Masayoshi Takanaka's music has become a constant in my life over the last couple of months. Right from the opening seconds of Oh! Tengo Suerte it was clear Takanaka had a near, if not fully complete understanding of his sound from the start, and though many of his albums in full are fantastic, none have instantly stunned me front to back quite like THE RAINBOW GOBLINS. Despite being his lengthiest project, THE RAINBOW GOBLINS excels at executing every track with razor sharp precision and ... read more

Ever since Challengers, especially the Mixed version, part of me hoped that energy would carry over to Nine Inch Nails, and seeing it not only happen but actually with Boys Noize during the couple shows I caught during the PEEL IT BACK tour was fantastic. To get a remix album out of it is the cherry on top, and it as well is great. None of the tracks remixed here have aged, and still a new life is breathed into them. I wouldn’t be surprised is much of what is here a younger audience will ... read more

I've never heard of the hack this soundtrack is for (I found myself here through a Siivaguner rip haha) but was pleasantly shocked at the quality of the original tracks made for it here. Some of the most earwormy OST I've heard in a second and it's for a Mario fan game! Breakbeat jumpscare.

Mostly just alright. Feels like the band retreading a lot of old ideas which may play into the title of the album but not in a very interesting way. A few all time lyrical highlights for the band on Remember and Crony. Long Ago is particularly relevant. I'm glad Vinny and company are still working on Red Vox a decade later, especially after a recent lineup change, but hopefully the innovation from Realign and Visions returns in the band's future.

Pemberton despite his consistency as of late still goes under-appreciated and his work for Project Hail Mary is absolutely some of his best yet.

The Balatro theme is one of the best pieces of video game score I’ve heard in a while. There is exactly one song in this game, and though it’s adaptive based on what’s happening, I have never turned the music off because that one song is that good.

I totally wouldn't mind this brand of FlyLo that leans into SNES era chiptune composition paired with his signature insane electronics, but only thirteen minutes? Even a slightly longer EP consisting of Captain Kernel-esque songs would be great but here I feel most tracks get too little time to explode the way they should. Hopefully BIG MAMA serves more as a tease for the potential sound for Ellison's next project, but this is a decent little thing.

The Mountain is Gorillaz at their most diverse and conceptually rich since Plastic Beach. I've far from disliked everything in the last decade and a half but this truly feels like the first album made in the same way as the first three of their discography. Equally as catchy and poppy as it is beautiful and mournful, balancing celebration of life with the contemplation and sadness of death. I really appreciated what De La Soul did with Dave on Cabin in the Sky, and The Mountain in a way ... read more

Bruno on cruise control. Nothing bad, but after ten years since his last solo album you would think it would sound more evolved than pretty much the exact same stuff he was doing on 24K with some latin horns and guitars thrown in. The instrumentals are the best aspect of the record by far, but on top of them is essentially the same singing and writing style Mars has been using for two decades now, if not slightly toned down to heighten the titular romance. I was hoping Silk Sonic was a preview ... read more

Not only an impressive switch from BlackBerry’s mostly ambient electronic score to an orchestra, but hilariously larger given the circumstances of the film. Jay really leant into the campiness of much of Williams and (obviously) Silvestri’s work that often found its way into the show, and hearing those hallmarks applied to an original score for their biggest project is better than any fair use workaround they could’ve thought up. “Famous Jay” is absolutely one of ... read more

I don't care if it was considered too silly for the standard release of the album, My Dream Dungeon Makeover is lovely and I will always listen to Again with it at the end.

I've recently been building up a much larger CD collection and in doing so I remembered Pure Moods, one I used to listen to while falling asleep when I was little, and bought a copy. It's a silly contemporary new age compilation but there's honestly a very diverse and often beautiful collection of music here. I think growing up hearing compilation CDs like this and MTV AMP helped diversify my taste from a young age and generally caused me to be more open minded towards music that ... read more

Replica is one of the most sonically and emotionally diverse ambient records I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. OPN’s discography up to this point certainly wasn’t lacking in quality, especially Returnal before this, but the gap between those and Replica is admittedly huge. I’m a big fan of plunderphonics (or sampledelia, take your pick) but whatever is happening here broke down even more mental barriers for what I thought was possible with sampling. Child Soldier is ... read more

Year Zero continues to be an increasingly relevant and impressively conceptual album, and that's not even considering the intensely in-depth lore and ARG companion piece. Though it's not one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails albums lyrically or even musically in a lot of ways, the album works very well as a whole and certainly deserves a lot more attention than it has received since release.

Many recent rock acts have been very impressive and unique, the likes of Geese, BC,NR, Squid, and even Black Midi themselves, but none of them have captured my attention like Geordie Greep does on his solo record. The New Sound doesn’t lose any of the interesting lyrical oddities of his writing or vocal style, but are coated in so many different musical styles fused together that the album actually earns its title. Progressive rock, jazz, even samba all come together for one of the most ... read more

King Gizzard return with an overlong spiritual sequel to Gumboot Soup. As diverse as it is, Omnium Gatherum feels bloated, especially during its second half. The impressive eighteen minute opener "The Dripping Tap" rocks hard, though it might be a little too long. "Magenta Mountain" has since become one of my very favorite Gizz songs, being the best of their explorations into synth pop. "Gaia" and "Predator X" return to thrash metal, but the most shocking ... read more

Four songs, all the same length, at just a little over ten minutes each. "The River" is a great jam, and it's no wonder why it has become a live staple, but other than that I don't have too much to say about the album as a whole. Every song after is fine, but breeze through one ear and right out the other. Fun idea for an album and respectable for being as jammy as it is this early in their discography, but only okay in execution.

Oddments is an erratic and often unmemorable but somewhat impressive showcase of the band's diversity in songwriting and change in style.

This is what realizing a period of time you love has passed and the world is forgetting it happened sounds like. The internet has changed drastically and for a musician that has strived off of digging for inspiration in its depths only to find that time has erased so much of it is devastating. An album that captures the melancholy of nostalgia.

I was lucky enough to catch Stereolab on tour recently and was subsequently introduced to the Bajas via their opening act and having a nice conversation with Dan at the merch booth. I caught them a couple days later on their solo tour and I can now say with confidence I am a Bitchin Bajas fan. "Inland See" is a very lovely little ambient electronic record. "Skylarking" is a really great track, especially live, one of their best they've crafted. The final near 20 minute ... read more