Sunday Six Albums To Tap In With

CONCUBANIA by Isaia Huron

Isaia Huron will be America’s favorite fuccboi but people just don’t know it yet, but something tells me it won’t be too long before people find out. The R&B singer recently released CONCUBANIA after 2024’s I’ll Finish The Lyrics Later, a collection of partially finished drafts that do deserve completion eventually *cough cough no COVID*. Huron’s musical mastery shines through with his songwriting and vocal stacking technique that feels borne of the church. Entirely self-produced, with co-production on just a few songs, instrumentation falls into the background  being more simple and melodic than anything grandiose and complex. But Huron’s talent seems to be doing a lot with a little considering the fiddy dollar fits in 2025.

“LIST CRAWLER” is my favorite song, and I knew that from the jump when he performed it at DC9. The song feels like a movie scene, with the story of the character seeking a happy ending through an escort service as payback for this ex. Even the break in the song has a comedic edge that leads to quite the climax, pun intended. The one feature on the album - Kehlani - shines along with him on the fourth track “SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME”. It’s a beautiful exchange, considering Huron lends vocals to Kehlani’s “(un)Folded”.

I love mentioning that he’s from South Carolina - where I am also from - considering how obscure of a place it is (at least it’s not Wyoming, right?). I’m just gonna need him to return to those drafts and finish “AISHA POTTER” and “SMITHSON”.

Top 3: “LIST CRAWLER”, “I CHOSE YOU”, “THE EVERYTHING SONG”

Spade by Carter Ace

Carter Ace’s Spade is much a surprise to anyone, with this new project being a completely different sound than the tracks teased for the mysterious Season 2 project demoed throughout 2024. Yet, this new layered sound feels much more evolved with its melange of hip-hop and rock making a soundtrack to a story of trial and triumph. First single “Little Bit of Conversation” was released via a special Tumblr announced through Ace’s Instagram channel alongside previews of a few other tracks. Though the album is listed as Hip-Hop on Apple Music, Ace’s singing really takes the spotlight on most of the tracks, placing the album more on the pop spectrum, but Black artists play with genre all the time. With the visual motif of the album being construction, there’s a lot of development that has happened in both the metaphoric and literal sense. From the album art, to the literal scissor lift at his performance, the man is committed to the bit entirely and I personally hope this album, like the lift, takes him to higher heights.

Top 3: “EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT IT WAS, IT ISN’T”, “PRIVATE IN PUBLIC”, “SAD U LEAVE”

THEM by Father Sokka

Father Sokka’s second offering of the year THEM, like her first Out The Wrapper,  opens with an anthem “THEY” that sets the soundscape and energy of the rest of the album. Electric guitars dominate the instrumental of this first track and the first couple of following songs before we get into a more sample-based set of instrumentals. One would compare Sokka to Rico Nasty, especially after her latest release LETHAL, if they listened to the first couple of songs on THEM. But before one can even make such comparison, Sokka switches up the energy. Quite honestly, it’s the local rappers and the talent within them that fuel my rage against celebrity and the mediocrity the industry pronounces. THEM is audacious and cut-throat. We love to hear it.

Top 3: “LISTEN”, “THEY”, “HOE STEP”

DAWG by Juto

After taking some time off from sharing music, Juto returned this summer with the 13-track DAWG a magnetic soundscape of earnest romance. An acronym for “Days After We’re Gone”, as stated on his Instagram, DAWG sounds like the summer, but has been a constant play as we enter this fall season. There’s something teenage romance about the songs, like “BFF” and its indie-film soft keys melody behind the lyrics. “Light The World”, one of my favorites, is a confidence booster with its elevator music melody over some DRAM-like percussion. “Meltdown” closes the album in a sound that encompasses Juto’s progressive and artfully discordant sound. The song plays like end credits to an anti-climactic A24 teen romance film and camidst the chaos of the world maybe nostalgia is what we need.

Top 3: “Closuh”, “Light The World (Trailblazer)”, “Icarus”

BLACK STAR by Amaarae

Amaarae’s BLACK STAR is a diasporic love letter to dance with percussive hit after hit from the big anthemic sounds of the opening “Stuck Up” to the cinematic and grandiose “100DRUM (feat. Zacari)” Known for her soft higher-pitched voice, the Black star is more poignant and louder than ever on this project of sex, love, and drugs. I’m unable to relate to this glamorous lifestyle Amaarae is singing about, but I’m boom-kacking nonetheless. Afterparty who? Play this and I won’t know her.

Top 3: “She Is My Drug”, “Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2”, “Girlie-Pop!”

Star Line by Chance the Rapper

Chance’s comeback album STAR LINE is a much-awaited piece in a story of how one responds to the coming down. With an interesting, an much extended, rollout the wait is very well worth it with Chance giving some of his best bars amongst a sound that’s very much his. Chance speaks very truthfully to the messy and public fall from grace post The Big Day addressing directly on the intro with “Three went platinum, one went diamond/Had an F minus but that’s behind us” as well as the divorce from the same wife the world clowned him for professing his love for. This acknowledgement is much like his, unfortunately missing “3333” where he raps about unsold tickets at a state fair. But then he’s talking his shit and creating bonafide bops like “Drapetomania” featuring fellow Chicagoan BabyChiefDoIt and “Speed of Light”.  And because what’s a Chance project without a little bit of Jesus - there’s “Just A Drop” that’s fit for praise and worship, while speaking to politics (also typical for Chance) surrounding water crisis from the poisoning of it, the lack of it, and more.

Top 3: “No More Old Men”, “Drapetomania”, “Speed Of Light”