Music & Sound
Album reviews, artist spotlights, and playlists — considered, editorial writing about music, not just reactions to it.
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J. Cole “The Off-Season” [Album Review]
Artist: J. Cole Album: “The Off-Season” Released: May 14, 2021 This album is a lyrical exercise. He lets his raps be the main instrument. He knows how to pace and deliver his vocals. A 12 track album, clocking in at just under 40 minutes, “The Off-Season” is an impressive body of work for such a nonchalant, throwaway title. applying.pressure–J. Cole comes to set the record straight. He goes on a tangent at the end about how he did it his way and in a way no one ever did before. punchin’.the.clock–an example of how his rap vocals “punch” the track. The rap element of hip-hop is front in center on…
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New Album: “Smiling with No Teeth” by Genesis Owusu
I came across one of the tracks (“A Song About Fishing”) on one of my new music Friday playlist’s and I found myself unable to click away from the song, as I was about to switch to some focused listening music for a studying session. But as I heard this track play out I clicked over to the album which I found out came out today (March 5th, 2021). I let that track play and then listened to the one right after (“No Looking Back”) and then the one immediately following that track (“Bye Bye”) since that was the last track of the album. These were a trio of mellow…
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MUSIC REVIEW: Glass Animals “Dreamland” Album; Saturated In Nostalgia like retro-tech, VHS tapes, 90’s technologies, it’s all there.
Glass Animals is a band that I am so happy to have come across my radar! Every so often you hear that track that instantly vibes with you from the jump. And then you want to take the time to find out who that artist is, what their story is, if they’re a new artist or do they have a back-catalog of music and just been flying under the/my radar, and what their albums sound like. From first hearing the track “Heat Waves” with the drop-base kick-in to lace with the subtly hummed melody at the beginning of the track, I knew that this track vibes with me on that…
