Hello, everyone! Welcome to my website (or welcome back if you’ve been to my website before)! Today I’m doing 5 mini album reviews!

As always, this is just based on how I personally feel about these albums. Even if a review is negative, it’s not meant as a personal attack on anyone, and none of this is meant as some sort of ‘objective truth’ of how good or bad an album is … it’s just about how much or how little I personally like these albums.

Feel free to disagree with anything I say here. And now, let’s start these mini reviews with …

Blondshell by Blondshell:

Here’s an artist who’s been gaining traction this year under the stage name Blondshell, and she released her self-titled debut studio album a few months ago, which has been getting some acclaim. And considering I’d seen it described as indie rock, I was excited to hear it!

But after multiple listens, I can’t say I ended up liking this as much as I expected. I mean, there are some good melodies and some good song writing … but I’m not really a big fan of the mixing here, which at points sounds absolutely awful to me, like in “Kiss City” when the vocals get totally drowned out in the mix, and that’s something I’ve noticed on some other tracks here, too.

And like I said, I like some of the melodies here, but there are also some that just don’t do much for me, and sometimes the kind of airy sound holds these songs back from having more punch to them.

And it makes for a kind of frustrating listen; not ‘frustrating’ as in bad, more just that it feels like the seeds of a great album are here, and it just doesn’t get there for me … it feels so close to great, yet so far at the same time.

It’s kind of a tricky album for me to rate … I guess I’m feeling slightly more positive than negative here, but only slightly, so for me it’s a 6/10. If you’re a big fan of alternative rock I’d recommend it, but it’s not really my thing.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Veronica Mars”, “Salad”, “Dangerous”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Joiner”

Et Facta Est Lux by Sektarism:

So, this is a metal album—or at least it’s sort of a metal album—by a band who’s pretty obscure, and I only found out about them because I was looking for some new obscure music. I still haven’t listened to any of their previous albums, but I was curious to hear this one, because I saw some descriptions that made it seem right up my alley … but unfortunately, I can’t say it really wowed me that much.

It’s worth noting that I couldn’t find the lyrics for this album when I looked them up, and I don’t know what the lyrics are as I’m pretty sure the lyrics are in French (or at least they’re in a language other than English, which is the only language I know … I’m assuming it’s in French because the band is from France). So, this review is just based on the sound of the album … and, well, it starts and ends strong, and I like the eeriness to this album, but it just kind of feels like it drags on for a while and it gets kind of boring at points.

I like how it builds at points, but it still feels like it’s missing more variety in the sound, or more dynamics I guess … I’m not sure what the word I’m looking for is, but something like that.

The mixing sounds pretty good, but overall I’m just not really wowed here. I still mostly like it, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it much. 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Le Vent des Serpents”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fiat Lux”

The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored by Hayden Pedigo:

This is my first time listening to a Hayden Pedigo album, and it’s a mostly mellow instrumental album which is very reliant on acoustic guitar, and there are a lot of great melodies here!

But overall, it’s not really an album that gives me a lot to say. I will say the mixing sounds great, with the low end adding to a more detailed sound, which really helps on an album like this that is instrumental and puts acoustic guitar melodies at the forefront.

But overall … well, it does start to get kind of boring at points, and it might work better as background music, but it’s still a pretty enjoyable listen.

I think this album works better as a whole album, though, than just as a collection of songs.

For me, this album is getting a 7/10, and I recommend giving it a chance if you haven’t heard it yet.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Looking at the Fish”, “When It’s Clear”, “Nearer, Nearer”, “Then It’s Gone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored”

Chaos For The Fly by Grian Chatten:

This is the debut solo album by Grian Chatten, the lead singer of Fontaines D.C., a band who’s received a lot of critical acclaim, and while I’m not super familiar with Fontaines D.C.’s music, I haven’t really been super wowed by what I’ve heard for the most part. But again, I haven’t listened to them much.

But did Grian Chatten’s solo album click for me? Well, it’s an interesting listen, that’s for sure. And I think it’s an album I’m impressed by more than I actually like it, if that makes any sense. And that’s not to say I don’t like it—the production sounds really good, I like a lot of the lyrics, and there’s this kind of eerie feeling to the sound that works really well—but something feels missing here, and I can’t quite place what it is.

Again, there is a lot to like here, such as the strings in “Last Time Every Time Forever”, the haunting vibes of “I Am So Far”, and “Bob’s Casino” is a fantastic track that kind of reminds me of “Penny Lane” by The Beatles! That’s not to say it’s as good as “Penny Lane”, but how could it be? It’s still a fantastic song with gorgeous production!

I guess maybe what holds the album back for me is a lot of the vocal melodies kind of boring me. But still, it’s a pretty interesting listen, and while I wasn’t blown away by it, I did mostly end up liking this, so I’ll give it a 7/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Last Time Every Time Forever”, “Fairlies”, “Bob’s Casino”, “I Am So Far”
Least Favourite Tracks: “All Of The People”

Maps by billy woods & Kenny Segal:

Well, this is quite a complicated album, similarly to Aethiopes which was in my top 10 favourite albums of last year!

Now I can’t say I love this album as much as Aethiopes. As great as the lyrics here are, I personally don’t find them quite as interesting as the lyrics on Aethiopes, and I don’t find the instrumentals quite as incredible … but that’s just in comparison to Aethiopes. Because there is still a ton of depth in these lyrics, with lyrics about gentrification, racism, travelling and missing home, and much more. And billy woods also has a sense of humor that shows up in some lines on this album.

The instrumentals here are very creative, and I think they sound fantastic, with great percussion!

I will say I don’t find the features super consistently great, but I do really like some of the features, like Quelle Chris’s feature on “Soundcheck”!

I mean, the album is a lot to take in, and I’m not going to pretend that I fully understand everything that’s being said here, but I can confidently say that I love this album! For me, it’s a 9/10! billy woods’ rapping and poetry fits really well with Kenny Segal’s production, and it’s one of my favourite albums of 2023!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Soft Landing”, “Soundcheck”, “Rapper Weed”, “Blue Smoke”, “Babylon By Bus”, “The Layover”, “FaceTime”, “Agriculture”, “Houdini”, “NYC Tapwater”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Waiting Around”