TOP are back and they've sold-out to an evil corporation. The results are kinda what you would expect.

Now, I have a pretty odd relationship with this band. Back when I had that "mall emo" phase, I loved twenty one pilots! Nowadays, the duo have shrunk quite a bit on 19-almost-20-year-old me. I still have nostalgia and fond memories that are tied to certain tracks from them, but their discography suffers from glaring flaws. Those being the cringeworthy lyrics, mediocre vocal ... read more

*air horns*

Yea

[1K Followers Special!!!]

What the fuck? I mean, congrats! Wait, I mean, thank you for making my 3 years of being on this site worth it! Knowing that people are actually reading my stuff is not only enough to keep me motivated, but it’s also letting me grow as a writer! I’m [31] days late with this review, but fuck it.

I’m out of legit “mastapeeces” to review this time around, but I’ve always wanted to revisit the album that kicked-off my stay on this ... read more

This Weewee has a serious problem with staying up.

Look, it's fucking Weezer. It's par for the course that whenever they release something good, it doesn't last very long. The situation with "Van Weezer" is not different. This album is pretty much the band noodling with 80's hard rock/glam rock idol worship. The first half gets the job done, with "Hero", "The End of the Game", "I Need Some of That" and "Beginning of the End" serving as pretty ... read more

Three young bands have emerged from the Windmill in Brixton to send a message about the future of experimental rock/post-punk. black midi and Black Country, New Road have both amazed me with their debut albums "Schlagenheim" and "For the first time". Their brilliance, nuance, complexity and overall infectiousness led me to give them both "mastapeece" tags upon release! Now it's time for Squid to shine through with their breakthrough LP and... goddammit this scene ... read more

The hype for "Nurture" is nothing to scoff at. I mean, we literally have a record-breaking comment box on this site (around 14,000 at the time of writing) that users used as a sort of group chat! That is fucking dedication!

Since the singles of this album were really starting to resonate with me earlier this week, I decided to listen to "Worlds". While a bit flawed, I would be lying if I said I wasn't hit with a huge wave of nostalgia from my early middle school years, ... read more

Continuing off of 2019's first "Civilisation" EP, "Civilisation II" is an amazing follow-up that expands upon its predecessor's themes of the world ending. It contrasts a bit to the first one as well. While that EP was more pessimistic of the fate of the world when dealing with issues like global warming, this release is more concerned that we can still spread some optimism and stick together during these troubling times. Starting with "The Princess and the Clock", ... read more

Ah yes. The pop act known as The Armed. They released "ULTRAPOP" via Sargent House, which is a label known for other great mainstream acts such as Lingua Ignota, Boris and Deafheaven!

Jokes aside, this band's aesthetic and their new album's cover art reek of the word "corporate" and it's pretty much intentional... maybe a little bit too on-the-nose. It even goofs you a little at first with the title track embracing a dreamy, albeit hella noisy, palette. Admittedly, I do ... read more

WHO LET THE MOTHAFUCKIN' DOPE BOYS OUT?!?!?!

The Broccoli Boys are depressed and after a generally consistent career... yep. They're still depressed alright. "GINGER" also dealt with some of the boyband's most personal lyrics, but I felt it faltered in other areas. "ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE" is a whole different story, however.

"WHO LET THE DOPE BOYS OUT", shouts Kevin Abstract in the opening cut, and one of my singles of the year, "BUZZCUT"! ... read more

Blow Up were a short lived band who only had this one album (and an EP that no one can find). I don’t know the history about this band, but what I do know is that this fucking rules! A fucking screamo band that melds elements of electro-industrial and synth punk? Sign me the fuck up! Easily the biggest highlight of this album, however, lies in just how downright raw and noisy this is!

The screaming and guitars are good enough, but the synths and industrial instrumentation really make ... read more

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is back and... "G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!" is the name of their 7th full length. Pissplay aside, I was cautiously optimistic when I first heard the announcement. The last two records weren't bad, in fact they're still acceptably solid in my eyes, it's just that they've shown that Godspeed You! Black Emperor's amazing formula was starting to wear thin. Now that we have "G_d's Pee"... wow.

I'll just cut to the chase. This is their best material ... read more

Welcome to the Genre Binges! I decided to do these because the artist binges were kinda getting old. Plus there were some genres that I've always wanted to explore but rarely got the chance to during these binges. So, here they are! Starting with...

[Synth Punk Binge: Part 1]

Suicide are a duo that pioneered the scene (and other, more experimental parts of post-punk) with their self-titled debut album and... I'm just gonna get it out of the way. This thing is pretty haunting, not gonna lie. ... read more

FUCK! I NEED TO WRITE A REVIEW OF THIS NEW XIU XIU ALBUM OR I WILL NEVER BECOME A LOYAL FAN!

*repeatedly smashes head into keyboard*

Result:
"OH NO" sees Xiu Xiu make an album of duets (I'm not gonna repeat the same pun). Xiu Xiu are no stranger to collaborations, actually, as they've snuck in a few collaborations into their albums throughout their career (they even got Michael Gira of Swans to participate in a cover of "Under Pressure" for fuck's sake). In tandem with the ... read more

I'm back. I'm feeling better… I guess. Hopefully this will last long enough. I got new headphones. Let's fucking go.

... And what a way to end off a break! I pretty much occupied myself with a lot of shoegaze/dream pop albums to keep myself relaxed and focused on college work. Then I wanted to end it off with an album I've always wanted to hear. I first heard "Dreams Tonite" around the time it came out (apparently the single came out on my birthday) and I fell in love with it. ... read more

Loathe follow-up "I Let It in and It Took Everything", my personal favorite metal album of 2020, just a year after its release with... a collection of ambient works? Sounds about right.

Remember those ambient interludes that kept that record flowing? Well there's now an album's worth of material of it and I ain't complainin'! These aren't just repeats of these ideas, they also build upon them in pretty significant ways. This is a VERY pretty album, brimming with shoegaze-y textures ... read more

Like their influences before them, Black Country, New Road aims to achieve something big in the more Slint-inspired portion of their scene. By adding jazz elements to their roster, the band received plenty of attention from their extensive touring and single releases. After a couple years of waiting, BCNR released a record "For the first time". I've definitely heard the name here and there, but it wasn't until a friend showed me "Science Fair" that I instantly hooked myself ... read more

Weezer is releasing TWO GODDAMN ALBUMS this year?! Nerds rejoice!

The band shifts to a chamber pop direction on "OK Human". That means you still get the basics of Weezer's power pop songwriting mixed in with a lot of orchestral elements and much more piano. Honestly, I think the orchestral element is exceptional here! It's a sharp addition to the core sound that's busy without feeling too blown-out. The first half is very strong as well! The lead single, "All My Favorite ... read more

Ugh... I don't like saying that this is a disappointing follow-up, but it really is. The reason why I thought "Street Worms" was so good was because of its eclecticism, its silliness, rawness, the pure DAD energy that radiated off of it. "Welfare Jazz" still has much of those charms. We still have great, energetic cuts with raw production like "Ain't Nice", "Creatures" and "Girls & Boys", which is a great successor to "Sports". ... read more

FIRST REVIEW OF DA YEEAR BAYBEE LES GOOO!!!

Y'know, I'm not that huge into cloud rap. Minus a few exceptions, the aesthetics and vocals the genre presents itself with just kind of leave a sour taste in my mouth as they would usually either annoy me or make me nauseous. The heavily bit-crushed, noisy aesthetics that Fax Gang prominently injects into almost every fabric of "Aethernet"'s existence easily gives it so much more appeal! It was a bit off-putting at first but it slowly ... read more

When “It’s a Whimsical Afterlife” came out over a year ago, well, you could probably tell from my review that I was nothing short of impressed, especially when I found out it was done by one person! This thing is right up my alley with a haunting atmosphere, noisy, lo-fi production, a twisted concept with sharp writing, some catchy vocal performances and sticky melodies. It’s even more impressive that Avenade came out with his sophomore LP just a year later. Not only ... read more