This album pretty much singlehandedly started a hyperfixation of mine on classic punk rock. The cover has fascinated me for the longest time and I'm so glad I finally got to this album because it was even better than what I could've hoped. It's just everything you could imagine punk rock to be and represent. It's so aggresive, creative and in the end just extremely fun.

It's also surprisingly profound, there's obviously tracks that are merely focused on shock ... read more

It seems I am in the majority when I say that Hocus Pocus is a giant highlight of the album, but that after that the album kind of takes a backseat. Being greeted with calm and vibrant tracks right after such a crazy and danceable opener just feels a bit weird, and it doesn't do a lot to impress me anyways.

The album closer also just feels... weirdly done. It's basically a compilation of more relaxing ditties that are loosely connected into one track, and it just doesn't feel ... read more

I find it a bit hard to write about Some Rap Songs considering it's one of those albums that has deeply touched so many people, and those people are way more capable of expressing their love and what makes this album so amazing. Even though I don't feel this affinity (I still thoroughly enjoyed it of course), I can very much see why this album is so beloved.

I really love how everything about this album adds to how personal it feels, and the impact it delivers that way. The broken ... read more

Another side-project by Hirasawa, but one in which I do find myself more on a conceptual level. Although at the same time it does feel a bit weaker than most other side-projects of his I have listened to. It's the most consistently enjoyable, but overall doesn't leave much of an impression on me other than "that was pretty nice".

Fav Tracks: ユーラシア21℃, カプセルを開けますか?

This is one of the most surprising albums I have heard in a LONG long time. I went into this expecting something pretty corny but hopefully fun, and that's what I thought of it the first few listens. But after listening more and more I started to really get addicted to the energy this album brings, and picking up more and more details and lyrics that made me fall in love with this project.

I still think that the whole hyperactive and nerdy aesthetic can put people of it, but if you can ... read more

While not as manic or consistent as Deceit, This Heat's self-titled is one of the most boundary breaking albums I have ever heard. It's crazy how this album feels like a lot more of an ambitious statement than it's successor does, being mainly focused on drone and sound manipulation to create something very mechanical, anxious and cold sounding.

I did feel like the record lost its magic just a little in the second half, but there's many amazing moments that absolutely make ... read more

Another self-cover album from Hirasawa, although this time there's also two original tracks in the mix. I just, have no idea how to feel about this album. I've listened to it many times and I still can't figure out if I fully like it or not. It's really similar to Solar Ray where it's just Hirasawa songs we all know and love but with a different, yet clearly inferior, coat of paint. But at the same time it's still just extremely enjoyable music.

On top of this, ... read more

Another one of those albums where the cover along with some general info I've heard about it has made me extremely curious to check it out, and holy mother of god am I happy I did. It's basically what you can expect from an experimental rock record way ahead of its time.

I was honestly expecting something a lot more aggressive and industrial. This album instead kind of reminded me of Remain in Light in a weird way, the manic and weirdly danceable style, the focus on loops and ... read more

It was time I checked out Duster. I've always loved Me And the Birds and I was very curious to see what their sound is like, especially since they're so well regarded. The main thing I notice with this album is that it's aggressively depressing. With this I don't mean that it made me feel extremely sad, more that this album feels engineered to make you feel as melancholic as possible.

This is to a point where it can feel a little repetitive and lacking in substance. ... read more

A cool little side project of Hirasawa, but in the end it was kind of hard for me to stay focused the whole way through. There's still some really good moments like Big Brother and Space Hook, which means that there's still not a single album by Hirasawa that had no songs I really loved. There's not a lot more to say though, it's a cool little album that focuses more on danceability compared to his main work, but that's about it.

Fav Tracks: Big Brother, Space Hook

This is one of those albums where one song kind of overshadows the entire experience, in this case it is obviously Albuquerque. Before I share my general opinion on Running With Scissors I just NEED to express just how much of a masterpiece Albuquerque is. To me it's just a masterclass in absurd humor and it somehow just never gets boring throughout it's 11 minute runtime.

I can't fully say the same about the album as a whole though. I feel like for what it is it's still ... read more

Nine Cliches is an album that very much reinforces the fact that sometimes, all an album need to be amazing is to just be fun. I think the album title itself pokes fun at the fact it's pretty simple and doesn't do anything particularly special. Although I feel like even that might be arguable.

This record is basically just 9 punchy, catchy, and surprisingly creative indie rock tracks. I especially love the unique use of samples. I don't even think there's a lot more that ... read more

One of my favorite albums of all time from a writing standpoint. I adore it when biblical stories can be adapted into truly beautiful art. This album reminds me of the movie The King of Egypt in that sense, although it's a lot more cryptic and just takes a lot of influence from Christianity, rather than being a retelling.

There's just a lot of lines I keep thinking about, from the powerful "We shall be free" to the ever so beautifully cryptic "waiting to hit with ... read more

Wow, Hirasawa really just keeps surprising me. You'd imagine his main projects would start wearing down after a while but this is just another masterfully crafted album to add to his hall of fame.

Blue Limbo resembles Hirasawa's mid-90s sound, being straightforward and being more focused on beats and synths. The sound is punchy yet beautiful, and this is honestly just one of the best works of Hirasawa I've heard yet (although I feel like in the end a lot of his albums are ... read more

Susumu Hirasawa is such an oddball but in the end that's why I love him.

This basically feels like an electropop reskin of a random assortment of Hirasawa tracks. It does usually work alright and there are maybe one or two tracks I would consider better than the originals, but in the end it does kind of feel like a silly side project rather than something I would want to listen back to a lot.

Even with that said, on its own this album is genuinely really solid and nice to listen to, so ... read more

This album feels like a direct sequel to Technique of Relief, but in a way where it basically acts as a yang to Technique of Relief's yin. Technique of Relief is deep and dark, yet has a lot of beauty shining through. Meanwhile Philosopher's Propeller is light and bright, just has such a peculiar style to the point it can feel odd and even eerie.

While not having the same wow factor that the three previous albums had, Philosopher's Propeller is a stunningly beautiful ... read more

This is my very first time checking out something from Lil B. From the little I had heard about him I was expecting something pretty raunchy and possibly even obnoxious, but honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised. Gods Father couldn't be more different.

This mixtape is extremely dense and well produced. Every track feels like it was made to stand out from one another, and sounds clean and polished. This mixtape isn't anything super cohesive, but it does feel like it got a LOT of ... read more

This is gonna be hard to write. This is one of very few albums I have ever listened to that I would genuinely consider perfect, in the way that every single detail feels finetuned to a point you basically couldn't get a better sound. Hirasawa has for sure become one of my favorite artists to ever grace this world, and this is his magnum opus, it's almost an embodiment of how much love I feel for his work.

This album is basically a culmination of everything Hirasawa has learned over ... read more

While not quite reaching the highs that Sim City had, Siren is a very important step in Hirasawa's discography. It really feels like he settled into his sound at this point, bringing something extremely polished and consistent. I love how he combines the heaviness of Sim City with the mellowness of Aurora, basically creating a best of both worlds. However, it still needs to be perfected a little.

His synth work is probably at his best here so far, I love the heavy bass in Day Scanner, the ... read more

This album really makes me wish translations for Hirasawa's music were much more accessible. For this album specifically I really wanted to know what ideas were being conveyed each track, considering it's concept and history. I was always so interested in Hirasawa's affinity for the transgender Thai community, and the fact this album is partly a tribute to them, even containing a few vocals done by his Thai friends, makes me feel extra compelled by its themes.

Of course, it ... read more