10/02/07 - MGMT ‘Oracular Spectacular’
“This dazzling electro-psych band is two arty Brooklyn dudes who derive keyboard lines from the jumpy gait of a praying mantis and dress up in matching capes. Their buzz single ‘Time to Pretend’ — a booming, tongue-in-bong sendup of the rock biz — sounds like a Flaming Lips outtake, with good reason: Lips producer Dave Fridmann helmed MGMT’s debut disc, fluffing their glitchy daydream rock into an intergalactic odyssey. There are hints of Joy Division and Sixties nostalgia both acid-tinged and bluesy, but Oracular Spectacular’s playfulness and remarkable density are best displayed on ‘Electric Feel,’ a surprising bit of funk featuring the original come-on ‘Ooh, girl, shock me like an electric eel.’” - Caryn Ganz, Rolling Stone ‘08
10/20/03 - Amy Winehouse ‘Frank’
“Sitting somewhere between Nina Simone and Erykah Badu, Winehouse’s sound is at once innocent and sleazy. She claims that she can only write about what she has already learned, but she makes some starkly candid and humorous social observations on the fun-poking ‘F**k Me Pumps’ and the brazen single, ‘Stronger Than Me.’ Standout track ‘Take the Box’ is a stunningly soulful tale of returning an ex-lover’s possessions and ‘You Send Me Flying’ does just that, thanks to a colossal vocal talent. ‘October Song,’ meanwhile, forges uplifting jazz out of the death of a pet canary. There are contradictions - but it’s hard not to hear the honesty and soul that resonates throughout this album.” - Beccy Lindon, The Guardian ‘03
10/22/12 - Kendrick Lamar ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city
“Listening to [good kid, m.A.A.D city] feels like walking directly into Lamar’s childhood home and, for the next hour, growing up alongside him... voicemails appear through the record, reinforcing that [the album] is partly a love letter to the grounding power of family. In this album’s world, family and faith are not abstract concepts: They are the fraying tethers holding Lamar back from the chasm of gang violence that threatens to consume him. All this weighty material might [it] sound like a bit of a drag. But the miracle of this album is how it ties straightforward rap thrills-- dazzling lyrical virtuosity, slick quotables, pulverizing beats, star turns from guest rappers-- directly to its narrative. For example, when ‘Backseat Freestyle’ leaked last week, its uncharacteristic subject matter (‘All my life I want money and power/ Respect my mind or die from lead shower’) took some fans by surprise. But on the album, it marks the moment in the narrative when young Kendrick’s character first begins rapping, egged on by a friend who plugs in a beat CD. Framed this way, his ‘damn, I got bitches’ chant gets turned inside out: This isn’t an alpha male’s boast. It’s a pipsqueak’s first pass at a chest-puff.” - Jayson Greene, Pitchfork ‘12
10/23/95 - The Smashing Pumpkins ‘Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’
“Even as it incorporates such baroque textures as harp, strings and grand piano, the album retains the rough edge and intimate vibe of old friends (and sometimes enemies) playing together in their rehearsal space... [Billie Corgan] is a romantic who believes in the redemptive power of love, but he’s also a cynic, having been constantly disappointed by those he loves. ‘Believe, believe in me, believe/That life can change, that you’re not stuck in vain,’ he sings on ‘Tonight,’ the swelling ballad that follows the album’s opening instrumental. But for much of the rest of the album, he’s stuck in a lyrical rut, wallowing in his own misery and grousing about everyone and everything not meeting his expectations. ‘Intoxicated with the madness, I’m in love with my sadness,’ he sings on ‘Zero’ just after the song breaks down into a chant of ‘Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness/And cleanliness is godliness, and God is empty just like me.’” - Jim Derogatis, Rolling Stone ‘95
10/28/97 - Deftones ‘Around the Fur’
“It’s not always clear what exactly [Chino Moreno] is railing against on Around The Fur. His vocals are submerged under lashings of snarling guitar, and the man himself sounds as if he’s foaming at the mouth... ‘Please don’t fuck around,’ he roars on the albums’s title-track, and the Deftones don’t from start to finish here. ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ is an outstanding opening statement of intent, stripped-down verses colliding with a monster chorus while Chino takes RATM’s defiant ‘Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me’ sentiment and condenses it into the blunt, persistent demand ‘Shove it’. ‘Lhabia’ and ‘Mascara’ – with their dirty, distorted drones and spacious, ringing riffs – eschew traditional soft-loud dynamism and build tension with slow-burning build-ups threatening to boil over into atonal chaos at any given moment. Around The Fur itself is electrifying and terrifying, relentless staccato riffing prodding you to lose yourself deep in its frenzy.” - Paul Brannigan, Kerrang! ‘97
10/29/13 - Sky Ferreira ‘Night Time, My Time’
“Much has been made of how Ferreira’s borderline absurd background feeds into her long-awaited debut, ‘Night Time, My Time’ – and her reputation, survival and vengeance undoubtedly fuel songs like ‘I Blame Myself’ and ‘Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)’. But more remarkable than ‘Night Time…’’s hard-won release is how brilliantly universal it is without sacrificing any of its weirdness. These songs are laced with betrayal, disappointment and self-loathing, experiences that are second nature to young women struggling to assert themselves in an oppressive society that won’t let them have it any which way.” - Rhian Daly, NME ‘14
10/31/00 - Outkast ‘Stankonia’
“2000’s Stankonia was set up to be a victory lap— [Outkast] really had nothing left to prove. Each album had further refined their mastery; each one was a tour de force in its own right [but Stankonia found the group] catering to a mass market without seeming to give it much thought. The album’s two most indelible hits—’So Fresh, So Clean’ and ‘Ms. Jackson’—are unrepentant earworms that feel like natural extensions of the group’s sound, not crossover attempts. Both songs are full of layered and complex intonations: ‘So Fresh’ simply speaks on haberdashery and hoes, while ‘Jackson’ went on to win a Grammy, despite being a somewhat heady and sincere dedication to their baby mama’s mamas. Produced by their longtime collaborators and mentors Organized Noize, ‘Jackson’ is one of the best radio singles they’ve ever produced as a duo.” - Kris Ex, Pitchfork ‘18