So CSH are a great band that put on great live shows and i recommend any fan of rock music check them out live. That being said... I just find it hard to get in to this album. Every song here seems like an inferior version compared to what I've heard on the albums and the Ivy cover (which I was looking forward to) comes off as a slow burn that fizzles out before anything exciting happens. IMO the best live albums do something to reinvent the band's studio material, but here it just feels like ... read more

The best thing you can say about Diaspora is that it tries to be fun. Unfortunately the lack of vocal power, uninteresting lyrics, and only mildly engaging choice of beats means we don't get there to often. U say is pretty solid though

This album is never more exciting than silence. It is occasionally more irritating than silence though

Do the ideas behind the album sometimes outpace the music? Sure. But Proto is still a glitchy, experimental blend of beats that pound like an electric heart and hyper-auto-tuned vocals that come together in like tribal hymns for robots
Best Tracks: Frontier, Eternal, Godmother
Worst Track: Bridge

Fantastic mix of lof-fi jazzy instrumentation and skillful rapping. Ritchie and Grogs bring different personalities to their bars but both have great flow and clever lyrics. Corey's production on here manages to create a chilled tone that is never the less very layered, and provides a great platform for the MCs

While the album has some fun jokes about the music industry and some lively dubstep, it runs out of both as it winds down and could really be about ten minutes shorter

Wow these two come together great on this album! Segal lays down perfectly crunchy guitars, and lo-fi beats for Woods to keep shouting his perfectly esoteric lines over. Anyone at all interested in indie rap, especially the grimier side of indie rap, should definitely check this out

Generally pleasant album that doesn't really grab me at any point. The bright airy guitars and spacey atmosphere do sound quite nice when supported by strong vocal melodies on tracks like Uncomfortably Numb or Life Support though

Really fun, maximalist indie rock! Not sure why its not getting more love on here. Especially enjoyed the song This Is Chai which has fun blaring synths over all sorts of powerful percussion and vocal chants

Longtime fans will probably think its fine but honestly there aren't a ton of new ideas here. Death in Midsummer has a nice build to it, and Greenpoint Gothic is a fun spacey instrumental reminiscent (but not equal to) some of the songs on David Bowie's Berlin trilogy. Other than that nothing really stands out as super entertaining. The album ends especially poorly with a lengthy but unexciting outro on Nocturne

None Shall Pass stands out as Aesop's most direct and aggressive album. While earlier Aesop projects were slightly more abstract, and his more recent work has often involved more intimate lyrical adventures, NSP relentlessly portrays scenes from the underbelly of American capitalism while persistently taking aim at the authority figures who profit off the broken dreams of others.

Production duties are primarily split between Aes and frequent collaborator, Blockhead. When Aesop handled his own ... read more

Stellar combination of delicious funk and brazen self-confidence. Can't wait till Lizzo's next album

Cloud Nothings bring some energy here for sure. But ultimately the songwriting fails to live up to any of the band's technical aptitude. Echo of the World has a pretty good build, and Another Way of Life is satisfyingly, though uncharacteristically, catchy but these sort of attributes are the exception rather than the norm on Last Building Burning

OME takes a much more relaxed approach on this EP but still comes out with good work. The production is a lot less immediate than a lot of his past works but thats ok because it leaves room for Mike's lyrics to take center stage and he responds by dropping sick bar after sick bar. The sense of humor and thoughtfulness that define all OME projects is present across everyone of this six songs and thats enough for an EP coming one year after the dude dropped one of the most fully realized rap ... read more

Guerilla Toss' latest effort, while less propulsive than GT Ultra, is still one of the year's best album's for fans of the weirder side of pop/rock. The songs on here feature Guerilla Toss' typically off-kilter lyrics; which are lovably but not intoxicatingly artsy. But albums real draw is its INCREDIBLY colorful instrumental palettes. I can't think of any other artist today who crams so many off kilter noise effects into their sound while rarely sounding abrasive. Sure, the album might just be ... read more