Wow. Even more post-rock. So much more cinematic, so much more production. Wow.

Okay I'm getting kinda bored of this band. The album overall is very pretty and the instrumentation is excellent, but the cliches are still there.

Fav Tracks: Let Me Back In, Postcard From 1952, Last Known Surroundings

Least Fav Track: Be Comfortable, Creature

Score:
5.5
Okay

Oh wow. A new post-rock album by EITS? Wow. This is amazing. Wow. Now they're adding pianos. Wow. Wow. How amazing. So pretty. Not formulaic at all.

Wow

Fav Tracks: The Birth And Death Of The Day; It's Natural To Be Afraid; So Long, Lonesome

Least Fav Track: Catastrophe And The Cure

Score:
7.2
Post-rock. Wow.

Okay I gave this a better listen a few years later and I think it's a little better now.

[Treasure Tuesday Ep. 6]

Alright, this is pretty cool. It's abrasive, kinda immature and fun sludge metal. The riffs are badass, the instrumentation is tight, I love the track titles and the whole thing breezes by at just 25 minutes (if you exclude the long silence on the final cut). There are a couple of songs that turn me off, though. "Miles Away from Sober" is a short little headbanger... right up until the vocalist has massive diarrhea, I guess you could say there was a lot of ... read more

Imagine you stumbling into a bar with fancy drinks, burly goth men with handlebar mustaches and edgy haircuts and a drunk guy singing on stage with a french jazz ensemble. It's pretty odd and the same goes for "Corpse Flower". Mike Patton's performances are ridiculously charismatic, all coupled with some nihilistic lyrics and Jean-Claude Vannier's gorgeous compositions. It's not an album for everyone to enjoy, especially with the lyrics going into some... interesting topics and the ... read more

Charli XCX has now perfected the sound she's been going for since "Vroom Vroom". Once again working with the best of PC Music, Charli and crew has managed to create one of the most foward-thinking pop albums (technically a mixtape) of the 2010's! Outstanding production, great features, bomb-ass hooks and not a single dud in the tracklist makes "Pop 2" a defining example of an artist envisioning a whole new future for pop!

Fav Tracks: Track 10, Out Of My Head, I Got It, ... read more

Charli continues to develop her new sound by working with a few of the PC Music label's greats. The production certainly doesn't disappoint, complementing Charli's pop songwriting extremely well. Her lyrics aren't anything special, but the infectious hooks make up for it. Also, the CupcakKe feature is just glorious!

Fav Tracks: Roll With Me, Lipgloss, 3AM, Dreamer, Emotional, ILY2

Least Fav Track: Babygirl

Score:
8.4
Great

Y'know what my home state of Massachusetts is missing these days besides liveliness and a budget? It's missing good popular artists. There's... Joyner Lucas and... Meghan Trainor... *sigh*, but there's absolutely nothing coming out of this state besides a few obscure artists. There was a time during the late 20th century where a bunch of bands got a huge commercial following. This included Boston, Aerosmith and Pixies. They have not aged well in modern times, but the one that held up the most ... read more

"House of Sugar" is an absolutely stunning psychedelic folk record with gorgeous production and amazing writing. The first four tracks, especially "Gretal", are some of the most emotionally powerful, heartwarming and downright best tracks of the year! The middle section tends to dip just a smidge compared to the rest of the package, but it's nothing too distracting and the songs are still pretty great.

Fav Tracks: Gretel, Hope, Southern Sky, Walk Away, In My Arms, ... read more

What was that? What's happening?!

So, say you just listened to "Boom Clap" then you came to "Vroom Vroom" and was confused as fuck but kinda dug it anyway. SOPHIE's production has always been out of this world, but combine that with Charli XCX and you get one BANGER of an EP!

Vroom Vroom: 10
Paradise: 9
Trophy: 8.5
Secret (Shh): 9.5

Score:
9.3
Outstanding

Chelsea Wolfe pursues a more stripped-back approach on "Birth of Violence". The results are still beautifully dreary, with incredible arrangements, chilling vocals and emotional writing. The first half is absolutely amazing but the second half falls way short and it lacks in truly powerful moments.

Fav Tracks: The Mother Road, Deranged for Rock & Roll, American Darkness, Erde, Be All Things, Birth of Violence

Least Fav Track: The Storm

Score:
7.5
Very Good

This is a straight-up futuristic pop BANGER! "Charli" switches back and forth from tweird to accessible to weirdly accessible. The production is outstanding here, blending the pop sounds of today with PC Music-esque bubblegum bass beats and switch-ups that will punch you in the face... tenderly. The real criticism I have with this album is that the features can outweigh Charli's solo material, Lizzo's verse on "Blame It On Your Love" feels out of place and that track as a ... read more

*Unoriginal comment showing how disappointed I am for Peggy’s new album*

Nah but seriously, I had plenty of fun with this. Now, I will say that I slightly prefer “Veteran”. But that doesn’t mean that “All My Heroes Are Cornballs” doesn’t have some of Peggy’s most engaging work yet. There’s a bigger emphasis on singing here with a lot of autotune done for satirical effect and, while said autotune can be slightly grating at points, his voice ... read more

"The Rescue" still forefronts those same post-rock cliches and Explosions In The Sky is becoming an act that I can't take seriously.

Fav Tracks: Day Five, Day Six, Day One, Day Three

Least Fav Tracks: Day Seven, Day Two

Score:
6.2
Fine

"The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place" isn't the most mind-blowing post-rock album I've ever heard, as it uses genre cliches in spades, but it's still a very, very beautiful record and is Explosions In The Sky's most standout work to date. The biggest thing that it did to me was help me cope a little bit after the loss of Daniel. The atmosphere just pulled me in enough to kind of lift my spirits up. It doesn't sound like an amazing record from the way I'm writing this, but I do really ... read more

Colin Stetson and Arcade Fire violinist Sarah Neufeld work to create a beautiful and experimental example of minimalism in modern classical music. It feels like the soundtrack to a really lonely woods area that you're walking around in, with these polished compositions being a key factor.

Fav Tracks: The Rest of Us, In the Vespers, With the Dark Hug of Time, Never Were the Way She Was, The Sun Roars Into View, Won't Be a Thing to Become

Least Fav Track: Flight

Score:
9.4
Outstanding

[My 1,000th Review!!!]

Colin Stetson makes an even more fantastic leap on "To See More Light", using his hums on the mouthpiece and the spiraling sax work to make an even creepier, if not intimate, atmosphere than ever before. The title track and "Among the Sef" are fantastic examples of this. Add to that the vocals from Justin Vernon and some jaw-dropping moments and you have one of his finest works to date, even if its predecessor felt a bit more cohesive.

Fav Tracks: To ... read more

It's catchy, but the feature feels so out of place and I still hear that "M A N I A" influence seeping into the wound that they’ve made themselves.

I'm really liking the new direction they're taking, which is something that I've never said for a Green Day release. The instrumentation is tight and, overall, this is one of the better Green Day songs in years!

The instrumentation and production sound like a mix of 00's Weezer... when they were doing it right... and "EWBAITE". It just sucks that the lyrics are still so surface-level because this album would otherwise be a return to form.

[Treasure Tuesday Ep. 5]

Oh yeah! I know this one!

It’s the one with the generic lyrics and boring trap beat.

Treasure Approval Scale:
2.5
The one with the generic lyrics and boring trap beat