We’re back! Apologies dear readers, but we’ve been busy with some personal circumstances. Let’s pick things up right where we left off. This week, I’ve got another four albums for your listening ears. There will be three new albums from the past week (on a monday to monday basis) and one classic album we’re celebrating the anniversary of.
If there’s an album YOU want to see covered that we missed (or a review that you disagree with) write a review of your own and submit it right here!
Event Beat – Holy Fuck
6.1/10
Desperate for some good indie after Tame Impala turned his back on quality? Look no further than the latest from Holy Fuck, a slightly edgier take on the genre.
This record is not so bad, but I struggle to name anything that I really love about it. The bass is fun and jumpy and has a nice tone. The guitars sound nice too. The mixing is also very consistent.
It’s the classic psychedelic indie sound that was huge in the mid-2010s and while there are genres that I’d rather listen to, there’s certainly a lot that I would turn down for something like this. Some more interesting delves into the edginess that is initially presented with such a band name and album cover would be pretty nice. I mean, that album cover looks like we’re gonna be listening to industrial rock.
I’d give it a listen if you’re into this sound, but I don’t think I’ll ever revisit this record. Quality though.
Bully – Kanye West
5/10
No, you’re not misreading that. I actually didn’t even plan to cover “Bully” this week. If you know Kanye, you know that he’s incredibly inconsistent with his release dates and this album itself has been delayed several times over. Now, I love Kanye. I’m of the opinion that his graduation trio is perhaps the best three-album run in hip hop history, and that his 2010s outings like “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and “Yeezus” are incredible in their own right. Hell, I even like “Donda”.
I was terrified to listen to this album. Kanye, or “Ye” as he likes to be called now, is a known supporter of AI-generated music and has used AI before in the 2020s. He has claimed that there is no AI on this album and for the purposes of this review I’m going to choose to believe him. There’s also his other most recent albums to look at.
“Vultures” and “Vultures 2” released as ¥$ with Ty Dolla $ign featured some of his absolute worst songs ever, and the singles leading up to this album were, intriguing to say the least. “Hitler Ye Jesus” and “Gas Chambers” were sort of mediocre, “Free My Kids” was bad and “Diddy Free” was terrible. I kid of course, none of these songs had official releases but if he was considering releasing an album (which would have been called “Cuck”) with even one of these songs titles on it, I have reason to be scared.
I’m here to report that while much of this album was the same washed-up Kanye that I expected to hear, there were a few tracks that actually caught my attention and if Kanye can stay on this path, I’d expect a return to form in the future. Delusion? Perhaps.
There’s a lot here that harkens back to all of Kanye’s different eras. Tracks like “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” utilize spacey autotune while ones like “PUNCH DRUNK” feature sped up soul samples. It’s no surprise that the tracks that emulate the College Trilogy’s style are the best ones.
“PUNCH DRUNK”, “WHATEVER WORKS”, “SISTERS AND BROTHERS” and a few others have fun soul chops that felt so great to hear.
The drums are pretty stripped back, so all you’re left with is Kanye’s rapping. His lyricism has always been a toss up for me and here it’s no different. Lines serve their purpose but there’s nothing insane that stood out to me. You do see some classic Kanye bangers with lines like “Now they want the tea ’cause it’s pipin’ hot, Life gave me lemons, made an Arnold Palmer on the rocks”.
My main problem with this record is that it’s just pretty boring a lot of the time. Yes, there are highlight tracks but the vast majority of it is too empty for my liking and the few parts that are highlighted aren’t exciting or interesting enough to make up for it. I can name a few tracks that I like, but the rest of the album borders on being essentially a total waste of time. The first couple tracks where Kanye tries to do something more electronic sounding are all pretty bad. “THIS IS A MUST”, “ALL THE LOVE (feat. ANDRE TROUTMAN)” and “KING” are all super generic and again– feel like a total waste of time.
There’s a few interesting features here too. It’s not “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” with Bon Iver, GZA and that heavenly Rick Ross verse, but there are some eye-catching names. The biggest is a Travis Scott feature on “FATHER (feat. TRAVIS SCOTT)”, another nothingburger of a song. Don Toliver appears and does nothing, and Ceelo Green of all people is here and totally ruins “BULLY (feat. CEELO GREEN)” with an obnoxious chorus.
Really, there’s no reason to listen to this album other than the few cute singles like “WHATEVER WORKS” where he still does not even come close to his peak. This album is far more listenable than either outing as ¥$ and its peaks are around “Donda” quality. However, the low points are really boring and probably not worth your time. Let’s hope that this is a step in the right direction for Mr. West and he can get healthier and make an even better album than this. Hopefully before we never see him again, anyways.
The Comeup – smokedope2016
7.9/10
There’s no doubt we’re seeing a second great wave of cloud rap. Inspired by the dreamy production style of the 2010s (yes, the “Cloud” does not come from SoundCloud, it comes from the feeling you’re on a cloud) artists like fakemink, Bladee and SpaceGhostPurrp have all had high-quality outings from the 2020s that both comfortably mimic the production style of days gone while putting a modern twist on it.
Smokedope2016 is in my opinion, one of the better artists to come out of this wave. His lyricism is fun, his beats are floaty, catchy and all around enjoyable and moreover there’s great production quality.
This album is the final part of a trilogy of records from the past few years consisting of 2024’s “The Comeup”, 2025’s “The Peak” and now “The Comedown”. This album is in my opinion the best out of all three of them and his best album to date period. The beats are really fun and utilize a fun mix of electronic sounds that go great with his autotune and the simplistic drumming.
A lot of the songs do sound samey. That’s not to say it’s a problem. It’s repetitive, yes, but I never found it a huge problem. The small differences in flow and various synth leads in the chorus and hooks are noticeably different enough that you can pick songs out from the collection.
My only real criticism stems from this. His flow is a bit repetitive in my opinion, though this is sort of a minor nitpick and more of an issue I take with the genre, rather than smokedope2016. Overall, it’s a really fun album and I can see myself returning to it from time to time. If you like any kind of hip hop, it’s a fun, nostalgic trip to a different decade and it’s undeniably pretty good.
Madvillainy – Madvillain
9.3/10
The 2000s were an undeniably turbulent time in the hip hop world. Throughout the years after 9/11 and before the decade change, albums and albums and albums came in force and changed not just the hip hop world, but the music one in its entirety.
As luck would have it, two of America’s most powerful hip-hop voices of the decade turned loose to release music into the hearts of men.
If you know hip-hop, you know MF DOOM. Simple as. There’s a reason why so many people call him “Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper”. His influence is undeniable both during and after his time. His run from 2003-2004 features four albums across four different aliases and each one is uniquely phenomenal. His best of both this run and his entire discography is “Madvillainy”. This quality is mostly due to the support from master producer Madlib, who lends his support.
MF DOOM’s lyricism is off the charts in almost every caliber. Every bar is dense with multiple rhymes lined across thick, dense schemes that never leave you wanting more. References range from cartoon superheroes to real world systemic issues but no matter what he’s rapping about, there’s never any shortage of genius in the writing. Look at the first song “Accordion”. It’s under two minutes long, and pretty much every line is a classic. Phenomenal penmanship like “Slip like Freudian, Your first and last step to playing yourself like accordion” and the ever iconic “Living off borrowed time, the clock ticks faster, That’d be the hour they knock the slick blaster”.
“Operation Lifesaver a.K.A. Mint Test” is about an attractive woman who has terrible breath. “Fancy Clown (feat. Viktor Vaughn)” is a diss track by MF DOOM against one of his alter egos, Viktor Vaughn. At the same time, “Strange Ways” covers colonialism, and “Meat Grinder” is about a pimp taking advantage of a young woman with mental issues. These scattered themes do a lot for the album, and it provides the feeling that you’re listening to some abstract collage of thoughts and beat ideas.
Daniel Dumile, the man behind the mask, has such an inordinate ability to sound natural in every single flow he puts up. While there is certainly a distinct style that is his own, every song on this record feels totally different with unique rhyme schemes and patterns. Faster songs like “Raid (feat. MED)” are a showcase in how to stuff as many lines as possible into a shorter amount of time, whereas slower ones like “Curls” or “Accordion” allow Dumile to have fun with the lines, stretching them out and even occasionally singing them.
His ability to variate flows would mean nothing without unique-enough sounding beats to rap over. Thankfully, not only is MF DOOM a master at beats in his own right, but Madlib is here to offer his support. The two are obviously great in their own right, but together the two of them put up what’s probably the greatest collection of hip hop instrumentals of all time. Second only to Daft Punk, the two utilize samples in a way that is mind blowing. “Raid (feat. MED)” alters a 3/4 time samba sample into a 4/4 beat suitable for rapping. Cartoon clips line the interludes between songs, sometimes accompanied by video game sound effects.
I can’t say much more about this album. In my opinion, there’s only a few hip hop albums that are better than this one ever, and even in the next decade or two, I assume it’s going to stay that way. At only 46 minutes, you’re taken on a playful yet cryptic, deadpan yet exciting, mysterious yet quirky and all around bizarre adventure through the world that two of hip hop’s greatest created. Just remember, all caps when you spell the man’s name.
