Hi, everyone! Yes, I know I just posted my Ed Sheeran review … but why not post more mini reviews?

As always, none of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone, even if I give a negative review. It’s just me sharing how I personally feel about these albums AKA how much/how little I like these albums and why.

Jackman. by Jack Harlow:

I didn’t even know Jack Harlow had announced a new album until after it came out … but I guess that’s probably no surprise when the album came out just a couple days after it was announced.

Anyway, this is the follow-up to Come Home The Kids Miss You, one of my least favourite albums of 2022, and … well, I like this album more than that album. I personally find the lyrics on this album more interesting, and I like a lot of the lyrics here, including some which show complicated situations about morals.

But I can’t say I’m a big fan of Jack’s flows on this album … I’m not sure why, but something about the way the flows and instrumentals combine just feels kind of awkward.

There are a lot of samples used here, and I think some of them sound really good, like the sample of “I Love You Dawn” by Bill Withers in the song, “It Can’t Be”. But I can’t say I find the instrumentals super interesting for the most part.

Overall, I don’t dislike this album, and despite not liking all the lyrics, there are a lot of lyrics here that I do like, but I’m not really a big fan of the album. I’m giving this a 5/10, but that’s coming from someone who’s not the biggest hip hop fan in general, so if you’re more of a hip hop fan than I am, there’s a good chance you’ll like this a lot more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Common Ground”, “Gang Gang Gang”
Least Favourite Tracks: “They Don’t Love It”, “No Enhancers”

Concrete Sunrise by A Reason to Travel:

So, this is an instrumental album which I guess is … ambient-metal? I guess?

At points it’s very mellow, but the instrumentals often build to become instrumental metal. And while I like this album, I wouldn’t say I love it. I mean, I mostly like the production and mixing, and some of the melodies are pretty good, but I can’t help but feel like something’s missing here … and that is something I noticed quite often throughout this album.

The album opens with my favourite track here, which is the title track. The piano sounds great, and I love the eerie feeling of the track. But from that point on, some of these songs feel like they meander a bit, and while I mostly like the production here, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some elements of the production that I don’t like, such as how quietly the snare is mixed on the closing track, or something about the piano in “Refuge” just sounding kind of ‘off’ and I’m not really sure what it is about it.

But still, it’s an eerie listen with some excellent moments … I’ll give it a 6/10. And I’d recommend giving it a listen. You might like it more than me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Concrete Sunrise”, “Dust Wanderer”, “I Miss the Sight of Chimneys”
Least Favourite Tracks: The rest don’t do much for me but I don’t really dislike any of them

Higher Than Heaven by Ellie Goulding:

Before listening to this album, I decided to check out Ellie Goulding’s previous albums … and I didn’t listen to them enough or read enough lyrics that I could really give you my full opinion on all four albums, but I will say this: overall, it wasn’t really my cup of tea. I mean, maybe if I listen to those albums more they might grow on me, but so far I can’t say I’m that big a fan.

But how do I feel about this new Ellie Goulding album? Well, I’m not really a fan of it, and like with Ellie Goulding’s previous albums, a lot of the vocal melodies hold the album back for me.

A lot of the vocal melodies on this album just don’t do anything for me at all, and at times get kind of annoying. There aren’t a lot of standout choruses to me on this album, and it becomes a slog for me to get through despite being a pretty short album.

There’s a lot of bouncy production on this album that I don’t like, and overall the instrumentals don’t really do much for me, at least without vocal melodies to help the songs really click for me.

The title track is my favourite track here, and even that song isn’t one that I love, mostly because the percussion being so loud gets pretty distracting.

So, overall, for me, this album is a very light 4/10 … I’ve definitely heard albums this year I like less, but it’s still far from being an album that I love, or even one that I like. If you love pop music, I might recommend it, but even as someone who loves a lot of pop music myself, this just isn’t for me at all, and it might be my least favourite Ellie Goulding album.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Higher Than Heaven”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Love Goes On”, “Let It Die”, “Waiting For It”

catharsis by COVET:

This is a mostly instrumental album which only features one song with lyrics, that being the opener, “coronal”, which I couldn’t find the lyrics for when I looked them up, and it’s hard to hear what the lyrics are with the vocals sounding drowned out by the instrumentation … but I do love the way this song sounds!

Anyway, how do I feel about the whole album?

Well … as impressive as this album is, it’s not one that really gives me a lot to say. I mean, the guitar distortion sounds great, there’s lots of great melodies, there’s great drumming, and the mixing is fantastic! It’s got a great sound quality to it, and again, it’s very impressive … but it’s a hard one for me to review in-depth.

I kind of get the feeling I’m not going to return to these individual songs as much as the album as a whole … and I’m not entirely sure why. I feel like it’s one of those albums where everything I say about it will make more sense if you hear it yourself … I mean, maybe you’ll feel differently about it than I do, but you’ll probably get what I’m saying if you listen to it … or maybe you won’t and I just don’t have a good explanation, I’m not sure.

Overall, it’s just some really solid post-rock, or math-rock, or whatever … I don’t know what those genre labels even mean, but whatever it is, it’s really enjoyable to listen to! I’d say enjoyable enough to get a 9/10 from me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “coronal”, “bronco”, “vanquish”, “interlude”, “smolder”, “merlin”, “lovespell”
Least Favourite Tracks: “firebird”

That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware:

Jessie Ware just released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year so far, the follow-up to her 2020 album, What’s Your Pleasure?, one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2020. And while I still haven’t listened to that album, I decided to check out this new Jessie Ware album, and …

Well, I like it a lot! It’s really well mixed, which really contributes to the grooves of these songs really clicking for me, with the percussion sounding fantastic in the mix. A great example is “Pearls”, which features some fantastic melodies that really pop off with the excellent sound quality, with the vocals sounding great in the mix, and the percussion has this nice, breezy feeling to it which I’m sure will make this song an excellent summer jam! And as much as I love the chorus on this song, I don’t think it’s my favourite chorus on the album … that would be the chorus of “Free Yourself”!

But I can’t help but feel kind of disappointed that I don’t like it more … yes, the production/mixing is great, and there are lots of great melodies, too, but there are times when the bouncy instrumentation doesn’t really work for me, and the vocal melodies get less interesting to me in the second half, and there is the occasional cringey line … and yes, these are nitpicks, and they don’t ruin the album for me, but when you see me giving this album a 7.5/10, at least I’ve given an explanation for why that rating isn’t higher.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like this album a lot, but if I’m going to say I love an album I want to mean it … and I can’t quite say I love this album.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Free Yourself”, “Pearls”, “Begin Again”, “Beautiful People”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Shake the Bottle”

The Album by Jonas Brothers:

Jonas Brothers are one of the first bands I ever really got into as a kid, as I used to listen to some of their earlier albums, and while I haven’t listened to any of those albums in a while, it is something I’ll probably do soon to see if I still like those albums or not … I mean, I probably haven’t listened to those albums since I was … I don’t know, six years old maybe? And adult Simon has a very different taste in music than six-year-old Simon.

And I haven’t listened to their 2019 comeback album, Happiness Begins, but I will admit, I am a fan of the song, “Sucker”, despite me not liking the majority of the songs of theirs I’ve heard on the radio in the last few years.

But this album does pretty much nothing for me … except for annoying me when I listen to it. I’m not judging anyone for liking this, but I honestly don’t get the appeal of this album. If you love the album, though, feel free to let me know why … maybe we can have a discussion about this album in the comments. So, yeah, if you love this album, that’s great, but as of right now I can’t say I understand why, and it’s certainly not for me.

At least as far as I can tell, the lyrics aren’t very deep (maybe there’s something I’m missing, but they don’t seem very deep to me), and it’s not that I have to find the lyrics really deep for me to love an album, but I don’t find the melodies very interesting for the most part, and a lot of these songs are annoyingly repetitive. And I’ve got to say, “Summer In The Hamptons” might be one of my least favourite songs of the year so far, mostly because of that super annoying chorus.

I’m also not a big fan of the production here, as a lot of it sounds messy, and some of the stiff percussion is overpowering, for example on “Sail Away”. And in some points there’s this bouncy production that feels annoyingly jumpy and messy, like the chorus of “Waffle House”, which, by the way, features a line I find really cringey, ‘That’s why some nights we tried to kill each other, but you know it’s always love.’ I’m sure this isn’t meant literally, but … what?

Again, if you love this album, that’s great! And I’m not trying to send hate to the band or anyone else. But this album just isn’t for me at all, and if you’re looking for album recommendations, I just can’t recommend this album over so many others … I mean, in this mini review post alone there are multiple other albums I’d recommend over this. 2.5/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2.5/10
Favourite Tracks: None, really
Least Favourite Tracks: “Miracle”, “Montana Sky”, “Waffle House”, “Summer In The Hamptons”, “Summer Baby”, “Walls”

Jump On It by Bill Orcutt:

Here’s an instrumental album by an artist whom I’d never heard of until recently. It’s about half an hour long, and it’s very mellow.

This album is very impressive, but I can’t say it really clicks for me that much. I mean, I mostly do like it, but it didn’t really wow me.

The recording quality is great, and there are some nice melodies here and there, but I get less interested in the second half, and at points the melodies don’t do much for me at all.

Overall … I’ll give it a 6/10, and I’d recommend you listen to it. Personally, I don’t love the album, but there’s a very real possibility you’ll like it a lot more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “What Do You Do With Memory”, “The Life of Jesus”, “Some Hidden Purpose”, “A Natural Death”
Least Favourite Tracks: “In a Column of Air”