Album Reviews
Our staff reviews all the latest records
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"On Vulnicura, Björk invites you to glide as a ghost through her sadness. You can haunt her for an hour, floating disembodied through ruins too raw to describe with pretty words. There are no more emotional landscapes in this world, no sweeping cliffs or northern lights. There is only a woman, her child, and the partner who one day stopped loving her.” Björk, Vulnicura: A-
Album Review: Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans
#DriveByTruckers - #EnglishOceans Album Review Grade: B- "Musical diversity doesn’t need to be the name of the game for every song. Many of these just lack the immediate oomph that makes you realize how good the words being said truly are. If you disagree, talk to me in the near future. Perhaps I’ll disagree then, too."
Album Review: Rick Ross - Mastermind
#RickRoss – #Mastermind Album Review Grade: C "The main tenet of Ross’s Maybach Music Group is loyalty, and Ross is loyal to his fans on Mastermind: it’s more or less what we’re used to from him. It sounds like the album Ross wanted to make, as inspired by heroes like Dilla, and Onyx, and Wu-Tang Clan, and Biggie, and Camp Lo."
Album Review: Pharrell Williams - G I R L
#Pharrell Williams – #GIRL Album Review Grade: B- "You could argue that G I R L was always a destination for Williams, even when he vowed he wouldn’t make another solo record. Pharrell’s voice is still going to bother certain people, and it might get especially grating for them here, as when he takes it to its most fragile heights on “The Hunter”. They should get used to it right now, though, because they’re about to be hearing it more than ever."
Album Review: ScHoolboy Q - Oxymoron
#ScHoolboyQ - #Oxymoron album review: A- "The moral of Oxymoron, though, is that Q couldn’t have made a much better album being the rapper he is. It deserves the term “rap opera” more than most “rock operas” deserve theirs. It’s something special, just like it was always planned to be."
Album Review: Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo
#IsaiahRashad – #CilviaDemo Album Review Grade: B "The TDE member Rashad most resembles is indeed Kendrick, due to their similar vocal mannerisms and the on-your-side lyrical aesthetic both share with their listeners. (Reminder: No future recruit will ever rival Ab-Soul’s virtuosic sketchiness.) At any rate, Rashad sounds like he belongs. He’s touched down on his own terms, and he’ll be sticking around for a while."
St. Vincent Delivers Her Most Direct Album Yet: Review
#StVincent – St. Vincent Album Review Grade: A- "Also to blame for the mystery of St. Vincent is the 21st century, her own damaged psyche, computers, mysticism, and anything else that gets in the way of our relationships and our happiness. And though the lyrics seem to come from a fed-up point of frustration, the key to St. Vincent is that she overcomes the futility of relating to others."
Beck Awakens Wide-Eyed on the Glistening Morning Phase: Review
#Beck – #MorningPhase Album Review Grade: B+ "It’s an “ode to California music,” as Beck told Rolling Stone, and the album flutters along like a road map through 1970s folk and psychedelia, tackling its eclecticism with a colorful sort of competence."