Poppy introduces her musical side with some fairly standard, very formulaic pop songs without the weird charm of the internet personality, but "Bubblebath" still a pretty catchy EP with "Lowlife" being the big highlight.

Lowlife: 9.5
Money: 8.5
Altar: 6.5
American Kids: 7.5

-2.5

Score:
7.4
Good

I mean, it's colorful and... maybe "Uniicorn" is kind of a bop? Otherwise, while I like SOME cute things, "Wishing Star" came across as "too cutesy" for me. A lot of the songs sound much the same and it just comes out as an average EDM album. It's kind of like eating Skittles off the floor when they've passed the five second mark.

Raiinbow: 6.5
Uniicorn: 7.5
Superlover: 5
Pop!: 3
Best Friend: 6
Squeak!: 3.5

-2.5

Score:
4.8
Meh

As the first album I'm hearing this year, "THIS DOES NOT EXIST" is surprisingly solid. There are flaws, like Darkie's voice being kinda grating at times and it tries a bit too hard to be edgy. Otherwise, this is a very solid experimental hip hop album. The production is insanely good and there were plenty of songs I definitely loved from this.

Fav Tracks: COMPOSITION XI; rap music, COMPOSITION III IN RED, WHITE, AND BLACK; BLOOD MONEY; I AM ADDICTED TO DRUGS AND TIRED OF IT; wrap ... read more

This makes me feel like I'm about to kill a person but, instead of them dying, I die. This is fucking intense! It's the tea, sis! I love it! The delivery and performances are manic as hell, the industrial, glitchy soundscapes are amazing and the overall atmosphere and instrumentation had me jumping! Overall, this is the kind of musical brutality I'm always looking for!

Fav Tracks: In Defense of Resentment, And I Grew into Ribbons, If This Is What Passes for Living, Black Din, ... read more

We're kicking off this fresh, new decade with new Swans!

"Leaving Meaning." is as stunning, haunting, well-written, incredibly-performed and meticulously-produced as you can get with these albums, all packed in a breezier length. There are also some amazing, and I mean AMAZING, moments on here! "Sunfucker" is like a tribal ritual summoning a sun demon, "What is This?" and "It's Coming It's Real" are two of Michael Gira's most triumphant songs in recent ... read more

"Conventional Weapons" is a collection of post-"Black Parade" tracks that were ultimately scrapped because the band wasn't happy with the final product. But I ultimately find this to be a pretty great "record" with some of MCR's best songs to date! Sure, it's a little rough around the edges and a song or two may be a demo for a song that would later be on "Danger Days" ("Make Room!!!" shares the same bridge as "Na Na Na"), but ... read more

"Russian Mind" is another simple yet beautiful album from Oneoh with a few of his best works to date! It still feels a bit too brief, though.

Fav Tracks: Physical Memory, Russian Mind, Immanence, Time Decanted

Least Fav Track: Grief And Repetition

Score:
8.2
Great

[Treasure Tuesday Ep. 19]

"Nervous Breakdown" is a pretty standard and brief (5 minutes) but blood-pumping and absolutely punk... punk EP with some great hooks. Nothing that technical but simple enough to shine, exactly how a classic punk outfit operates.

Nervous Breakdown: 9.5
Fix Me: 7
I've Had It: 9.5
Wasted: 9.5

-1.25

Treasure Approval Rating:
8.5
Exceptional

Daniel Lopatin uses arpeggiators to create a noisy but intriguing ambient atmosphere, but "Zones Without People" could've benefited from a lot more variety than this.

Fav Tracks: Format & Journey North, Learning To Control Myself, Emil Cioran, Zones Without People

Least Fav Track: Disconnecting Entirely

Score:
7
Good

Surprisingly a lot more, well, vocal than his other works, "Sirens" is also a bit more accessible than usual... which isn't a bad thing of course! It's a groovy, texturally-fantastic and well-written electronic album that shows Nicolas Jaar is a fearless artist in the way he approaches sound.

Fav Tracks: Three Sides of Nazareth, Killing Time, The Governor, No

Least Fav Track: Leaves

Score:
8.7
Exceptional

Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it's still a relatively cool little compilation with a few good bangers and features to go along with them. The remix with ROSALIA is also pretty cool. Too bad that it also ends up being very average and lacking any sign of replay value.

Fav Tracks: HAD ENOUGH, OUT WEST, HIGHEST IN THE ROOM - REMIX

Least Fav Track: GANG GANG

Score:
6.4
Fine

While it's admirable the way they try to experiment here, here we go with this bullshit title, "Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~GO TO" ends up being a clumsy, disjointed and barely finished mess of an "EP" with quite a few decent ideas and too many failed and overlong ... read more

Merry Chrimbombosoodousious, everyone!

What in the shi... I mean fuck was Weezer thinking when making this? This is just like any rock band doing a Christmas album except made even more shallow for the fact that the blaring guitars are the only thing you'll be hearing other than the weak snares and Rivers' dull vocals on this one.

"JazzArt Underground" is a damn great Polish post-rock record that, while it doesn't do anything new for the genre, it at least avoids most of the cliches that haunt it (with "Ego" being the exception). I LOVE the grooves on here! The drums especially have these infectious patterns and fills, and that combined with the rest of the great instrumentation makes this one of the more captivating post-rock projects in years.

Fav Tracks: Rawa, Same Trupy, Fratres

Least Fav Track: ... read more

Formulaic? Yes. A bit too trim for my liking? Probably. But this indie pop/R&B supergroup's debut is very promising, very hooky, very catchy and fun, with great vocals from Sam Dew and some immaculate production from Sounwave and, of course, Jack Antonoff.

Fav Tracks: Red Hearse, Everybody Wants You, Red Hearse, Born To Bleed, You Make It Easy

Least Fav Track: Violence

Score:
7.8
Very Good

Like I've said many times before, I am not a fan of jazz. I will say, though, that this is yet another unique album this year. I don't have any context from the other chapters to reflect my full feelings on this, but the results of what's on display are chaotic and clashy, beautiful and insightful.

Fav Tracks: as far as the eye can see, fit to be tied, raise yourself up, trail of the smiling sphinx, her mighty waters run, piddling, jewels of the sky: inscription, all things beautiful

Least ... read more

"They Want My Soul" takes their typical sound in exciting new directions. The aesthetics are absolutely gorgeous and varied and it's heightened by surprisingly really, really good production from Dave Fridmann. The vocals and writing from Britt Daniel are some of his greatest and this record has some of their best songs to date!

Fav Tracks: New York Kiss, Inside Out, Do You, Knock Knock Knock, They Want My Soul, Outlier, Rent I Pay

Least Fav Track: I Just Don't ... read more

While Spoon have been an exceptionally consistent band, "Transference" feels like a step backwards. I appreciate that the band is trying something new and experimental, but most of it just comes off pretty awkward. The writing is there, but the instrumentation is extremely repetitive to the point where this is their most plodding release yet. Also, why do some of these tracks end so goddamn abruptly? It has absolutely no sense of flow.

Fav Tracks: Written in Reverse, Out Go the ... read more

Wow. "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" is the first Spoon album to ever blow me away throughout the entire album. There's not a single song that had me bored at the slightest. The production is fantastic, the writing is some of the sharpest I've heard from Britt Daniel and the raw instrumentation is wonderful. Overall, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (my gosh that's so irritating to type) is probably one of the more aesthetically striking indie rock albums I've heard from the 2000's.

Fav Tracks: You Got ... read more

"Gimme Fiction" is yet another noteworthy release in their discography, focusing a lot more on slower tempos and introspective lyrics this time around. The results are still as fun and well-written as ever, despite the latter half not being as wondrous as the first.

Fav Tracks: They Never Got You; The Beast and Dragon, Adored; I Turn My Camera On; My Mathematical Mind; I Summon You; The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine; The Delicate Place

Least Fav Track: Was It ... read more