Last Week's Releases Today: Fifty Shades Of Bland

This week has gone really quickly and I didn't realise it was Thursday, so yeah, I guess it's fair to say the entirety of this post was a little... rushed. Might edit in some prose about singles from last week at some point in the next 24 hours, might not, we'll see.

EPs Released This Week:

Aaron Carter - LøVë I have so many issues with this EP; first of all how the hell are you even supposed to pronounce it's title, because I don't think that's correct in any European language. The second problem is that this sounds like a bunch of songs written to contend with Justin Bieber, which blows my mind considering that Aaron Carter is almost 30 years old. Who is this written for? Five uninspiring pop/RnB songs begging to be a hit. It's just not good enough. 'Let Me Let You' is probably the best song on here, apart from the fact that it sounds like every other pop/electronic hit from 2016. No tracks added to library.

Fyner Things - Casually Hot Obviously Bastien added one of these tracks to his 2017 playlist and I couldn't not get invested. I'm not sure how much I actually like this EP on a personal level, but I think it's really good. This pair only have 176 Facebook likes and six Twitter followers (including me) which has me mildly shook, like what the actual fuck is up with that? Interesting current R&B with exciting soul and electronic quirks ridden throughout to keep you on your toes. 4/4 tracks added to library.

Homebound - The Mould You Build Yourself Around Thank God, we really needed another UK pop punk band. It's something we were really missing. There's absolutely nothing that isn't average about this EP; don't bother unless you really desperately need a pop punk fix this month... but even then, there's got to be something better on the horizon? No tracks added to library.

Nao - For All We Know (Remixes EP) I'm not entirely sure what the point of this EP is, like, I'm not really sure that there's any need for it. Mura Masa confirms that I really don't like the music that he makes, and Stormzy's feature on 'Feels Like' is largely unnecessary. Those aside, as if we needed confirmation that SBTRKT and Kaytranada are two of the best in the game right now. 2/5 tracks added to library.

Rationale - Vessels I am really not a fan of Rationale and I can't put into words as to why. Obviously lots of people like him and what he's doing, and he's doing fairly well for himself, but I just don't like any of his songs in any capacity. Until I heard 'Reciprocate', this one is very good. 1/4 tracks added to library.

Albums Released This Week:

Amber Run - For A Moment, I Was Lost I've never liked Amber Run and right now, the acomplishment will just be making it the entire way through this 45 minute long album. It's just so boring. I'm two songs in and nothing has happened. At parts, they sound like Aquilo if they were an indie band but I don't think that's a route anybody has really wanted Aquilo to take. I found 'Perfect' mildly bearable but not to the point that I'd ever particularly want to listen to it again, you know? No tracks added to library.

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Zombies On Broadway We're not off to a good start with the sing-speaking on 'Brooklyn, You're Killing Me', are we? Although, I'll be honest, it's pretty much an upward trajectory from track two onwards. I'm not sure anybody highly invested in McMahon's other projects would be particularly happy with this as an album, but as an indie pop record that doesn't just sound like everything else it does the job pretty well. 5/11 tracks added to library.

Lupe Fiasco - Drogas Light I don't think I've ever been a fan of Lupe Fiasco but he's definitely an artist that I've always been quite intrigued by. From the 'Formation' sounding sample on 'Dopamine Lit' to my fave feat artist ever on 'NGL', Drogas Light kicks off in a positive light. 'Made In The USA' has quite a good sentiment but the "hook" is so aggressive it's a little hard to get on with. The three song arc in the middle which has a total run time of 17 minutes and 46 seconds is something I'm finding daunting though. 'Kill' is good but clocking in at over 7 minutes long, there's just absolutely no need for at least half of it, and it doesn't even feel like it's Lupe Fiasco's track. I have completely 180'd on the chorus to 'Wild Child' though. 5/14 tracks added to library.

Rag'n'Bone Man - Human The "Deluxe" version of this album is one hour and five minutes long. No body of music needs to be that long, let alone this one. I think Rag'n'Bone Man makes music for people who can't be bothered to look remotely hard for alternative-soul-pop anywhere else. There's nothing significantly wrong with Human but there's nothing significantly good about it either. It just kind of... exists for radio, which is a really sad concept when you think about it. At least that's what I thought until he attempts to rap on 'Ego', that was straight up shocking. No tracks added to library.

Various Artists - Fifty Shades Darker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) It's hard not to compare this to the soundtrack from the first film because not only did that produce two massive singles worldwide ('Love Me Like You Do' and 'Earned It'), regardless of what you think of the film/books etc, the songs were genuinely good. In comparison, I'm struggling to find it in me to even care for this Tove Lo track. I just can't get over how boring all of these songs are; there's absolutely nothing daring about any of them. Isn't that the exact opposite of the point of this series? 1/19 tracks added to library.