FAVORITE TRACK: Ninety Sixth Street

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Secret Drawer

This album makes my heart happy. I love songs that feel like falling in love and Remember the Silver is the embodiment of falling in love in the winter time.

Yacina's soft and beautiful voice really makes the tracks. Ninety Sixth Street is a wonderful song thanks to Emily Yacina's lovely voice and romantic lyrics. Stephanie and Siren Song are so descriptive and beautiful. Her voice sounds lovely on Arcades & ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: One

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Three

This band changed my life for the better.

FAVORITE TRACK: Off The Grid

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Jail, Pt. 2

It took four listens to actually get through this album, but I did it !!

The feature work on this record is incredible. Baby Keem on Praise God, Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign on Off the Grid, Jay-Z on Jail, Popsmoke on Tell The Vision and The Weeknd on Hurricane are some of the highlights for the album for me. It's probably my favorite part of the entire album to be honest. The production on this is up to the par for what you ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Die/Cry

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: 17

Indigo De Souza's beautiful sophomore album is romantic, thrilling and heartbreaking.

De Souza has been on my radar since the release of her single Take Off Ur Pants and Any Shape You Take cements the singer as a talented weirdo. Her voice is enticing and strange, with moments of raw emotion on tracks like Bad Dream and Late Night Crawler. Her use strange quirks like the screaming in Real Pain to balance out the melodic and heartbroken sound ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: mango juul pod

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: house show

I'm o.k. by Cinnamon Cigarettes is the definition of immature emo. And, to be honest, I kinda love it. I love how unruly and pointed this album is. The messiness in instrumentals and mixing on tracks like field day and cuffed jeans really add to the appeal. The album does follow the same layout pretty often, with the songs sounding to a very similar formula every time. But the twinkly guitars and emotional vocals help shake up ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Gomenasorry

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Paintings of Hanako

First of all, Gomenasorry is one of the best songs I've heard this year hands down.

Pax Pacifica is a noisy lofi record. It's unbrushed and combines surf rock and indie with noise rock and a touch of lofi and glitch pop. I love the feeling of Crystal Said Run and the title track, both songs feel like summer. The guitar on Pax Pacifica adds to that feeling. Minus 10 is real and sad in its lyrics. I love the unique, DIY ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event, I’d Be Tonya Harding

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Forget It

You know what's worse than a bad album?

An album that is so consistently plain.

Clocking in at 33 minutes, $uicideboy$ manages to make the same song 13 times. The only really, really good one is If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event, I’d Be Tonya Harding. I also love the album cover. And that's kind of where the praise ends for the album.

These songs are too short ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Fast Hands

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Ronnie

JUATICE FETISH is a no wave band from Des Moines. I HOPE THIS KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT is a fast-paced and intense record that relies on its dooming guitars and angry vocals.

I love the guitar on this project, specifically on Fast Hands, Spit and Bully. The vocals on the second half of this record take a more center spot than on the first half, with the vocals and lyrics being absolutely batshit on Bully, Sourdough and Empty Cans. I HOPE ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Fallen Fruit

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Leader of a New Regime

“'Cause all the music you loved at sixteen you'll grow out of".

Solar Power, Lorde's third album, is the happy outlook on adult life. Solar Power is the perfect contrast to Melodrama, her sophomore release, as this is about the joyous moments of adulthood- and not the momentary ones from partying. Solar Power is a psychedelic and laid-back album that does not have the most centered story, but all reflect the ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Three Sisters

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Cliff

New Wednesday on a Friday??? If you say so....

Wednesday's second LP, Twin Plagues, is an endearingly messy project. I like these spiraling, miserable guitars on the title track. Three Sisters is fast-paced and intense with its guitar but the album combats the speed of some of the emo tracks by including a more folk sound on some of these tracks. The guitar on How Can You Live If You Can't Love How Can You If You Do is lovely. The ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: What You Said

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Pink Boots

Sonic Blume is an indie band from New Jersey. They've been on my radar for a few years because I am also from New Jersey !!!

We're Drifting Further Apart, Aren't We? is the band's second full length and a show of real maturation from their 2018 release. The instrumentals on this are the most striking part of the album with every song sounding really cohesive and upbeat. Tracks like Lovers, Running Away, Boba Fett and Raincoat do ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Trix

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: My Craft

ESI is a hyperpop/cloud pop mixtape from Slater. I was unfamiliar with Slater before the release of this so this mixtape is my first exposure. Slater's music feels very inspired by the work of Enjoy and Puzzle as well as Bladee. Sp33din' sounds like a Bladee track in vocals and Garden or Enjoy track in instrumentals. So it really is no surprise that Wyatt Shears (of Enjoy and The Garden) does have a pretty big hand in this project.

ESI is a ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: heathers

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: none

The CHOKEHOLD that heathers has over me.... it should be illegal. There is CRACK in that song. The lively vocals, the catchy guitar riff, the screaming chorus, just the energy of that track... it's so special.

I love the desperately romantic lyrics this whole album has. The title track, i'm so glad i feel this way about you, does a great job at combining this edgy and embarrassing emo side with this really romantic and heartfelt side. The ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Moonover

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Hellbeing

Kississippi’s sophomore record, Mood Ring, takes a much bigger pop turn compared to her 2018 debut.

Mood Ring is a lively and danceable indie-pop record. We’re So In Tune and Around Your Room are the best example of this sweet and bouncy pop music, both having these very alive and warm instrumentals. The vocals are the highlight of this project, though. Kississippi brings the feeling of happiness and love to every song. ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Hot N Heavy

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Adore You- Endless Remix

This is just a rating of the deluxe songs.

I didn't love What's Your Pleasure? the way everyone else did and that makes me so angry because I really wanted this album to click with me. But with seven new songs, I was hoping I might get more... pleasure (HA) out of this album.

Every song on this deluxe edition is so fun. Please and Eyes Closed are so lively and really embody this 80s sound that Ware has been ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Danger Baby

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Andrew

Eccentric and fun, Pom Poko's Cheater is a high-energy weirdo listen.

I love the guitar and the eccentric vocals of Cheater. The instrumentals are fresh and fun, combining this noisy, industrial sound with there singer's light vocals. This is done excellently on tracks like My Candidacy, Curly Romance and Andy Go To School. Danger Baby is so catchy and proves that Pom Poko can make a sweet and more relaxed track rather than something ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Rolling star

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: SUMMER SONG

In 2012, YUI released her album Orange Garden Pop, a Japanese singer-songwriter pop album. It is VERY 2012. 9 years later, YUI releases Natural- a rearrangement of some of her biggest tracks from Orange Garden Pop.

It's very radio pop, especially CHE.R.RY. SUMMER SONG just feels so lifeless because it sounds so manufactured. A lot of these songs do which makes them pretty unenjoyable. YUI has a good voice but these songs are so ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Have a Heart

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Cacao to Cacao

In my years of enjoying the indie/emo subculture, Ratboys has remained a constant in the genre. They're constantly releasing stuff or touring with bands I like so I never really escape them. But I also haven't really loved a project by them yet. Happy Birthday, Ratboy kind of came out of nowhere so I was pleasantly surprised to see this and maybe this will be the record to make me fall in love with Ratboys.

I love how warm and ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: (Drake Diss)

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Outro

The curious case of Hobo Johnson.

Personally, I love The Rise & Fall of Hobo Johnson. I think they do a great job of balancing social issues, comedy and remain really engaging. The Revenge of Hobo Johnson was not good. It had aspects that were ok. But really nothing was expanded on that well to be a cohesive album.

This album pisses me off because it has the same problem as Revenge, that it has aspects that are genuinely really ... read more

FAVORITE TRACK: Paradise

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Hair On the Pillow

Last year, Song For Our Daughter was my album of the year. I absolutely adore Laura Marling as a singer and I loved every single I heard for this new LUMP project. So I was excited for this release.

Marling sounds beautiful on this record and sells every track. She sounds especially fantastic on the art pop sounding Phantom Limb and the painful, quietness of Red Snakes. Laura Marling also sounds great on the more upbeat tracks ... read more