Fresh Out The Deli

Room on Fire – The Strokes ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Star	Score	Genre
2003	Room on Fire	The Strokes	★★★★	85	Rock	Alternative Rock	Indie Rock

It’s hard to follow up a debut album that reinvigorated an entire genre of music with anything but disappointment, but the Strokes really did the best anyone possibly could have on Room on Fire.

The Strokes were able to smooth out some of the roughness to make a sound that’s a little more nuanced and songs that were better equipped for conventional radio while keeping their charming, lo-fi aesthetic intact.

Right away from the top, there’s a little more tension in Julian Casablancas’ voice that adds some emotion that was honestly lacking on the first album. Laidback rhythm guitar throughout the record bounces between warm, beachy vibes and these weighty, monotonous layers.

“Reptilia” is a real rocker that feels more mature musically than the previous record, like driving a sports car vs. the first car you inherited in high school. “12:51” and “The End Has No End” have playful, new-wave riffs and simple, but energetic, drums that create a fusion that’s two part’s the Cars and one part The Replacements, without some of the bluntness.

So why isn’t Room on Fire as good as Is This It? Both albums might have a perfect 11 for 11 record in terms of good songs, but I’d say only four or five tracks on Room on Fire reach that “great” level, where seven or eight on Is This It do. And even if the sounds a bit more mature, the seemingly spontaneous nature of the first record can’t be replicated, and the more dialed in sound losses the looseness of some of Is This It’s more fun and memorable moments, like the bridge on “Alone Together,” the guitar solo on “Modern Age,” or the blissful joy of “Someday,” “Last Night” and “Hard To Explain.”

El Camino – The Black Keys ★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2011	El Camino	The Black Keys	★★★	66	Rock	Alternative Rock	Blues Rock

El Camino represents The Black Keys at their peak popularity. “Lonely Boy” was an absolute banger of a single that had a lot more energy than what they had offered the album prior, an energy that’s revisited on “Run Right Back” later on the record. “Gold On The Ceiling” and “Money Maker” are harmless old school rockers with catchy choruses. “Little Black Submarine” show’s of the band’s range, using a slow acoustic build to lead into a more electric reprise and bridge. And the band continues to hit on their blues influences throughout, but with more explosive choruses and a bit more aggressive of a sound overall.

However, the problem The Black Keys face is that El Camino and its predecessor, Brothers, both lack what the other album offers too much of. Where Brothers could have used a pure rocker like “Dead and Gone” or “Stop Stop” to bring the energy with “Howlin’ for You,” El Camino would have been better off with a few more of the slow, blues tracks that ended up blending together on Brothers.

I don’t think any of the songs here are bad, but it sounds a little too generic without that variety, and lacks a little of the rawness that the band was known for earlier in their run. You probably could pick 5 or 6 songs from both records and make a killer, balanced album, but instead we got two solid works. It’s hard to complain about that.

Brothers – The Black Keys ★★★½

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2010	Brothers	The Black Keys	★★★½	71	Rock	Indie Rock	Blues Rock

I look back fondly on the days when The Black Keys were considered hip and cool, when they seemed like one of the last holdouts of the garage rock movement that started in the early 2000s with the Strokes and the White Stripes while indie pop acts like Foster the People, Passion Pit and Grouplove were starting to explode on the radio.

2011’s El Camino was probably the peak of the band’s commercial popularity, but Brothers in 2010 was the pinnacle of what they set out to do. Fun drums by Patrick Carney, simple but catchy guitar riffs, raw rock vocals by Dan Auerbach with well-placed falsetto, and a lo-fi, stoner Danger Mouse aesthetic that felt like you were running across the top of a vinyl while it spun on a record player. Most of the tracks are mid-tempo and bring the same bluesy coolness to them, with hints of electric harpsichord and tambourine.

The album opens with a great run of seven songs. Sure, it’s mid-tempoed rock music made for car commercials, but you can’t deny the intoxicating whistle of “Tighten Up” (which I used as a ringtone for a year on my last flip phone), the groove of “Howlin’ for you” and the smoothness of “Everlasting Light.”

At the halfway point of the record, you get a lot more of the straight blues songs. While none of the songs are total misses, none really stand out either until you get to “Never Gonna Give You Up,” although songs like the Odelay-inspired “Sinister Kids” might work a bit more than those like “The Go Getter.”

Lahai – Sampha ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	Lahai	Sampha	★★★★	85	Hip-Hop	R&B	Neo-Soul

Sampha has been making notable music for a long time. From being the primary vocalist on SBTRKT tracks in 2010 and 11, to all his features with artists like Drake in 2013, Kanye West in 2016, Kendrick Lamar in 2022 and Travis Scott earlier this year, to his piano, backing vocals, production and writing credits with Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Solange and Jessie Ware, it’s kind of amazing that 2023’s Lahai is only Sampha’s second album, and his first in over 6 years.

Compared to Process — his 2017 debut album that combined some cold, avant garde electronics with heartfelt piano and vocals — Lahai is lighter and has a bit more bounce, even if the formula is similar. It’s not as sentimental or dramatic, and Sampha refines and simplifies the sound a bit, while still maintaining the intricacies in the music’s rhythm and chord progressions.

From start to finish, the record has an airy vibe and utilizes a nice balance of lovely piano melodies, heavenly vocals, abstract electronic glitch, fluttering, energized percussion and interesting song structures.

The opening track “Stereo Colour Cloud” does sound like you’re flying through the clouds on a sunny day. The next three tracks bounce back and forth with strings, arpeggiated melodies and staccato piano rhythms, and sometimes feel like contemporary dance pieces set to vocals.

“Only” feels like it could have been on Process in a good way. “Can’t Go Back” has a cool breakdown with beeps and strings in the middle of the track. “What If You Hypnotise Me?” has, as the name suggests, a hypnotic piano melody that’s one of the album’s true highlights. “Rose Tint” a nice closing track that brings a slightly different flavor to the end of the record.

While pretty, some of the more piano-heavy, straight forward songs, especially the middle section of the album, blend together a bit. The overall palette and mix of sounds being so consistent throughout admittedly makes it a one-dimensional record. But there’s beauty in how refined and pure it is, and there are no true missteps or out of place moments. Even if Sampha takes another 6 years to put out his next record, if it’s as good as this one, it’ll be well worth the wait.

VOIR DIRE – Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist ★★★

Year	Album	Artists	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	VOIR DIRE	Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist	★★★	63	Hip-Hop

Earl Sweatshirt will always be a little low energy for me, and his recent efforts have been too choppy to really hold my interest even if I know the things he’s doing and saying are interesting and creative.

Teaming up with The Alchemist on VOIR DIRE has solved some of those problems, because Alchemist has a way of adding life to his beats in a very short time. The songs are still brief, but they quell your appetite more than the small snippets that Earl’s records since 2015 have been made of.

Earl is still a little scatterbrained and his monotonous flow is a signature of all his works, but he’s more in his MF Doom bag here, adding more vigor to his prose (“Heat Check” and “Dead Zone” in particular felt like songs MF Doom would have thrived on).

The lead single “The Caliphate,” featuring Vince Staples, is probably the album standout, not only because Vince and Earl always play off each other well (“Mancala” also featuring Vince is another strong showing on the record). Heavenly, bright strings that almost feel like they’re blaring high above the deep, menacing bass and drums give the song a lot of energy.

I think this is probably Earl Sweatshirt’s best album to date, and at 26 minutes, the album’s easy to get through and is smooth from track to track. But, while the potential is there, and so is the intrigue, it does still feel a little lacking or incomplete. I don’t doubt that Earl has a masterpiece in him, but he hasn’t been able to pull everything together yet in my mind.

And Then You Pray for Me – Westside Gunn ★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	And Then You Pray for Me	Westside Gunn	★★	49	Hip-Hop

With an artist as prolific at Westside Gunn and the rest of Griselda, you should expect some variance in quality from release to release. It’s a slight miracle that the 12 records and mixtapes Westside’s released form 2019-2023 have been so consistently enjoyable, thought provoking and sonically honed in. Most are 10-13 tracks long, with similar cold, grimy and artsy beats and a frequent set of guest collaborators that form a smooth, concise 35-45 minute package.

Westside’s 2022 mixtape 10 was probably my favorite of his records, because it strived to reach a little higher than the rest. The guest list was a little more star studded, the beats a little deeper and his energy as fun as ever.

2023’s And Then You Pray for Me — which will allegedly be his final studio album — however, is one of my least favorite of Griselda’s extensive catalog. Westside still proves he’s one of the most captivating emcees in the game, and there are some huge moments here that rival some of his best. But, at 21 tracks and an hour and 15 minutes, it’s by far his longest record, and you quickly notice more bloat compared to the concise, precise albums he’s known for. And, with more than a dozen producers working on the record, his signature sound — underground, ghostly piano melodies and these menacing, old school street drums and bass — gets lost.

When those beats are present the tracks mostly work, because when Westside is going and is able to float on a beat and everything clicks, it’s a great feeling. He sounds good on “Momas PrimeTime,” a classic Westside track with the always-captivating JID. The two Conductor Williams tracks — “Suicide in Selfridges” and “The Revenge Of Flips Leg” — obviously work. He sounds at home on “Flygod 2x” and “Babylon Bis.”

He’s also great alongside Denzel Curry and Boldy James, and his Griselda brethren. The album’s best track, “Kotas,” features the Griselda triple threat, with Benny the Butcher delivering one of the best verses on the album over a booming Tay Keith beat that’s uncharacteristic for the trio but just works.

Overall though, Westside’s personality doesn’t feel as present as it usually does. His ad libs aren’t as noticeable or intentional. Stove God Cooks — who’s almost always a standout on these records even if he’s a bit one dimensional — feels underwhelming and awkward singing melodically over the warmer, kind of uplifting sounding tracks, instead of being utilized as a hype man and spot-up shooter.

Some of the denser, more commercial trap beats might be fine for his feature artists like Rick Ross, Giggs, Jeezy, EST Gee, Peezy and Ty Dolla $ign, but Westside doesn’t sound in his element. And having all those different songs and voices present makes the album choppy, lessening the impact that having maybe one or two of these tracks could have made.

And Then You Pray for Me has good songs and some explosive moments, but it’s another example of a record that I’d probably like a lot more at 12 songs instead of 20+. I’m sure there’s a good 35-40 minute album to be found here, but as presented as a complete package, it didn’t work for me.

Everything is Alive – Slowdive

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	Everything is Alive	Slowdive	★★★	67	Rock	Alternative Rock	Shoegaze

Shoegaze stalwarts Slowdive return for the first time in six years with Everything is Alive, an album with a slightly different flavor than anything they’ve done in the past. The band seems to have pulled on the reins, and are going at a methodical pace with a refined sound. Nothing’s too frantic, nothing’s too loud, and it all feels like a foggy, dream-like state with a pensive mood.

A lot of the songs still have energy. More rocky tracks like “kisses,” “alife” and “slab” are reminiscent of old New Order tunes, with driving bass lines and simple, dark guitar riffs that solo in and out to introduce new song sections while that shoegaze buzz still hums throughout the tracks.

Overall though, the scope of what they’re trying to do has been narrowed. The songs aren’t as dramatic as earlier albums and the mix is hazy instead of crisp, which makes it harder to latch onto melodies. Guitars wail and moan instead of soaring to a roaring climaxes, and vocals whisper, hidden behind soft electronic elements.

Even the already soft moments, while still beautiful, have less color and feel lonelier than before. “skin in the game” is close to “Sugar for the Pill” and “No Longer Making Time” from Slowdive’s 2017 album in style but never hits a climax. The second track, “prayer remembered,” is interesting, but without any vocals creates more of a broad landscape than a specific feeling.

It’s an intentional choice, clearly, and one that’s rewarding after repeated listens. But while I love shoegaze because of the muddy sounds and dreamlike, atmospheric vibes, what made Slowdive’s self titled release in 2017 a standout in the genre is that the band was able to add brightness and life into the mix. Everything is Alive is good, but bringing the top-end energy level and volume down takes away some of what elevated Slowdive’s biggest moments and songs of the past.

Mid Air – Romy ★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	Mid Air	Romy	★★★	61	Pop	Dance-Pop	Electronic

Romy’s solo debut Mid Air ignores many of the cutting edge trends and tropes of modern indie electronic music. Instead, she draws from the trance and Eurohouse sounds that peaked her interest growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s as a way to express herself now as a queer adult.

When done right, trance and dance songs of that era were freeing, letting people lose track of time in the repetitive beats and to let loose when long, musical builds would finally pay off. Songs were often a formulaic, four-to-the-floor style with some blaring synths or alarms, booming bass and, often, a female featured vocalist with a soft voice and melancholic delivery.

Here, Romy taps into that overall feeling through these abridged, simplified versions of the songs that in a time past could have gone on for ages. Romy’s vocals are a natural fit alongside old dance-pop hits like Ian Van Dahl’s “Castles In The Sky,” DJ Sammy’s “Heaven,” “Not Over Yet” by Grace, and even Everything but the Girl’s “Missing.” By providing vocals for each track, Romy also adds personality and cuts some of the repetition that could at times be a pitfall for many dance records of the past, which usually only utilized vocalists for singles or radio edits.

When she’s really in her element — singing on soft intros and piano parts that draw from her time with The XX that — she produces a sound only she really can unlock. “Loveher” “Weightless” and “The Sea” at the top of the record do that well. She also sounds good on the more disco-styled tracks near the end of the album “Enjoy You Life” and “She’s On My Mind.”

But, in an attempt to make the record more palatable to those who might have been intimidated by 7-10 minute long dance numbers (and possibly to avoid having to write endless lyrical verses), the short tracks on Mid Air don’t nearly have the same power behind them that a traditional dance track should. There are some dynamics, sure, and energy throughout, but the big moments here don’t hit the same way as they would if they came after a two or three minute bridge or a style-shifting reprise. And lyrically, her words aren’t revelatory enough in my mind to elevate the music beyond just being songs to dance to.

It can be done well in an abridged form. Her debut single in 2020, “Lifetime,” I feel had more youthful energy and was really fun even at only about 3 minutes long. But that song would be a clear standout on this record, and highlights the extra potential that could have been here if there was a bit more electricity.

It’s caught in this middle ground. It doesn’t have the edge or creativity or glitch of a modern electronic record from someone like Floating Points or Yaeji or Sophie or even Jamie XX. But it also doesn’t pack that same punch that club music in the past had. Ultimately, Mid Air is probably a better record than most of the albums it draws from because of the refinements and consistency, and for a pop or indie pop friendly audience, Romy does a good job at breaking down a lot of barriers that today’s experimental electronic music frequently puts up. But it doesn’t quite reach those really high moments that could come from longer builds or more interesting production techniques.

Girl with Fish – feeble little horse ★★★½

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	Girl With Fish	feeble little horse	★★★½	78	Rock	Indie Rock	Shoegaze

feeble little horse’s Girl with Fish is a quick, delightful indie rock record that, when necessary, utilizes a perfect amount of reverb, distortion, bendy dissonance and electronic sound effects to bring its seemingly intimate presentation to the next level.

The band has the appeal of a DIY acoustic indie act, with soft vocals and an unrefined sound, but knows when to dive into their shoegaze and grunge toolkits to bring the extra noise.

“Tim Man” and “Slide” do it best, with acoustic guitar melodies transitioning to roaring choruses. But good moments are found throughout the record, which is surprisingly balanced with sweet and aggressive moments, and tender and raunchy lyrics.

The best thing about the record though is that it feels like feeble little horse is having fun and trying shit out sometimes just to see if it’ll stick (and most of the time, it does).

“Pocket” might represent this feeling best. Fun drums lead into an intoxicatingly catchy and cute sounding “do you want to be in my pocket” refrain that you can’t help but sing along to, until you get to the “dead man’s fucking me every day” bit. And then there’s an abrupt cut right before the refrain is about to return, and the song explodes, with layers of guitar and screaming vocals. It’s choppy and a little scattered, but it works, and the left turns they take never jeopardize the song’s integrity.

Other highlights include the fun guitar riff and fuzzy synths in “Paces,” the awkwardly long pauses before the in-your-face choruses on “Sweet,” and the uncomfortable retelling of having your virginity taken in front of a plastic Jesus statue by a dude who fucks like he’s eating taking and has a face like concrete. It’s that kind of album.

For All The Dogs – Drake ★½

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	For All The Dogs	Drake	★½	32	Hip-Hop

I don’t think I’ve actually liked a Drake album since about 2014, but it’s hard to deny that he’s consistently been able to produce a handful of quality songs and singles every year since his commercial debut in 2009.

Yeah, he’s corny. He’s overplayed. He artificially stirs up drama. His prime is well behind him as a lyricist and as a singer. But he’s historically known how to stay relevant, read the trends and ride the wave.

However, over his past few records, the number of stand out tracks has continued to slowly drop, and the number of skippable — or flat out unlistenable — songs has continued to rise, while album runtimes have ballooned. And his songs more often feel like Drake doing a Drake parody and being in on a joke nobody else wants to be a part of.

Sitting at 23 tracks and with an appalling hour and 24 minute run, it’s hard to fathom that “For All The Dogs” is really for anyone other than Drake.

The R&B moments are better than the hip-hop ones, but not nearly as good as any of the ballads on his other records. His lyrics range from fine at best to lame more often than not. And there are too many samples that are too obvious to be cool, like the “Dog Days are Over,” “If I Ruled The World” and Pet Shop Boys call outs.

The dance songs with PARTYNEXTDOOR and Bad Bunny are almost instant skips, and he again finds an excuse to mimic an accent and poorly speak another language. He feels out of his elements on the get-hype, rage styled tracks like “Fear of Heights” and “Daylight” and “IDGAF,” which sound like bargain bin beats left on Lil Uzi Vert or Playboi Carti’s clearance shelf. There are too many pointless interludes or inexplicable vocal samples, like the woman talking about eating ox tail. There are too many skits about Drake’s kid and jokes about the album’s dog theme, the latter of which comes off as annoying instead of funny or cute.

The best moments come from J. Cole, Teezo Touchdown, Lil Yachty (who isn’t great but is on an alright track), Chief Keef and SZA, who salvages a terrible dance track with a fun verse in the middle. But outside of “Slime You Out” — the lead single and the records other SZA feature — “Tried Our Best,” the opening track and maybe “8am in Charlotte,” there’s nothing I see myself going out of my way to listen to.

There’s more than enough good Drake out there. No point in wasting your time trying to find the few good elements that remain here.