“The Roster” is a series created by Aneesh Batchu. Each week, a tier list of the best, most average, and worst new releases is published alongside blistering hot takes. The best of the best receive a trophy, and the worst of the worst are tossed in the bin. First, Batchu tackles the latest singles. Then, the team comments on the most recent albums.
Singles
Good
🏆 Lady Gaga – “Disease” is a complete 180° pivot from her recent jukebox musical film album for the Joker: Folie à Deux movie. The new track is a house piece chock full of genre-standard strong bass, shallow lyricism, and novelly, a fresh incorporation of vocal backing tracks.
Fridayy – “Back To You,” with its melodic R&B beat and vocal-centric sonic design, is the perfect soundtrack for a relaxed, post-challenging-day drive into the sunset. Fridayy’s vocal performance on this piece also showcases his strengths, featuring new riffs that finish each line.
Alessia Cara – “(Isn’t It) Obvious” is an unsuspectingly well-made song that pushes Cara’s musical exploration to center stage. Sonically, she is leaning into the instrumental elements, as heard in the song’s finish with an extended jam. The vocal half of the track is also experimental and new, with an emphasis on more subdued vocalization than she has become known for.
Wiz Khalifa, Don Toliver – “Hide It” but don’t hide this song. A collaborative project that effectively brings together two unique styles. It is a successful combination of Toliver’s strengths in a melodic and catchy chorus, and Khalifa’s monotonous, grounded rap style.
The Black Keys, Alice Cooper – “Stay In Your Grave” would rather be very much alive and present in our minds. This track is a high-energy piece complete with an intense guitar backing and powerful vocals fit to rile the dead.
Declan McKenna – “Champagne / That’s Life” represents the grandiose and the repetitive elements of life, respectively. The former provides intense instrumentation behind equally powerful vocals, creating a full sonic landscape. Conversely, the latter revisits and expands upon a set of musical ideas to construct a different extended, fully-explored sonorous world.
Amine, Smino – “Passenger Princess” pays homage to Dreamville, with its choral background sample and its JID/J Cole-inspired flow coming from both artists.
Amine – “Adam,” unlike “Passenger Princess,” is a more melodic piece. With a lessened emphasis on rapping, and a close eye to the quality of lines, “Adam” is a beautiful marriage of tame guitar and Amine’s voice.
Mid
Linkin Park – “Over Each Other” often reiterates that “there’s nothing underneath,” which is… well-put. This lyric applies itself as an analysis of the song, which is a run-of-the-mill rock track bellying up to the bar alongside equally empty-headed lyrics.
Gucci Mane, Sexyy Red – “You Don’t Love Me” is an attempt to spice things up. With an ‘experimental’ addition of electric guitar to an otherwise generic song, this work sounds exactly as we could have expected it to from these artists.
JVKE – “next to you” is “Golden Hour” part two. The sequel is characterized by mind-bogglingly similar chord structures and flow. JVKE needs to move past this harmonic world and try new things. Nevertheless, the song is still sonically pleasing, masterfully layering soft and sweet piano and violin alongside buttery smooth vocals.
Polo G – “S.I.P” is definitely a throwaway track from the recent Hood Poet, or potentially the older Hall of Fame. The song imitates the sonic elements from the well-established patterns in his discography: 808s, a piano beat, and an unrelentingly repetitive yet classic flow.
Bad
🚮 Kid Cudi – “THE MOON MAN SURVIVES” … but does Kid Cudi? He makes a valiant attempt at a newly subdued sound, resulting in a confusing mess of mixed messages. On one hand, the beat seeks to indicate an upbeat tone, while the vocals are oddly out of place in their suspenseful, zero payoff energy.
41, Kyle Richh, Cash Cobain – “Closure” is needed more with this song than with your toxic ex. The best part of this song was that it came to a close. An unnecessarily tame beat paired with faux drill rap may have had potential, but it was completely unfulfilled.
Albums
Good
🏆 Halsey – The Great Impersonator is not a facsimile of brilliance— it’s the real thing. This album is raw, beautiful, and haunting in a similar lyrical manner which fans of the rest of her work will be familiar with. The honest, gritty lyrics Halsey usually employs are mirrored here, despite a different sonic style implication. The piano melodies and electric swells don’t overwhelm but pair as perfectly as bread and butter. As the album progresses, sonority becomes more ethereal and haunting, eventually entering a gloomier and doomed world that relies on minor chords and ballads. – T. Willenson-Milens
Peach Pit – Magpie is a perfectly cozy, autumnal album. Featuring Peach Pit’s characteristic quirky turns of phrase and immersive conversational tone, the record is comfortable yet indicative of the band’s breadth— there’s no dozing off here. The rollicking guitar rhythms and passionate crooning vocals made me weep with joy, and the yowling guitar solo on “St. Mark’s Funny Feeling” shines with hints of psychedelia. – J. Nwosu
Mid
Kelsea Ballerini – PATTERNS Country fans, get lost. Ol’ Kelsea is at it again, this time with an astonishingly focused collection of mellow-ish, white girl pop anthems. One problem: I just don’t like it. A couple of catchy tunes notwithstanding, there is really nothing interesting, exciting, or fresh going on within this album. – H. Templeton
Cochise – WHY ALWAYS ME? has beats that are, to say the least, inspired. The jittery-twinkly “GOOGLE ME” caught me off guard with its transcendent switch-up halfway through. However, I cannot and will not act like Cochise changed the game with this one— the delivery was nothing I have not heard before, and the lyrics bordered on cringeworthy at times, but I had fun. – J. Nwosu
Bad
🚮 Hunxho – Thank God it’s over. 2010s Soundcloud called— it wants its cheesy autotune hip-hop-pop back! If this record’s on recall, we should probably send along KSI’s “Thick of It” too, if we’re getting rid of played-out musical stylings of yesteryear. Call that an added bonus. – H. Templeton
