5/10
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Humanz has its share of strong performances and musical highlights, but all too often its guests are misplaced or poorly utilized and the songwriting/production just isn’t up to the Gorillaz standard.
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Sincerely, Future Pollution finds Timber Timbre taking their sound in a more synthetic direction without conjuring the mood that made their past couple of albums so alluring.
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Arca’s voice is a welcome addition to her otherworldly production style on her self-titled album, but sadly, many of my reservations about her past full-length efforts still stand.
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While In Mind is Real Estate’s best-sounding album yet, the band still fails to provide anything beyond the surface of their blissful sound.
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Drake achieves auditory indifference with his new “playlist.”
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Laura Marling follows up her relatively bold 2015 album Short Movie with an album that’s, more often than not, void of emotion.
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Future washes, rinses, and repeats on a new set of merely passable tracks.
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The Flaming Lips follow up their 2013 album The Terror with a less emotionally and texturally rich project.
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The UK’s Little Simz returns with a concept album about making the transition from ignorance to awareness.