Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for THIS album? Not this album specifically, but this type of album? The left curve, not anything you have been expecting, but everything you need sort of album? Do you know how long i’ve been waiting for something this out there from, of all bands, IDLES? This is an Idles album with strings. Fucking Strings!
Some Context to those uninformed: Idles, comprising of course of Joe Talbot on vocals, Adam ... read more
That’s beyond nuts to me. Realistically, this is a milestone that, frankly, should not have been met. I think I've only posted a couple of reviews per year, maybe put out a handful of lists but mainly just stuck to rating stuff i’ve heard. To get to 3K from basically doing what I would consider the bare minimum is, by no means, insanity. Thanks to everyone for checking out the reviews when they do come in, and thanks to everyone who has been patiently ... read more
Swans, for as abrasive, grand and destructive as they seem on the surface, bring me a lot of comfort. Maybe that’s strange to say, but there is a certain calmness to their music that is really hard to pin down and truly define for me. Swans entire career, the good, the bad, and the weird has always been trying to reach this display of pure emotional, spiritual or physical catharsis. From the No Wave anger and ... read more
TW: depression, anxiety, The Shadow Man
Paramore have always been a band that I admired, bringing substantive, emotional Pop Rock with consistently fantastic musicianship and heartfelt lyrics that just made them one of the few bands to not only last from the 2000s, but pretty much constantly got better as time went on, and while I absolutely love much from this era, it’s very hard to name bands who were born from, survived and ... read more
No, it's not just because Kevin hates Reddit. I really do mean it.
Brockhampton, as some of you may be aware if you’ve interacted with me or my music before, has been one of the most demonstrably impactful artists for me back in 2017/2018. Back then, I was very new to trying to interact with music on a broader sense, trying to expand my musical taste outside of the Alt-Rock I was used to at the time, and while I had heard Hip Hop music before (obviously) and loved it ... read more
Have you heard ANYONE hype this album up in a positive light? No, really, look through your Discord messages, your AOTY comment threads, your group chats. Has any one single person said “Man, i’m excited for this new Muse album”? The most liked review for this album? More likely then not is negative! And if you HAVE seen that one person, was it ME? Because yes, this honestly was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. Despite the “Will of the ... read more
The temptation to recap the already strong legacy of Black Midi at this point is palpable, since within the three albums the band has released, Black Midi have grown to be one of the strongest Experimental Rock bands out of the UK, which is a fucking FEAT considering what’s come out (check my last review for that, I'm a whore!). It’s tempting to say how the more technically impressive and almost Classic Prog tinged ‘Cavalcade’ launched the band into new ... read more
Twice. They were able to release two albums of near perfect material twice. To do it once? It’s possible. To do it once on your first try? That’s pretty goddamn special, and extremely hard to do. Even some of my favorite bands took a couple albums to come out with something I'd call a ten. To do it twice? In a fucking row? It’s near impossible, but it’s still doable. To have it done twice, in a row, and it be your first two records and then dip? What in ... read more
Hey everyone! I hope everyone has been doing at least somewhat OK during this two year long monster that is slowly making everyone sadder and sadder, or at the very least hearing some good music/watching good films/doing good shit. I thought I'd just pop on here to say “Hey, How's it hanging!” and to kind of give an explanation as to why I have been pretty infrequently posting on my AOTY account as of late, at least in comparison to other ... read more
Look, regardless of what you think of JPEGMAFIA or his music, there is no denying that this man is completely in his own lane. Sure, he makes abrasive Experimental Hip Hop (which has become quite the hot commodity as of recent, even I have a Experimental Hip Hop project!) but I truly do believe that JPEG is truly doing his own thing. Combining sweet synth melodies, glitchy production and heavy bass and drums samples with his versatile flow, Peggy feels like a ... read more
Do you ever hear an album that makes absolutely no sense, yet at the same time, makes perfect sense? Have you ever felt that duality, that stark contrast, that perfect clash when listening to something? Because for me, 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix', the sophomore record from Injury Reserve, is exactly what that is; it is something that makes absolutely no sense, but it makes perfect sense. This is an album that is grief personified, laid out and dissected, to a horrifically accurate ... read more
Hold on, let's get this shit, let's get this shit
Let's get this shit, let's, hmm
Top of the mornin', top of the mornin', top of the mornin'
Top of the mornin', top of the mornin', top of the mornin'
Top of the mornin'
Hold on, let's get this shit, let's get this shit
Hold on, let's get this shit, let's get this shit
Top of the mornin', top of the mornin', top of the mornin'
Top of the mornin', top of the mornin', top of the mornin'
Top of the ... read more
If you want the too long didn’t read version of this review, then here you go: I feel like this record is both a improvement on maturity and lyrical content but a downgrade on a musical front, and while I’m probably not going to be coming back to this record as a whole, there are some true highlights that make this album at the very least worth one listen.
But, for those who want the long version...let me take you back for a second.
I ... read more
I don't think Danny Elfman of all people really needs an introduction at this point in his career. Its Danny fucking Elfman. If you don't know his name, chances are you've heard him in a million different places, all of which have made some sort of impact into the cultural zeitgeist. It could be through a movie (being a renowned composer for such films as Batman, Spider-Man, nearly every Tim Burton film ever made), it could be through a meme (i.e. his work with ... read more
About two years ago, I made a statement saying ‘There are some artists that AOTY.org just unapologetically stan to death’, and that statement has never before been more true then with Mr. Baudelaire himself, Bunnyhop, Wolf Hayley, The Creator, Tyler Gregory Okonma. I swear, everyone on this site has SOMETHING to say about Tyler and his music, whether it's declaring him an experimental rap king or calling him a wacked out loser trying too hard. And ... read more
...Why?
Originally when I heard this album when it first dropped, I wasn’t planning on talking about this project. When I first heard this record, I thought it was just a more emotional but much more filler filled version of any other Slowthai related project that I had heard ever since the UK rapper dropped ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ in 2019. There were some songs that annoyed me, there were some songs I thought were OK, there were ... read more
My.
Fucking.
God: Part Two!
I don’t even think you need to read this review. If you know me and my taste, you know for a good damn FACT that this album was gonna be my thing. There’s no amount of paragraph’s I need to write in order to get that across. From the genres alone of noise rock, math rock and experimental rock, you could almost pinpoint my high score for Local Weirdos Black Midi. But in a strange turn of events, not only did Black Midi expand on their sound ... read more
EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK
edit 2: what the ACTUAL FUCK
EDIT 3: I think I just inked myself.
Yeah, no, this shit is great. Squid are, I would say, the most quote on quote ‘fun’ band in ‘The Windmill’ trilogy of bands that people have connected with each other (the other two being Black Country, New Road and Black Midi, connected due to their affiliations with previous record labels, performing joint gigs at the venue known as ‘The Windmill’ ... read more