Part two is live.
11. Freddie Gibbs $OUL $OLD $EPARATELY:
playing well as a concept – with Gibbs hiding out in the penthouse while everyone from Joe Rogan to Jesus (which is perhaps the greatest hubris move he’s made to date) tries to check in on him – $$$ does so without glorifying the process to get there. It’s as reflective as it is owning – Gibbs knows what he’s done to get here, and he’s never been scared to approach it – but it would be ridiculous to not relish in the power, even while things fall apart. (THE LINE OF BEST FIT)
12. Pusha T IT’S ALMOST DRY:
exhibit A-Z why Pusha T will never go legit. Settling into his forties with a wife and son, the younger Thorton brother is at his apex. Push is in complete control of his flow, his delivery, and his pen game is sharper than it was 20 years ago. When he went solo in 2013, some questioned his ability to deliver without his big brother. Nine years and four albums later, they have their answer. It’s Almost Dry is the perfect complement to Daytona, creating Pusha’s very own gangster saga on wax. (COS)
13. Saba FEW GOOD THINGS:
like Lupe Fiasco, one of his heroes, Saba’s muse is ambivalence. He’s attuned to the moments where a smile freezes, where two thoughts collide painfully and ripple across life’s surface.. You could feel his roving mind searching for meaning the way a tongue probes a sore spot inside your mouth. On Few Good Things, Saba remains haunted, not by grief, but by his own provisional success and the unanswered questions it keeps raising. (PITCHFORK)
14. Ethel Cain PREACHER’S DAUGHTER:
pop girls seldom balance sugar-sweet melodies and dirgeful backstory in the way they'd like, but Ethel Cain isn't just another pop girl. Like Billie Eilish before her, Cain's debut album feels like a sharp left-turn in the genre, in what's possible with pop and how much we can and should say about the intersection of religion and identity in a teenage girl's life, and just how petrifying those growing pains can be. (THE QUIETUS)
15. Syd BROKEN HEARTS CLUB:
reshapes heartbreak into pillowy, ’80s-nodding R&B. The album softens her sound with sunny acoustic guitar and velvety beats, but her songwriting doesn’t surrender its vulnerability and focus on queer desire that made Fin so intoxicating. (PITCHFORK)
16. Sudan Archives NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN:
hoists Sudan Archives to a new level as an experimental pop, hip-hop and electronic force to be reckoned with. The master behind the music, Brittney Parks, flexes technical prowess on the piano and violin, layering them over her impassioned vocals across 18 spellbinding yet distinctly different tracks. Not only is Natural Brown Prom Queen fully realized sonically, but it is also a masterpiece of lyrical storytelling. Throughout the album's 53-minute runtime, Parks pieces together moments of her life as a Black American, which sometimes feel daring and transgressive, other times intensely erotic, and always unflinchingly genuine. (EXCLAIM)
17. Shamir HETEROSEXUALITY:
Shamir is economical with this album — not a bar or lyric is wasted, every moment is carefully curated to hit exactly where it needs to. This precision is why the album works so beautifully. Heterosexuality captivates and transports the listener, making an ethereal landscape out of dissonance and nihilism. It never repeats itself, it does not stutter, and it absolutely never apologizes. (EXCLAIM)
18. Jockstrap I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B:
the fact that both members are 24-year-olds partly explains the choice of their artistic names as well as the title of their debut record. As you age, levels of vulnerability gradually stabilise. The themes the group explore are familiar to the majority of those living on this planet and, particularly, in its most populated parts. Anxiety, alienation, longing, tidal waves of desire, pain resulting from acknowledging one’s ignorance and arrogance, etc., etc. After all, I Love You Jennifer B could be a statement on a wall of a residential block, inscribed by a smitten teenager. (THE QUIETUS)
19. Black Star NO FEAR OF TIME:
back after an age but it's like they never left.
20. Ravyn Lenae HYPNOS:
arrives as a mature reintroduction, a love-stained, moody transport that flies through Lenae’s world with a featherlight cadence. Lenae surveys the recent history of soul, alternative R&B, and even Afrobeats with precision. But most importantly, her debut showcases her ascendant vocal prowess as she moves across her wide range with ease. Lenae’s transcendental poise establishes her as a resonant voice in R&B. (PITCHFORK)
