Top 10 Albums/Mixtapes of the Year (So Far…)
Six months of pride, confidence, and fun.
10. “Fever” — Megan thee Stallion
An uncontrollable fire. Houston native Megan Thee Stallion dwarfs her competitors. She scorches her way through 40 minutes of ass-shaking, money-making, empowerment bangers. Fever is a simmering concoction of scalding beats, galloping triplet flows, and blazing confidence. Megan is a woman with a pimp mindset. She knows exactly what she wants: her pussy eaten and other men’s money. The 5'10" bombshell flips between horny, seductive dirty talk and ego-destroying shit talk, with dominating ease. Megan Thee Stallion’s towering persona, paired with fiery Texas-influenced trap beats, brands its name on the rap game. Hot girl shit. (8.0)
9) “When I Get Home” — Solange
Solange is often compared to her iconic sister Beyonce; a comparison that is not only unfair but lazy. They ride in separate musical vehicles. Solange doesn’t seek the same pop mainstream appeal; she opts for a more intimate, entrancing, sometimes risky sound. When I Get Home cruises on spectacular cross-genre production; beats are a syrupy concoction of soft R&B, Houston hip-hop, lightly seasoned with trap. The project’s flow is impeccable; songs are linked with glistening interludes, A Seat at the Table-style. Solange Knowles is a euphorically proud black woman and is not afraid to proclaim it with a sensual, charismatic voice. The perfect R&B album for an icon on the rise, When I Get Home drives away from the mainstream, taking a melodic scenic route of personal, resonating authenticity. (8.5)
8) “IGOR” — Tyler, the Creator
See full review here. (8.5)
7) “SLI’MERRE” — Young Nudy / Pi’erre Bourne
Pi’erre Bourne is one of rap’s most highly sought producers, soundtracking the careers of Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty and many more. Young Nudy is an Atlanta trap rapper with a grimy, blunt approach to music. Nudy is unfortunately overshadowed by his grimy, blunt, chart-topping cousin, 21 Savage (who does make an appearance, along with Megan thee Stallion, DaBaby and Lil Uzi Vert). Both Pi’erre and Nudy have worked together in the past, but never on a full-length project. Sli’merre is impressionist trap. Pi’erre paints instrumentals with swirling, broad brushstrokes. The unique simplicity of the looping synths, dotted with signature high-hats is entrancing. The mixing is a work of art itself; ASMR-like audio panning covers the entire canvas. Nudy provides darker shades to the colorful, sunny production. His cutthroat rob-you-with-a-smile-on lyrics delivered with a slimy, pitchy cadence contrast wonderfully with the wavey beats. It’s an admirable commercial breakout. Sli’merre represents the genuine artistry behind “mumble rap” (a term for the uncultured white frankly). (8.5)
6) “Anoyo” — Tim Hecker
Tim Hecker, arguably the greatest ambient artist of all time, returns with yet another mesmerizing project. Working once again with a gagaku ensemble, Hecker elegantly merges synth-based ambient minimalism with classic Japanese orchestration. “Anoyo” translates to “the world over there”; it serves as a counterpart to Konoyo (2018) which means “the world over here”. The albums are meant to contrast. Konoyo is the world of the living. Anoyo is the world of the spirits; it is certainly a more haunting experience than its predecessor. Anoyo is a ghostly journey. One meanders through a misty forest, shaded by traditional Japanese woodwinds and taiko drums, as microtonal synths billow through the trees. Anoyo is a reflection of a somber world, devoid of concrete existence, replaced with transience. The music is a bridge between sonic islands, connecting distant cultures with spectacular grace. (8.5)
5) “Girl with Basket of Fruit” — Xiu Xiu
The artistic vision of Jamie Stewart and his ever-changing roster is basically post-music. “Experimental” doesn’t encapsulate all that Xiu Xiu has accomplished in their tense discography. The sheer emphasis on unpredictability has been the propelling force that Xiu Xiu has relied on for the last 15+ years. Girl with Basket of Fruit is the offensive Dada-esque culmination of years of being fucking weird. A maelstrom of percussion and sour guitar are put through a lo-fi shredder, then Elmer’s glued back together into a crude, rusty sculpture that the human mind vaguely recognizes. Lyrically, Xiu Xiu is at their darkest, most grotesque state, invoking the worst moments in human history, and it’s dramatic primal instincts. The vocals sound like drowning pigeons, whipped with a shrillness that lashes in horror at the listener’s sanity. Lovecraftian imagery: sickening, jarring, virulent, and existentially inexplicable. Girl with Basket of Fruit is a beautiful terror that can only barely be visualized. (9.0)
4) “Bartier Bounty” — Sada Baby
Sada Baby is an up-and-coming Detroit rapper, sometimes referred to as Skuba. At first glance, he appears to be another run-of-the-mill trap rapper; gang affiliation, bitch lover, braggadocio, and casual opiate addiction. However, Sada Baby is like a trap artificial intelligence; if someone fed all aspects of trap music through complex, coked-out algorithms, Sada Baby would be the Turing-test-passing entity that arises. Bartier Bounty by all metric should be generic, but Sada Baby finds originality within the familiar. Skuba is a comedian with a microphone, armed with extensive knowledge of sports, cartoons, and TV which he masterfully intertwines with absurdist levels of violent posturing. He’s hilariously disrespectful, spitting the most roasting of insults. Skuba’s sense of flow is masterful, dripping all over in-your-face instrumentals. Bartier Bounty, despite a few filler tracks, is a near-perfect trap album, that’s straight-up lit. It’s so much fun. It’s soooooooooooo much fun. A recent cosign by Danny Brown perhaps will result in well-deserved attention. (9.0)
4) “Titanic Rising” — Weyes Blood
Natalie Mering aka Weyes Blood dives into the past, so the present can rise to the surface. She worries a lot; relationship problems, climate change, inequality, and more. Her songwriting propels these themes with simple but poignant metaphors. Titanic Rising is an ethereal blend of baroque, dream and chamber pop. Vintage instrumentation bubbles with serene beauty. Lavish piano and synth arrangments wash over the listener, with torrential happiness. Thematically, the album is about nostalgia. Specifically, the unexpected sadness that comes with a sunken, unattainable past, coupled with a murky future. Weyes Blood captures a panoramic experience, with free-flowing ease. Simply put, it’s magnificent. (9.0)
2) “A Quiet Farwell, Twenty Sixteen to Twenty Eighteen” — Slauson Malone
Slauson Malone is the in-house producer for underground conscious hip-hop collective Standing on the Corner. A Quiet Farwell is his first solo project, and it’s an innovative, post-modernist undertaking. It feels insulting to call this a beat tape. One might call it a sound collage; it’s more like a genreless cryptic mosaic. Snippets of jazz, industrial, ambient, plunderphonics, noise and instrumental hip-hop are spliced into a cohesive, despondent reflection of our current societal woes. A Quiet Farwell embodies the nihilistic, often hopeless attitudes America reverts to as the Trump era rages. A sense of impending doom permeates the project as if the concept of music itself is deteriorating. A Quiet Farwell is an abstract stream of pessimism, that trickles into the nether regions of the psyche. (9.0)
1) “Flamagra” — Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus has forged a transcendental discography. The Brainfeeder founder’s psychedelic creations of IDM, electronic and instrumental hip-hop are fantastical universes of 4-D rhythm. Flamagra is another album of cosmic proportions, fraught with calculated risk. FlyLo’s previous efforts focused on ascension; Flamagra discovers the ethereal nature of life through introspection. It invokes a certain steampunk vibe; brass and metal are twisted into rickety, otherworldly structures, built by drum machines and synthesizers. FlyLo's trademark polymathic percussion precisely merge with organic, jazzy arrangements with astronomical synergy. Flamagra has an essential human touch; luxurious threads of neo-soul and funk are woven with artisan mastery. FlyLo uses A-list features like an award-winning director. The star-studded cast consists of Anderson .Paak, Little Dragon, George Clinton, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, Shabazz Palaces, Toro y Moi, Thundercat, Solange, and the legendary David Lynch; each is used with purpose and strength. Flamagra is an intricate film score, that progresses with simmering tension. Flying Lotus is a world builder and an all-time great producer.
