Brief Encounters: New Albums 12-16-22 – 12-22-22 Reviewed
HERBERT – Ab-Soul – the TDE performer’s first album since 2016 is another great album from the former Black Hippy, though something of an also ran next to Kendrick he is a boom bap fan but modern day OGish hard rapper and one of the best – A-
Sincerely For You – Jacquees – the self proclaimed King Of R&B will have a hard time to sell it on this average follow up to his Cash Money breakthrough, generic to a fault it is still pretty bloody minded for r&b – B
Only The Family – Lil Durk Presents: Loyal Bros 2 – Lil Durk is the king of Chicago drill, Only The Family are Chicago MCs with a bad, bad attitude and the sound is variant drill beats trap beats – B+
Avatar: The Way of Water – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – adding insult to the injurious movie itself, it is all incidental music except for a nothing special Weeknd track – D
Take me home – PinkPantheress – producer Mura Masa is Jack Antonoff with a better ear and PinkPantheress’s new EP is just three songs but it has a tantalic (hmmm: I mean the sound is crystalline) quality and a hint of hyperpop – B
Diaspora Problems – Soul Glo – I was reading Brooklynvegan’s fifty albums of the year and there at # 1? A band I didn’t recognize, hardcore emocore Soul Glo and while as indifferent to the genre me don’t necessarily agree, I do agree that Diaspora Problems is a major piece of screamo with melody coming out time after time and it improves with every time I listen – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
