QUICK THOUGHTS

This is without a doubt impressive. For someone who probably has very little to no background in music, this is VERY listenable, and that's perhaps underselling it. For that alone, I'm a fan, and hope I hope Schlatt continues to dabble in music as the years go on.

That being said, so much of the overwhelming reception for this is rooted in it's surprise - that this heinous criminal masquerading as a Minecraft Youtuber can actually competently sing and put ... read more

I can’t say there will ever be a time when I’m truly emotionally ready for a Kendrick Lamar release, but this one really caught me off guard. He’s the only person who I YouTube notifications on for, and getting those for “meet the grahams”, “Not Like Us” (and music video), and then the teaser snippet for “GNX”… it’s one of those “drop everything and listen” moments.

Enough of the senseless glazing though, because ... read more

Cordae is one of those artists that people speak of as all potential. There is clearly a great artist within Cordae: he has the voice, the flows – his writing *can be* intelligent and introspective. Inside him, there’s a top-tier lyricist that dominates the conscious side of hip hop while also having some of the smoothest summer vibes. The problem is, that complete version of Cordae hasn’t shown that it can persist over a full tracklist, let alone demonstrate any level of ... read more

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Real talk, I think I just shed a tear listening to this and I’m not even exactly sure why. There’s something so mesmerizing, piercing, chilling, entrancing, etc… about this track. Man I feel like the adjectives are just flowing out of me right now, this is probably Ethel’s best work yet.

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Coming off the heels of Tyler’s recent album, the question that’s going through my head right now is “to what standard should we be holding these rap stars to?”. Of course, not every rap album should be deeply personal, and there is certainly a place for a tracklist of certified don’t-think-too-much bangers. But it’s not too much to ask these mega stars to sound like they care about the product they’re putting out, right? That’s ... read more

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All in all it’s a fine project, but ‘Still Praying’ is not exactly reaching the standards I have in my mind for Griselda or Westside Gunn. The beats are a little skeletal at times, and there’s still far too much interlude/filler across these already short tracks. Westside Gunn is not unfamiliar with spamming the emote button, but it just grew a little tiresome on this one.

The cure? I didn’t even know he was sick.

I think a large part of my worldview changed during the song “Demolition” when Phil Elverum said, “I’m almost 46” - am I crazy? You could have absolutely convinced me that Phil was well into his 60’s, perhaps in part due to his decades-long and highly influential career to this point across the names The Microphones and Mount Eerie. His catalog is significant to say the least, and the sage poeticism with which he writes is generational – beyond his ... read more

We gather here today at 6:00am on a Monday in hopes of hearing history, let’s see if it’s worth it

Update: He’s kinda cooking
Update2: So he’s a dad
Update3: So he’s not a dad nvm

Final thoughts:
Tyler, The Creator said in 2022 on the release of Kendrick Lamar’s album ‘Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers’ that “We gotta cut the bullshit and just start being super open and honest.” It feels like now that those words weren’t empty, ... read more

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‘The Great Impersonator’ lives up to its title, both in describing Halsey’s struggle of keeping up appearances through her health complications as well as referencing the myriads of influences and styles she takes up across these 18 tracks. There is A LOT of content here, delving deep into concepts of death, relationships, fame, parenting, etc. With all of these extremely personal ruminations, it’s a little disappointing to hear how often Halsey’s ... read more

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I find this album fascinating. Laura Marling’s previous record ‘Song For Our Daughter’ was a serene tribute to a then imaginary daughter; she didn’t even know if she wanted kids at the time. And just 4 short years and one very real daughter later, ‘Patterns in Repeat’ is her authentic and peaceful reflections of parenthood and self. The connection between parent and child is so palpable through these extremely mellow and drumless folk tunes ... read more

Where is the 28-minute experimental post-rock drone passages? Where are the washed out and fuzzy shoegaze guitar loops? Where is the high-art political and socioeconomic commentary? I miss music when it was serious.

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Boners rejoice! In many ways, ‘SABLE,’ is a return to the deep and difficult self-reflection of the debut ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. Justin Vernon tackles his rumination and self-sabotaging with a teary optimism, and while it’s clear that he still has some healing to do (and has already been done), we’re not in quite as bleak and hollow of a state as in the aforementioned debut. ‘SABLE,’ is afraid of change, but I think it’s ... read more

Charli releasing the equivalent of the New Testament 🔥

Music to talk to a therapist about

One of the most harrowing and disparaging sludge metal groups to explode into popularity recently, Chat Pile’s debut 2022 album ‘God’s Country’ found much acclaim for their explosiveness and blunt commentary. Despite much praise, I stand pretty firm in saying that that album is still an amateur mess. My takes tend not to deviate to far from the consensus, but I couldn’t help but feel that the bands checked-out and rambling nature ... read more

With a second album under their belt for 2024, The Smile is looking less and less like a detour Radiohead’s own Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and more like a key focus of their musical endeavors going forward. It’s probably about time that we stop introducing each new Smile album with “erm sounds like Radiohead” and begin preparing for this to be the norm.

With that being said, Thom Yorke still sounds haunting and fantastic as a 55 year old man cosplaying as a 70 year ... read more

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band long been revered for their groundbreaking work dating back to the 90’s, but their latest release “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” shows the group still had so much left to give.

No strangers to these mouthful album titles, ‘NO TITLE…’ is in reference to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with 28,340 Palestinian deaths due to Israeli air strikes being estimated from October 7th and February ... read more

Geordie Greep is like Lin Manuel Miranda but manic, love it.

Yes, it seems like black midi, one of the most acclaimed groups to come out of the recent Windmill scene, may officially be iver *ahem* over. Why and whether we should expect that hiatus to be permanent is still yet to be determined, but have no fear, as former frontman Geordie Greep has quickly turned around with his debut solo work, aptly titled ‘The New Sound’. While much of the atmosphere is somewhat transferable ... read more

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"And you know I love my TV
but all I really wanna see is see you need me"

Equal parts awkward and devastated. MJ Lenderman's dry sense of humor in his songwriting only compounds it's emotional toll.

Rex Orange County returns after a very tumultuous past few years with his most sincere and lowkey work to date.

If anyone wasn’t aware, Alexander O’Conner, the man behind Rex Orange County, was accused and charged with six counts of SA back in October of 2022. He pleaded not guilty and, and only a few months later, all the charges were dropped after new evidence surfaced that the claims were false. For many, however, the damage had already been done and his reputation had taken a ... read more