🔴 Do, Hip Replacement, i'm confident that i'm insecure
🟢 The other 10 tracks

What a great album! It's fun, it's dancey, it's catchy, and it's got a lot of heart. And when it occasionally gets deep, it gets pretty relatable. This, my first Lawrence project, has sufficiently compelled me to go listen to their other projects.

Favorite: Funeral
Least Favorite: Conflict Resolution

🔴 Get Em
🟢 The other 4 tracks

This is some of the best stuff I've heard from Spag Heddy since "Nostalgibra". Serving as a sort of self-parody, this EP checks a lot of thematic boxes. It gives us a news-broadcast-driven song, a narration-driven song, and a couple of sample-driven bangers. Super fun one from Spag Heddy that doesn't have that much heart per se but isn't supposed to. It does a great job at what it means to do!

Favorite: R'amen
Least Favorite: ... read more

🔴 promises
🟢 The other 6 tracks

Check out Hexo The Slow Reviewer's review if you want to know most of what I think about this EP, because it's pretty spot on. My only differences are my like for "still?" and dislike for "about you". I was trying to decide if I found this EP just mediocre or actively bad as a whole, and that was when I started to become actively annoyed with the EP, especially with the rap features and shallow lyricism shoehorned in. ... read more

My mouth was agape throughout much of these 11 minutes. The 3 tracks work together to become a quick stab of almost everything we've heard from Grabbitz since 2015: swaggy rap, rocking guitar-work, groovy stuttering sound design, and top-notch vocal work filled to the brim with emotion. My only criticism is that the first two tracks feel like a start while the last track feels like an end, as in an album, with little pacing in between to balance out the emotion. Still, the EP succeeds at ... read more

MYLK blew my expectations out of the water here. I was not expecting heavier, more nostalgic bass music, and even if I was, I would expect the melodic sections outside the drop to shine above the drops, because that's been MYLK's specialty up to this point. Although it is a little flawed/dated at points, it is an extremely solid effort that is so fun every listen. I would love to hear some more heavy MYLK in the future!

Favorite: Tera
Least Favorite: Giga

🟡 alive if i die
🟢 The other 13 tracks

Evidently, we have some mixed reviews here, but my opinion of this album has been consistent. Easily one of the best albums of the year so far. I didn't quite understand what the EP was going for, but this album makes sense. It's coherent, it's stylish, it's fun, it's innovative based on what I've heard from her, and I find it hard to cut a listen of the album short. Tori Kelly kills it here!

Favorite: spruce
Least ... read more

Fun album from an artist who consistently delivers what we've come to expect. Although it doesn't subvert expectations all that much, it takes what some artists have fallen short of doing and does those things right. It feels a little disjointed at times but still elicits appropriate amounts of headbanging. Not the shining example of Ace Aura's potential, but a good example of what he's got in him.

Favorite: Doorman
Least Favorite: Hypnosis

A nice-sounding album that just runs for way too long given its lack of dynamics and impact. I normally zone out a bit before the album should have ended, but when I return my attention to the album, I'm at least pleased with what I'm hearing. Pretty alright for what it is, but nothing too special.

Favorite: Whatever
Least Favorite: Intro

🔴 Stardust Galaxy, GIMME DAT, AIR FORCE WUB
🟢 The other 11 tracks

This compilation falls well short of its predecessor, but it is still great in its own right. It has a greater emphasis on artists other than Tokyo Machine and has a darker vibe that builds the CHOMPO world quite well. With very highs and very low lows, the returning artists knocked it out of the park much further than the new artists for the most part (a *huge* exception being "DEITY"), but the new artists ... read more

Even the haters seem uncomfortable rejecting this album, so I figured it would be totally wholly unlike any other TOP album. Surprisingly, it was just the TOP the fans know and love at their very best, with the added benefit of worldbuilding emphasis. Definitely TOP's most creative project to date, even as they stay in their wheelhouse for much of the runtime. This is a must-hear album for anyone unfamiliar with the band.

Favorite: Pet Cheetah
Least Favorite: Cut My Lip

I was talking with my brothers recently about how most artists/bands will have that one album that is so good or so classic that they will probably never top it. This is that project for Xilent. This is a masterpiece and easily Xilent's magnum opus. There is not a dull moment on this record, and the music is so stellar that it doesn't rely on the theme to carry its quality. Even so, the theme is so cool and so well-communicated through every element of the album. I don't always ... read more

Not much to say about this EP since it only runs for 7 minutes, but it's pretty alright. Certainly not the band's best work by a longshot, but these songs are fun enough to last you at least one spooky season.

Favorite: The Cup
Least Favorite: Halloween in Owatonna

There's not a whole lot to say about this EP since it only runs for 7 minutes, but it is so good for what it is! So sweet, so heartfelt, so Relient K. Definitely recommend at least one listen to this, because if it doesn't hit quite like it hit me, then only 7 minutes were wasted.

Favorite: Happy Valentimes
Least Favorite: Bmi Valentine

Relient K does much of what they do best here. This album is full of bangers that don't need to do much to get me screaming the lyrics. I didn't quite catch the overarching theme of the project, if there is one, but there's still so much heart in many of these tracks that keeps me rooting for Matthew Thiessen all the way through. Very solid project from a very solid band.

Favorite: Deathbed
Least Favorite: Crayons Can Melt on Us for All I Care

I can't say enough about this album. Extremely vulnerable and relatable lyrics lead the listener through a masterfully written story/thought process underscored by a variety of impeccable vibes. I would highly recommend this album to anyone going through a break-up, as it effectively encourages the listener while grappling with the hard, big feelings that come with such an experience. Easily Relient K's strongest project.

Favorite: Candlelight
Least Favorite: Baby

🔴 Bring The Hats On
🟢 The other 5 tracks

Okay, I don't understand why I rated it this way. Why do I like this music? It bewilders me, because it seemed like the exact kind of thing Matroda was trying to do on Jack the House 4, which I gave a 15/100. I mean, this EP is basically a series of drum loops, but those drum loops are so dang good. And each song has just enough meat and variety to keep me moving. No track here beats "The Tempo" imo, but inexplicably they just click ... read more

I gave this EP another of many listens after hearing the last two albums I reviewed here, and man, it is so refreshing in comparison! So many bangers, both heavy and emotional, in this EP, and every track has grown on me with each listen. I knew Blanke was a powerhouse from the moment I first heard of him, and he further proves it with Emergence. Although Grant and Au5 pulled me into this EP more than anything, Blanke ends up being the one I root for most after each listen. Huge triumph for ... read more

🔴 WAR
🟢 The other 5 tracks

Although I wasn't very impressed with any previews I heard of Nostalgix's music, I tried to go into this EP with an open mind. Unfortunately, that open mind did not convince me otherwise. There's a lot of potential here, but I can't help but feel this EP was a half-hearted effort. From the attitude to the song structure to the features, there's just a lot here that doesn't work given the product we got. It's a unique style ... read more

Kaval has a lot of potential to make something I like, but I'm decreasingly trusting his judgments. Pre-Cosmic-Crash, "Starlight" was the only Kaval track that stuck out to me, and even there I found the vocals processed unpleasantly. Thankfully, the title track stood out to me quite a bit. In most everything else, I felt that too many of the sound design choices and starts-and-stops were either unpleasant-sounding or shoehorned in. I'm always down to hear new things from color bass ... read more

🔴 Fine
🟢 The other 8 tracks

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with this album. The opening track gave me so much hope for an immersive experience only to lead into seven tracks that were merely serviceable and to close with a gorgeous cover of "Fix You". The heart behind some of the tracks, "Waltz For Sweatpants" being the poster child here, was sweet and impactful, but I left each middle track thinking that these themes could have been communicated better. ... read more