Young Thug - Beautiful Thugger Girls (2017)
>trap rap, pop rap, contemporary R&B, southern hip hop
Save for some weirdly good country rap songs, this is standard trap stuff. It's got more of a poppy, R&B flavor than anything else of Thugger's, which sometimes works very well, as there's a level of focus here that's not present on Barter 6 or JEFFERY. While there's more focus, the emphasis on pop songwriting sucks the flavor and individuality out of Thugger's sound, making a collection of songs that wouldn't seem out of place on a Drake album.
2.0+
Converge - I Can Tell You About Pain (2017)
>metalcore, mathcore
Oh man, this has me hyped for their next full length. Age hasn't hurt a single bit of Converge's urgency or technical prowess, both displayed wonderfully on "Eve", one of the band's best songs. The title track is a decent, totally forgettable little post-hardcore exercise, but it's the sprawling "Eve", with its tastes of sludge metal and prog, that make this EP worthwhile, and arguably essential.
3.0
Rex Orange County - Apricot Princess (2017)
>contemporary R&B
3/4 decent, totally forgettable R&B, 1/4 absolutely incredible indie rock/pop. Being as young as he is (he's a year older than me, fuck), O'Connor's love songs come from a totally authentic place, and his vocals are filled with wonder and joy simply towards the feeling of love, it's really contagious. This authenticity in the vocals and lyrics can't excuse the basic, bland R&B songs, though. They're pleasant and unobtrusive, and that's the problem. It's the problem especially since the more rock-tinged tracks here show another side of O'Connor's sound that's much more interesting. "Never Enough" is a pounding, exuberant track that perfectly describes teenage love. I can't recommend that track enough, the rest of the album I'm more mixed on.
2.5+
dream house really is a beautiful track
