Ty Dolla $ign: Campaign ALBUM REVIEW

West Coast crooner Ty Dolla $ign is on a campaign. Now, considering the fact that here in America we are currently in the process of determining who are next president will be (for better or worse), one might get the idea that this new album titled Campaign, might be about politics. Which it is.... for a few moments here and there. In fact, aside from the intro track, the track "No Justice" and a couple of skits on a couple of other tracks, there's literally nothing else on this album lyrically that give the impression that Ty wants to say anything other than "I have a lot of money and I sleep with a lot of women". Don't get me wrong, I think he does the latter exceptionally well, especially on this album, but I feel like it was a slight misstep framing this album as some kind of political statement, because it takes peoples attention away from just enjoying the music here, because this is some of the finest modern R&B music I've heard come out in a while.

I also realize that that last statement might make some people mad. Ty incorporates a lot of rap and trap styles in his music, plus his lyrical content is a bit crass, which may cause people to label simply as a rapper who sings, or some kind of features artist. But I think Ty on this new album is embracing, at least sonically, some more oldschool influences, which leads to some really classy cuts like "Stealing" and "Juice", both of which are incredibly soulful and smooth. And then there's my two personal favorite tracks (I just couldn't pick one), the Travis Scott produced/ featured "3 Wayz"; this track has such great production, probably Travis Scott's best work since Rodeo, and the hook here is stellar as well. Then there is "Zaddy"... slow jam of the year, that's all I'm gonna say.

And for the most part that's how this album operates, gliding from one smooth R&B track to the next with the occasional rap track here and there, which aren't bad either, especially the grimy "???(Where it's at)", and to mention the track "No Justice" again, this track is not only the albums strongest political statement, but it is a fantastically produced track as well, really powerful stuff.

Alltogether I'd say that this album is great, aside from a few stumbles here and there, such as the obvious filler of "R&B" and the somewhat redundant "Clean". And hey, I think in such times of extreme political tension, maybe Ty's campaign is to give us an album to let us all relax and vibe out to?

9.0/10

Touche Amore: Stage Four ALBUM REVIEW

Death is a hard thing to deal with. It not only leaves a hole in the lives of the people who knew the deceased, but it also causes the people closest to the departed to not only realize their own mortality, but also brings the idea of an afterlife to the forefront of the mind. This is the conflicted and chaotic world that lead singer Jeremy Bolm found himself in after Halloween of 2014, the night he lost his mother Sandy to stage four cancer.

This is Touche Amore's fourth full length album, and it is their best for sure. Musically, it is their sharpest, with a lot of great guitar leads and big, gorgeous choruses such as on the opener "Flowers and You" and the fantastic "Water Damage". This is the same band that came together with the fantastic, Is Survived By in 2013, only now they are even more focused and are now operating in peak conditions. But I have to be honest and say that this album on a musical level is simply overshadowed by how intense and awe-inspiring the lyrics are.

I'm going to get my two main gripes out of the way now, so I can spend the rest of this review properly praising the finest vocal performance I've heard all year. One, the clean vocals on here are too low in the mix, and while I wasn't too hot on the almost spoken word vocals of the track "Benediction" they have grown on me. Two, some of the instrumentals run together, especially on the shorter tracks, although it's not too much of a problem, because that just means your full attention will be on the vocals.

Now for what is easily the best part of this LP, and what could possibly be my favorite vocal performance of the year, Jeremy Bolm. In short, this is the kind of album that is so good, but is also incredibly hard to listen to, because it just has such heavy subject matter, and Jeremy's lyrics are so incredibly sad. But at the same time, this album sees him going through his emotions in a cathartic way, by screaming at the top of his lungs, and putting his pain to song, something that he and the rest of Touche Amore have been doing for a while now, but Stage Four describes such a fresh pain, and you can feel it in every note and every heartbreaking lyric. I don't want to go into too much detail or quote any of the lines here (I would have to post them all to do this LP justice), because I don't want to rob anyone of the experience of listening to this album deeply, paying attention to every word closely; it is quite an emotional journey, one well worth taking.

This is some heavy stuff, but the arc that this album goes through is one of this years finest musical moments, and it has confirmed this album a spot on my end of the year list for sure.

9.2/10

DJ Khaled: Major Key ALBUM REVIEW

DJ Khaled is a meme. At least, nowadays he is, and he likes it that way. Back when he was first putting out tapes, he was simply a producer who would shout his name at the start of every track, and he just so happened to have some pretty big hits in him too. However, with the power of snapchat and Youtube, Khaled has found popularity on a whole other level, and on his last album I Changed A Lot, it seemed that was all he had to offer, because was an album that was pretty bare in terms of quality tracks, even for Khaled standards. But, now with his meme popularity in full swing, it seems as though Khaled found his inspiration, and it has resulted in his strongest LP yet. I would even go as far as to say it is one of the best "Summer Blockbuster" albums we've gotten in a few years.

Though I'd be remiss to neglect the fact that the middle of this album devolves into utter drivel, especially on the overly long, feature packed "Do You Mind" which sees Chris Brown being even more creepy than he usually is. And I don't honestly know who cleared the track "Pick These Hoes Apart", and not because of the subject matter. This track is just so bereft of anything appealing musically that it sounds like a B-side from a Khaled album from nearly a decade ago.

But luckily, about 70% of this LP is fantastic. I especially loved tracks like "Holy Key" and "Work For It" featuring verses from Big Sean that are... *gasp* actually good! Plus, the world is blessed with another awesome Kendrick verse, and I loved the passionate gospel vocals on the hook of "Holy Key". There are even great (and I mean great) tracks from Drake and J. Cole; not exactly something I was expecting from a DJ Khaled album, but I'll take them anyway.

Even NAS and Jay Z sound great on their tracks here, both bring clever rhymes and Jay even does something original with his off-time flow on "I Got The Keys", which is something I didn't think he had in him anymore.

Sure, there are a few duds here, and I think the LP could have ended a lot stronger, but  I can't deny that I had a ton of fun with Major Key. Summer rap at it's finest.

7.3/10

Crystal Castles: Amnesty(I) ALBUM REVIEW

Back in 2010, you couldn't be on an 'indie' music website without at least hearing mention of Crystal Castles. This was of course after the release of their incredibly popular and successful sophomore LP, one that I and many others enjoyed quite a bit; however, the band took their sweet time with the follow-up, and unfortunately the result was an album that had brief moments of good, overshadowed by a complete lack of ambition. The duo seemed to have lost the spark that got them going in the first place, so, as they should of, they decided to call it quits... than one half of the duo, Ethan Kath (producer) decided that he wasn't done with the project, and with the help of a new lead vocalist Edith Frances have put out a new full length titled Amnesty(I).

Long story short, this album is not good.

And I really could leave the review of their if I felt like it, because this LP gives fans nothing new whatsoever, and in fact, often gives the listener less than the previous album which was sorely lacking in great tunes to begin with.

The album kicks of with the Trap-influenced "Femen" which could have been pretty good if the beat wasn't just skittering around for the entire duration, or I don't know, skittered in an interesting way? Then we get a couple decent tracks with "Fleece" and easily the best track here, "Char". Though I'd me remiss to say that these tracks are anything other than passable, and don't feature some of the most 'edgy' goth synthesizers I've heard in a long time.

In fact, that was the impression I kept getting while listening to Amnesty(I); that I was simply listening to a band that formerly, was making eerie, yet catchy dance tunes that were legitimately skillful, instead opting for the laziest allusions to 'darkness' I've heard all year.

And the production on here is pretty laughable too, which surprised me, because even on the duo's last album, he still proved to be at least a decent enough producer, though his tendency to bury the vocals was present on that album as it is here in full force. In fact, I can't tell that there's a new vocalist here at all, and not because she is just as good as Alice Glass. No, it's because I can hardly make out anything she's doing buried under all the effects and wonky production moments that range from bare bones to an assault of my ear-drums... it's really quite shameful, honestly.

The album goes from passable to un-bearable on tracks like "Sadist" and "Teach Her How To Hunt", the former of which ambles about for nearly three minutes before apathetically fading out, and the latter presents a completely worthless bit of filler on an album that is only 33 minutes to begin with.

Again, this album is not good, and I really can't recommend it to anybody, not even long time fans, because you deserve a lot better than this. Sadly, another CC LP that I won't be returning to.

3.0/10

Young Thug: Jeffery ALBUM REVIEW

You may recall that I reviewed another Young Thug release earlier this year. That LP, Slime Season 3 was, in my opinion a fun little album that was good for kicking back and zoning out, but I'd the first to point out how that album was mostly Thugga just sticking to his guns and doing what he does best. But now we have Thugga's third release this year, the hilariously named Jeffery, and album that not only has a ridiculous title and album cover (though I low-key really dig it), but almost every track here is named after someone, for instance the opener "Wyclef Jean" is a reggae influenced cut that seems to take inspiration from the titular artist, despite not featuring him (he instead shows up on the closer, "Kanye West" oddly enough).

Does this tie into some kind of concept? No, not really, in fact really none of the tracks here save for the aforementioned track and the song "Future Swag" even have anything remotely in common with their namesake. Instead it simply seems that Thug chose this naming convention to simply get peoples interest, which it certainly did.

Luckily, aside from all the weirdness that surrounds the project, the actual music here proves to be possibly Young Thugs best work to date. Not only do we see Thugga trying out some new styles like the tracks "Wyclef Jean"and "Guwop", both of which are a lot more melodic than what was seen on Thugga's past work, and in my opinion, his singing voice has never sounded better; case and point, the incredibly seductive "RiRi" which an absolutely killer hook that just melts on your ears. But we also get to see what is possibly Thugga's most aggressive performance as well with the track "Harambe" where he sounds like he gargled mercury before stepping into the booth, but it still manages to work and be very enjoyable.

The only track I didn't especially was "Floyd Mayweather" which has a decent beat, but it just goes on to long and aside from Gucci Mane and Thugga himself, none of the verses here are all that great (sorry Travis). However, if you go ahead and buy the entire album, you do get the great single "Pick Up The Phone" which actually features a really enjoyable Travis $cott verse/ beat and features my favorite member of Migos, Quavo, who absolutely steals the show with his verse.

Overall, this is a very strong release from Young Thug, I can only hope that this translates into a full length that is as refreshing and satisfying.

8.3/10

Carly Rae Jepsen: Emotion Side B EP REVIEW

Canadian songstress Carly Rae Jepsen first made it big with her ubiquitous single "Call Me Maybe", a track has been grating ears for the better part of the decade. And while I mostly find the song to be a mostly harmless bit of pop fluff, it did make Miss Jepsen a sensation overnight; however, recently with the release of her criminally underappreciated 2015 album, Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen has decided to pretty much leave modern pop conventions off the table, instead opting to embrace the finer parts of 80's synth pop scene. That album, and subsequently this new B-sides EP, both bring to mind the likes of Whitney Houston and provide the kind of music that pays homage to the ere, without stealing from it wholesale. And while I think that Emotion is a great album (a shame I didn't get a chance to dig into it until early this year), I have to acknowledge that there are some less than stellar moments throughout its track-listing, but I have to say, Side B manages to remedy that by being an even stronger release than its A-Side counterpart.

Right from the start this EP is on a high note, from the Whitney infused "First Time", the bombastic and absolutely anthemic "Higher" and perhaps my favorite moment, the anti-commitment anthem called "The One" which coyly rejects the advances of someone by basically saying that they can do all the things that lovers do, but she simply will not commit, because it is "Too much pressure", which is sort of refreshing considering that most songs that we here with this sort of theme see the singer reassuring the listener that they will someday find the ability to settle down, but  Carly Rae simply states it how it is, and does it with a splendidly funky bass synth grooving behind her.

Of course, there are some more typical lyrics her, such as on "Fever", which is probably my least favorite cut here; not bad, but it is really the only track on this EP that really does feel like a 'B-side' whereas the rest of the tracks here simply feel like tracks that just weren't ready for Emotion.

The album then winds things down with some slower moments, such as "Cry" and "Roses" which is a surprisingly dark track, considering the rest of the material here, but she still manages to fit one more bright, upbeat moment with the quirky "Store", which helps round out the end of the EP.

Gotta say, I wasn't expecting this EP to wow me as much as it did, but there is the strong possibility that this will end up on my end of the year list; it is really that great, and proved to be the best way to end the summer.

9.0/10

Schoolboy Q: Blank Face LP ALBUM REVIEW

It's been nearly three full years since I reviews Schoolboy Q's last full length LP, Oxymoron: an album that I have grown to love even more since its release. That album was just so grimy and hard edged; basically the opposite of what mainstream rap is in this day and age that I couldn't help but admire it. And upon hearing the first single from this new LP, "Groovy Tony" I was ready for another album full of tracks about the gangsta lifestyle, but maybe with a concept wrapping it all together. And for the most part, that's exactly what Blank Face LP delivers; though the album does also dabble in the kind of jazzed out productions that made Kendrick's last project so refreshing, and to be fair, Q doesn't do a half bad job at getting the same results, though here, it seems like more of a play at bringing in the 'conscious rap' fans that usually scoff at Q's straight up, no frills gangster posturing and subject matter.

However, without a doubt, this album is a truly great followup to Oxymoron, and easily features some of Q's best tracks to date. To mention "Groovy Tony" again, in the context of the album, it has been expanded and paired with another track "Eddie Kane", and seems to describe a character that is a stone cold killer; there's even one line here about this character hugging someones mother, looking over her shoulder with the titular 'blank face', that is truly chilling. Then there's the track "John Muir" which could possibly be a bit more autobiographical, but still hits just as hard. Then there are the more, I don't know, laid back thug songs? You know the kind of stuff that made an album like Doggystyle equally appealing as a journal of the Crip lifestyle, and a great album to put on at parties. Tracks like "Big Body" which actually features members from Tha Dogg House, and "WHateva U Want" which has another bumping beat similar to "Big Body".

And the albums diversity doesn't stop there, because the aforementioned Jazz heavy tracks find there way here, such as the short "Lord Have Mercy" or the Anderson Paak. slathered "Blank Face" which barely even has Q on it, making it maybe my second least favorite track on the entire album, next to the sort of sleazy "Overtime" which does have Miguel... but also has some of the worst lyrics on the entire album. But luckily the album ends on an extremely high note with "Tookie Knows II" which seems to state that all of the character portrayed on the album, despite some of them finding solace in lifestyles outside of gangs, are destined to return to it, because of peer or even societal pressure.

Unlike say an album like To Pimp A Butterfly, there really isn't a light at the end of the tunnel for this album, but I think that's what makes it so important; I think listeners need to see that not all rags to riches stories are glamorous, and the person underneath all the success is the same person who was selling dope before they got rich. Whereas Kedrick's album found self-love to be the key to escaping ones demons, Blank Face seems to be about embracing ones demons, and making the best of life, despite how messed up it is.

In the end though, this is another great LP from Q, and may in fact be his best work yet.

8.5/10