arpeggios of ‘Dive In’, but as soon as Vic Fuentes’ vocals kick in, all hope is lost. While the vocals are pretty bad, I have to give credit where credit is due. My only gripe with the vocals really is his tonality; the melody and harmonies are pretty good here. The instrumentation, too, isn’t half bad, if not a bit overly-flashy. It becomes apparent as soon as the chorus kicks in, though, that this album was horrifically mixed. Yes, the instrumentation might be passable, but the mixing gives it no meat, leaving it feeling empty and lacking of any punch.

After the intro, every redeemable feature just goes down the drain. It is followed up by ‘Texas Is Forever’, possibly the worst love song written this entire year. The title makes no sense, either. Lead single (released almost a year ago, at that, too) ‘The Divine Zero’ is horribly cliché, and is just plain uninteresting. The band seems to not be able to write anything original, as seen by songs like ‘Circles’. It’s all been done and said a million times before, which isn’t a bad thing, but the band does nothing to make their pieces original and separated from the rest. In fact, the album gets off of trying to make themselves sound like heavier versions of better bands; ‘Floral & Fading’ is like a terribly mixed, heavier Weezer song. The album’s just horribly bland... by the time it gets to ‘Today I Saw The Whole World’, the album is worse than boring.

The album, for what it’s worth, starts well and ends well, too. Closing out on the only other redeemable track on the album, ‘Song For Isabelle’, was probably the best thing this album could’ve done. It’s not even that great of a song, but its a fresher after the blandness of the rest of. A sweet love song, that, yes, is cliché, but sweet in the cheesy kind of way. If only Fuentes’ vocals were better and they didn’t try to make is a dark and heavy jammer in the bridge (in which they failed in doing), this song might actually be good enough to give the album a single song to go back to.

I can’t say I’m at all surprised that this album is my least favorite of the year. And honestly, I didn’t expect anything more. I knew going into it that I would be faced with top-brand, Hot Topic-core garbage. It tries so hard to sound sincere and emotionally, but it really just isn’t. Let’s hope by their next album, they find something to cling on to to make their sound tolerable...

Favorite Tracks: Dive In, Song For Isabelle

Least Favorite Tracks: everything else

Rating: 2.5/10

Death Grips - Bottomless Pit

Sometimes the jarring noises of experimental and hardcore hip-hop outfit Death Grips can be uninviting. If you think that, you have a point. And it's not even necessarily wrong - they can be pretty uninviting. But once you move past the voice in your head screaming "NO!", you have a pretty unique listening experience with their newest album, Bottomless Pit.

If you know anything about Death Grips, you know what you're in for. Right off the bat, you're thrown into the raging ferocity of the beat in 'Giving Bad People Good Ideas'. The song starts off gently in the grand scheme of things with an a cappella intro before going in brutally with the rest of the song. Following the opening is 'Hot Head', which is near nonsensical. It feels like it was created specifically to just be crazy, the sheer energy of it being its redeeming factor. The album has some lyrically crazy moments too, unsurprisingly. 'Three Bedrooms In A Good Neighborhood' proudly exclaims "Gloryhole!" in its choruses, and 'Bottomless Pit' contains the intriguing line, "I fucked you in half." MC Ride's visceral vocal style definitely justifies these obscure lines, though. The latter of which is interesting in that, being the closing track on the album, actually sounds somewhat positive in a sense. It's huge and has giant distorted beats, just as previous tracks on the album, like 'Spikes' and 'BB Poison'. This album, as crazy and all over the place as it is, there are some epic moments. 'Houdini' in particular has a killer instrumental, almost futuristic. 'Trash' bares some synths very akin to those found on the latest album from Liturgy (though the track may just be a social commentary on the Internet, which kinda throws it off), and the synth from 'Eh' is also pretty fantastic. 'Bubbles Buried In This Jungle' is almost industrial with its instrumentation, too. The instrumentals of this album are definitely one of its highlights.

Death Grips is an interesting group of individuals. Whatever goes on through their minds is probably better left unquestioned. They seem to channel it through their music, though, giving the world a unique and jarring experience to enjoy (if that's the right term to use here). It's good to know their alleged disbandment in 2014 was just a temporary thing, though. The world needs some crazy. Let's just hope MC Ride gets his Subway sandwich before the next release...

Favorite Tracks: Houdini, Bubbles Buried In This Jungle, Eh

Least Favorite Tracks:  Hot Head, 80808

Rating: 7/10

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

It’s not easy to describe something so perfectly beautiful. Just as I fail to describe my girlfriend, I come to a loss of words with Radiohead’s highly anticipated ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool. The austere beauty of this album is something almost beyond comprehension - well, that may be an over exaggeration, but this album hits hard and sad. It’s tone is clearly sad, but it has that optimistic tinge to it that Radiohead does so well.

1) Burn The Witch - The album couldn’t have had a better intro if it tried. The opening strings and synths just bring you into the looking hole, Alice In Wonderland style. This song is actually an older one, pieces of which were teased a decade ago during the band’s live performances. The song’s symphony adds huge colors and layers to it, and is oddly invigorating in the context of the introduction track. Perhaps its the way the strings in the song like the innards of a clock coming to life and burst into action, or the badass choruses chanting “Sing a song of sixpence that goes burn the witch” that make the song sound so triumphant. It was the perfect hype-up song leading to the release of the esteemed LP9, and an even more perfect introduction to a legendary record. 9.5/10

2) Daydreaming - To describe this song in a short paragraph is like trying to write a college essay in a short and sweet thesis, and nothing more. This song is so magically and hauntingly beautiful that it stirs the emotions within you like a soup with thousands of ingredients. The somber and happy memories within you all come to fruition with this song. It won’t make you cry - it’ll do something that ultimately may be even worse: make you think. Click the link to read my full review of the track, because that’ll say a more worthy claim of my opinion than I can here. 10/10 

3) Decks Dark - The first taste of brand new music from the album had you listened to the singles. ‘Decks Dark’ begins with ethereal pianos and the verse kicks in with sweet piano arpeggios. When that bass kicks in, it’ll send chills down your spine, and then the rest of the band follows suit along with a haunting choir to back Thom Yorke’s cryptic vocals. A very chill song and quite laid back, but beautiful all the same. The bittersweetness of the song inches away from the heartbreaking ‘Daydreaming’ while still provoking the thoughts the song stirred up. ‘Burn The Witch’ gets you riled up, then ‘Daydreaming’ takes everything from the deepest pores of your body. The rest of the album explores those feelings and thoughts. 9/10

4) Desert Island Disk - Things take a folky turn with ‘Desert Island Disk’, another song that has been performed live before its studio version. Beginning with a warm acoustic guitar with an almost country twang, the song explores a sense of recollection, with lyrics like “Waking up from shutdown / From a thousand years’ sleep” provoking your attention. The song is relatively simple, the synths in the meat of it flowing like waves at just the right speed to stir up the same feeling of flow within you. It’s an interesting one, to say the least. 9/10

5) Ful Stop - The introduction of this track is almost creepy. The saxophony-synths harken back to David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ and are definitely unsettling if nothing else. All of this song feels pretty Bowie-esque, even Yorke’s vocal delivery. The tonality of the line “A foul taste of medicine” especially gives a Bowie vibe. The second part of the song builds up epically, guitarist Jonny Greenwood playing something simple that just sounds so dark, on top of the wails of Yorke and huge walls of synths and bass. The bass is just so crushingly awesome, and paired with the higher guitar synth creates a haunting contrast. This song will take you to a dark place if you let it. 10/10

6) Glass Eyes - Another song that begins with absolutely gorgeous piano. ‘Glass Eyes’ is like a little brother to ‘Daydreaming’. But that brother is going through their emo phase. While the prior had a certain optimism to it, this song is just purely sad. Beautiful piano topped with stunning symphonies elevate the crushingly sad melody of vocals consisting of lyrics like ”I just got off the train / A frightening place / Their faces are concrete grey / And I'm wondering, should I turn around?” and “The path trails off / And heads down a mountain / Through the dry bush, I don't know where it leads / I don't really care”. This song is stunningly sad, and as beautiful as it is sad. And it is quite sad. 10/10

7) Identikit - Another live classic, this one has awesome guitars backing it, giving it a great live presence already. Thom Yorke really outdid himself with melodies on this record. They’re just so beautiful. The backing vocals are especially haunting. As the song progresses, the guitar gets more and more awesome, building to an absolutely epic guitar solo to close it out. The only word to describe this song: awesome. 10/10

8) The Numbers - Awesome piano paired with groovy guitar open this one. This song was formerly known as ‘Silent Spring’, yet another live song performed in the past, albeit only acoustic (during the same performance as ‘Desert Island Disk’, in fact). This song is grand on a different level than ‘Identikit’, this time bringing strings to the forefront instead of guitar. The orchestra has the epicness of ‘Burn The Witch’, the song’s epic climax falls into layers of piano that tapper off into nothingness. Awesome. 9.5/10

9) Present Tense - More live classics - this album was definitely made, in part, to be a fan pleaser. The guitar and beat is almost funky, funny enough. The stunning vocals are just sad enough to keep you from shaking your hips. The vocal melody is great and the echoing vocals add distinct color to the track, on top of the Spanish twang. This track is just general chill. As far as provoking memories goes, this one makes you feel wanderlust. You just want to get up and run somewhere listening to it. Radiohead really left no stones unturned here. 9/10

10) Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief - Now, I will admit: I copied and pasted the title of this song. The origins of this song are very clear: this tweet. The band deleted all of their media presence not for promotion, but so all of the secrets of this album couldn’t be found before it came! Jokes aside, this track feels very Kid A to me. Perhaps the splashy beats that fill the track accompanied by dreamy synths and bluesy piano. It’s kinda off putting, but in the endearing Radiohead kind of way. You can’t have Radiohead without weird. It just doesn’t work. There’s some fantastic string work on this track, too. It is admittedly a little blander than the rest of the album, but it’s still a fantastic and haunting track all the same. 8.5/10

11) True Love Waits - This song. The world may have not been ready for this song. By far the oldest track on the record (performances date back to 1995 - that’s 21 years!), this song has had decades to grow and develop. The fan-loved ‘True Love Waits’ concludes this already near-perfect album, and so beautifully so. The somber piano accompanies Thom Yorke’s desire-filled vocals. The way the piano reverberates sends the soundwaves throughout your body (which at this point of the album, should have lost all sense of emotion - you’re at the beckoning of A Moon Shaped Pool now) and Yorke’s absolutely defeated disposition in his vocals will have you choking back tears. This song plays with your heart. It almost sounds like a send off, or a goodbye. The final words of the track aren’t even pleading as they should be; they’re like a final attempt at asking for forgiveness. Nothing more than a simple cry of “Don’t leave” brings the album to a close as brilliant pianos fill into a intertwined array of emotion. If this was Radiohead’s last album, they couldn’t have ended their career on a better song. A classic becoming a sendoff. That’s almost crushingly sad in itself, isn’t it? 10/10

No one crushes your soul better than Radiohead can. A Moon Shaped Pool is a truly beautiful album. It has an overall sad tone, but it goes deeper than that. Truly absorbing it will take you on an exploration of your inner mind, an elaboration of all of your past experiences. Guilt, regret, desire, and love are just a few of the emotions that will stir within you listening to it. Radiohead may have hit their magnum opus here. If In Rainbows had brilliant orchestras and the subtle electronics of Kid A and the rock vibes of OK Computer, you’d have this album. Perfection is the easy way to describe it. My girlfriend is perfection, so that’s where my standard lies (pretty high). But this album comes close to that. Pure emotion is beautiful in any form, and that’s what comes out with it. A Moon Shaped Pool is a classic, and will never lose that magic touch.

Favorite Tracks: True Love Waits, Daydreaming, Identikit, Glass Eyes, Ful Stop

Least Favorite Tracks: Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief

Rating: 10/10

Top Albums Of 2016 (so far):

1. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
2. Aurora - All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend
3. Panic! At The Disco - Death Of A Bachelor
4. Deftones - Gore
5. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
6. Foxes - All I Need
7. Daughter - Not To Disappear
8. Lacey Sturm - Life Screams
9. HÆLOS - Full Circle
10. Weezer - Weezer (White Album)

Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost

The whole emo “sing like you don’t care” scene is all the craze in punk today, and lots of artists are failing to find a niche within the sound and become just another whiny band. Modern Baseball escapes that cliché with their new album, Holy Ghost. 

Honestly, I categorized MoBo under that cliché before I heard this album, and I still standby that most of their material prior sounds that way to me (&I saw them live at Skate And Surf twice!). Regardless, this album was definitely a refreshing sound to sore ears. Beginning with the folky acoustic lo-fi ‘Holy Ghost’, the albums starts off on a sweet and sombre note. The good vibes kick in immediately with ‘Wedding Singer’, that builds on the sweet intro with an alternative rock drive to it and elaborates on the sweetness of the beginning. ‘Note To Self’ follows up on the vibes with a big summer vibe. Lots of the songs have that big sound with a taste of good feelings, such as ‘Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind’. The closure track on the record, ‘Just Another Face’ is a grand song to close on, triumphant all the while ending the album on a thematically pleasing way.

That isn’t to say there are some low points on the record. The sincerity of the track ‘Hiding’ is completely ruined by the murderous distorted drum sample that plays right in the middle of it. Do yourself a favor and turn your volume down for this one. The song builds softly with little tidbits in the background that just clutter up the song, and it would honestly be my favorite song on the album had it not been for all these rogue samples. The second half of the album barring ‘Just Another Face’ feels uninspired, as well; ‘Coding These To Lukens’ is dinky but lacks any substance, making it feel like a filler. ‘Breathing In Stereo’ is a strong punch to the face, but the energy is thrown off by the following tracks that have the same issue ‘Coding’ does.

Modern Baseball made a profound mark on the indie punk culture, and while I still stand by my original opinions on their back catalogue, Holy Ghost is definitely an all around great record. With the genre becoming more monotone with acts who fill the cliché, this album was a refresher. Perhaps it’s time to give them another chance.

Favorite Tracks: Wedding Singer, Just Another Face, Holy Ghost

Least Favorite Tracks: Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind; What If...

Rating: 7/10

Drake - Views

Somber summer vibes is what Drake’s Views is filled to the brim with. His signature good-boy flow couples nicely with over an hour of material found on the new album, but it does become a bit stale after awhile. Views was promoted as if it were his magnum opus, but it is far from it.

The album’s beginning is promising, ‘Keep The Family Close’ setting the late night, dreary scene of a lonely summer. The track may be a tad overdramatic, but it’s orchestration guides the verses into big brass punches near the middle that bring it to a new level of groove. ‘9’ follows up, falling short in that while the flow is good, it seems to lack any purpose. ‘U With Me?’ has a similar issue. Drake’s dreary images with this album are accentuated with songs like ‘Weston Road Flows’, a track with a great instrumental and good flow, while maintaining that somber feeling of walking through rainy streets alone. The song is another to feature the random, anticlimax of a jet engine sample. Several tracks have it tacked on to the end, building into nothing. Lots of tracks have a darker side to them, especially in the beat. ‘Hype’ and ‘Pop Style’ in particular having some dark vibes. There are, sadly, some complete failures of songs on the record, too. ‘Childs Play’ is almost facepalm worthy. ‘Fire & Desire’ feels boring and uninspired, especially being tacked onto the album that has repeated the same theme and flow through and throughout over the course of it’s 81-minute runtime. A lot of the tracks on the album fall into the average spectrum, such as bonus track and viral sensation ‘Hotline Bling’, that at the end of the record is a slight splash of new color but still doesn’t give the album what it needs: substance.

Half of the guest spots on this album feel wasted. Some, characteristically so, though. The PARTYNEXTDOOR collab ‘With You’ is a throwaway track, and the follow up ‘Faithful’ featuring Pimp C and dvsn is no better. Two of the stand out tracks, on the record, however, are highlights on the record. ‘One Dance’ with Wizkid and Kyla has a Spanish flair and generally good vibes, and ‘Too Good’ featuring Rihanna is one of the most down-to-earth and emotional tracks on the album. That’s the sound of hip-hop love. Surprisingly, the Future guest spot on ‘Grammys’ isn’t completely trash. It’s actually pretty good, which was a treat for someone who’s sick of him. 

Drake built Views up to be a massive summer banger, but instead made a chill, late-night drive through the city kind of album. The album isn’t inherently bad, it just lacks any meat. It’s full of fillers and light tracks, all similar in theme and flow that eventually becomes bland, with flashes of brilliance in between. There’s no meat in this album, just a single monotone feel. Drake lived up to the sound his cliché is, but failed to prove it wrong. It’s not a bad album, it just needed a proper direction that Drake just couldn’t latch onto.

Favorite Tracks: Too Good, Hype, One Dance

Least Favorite Tracks: With You, Childs Play, Faithful, Fire & Desire

Rating: 7.5/10