My Favorite Albums of 2023 so far...

Hey everyone, it’s been a minute. Hope you folks are doing well. I haven’t been writing much since life and work got in the way, I was gonna put this out sooner but I working on doing exams to get a promotion. Anyways, back to our regular schedule, We are halfway into the lord of our year 2023, and for the year of music, it’s been very….dry. Last year with the world returning to normal, it was a very top-heavy year and did suffer a lull in the middle but it still ended very strongly. This year, however, it’s been a snooze. I remember there was a month when nothing of interest had dropped. I felt this year so far if I had to describe it is “missed anticipation and exceptions”. Albums that get a buzz, great promo run, and hype but ended up falling flat or getting a mild reception. I will say however there’s been a ton of hidden gems and artists I was unfamiliar with mixed in with artists that my friends who are reading this might recognize and hopefully give a chance and look at some of the artists that are new faces to them that I will mention here today. Side note: I was meant to put this out sooner but like I said, life’s a bitch. A few albums came out as of writing this I would’ve included but I haven’t truly sat with them as of writing this. Seems like the year in music is starting to finally pick up lol. So without further ado, here are some albums that stood out to me so far this year. 

Let's Start Here by Lil Yachty: This album was my first review/piece of the new year which if you haven’t read I’ll link it so I’ll try to keep it brief here. I’m still not in love with the album and still roll my eyes with the whole “I want to be taken more seriously as an artist, not a rapper” but I respect you for taking a huge risk and doing a whole alt-rock album. I'll still it is the best "rapper trying to a do rock album" album. The Strike is a great song too, I wished it cut the album. 

Link to the review if you haven't read: https://mexicanmamba.blogspot.com/2023/02/lets-start-here-by-lil-yachty.html

This Is Why by Paramore: Another album I talked about in "Rob's Rapid Fire Review" so I will keep this brief too. I’ll admit, I haven’t gone back and listened to this album in like couple of months at the time of writing of this but it is still a solid record. An album that a lot who are about to be 30 or in their 30s and facing the fear of getting older, very mature record with lyrics from Hayley Williams. It hit me on a personal level with his short runtime, I hope more bands from their era do the same thing down the line. 

Quest For Fire by Skrillex: The last album I talked about already so once again, say with me. "KEEPING IT BRIEF!" Skrillex dropped two albums this year and I prefer this over the other one, Mainly cause this was more my speed with me enjoying house/electronic music in the past three years. "Don't Too Close" did have a bigger budget with guest features from Chief Keef to the Biebz but overall it was a huge swing and a miss. "Quest With Fire" features Porter Robinson, Four Tet, and Missy Elliot, and had samples from middle eastern and reggae music with care and respect, the whole album worked for me. I am still consider a filthy casual for this genre but this was more accessible to me than the bigger budget project. 

Scaring The Hoes by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown: Finally, an album about my whole life! I'm kidding. It is pretty on the nose why they would not only work together but also name the album this is pretty hilarious which fits their style of music. I think all of us enjoy weird styling of music, I do too but some of the "style" of music can have more appeal than the easily accessible music. I am a fan of both guys here but I was a bit skeptical, about the name and how would they embrace the meme to the point where it becomes I am more laughing at this record for how bad it is. However, the album was fucking great. They embraced the meme yes, with how the production and mixing with the way it is. 

I will give Peggy his flowers as a producer, the samples range from "Oh shit!" to "This is clever and fitting to the title" to "WHAT THE FUCK?!". I can't pick a favorite sample flip, The Japanese commercial flip on "Garbage Pale Kids" is so earworm, It works as a walkout song if I was a pro wrestler. Milkshake by Kelis sample on "Fentanyl Tester" is catchy as shit, had my goofy ass head bobbling like crazy. Young MJ on "Orange Juice Jones" was dope, I didn't know that was him at first cause of the vocal pitch down but shit is so smooth. "God Loves You" has this distorted sound with its loud drums it somehow enhances the gospel sample to epic proportion. Lyrically the album is nothing groundbreaking, I love at times Danny's off-kilter flow matches with beats, "Kingdom Hearts Key" is a nice example where he flows with the beat with each of his lines. I do have gripes where songs like “Burfict!” where I can’t hear Danny cause the mixing of the beat drowns out his vocals. However, It does sound like this album got a patch update, the mixing sounds a bit better than the first week of release. Overall a great album that sounds like a chaotic soundscape, I want an instrumental album version soon. 

Let Me Update My Status by TisaKorean: Looking back at the rap scene in the mid-2000s and the whole “ringtone” era of hip-hop is a sight to behold. I remember not being a huge fan of the genre around this time, I know crazy right? Especially since it’s the main genre I cover on this blog, I don’t know middle school me discovered a lot of pop-punk bands and 90ma R&B tunes, and that appealed to me more. Now looking back at it since I’m older and wiser, that era of rap has a nice charm to it. It wasn’t perfect but they were gems. With this artist I’m about to talk about here, he’s bringing it only that good part of that era, but that feeling back. 

TisaKorean was someone I discovered by fellow music writer Caleb Caitlin and many of my followers retweeted his videos of him being a goofball, dancing at the local Circle K’s to his freshest fits. When I first his stuff, it was a nice novelty. I didn’t take it too seriously but I also didn’t the music was all that great, I did get the appeal, just didn’t click with me right away. This new album, however, yeah this is just dope and fun music. I love fun music, I like fun, we need it more. I felt I traveled back in time, logging onto MySpace and watching BET 106 and Park after school, I think he even did a video like it was an episode of 106 and Park with the song “Uh Huh.mp3”. When this comes on I think of this goofy ass dance in my head that involves standing on your toes. The intro which is the own version and update of “Gucci Bandana” by Soulja Boy is a nice opener and sets the tone for the whole album is going for. “HeLiCoPtEr SwAg pt.4.MP3” (all these album titles are so funny) is another stand-out track, I’ve been seeing touring footage of him throwing up his white tee and swinging it around, and I love that whole crowd gets into too. It’s funny he’s on tour with Don Toiliver, of all people who have two different sounds to be part of the tour. Overall this was such a fun album and I think it’s worth checking out, even without having those nostalgia glasses on. 

Split Decision by Dave and Central Cee: This is more of an EP than a full-length album but if had to pick one major flaw about this album, I wished it was longer. I'm glad to see a project like this happen. Dave has been around in the UK rap scene for years to work with Cee who I don't think many wouldn't argue that he's the "Hottest MC" from his home country as of right now. "Doja" was a stupid song that had charm to it but the other stuff that I've heard is so much better. They complement each other well with Dave being more laid back and just spitting bars and with Cee stepping up with his wordplay and lyrics to be even with Dave, I’ll admit Dave did outshine Cee here, but not a bad thing though. Production is pretty minimal and laidback, which is fine, this felt like a tape just for fun and to showcase their bars from two different viewpoints of rappers. Hope we hear more from them down the line. 

HNPM by Jim Legxacy: Another artist I've discovered from fellow writer Caleb Caitlin, Jim is a UK producer, rapper, singer, and creative director. I'll admit I only recently found who he was but I discovered and went the down the rabbit hole on his small catalog and I am so glad I did. This mixtape gave me a huge smile on my face the whole time. All the production is solid. The samples on this are just insane and mind-blowing. The way he blends afrobeat, Jersey club, UK drill, emo west rock, and drum and bass is so creative, like I said, just a big ol’ smile on my face the entire time. The way he used the Miley Cyrus sample on “Mileys Riddim” was so good. Hell, I even like his sample flip of “Candy Rain” of the same name. Most of the song's runtime is short but I liked that the songs don’t sound unfinished and overstay its welcome. Vocal performances are mostly good, at times they do sound just ok but he’s still early on in his career and young where he has room to grow. This album was great and I’m looking forward to what he does next to evolve his sound. 

April Mixtape 3 by Snow Strippers: So far it has been a great year for the collective Surf Gang. The duo is made up of producer Graham Perez, who is part of the collective, and Tatiana Schwaninger on vocals who are from Detriot. I only recently discovered them because Uzi is the lone feature on the album, which is crazy to think about since the duo has only been around for a year. The duo has been compared to Crystal Castle's first record from looking them up, which it is there but they both use different production choices. Crystal used more punk and glitch music in their production and their vocals sound different. It sounds as if the cheesy and catchy electronic music you heard from the 2000s sounded like they snorted pills and they had a huge foggy feel in their brain and sight. The Album does sound a bit one-note but it's mindless fun to dance to with the off-kilter mixing and haunting vocals. I picked apart this album so many times that I found different things in it with each listen that changes the experience every time. I wished the Uzi track was better, I didn't like their verse on here. Overall, fun album. Fills that void in this genre.

Other Albums that stood out to me and that I enjoyed this year: I have more albums to name but I don't have much to say so I'll keep them brief and short. "Ways of Knowing" by Navy Blue is once again another solid album in his catalog, nothing groundbreaking but I enjoyed the lyrics about letting go of your ego and embracing loved ones is a strong message that is brought up a lot. I love the futbol bars too on the lead single "Chosen". The deluxe of "Call Me If You Get Lost" is good but I don't really have much to say about deluxe albums cause I've been sick of them for the past two years. Lana Del Rey dropped her best album since "NFR", She has been a personal artist but in a way, this seems way rawer than what she's done in the past. A somber album that has hints of "trap" beats was a bit of a shock. King Krule new album dropped just recently as of writing this but man, what a sad album. I teared up, cause even with all the success, fame, and family, you can still feel sad and depressed. You're not truly happy in life. I hope Archy is ok. The album title fits the name, it does like you're in outer space with nothing and you feel numb, not seeing the stars but seeing that space of losing loved ones and seeing the harsh realities of the thing we call life. For my guilty pleasure aka the k pop scene, I enjoyed the albums from TWICE and LE SSERAFIM. The new Foo Fighters made me teared up a bit too. Dave has been through a lot in the last couple of years, I hope he's ok. So much raw emotion in his vocals and lyrics took a few listens for the to click with me I'll admit, the sounds get a bit redundant and the mixing is spotty but overall, a nice tribute album nonetheless.

What I'm looking forward to dropping this year or what I hope drops: "The Idol" is one of the worst best trashy series I've seen since some anime I've seen that I would like to remain nameless, the music has been good so far! I am curious if this will be the last Abel's using the "Weeknd" name and persona, I hope not for this one. I'm not huge on Gunna but I am curious what he has to say since being released and having the snitch tag on him. Veeze is finally dropping his long-awaited debut album, Will Uzi and Travis drop on the same day? No. I am excited to hear new music from both. Does Tyler seem like he dropping an album this year? I hope, curious if he going for the personal album or that house album that people have been saying since the rumored name had the word "Disco" in the title. Speaking of house music, gum.mp3 is someone I look forward to hearing from all the time, I am wondering if future WWE world champion Bad Bunny is going down the path of house music with his next album, the lead single was great. Baby Keem and his cousin Kendrick Lamar have to drop an album together soon right? at least a PgLang album. Metro Boomin has been teasing not only a JID album but a Future album too, both should be good, I enjoyed the Spider-Verse soundtrack that Metro put together. (Update: now he teasing a young thug album too?!) Schoolboy Q has been in the teasing phase of a new album, feels like YEARS since we last heard from him. Chief Keef has delayed "Almighty So 2" three or four different times, my hype has been lowered with each delay but I hope it lives up. Killer Mike stepping away from the RTJ shit and dropping a solo album for the first time in a decade, the singles have been good thus far. I’m gonna assume NEWJEANS is going to drop that debut album sooner than later? FRANK. Frank, look I know the Coachella set was a mixed bag but is this the year the album drops? You too Jai Paul! 

and that's it. What's your favorite album of this year? I hope this year picks up!