Despite all else seemingly failing, music is served as pleasant surprise. It’s been pretty good lately! While the rest of the world sits in isolation, the music world has been moving non stop.
Let’s just get right into it, as I guide you through some light during these exceedingly dark times. Below are some of the newer releases from the past few months that have been on heavy rotation for me!
Childish Gambino- 3.15.20 (album)
This drop was extremely random. With only a week of teasing, before it’s official release. It was leaked online for a few hours before Donald removed it for whatever reason. Now it has dropped officially (and stayed up)! Musically it’s very experimental, sonically closer to Because the Internet than Awaken My love, with a lot of larger electronic beats making the cut. Still a lot of RnB smoothness though that gets flexed in tracks like “24.19” It has some guest spots for 21 Savage, Ariana Grande, and SZA, while I enjoyed this project- a lot of newer fans might not.
The Weeknd- After Hours (album)
I was going to strictly write about how much I enjoyed this project, but so much music has been coming out I had to spread the love. Able comes with his best project since House of Balloons, with something for everyone on this album. I don’t skip a single track when it plays through, and it plays through well. The night starts with the slower tracks, “Snowchild” steals the show for a moment with some of his better lyrics, before a monster run of tracks from “Heartless” to “Save Your Tears”, it is perfect club music. For a while you couldn’t tell what lane Weeknd was trying to be in, but this is a pop album to me. Dark pop for certain but tracks like “In Your Eyes” prove he is the closest thing we have to MJ right now. He really did a phenomenal job on beat selection this album, “Repeat After me (Intrude)” and “Faith” being some of the best of his catalog. This is a perfect album, give it a spin.
Disclosure- Ecstasy (EP)
Can these boys do wrong? They had a beat placement on Circles with “Blue World” and they continue 2020 with more fire. The first three tracks on here are perfectly crafted, and layered, section after section. As they add and remove parts like mechanics, they’ve only gotten better as the years have gone by. If you don’t like “Expressing What Matters” and the beat switch up about halfway though, then I don’t like you.
Bad Bunny- YHLQMDLG (album)
Let me start this with a disclaimer- I do not know what is being said on any of these tracks. With that being said, I still know this man is snapping, I can just feel it in my bones. Bad Bunny’s character leads on a lot of these tracks, he does an amazing job of reflection in his tone when he sings, and “Si Veo a Tu Mama” is one of the standouts. And then on tracks like “25/8” he takes rap into his lane and succeeds tremendously.
Tame Impala- The Slow Rush (album)
Kevin Parker cannot miss. His fourth studio album is one of his best, under the alias of Tame Impala he has been crafting some of the deepest and most creative music made this decade, all while doing it alone. It’s hard to find a lane for the music he makes, it goes from alternative to experimental EDM, the guy has no boundaries. Tracks like “Breathe Deeper” and “Borderline” are the bangers, the dance like no ones watching and sing at the top of your lungs. He still though is an impeccable writer, songs like “Posthumous Forgiveness” and “One More Hour” are why he is regarded as one of the greatest living musicians we have left.
