2023 Album Roundup: March

March 2023 was full of sonic whiplash: abrasive noise rap, British post-punk breakdowns, and effortless pop songwriting. Here are the five records that defined the month.

6LACK - Since I Have A Lover

Five years after East Atlanta Love Letter established him as a master of late-night melancholy, 6LACK returned with a record about healthy communication and stability. Since I Have A Lover runs 19 tracks, documenting what happens when a naturally defensive singer learns to let down his guard.

Acoustic guitars and warm basslines replace cold Atlanta trap drums on cuts like "Inwood Hill Park." His vocal control is sharper than ever, proving that content, peaceful R&B doesn't have to be boring.

slowthai - UGLY

Northampton rapper slowthai made an aggressive turn on his third album, UGLY ('U Gotta Love Yourself'). Discarding standard UK grime production for raw post-punk guitar distortion, he confronts self-hatred and online scrutiny with brutal clarity.

Cuts like "Yum" and "Feel Good" feel live and volatile, driven by pounding acoustic drum kits and screamed vocals. It is an exhausting, jagged record that refuses to tidy up its anger.

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES

Collaborative albums in hip-hop often sound like lazy, remote-file exchanges between busy artists. SCARING THE HOES is the complete opposite. Produced solely on a Roland SP-404 sampler by JPEGMAFIA, it throws blown-out soul loops, Kelis samples, and distorted drums into a meat grinder, while Danny Brown screeches like a maniac over every bar.

From "Lean Beef Patty" to "Kingdom Hearts Key," the energy never dips. Both MCs trade ridiculous bars at breakneck speed. It is abrasive, noisy, and genuinely thrilling underground rap.

Sabrina Carpenter - emails i can't send fwd:

Originally released in 2022, Sabrina Carpenter's fifth album received a four-track deluxe addition with emails i can't send fwd:, including "Feather"—the bouncy disco track that soon became an inescapable pop smash.

Carpenter's sharp, funny lyricism carries the record. On "because i liked a boy," she skewers public internet hysteria without getting bogged down in self-pity. Her breezy vocal delivery makes every bitter line land with a smirk, completing her transition to major pop contender.

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale

Tyler, The Creator rarely wastes material, so when he dropped eight outtakes from his 2021 album, they sounded less like B-sides and more like a victory lap. The Estate Sale features some of the sharpest verses of his career.

"DOGTOOTH" and "STUNTMAN" (with Vince Staples) feature rich horn loops and dense, confident wordplay. Then "SORRY NOT SORRY" closes the chapter, with Tyler offering biting apologies to former friends, family, and past alter egos before symbolically killing them off.