Tons of great albums come out every month and with such little time to dedicate to full reviews of each and, with January coming to an end, I thought  I would take today to give a few thoughts on some of my favorite albums from the past month.

Criminal Hygiene – CRMNL HYGNE LP

This album was one I was definitely looking forward to this month. The little I had heard previously had piqued my interest and I was happy with the release. It is a solid garage-rock album with a good number of hard-hitting but catchy punk songs.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ducktails – The Flower Lane

Real Estate side-project delivers fantastic psychedelic-rock with bits of surf rock on this LP. An interesting album with lots of songs that keep the attention, The Flower Lane is definitely an album worth picking up.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

FIDLAR – FIDLAR

On their debut album, FIDLAR proves that they just don’t care. They don’t care about you, they don’t care about what people think, they just want to get drunk and high and enjoy themselves. The skate-punk band isn’t making any new music here, instead they stick their punk roots making loud, high-energy, intense music about “Cheap Beer” and “Wak[ing], Bak[ing], and Skat[ing].”

Rating: 4 / 5

Foxygen – We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic

In what might be my favorite album of the month, Foxygen has thrown together a medley of their influences, creating a (almost disappointedly) short album of great-sounding, interesting, and ever-changing songs. Though all the songs sound like they are by one band, every song draws on different influences. The lyrics range from introspective and deep to just plain catchy.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

TTNG – 13.0.0.0.0

TTNG (formerly known as This Town Needs Guns) surprised me with this new album. The first song, “Cat Fantastic,” reminded me a lot of Two Door Cinema Club so, while I enjoyed it, I was a bit apprehensive about the album. However, the strong and often extremely interesting guitar work throughout the album pulled me back in.

Rating: 4 / 5