Music-Drop Magazine

In contemporary R&B there’s no one who creates records with the same emotional depth as Frank Ocean, and his follow up to Channel Orange further pushes the notion that Ocean is one of the most interesting and enigmatic artists currently recording. Frank Ocean dominated 2016 from behind the scenes. His influence could be seen on the works of Beyoncé, Kanye or Rihanna and his own album Blonde created waves in an already R&B dominated industry. Channel Orange was a spectacular record, it was the perfect album for it’s genre, an odd comparison could be done by comparing it to Radiohead’s OK Computer, which was a perfect alternative rock album. The record was released in August 2016 and included guests like Andre 3000 and Beyonce.  Now, like Radiohead did with Kid A , Ocean has changed the game in a fell swoop of beeping sounds and emotional words, with significant undertones or politics and anthems for a maltreated young adult audience. Songs l...

If A Moon Shaped Pool were a part of the discography of most bands it’d be the highlight of their discography and it’d likely overshadow anything else they released. For Radiohead however it’s a album greater than their worst, but not greater than their best. Radiohead have had 3 game changing albums: OK Compute r changed the work of alternative rock away from the grunge-britpop scene that had been going since early in the decade. Kid A changed the word Art Rock from a insult of pretentiousness into a critical buzzword synonymous with change and the album also enabled rock with electronics to be both popular and critically acclaimed. Then there’s In Rainbows which was a masterpiece and challenged the music piracy and corporate controls with an innovate pay what you want system. A Moon Shaped Pool is the 5 th greatest Radiohead album, worse than the 3 mentioned and The Bends . The album however is great. The artwork of the ninth studio album of the British artist. ...

Colouring Book is the album whose acclaim confuses me the most. It isn’t infectious, it isn’t experimental and it doesn’t make me feel enriched by listening to it. So why is it so well regarded? I’m not Chance The Rapper’s target audience I’m not a Hip-Hop head, I don’t go out of my way to listen to mixtapes and I dislike it when religion flavours conversations to much, and Colouring Book is the most religious album I’ve heard in 2016. He’s a good rapper though and his style is likeable and I found a lot of his lyrical subject matter to be easily relatable but the thing is to often does the songwriting let down Chance’s rapping talents and too often do his good lyrics get overshadowed by larger more annoying lyrics. This is Chance's third mix tape. Maybe I’m just a cynic though, well that’s what several teachers have told me over my time in education at least. I disliked the happiness of the album, I thought it was too positive a album and I prefer a good...

Solange is probably best known for being the sister of Beyonce, Solange is popular, talented and cool but let’s be honest she’s still best known as Beyoncé’s sister. While she doesn’t particularly stray from the musical content of a Beyoncé record Solange has managed to create a rare, yet good, political pop album. However contrary to Beyoncé Solange has amassed more critical attention than popular, her 2008 record was praised for it’s neo soul sound and her 2012 EP True is one of the best EPs of recent memory. So A Seat At The Table had to compete with Beyoncé’s shadow and previous critical acclaim, plus the fact she hadn’t made a studio album in 8 years. The album artwork of Solange's third studio album. The album rises to the test though and it is one of the few pop albums of the year which is wholly enjoyable, some songs might be more hit than miss, and some interludes might annoy more than inspire, but overall it’s a pleasant well thought out record....

From 1990 to 1993 A Tribe Called Quest was the greatest active Hip Hop group, and perhaps the greatest artist of the time. They innovated the genre with People’s Instinctive Travels and pushed the genre further than ever before with Midnight Marauders , and then they released two okay albums and called it a day in 1998. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service is a worthy sequel to Midnight Marauder. It’s fresh, innovative, and funky and despite the album being made by 40 year olds it sounds incredible contemporary. The album artwork of their sixth studio album.  The obvious comment all reviews must say about the album though is about Phife Dawg who died earlier this year. Every review then comments on how he is the domineering voice of the album, but to me this album is the perfect collaboration and no one member shines brightest. As well as their first album in 18 years it’s also likely to be their last, and in a way that’s a good thing, because th...