April & May 2020 Recap
April
Joywave strips it back to basics with some frequently comfortable rock songs that rarely try to push the envelope of their songwriting or performances.
Grouplove falls face first on their 4th record completing the dive into generic desperate attempts to achieve another rock radio hit.
Morrissey is creative and unrelentingly political across Chain which makes for a wide variety subjects and performances on these songs.
Partymobile is definitely a few tracks long but it may surprise you how often PND pulls together slick, catchy and intimate R&B tunes.
Dirty Projectors are back with a new line-up and lead vocalists and their return to indie folk results in a set of short but incredibly sweet tunes.
Dua Lip FAR exceeds the limitations of her debut record with a strong set of personality filled pop songs that make up one of the best set of mainstream track I've heard this year.
Nicholas Jarr's second album of the year dives into distant and dark ambience that is often as haunting as it is beautiful.
The Strokes return from a 7 year gap in studio material had high expectations yet still managed to smash them with a dramatic, compelling and versatile set of new songs that makes up one of their best records to date and one of the best records of the year.
Little Dragon delivers some great singles and summer jams on New Me but the deep cuts routinely fail to be interesting or unique.
Waxahatchee goes more focused on her country chops on Saint Cloud but comes out on the other end with some underwritten tracks that fail to coast on her always charming delivery.
Sufjan's newest side project may be his least interesting yet with a series of under-explored ambient ideas mashed into a wandering mess of a record.
Pearl Jam is admittedly ambitious on Gigaton but whiffs hard on a few of its key experiments which produce some painfully awkward rock songs.
Rina's long awaited debut album is a fresh take on early 2000's pop music with glistening production courtesy of Clarence Clarity and a nonstop flow of great new ideas throughout.
Thundercat once again provides some amazing highlights on his new record but fails to put together meaningful or unique deep cuts to round the album out.
Fiona Apple's long awaited return record showed up out of nowhere to blow everyone off their feet with rich detailed instrumentals and one darkly compelling song after another. For indie music fans there won't likely be anything better for you this year.
Purity Ring's sounds are beautiful on Womb but they come with almost no more detail or songwriting chops beyond that.
DaBaby is sounding more one note than ever as his new album routinely fails to capture the excitement his sound had less than a year ago.
To Feel Alive has some catchy and pretty vibes across its short tracklist but most of the songs don't hold up far beyond a few listens.
In his first solo outing as Shabazz Palaces Ishmael Butler comes up short with track that try to be experimental but more often than not end up being boring.
Since the duo's somewhat exciting debut dvsn has spiraled down into this long record that shoots for a sonic vibe and absolutely nothing else.
Radiohead's Ed O'Brien explores some good ideas on his solo debut with the hand of a veteran. But many of the songs tend to wander on too long and there are some moments that feel exceedingly forced.
Clarence Clarity's first foray into the world of ambient music explores some super interesting ideas across its runtime alongside having great trios of songs at both the start and finish.
Making A Door brings the youthfully energetic indie rock instrumentals that Car Seat Headrest made their name off of but it lacks in the detailed songwriting and storytelling that punctuated their last two great records.
Drake's new set of leftover tracks has some big highlights but ultimately falls victim to the underwritten quality of its songs that kept them off a proper studio album in the first place.
The first album released by the legendary punk bands original line-up in decades fails to capture the energy of their original run and doesn't really have anything that definitive to say.
The songs on Thugger and Chris Brown's collab tape have a strong spur of the moment feel but it's often surprising how much their styles can compliment each other.
Mark's long spoken word tour across Canada is long and indulgent but when it's all said and done the album makes for one of his most cohesive and satisfying albums across his prolific last few years.
Drop 6 is a short but sweet set of tunes that get right to the point and rely on Simz strong lyrical and performance skills.
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Ka returns with similar themes as his past few records but this time they are worked around the story of Cain and Abel and features some deep cut references to Christian theology.
Hayley Williams debut solo record is just as difficult to get through as some of Paramore's worst and includes one of the hardest to sit through stretches of songs I've heard on any album this year with its first 7 tracks.
Charli's quarantine album is full of visceral songs that could have only been written by one of pops most unique voices, and come together for a complete emotional catharsis on the worlds current state.
Just like he has so many times before under the Perfume Genius name Mike delivers on a set of gorgeous immaculate songs that run the gambit from personal ballads to grand compositions all of which come together expertly.
Sumney's long awaited follow-up album features plenty of incredibly songwriting but tends to run on for a bit longer than it really needs to.
Just like every Future album High Off Life has a bloated tracklist but manages to avoid some of the pitfalls of his other recent projects and come out a little better on the other side.
On their new record The Magnetic Fields go for a series of short tracks that amount to a mostly cute and charming series of indie pop sweets.
Notes is the longest and most unnecessary album from The 1975 so far yet they still manage to pin plenty of great tracks during the records runtime making it difficult to properly judge.
Carly is so good that even the B Sides to her records are catchier, more interesting and more detailed than most of her pop music contemporaries.
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