Eternal Sunshine.

Never heard of Lauren Hibbard but I like the album cover. Specifically the south east quadrant of it. Will give it a try.

Will listen to Beyonce album sometime soon though I didn't really like Texas Hold Em.

Yeah that cover caught my attention too

30. Cowboy Carter by Beyonce - 4.5

-Ever since this project was announced I've been worried it would be the musical equivalent of Maestro - Beyonce trying So Hard to finally win her album of the year grammy. While it's definitely not as bad as that abomination of a movie, I found myself rolling my eyes more than enjoying myself. The album is so damn long too. All of the covers could have been easily cut out and I'd probably bump it up to at least a 5. She's never one of my absolute favorites, but Renaissance, The Carters, Lemonade and especially her self-titled 2013 album were all pretty good. So it's a shame to see her go so thirsty for awards like this. I would have preferred a pop-punk album if she was gonna switch things up. Or maybe work with a producer like Trent Reznor after the excellent work he did with Halsey?

Album of the month

January 2024: Lizzie No - Halfsies: 9/10
February 2024: The Paranoid Style - The Interrogator: 7.5/10
March 2024: Sheryl Crow - Evolution - 8.5/10

Standout songs from March

Lauran Hibbard - I Suck at Grieving, Jealous, Mary, 90s Kid, Happy For You, 2nd Prettiest Girl in the World, So Romantic
Sheryl Crow - Alarm Clock, Waiting in the Wings, Digging in the Dirt, Love Life, Broken Record
Kacey Musgraves - Cardinal
Norah Jones - That's Life
Another Sky - Pain
Justin Timberlake - Selfish

I had more songs from Hibbard on my standouts however the weaker ones were more forgettable and it felt a bit worse as an album and drops off after the banger first 5 songs, and my 3 favorite songs overall were I Suck at Grieving, Alarm Clock and Waiting in the Wings. Crow had an extra song on the deluxe edition with Peter Gabriel and overall I really like her vocal performance on this album.

31. Heaven :x: Hell by Sum 41 - 7.5

-A nice little surprise here from Sum 41's allegedly final album. It starts off a bit like Avril's Love Sux album, a classic pop-punk act adapting to the modern version of that sound which has been popularized by Travis Barker and MGK in recent years. As the album goes on, they become more and more like the snotty nose punks of old though, reminding us that "Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised." The whole thing put together really does feel like a proper celebration of their careers. I could do without the Paint it Black cover, and another one that I forget sounds too much like Offspring's Hammerhead, but overall this is really solid stuff that I'd recommend to anyone who liked them back in the day.





Tonight is the release of my most anticipated record of the year - Vampire Weekend!!! Yes, even more so than Taylor since the Vamp put out music much more infrequently than the goddess of pop music. Have purposefully avoided all the singles so the album will be 100% fresh.

32. Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend - 9.9

-Can't give it a full 10 quite yet, but this is about as close as you can get to a perfect score and it sets the bar very high for the rest of 2024. Vamp take a long time between albums but they always deliver. OGWAU is a continuation of the big production sounds from FOTB and MVOTC whilst also bringing back their youthful hipster surf-punky sounds too. The best of both worlds and something entirely new as well! Incredible stuff here. Hard to pick a fav since they're all so good, but after 4 listens (already) I'd go:

Gen-X Cops (In my time you taught me how to see, each generation makes its own apology)
Classical
Prep School Gangsters
Connect
Hope
The Surfer
Mary Boone
Ice Cream Piano
Pravda
Capricorn


And Capricorn is Great!

Katie Pruitt - Mantra: Solid country album with some Musgraves vibes, from a lesbian born to a religious family type of person. She has a nice genuine voice and the instrumentals work. 7/10

^Another good album cover but in a psychadelic way lol.

I've listened to OGWAU like 10 times already (and still haven't got to the other new releases like Black Keys because of it) and have decided it is indeed beautifully perfect. But will stick with my original grade on the review and just give it the 5/5 on musicboard.

33. Unheard by Hozier - 6

-Shorty ep here, and not even from a favorite artist, but Too Sweet is one of the better pop songs we've had this year so wanted to see what else ole Hozi was up to. The other songs are what I would expect from him, but TS alone carries it to a decent grade.


Tonight is new Maggie Rogers!

34. Ohio Players by The Black Keys - 7.9

-Nice little bounce back by these fellas from Akron (not Cleveland!!) after a few years of being 'just another band.' This sounds alot more like their DangerMouse days, but also kind of a new sound too. Beck is on the album so much it might as well be a collaberation. They aslo have a few rappers like Juicy J make some cameos, which shouldn't work with TBK sound, yet it somehow does. I'd even say Paper Crown is the best song on the whole record. I dunno if I can put Ohio Players in the same tier as their early work (2002-14, what a run that was!), but it's definitely their best since those days.


Gonna try to hit at least one new album every day this week leading up to TPD since I assume I won't wanna listen to anything that doesn't involve Taylor for awhile after that lol.

This is a great album! Now a contender for my 2nd favorite of the year and another W for the ladies, but where are the men? This one isn't the answer:

J Cole - Might Delete Later: 6.5/10

J Cole is frustrating in that his first four albums are some of my favorite rap ones of all time, but it's like in mid 2010s he started chasing the type of production and lyrics Gen Z-ers are into, and his albums have been interchangeably mid for me since and ones I have to talk myself into. He showed last year on the All My Life feature and the Nicki song how good he can still be when he is actually rapping over pop hooks. Fever has some sign of life in that it could have fit in with those Born Sinner type songs, and Crocodile Tears production is pretty cool.

Did you listen to the J Cole album before he deleted the Kendrick diss track?

35. Self Hell by While She Sleeps - 5.8

-This band has been popping up on alot of rock festivals. Makes sense since they are an "hey things song sounds like ___" type of band. On their older stuff they sound alot like That's The Spirit era Bring Me The Horizon, but here they go with more nu-metal influences like Slipknot and Korn. It's fine, but I'd rather just listen to the bands that they sound like instead.

36. Cure by Erra - 8.5

-Erra fully embrace the Djent movement (aka prograssive metalcore) and come out of it with their best album to date. The best part about the genre is that even though it does sound like a lot of other, similiar artists, it's also quite unique. Controlled chaos. The Loki of musical genres. Just when you think you understand the sound, they hit you with something new.

I only heard it on youtube. A full diss track was probably going too far since Lamar saying "there's no big 3, just me" was hardly giving it to him with no vaseline.

Eh Kendrick directly called them out with the first person shooter line. And they just did a huge tour together. I think taking it down was a punk move. We haven't had a good feud in awhile and J Cole hasn't had a solo top ten hit in awhile. Kendrick's response would have been glorious, and Back to Back is Drake's best solo song so let him get in on the action too.

I'll get to TPD tomorrow, but can't forget about Maggie after she specifically requested that we did not. Unfortunate timing, but an excellent record!

36. Don't Forget Me by Maggie Rogers - 8.9

-A new high for the Mags. Just lots of fun songs on here along with her usual stellar writing. Basically it is what I wanted Kacey Musgrave's album to be lol. Drunk, The Kill, If Now Was Then, On and On and On, Never Going Home and Don't Forget Me are all memorable songs. Might even bump this up once I have time to properly appreciate it.

37. The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift - 9.9

-Not sure what else there is to say about Taylor and her work ethic at this point. It's not perfect, there are a few skips on here, but at least 20 of the 31 songs (bring my number of 'favorite' Taylor songs up to ~140) are quite great with the jury still out on 6 or 7 others. The bonus second half of the album is what puts this one over for me. I would have been fine with the original 16 songs, but it's score would have been around a 8.5-9. The "How Does It End" to "Robin" stretch at the end is among her best work though.

38. We Don't Trust You by Future & Metro Boomin - 7.2

-This is definitely a two song album, as in people are coming just for Like That and Type Shit. The rest is fine though. It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Except the bread makes you bounce up and down and the peanut butter + jelly make you say 'ahhh shit lets go.'

39. A La Sala by Khruangbin - 5.9

I am more intrigued by how Khruangbin, a hypnotic mostly non-lyrical jam band that is from Texas but sounds like the Taureg-rock wave of the early 2010s, has risen to fame than I am by their music. So niche, yet they keep on rising up the mainstream festival cards anyway and are playing a 3-4k concert venue around here nex month. The music is fine. It would be quality background music if I ever needed it or quality elevator music if I am being too lazy to take the stairs. Maybe it would even work as sleep music? Will have to try it.

Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department - 8/10

Not my favorite from her and like all double albums it makes you wonder what just taking the best 12 songs would've sounded like, but to be honest idk if my brain is right enough to every appreciate an album as much as the early ones, which is also how I felt when I couldn't get into Midnights THAT much. Still there is enough great songs on here to likely be April album of the month.

Which 12 songs would you pick? The epic and absurd length of the album is what makes it stand out among her others to me, though I do wish Florida had stayed in the vault lol.

40. Searching For Solace by The Ghost Inside - 7.6

-The Ghost Inside were one of the main reasons I got so into metalcore back in 2020. It was like a "wait hard rock music is doing this type of thing now???" revelation. Since then, I have discovered countless newer metal acts that are great, and combine that with some meh lead singles and I actually was quite worried about this record. Saw someone on reddit make the quote "you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become Breaking Benjamin." And that unfortunately describes Wash It Away a little too accurately. Thankfully, potential crossover radio hits are the minority on this record, and there's still plenty of heat like in Split. "I feel my sanity split, I'm fucking losing it!" is such a breakdown call out. I'd say that at a 7.6, this is still below their previous records (which all have at least 4/5 on musicboard), but also still keeps their undefeated album streak going.

Beatiful big tittied butt naked women don't just fall out the sky, ya know? But big butted blonde women do apparently!

41. Girlfriend Material by Lauren Hibberd* - 7

-This is a Shack find, but I also noticed she is on Governors Ball this year, playing at noon on the Post Malone day. I will not be attending that show as I only have tickets for Saturday (Carly, The Killers, 21 Savage) and Sunday (SZA, Renee Rapp, Chappell Roan), but if I did then she would probably be tied with Blondshell as best on the day. This obviously has major Avril vibes, but like actual 00s Avril vibes, not the new MJK style pop-punk Avril (not an insult since Love Sux is awesome.) So really it reminded more of a Skye Sweetnam (hey, hey get tangled up in me.)

May has a lot of exciting upcoming releases with Dua on the 3rd, Knocked Loose on the 10th and then the super combo of Cage the Elephant and Billie Eilish on the 17h!

As a long time Drake hater seeing Kendrick destroy him is a beautiful thing

Euphoria is godlike. Instantly challenges "Real Motherfuckin Gs" and "Ether" as the best diss track ever.

42. Skin to Skin by Amira Elfeky* - 5.8

-Normally I'd tell someone like Amira that if she wanted to be taken seriously in the rock / lite-metal world than she will need to have a cool band name. Lucikily for Miss Elfeky, her given name already sounds like a cool band name from one of the viking countries. So, the only problem that remains is that her album gets boring by the end despite only being 25 minutes long. Oh well, that's about the amount of time she will be getting at the Danny Weimer festivals, so maybe thats the point?

43. Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa - 4.5

-Meh. Just kinda boring and almost every song sounds the same. There's definitely no real bangers on here like Dont Stop Now, Physical or Levatating. Falling Forever was probably my favorite and its a slow song.

Dua's main period in the sun with straight Americans is over due to not having enough versatility or personality, but Euros and gays will love long time.