D’Angelo – Voodoo [Virgin 2000]
Context-wise it was situated as the apotheosis of the Soulquarian movement, which was a group of some thirty-ish genius stars and session players who injected their revered 70’s funk and soul with modern digital rhythm, mostly dusty hip hop and stitched together samples. As for the progression of the work, D’Angelo seems to have more firmly put his melodic sensibilities towards the rear – this is a rhythm forward, cosmic, damn near amniotic collection of very funky and very Black sounds. There are moments of darkness that give way to bursts of stacked vocal choirs who fade away as a warm bassline remind the listener that there’s peace even in fear. In terms of subject matter it’s difficult to pin down, there’s some love, some torch burning, and some politics, but the pleasures remain in the flow and the flourishes, small vocal or horn tickles or an electronic scale slide. Nourishing to those who need it. 4.5/5
Amyl and The Sniffers – Comfort to Me [ATO 2021]
If you hadn’t peeped the joke, the band is named after the gay sex drug colloquially known as “poppers” which outside of its carnal uses is categorized as a euphoric. Being pub-punkers in the time of COVID means that they’ll be considered both primitivists and a nostalgia act and for sure both can be true but so is their euphoria. Amy Taylor is a basement show everygirl who gets lonely and horny and angry without ever diving into the deep rage and machismo that bands of this sound-type typically articulate. She demands the freaks to the front and tells some lucky crush of hers to fuck her with joyful abandon even as she begs the bouncer to let her into the bar that she’s probably too visibly shitfaced to get into. She’s not much of a singer per se, putting her spin on the kind of sing-talk that’s taken over all the post-punk from their Commonwealth motherland, but the warmth she and her boys put across in their noisy guitar-based tunes proves more substantive and therefore smarter. 4.0/5
Gorillaz – Demon Days [Parlophone 2005]
The ending of Blur and Damon Albarn’s already established working relationship with both American alt rappers and UK hitmakers allowed him here to create his magnum opus on environmental apocalyptic anxiety during the Bush years. In our current age where things like hyper pop and post emo exist as their own natural feeling sound palettes, Gorillaz sounds still very much like a mashup of potent separate genres like pop, alt rock, hip hop, electronica, and gospel that come together in a cubist arrangement where everything is still visible in origin. In other words you can hear the drum machines or guitar notes and think “oh yes that’s from 90’s boom bap” or “that might be a Pavement rip off” instead of the sounds blending more holistically into a gestalt. It’s melodic and mournful; full of anxiety at the violence of the 21st century and uncertain of the planet’s survival and yet it’s exceedingly vague. There’s even a Dennis Hopper spoken word story that somehow manages the very British move of scolding imperial resource extraction against a helpless-yet-connected-to-nature indigenous people. A moment? Certainly. A movement? Decidedly not. 4.1/5
KC & The Sunshine Band – The Best of KC & The Sunshine Band [Rhino 1990]
Drunkenly coming home from some party in an uber and what’s playing? “Boogie Shoes”. The very large screen at the center of our middle-aged male driver’s Toyota suggested that out of all things he was listening to the radio. A bit funky, a bit disco-y, and was that a whole brass section backing up the male tenor with female accompaniment? Curious, I took note and quickly Googled whatever band was making these classic funky sounds and I was surprised to find that I knew “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” as why wouldn’t anyone with a pulse, but then you realize that you know not only that but “Get Down Tonight”, “That’s the Way (I Like It)”, “Keep it Coming” and maybe one or two more if your parents liked the coked up 80s stuff instead of the qualuded out disco stuff. Normally I’m not a greatest hits guy but when something so succinctly sums up a band and a moment that seemed to just keep pumping even on their deeper cut hits, it’s worth basking in all of its roller rink/wedding reception treats. 4.0/5
Amyl and The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness [Virgin 2024]
Whereas on Comfort to Me Amy Taylor & Co were about love, sex, and appreciation for the bohemian/alt subculture that they’re a part of this is some cruder stuff. I mean, “teenee eenee weenee bikeenee”? “jerkin’ on ur squirter punk”? “it’s doin’ in me head”? And a noticeably strained voice. Pounding drums and bass-y riffs aside, sounds like writer’s block to me. 3.4/5
Lip Critic – Theft World [Partisan 2026]
With a Danny Brown flow and a Death Grips sound palette these four white NYCers have quite some rage to them, and quite some sense of humor. As members of the fertile noise scene in that city, naturally neurodivergent vibrations hit the pleasure center at the same rate as the percussion speeds up. That is, it’s fast and loud with an intensity that will make a decent amount of the general population squirm with discomfort – credit given where it’s due to the not one but two drummers working the rhythm. Lyrically it seems to be about social disillusionment more than an attack at any specific system though it’s so cryptic it could give Cedric Bixler-Zavala a run for his money. In all, a mosh pit opener to blow off some steam to, and a good one at that. 4.0/5
KNEECAP – FENIAN [Heavenly Recording 2026]
Darker and less warm, less laddish, less carefree after legal persecution for making a free Palestine claim that could be seen as incendiary by imperials, they keep the tempo up and the Gaelic flowing. 3.5/5
Feeble Little Horse – bitknot [Saddle Creek 2026]
Similar to the last one in its vibe, like a humid morning in late spring but with noted tightening up of the rock song writing. The layers of synths can be heavy but ethereal while the guitars change between loud electric crunch and simple acoustic strums. Lead singer is Lydia Slocum whose conversational style of singing invites the listener in with an affability that her lyrics reflect when she feels like it. Not quite sad enough to be melancholy, not quite angry enough to be a source of catharsis. 3.5/5
My New Band Believe – My New Band Believe [Rough Trade 2026]
Ex-Black Midi bassist is angry, baroque, and pastoral. Wish there were some songs instead of art soundscapes. 2.7/5
Dr. Yen Lo + Ka – Days With Dr. Yen Lo [Pavlov Institute 2015]
Madvillany this ain’t. 3.5/5
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend [Island 2025]
Hot on the heels of her breakthrough Carpenter seems like she’s capitalizing on an effort to establish herself as more than just a passing blonde in the wind. And like last time she’s sexed up and funny, she knows that her subject matter’s richest vein to mine is deconstructing the girl-next-door trope by looking like one but regaling tales of men being outrageous or bad to her. Only then she’s so horny she finds another. All with an early 20th century wardrobe aesthetic to throw mild scandal at convention for just how often she says “fuck”. What makes the collection of 12 songs in 38 minutes work so well is threefold 1. How she balances deadpan with lyrical winks to the audience for how terrible some of the subject matter is 2. Her melodies remain embedded in the skull whether verse or chorus. 3. The production team of her, Jack Antanoff, and John Ryan make well-polished midtempo music with just enough retro flourish to align her with the gay men and teenager girls that make up pop’s most influential audience. 4.0/5
Cosmic Hero 