Shit actually slaps

An utterly beautiful blend of genres that promises Maruja's first full-fledged album, when it comes, will be one to remember.

I humbly bow down at the shrine of St. Vincent once more.

Nostalgia incarnate. Minecraft defined my adolescence, as I'm sure it did many's. I won't claim C148's score is why it has become the cultural touchstone that it has, but I can't imagine the game feeling as atmospheric and therapeutic at times without it. Simply incredible.

Twenty-minute tracks made up of interwoven pieces? Check. Interesting drones? Check. Field recordings? Check.

I didn't expect to connect with Godspeed You! Black Emperor's first album of the 2020s as much as I did. When I first heard it back when it came out in 2021, I hadn't yet familiarized myself with the band's extensive catalogue, so I expected it to pale in comparison to the magnum opuses of their early career upon return. Yet in comparison with the band's last two albums, this is ... read more

Music not for a revolution, not even for a protest, but for a very strongly worded New York Times column.

The build-ups are more tedious and the pay-offs less rewarding on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's second album post-hiatus.

Let's quickly run down the tracklist to explain why. I can't deny that the infectious rhythms of 'Peasantry' are a strong start to this album, even if the track is nowhere near as dynamic as the band's earlier work. 'Lambs' Breath', on the other hand, is less emotionally evocative and sonically bold than the ambient passages on 'F♯ A♯ ∞', and just about kills the ... read more

Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY is one minute longer than Swans' To Be Kind.

Obviously, these extra fifteen tracks together form a more coherent and less awkwardly written album than the first sixteen, but let's not pretend that Taylor should've released this as the main album. Because even if it's better, it's also less exciting. Not saying the Swifties wouldn't eat this up, but there are only one or two songs here that aren't intimate ballads. Not exactly ... read more

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is exactly what you expect from a Taylor Swift album: Cheesy lyrics over bland chord progressions with the mass market appeal of a 2010s Marvel movie. It's not particularly clever and it certainly is not forward-thinking in any regard, but I can groan and I can laugh at "We smoked and ate seven bars of chocolate" but I cannot get too mad at this album. Do I wish someone more interesting than Swift was topping the charts? Yes. Do I think it's 'bad' that ... read more

People had to wait ten years for this after Yanqui U.X.O. and here I am listening to both albums on the same day! Yes, 'Mladic' is probably Godspeed You! Black Emperor's best album opener except for 'Storm', and 'We Drift Like Worried Fire' is one heck of a trip as well. The other two songs, which are shorter and more ambient, are good too, although I can't see myself listening to them outside the context of this album. For now, I think 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend has just the slightest edge ... read more

How do you follow one of the most ambitious, expansive, and cinematic albums of all time? For Godspeed You! Black Emperor the answer, apparently, was to cut back. Where previous albums felt like entire worlds of their own, thanks largely to the inclusion of ambient pieces and field recordings, Yanqui U.X.O. is just music. Good music, great music even, but just music. Still, I can't see anyone feeling that disappointed with this record when it offers us highlights like the slow methodical build ... read more

Man, I forgot just how fucking awesome this album is. You think the band has reached their peak velocity on 'Sugar/Tzu', only to be greeted by the insanity that is 'The Race Is About To Begin' fifteen minutes later. How the hell Greep managed to get all of that out of his mouth in that short of a timespan I will never know.

R.I.P. Freddie Frost. Fly high!

Plenty of great songs on here, balanced out a little by the songs that are just okay. It took me a little while to warm up to Lily Fontaine's voice, but ultimately I think that it's her that makes this something more than just another Indie Rock album. Let's hope they get to go to space on the next album!

"Do you think that just because you're a lesbian it makes that sentence any less pathetic?"

Fuck yeah, this fucking fucks hard!

The Lonesome Crowded West sees Modest Mouse doubling down on everything that made their debut album great, whilst throwing in the smallest touches of experimentation with acoustic experimentation and electronic noise to keep things fresh. It's a balls-of-the-wall noise rock album that has stood the test of time and remains a shining example of the 90s indie rock scene.

Between this and Harbour Century coming out on the same day, I could see people proclaiming Ugly and Eunuchs to respectively be the new Black Country, New Road and black midi. This isn't that good of a comparison, however. BC,NR and BM are still alive and kicking, and their supposed successors are quite literally based on opposite ends of the globe. Both bands also have a distinct sound. Especially Ugly, which is more Folk and Country-oriented compared to the Chamber Rock of BC,NR. Many of the ... read more

A great start but I can definitely see Ritchie making something a lot more impressive in the future.

It's very obvious what specific songs and artists influenced many of the highlights on Found Heaven, but I can commend Conan Gray for trying something new and fresh.

[88->69]

[88] Delightfully dramatic! The first notes of 'Magic Death Sea Nemesis' instantly transported me to a pub in Galway, to a café in Genova, to a speak-easy in Boston. Here I listen to the song of sailors passed down through the generations, weird, bizarre, and unconventional. Bolstorous tales of sea monsters and sirens that were passed down from the ships sailing up the Mississippi to the freight carriers crossing the Indian Ocean.
TL;DR = This shit rocks.

[69] On ... read more

Immaculately produced and realized. I haven't had the chance to familiarize myself with Vampire Weekend's work before listening to this album, but it doesn't sound half bad as a place to start.