Awesome album by two of the frontrunners of the incredible Chilean emo scene. Neither band has released a bad song yet their streak will be studied by future generations.

I love to see artists banding together to make a tangible impact with a project like this, but to me this is just a lot of artists that are almost good, or like playlist filler for playlists full of good modern artists. The exceptions, who are genuinely great artists, mostly offer covers of songs whose originals are better or slightly forgettable B-side sounding songs. Even the Cameron Winter one, which I did enjoy at least, was like a worse version of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of ... read more

Two great songs by two of my favourite bands in the incredible Chilean emo scene

Playful and strange album with a surprising amount of bagpipe for a Japanese rock album. I was initially drawn by the Ichiko Aoba feature, which actually didn’t turn out to be that significant from what I remember (though it added to the song well) but came out glad to find a cool band.

Really cool band with only two songs both of which go hard and have all sorts of time signatures to mess with your head. chicaneri is my favourite of the two because
Fit goes through so many stages.

Fun 60s-70s vibes enjoyable and nostalgic throughout

A decent song but it has the same issues I normally find with mitski like how the instrumental doesn’t seem that interesting or well-suited to the vocals and the song is a bit too short to make any sort of impression

Great album it felt like Slint with some added country and emo elements. The louder parts after the long slow parts are genuinely euphoric and Ativan especially is great.

One of the great Gabe ‘Nandez albums of this year Sortilége is a high quality Backwoodz release. The production is genuinely jaw-dropping from Preservation and, even in an album with so many great features, Gabe ‘Nandez is the heart and soul of this album with so many great verses.

Mondo Cane is a song of the year contender and Ball & Chain is really powerful stuff about addiction

Great band that played on billy woods Dislocated and collabed with Kenny Segal for their album which had good rappers on it and some great instrumental hip hop I recommend for study playlists.

One-man noise rock band that takes clear influences like Squid and Cameron Winter and dials up the loudness. They have almost made my top 10 two years in a row maybe next year pal.

I was reluctant to like this album because everyone was mega hyping it up and saying Dove Ellis was the new Jeff Buckley but unfortunately I like it lots and his voice (more Thom Yorke than Jeff Buckley though) is beautiful and I was impressed by the lyrics too.

Model/Actriz is one of my favourite current bands and their first album Dogsbody is one of my favourite albums. This was a pretty worthy follow-up even if I still prefer the darker and more explosive sound on Dogsbody.

Here they make their dance-punk sound even dancier by making it brighter and adding more singing and catchy hooks. The first half of the album in particular is very good and shows their range as a band (compare dark club-sounding songs like Diva to the softly sung Acid Rain) and ... read more

Big Thief continue their streak of good albums I love the fuller psychedelic sound here and its collaborative nature, with some songs’ lyrics even being written together as a band. The new instrumental style blends well with Adrianne Lenker’s beautiful intimate lyrics and, even though some songs seem too improvised and therefore lyrically repetitive, most of the songs are some of Big Thief’s best.

This album is 19 songs long and somehow they’re all good, with some being among my favourites of the year, especially the longer ones like Green Tea Seaweed Sea and Nostalgia Drive Avatar. Weatherday’s sound is best defined by them screaming over a wall of unique guitars and blown-out drums, but the softer songs on this album are great too.

This album is great and my favourite Weatherday album and the songs from it were great live too.

This is a fairly conventional Swans album with everything that makes them great, like long hypnotic buildups and loud peaks. It doesn’t do much new for them, but it feels like a good blend of their 2010s style with their Soundtracks for the Blind style, showing that the formula they’ve settled on can still create amazing songs.

The lyrics are cryptic and poetic, seeming to be using the metaphor of giving birth to represent the coming of a new era, whether it be the uncertain ... read more

I’ve enjoyed seeing Maruja grow over the last few years and they somehow made the long wait for the album worth it.

This is probably the best sounding album of the year, with the band’s signature saxophone post-rock sound plus new strings that add another emotional layer.

The long songs in particular are some of the best of the year and go through many stages to reach powerful crescendos like the mind-blowing last part of Born To Die and the beautiful closer Reconcile.

Lyrically, ... read more

FIRST I need to remind everyone that I was a DAY ONE for Cameron Winter’s solo album Heavy Metal (it was on my 2024 list I didn’t have to cheat and put him on 2025 like everyone else) and I listened to Geese before they mega blew up so these last few months have been a mix of being happy that they’re getting recognition and being mad at FAKE FANS which is everyone who isn’t me.

Getting Killed is more like Heavy Metal than Geese’s last album 3D Country, with ... read more

billy woods was a newfound favourite artist for me he is maybe the best lyricist ever and has never written a verse that wasn’t amazing. His music has reframed my understanding of things like colonialism (past and present) and politics, while also being mega quotable and having good jokes and food bars even in an album this dark.

For some (old white) people, the doll this is named after is a nostalgic childhood character, but for the people it misrepresents and mocks, it is a tool of ... read more

Releasing an entire remix album and accompanying film a WEEK before the Armand Hammer album is crazy
Listening with the film was a great experience it was packed full of interesting visual ideas like stitched together horror movies and original footage.
The remixes rarely reached the heights of the original tracks for me, but they went hand in hand with the visuals. The new tracks, especially Complications and House in the Woods were as amazing as the songs already on the original album too.