there is something deeply healing about listening to talented musicians in a tight band, playing so fundamentally outside of convention. beauty through nonconformity isn't a unique kind of beauty, but freedom from arbitrary conformity and insecurity allows the beauty to be raw and uncontained. it's a primal emotion. yes, you can deliver a beautiful and intoxicating album while the drummer plays repetitive loops which slowly change as they see fit, while the guitarist plays with ... read more

one of the most heartbreaking songs about abuse i've ever heard, while managing to also be one of the most gentle and delicate songs i've ever heard. there is a palpable sense of terror, the sadness is relenting, it is fragile and painfully cautious, in a way that can only be expressed by someone unimaginably terrified of the consequences of resistance to their abuse. it feels like she is walking a minefield to avoid directly confronting her abuser. it is beautiful and devastating as ... read more

Don't get it twisted, this release is a two-song package deal, you can't go one or the other. Catchy as fuck, angry as fuck, the first tracks with producer WZRD BLD and honestly he does wonders for this band. Deep in the Willow is masterfully composed and structured, incredible riffs and an amazing chorus. The Knocked Loose name drop in the last breakdown is followed by one of the best riffs, the way it plays with rhythm alongside that high pitched backwards strum is brilliance. Everything is ... read more

Otherworldly, ghostly 60's pop escapism. The ghosts of a distant era cry out through the vocals, the instrumentation sounds like it's in another realm. There is an equal mix of bliss and mourning, tranquil presence and nostalgia. You could lose yourself in its world if you tried.

return to monke: the album

One of the best albums instrumentally I've ever heard, the guitars sting like acid, the bass is a corrosive blast through the mix, and the drumming is top-tier. The particular way dissonance is used is so visceral and intense. Thematically it's the perfect mix of angst and uncertainty; a frenetic existential crisis. Still figuring out my thoughts on the vocals, but here's hoping this becomes one of my favourite albums ever.

This EP is quite a change of pace for twikipedia, but if you heard this without hearing any other twiki project, you'd figure they'd been doing it forever. They take the best aspects from bedroom pop and indie folk and put them together, with their infectious personality and great voice as the glue holding it all together.

They dodge a major pitfall of bedroom music pretty gracefully - that being the sound palette feeling plastic and inauthentic. Almost all of the instruments are real and ... read more

Shoegaze with reverb and distortion that makes it feel like the music is playing from the highest mountaintops, soaring and reaching out across everything to get to you. The second track is a nostalgic gut-punch, screaming out for a sense of innocence and naivety, a song of utterly painful longing. Some songs lack variation but otherwise fantastic stuff.

Meticulously crafted digitally infused metalcore with amazing energy. It's pretty great but the influences are clear and almost excessive. This project is more conceptually focused and well-paced than Errorzone but just never reaches the heights of that album despite the similarities. This band has a lot of potential though, they're very good at balancing fury and soaring beauty - which most modern metalcore bands attempt and it's usually forced and vapid, but not here. If these guys expand ... read more

ARF ARF

Such an interesting step forward from the first album, expanding the metal elements of the debut into new exciting territory. Blackout 1 shows a refinement of his blackened industrial metal sound, crafting a concise and well-paced demonstration of his style's basics. Blackout 2 expands on the industrial elements of his sound, and is probably his heaviest song yet. Blackout 3 is a highly ambitious track which starts as ferocious, barreling black metal until an almost ambient outro with ... read more

The 80's synthpop aesthetic doesn't capture my interest that well, but this album is kind of undeniable for me. The production is as good as it gets, intricately crafted and perfectly engineered, and Allie's vocals are amazing. These are some good, catchy tunes too. The sound of the whole thing sort of wears thin on me personally, but it's great regardless and engaging purely through its execution. I wouldn't really return to this much, but I'm very glad I listened and would thoroughly ... read more

Quadeca has completely carved out his own musical niche which fuses hip hop and art pop with elements of emo and glitch in a way that is entirely unique to him, all while remaining extremely versatile and unpredictable as an artist. He has also found his confidence as a very competent and believable rapper - which I imagine most people didn't expect from him - allowing his music to shapeshift between genres into fascinating musical experiences. These songs cut deep, bring the energy, and are ... read more

The best metalcore vocalist also happens to be an amazing alt-metal vocalist. The songwriting across the board is pretty great - despite the sound palette being pretty typical for the genre, the melodies are good enough to make the project engaging and rewarding all the way through. It's reminiscent of Jerry Cantrell's stuff, both in terms of sound and writing, in the best way possible. Really good stuff, though if you're not an alt-metal fan then this might not be for you. If you're a DEP fan ... read more

It's good but really bittersweet. The verses are solid, the production ranges from good to fantastic (mostly with Peggy's work), but there's...no point. Ye is almost self aware but he never quite gets there - he can address what he's done, but never takes accountability. There's no through line, nothing he's trying to achieve other than reassuring everyone that he's still on top...which he is, but it means the album starts and finishes at the exact same place, no questions answered, nothing ... read more

New Zealand gang here with the early scoop, it's fantastic. This album blends prog, psychedelia and math rock effortlessly to create a unique sound palette, which is artsy and jazzy in an entirely new and fascinating way even compared to Radiohead's body of work. There's so much to love: the trance-like psychedelic folk of the title track; the almost reggae-like smooth groove of Teleharmonic; the winding krautrock of Read the Room; the transcendent ambient outro of Under Our Pillows; Friend of ... read more

Checking this out in preparation for the new album and yeah, I get the hype. The instrumentals across this album are genuinely divine, extremely creative and otherworldly across the board (most notably the instrumental track rat castle). J's vocals don't always connect for me - the way their voice breaks feels a bit overdone and harsh at times - but I completely understand where it comes from and how other people would love it, and I do love their vocals when they work for me (particularly on ... read more

Cudi has had a pretty rough career thus far, with his discography's quality curve forming a strong parabola, reaching its absolute low point in 2015. Since then, his work has mostly returned into the good graces of critics and fans of his early work. However, the shadows of his most despised albums still linger over his every step in the eyes of fans. The thought that at any moment the drop in quality could return has been a troubling one for all of us. And with the SoundCloud-exclusive singles ... read more

I don't have many good things to say about this so I'll do a compliment sandwich. First off, this band has a great sound - they get the guitar tones just right, and tracks like Can't Get Enough Of It showcase their ability to produce dense and cathartic atmospheres. The bad stuff is pretty bad however. The lead vocalist is like an inferior Hayley Williams with a fraction of the ability and personality - which is less of an insult than you might think considering how excellent Hayley Williams ... read more

Not particularly creative post-metal, but certainly well performed - great and technical drumming which is always busy and interesting but is never doing too much, and atmospheric guitar with cool melodies which set the tone effectively. Similar to Russian Circles' work but with less emphasis on the climax and more emphasis on atmosphere. There's effect and reverb drenched guitars and bending tremolo picking that reminds me of GYBE, and they even tap into some black-metal-isms here and there ... read more