ECHOES of DUALITY
ECHOES of DUALITY Album ∙ J-Pop ∙ 2024 J SOUL BROTHERS III from EXILE TRIBE
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BUENAS NOCHES
BUENAS NOCHES Album ∙ Latin ∙ 2024 Quevedo At the start of 2023, Quevedo unveiled his debut album, DONDE QUIERO ESTAR , to considerable acclaim and chart success in his home country of Spain. For his follow-up, BUENAS NOCHES , he makes a more pronounced pivot toward pop, albeit in a multifaceted manner. Opener “KASSANDRA” glistens with nostalgic synthesizer flourishes as he admires a powerful woman from afar. “DURO” maintains that maximalist bent, an aesthetic that suits the breakup ruminations of “NOEMÚ” and the playboy apologies of “IGUALES” well. He plays well with others regardless of genre, as demonstrated on the electro-rock duet “GRAN VÍA” with Aitana and the slo-mo reggaetón team-up “TE FALLÉ” with Sech. Perreo drives choice collaborations with De La Ghetto (“AMANECIÓ”) and La Pantera (“HALO”), yet his Pitbull-backed “MR. MOONDIAL” goes full EDM in execution. That unbridled dance-floor thump is countered by the sleek hip-hop fusions of “LA 125” with Yung Beef and “...
201
201 Album ∙ Pop Latino ∙ 2024 Manuel Turizo “At the beginning of my career, I was focused on absorbing everything as quickly as possible,” Manuel Turizo tells Apple Music. “However, after seven or eight years of making music, now I’m focused on enjoying it and living it.” Only a year and a few months after 2000 , one of his most diverse albums, Turizo presents 201 , which goes even further. The Colombian star draws from rock, vallenato, country, and other genres, and connects with his musical roots while maintaining his mischievous vibe. “I like different types of music, because I have listened to them all my life,” he says. “Where I’m from, we do not listen to just one genre.” Below, Turizo tells the stories behind a few highlights from his fourth studio album. “Sigueme Besando Así” “This is a romantic song. Usually, when I am writing, the theme is not very clear to me. Sometimes, when you set out to define it, you sit down and simply write as you would a letter. It comes...
Small Changes
Small Changes Album ∙ Soul ∙ 2024 Michael Kiwanuka There’s a moment on Michael Kiwanuka’s Small Changes that sums up the languid brilliance at the heart of the London singer-songwriter’s fourth album. It comes at the beginning of “Lowdown (part i),” its easygoing guitar strums and fluid bass groove stretching into life over what sounds like a spaghetti junction of distant conversations, as if Kiwanuka and his band have set up in the corner of the room and started playing, unprompted. As his warm croon wanders in, the background noise halts and the track gently glides into its soulful sway. It’s a neat summation of Small Changes ’ unhurried elegance; this is a record that’s not designed to grab you by the collar but stops you in your tracks nonetheless. Kiwanuka won the Mercury Prize for 2019’s self-titled third album, yet nothing about Small Changes suggests he felt any pressure to repeat the success. Instead, he sounds like an artist free to fo...
Mahashmashana
Mahashmashana Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2024 Father John Misty The musician born Josh Tillman chose the title for his sixth album in a decidedly Father John Misty kind of way: He found the Sanskrit word in a novel by Bruce Wagner, who shares with the musician a certain impish LA mysticism. Mahāśmaśāna translates to “great cremation ground,” so it’s no surprise to find the singer-songwriter in “what’s it all mean?” mode, trawling tragicomic corners of the American Southwest in search of answers about life, death, and humanity. After trying his hand at big-band jazz on 2022’s Chloë and the Next 20th Century , Tillman returns to the big, sweeping ’70s-style pop rock that’s earned him a place among his generation’s most intriguing songwriters. He channels Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man on the sprawling title track, whose swooning orchestration and ambitious lyrics take stock of, well, everything. “She Cleans Up” tells a rollicking tale involving female aliens, high-...
One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1
One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1 Album ∙ Metal ∙ 2024 Marilyn Manson Social commentary from a visionary of macabre fantasy.
The Last Will And Testament
The Last Will And Testament Album ∙ Metal ∙ 2024 Opeth For their 14th album, Swedish prog wizards Opeth created a concept record around the reading of a will. Partly inspired by a talk-show segment and partly by the massively popular TV show Succession , Opeth guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt decided to write about an inheritance with a twist. “I stumbled upon the idea of putting the whole story as it would’ve been written in a legal document, like a proper old piece of paper with paragraphs like, ‘My daughter will get the country house,’ and things like that,” he tells Apple Music. “But it’s more like a confession of sorts, where the patriarch reveals secrets about himself, his paranoia, and his regrets. And some of these secrets will immediately affect his children in an existential kind of way.” The Last Will and Testament also marks Åkerfeldt’s return to the death-metal vocal style of Opeth’s early days. “I wanted to bring back the screaming vocal, but at first, I f...
GNX
GNX Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Kendrick Lamar If there were any remaining doubts as to hip-hop’s MVP, consider the decision stamped: Kendrick Lamar officially won 2024. There were whispers that Compton’s finest was working on an album in the wake of his feud with Drake, a once-in-a-generation beef that kept jaws dropped for months. (Perhaps you’ve heard of a little song called “Not Like Us,” an immediate entry into the canon of all-time great diss tracks.) After a sold-out celebration at the Kia Forum, an armful of Grammy nods and streaming records, and the headlining slot at next year’s Super Bowl, Lamar ties up his biggest year yet with a bow with his sixth album, GNX , the most legitimately surprising surprise drop since BEYONCÉ in 2013. Named for his beloved classic Buick, GNX finds Kendrick wielding a hatchet he’s by no means ready to bury, still channeling this summer’s cranked-to-11 energy. On “wacced out murals,” he’s riding around listening to...
The Pinkprint (Tenth Anniversary Edition)
The Pinkprint (Tenth Anniversary Edition) Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Nicki Minaj Audacious booty-popping bangers and tender confessionals show the best of both Nickis on this sweeping, star-packed third record. Yes, menacing street tracks like “Four Door Aventador”—and cameos from Drake, Meek Mill and Li’l Wayne—will sate the hardcore. But there are innovative, chart-ready surprises too. “Feeling Myself” is a Beyoncé-backed masterpiece of female empowerment and G-funk swagger, “Anaconda” gives us four minutes of deranged, rump-shaking perfection, and closing ballad “Grand Piano” finds hip hop’s queen of hyperactive characterisation daring to show us herself.
Proud Of Myself
Proud Of Myself Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Sheff G Back on the outside, the Brooklyn drill rapper perseveres.
Art of War
Art of War Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Finesse2tymes Memphis street poet Finesse2tymes doesn’t waste any time baring his soul on his 2024 debut album, Art of War . The artist, who made his major-label entrance back in 2022 with his mixtape 90 Days , is a straight shooter who isn’t scared to fire from the hip and ask questions later. On “They Won the Battle,” the first track on the album, Finesse spits over a dusty soul sample and choir snippets with his punishing low-end rumble, giving the song an intoxicating energy. The backstabbers in rap are to be expected, but Finesse sounds at his lowest when recounting the personal betrayals. On “Down Bad,” he raps, “I thought you understood me/You went and crossed mе out the blue.” The Bluff City spitter celebrates a career milestone on Art of War , but what’s the point of winning if there isn’t anyone to celebrate with?
Real Striker Music
Real Striker Music Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Babyfxce E Though Babyfxce E dropped his first project in 2022, the Flint, Michigan, rapper is more than familiar with how this cruel game works on his 2024 album, Real Striker Music . “Since a Lil Nigga” finds E telling his story as he coldly confronts the facts of life: “Man, that beef shit won’t stop if there’s blood in it,” he raps over lamenting piano chords and thunderous drums. Babyfxce E knows it’s kill or be killed, no matter how clever the bars may be. Elsewhere, he marvels at how far he’s come since he dropped Life of the Reaper . Over beeping electronics, “Madden Bullets” consists of an impromptu studio tour, taking note of the $11,000 mic he’s rapping into.
Man Down
Man Down Album ∙ West Coast Rap ∙ 2024 Ice Cube Even after successfully transitioning to movie star stature, Ice Cube never gave up on rap. From his N.W.A days on, the Los Angeles native’s discography stayed on course well into the 2010s. In more recent years, he’s seemed to embrace his status as a hip-hop elder statesman, forming the California supergroup MOUNT WESTMORE with fellow vets Snoop Dogg, E-40, and Too $hort as a vehicle for new music. Apart from that quartet’s 2022 album, Man Down marks Cube’s first full-length outing in some six years. Thankfully, he has lost none of his fury or his tenacity, making his voice heard and opinions known without reservations or apology. While nothing here matches the viciousness of, say, “No Vaseline,” he’s similarly righteous and emboldened on cuts like “It’s My Ego” and “I’mma Burn Rubber.” On the blunt “Ghetto Story,” he reminds listeners that he can still weave a mean narrative like he did back in the day. His choice of beats ...
Crack Music 3
Crack Music 3 Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024 Skilla Baby Detroit’s diamond-sharp street spitter Skilla Baby has defined himself as a restless jack of all trades, cooking up soaring melodies on one song and rapid-fire double-time flow patterns on the next. He always looks to switch up his style, but the lone consistency in his discography, which has moved all over the place since he emerged in 2019, is his fan-favorite Crack Music mixtape series. On its third installment, he delivers his trademark versatility, rapping over minimal beats that have become the signature sound of his Motor City home. He named the opening track after Donovan McNabb, who began his NFL career around the time Skilla was born, which reflects the rapper’s willingness to pay homage to his elders, both literal and spiritual. On “Boss Shit,” he makes his case as Michigan’s best stylist, even though he’s tempted by foreign influences: “I got that new Ferrari coming, I do boss shit.” ...
