5/10
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K.R.I.T. tells us this mixtape is different, but it’s actually obnoxiously similar to his past five or six projects.
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Dream pop duo Beach House impresses even less on their followup to Depression Cherry.
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CHVRCHES delivers a high-budget version of what they had done on their lukewarm debut.
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Fetty Wap’s debut album has some of the hottest singles of 2015 on it, but the deep cuts feel like Fetty and his producers tried to recreate the success of “Trap Queen” again and again.
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Lana Del Rey’s latest project, surprisingly, is an improvement on the singer’s previous releases.
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The Wonder Years’ latest album is well-mixed and performed, but does little beyond continuing to play out every tired pop punk and emo cliché in the book.
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Despite it’s dark album cover and heavy teaser tracks, Foals’ What Went Down seems to be Foals as usual: A little depression, a little dance, a little drab.
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The Weeknd’s new album takes a lot of stylistic risks, experimenting with not just alternative R&B, but soul, rock, and pop. However, few of these forays into other genres pay off, and they leave the album feeling pretty inconsistent and directionless.
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Health is back, and they’re taking it easy on the noise this time around, favoring a fusion of electronic dance music and pop on many tracks here.
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The Internet’s latest album includes vast improvements on the production and instrument front. However, their songwriting and vocal skills makes Ego Death far from a great record.
