Sean Sharp's Diary

First full blown album of his I've listened too and it's just as good as I was hoping it would be. The spectrum from rap to rock is super cool on here, none of the tracks really sound the same or even generic. I love when albums have that one song that is the artsy piece that kind of defines the album. Almost like a supercut of the album but it still works by itself and doesn't sound like anything else too much. "BULLKILLER" does this excellently. I wouldn't even say it is a song I'm going to listen to, but it does deliver well as an opener and teaser into what's to come. The standout tracks to me were "BOUNCE WIT ME", "CITGO", "BREAK TIME", "TEST ME", "STREET CAR", and "FIND GOD". The production across the board is solid but the main instrumental on "BOUNCE WIT ME" is somehow unintelligible but still has some melody and sounds good. I've never really heard anything like it. Kenny's choice of a repetitive chorus also does wonders and was a good choice for the song as a whole. "STREET CAR" is the most surprising song on here. The instrumental is gritty and pulls from rock elements that I am not well-versed enough in to cite an exact inspiration, so the closest I can really get is somewhere in the genre of Nirvana but that still doesn't do it justice. The Dominic Fike feature on "FIND GOD" is also fantastic. Dominic sounds great but the songs more laid back instrumental really lets Kenny's verse shine and it's steady flow and easy to follow lyrics do a great job portraying the message. Can't wait for what he does next.

I love Vince Staples. I've been a fan of every album I've listened to of his, but this one just didn't land with me, unfortunately. Partly due to the fact that I am so drained politically, it's hard to listen to music, a form of escape for me, that is also political. The music itself also felt a bit dry. The lyrics are top class but only "7 In The Morning" stuck out to me. Glad he's receiving praise even if it's not for my personal favorite, but I'll be certain to listen to his next project.

Found Mack this year and his sophomore album showing something good for the future. Lots of great elements in the instrumentals and vocals but it feels like it's almost there. Oddly enough, both his singing and instrumentals have the same issue. They become a bit aimless. A lot of R&B loves to just vocalize with crazy melodies and I think Mack is in a bit too deep with it. Sometimes I think simple is better, and while his voice is solid, the crazy melodies he sings and harmonizes with lose me a bit. The instrumentals have somewhat, the same issue where they seem to just do stuff. Like no real purpose to the progression.

I know so many people that see Noah Kahan as co-worker music and then I also have friends that are the direct people that love his sound. I seem to split the difference but I certainly don't believe that it's nearly as bad as the people that dislike it make it seem. He just reminds me of a solo artist's Mumford & Sons. "The Great Divide" is nice and peaceful most of the time, which I have noticed is what people that do enjoy him like. He's the background music at a family friendly gathering. Or the music that is faintly playing while chores are being done. People seem to love him, seem to listen to his music almost casually. That said, I think this album is way too long for it's own good and a lot of the songs work perfectly well as background music but from the standpoint of, "I want to actively listen to a song or album". I think it doesn't really work that well. The lyrics are interesting but a lot of the musical elements are pretty tame and it's easy to drift off and think about something else. The two songs that really stuck with me were "Dashboard" and "Porch Light". "Dashboard" mainly for it's catchy chorus and "Porch Light" has a gorgeous chorus overall, even if it's not as much as an earworm.

Presley certainly has a knack for writing these fun synth-pop tracks. I recently got into "Cult" & "Apartment" and absolutely loved the production, vocals, and melodies, so I decided to give his most recent EP a spin. Quickly, I am finding that when Presley finds something that works, he is able to make it work very well. However, sometimes the tracks that don't land feel very aimless and meandering. "Why Am I Here" uses great production and vocals, but the repetitive chorus is a nice change of pace from modern pop. "If I Was With You" starts as a standard pop song, but the second half enters that territory I discussed earlier, where it really starts to work. He uses melody and rhythm to create an almost hypnotic sequence with the music evolving as the verse goes on. Great end to a pretty good EP. The last track I wanted to bring up was "Buy Me A Car". I find this one to have excellent production, but the melodies leave more to be desired. This is the general issue with the other two tracks as well. Good production, but the melodies don't have any sort of standout feature.

Feels like she's right on the brink of a great album. The first half of this has several tracks that are great on almost every level. "all i get" has to be the absolute stand out track with a perfect melody and the vocal mixing is just different enough from the rest of the project to really speak for itself. The first half of "for keeps" is also extremely cool. Has a unique vibe and the wiry synth production is great. I just wish that would have continued into the second half of the song because it loses some of it's uniqueness afterwards. After that song in general, the generic level of the project rises. Nothing else really stands out compared to the songs I mentioned as well as a few others in the first half. Hoping that next time around she takes it a step further because she is on the right path.

Found Tommy Newport a few years back but finally decided to listen to a project of his and am I glad I did. Even though this is towards the beginning of his career as a solo artist, there are some unique fun ideas on here. Some are neat and others are a bit too out there. Mainly some of the vocal melodies and performances by Tommy himself. "Stargazer" is the main culprit with some awesome production and decent featuring by EARTHGANG but Tommy on the chorus could use some work. Other than that though, it's pretty stellar. "Martians" hypnotizing dance bit may be annoying to some but for me it is an earworm to get lost in. "Vanilla & Light" is the breakout track here however. So smooth and silky. Hard not to love it.

Just more of the same from The Chainsmokers. It's neat to see them do a full collab EP, but there isn't enough Oaks in this. It's essentially a Chainsmokers EP with her featuring on every track. "Echo", while good, really just feels like a rehash of "The Fall" off of the deluxe version of "So Far So Good". "Already Know" is definitely my favorite on here. It by all means still has The Chainsmokers ' long-time identity in it, but still feels original enough, given the number of tracks that don't move the needle by them. The final three just feel like some of the most run-of-the-mill tracks I've heard from them yet. I put a more extensive review into The Chainsmokers' history on "Breathe", so I won't get into it too much, but I think they really need to take a step back for a while. I get that touring is probably what keeps their lifestyle afloat, so it will always be hard to completely get away and reshape their sound. Nor will they want to, given the massive crowds they still pull for their songs from 5-10 years ago.

A maximalist album where Oliver goes BIG in the name of love and hate. This feels like he's constantly trying to hit a home run with every swing. A lot of the lyrics are questionable towards the latter half, and many of the songs don't have anything that gripping. The opener "My Only Friend", "Joyride", "Someone Else", and "All You Ever Wanted" are the best as they happen to be when the stars align, and the crazy, bombastic elements collide properly. There is some cool heavy electronic production mixed with an almost grungy feel, but still far away from grunge or rock as a whole. When it hits, it hits well, and when it doesn't, it's a damn miss.

I was shown "Pajamas" and you never could have told me this was one of the girls from K-Pop Demon Hunters. Disc 1 is definitely stronger than disc 2, but I don't think either is really that good. Disc 1 just happened to have the two tracks I did enjoy. A lot of the production across the whole thing seems to be just the shifting tide of trap drums and the genre/audience that is currently into it. Right now, it seems girl-pop and K-pop are really capitalizing on that genre-blending. The lyrics throughout this are weak. The Production is done well, but doesn't really stand out from anything I've heard before. Plus, there is just way too much autotune on her voice sometimes. She has a good voice, and autotune has its place, but this project would have benefited from a natural vocal mix.

Pretty simple all things considered. It really sticks to the meat and potatoes of Indie Rock, but I don't think they really bring anything all that incredibly different. Feels pretty standard for the genre. My friend loves their music, and typically, I find his recommendations pretty high quality, but here just felt like neither here nor there. I really liked "moody" as a single but it was a single for a reason and a lot of the other tracks don't hold a light to it. "come on home" is the only other one that really stuck out to me in any sort of meaningful way. Otherwise, it just reminds me of a chill album that was supposed to come out in the early 00's.

Really cool. I'm a fan of this overly moody, crazy vocal style. Some of the songs excel at capturing a very specific sound. Sometimes his vocal inflections are a bit grating, and one song in particular ended with it sounding like two songs were playing at once, which I was not a fan of. It took me a second to get into it, but once I was in... I was in. I had forgotten how much I loved the song "See Myself" until it played here. Really happy with his and it's the kind of album where I can listen again and find more new fun things every time.

Roosevelt has seemed to tighten the bootstraps on his work over time. I recently listened to his debut and this feels like a more refined and intentional version of that album. It does what it sets out to do well with several good tracks, including one of my favorites of the year, "Strangers". The interlude "Montjuic" is a real sign of the musical growth he's gone through compared to the interludes on his self-titled work. The only real downside is a lack of variety. The last three songs on the album don't really bring anything new to the table but without them, this might feel a tad short. Having a bit more time in the oven to whip up some more creative ideas could have served the album well.

I've never been able to get into KAYTRANADA's music the way others have. This album isn't really much different, there are certainly some interesting songs and moments of production but a good amount also just feels like his inspirations with extra polish. Channel Tres does make 2 good appearances on here. Given his unique talk-rap-sing style, he brings a needed breath of fresh air. The best song to bless this thing is "Witchy" with Gambino. Childish Gambino is a bit of a chameleon, able to bend his vocal style to fit whatever genre. He is no different here, and his performance creates a great listen.

Awesome. Zeds Dead just know how to do anything they set out to do. A lot of their singles are pretty flashy and meant for an audience I am not part of, but when they decide to work on an album, they consistently put together much more atmospheric experiences. It's hard to really give a lot on context in words since the album is pretty minimal in terms of vocal work. In all honesty, I think the vocalists they did get to work on this aren't the best. This works great as a long, moody EDM piece.

John Summit seems like a nice guy, but what really drew me to this album was his comments about how EDM is currently all the same. Like most, I thought this was a moment where it didn't seem he could see past his own nose because he is also one of the leading contributors to that problem. Then I thought maybe he was working on something bigger, more grand, and envisioning something fresh. Up until the release of "ALL THE TIME", I let the hype get the best of me. While I like "ALL THE TIME", it tells me what I need to know. Just more of the same. I've written at least a dozen reviews by this point, talking about how EDM has turned into a cookie-cutter genre. I don't want to do more of the same here, but John Summit leaves me with little other choice. Pretty much every song on here falls under that generic umbrella, with the only real change being the range of vocal artists he collaborates with. This almost hurts more than it benefits, as the exact choice of artists does not all contribute to making this feel like an album. It's boring, unfortunately. The only standout thing on here is "WITH ME" with Julia Wolf, and if you listen to Julia Wolf, you know what the song is good.

Not too much to write home about. Despite being blessed by god himself with perfect pitch and a voice built for hits, Charlie's lack of ambition kills a lot of love I could have for his work. His inability to create a lane for himself is quite sad, considering how versatile he could be. I could be wrong in saying this, but the album features the first time I've ever heard him pitch his voice up or down an octave. Not that it's necessary to be a good artist, but it is a great way to keep the vocals feeling refreshed. He does use some other vocal synthesizers, which I have to give him credit for, but he almost relies too much on the quality of his raw voice. "Whatever's Clever!" dives down a slice of the 80's synthpop. Resorting to heavy bells and fuzzy synths of the time, it's trendy at the moment, and I don't think Charlie really brings anything greatly refreshing that I haven't heard already. The choruses here are some of the weakest I've heard from him. "Love in Exile" is my favorite so far, partly because the chorus is a bit more engaging, and the featuring of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins is quite suitable for the track and the album. The Jeff Goldblum jumpscare was interesting to hear, and while I don't think the song itself has much weight, it did make the album feel a bit more complete. Otherwise, a lot of this relied on the production to give it that vibe. Finally, there's the song "I Used To Be Cringe". Songs like this are always interesting to me because, of course, everyone looks back on themselves in a judgmental manner. To me, this song is a bit cringe in itself, even though I get the message. He reflects on how he was chasing status, money, and fame. Trying to live a life full of material possessions. I'm sure he changed his mind about what he wants, but for him to say he is no longer chasing it because he's changed is rather... lacking in self-awareness to a degree. While he isn't an A-List celebrity, pretty much everyone who grew up with him being popular knows who he is. He is famous. Google can be wrong, but I doubt it will be drastically far off. It says he is worth $35,000,000. Then there is the status part of it. I'm not exactly sure what he wanted to be part of, since he never explicitly says so in the song, but he is widely known for his perfect pitch. He is the definition of status, money, and fame. I find the song a bit tone-deaf, but not as bad as some other stuff I've seen online. Overall, Charlie is probably just going to release these random albums that are okay every once in a while and occasionally have a cool song. It's hard to envision anything from him where he really dedicates time and energy to making something groundbreaking or breathtaking. I hope that's the case, but my hopes are dwindling.

There will always be a lot of distaste for Alan Walker's style, considering it is literally the same exact thing it was a decade ago. I'm a bit in disbelief that he has been able to make only this style of music for so long. Like, surely he is getting bored doing this. Regardless, just more of the same here. I think the big difference between how I view this and how some other people do is that it isn't bad. It just... is. In 2014, I liked his music, and if this had come out then, I would have liked it. Now it's just repetitive and beaten to death. Still not bad though. Not entirely sure what this whole TV series thing he is going for because the music is just complete nonsense in comparison. I am happy to report that "Getaway" is his best song in years. I suppose that is why I keep listening. Deep down, I know he has a good song or two left in him.

The production here is off the charts. For someone who was constantly deemed ahead of the curve with pop in the late 2010's, this album seemed to finally be when the popularity caught up with the style. Oddly enough, I think several songs on here work more as reloaded versions of 2010's EDM pop. "360" and "Von dutch", perhaps the two most well known songs, sound great but I don't think they necessarily embody what built the craze over the years prior. Ironically, the ohmage to a decade old style just with refreshing production makes it so good. There are a lot of songs on here that have a heavily amount of variety with each song and are surely what people deemed "the future of pop" too. "365" features some crazy switch ups that is respectable from any dance fan. A lot of the choruses also are fun and catchy. Truthfully, this thing wasn't entirely for me. I was not the target audience and even though I try to appreciate music regardless of my personal tastes... that's how music reviewing goes. I'm here reviewing what I like and don't like and some of the lyrical matter didn't hit that deep for me. Some of the choruses were a bit repetitive and some of the production does go a little over the top at times. I can certainly appreciate that she created something within the zeitgeist that critics and fans adore, but I am outside of those bubbles.

James has a knack for making some of the most unique soundscapes possible. Specifically the first half of this thing contains some great sound design while keeping it minimalist at least at the start of each track. Perhaps it's something specific with James voice but it's so haunting that is works perfectly for the style that he achieves here. "Death of Love" features some gorgeous backing vocals over a fairly modernized beat. The bass that holds this insane tension is so cool as well. Very simple but effective. His atypical use of instruments and sound effects is so fun and capitalizes on the unique vision he aims for. "Make Something Up" does this in a similar way with just as much impact. The downside is that the highs are so good to start the album that the latter half struggles to hold up on that same level. It's not that it's bad but after "Doesn't Just Happen", the songs miss that same quality and punch that the predecessors have. To me, this has always been the downside of his work. Some stuff just hits so hard and effective that some of the rest of the album can become a bit dull or bland in comparison. It's almost like if he left off the best tracks the album as a whole would have came out better. Now, I'm not serious with that of course but I hope that gets my point across.