Hello, and welcome to the newly revamped Album Katchup! This will be like the other Album Katchup's I've done, except with a few notable differences. One is that I am going month-by-month. Sure, it might be more hectic, but I'm doing this to not overstuff each blog that I post. Two, I have switched my scoring system. Instead of giving an album a letter grade, I will be giving it a score from 1-10. Sure, it's pretty basic, but I think it will be easier to make sense of. And finally, I have decided to add just as many worst tracks as best. Instead of having one worst track per album, I'm doing as many as I dislike. I feel like that will give a better balance as to what you see that I like and don't like per album. Those are all of the big changes that I made, so let's get into it. January didn't have too much to offer that I was interested in listening to, so I've only got four. But hey, I hope you enjoy reading them. Without further ado, let's begin.
Mac DeMarco: Five Easy Hot Dogs
Release Date: January 20
Genre: Soft Rock / Bedroom Pop / Instrumental Folk
Indie pop icon Mac DeMarco has returned with his first album since 2019. This time around, he has given us a collection of instrumental tracks. These instrumentals are all laid back, as they feature some gentle acoustic guitar passages, quirky synths and little bits of woodblock percussion to tie everything together. It all culminates into a consistently chilled out and relaxing vibe. Now, this begs the question: did this album need to be instrumental? Well... no. Don't get me wrong. I love instrumental music, and I am a firm believer that songs do not need vocals or lyrics to be compelling or even good. However, the songs on Five Easy Hot Dogs are structured in very familiar verse-chorus patterns, and the lack of vocals cause the tracks to feel empty. On top of that, these songs can get repetitive and tedious very quickly. The album doesn't offer too many unique ideas that keep these tracks consistently engaging, and as a result, they all blend together without any discernable features to make them distinct outside of a couple added bits of woodblocks and goopy synths. It's pretty stale. Five Easy Hot Dogs isn't bad by any means, and it makes for some great background music. Outside of that, there isn't much to return to here. If you like chill acoustic music, then you might dig this, but if you're looking for something with a little more substance, I would listen to Mac's other stuff instead.
Best Tracks: Gualala; Portland 2; Vancouver 3; Edmonton 2; Chicago
Worst Tracks: Portland; Vancouver
Score: 5/10
Maneskin: Rush!
Release Date: January 20
Genre: Alternative Rock / Pop Rock / Glam Rock
This is Maneskin's first album since their 2017 cover of "Beggin'" exploded in popularity in 2021. I mean, that song was EVERYWHERE. We could not escape it no matter how much we wanted to. That cover caused the band's hype to skyrocket, and combine that with their Eurovision win, I have been anticipating an album. From what I can tell, Rush! is their first English album, as the material they've released prior to this was primarily in Italian, and while there are a few songs in their native language, this project is mostly in English. And I gotta say, it's not bad. I'm not familiar with their back catalogue, but some of the songs that I had heard up until this point were fine rock songs, and Rush! is completely fine. The riffs are punchy, the drums have some solid grooves and the vocals have a lot of passion and swagger. There are some great moments on here, and the band keeps things exciting enough to make the album worth listening to to the end. However, there are some really bad aspects to this album. For one, the lyrics are terrible across the board. You get weak rhymes, cringy wordplay and the occasional moment that reminds me that these guys are not native English speakers. On top of that, the duds fall flat HARD. "KOOL KIDS" is a really terrible attempt at post-punk, "MAMMAMIA" gets increasingly annoying as it goes on and "BLA BLA BLA" is an early contender for worst song of the year. So yeah, there are some terrible moments, but there are great moments as well. I love the groove of the chorus on "GOSSIP." "GASOLINE" has an incredible fuzzy bassline, and "THE LONELIEST" is a genuinely gorgeous ballad. This isn't a bad album at all. In fact, there's a fair amount of good here. It's just bogged down by misguided ideas and a lack of refinement. I know that there's a lot of hate for this band because they got famous out of nowhere, but I do respect this band and I root for them to do something better.
Best Tracks: GOSSIP; GASOLINE; LA FINE; IL DONO DELLA VITA; THE LONELIEST
Worst Tracks: BLA BLA BLA; KOOL KIDS; READ YOUR DIARY; MAMMAMIA
Score: 5/10
Sam Smith: Gloria
Release Date: January 27
Genre: Pop / Pop Soul
I admit that I've never payed too much attention to Sam Smith's work. Sure, I've heard the singles, but I hadn't really cared enough to listen to the rest of their material. Don't get me wrong, they've got a great voice and some solid songwriting, but nothing about their music really grabbed my attention. That is until last year, when their single "Unholy," featuring trans artist Kim Petras, blew up. Not only did it break history being the first song with a non-binary and a transgender artist to ever hit the Billboard Top 100, but it was also unlike anything that I heard from Sam Smith. I mean, I didn't care for it, but yeah, it was a strong stylistic left turn. I mean, going from a R&B pop soul sound to an electropop banger peaked my interest, and I wondered would his next album fully lean into that sound? Turns out, no. Most of Gloria consists of that signature Sam Smith sound but with a few shifts into dance. And it's... ehh. I personally found most of the production to be pretty boring and generic. Sam has a pretty voice, but they don't do a whole lot to elevate these songs in any way. Plus the songwriting, as a whole, sounds very safe. Most of these tracks sound like Sam going through the motions. The only exceptions are the singles "Gimme," which has an obnoxious hook and some of Sam's most bored sounding vocals on the project, and the aforementioned "Unholy," which is nowhere near as sexy as it's trying to be. There are themes of self love and self acceptance throughout the album, but they feel way too watered down and commercialized. The only moment that really feels like Sam is digging deep into their soul is "How To Cry," which shows a strong amount of vulnerability. It makes me wonder why we didn't get more tracks like that, because "How To Cry" is easily one of the best songs here, as well as "I'm Not Here To Make Friends," which is a genuine bop. Everything else ranges from dull but inoffensive to obnoxious. I wish Sam did more to break the mold and execute those ideas in a stronger fashion, because when Gloria is not making failed experiments, it's being painfully mediocre. This isn't a terrible album by any means, but it is certainly underwhelming, and I know Sam can do a lot better than this.
Best Tracks: How To Cry; I'm Not Here To Make Friends
Worst Tracks: Unholy; Gimme
Score: 4/10
Lil Yachty: Let's Start Here.
Release Date: January 27
Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Psychedelic Soul / Funk
Well... this is certainly a left turn. Trap artist Lil Yachty, most known for little boats, being cold like Minnesota and taking the wok down to Poland, has come through with a psychedelic rock album of all things. And you know what? It's pretty good! I certainly wasn't expecting to like this as I've never cared for Lil Yachty's music. On top of that, the track record for rappers turned rockers has not been great. With Let's Start Here., Lil Yachty has created an atmospheric and enchanting rock record full of blaring guitar solos, groovy bass guitars and a myriad of guest singers, all while still giving us his signature autotuned croons. The production is pretty stellar, and the autotune surprisingly fits in well with the sonic vibe. Sure, there are some moments that can get grating, but more often than not, it works. But what's most impressive is how he takes this genre and fully embodies it, making it his own. Sure, there is risk of sounding like a cheap copycat or a ripoff, but Lil Yachty takes this genre and puts his own spin on it, giving each song plenty of character. Now, there are a couple of things that hold this album back from greatness. One is the fact that a lot of times, these songs meander without any solid direction. It results in a good chunk of these tracks feeling incomplete and messy. On top of that, lyrically, this project can be pretty weak. Don't get me wrong, there are some strong moments, and the themes of mental illness in particular hit hard, especially when matched with the production. Other times, Lil Yachty uses poor rhyme schemes and an over-redundance on certain phrases that cause these tracks to be underwritten. The biggest offender is "pRETTy," which is probably the laziest sounding track on the album. But all in all, I was impressed. Let's Start Here. is by no means a perfect album, and if Lil Yachty continues to go down this road, he can certainly tighten some things up. Even still, this is a pretty dang good foray into psychedelic rock. It's ambitious, exciting, well performed and a lot of fun to listen to. I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait to see what Lil Yachty does next.
Best Tracks: the BLACK seminole.; running out of time; WE SAW THE SUN!; drive ME crazy!; IVE OFFICIALLY LOST VISION!!!!; sHouLd i B?; The Alchemist.; REACH THE SUNSHINE.
Worst Tracks: pRETTy; :(failure:(
Score: 7/10
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for February.
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