Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts: Red Classroom
78

Up to this point in their discography this may be Xiu Xiu's most sonically twisted work. The short track lengths and number of tracks combined with the consistently disturbing winding production makes this one of their most unconventional records. The album feels the least structured track-wise because the whole thing feels like one musical cacophony that just refuses to end. And some of the sounds on this are legitimately gut-churning. The songs sound like their literally bleeding. Maybe not ... read more

Gorillaz - Gorillaz
72

A classic that has not aged remarkably. A good start for one of the most iconic music acts ever. But this project in full is relatively bloated with a decent amount that feels like filler or undeveloped. The classic songs hold up pretty damn well, although generally surpassed by Gorillaz later stuff. Mostly this album feels like an introduction to Gorillaz sound and style. But it also kinda feels like a random collection of everything Damon was working on at the time. Like a mix of stuff from ... read more

McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz​!​?
72

Some really beautiful production moments and definite song highlights but overall McKinley Dixon isn't the most engaging lyricist for me.

Black Dresses - Peaceful as Hell
90

cursed internet core electronica but its trans and also just a nice little girl that wants to be friend and why is everyone so Mean!!!

Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight (Original Soundtrack)
88

bug banger. Some insane bangers on here as well as some truly beautiful moments. The musical story telling on Sealed Vessel is fantastic. City of Tears has brought me close to them. Honestly I don't think the Team Cherry could have gotten a better soundtrack for their game given their resources.

Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
78

Creative pop in a land full of mediocre garbage. Call it emo all you want it still had better production than almost everything coming out at the same time

Björk - Utopia
82

This is a surprisingly strong addition to Bjork's catalogue. When I listened to it initially a while ago I thought it was good but nothing crazy, nice instrumentation but too mellow. Now revisiting it I find much more appreciation for Bjork's efforts here. Utopia is her most atmospheric and ambient record to date. But with that it also becomes the most effective as developing this mystical/alien world that is seen in her visual art endeavors. The album feels truly other worldly in a way no ... read more

Pusha T - The Story Of Adidon
100

The meanest piece of music I have ever heard in my entire life

Swans - Filth
78

Pretty standard noise rock. What makes it stand out is the signature echoey, crushing, chugging along sound of swans early work. Some good sounds and performances throughout but nothing too crazy

Edit: (72 -> 78): More infectious than I previously felt. I find the repetitive tones circling through me head pretty often.

Scru Face Jean & Crypt - Scrypt
20

Bland internet rap. Both of these dudes can kinda spot. But they don’t have anything interesting to talk about and they have no clue what interesting production sounds like

Crypt & Joey Nato - When The Sky Turns Red
25

The beats are just epic rap. The bars are boring mostly and just internet braggadocio. The only good moment is Footsteps. The Atlus feature is pretty killer and the genuinely reflective bars from Crypt that take a new more mature perspective on the relationship issues explored in his solo work are a nice moment of growth. And again, the actual issues such as homelessness that they describe themselves facing are real but that doesn’t make them good musically.

Crypt - Buried Alive
30

The rapping is decent, but fillld with filler and still the same topics. The singing is bad. The beat choices are dull and bad. The overall vibes and attitude of the whole thing is just tiring. Crypt again looks to be nothing more than himself and took nothing from the criticism of his last album.

Crypt - Tales From the Crypt
30

Like everyone else is saying, it’s just the same couple of issues being restated over and over and over again. At best there is some genuine emotion and I don’t make light of real life struggles that Crypt has gone through, it just doesn’t translate to compelling music at all. At its worst it’s peak “youtube rap” taking endlessly about haters who don’t believe in you and then saying you’re done talking about them and then talking about it again. ... read more

Scru Face Jean - Village Boy
50

A pretty basic album. The influences are worn heavy. The rapping is good but can wear thin. I like Scru’s voice. I sometimes like what he has to say. The beat choices are basic and can kinda bang. Feels like it’s amounting to way less than itself tho. And btw that Merkules feature is one of the most embarrassing things I have ever heard, why does it sound like he recorded that on his iphone. Overall nowhere near as bad as people seem to be saying, but a sad start to a career the ... read more

Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
92

The often minimal soundscapes of Xiu Xiu's tortured sound is complimented with some great moments of loud.

Edit: (85 -> 92): All killer no filler. Wish I had someone to fill and kill me listening to Xiu Xiu.

Xiu Xiu - Always
92

Despite the ugly ass album cover this is one of Xiu Xiu's strongest works to date. Their explorations into more intensive synthpop sounds are even more successful than on Dear God I Hate Myself. The typical rawness of the music is heavily complimented buy some really fantastic instrumental crescendos

Gorillaz - Cracker Island
58

We were not so back...

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
95

A glam rock opus. So grand, so theatrical, so dramatic. An eclectic masterpiece

鶴 The Crane - TALENT
40

The most generic of generic lofi pop. This thing is just flavorless through and through. Not even any melodies or little bits of production that engaged me. And the little bits of pop rap are just the cherry on top of this mid cake.

Swans - To Be Kind
100

Screenshot is a sort of morning, the day slowly gaining light as the song builds to its crescendo.

Just a Little Boy is the afternoon to evening as the day goes on and comes to a fiery close. The whole time seeing existence, understanding ones place as a human and nothing more. As just a little boy being laughed at by a universe too massive to understand.

A Little God In My Hands is the day again, the day at it's brightest, Gira is just on his knees in shallow water with mud in hid hands ... read more

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Recent Review Comments
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On Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
"@Dallamalla For me touching a good amount of other genres doesn't always mean that it's diverse. Yes it hits on pop, altpop, electronic, indie, synthpop, even a bit of rock, etc. But to me a lot of the diversity in that kinda gets washed away under the soft alt pop style. It all has a cool soft blue filter over it. It takes a lot of different inspirations but makes them more one note. And that may not be a bad thing cause with some albums it can make them cohesive, which it does do here, but I also think it takes away the flavor of those influences. To again reference the synths on Chihiro, they stand out on the album, but there's just not that much more to them outside the soft pop sound, ie not much diversity."
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