The vocals are spotty at points but the mood and sound of this record is so gorgeous that it’s all but drowned out by the vibes. 🌊

Pretty Hate Machine without the Hate Machine and any form of lyricism. LCD Soundsystem without the Soundsystem and any semblance of artistry.

Update:
To the point, throughout this album Amine sounds angry and largely sticks to the same cadence. Which is maddening because what made this collab so exciting is that Amine KNOWS how to ride a beat, I mean his biggest hit imo, “Caroline” is him doing exactly that but on this record he has little to no regard for the melody his counterpart Kaytranda is laying down. Pharrel on “4EVA” highlights this, the chorus section of this record is how the whole record could have ... read more

The middle section (tracks 5-7) of this record is some of Eluvium’s best! Otherwise it’s another ghost record of his where you’ll enjoy the experience but will hardly remember a thing about it after.

Is he finally back from pop-land? Oh pretty please.

Almost halfway through the year, she’s my favourite new artist this year so far and favourite EP for that matter. If you’re looking for some good new R&B it’s here.

The new maroon 5 has arrived.

Reminds me of their “Rescue Me” single from that god awful 🇺🇸 album. It’s pinned up by Jared Letos vocals and the generic catchy pop rock melody that has allowed bands like, well, Maroon 5 to exist happily. I mean at this point Jared Leto may as well go solo and release a Justin Bieber-esque record, that sounds like he’ll generate more boatloads of money and critic panning than this upcoming record. Just go on through to the back of ... read more

Quite enjoyed falling asleep to this one, Eno brings a peace to the frenetic collage sound of Fred again. Unfortunately for this collaboration Bon Iver exists and while I enjoy the field recording treatment of Fred’s recordings, that may have been where they could have made something stunning. “Follow” offers some gorgeous melody to what could have passed as an ambient record up until that point. The introduction of melody to this record is great, even if again, vocally, it ... read more

Continues with the amazing features but wow did this disappoint. Dana has veered from being an interesting and unique voice in the indie scene straight into the commercial copy and paste lane, every cliche of R&B is on this small EP and not even a Woo feature could save this sigh.

The full version of “island” made me smile, a 6 year wait for a track I didn’t know I was waiting for from 2xxx!’s “Life” record. This record certainly feels like Colde has spent a few years getting comfortable with these batch of tracks (“When Dawn Comes” & “Don’t ever say Love Me” are at least two years old) and with this likely closing “the love” album it’s a great wrap-up of Colde’s sound so far. ... read more

First listen: 90
Second listen: 85
Third listen: 86
Fourth listen: 80
Fifth listen: 85
Tenth listen: 81

I need to stop loving Beach House records and never listening to them again. This EP may be the cure to that specific ailment of madness being only 5 tracks long. The genre of dreams is owned by Beach House.

“Just garbage, but fun to make”
Can’t post a score because I only made it to track 18, it was playing in the background and my mind still said to me, “maaan, cut that shit off”.

Inserts judge Judy gif of her slightly opening a laptop then closing it. Sums up my experience here, I’d rather not, I’m good. If you’re thinking of listening to this on your 11 hour flight from Cape Town to Munich, don’t do it. You’ll be on that flight ... read more

Disc-1 rating 60
A grouping of fairly dull indie pop melodies which no doubt would do well for your average K-pop listener but the chance of that crowd finding this album is fairly slim. (Really only a Colde rabbit hole would find them here).

Disc-2 rating 77
A real statement of sound, it’s Hippy Was Gipsy territory with the quietest moments of Offonoff mixed in. A full record with this jazz infused R&B would do them quite well and could poise them into a BBNGesque figure in the ... read more

Reminds me of the idea which Fanxy Child posed with “Y”, what would a K-pop group sound like outside of the K-pop industry with all its weird standards, restrictions and development system. The result is vocals that use Hip Hop cadences and R&B conventions but with K-pop production, it makes for dexterous vocal performances kind of like what Brockhampton had going on but with decidedly pop hooks and melodies. It’s pleasant at points but still very rudimentary and decidedly ... read more

At just over 30min this is a solid little release. I think the vocal performances are pretty solid here especially juxtaposed by the generic and utterly dull drill beat selection across this record.

That being said it isn’t what NME or Rolling Stone would have you believe nor does it compare to say Penomeco’s Rorschach which dropped just a week ago and has a similar energy, that record shows you what good production sounds like and that the KHH scene is far past what is being ... read more

My best friend has developed a love for albums with these gentle melodies(jazz drummers amirite?), in turn I've become more receptive towards albums such as this, it's feel good, for happy people but with a little string of loneliness that imbues its quietest moments, this is one of the better of those types of records I've come across, A Thama feature never hurts.

Decided to check him out since he's on the new Penomeco record and he has a great colour, some really interesting R&B elements here mixed in with the usual KR&B melodies.

This feels more akin to his soundtrack work than any of his LP discography. Even "Imaginary Country" has more of a terrain than this album, it is a record with no highs and usually that's okay especially for an ambient and/or drone album but for Hecker? No. (Still better than "Love Streams" though!)

Update: The album attempts to place a spell on you, my first few listens--I remained unafflicted--. Somewhere there though, in an early morning with the electricity off, the ... read more

Disc 6 is everything I had wanted it to be, "Massive" has left my ears ringing, and one I had to leave on repeat since 6 am it's so fucking good to me --Sort of a Linkin Park meets Deftones, is that why they didn't have it on the record?--. Think it fits comfortably in-between From the Inside and Breaking the Habit. Also Healing Foot is a full song! so good only knew it as an instrumental. "Wesside" is the hardest nu-metal beat I've ever heard, 8-bit west coast vibes infect ... read more

Simon Dominic is a tough story, in summary I understand it this way: he was part of a rap duo called Supreme Team, its other member would go on to solo release the biggest Korean underground hip-hop album ever. Simon would drop an enormous solo-single aptly titled "Simon Dominic" which would push him more into the fame hungry arms of the K-pop sphere rather than the KHipHop sphere. Simon as such became the far more famous of two but was crippled by said fame and at the same time the ... read more