Nothing pains me more each year than to see really talented musicians--for whatever reason--put out balling or crappy music. Sigh, here goes:
1. U.S. Girls SCRATCH IT:
after eight albums, anyone would sound a bit winded but Remy sounds like she underwent a Stepford wife transformation deep in the South.
2. Blood Orange ESSEX HONEY:
a bit too sparse even for him to parse his usual minimalism.
3. Little Simz LOTUS:
I'm still stunned by this because it starts off strongly enough but as time passes, so does any new stylistic trick or insight.
4. Clarence Clarity FOUR WRONG:
as if a 37-track project was not exhaustive enough, Clarity forgot to pepper it with any semblance of fun.
5. Mick Jenkins A MURDER OF CROWS:
no beating heart or fire burning within this time.
6. Saba COFFEE!:
Saba's artistry has always walked a fine line, but he threw in a lot of caution with this EP and, well, now we see what the fine line was in place to begin with.
7. Celeste WOMAN OF FACES:
utterly void of joy and carefree sounds that give us hope.
8. Twin Shadow GEORGIE:
not bad but sounds like a phoned-in studio obligation and, given what was to come later in the year, he is not beating the allegation.
9. Shamir TEN:
transitioning a sound that's starting to zone fans out.
10. Lorde VIRGIN:
still trying to recapture what worked so well on MELODRAMA but that era is gone apparently.
