Listed below are the best albums of the 2020s (so far) as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 4 hours ago).
"Well, I for one haven’t forgotten the Pixies and never will and am surprisingly digging this album which is easily their best suit of originals since ‘Trompe le Monde’ waaaaay back in 1991. Mind you, the bar had been set extremely low since that release with a trio of stinkers beginning with ‘Ind...""Well, I for one haven’t forgotten the Pixies and never will and am surprisingly digging this album which is easily their best suit of originals since ‘Trompe le Monde’ waaaaay back in 1991. Mind you, the bar had been set extremely low since that release with a trio of stinkers beginning with ‘Indie Cindy’ (2014) and ending with 2019’s ‘Beneath the Eyrie’ but lets not take anything away from ‘Doggerel’, its got plenty to offer. My biggest complaints with their previous three albums was how tame (pun intended) they were. Forget slicing up eyeballs more like slicing up cucumbers, but here the attitudes back along with the weirdness,fun, sexual innuendos, spoken lyrics, quiet / loud and great guitar licks. Hell there’s even a 12 caret gold standard track that sits amongst their finest tunes EVER and of course I’m referring to the incredible “There’s A Moon On”
But it does have its flaws which begin and end with Joeys song writing debut on his “Dregs of the Wine” and even worse track “Pagen Man”. Don’t leave your day job Joey. And the strangely tacked onto the end title track “Doggerel” oddly feels out of place
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water it’s saying ‘Doggerel’ goes alright
"[+]Reply
"Here we go, J. Cole, everyone has something to say when his name is being brought up. Where does one even begin? He’s been one of the biggest names of hip hop for a decade now, probably the most polarising rapper of his generation. There’s a good chance someone will tell you he is better than Ken...""Here we go, J. Cole, everyone has something to say when his name is being brought up. Where does one even begin? He’s been one of the biggest names of hip hop for a decade now, probably the most polarising rapper of his generation. There’s a good chance someone will tell you he is better than Kendrick (or even sidestep any comparisons and proclaim him the G.O.A.T) or that he is worse than Drake ( no offense to Drake, it’s just that a surprisingly large amount of people that take part in such debates barely know another rapper, so these two are the most common points of reference, lol). As it happens more often than not in similar cases, in my opinion the truth lies somewhere in the middle - boring, I know. He is a good rapper, I wouldn't call that in question, but hardly anything beyond that, the word bland perfectly characterises him. I’d go as far as to say he’s been constantly deteriorating in that regard and here he may have reached his peak. Allow me a couple of flashbacks, In 2014 Forest Hills Drive he opened up, showing a vulnerable side of himself, using his own journey as a means to deliver some universal messages. It wasn't hard to spot some flaws, in an attempt to become relatable he did get too personal in an awkward way, but at least he tried – and the jazzy laid-back sound was ear-pleasing if nothing else. 4 Your Eyez Only saw him getting more ambitious, both in terms of production, where some modern touches were added to his typical sound, but mostly in terms of the narrative, featuring story arcs that don’t restrict themselves to one song, but unfold over the entire album. Again, saying he fell short of creating a masterpiece would be an understatement, but you couldn’t blame him that much. And then (fast forward to the present , conveniently skipping some of his "lesser" albums) came The Off-Season. The basic premiss of this record is obvious simply by looking at the title: he took his time during the off-season (it's noteworthy that the sport references remain a thing throughout the album, which are almost always a positive in my book) to prepare, improve, focus on his goal and come back better than ever. Well, after listening to this, it’s fair to say it did him more harm than good. Production wise, he’s fully immersed in a modern, kinda generic trap based sound, while his performance is also dangerously close to forgettable when it comes to either rapping or lyrics. So, yeah, all this quite possibly unnecessary and undoubtedly overly long introduction just to say that his previous albums displayed some effort, no matter how the final product sounded like, while this is disappointingly indolent."[+]Reply
"The album starts on an excellent high note and continues strong until about halfway through when it starts to lose itself. Really excellent lyricism throughout, and the concept of reflecting on past actions/livelihood in response to the world ending is a very intriguing way to tie the album toget...""The album starts on an excellent high note and continues strong until about halfway through when it starts to lose itself. Really excellent lyricism throughout, and the concept of reflecting on past actions/livelihood in response to the world ending is a very intriguing way to tie the album together. Overall, I really enjoyed listening through. The front half just felt much stronger than the back half."[+]Reply
"As I was preparing to write a BEA review for this album, I read the Paste review and realized that there was really no point in attempting to clarify and quantify my opinion at this time. Maybe in a decade-plus it will be possible to return to this and give it a proper critical analysis, but anyo...""As I was preparing to write a BEA review for this album, I read the Paste review and realized that there was really no point in attempting to clarify and quantify my opinion at this time. Maybe in a decade-plus it will be possible to return to this and give it a proper critical analysis, but anyone attempting to do so now risks getting caught up in the tidal wave of overwhelming cultural discourse. If you don't pick a side, don't worry: You will be ASSIGNED one by whoever. You will be assigned the "hater" or "Swiftie" title even if you, like me, initially recognize the album as merely an okay collection of pop songs with a couple of good ones and a couple of bad ones (one with a particularly offensive reference to the quality of Charlie Puth's musicianship/songwriting...I almost turned the album off in disgust when I heard that).
Anyway, I'm not going to even bother. I'm too scared that even after writing something HERE, a relative safe space, I'll get caught up in the discourse in an unhealthy way the second I attempt to put any sort of "pen to paper" about this collection of 16 songs (31 if you're truly patient). There are already a couple of reviews below mine and I agree with them both on some level, but any sort of rational discussion on the internet outside of this little bubble isn't really worth the time and anguish at the moment.
You wouldn't go outside during a hurricane, would you? Sorry if this review isn't "helpful.""[+]Reply
"Very loop heavy but clean production by Hit-Boy. I love the sound of this and it's under 30minutes. 9 tracks. Nas is definitely on a roll lately, and this one is my favorite."Reply