Latest Reviews

Viral TikTok sensation, Stephen Sanchez has dominated the internet over the last few months. His breakout 2021 single, “Until I Found You” is a song you can neither deny, nor hide from. Fast forward to now, Stephen seems to be working towards his first full length LP since his 2022 release, Easy On My Eyes. For this upcoming album, titled Angel Face (a title shared by a 1953 American noir film), Stephen has built a time machine for his listeners. Under the guise of an early 1960’s Pop Rock album, Stephen is telling a story of two fictional characters, ‘The Troubadour Sanchez’ and Evangeline. Based on the singles, cover art, and marketing, Stephen is borrowing the aesthetics from one of the greatest eras of music. That era being, late 50’s and early 60’s Pop Rock, be it Elvis Presely or The Beatles. The album art depicts the story’s two main characters. The framing, colors, even down to the text fonts used, reflect all the traits of a classic black-and-white romance film, or a dusty record you might find in your grandmother’s old vinyl collection in the attic. This past week, Stephen Sanchez released the third single for this upcoming time capsule of an album, “Be More”. 

Jorja Smith is a name that has swirled around my corner of music for quite some time now. Having been featured on numerous A-List Hip-Hop albums (Drake’s More Life and Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther The Album) as well as having consistent fan overlap with Hip-Hop in general, the English R&B artist has been hard to miss. Though I haven’t dug deep into her catalog yet, I’ve never felt more motivated to do so. Last week saw the release of “GO GO GO”, a single from her upcoming album, falling or flying. It is… powerful, to say the least. 

Killer Mike released his opus, MICHAEL recently. This album is saturated with features, visionary production, and little to no bars wasted. Though Killer Mike is half of the legendary Hip-Hop duo, Run The Jewels, this album is a completely solo venture. The standout track for me is definitely the hypnotic, “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS.” This song is almost an assembly of the Avengers. With Killer Mike at the forefront, this track brings together Future, Eryn Allen Kane, and none other than André 3000. Future of course, is one of the pioneers of Trap music and has been a genuinely large voice in Hip-Hop for over a decade now. Eryn Allen Kane is a Blues musician with an ethereal voice. Lastly, the man who is widely considered to be one of, if not THE G.O.A.T., André 3000. André is half of a legendary Hip-Hop duo himself, hailing from the incredibly influential OutKast. Though the world has begged for an André 3000 album, that we’re still unsure as to whether or not it exists, he has given us feature after feature for a few years now. André has this deplorable tendency of entering a track, and stealing the show from whoever the headlining artist is. Whether it be Frank Ocean, James Blake, Kanye West, or Anderson .Paak, André just can’t seem to share the spotlight when he decides to grace us with a verse. 

Less than two weeks ago, Post Malone released his fifth studio album, AUSTIN. Surprising to me, just a week later, he released AUSTIN (Bonus). This “bonus” version of the album features all 17 tracks from the previous release, plus a brand new track entitled, “Joy.” While I have yet to listen to AUSTIN, my search for new music led me to this song and within the first few seconds, Posty earned my attention. 

Alright peeps, jump into your dancing shoes and get ready to move because we're diving into the electrifying world of "One in a Million" by the dynamic duo Bebe Rexha and the EDM maestro David Guetta.

Blindside by James Arthur is a real gem of a song that takes you on a journey through some deep feelings.

“Death Wish” is both the intro and the leading single to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s new album, Weathervanes. This new album is the first full length LP from the band since 2020’s phenomenal record, Reunions. Though there was a cover album entitled, Georgia Blue that was promised to fans if the state of Georgia voted blue in the 2020 presidential election, Weathervanes is the first collection of new songs from Jason in quite some time. Such a return could not be more welcome. Jason Isbell (pronounced Is-BULL) is known for his eloquent song writing, his deeply Americana sound, and his not being afraid to either get personal, political, or downright depressing. This new album is no different, “Death Wish” being not just the album’s intro, but among some of Isbell’s greatest works. 

Certified Hip-Hop legend, Nas and veteran producer, Hit-Boy have been on a constant run of releasing nearly two albums a year, for three years straight. Starting with King’s Disease in 2020, the duo have yet to slow down. So far, we are on our third album in the King’s Disease series and two weeks ago, Nas and Hit-Boy gave us a sequel to 2021’s Magic. This new album, Magic 2, is another great addition to Nas’ already stellar discography, and further establishes Nas as quite possibly the rapper with the greatest longevity in the history of Hip-Hop. Truth be told, Hip-Hop, culturally, seems to have always been synonymous with Nasir Jones. In fact, Nas draws an interesting parallel between himself and that of Hip-Hop on the track “Bokeem Woodbine” where he says, “Hip-Hop 50 celebration, funny we the same age and / We just keep on getting iller, word to Heavy, word to Dilla.” Nas and Hip-Hop being the same age just goes to show how both have grown together, and molded one another. Hip-Hop is everything that Nas breathes and his influence on artists of every generation is undeniable. Nas is likely in your favorite rapper’s top 10, if he isn’t already in your’s. Nas is the only rapper whose career was born and bred in the 90’s and is still releasing consistently in both quantity and quality. As Nas says on “Abracadabra,” “2020, when we did the first one / Five album run, not a cursed one, it's a blessed one / By the time y'all hear this, we’ll be half way through the next one.” Nas and Hit-Boy are producing more supply than we knew we could demand. And I’m all here for it. When it comes to exhibiting his longevity, Nas’ lyricism has stayed top notch, his flows are becoming more creative, and his subject matter stays interesting. One way to truly understand just how far we’ve come on an artist’s journey, is when they take a step back and reminisce on his or her career. There’s a few cuts on this record that do just that, “Slow it Down” and “Pistols On Your Album Cover” are great examples of such. However, my favorite is the 8th track, “What This All Really Means.”

If you’re like me, “In Your Love” might be your first introduction to Tyler Childers. But it’s a welcome one. “In Your Love” is the first single from his upcoming album, Rustin’ In The Rain. It was released just a few days ago with a music video starring Colton Haynes and James Scully. While the song itself is fairly vague and gender neutral, the music video depicts a romance between two male coal miners in the 1950’s. Their occupation may not come as a surprise to those who are familiar with Tyler Childers and his music. Tyler was born in Kentucky and his father was a coal miner. Culture and industry in the Appalachian region, as well as the prevalent issues in those communities, are discussed and explored often in his music. So much so, that all the proceeds from his 2020 album, Long Violent History went directly to Childers' Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund which supports underserved communities in the region. In the music video, we are offered a glimpse into some of the lethal consequences of coal mining including “black lung disease,” a disease that coal miners often develop overtime due to exposure and inhaling of coal dust. Furthermore, Tyler intentionally chose to depict a gay romance because he was inspired to do so by his gay cousin who also grew up in Kentucky, worked as a coal miner, and has had a very close relationship with Tyler. When describing the inspiration behind the music video, Childers (in reference to his cousin) said “He taught me so much about singing; he was my first tough critic. And just thinking about him not having a music video on CMT that spoke to him.” 

The name Dominic Fike is likely familiar to a lot of people because of his recent contributions to both the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack as well as the Barbie soundtrack. Due to this, though I find it surprising, I believe some people may have missed his most recent release. Dominic Fike is an artist that I don’t often listen to. I have several friends who are always sending me his music when it comes out, and I always listen. Furthermore, I always end up being impressed with his projects, What Could Possibly Go Wrong in particular. He’s ambitious, creative, a skilled song-writer, and incredibly entertaining. For whatever reason however, I have yet to consistently return to his music. A few weeks ago he released Sunburn and I feel foolish for ever having been so neutral regarding his work. With only a 39 minute runtime, Sunburn is an extremely accessible listen. Such a unique and pleasant experience all begins with its opening track, “How Much Is Weed?”