Rapid Fire Reviews: Terminally Online Observations

While every album is talked about on the internet these days there is no denying that some get their acclaim from a more grassroots level. This trio of releases come from artists who have fervent defenders online, me included. I wanted to review all of them in full but it's been a busy year so I decided to just quickly cover them here before I'm even more late than I already am. Enjoy <3

Weatherglow EP - Weatherday & Asian Glow

I've been excited for pretty much anything Sputnik, AKA Weatherday does under any of their side projects. While a collaborative EP may not be the exact thing fans were highly anticipating post-Come In I still think it's an opportunity for some really cool music. Asian Glow is another beloved underground noisy lo-fi artist who collaborated with Parannoul last year and is now checking Weatherday off of the internet-core heroes list. Seriously though I was really excited to hear this and it pretty much lived up to my expectations. You'll notice some of that familiar noise and production style right out of the gate with crashing instrumentation that is occasionally clipping with the compression. The vocals all over this record have to fight for every inch in the mix but it sets up so many good moments when the harrowing screams just end up soaring over everything. While a lot of the influences you'd expect to hear from show up on the record I will point out what seems to be one new addition to the arsenal and that's dream pop. Where there's always been a shoegazey tone to both artists music as is so often the nature of lo-fi, on this record the anguished singing vocals often lend themselves to melodies that are more Cocteau Twins than My Bloody Valentine. Other tracks here like Center may be more familiar but they are no less exciting. The rush of piercing synths and layered vocals that make up the hook is one of the most memorable moments on the EP while also reminding me of specific moments from both artists back catalogs. While the record has a similar sonic impression I was surprised at how much these songs are able to stand out both in content and sound. If there was one problem I have with the EP it's that every track works in a very linear progression without often returning to refrains or familiar passages that gives off the impression of a marathon across these 6 tracks. While doing that for 40 minutes would be exhausting, I can pretty comfortably get on board with this EP doing it for just over 20 minutes. For a project that was allegedly made in just one night, this is a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable collection of songs. 7.5/10

PREY//IV - Alice Glass

Alice Glass is a musical figure that I've been following for about as long as I've even been consciously consuming music. She was a co-founder of industrial electronica project Crystal Castles which ended unceremoniously after her allegations of abusive sexual misconduct against fellow band member Ethan Kath. As a solo artist she released an EP years ago and has popped up on singles here and there since then, but Prey is the highly anticipated debut solo album from Alice. I was excited for the record for a number of reasons. Primarily I've always been a big fan of Alice and her music but also because in the era of hyperpop and experimental electronica being at it's most ubiquitous it felt like 2022 was a moment she could really capitalize on. Even though the single didn't necessarily blow me away as a bunch I was still anticipating good things and I think that's mostly what the record achieves. One difference that I think fans will notice from both the Crtsyal Castles catalogs and Alice's self-titled EP is that this record is a lot less dancy. There's a lot fewer club beats or very rigid dance structures and instead this is almost like an electro pop album in terms of the songs themselves. But the instrumentation, vocal effects and production is all blown up and then hit with a hammer and then lit on fire and stabbed. There is a lot going on between the margins on this album and it makes even some of the simpler songs come off as pretty dizzying. I think the most impressive thing on the record is the lyrical content which pretty consistently sees Alice being extremely vivid and vulnerable. While some of the song are characteristically edgy, occasionally too edgy for their own good, most of the record feels like genuine expressions of anguish and self-reflection. One of the complaints I had about the singles was the lack of catchy refrains but there really are plenty to be found here and even some that I didn't fall for at first got more infectious over time. I was a little surprised that some of the slower developing and more sparse songs like Everybody Else and Suffer In Peace became favorites of mine but I was surprised by quite a bit on the record with repeat listens. While I think the decision to have more less developed songs rather than fewer more fleshed out ones might have brought the record down a bit I certainly still liked way more of this than I didn't. I'm glad to see Alice operating creatively again and I think this record was worth the wait on account of the amount of time that was clearly put into assembling it. 7/10

Glitch Princess - yeule

Yeule is an electro-pop artist who has been making waves online in the past few years, as is the theme of this whole thing. They have an eccentricity and robotic flare to their artistic presentation which has drawn comparisons to artists like Arca and Poppy, and unsurprisingly has spawned a cult like following online. As with many artists like this I'm impressed with the vision of their execution, but I went into Glitch Princess wondering if the music itself could live up to that standard and if it would connect to me in a way her previous project a few years ago hadn't. Turns out the results are a little bit mixed in that department. This record is certainly experimental but I don't think that's what its at its best. The tracks here with stark atmospheres wandering electronics and extreme vocal manipulation are generally kind of low impact and never really seem to push it to the same level of yeule's contemporaries. It's on the more pop oriented songs where we really get to see yeule shine as both a vocalist capable of translating catchy refrains with a high pitch delivery, and as a conceiver of distinctive and thematically coherent pop songs. The two best songs on the record Don't Be So Hard On Your Own Beauty and Too Dead Inside are the best examples of that and it's no surprise to me at all that they've also become the albums most popular tunes. Another element of the record that has been attracting a lot of attention is the fact that the final track is an expansive 4 hour and 44 minute ambient piece. Yes I listened to this thing all the way through twice and went back to revisit numerous passages individually. I've kind of garnered a reputation as the ambient girl so this was a mountain I had to climb and honestly I like what yeule delivers. The piece goes through quite a few different phases though it never really leaves a realm of light and airy ambient music that's a mix of synthetic and occasionally more alive when vocals are deployed here and there. While I guess you could say that it gets lighter in a general sense as the composition moves on I would say that is more dependent on individual passages than and grand developments. I didn't love this record but I liked it more than the last Yeule project and I see a lot of potential in it. If either the experiments are pushed to more brash and drastic conclusions or the next record really leans into that almost ritualistic pop sensability I can see it being really good. 6.5/10