TIHTM

beabadoobee – Beaches (Official Video)

Fan Favorites:

Beaches!!, This Is How It Went, California, Ever Seen

Miller Favorites: 

One Time, Beaches, Real Man

Pros:

•  BEACHES
•  More personal and storytelling
• Beautifully written and the lyrics are really good 

Cons:

• Less experimental than beatopia
• Less interesting cover

The first album we wanted to start with is “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” by Beatrice Laus under the name Beabadoobee. She is a Filipino artist raised in London and her discography includes albums like “Beatopia”, “Fake It Flowers”, and “Love Worm”. Her style consists of mostly indie rock, alternative rock, and bedroom pop, but she is most known for her uniquely soft voice. In her newest album, Beadadoobee has numerous stories through songs, describing “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” as one of her most personal albums. The songs describe messy relationships, awkward interactions with older men, her absent father, issues with self-esteem, romance, and more. Sonically, her songs can be hard-core rock like “California”, a beachy vacation vibe like “Cruel Affair”, or a heartfelt piano solo like on “Girl Song”. Lyrically, Beadadoobee seamlessly blends her words into her music to create a cohesive song. One example is in one of her songs, This Is How It Went. She addressed her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s response to her old song, “The Way Things Go”, weaving his reaction into her narrative in a way that feels both authentic and musically integrated. However, TJ thinks that it is less experimental than Beatopia, her previous album, and that the cover is a little interesting. But he still loves it! Beadadoobee is also known for being the celebrity crush of Rob from Love Island.

Submarine

The Marías – Blur (Visualizer)

Fan Favorites:

The whole album but especially!!! Blur, No One Noticed, Lejos de Ti, Vicious Sensitive Robot

Miller Favorites: 

Blur, Lejos de Ti, Paranoia

Pros:

• Amazing songs
• The album cover is beautiful- songs match the vibe of the cover
• Interesting sounding 

Cons:

• Lyrics don’t feel the most original, similar from song to song
• Seems unfinished, ending with Sienna (SUBMARINE DELUXE!?)

“Submarine” is the second album from the indie dream pop band The Marías, and is a significant change from its predecessor, “CINEMA”. After branching out more into a mainstream sound with “CINEMA” on songs like “Hush” or “Calling U Back”, “Submarine” echoes the more psychedelic sound of their debut EPs “Superclean” Vol. I and II. It feels a lot more consistent than “CINEMA”, with all of the songs really contributing to the underwater vibe set by the album cover. The album comes not too long after the breakup of the two main members, María Zardoya and Josh Conway. The theme of the album is definitely influenced by this, as the majority of the songs deal with loss and breakup. While the songs all sound unique and interesting in terms of production, the fact that they are all mainly about the same topic makes them a little less interesting in terms of lyrics. The end of the album also left us expecting just a little more, ending seemingly randomly. The Marías have demonstrated that they know how to make a good outro with “CINEMA” having an exceptional ending track, and while “Sienna” is a great track on its own, it feels like a weird place to end the album. María has mentioned a deluxe version of the album, which may help to flesh out the ending (please).

Charm

Clairo – Juna (Official Video)

Fan Favorites:

The whole album… Top: Terrapin, Juna, Slowdance

Miller Favorites: 

Terrapin, Juna, Echo

Pros:

• New amazing producer, Leon Michels who has experience with soul, increases the quality of her songs 
• Drums
• Album cover!! Goes so well

Cons:

• Songs sound similar 
• Too short!!

The next album we wanted to talk about is “Charm” by Clairo. Clairo, or Claire Cottrill, was raised in Atlanta, GA, and has been creating music since she was thirteen. Her single, Pretty Girl, jump-started her music career which led to her first and second album, Immunity and Sling. In her newest third album “Charm”, she collaborated with Leon Michel, a French music producer and songwriter known for his work in the hip-hop and electronic music scenes, to create a jazzy melody that evolves from her early history of lo-fi beats. The instruments heard in her newest album include saxophones, clarinets, flutes, drums, bass clarinets, piano, and other jazz elements. Cindy really likes “Charm” and it’s probably one of her favorites. Some of the songs can sound pretty similar, but the ones that stand out the most are very special. You could be listening to a sleepy tune that makes you feel like you’re in the city in “Terrapin” or you could be listening to a more spooky sounding song like “Echo” (the synth kind of sounds like a ghost or perhaps a werewolf…). The rest of her songs can be considered as mostly upbeat or soft. We both think that the album is short and sweet!

Imaginal Disk

Magdalena Bay – Tunnel Vision (Official Audio)

Fan Favorites:

Angel on a Satellite

Miller Favorites: 

Cry For Me, Watching T.V., The Ballad of Matt & Mica

Pros:

• Transitions from last album
• So many transitions between songs!!

Cons:

• None…

This album is so good! “Imaginal Disk” is the second album from the synth-pop duo, Magdalena Bay. It’s honestly really hard to compare “Imaginal Disk” to their first album, “Mercurial World”, because they are just both so good. The last song on “Mercurial World” transitions seamlessly into the first song of “Imaginal Disk”, so you don’t actually have to pick one and can just listen to both in a row! In addition to that, the majority of the songs on the album transition into each other which is just so cool. The songs all follow a storyline throughout the album which is honestly kind of hard to understand, but it helps the album feel more cohesive and makes every song more interesting in the context of the other songs. The album explores a lot of different vibes while still being able to feel coherent, with prog rock influences on songs like “Tunnel Vision” or the obviously ABBA-inspired “Cry For Me” (which has the best outro of any song ever). TJ especially liked this one.

Bando Stone

Childish Gambino – Lithonia (Official Music Video)

Fan Favorites:

In the Night, Yoshinoya, Lithonia

Miller Favorites: 

Yoshinoya, No Excuses, A Place Where Love Goes

Pros:

• Made his own soundtrack for his own movie
• Very experimental 

Cons:

• Feels like a movie soundtrack bc vibe from song to song is so different
• Some really not good songs! (but also some really good ones)

“Bando Stone and The New World” is the fifth album from Donald Glover, and his final album under the name of Childish Gambino. The album is the soundtrack for his upcoming film of the same name. Even after four albums, Glover continues to experiment with sounds and genres in “Bando Stone”, which leads to a very interesting and mixed album. Every song feels extremely different than the last, which makes some transitions between songs of different genres kind of awkward. The mix of genres really highlights how this is a movie soundtrack rather than a traditional album, as it feels much less coherent than his past albums like “Awaken My Love”. The album has some of the new best Childish Gambino songs, but due to the nature of the album a lot of other songs feel pretty disappointing or pointless. This makes sense as it is a soundtrack, but it still makes listening to the entire album a little less enjoyable. 

TIMELESS

KAYTRANADA – Witchy (Visualizer) ft. Childish Gambino

Fan Favorites:

Do 2 Me, Witchy, Snap My Finger

Miller Favorites:

Witchy, Snap My Finger, Feel A Way

Pros:

• Has some good songs

Cons:

• Every song is so different (feels more like playlist than album)

“TIMELESS” by KAYTRANADA is his 5th album after “99.9%”, “BUBBA”, and “KAYTRAMINÉ”. He was raised in Montreal and is actually a producer and is mostly based on J Dilla-inspired hip-hop. We noticed that the songs in his album all sound pretty different, almost like a playlist instead of a collective album. CINDY LOVES DO 2 ME. 

Honorable Mentions ??

Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign – Vultures 2 (IT SUCKS)

Kali Uchis – Orquideas Parte 2

Vince Staples – Dark Times

JPEGMAFIA – I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

Remi Wolf – Big Ideas

Rex Orange County – The Alexander Technique