Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

8.8

Natalie Mering's latest album as Weyes Blood is her most cinematic and gorgeously arranged by a mile. The turbid lyrics contrast fantastically with the lush instrumentation to create material that can easily compete with the best pop-rock of the late 60s and early 70s. Titanic Rising is immaculate; an overall triumph for form and music.

Highlights

- Natalie's voice gives character, drama and passion to all the tracks where it's involved.

- The instrumentals feel opressed but thinly orchestrated, and the mixture of them swells you into a gigantic hole of sound and pace.

- The lyricism is cryptic and at-the-point, fulled with queasy anecdotes and sharp metaphors.

Lowlights

- At times, it feels like some songs could have used a bit more of diversity in lyrics and harmonies.

Standouts

- Everyday

- Andromeda

- Movies

Country: USA

Released: April 5, 2019

Length: 42:28

Spellling - Mazy Fly

8.4

The sophomore release from the American outcast Tia Cabral is a thick impersonation of lovely disdain and exhuberant melodrama in the form of pseudo-industrial hypnagogic pop and a melange of styles, moods and textures that serve for an experience as invigorating as entertainingly engrossing.

Highlights

- Spellling's vocal range and delivery are fantastic.

- The instrumentals are rotten and suffocated at the edge of delicate saturation.

- The cinematic narrative of the album.

Lowlights

- Some songs might be excessively long.

- The instrumental tracks, while good, do not live up to the rest of the record's potential.

Standouts

- Under The Sun

- Haunted Water

- Afterlife

Country: USA

Released: February 22, 2019

Length: 42:37

Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

8.6

With just her brother Finneas on production, 17-year-old sensation Billie Eilish manages to surpass common critics and stereotypes to come up with a debut album which is a fantastic exploration and depiction of how it feel to be young, depressed and fulled with existential angst against the world and its people. The bassy, magnetic beats melt with the singer's whispery, heavily-manipulated, demonic vocals in pretty original and diverse ways, making the record both an entertaining experience and a constant, ever-growing adventure. Moreover, it feels the perfect artistic statement for a star on the rise.

Highlights

- The production is otherworldly, thick and thoroughly crafted.

- Billie's voice is a gravitational force on its own, going up and down with every emotion.

- There's an amazing sense of cohesion connecting the songs and topics altogether.

Lowlights

- Some tracks overuse space and melancholy a bit (especially on the second half).

Standouts

- bad guy

- xanny

- my strange addiction

Country: USA

Released: March 29, 2019

Length: 42:56

Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile

6.6

The latest release from the Ecuadorian-American singer-songwriter melts into tropical lullabies and spacious poetry in an album that's at times too busy being taciturn and sleepy to leave a moving impression on the listener.

Highlights

- The production, though shy, is packed with beautiful details.

- The transition between songs is smooth and effortless.

Lowlights

- Roberto Carlos' voice cannot sustain the album's momentum for long.

- Some songs are so quiet and numb that they lose the feeling.

- Though relatively short, the record seems too long and dense at times.

Standouts

- Please Won't Please

- Seen My Aura

- Fantasma Vaga

Country: USA

Released: March 8, 2019

Length: 40:54

White Lies - FIVE

4.2

FIVE is pure pastiche and almost no sentiment; it wears its influences up on its sleeves and doesn't hesitate to embark on levels of cheesiness that even feel disrespectful. Radio-friendly lovers couldn't be happier, I suppose...

Highlights

- On certain tracks, the instrumentals try to save the day.

- Let's face it: a couple of songs are a bit catchy.

- There's a certain naïvety and breathiness the band possesses.

Lowlights

- Most of the takes are trying so hard to be edgy and epic, and they all pretty much fail at it.

- Most of the choruses are ridiculously repetitive and childish.

- The tracks are excessively long, no matter their length.

Standouts

- Kick Me

- Time To Give

Country: USA

Released: February 1, 2019

Length: 42:04

Girlpool - What Chaos Is Imaginary

6.2

This record contains some truly endearing moments but it's mostly overshadowed by songs who seem too dulled into dreamy nebulas and melodic cul-de-sacs to leave strong impressions. Harmony Tividad shines, Cleo Tucker doesn't. It's unbalanced, and a shame.

Highlights

- Synthesisers and choral arrangements elevate some tracks to heaven.

- Harmony's voice makes up for the most interesting tracks on the album.

- Lyrics are cryptic and clever.

Lowlights

- Sadly, Cleo doesn't find comfortable ways to express himself. His voice doesn't sound good on the ears and most of the tracks where he takes an active role in are extremely drenched into reverb, repetition and/or ambiance.

- The record is at least 3-song too long.

Standouts

- Pretty

- Stale Device

- What Chaos Is Imaginary

Country: USA

Released: February 1, 2019

Length: 45:38

Cherry Glazerr - Stuffed & Ready

7.5

This record explodes but is not necessarily turmoiled or aggressive. It canalizes its anger so well just because it can be as realistic as utopian when it wants to, and it also sees its members shining in what they are supposed to be doing and feeling.

Highlights

- The instrumentals carry great weights of suffering and longing.

- Clementine's voice and attitude snaps in pretty much all the songs.

- Short and concise, it delivers and unfolds poignantly.

Lowlights

- A bit more explosion would have magnified the record to higher heights.

Standouts

- Daddi

- Wasted Nun

- Self Explained

Country: USA

Released: February 1, 2019

Length: 32:03

Pavo Pavo - Mystery Hour

6.6

Indecipherable quintet Pavo Pavo once again defies pop and psychedelic laws presenting something as odd as accessible. This time, with Mystery Hour, some experiments linger on your mind while others simply leave you unaffected. An overall charming mixbag, I'd say.

Highlights

- Continuous challenges to the song structures and moods. It's good to have uneasiness every now and then.

- The voices do play important roles, and they humbly deliver.

- The instrumentals awe, discomfort and comfort at same times.

Lowlights

- The album relies a lot on already established stereotypes of break-up anthems.

- The pace of the record is not fully kept throughout its running time.

Standouts

- Close To Your Ego

- 100 Years

- Around, Pt. 1

Country: USA

Released: February 1, 2019

Length: 34:30

Beirut - Gallipoli

7.6

Beirut's fifth release sees them coming back to their original formula and staying for most of its running time in their comfort zone, blending Balkan, African and Middle-Eastern instrumentals with longing lyrics in ways that might never get exctinted after all.

Highlights

- There's urgency in the tracks, each of them fulfilling a purposeful role in the record.

- Zach Condon's melancholic tune will always be something to aspire at.

- Once again, the guys make you fly through different geographies with their musical decisions.

Lowlights

- In some ways, it seems like their most experimental album and, as with every experiment, there's a certain amount of error in the trial process.

- While the instrumentals play a heavy part in the record, one wishes they would explode more easily or substantially.

Standouts

- Landslide

- Gallipoli

- Varieties Of Exile

Country: USA

Released: February 1, 2019

Length: 44:36

YMA - Par De Olhos

7.5

Straight up from São Paulo, YMA delivers sharp, minimal but strictly confident synth-pop tunes that not only mix languages and tones, but also feelings and changes of perspective. It's a solid, self-aware and continuously odd reflection on tinged love.

Highlights

- Amazing production and mixing of instruments, that feel furious and settle at the same time.

- YMA's voice is as self-assuring and tender in English and in Portuguese.

- The aesthetic of the tracks match up the visual images portrayed in the cover art.

Lowlights

- Only 26 minutes? Come on! They could have added at least two more songs to make the statement even more concise.

- Some song structures seem basic in comparison to others.

Standouts

- Par De Olhos

- Vampiro

- Shake It

Country: Brazil

Released: January 11, 2019

Length: 26:17

Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

7.5

Sharon comes back to propel fire into the quietest storm. Her songwriting seems sharper than ever, while producer John Congleton once again demonstrates he's one of the most prolific figures in independent music to collaborate with. Candid and ever-longing.

Highlights

- The precious storytelling, recounted with gut and tender paranoia.

- The beats feel opressed, and the coy noise infiltrates tension to the songs.

- The immense love for life, love and music that the singer portrays all throughout.

Lowlights

- Some tracks are patience-defiers, and the record could have still gone well with 5 minutes less.

- While lyrics are fueled by longing and melancholia, some are heavy to understand.

Standouts

- No One's Easy To Love

- Seventeen

- Comeback Kid

Country: USA

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 41:17

Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?

6.5

For every alluring step Deerhunter brings up somewhere, there's another questionable one they take elsewhere; in conclusion, this is a messy album that has solid ideas but overall flaccid executions.

Highlights

- The trembling instrumentals give the record pace, nerve and personality.

- It's interesting to juxtapose the sordid lyrics with the sepia-infuced vibrance and atmosphere.

- Some songs' melodies are impossible to resist.

Lowlights

- Out of the ten ideas presented here, only half of them leave great impressions.

- There might be too much space left for instrumental interludes.

- Détournement must be Deerhunter's worst idea in their career.

Standouts

- No One's Sleeping

- What Happens To People?

- Element

Country: USA

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 36:09

crushinglove - Malevolent Melancholy

3.0

Above the numerous problems this album has, the quintessential aspect here is that it never ever deciphers what on earth wants to transmit and how on hell wants to sound like; in the meantime, all the efforts it develops are excruciatingly languid and famished.

Highlights

- Lyrics are simple, raw and obtusely mundane.

- There's always praise for trying to high up the bar, right?

Lowlights

- It's messy: the tracks jumble from quiet folk to dischordant electronics in no logic manner.

- The mixing is terrible; neither the voices nor the instruments can be fully enjoyed.

- It's monochromatic in tone and prose while never displaying something actually substantial.

Standouts

- Wooden World

- Kill 4 U

Country: Philippines

Released: January 12, 2019

Length: 31:24