“The pandemic pointed me to the necessity of there being some rhythmic backbone. I had to use some drums, because you can’t be floating right now” - Earl Sweatshirt says about his latest album 'Sick!' in a Pitchfork interview. Stereogum argues "'SICK!' is still sharper and more tangible than the foggy, atmospheric doubt-trips of Earl’s last few records. Earl’s voice is higher in the mix. There’s less blurry noise around the edges of the tracks. The drums kick more. The melodic loops resolve".

Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt shares ephemeral and groovy ‘2010’; a lovely folk rock song ‘How Could I Have Known’ by Companion; Ibeyi brings R&B, neo-soul, jazz, and Cuban folk music into 'Made of Gold' featuring Pa Salieu; Tokyo screamo band Lang shares a ripper ‘Forget me Not’; Eddie Vedder’s new song ‘The Haves’ is just - Pearl Jam singer singing those lovely songs of his!; Singapore's Naedr share an extended version of ‘Asunder’ with added strings; Nick Cave & Warren Ellis share ‘We Are Not Alone’ from documentary ‘La Panthére des Neiges’ which follows wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and novelist Sylvain Tesson as they explore the valleys of the Tibetan plateau for unique animals.

Lawrence Rothman

Isaiah Rashad returns with 'Why Worry', his first new song in 4 years, a good slice of soul-sampling hip-hop; Sigur Rós’ Jónsi shared his hypnotic new song 'Exhale'; Elder dropped their new album 'Omens', containing a great atmospheric prog song 'Halcyon'; Johnny Flynn - who plays David Bowie in new movie 'Stardust' has released 'Good Ol' Jane', intended to sound like an early, lost Bowie song; iLe and Natalia Lafourcade play futuristic Latin music on 'En Cantos'; Ben Gibbard played a nice piano cover of Nirvana's 'All Apologies'; Earl Sweatshirt's first single of the new year is a lazy 'Whole World'; just a beautiful song 'It's Hard to be Human' by Lawrence Rothman, featuring guest vocals by Marissa Nadler and the MUSYCA Children Choir.

"At seven tracks that clock in at 15 and a half minutes, 'Feet of Clay' is by far Earl’s shortest project yet, but it doesn’t feel incomplete" - Brooklyn Vegan writes about Earl Sweatshirt's new album 'Feet of Clay'. It's experimental and simple - "just stream-of-consciousness delivery from Earl, who packs in threats, boasts, sentimentality, fun references".