I’m starting this as a much lower maintenance, and far more topical, replacement to my old daily music thread, with each new album I rate. Besides my favorite tracks off each album, as well as any 10/10s (as I very rarely hand those out), I’m keeping my ratings to myself, writing a brief review for each of the albums instead. If I listen to a single I give an especially good rating to around the same time, I’ll also add it as a bonus.

Because of the lower maintenance nature of this post, I’m not going to link directly to any albums; I apologize for the inconvenience.

2/16/25 | Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers#

(Reviews prior to this point were made based on an old Topster. The dates shown are not accurate to when I listened to the album and, unlike future reviews, will be made in chronological order instead of reverse chronological order.)

I need to listen to more Kendrick Lamar.

When he makes something good, I love it. When he makes something I don’t enjoy, I still respect it, but I struggle to listen to it. This is an album that featured both of these in equal amounts, though even the low points were still strong. What shines through in this work, however, are the layers upon layers of storytelling at work in the album as a whole, as well as each individual track; in my case, a few tracks I wouldn’t normally like I paid more attention to because what was going on was so clear and meaningful. Either way, I’m going to remember this experience for the better.

  • Kendrick Lamar - United In Grief (10/10!)
    • I heard this one before I heard the full album and fell in love with the beat immediately. I’m only promoting this to a 10/10 now in context of the rest of the album. It’s enrapturing.
  • Kendrick Lamar - Mother I Sober (10/10!)
    • Kendrick’s storytelling at its finest. It’s such a hard contrast to something like United In Grief or N95 that fits with the theme of the album and presents a profound message.

2/16/25 | Cosmograph - WE ALIVE#

I was expecting not to like this album nearly as much as I ended up liking it, but I actually ended up liking the second half of the album consistently better than I liked the first half. I’m surprised by, save Fevertime and the remixes, how consistently good my ratings were. As a whole, this is a profound demonstration of how varied Cosmograph’s style is, and I liked pretty much everything I heard, even down to the intermission that bridges both of my favorite songs off the album.

  • Cosmograph - The Midnight (9/10)
    • This hits a weird soft spot for drum and bass for me that I know I will continue to go back to. It’s generally very uncluttered, yet the neuro drums still shine.
  • Cosmograph - Dreamer (EXTENDED) (9/10)
    • The gap between this and The Midnight is the half of the range of songs I would call a 9/10, but they’re still equal by rating. Lots of energy outside of the drops.

2/16/25 | femtanyl - CHASER#

I’m disappointed that I didn’t love this one as much as all the other weird queer people I know do. I have to wonder if I think it tries to hard, or it takes doesn’t take what I like about the genres and works that inspired it. Not to say I didn’t like it, of course; I think the highlights of this album were still quite good, while the lowlights were singular (MURDER EVERY 1 U KNOW!, just because I hated the vocals). It’s worth a listen.

  • femtanyl - P3T (9/10)
    • This stands head and toes over the entire rest of the EP. Profound sound with a weight behind it unique among femtanyl’s discography.

2/16/25 | ericdoa - DOA#

I liked dancinwithsomebawdy a lot and thought I’d like the rest of his work as well, but by no means did that desire manifest. Most of the album is alright at best, but not incredible enough for me to come back, with a few exceptions that still feel too “pop” to make me fall in love more than a casual glance.

  • ericdoa - dancinwithsomebawdy (8/10)
    • I’m surprised ericdoa didn’t channel more of this with the rest of the album, but I honestly can’t be mad. It’s got weight and it’s got a unique and fun sound; what’s more to love?
  • ericdoa - imcoolimgoodimstraight (7/10)
    • A very fun to listen to track with an inoffensive sound.

2/16/25 | Justice - †#

I feel really bad for I’m about to say knowing all the Justiceheads I do, but I don’t really need to defend it either because what I didn’t like off of the album I genuinely found grating. From hard to listen to sampling to Newjack making my ears feel like they’re being microwaved, there’s a lot of awkwardness in this early work that I can’t bring myself to like. Sure, there was a highlight, but there was also a lot of the album that just didn’t have any reason to stand out to me. I wish there was more for me to get into here.

  • Justice - Genesis (8/10)
    • A very engaging track that takes a lot of different sounds and implements them in an interesting, fun way.
  • Justice - DVNO (7/10)
    • This would’ve been the easiest 8/10 of my life if the vocals were any better to listen to; instead, the drops sounded incredible and the verses felt so, so different.

2/16/25 | Charli xcx - BRAT#

The trans women in my life have been begging me to listen to this one, and honestly, I don’t really get it as much as I thought I would. Either I loved a song enough to take it away from the album as its own thing or I just ended up not liking it at all; in two cases, these songs are back to back in the tracklist. It’s inconsistent in many ways, and honestly, it didn’t feel good to listen to at the time; as much as I expected that, I was left disappointed regardless.

  • Charli xcx - Everything is romantic (9/10)
    • Every time I listen to this song, I just fall in love with it again and again. The sampling is tasteful and the production work is some of the finest off the entire album in my opinion, with both of the main sections having such a different sound to them that is incredibly refreshing.
  • Charli xcx - Club classics (8/10)
    • A track that knows exactly what it wants to be and executes incredibly well. I enjoyed it a lot.

2/16/25 | Scott James - Un#

I’m glad I experienced this.

Compared to Shelter Island Heights, the sound of this album is so distinct and jarring. The emotion of each song can be heard from its production just as much as the vocal work, and every song, enspecially the ones I ended up loving each have such a unique air to them. I’m mad this album wasn’t easier to listen to from an actually finding it perspective; music like this deserves to be preserved.

  • Scott James - Ballet (10/10!)
    • If I never listened to this song five years ago, one of my headmates might never have manifested.
  • Scott James - 2 Months Ago (9/10)
    • I don’t know exactly how to describe this one in a way that sufficiently represents it. I feel it. It’s only as long as it needs to be to communicate what it needs to and does so incredibly.

2/16/25 | Scott James - Shelter Island Heights#

Compared to the two tracks off of this that I heard well before I heard the rest of the album, one of which became an earworm for me not long after I listened to it again after a long time, the rest of this tracklist as a whole doesn’t compare. That’s not saying that much, all things considered, as half of those tracks still stood out somewhat profoundly to me.

  • Scott James - Ropes (9/10)
    • XXXTENTACION has good taste.
  • Scott James - Fourth Leg (9/10)
    • This song was an earworm for me not that long ago. I used to downplay it often, but it’s got a very profound sound to it with a stable progression.