Hello, everyone! Welcome to my 39th and final mini review post of 2023!

As always, these are just my personal feelings on these albums. Feel free to disagree with me. Music is subjective. And even if I say something negative, it’s not an attempt to be mean. I’m just sharing how I personally feel about these albums.

Not only is this the final mini review post I’m making this year, but I’m probably done with reviews in general for the year. And I’m just going to mostly focus on year-end lists for the next little bit.

Alright, let’s talk about these six albums, starting with:

THINK LATER by Tate McRae:

I reviewed Tate McRae’s debut studio album in 2022—that was actually my third album review on this website—and I’ll admit I would change some things about that review in hindsight. I still don’t like the album, and I think my rating of a 4/10 would stay the same, but keep in mind that’s the first time I ever posted a negative review, and because of that I maybe tried to pretend I liked the best songs on it a little more than I actually do. I didn’t do that intentionally, but subconsciously some of it might have been a bit forced. That’s not to say that I don’t think “chaotic” is a pretty great song, because I do, but I do think I overhyped even that song, and others like “she’s all i wanna be” have soured on me.

Anyway, here’s her second studio album, and while I can’t say I had high expectations, I wanted to give it a chance … and I will at least say I like it better than her debut. The production, while not great, has improved, and there are some good vocal melodies here. Even some of the more mid-tier songs on this album have elements that I really like—for example, if “run for the hills” had a better snare and if the production and mixing sounded tighter, it could have been excellent!

And there are some moments here that I really like lyrically, such as the way she writes about attachment to an unhealthy relationship on “stay done” or the nihilistic lyrics of the title track that don’t feel all that serious and fit with the music.

But for the most part I just find a lot of this to be pretty uninteresting. It feels like it blends in with a lot of other pop music for me. And I often don’t like the vocal layering, and the trap beats don’t usually fit in my opinion. 

Also, I often avoid talking negatively about vocals in my reviews, because I don’t want to make it sound like I’m criticizing someone’s natural voice … but I’m just going to be totally honest and say that I’m not a huge fan of Tate McRae’s vocals. I think any singer can be a good singer, and I have loved some of her vocal performances in certain tracks—“you broke me first” comes to mind—but for whatever reason I only seem to really like Tate McRae’s vocals in specific tracks, and I’m not really sure why.

So, for me this album is a 5/10. It’s far from the worst album I’ve heard this year, but I certainly don’t like it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “stay done”, “we’re not alike”, “think later”
Least Favourite Tracks: “hurt my feelings”, “exes”, “guilty conscience”

Bewitched by Laufey:

For months now I’ve been hearing really positive things about this Laufey album, so as someone who still hasn’t listened to her debut album I was still curious to hear this new record of hers, her second to date.

And there are some very enchanting elements of this album, most notably Laufey’s vocals, which I think are absolutely incredible! And the vocals alone are enough to make this worth hearing! But even aside from that, there are some really strong melodies, and the instrumentation sounds really tight, with lots of small details that really help!

And I also like a lot of the lyrics here. They’re not super deep as far as I can tell, but there’s some really nice poetry here, with “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” being an example of great lyricism with the way she takes the cliché of writing a song about her former self, but she adds a lot of detail that really helps separate it from so many other songs in this vein. And there’s a lot of great imagery used throughout the album, and the phrasing and cadences work really well, too!

And it’s really unfortunate that the production holds it back for me so much … because as much as Laufey is a fantastic vocalist, the vocal production on the other hand, well, it’s not the strongest if you ask me, especially with some backing vocals that take away from the enchanting atmosphere of some of these songs. And the vocals also can feel drowned out in the mix at points, which also doesn’t help, like in “California and Me”.

And while I like the instrumentation on paper, something about the sound quality just feels kind of awkward to me, with the way the instruments sound when put together—it sounds tight in terms of the timing of it all, but the backing vocals and strings often create a certain kind of atmosphere that doesn’t work super well for me—the production doesn’t feel as enchanting as it could, and instead it feels more muddy, which doesn’t really fit with the vibe.

Also, as much as I do like some of the vocal melodies, they don’t feel super consistent. And “From The Start” is an incredibly obnoxious song which feels really out of place on this album.

This album has a very winter-like vibe to it, so this is the perfect time of year to give it a listen—and there are moments where I like the production, such as “Second Best”, a song I actually think is pretty great … but as a whole, this just isn’t wowing me. So, I’ll give it a light 7/10. Again, I think it’s good, but not great.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Second Best”, “Lovesick”, “Promise”, “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self”
Least Favourite Track: “From The Start”

Playground by House of Harm:

I’ve heard some positive things about this album, and I’ve seen it described as post-punk and darkwave … so, it seems like it should be right up my alley—although I also heard a comparison to the band Korine, a band whose full discography I’m not super familiar with, although considering how I felt about Korine’s album from this year, that didn’t give me the highest of expectations for this …

But I actually ended up liking it a lot! And the interesting thing is that I can actually hear some similarities between this and Tear by Korine, but this album feels way more experimental, and the production feels way punchier, with those awesome snares! And the basslines are awesome!

I’m often not a huge fan of airy production, but it often depends on how it’s done, and in this case the guitars feel just distant enough from everything else with just the right amount of reverb when combined with those punchy snares that it all comes together to create much more atmosphere with a slightly ‘underwater’ sound if that makes any sense, but not too much to the point where it takes away from the awesome grooves. The album has a very 80s-post-punk vibe, and I think it’s awesome!

And there are some fascinating lyrics here, too, with the slight vagueness fitting really well with this style of darkwave. And I love how “The Face of Grace” unintentionally feels like it’s full of metaphors for me personally struggling to write reviews as good as I want to … and yes, I’m thinking way too much into that, I know. And while we’re on the topic of lyrics, I also love the haunting sense of desire on “To Last”.

Now, with all this being said, I do think the second half leaves a bit more to be desired, especially with “Ignore the Taste” having some of the weakest guitar melodies on the album, but there’s just so much to like about this album! So, for me, it’s a 9/10, and a great surprise late in the year!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Before the Line”, “To Last”, “Roseglass (Edit)”, “The Face of Grace”, “Soaked In Pastel”, “Two Kinds”, “Moving On”, “Place It Back”
Least Favourite Track: “Ignore the Taste”

Cartwheel by Hotline TNT:

Hotline TNT are a band I don’t think I’d heard of until recently when this album came out. This is their second album, and it’s the first album of theirs that I’ve listened to.

And it’s mostly got a nice sound to it, with some nice guitar distortion, and I mostly like the mixing here … although I do wish the sound were a bit less foggy.

Overall, I can’t say there’s much about the song writing that really grabbed my attention. And maybe that’s just a me thing, but I’m not going to pretend I found the lyrics particularly interesting or that I was all that impressed by the compositions.

I guess this just isn’t really my style of alternative rock … it feels like I’ve heard so many albums like this, and there’s just not much that sets it apart in my opinion. But still, the percussion mostly sounds good, especially in “Spot Me 100”, although it is kind of funny that arguably the one song on this album that I felt a bit more gripped by is the one with the line, ‘I’ve heard this song before.’

And maybe I’m missing something in the lyrics, but to me it doesn’t feel as deep or interesting as I think it’s supposed to … so, overall, I guess I’ll give this a strong 6/10. It’s still at least decent for what it is, but I’m not really a fan of it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Protocol”, “Maxine”, “Spot Me 100”, “BMX”
Least Favourite Track: “Son In Law”

Madres by Sofia Kourtesis:

This is the debut studio album by Peruvian DJ Sofia Kourtesis, whom I hadn’t heard of until this album came out. But I saw this getting a lot of critical acclaim, and after watching one of my favourite music critics, Mark Grondin from Spectrum Pulse, review this album very positively, I knew I didn’t want to miss this album … and yeah, I agree with the general consensus here. This album is great!

The production has a really nice, smooth sound to it, but not too much to the point where it would hold these songs back from hitting really hard. And I think the album is very well mixed, too!

There are lots of strong melodies, in both the vocals and instrumentation, and while the lyrics don’t seem to be super deep, I don’t think they need to for this album to really click for me, and it’s hard for me to describe why … but without these lyrics, I also wouldn’t like this as much, as the lyrics and music fit really well together.

Now it’s worth mentioning that I don’t speak Spanish, so while I translated some of the lyrics online, I don’t know how accurate the translations were. Although some of the lyrics here are in English.

So, yeah, if you’re looking for a dance album with a really nice, warm vibe to it that feels like the perfect album to listen to on your own late at night—or even if that description was way too specific—I highly recommend this! 9/10! Absolutely awesome stuff!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Madres”, “Si Te Portas Bonito”, “Vajkoczy”, “How Music Makes You Feel Better”, “Funkhaus”, “Moving Houses”, “Cecilia”, “El Carmen”
Least Favourite Track: “Habla Con Ella”

The Lamb as Effigy by Sprain:

This album was released back in September to huge amounts of critical acclaim, and then the band broke up less than two months after the album’s release.

It took me a while to get around to listening to this, mostly because it’s over an hour and a half long, but it did seem like something that would be up my alley, as I’ve seen this described as noise rock/experimental rock. And again, this has been getting massive amounts of critical acclaim. So, I finally got around to listening to it, and …

If I’m being honest, I can’t say I totally get the hype. Yes, it’s loud, it’s noisy, it’s intense, and there are some interesting philosophical lyrics with a lot of really interesting metaphors, and a lot of this album subtly feels like the narrator is crying for help—especially the super creative ending of the closing track, even though I’m not a huge fan of the ending sonically … but overall, this album doesn’t really feel all that special to me personally. As far as this kind of noise rock goes, it’s nowhere near the best of it that I’ve heard in the last few years.

And again, the album is super long, which makes it easy to get tired of after a while—albeit not as easy as it would be if I found this to be totally boring, which I don’t. I do like some of the production, and again, I like a lot of the lyrics. And there’s also the occasional musical moment that really does work for me, such as the excellent guitar distortion in “We Think So Ill of You”.

But as a whole, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed, at least considering the massive amounts of critical acclaim this has gotten. So, for me, this album is a 7/10. It’s a good album that I recommend you listen to if you’re a fan of this style of music, but I just can’t say it’s fully for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Reiterations”, “The Commercial Nude”, “We Think So Ill of You”
Least Favourite Track: “Margin For Error”

…

Thank you to everyone who has read my reviews this year! I set a goal for this year of reviewing at least 250 albums, but if I’m being honest I didn’t think I would actually reach that number … and yet, I managed to review 317! Yes, most of those were mini reviews, but I’m still surprised I ended up reviewing that many!

We’ll see how many I’m able to review in 2024 … but for now, I want to focus on year-end lists. As always, thanks for reading!