there are two types who'll find this: people who already know about kiran leonard and will tell you that this is the "weaker half" of the album, and those who'll stumble across it, like me, and just think it's great.

where pt.1 is leonard alone with his electric guitars and his drones with a more long-form, knotty sound, this is something else more suited to my preferences: strings, woodwind, and beautiful vocals and writing i need to delve into deeper. this year ... read more

two hour drive back from the beach, a full car, blinding sun, heat like an oven, a screaming 7-year-old, and the smell of people eating food was maybe the most overstimulating time I could listen to this album, but it was still great.

black midi breaks up, but now we just get two albums, so who can complain! the first thing you notice with this album is how theatrical it is, and to be insufferable and make the comparison straight away, it generally leans into a more acoustic, uniform sound ... read more

yep

if you took a Dr House smut fanfic and Björk album from another world and combined them, you'd expect a similar sound to this.

small side tangent here, I never really know what to write when talking about albums as acclaimed as this one. I mean sure, its production is phenomenal, and the instrumentation is just as good, but everyone in the world has said something similar or even the opposite, to the point it feels redundant to share my thoughts on it; ironically enough there are ... read more

I don't trust you if "Little Green" doesn't stir up any emotion.

what is music if not honest, intimate, and beautiful? I think when it comes to records so acclaimed like this one, it can be hard to not be compelled to give it a high rating no matter your feelings toward it, but this really is just one of the best. if something can make you cry and think about parts of your own life in the way "Blue" does. It captures the essence of what it's all really about: ... read more

I've been sleeping to this album for the past couple of months, and the silence after "The Big Gloom" followed by 'Hunter' never fails to jumpscare me

I'm instantly getting this out of the way: I personally don't see this as a terrifying piece of art; it is not the apotheosis of depression even if the lyrics and atmosphere are all pointing so directly towards that, but I think the community formed by being able to share your personal struggles through this ... read more

I can't believe I'm listening to the Gorillaz in the big 2026, and it's actually good.

It's the equivalent of somebody going to Asia after finishing school, but instead of coming back as a more insufferable and "changed" person who's spiritually obsessed without any real idea of what it really means, it's the rare case where they actually ended up cool and understanding. both Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett lost their dads in 2024, and on their trip to ... read more

well, I just fumbled an interview like no other so this is acting as my temporary comfort album

I've already listened to 'How It Feels to Be Something On', so I had a good expectation of the sound before coming in, and I do think this album is more consistent, while with HIFTBSO I'm much more selective. something I've seen in a lot of reviews that I really don't understand is that it loses structure and drops in quality as it progresses, while I found myself ... read more

'Eternal Summer' turns up for the album flow disruption competition and instantly gets first place

seriously, why is it even on this? It's so long and aesthetically mismatched that it significantly damages the whole album because everything before and after is the great sound you'd expect out of the Strokes even after their prime. 'Is this it? ' was such a culturally relevant album, with its fresh, exciting but also vintage qualities; it established the Strokes as ... read more

a weirdly defining EP in my music journey, alongside Still Woozy.

'Anatolia' predominantly follows alongside a lot of indie rock but leans into a variety of influences, from math-pop time signatures and Midwest emo instrumentation to even bordering on prog. I think this EP and band as a whole had so much potential when it leaned into the more unique sound it used, creating a really engaging and catchy listen with this light, upbeat atmosphere, but it doesn't offer much lyrically ... read more

you don't know true fear until you want to give Quadeca a low rating on AOTY

I have zero real idea how to start for this album, because there's always the chance of a response from the hardcore, painfully insufferable small part of the fanbase that acts like the sun has gone out and you've declared war on their character when giving a relatively negative-leaning review. folktronica is a genre that at its best feels intimate and driven by the personality of the artist; by ... read more

puma blue was an artist I adored in 2019, so seeing he released something new I thought I might as well check it out; it's crazy to see how much my music taste has changed over time.

from softer, lo-fi, dreamy sounds to more electronic-psychedelic atmospheres, with its themes circling mortality, existentialism, the grief of relationships, and being an emotionally vulnerable and introspective listen, 'Croak Dream' is an enjoyable listen in its shorter forty-minute runtime. I ... read more

are the reviews a product of mass psychosis, an example of the bandwagon effect, a cult I'm not a part of, or am I just stupid?

the first very notable problem with this is the quality; it sounds like the microphone was buried and the recording was picked up through the ground, which I don't think transmits "what it means to be human" and is just terrible quality. the arrangements are the equivalent of when an instrument cart gets brought out in children's music class: ... read more

he could have trimmed this and aimed for a reasonably sized, great project, but with 24 tracks, that was lost at the starting line.

'The Fall-Off' is ambitious in scope but struggles as its length drags it down. similar to past releases, it's mostly inoffensive and consistent, but at an hour and forty minutes, its strongest moments are diluted; with familiar, minimalist beats, it lacks depth or experimentation that could have turned a slow crawl through its tracklist into ... read more

an overlooked gem

'Heron', the self-titled debut, is a warm listen which leans into pastoral folk textures with its ambient sounds of nature, birds tweeting, trees fluttering, and rivers flowing, as this was recorded in the countryside at a farm in Devon, all accompanied by soft, gentle vocals, enhanced by very satisfying harmonies that are really the highlight; its songwriting is consistently strong, helping the atmosphere and emotional subtlety it aims for over big hooks. its ... read more

not just a tiktok one-hit wonder

it's fairly basic, built upon folky guitars with piano and violin to add warmth alongside really strong, beautiful vocals and vulnerable lyricism. I'd usually give albums like this an average rating because they don't really do anything necessarily unique and are just very competent within their genre, but this really resonated with me. maybe it was the mood I was in, but I found myself connecting to her voice easily with how raw it is, feeling ... read more

"I'm on a need-to-know basis; no one tells me shit unless I need to hear it"

including 'Bodys', debatably one of my favourite songs to come out of the 2010s, Car Seat Headrest released the new Twin Fantasy, and holy shit, MTM was good, this made it a phenomenal record, even if I struggle to describe why. first of all, the tracklist for this album is just amazing; it flows perfectly, making for one of the most consistently engaging records I've heard. It's an ... read more

'Shaking Hand', the self-titled debut, offers mostly laid-back, pleasant math rock guitars with its simple but effective drumming; it's an enjoyable listen but one that sometimes edges on being a little underwhelming.

the spoken-word-leaning vocal delivery is something I'm not a massive fan of, and most of the slower parts are too passive for my taste, sometimes drifting by without leaving much of a mark. alternatively, tracks like 'Up The Ante(lope)' see a shift ... read more

thanks @Purgatory for the recommendation!

i've never listened to any other DMB album before this, so I had very little idea of what to expect. with a wide variety of instrumentation used and a blend of genres spread across the track list with folk-rock, pop, and jazz, 'Crash' is like walking into a jam session where they grabbed the closest instruments nearby and started playing. It's not perfect; at times the arrangements feel a little stale, as it lingers a little past ... read more

I was pretty much forced into liking this album, as at least twice a week I'd be in a room with my guitarist friend who would play 'Stabwound' for a couple of hours every time before I even got into metal, so this was definitely my entry point.

I love technical death metal; it's my favourite subgenre in the scene, and this album is a great example of incredibly skilled musicians showing off their completely unflawed playing. the most surprising part for me is how effortless ... read more