A Tribe Called Quest's final album is a benchmark for how other bands should finish their run. Almost two decades after their last work, the Tribe came back with a sound that's perfectly vintage and modern enough to fit the times it came out in. Of course, those times included the turbulent election year of 2016. While so many other artists reacted to the election with ham-fisted statements in musical form, that was never Tribe's game. The group's sharp writing is front and center, commenting ... read more

What?

GFOTY, an outcast to even the weirdos at PC Music, has had her interesting moments. Her last EP made up for the basic songwriting with some great beats that pulled from hardstyle and eurodance. It was clunky, but interesting enough for me to keep track of her. On this full length though, we get... barely eleven minutes of "music" about GFOTY's favorite childhood tv shows.

HUH?

Conceptually, this could work as a critique on obsessions with nostalgia and media obsession. The ... read more

I can't help but think of the word schizophrenic when listening to black midi. Their noisy math rock constantly switches in and out of tempos and rhythms, beckoning your utmost attention to really take everything in. They're a band fully in sync, as music like this wouldn't work without the members understanding how each other plays. The drumming is particularly insane, worthy of the surrounding hype. Unfortunately for me, the impressive technical skills don't equate to interesting overall ... read more

The perfect soundtrack for a Halloween party, TURN OFF THE LIGHT plays to Kim Petras' strengths in the way her full length debut didn't. The track list seamlessly transitions between instrumental interludes and pop bangers, with production that Justice and Daft Punk could be proud of. This is the kind of production that fits Petras best, where her dynamic voice is matched by dynamic beats. They're constantly popping off, and even better is when they pull from the 80's horror tropes the album is ... read more

I like the timbre of the synthesizers and the overall rhythms, but I'm not sure each distinct movement transitions into eachother as well as they could have. I thought the bit after the intro could've used a backing drum, sounded a little awkward with just the synth. The back end of the song is very pretty, I thought that was the best part and it helped the song finish strong. I think it's a good start! Keep posting music and I'll give you my honest thoughts.

Another year, another Jeff Goldblum jazz album that has no business being this enjoyable. Unlike last year's Capitol Studio Sessions, where the focus ended up on the man himself, Goldblum smartly uses his reach to pull together some very talented artists and lets them shine. The big names like Fiona Apple and Sharon Van Etten are good, and the lesser known names (to me at least) like Anna Calvi and Inara George absolutely nail their songs. Even Miley Cyrus does her song well, even if it's my ... read more

[USA] sees Anamanaguchi pulling from much more than their video game origins. Rather than the cutesy but bloated sugar rushes of Endless Fantasy, these songs are a pleasant mixture of EDM, glitch and noise pop. Those chiptune elements are definitely there, but with a welcome variety in the overall soundscape. As a result [USA] sounds more authentically made, and the band is better for it.

The growth in production shows early on. "Lorem Ipsum (Arctic Anthem)" starts with a chilly ... read more

The production is there but the lyrics are too repetitive. PC Music always has a way of bringing me back though so I will be checking out her full length soon.

This the musical equivalent of anarchy

I'm always impressed with how unique every Kanye album experience is. Apart from the fairly complimentary College Dropout and Late Registration, all of his standalone releases chart their own path. The maximalist world he created and literally willed to life for himself on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The frenzied look into his mental state during a turbulent time in his life on ye. The constant tweaks and edits to change what an album could be on The Life of Pablo. JESUS IS KING is no ... read more

Having just found about the wonders of Kaputt, this is a fantastic, welcome return single from Destroyer. Dan Bejar's always esoteric lyricism is well complimented by a catchy bass and glorious synth passages. Really looking forward to the new album.

If Skeleton Tree was the purest form of grief ever presented in musical form, Ghosteen is the healing after. The production is synth heavy, complimented with strings and pianos to create an ethereal aesthetic. Songs like "Sun Forest" and "Galleon Ship" sound like the album art looks, building themselves toward a paradise of imagination. The stories Cave sings about range from anecdotes from fantasy to his own thoughts and feelings, and his lyricism and performance feels as ... read more

These stripped back versions of Titanic Rising songs offer another way to appreciate their beauty. The lush arrangements you're used to have been turned into simple pianos melodies. By turning it into something smaller, these versions allow Natalie Mering's voice and lyrics to shine brighter than before. One of the few complaints you could make about Titanic Rising is that the arrangements overtook Mering's voice, but that's not the case here. She sounds so confident and willing to push forward ... read more

Part 2 of Foals' album efforts loses steam much quicker than Part 1. After a questionable intro, Foals sprint out of the gates with some real bangers. "The Runner", "Wash Off", and "Black Bull" all have the great, jittery energy that was rampant throughout Part 1 of this duology. They lean more into the straight up rock side of Foals' music, especially on "Black Bull". Unfortunately though, this initial excitement wears off quickly, as Foals start to ... read more

It's kind of amazing just how ahead of the curve Robyn was. Body Talk's razor-sharp synthpop beats and lyrics about loneliness on the dance floor predate the popular electropop trend by a few years, yet they remain a shining example of what the genre could do. You can pick any song today and the beat still glitters like it did when it came out. Even elements like the vocal distortion on "Call Your Girlfriend" and strings on "Indestructible" would soon be further exploited by ... read more

DIIV's music is absolutely bursting at the seams with reverb and noise. The best tunes on Deceiver use reverb as a compliment to the song itself. "Blankenship" is more straightforward, more garage rock-inspired than the rest, but with a killer rhythm at the core. "Skin Game" and "The Spark" are more conventional slowcore, with bits of fuzzy noise surrounding but not overtaking the good rhythms. Elsewhere, it's a mixed bag. The other cuts get swallowed in pure ... read more

It's been a massive week for new music, but don't let Holiday Sidewinder's debut album get lost among the deluge of new releases. It's a fun, 80's inspired pop record obviously influenced by the likes of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper. Forever or Whatever is mostly made up of singles Holiday's been releasing for the last two years, and there's only two "new" songs. That kind of makes the album feel like a collection of singles and not a cohesive album, but the songs are still very fun. Much ... read more

Ever the country outlaw, Sturgill Simpson again flips his style into bluesy hard rock on SOUND & FURY. He makes excellent use of all the standards of the genre, using the sound as a vehicle for his apocalyptic vision of the future. It doesn't so much tell a story as it sets up an intriguing setting with the lyrics. This is the best Black Keys album the Black Keys have never made.

Immediately on "Ronin" you get a sense of what the album is getting at. The fuzzed out radio gives ... read more

Closer To Grey is like a bear hug from a friend you haven't seen in years. You haven't felt their embrace in ages, but it's just as comforting now as it was then. The songs of Closer To Grey could've come from the same sessions as their last full length, Kill For Love. Their brand of hypnotic synthwave is still as potent as it was in 2012, and the influence of noir and film soundtracks has never been more apparent. It isn't the opus that KFL was, but the trimmed tracklist and song runtime leads ... read more

Sturgill out here doing The Black Keys better than The Black Keys are doing! Full review coming soon-ish