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DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS - Bad Bunny: Review

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Bad Bunny is one of the singular biggest stars in all of music and when he drops, a substantial portion of the world pays attention. That became the case more than ever before in 2022 when his album Un Verano Sin Ti  took the world by storm and also won over critics with some of his most compelling and beloved songs to date. That was less the case with last year's nadie sabe  a record that I along with most fans and critics felt was a bit of a letdown as a follow-up. But now right at the dawn of 2025 Bad Bunny is back, with what very well could be his best crop of tracks to date.  If you're surprised to hear me say that it's probably because I didn't love the album's lead single El Club  last year. The track is all about Bad Bunny being in the club but still stuck thinking about whatever his ex is doing. My biggest problem is that neither of its two distinct instrumental styles really do much for me and the dime switch it makes between them definitely needed another...
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Perverts - Ethel Cain: Review

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Ethel Cain is a singer-songwriter who broke through a few years ago on the back of Preacher's Daughter,  her lengthy debut album. The record trafficked in a Southern Gothic style that often reached harrowing climaxes and featured lyrical content darker than many of her contemporaries, yet Cain managed to become a breakout star on the back of the record regardless. Now 3 years later she's back with a sophomore album that seems deliberately designed to leave much of that audience behind. Trading out her more conventional styles of songwriting and production form a grueling droning 90-minute follow-up that will put anyone's commitment to her style to the test.  The first taste of the controversy that would eventually befall this record came on its lead single "Punish." I liked the song, though I wasn't head over heels for its format as a long, plodding durge with dreary vocals singing creaky refrains. It's better within the context of the album where the song...
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Rock Finale with Elias Ronnenfelt, Japandroids, Poppy, The Cure, and Touche Amore

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We're reaching that point at the end of the year where I'm grasping at any possible straw to put together projects I wanna cover before 2024 is out. This time we're taking the most meaningless of genre defiers, rock, and basing it around that to review 5 very different-sounding albums that I meant to cover earlier in the year, enjoy. <3 Heavy Glory  - Elias Ronnenfelt Iceage was one of the most innovative and electric post-punk bands of the 2010s and while their 2020 record Seek Shelter  struck a chord with me, it didn't quite seem to make the same amount of noise as some of its predecessors. Regardless, their lead singer Elias Ronnenfelt has a pretty distinct voice and vocal style, which had me pretty interested in the direction he would take his debut solo album. That was confounded by a crop of singles I'm pretty fond of, highlighted by the most Iceage-sounding of the bunch, "Worm Grew A Spine." I've also grown more fond of the folksier Dylan-esq...
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Mahashmashana - Father John Misty: Review

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Father John Misty is a name as synonymous with the last 10 years of indie music as anyone. From this acclaimed collection of love songs I Love You, Honeybear  to his politically conscious opus Pure Comedy  he's been a surprisingly ambitious, though occasionally divisive musician. A few years ago he released Chloe And The Next 20th Century  whose themes included a pop culture reference-heavy take on old Hollywood sounds. Thought I liked the record it was his least universally acclaimed in a while. Mahashamashana  hasn't been met with the same fate, at least among his core fanbase. With single after single lauded by listeners and critics alike, this quickly became one of my most anticipated albums of the year.  Let's start with those singles because they're an unreasonably great bunch. "I Guess TIme Just Makes Fools Of Us All" kicked things off as a sauntering 8-minute jam with a vibrant brass section and one of the slickest grooves I've heard all year. It t...
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GNX - Kendrick Lamar: Review

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  Kendrick Lamar is a rapper who really needs no introduction. After serving up some of the most acclaimed albums of the entire 2010s like To Pimp A Butterfly  and Good Kid m.A.A.d   City , he took a break for the last few years of the decade and the COVID pandemic. But since then he's returned in a massive way. It began with a series of acclaimed collaborations with his cousin Baby Keem, the much-discussed "The Heart Part V" became the table setter for one of the most discoursed-about albums of the 2020s so far, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers . And Kendrick spent much of this year embroiled in a back and forth rap beef with Drake, one he's widely seen as having won with his hit song "Not Like Us."  And that brings us to GNX , a surprise album that arrived to the surprise of all Kendrick's fans, and allegedly his label as well, on a Friday morning in late November. At 12 tracks spanning 45 minutes the album isn't exactly slim, but it's his lea...
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Access All Areas - FLO: Review

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Review by Lavender: FLO are an R&B trio that have been impressing me for a few years now with early EPs and singles that showed off their great chemistry and harmonizing, on top of a hilarious knack for crafting songs about love and sex with memorable points of view. With some more strong singles added in the lead-up to their debut album, I was hoping that Access All Areas  would show off the best of the group's potential. And despite the occasional slip here and there, that's mostly what it does.  The record is loosely split into two halves with the first being both more romantic and far hornier. It gets off to a killer start out of the gate with two strong singles in the first three tracks. "AAA" is a throwback R&B/pop jam with the trio's voices wonderfully weaving in and out of each other on a fantastic hook. "Walk Like This" didn't hit me quite as immediately when I first heard it earlier this year but it's grown on me quite a bit sin...
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EP Round-Up: The Garden, Flying Lotus & Frost Children/Haru Nemuri

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2024 is wrapping up and as I start working on year-end content we need to do a few quick round-ups to make sure we're prepared. I've reviewed a few dozen EPs so far this year and I plan on counting down the 10 best in a few weeks. But first, we need to take a look at a few projects with a very strong chance of landing somewhere on the list. Let's do it. Six Desperate Ballads  EP - The Garden After being pretty mixed on California weirdo-punk duo The Garden for a while, I was quite fond of their last record. Combined with some solid entries into their solo projects and the ever-expanding Garden-adjacent universe and I had no reason to think this EP wouldn't be a riot. Even as I was a little mixed on the lead single "Filthy Rabbit Hole" I've warmed up on it especially with how propulsive of a start it is for this EP. I also loved the other single, the short but incredibly memorable "Ballad" which serves as the EPs wonderful closer.  In between ther...
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