Music Reviews

Liturgy – 93696

Starting off on a strong note we have an album I didn’t get the chance to mention in my last „Albums I Missed“ installment and that is none other than Liturgy’s 93696 and if I had the patience to do so this album would make for like 3 full-blown reviews, however I am simply just super lazy so this will have to do – like to be fair not even 3 full reviews would do this thing enough justice, this album just absolutely steals the show on all fronts. In about 80 or so minutes this project delivers an absolute avalenche of sounds and ideas that really elevate it above your average black metal album. All of the „Angel of…“ interlude tracks are really nice and make the whole thing feel more conceptual and complete, but the core in typical Liturgy fashion 10-minute or so long songs are obviously the heart of this album. I mean just listen to the title track, that song just couldn’t be made by an actual living human. And the shorter tracks go unreasonably hard too, like I still have a little bit of a bias towards Liturgy’s last project „H.A.Q.Q.“, but even I have to say that this is overall just a more ambitious and a more complete body of work. I mean honestly, besides a few nitpicks here and there this thing is almost perfect who am I even kidding.

Decent 9/10

Lovejoy – Wake Up & It’s Over

It’s kinda impressive how this band went from a sort of guilty pleasure of mine to now actually releasing some unironically great music – like the opening track „Portrait of a Blank State“ is just straight up their best song and it’s honestly kinda funny how it’s not even close. The rest of the project is fine too, I really enjoy the single „Call Me What You Like“ and some of the other songs too but realistically nothing compares to that first track, like that song gets stuck in my head at least 5 times a day now. So yeah, definetly their best effort so far overall.

Decent 7/10

Depeche Mode – Memento Mori

This is the best Depeche Mode has sounded since the 90s and I will die on that hill.

Light 8/10

The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein

This album alone cured my insomnia. I mean seriously, how do you have SUFJAN STEVENS, PHOEBE BRIDGERS and FRICKING TAYLOR SWIFT all on the same album and make it this long-winded and unintresting. Like okay, the Sufjan Stevens song isn’t all bad when you first put it on but the more this album goes on you realise that that’s literally the best this album has to offer. Overall just an absolute snooze fest and a complete disapointment, I seriously don’t remember much of anything from this.

Strong 3/10

Waterparks – INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

It’s like a combination of some new Bring Me The Horizon songs, Hobo Johnson and One Direction… Make of that what you will. Anyways with this being my introduction to the band I have to say I’m very unsure how to feel about this – like some of the ideas are really cool but fall completely on their face in execution, some songs are just catchy enough for me to overlook that and some are just… Yeah. Like from what I’ve caught here and there the lyrical themes are actually really cool at points, talking mostly about religious trauma, manipulative relationships and so on, but after the first two actually kinda intresting sounding songs (even though maybe a bit for the wrong reasons) the sound of this album just boils down to really generic pop punk-ish (emphasis on the pop) riffs and hand clap beats. So yeah, I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this indecisive about a project, like I said the lyrical themes are actually really intresting, but the sound of this project just isn’t for me for the most part.

Light 4/10

Metallica – 72 Seasons

I mean sure, but do the songs REALLY have to be 6 minutes long when they are literally just the same unintresting riff repeating over and over again? Like the only thing saving songs like this (which unfortunately make up a decent chunk of this album) are the solos which are actually up to old Metallica standarts, but besides that the only songs that are actually intresting all the way through are the title track and the last two closing tracks and honestly even those aren’t THAT crazy. At least it’s not St. Anger all over again… This one just gets kinda boring and repetetive after a while.

Decent 5/10

boygenius – the record

The boy really is genius huh.

Decent 8/10

Ed Sheeran – – (Subtract)

The fact that I enjoy this about the same as the new Metallica and waay more than the new The National is something I think about daily, but yeah, this new Ed Sheeran honestly ain’t half bad – like the songwriting is really on point for the most part, the instrumentals sound clean and really natural and not just overblown, like is this even really an Ed Sheeran project? And sure, the songs still are really generic and kinda bleak but there is legitimate soul put behind them this time and even though I probably won’t be returning to this in the near future I still didn’t absolutely hate my listening experience.

Decent 5/10

Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall

After loosing a key member with the band’s former lead singer Isaac Wood the band had to regain their footing and I can safely say that I believe that they achieved just that – this live album is full of new unheard songs that all sound absolutely amazing. The music is lively and colorful and all the new vocalists are a nice change of pace without the band loosing their identity. Songs like the in-your-face opener „Up Song“, the beautiful and energetic „Laughing Song“ and obviously the highly praised 9-minute long „Turbines/Pigs“ all prove that the band is still capable of creating insanely powerful and moving pieces of music. Overall just a really great project as is basically expected from the band at this point.

Strong 8/10

Foo Fighters – But Here We Are

…ouch

Strong 7/10

A match made in heaven.

Yeah so this was kinda insane for me – Danny Brown historically is reponsible for a couple of my absolute favorite albums of all time (especially „Atrocity Exhibition“ which is basically a perfect record for me) and JPEGMAFIA slowely but surely also became one of my favorite MCs to come out of the last decade – what really sold me on him was his 2021 „LP!“ album, that one seriously is just out of this world. So when I heard that these two absolute powerhouses were collabing I was absolutely ecstatic and the singles only submitted this hype further.

However I would just like to get my biggest problem with this album straight out of the way and that is how much of actual contribution to this project is split between the two of them, because at the end of the day this is essentially just a JPEGMAFIA record with a Danny Brown feature on every track. I don’t think a single song on this project was produced by Danny at all – which is a shame since I this man’s beats are some of the strangest most out there and most hypnotic I’ve ever heard. Not to devalue JPEGMAFIA’s production, on the contrary if he excells in anything it’s definetly his production style which is like nobody else’s – but I really think Danny’s production would have only exceeded my liking of this record. Well it is what it is, either way let’s dissect this one a little bit, shall we?

The album opens up with energetic and in your face „Lean Beef Patty“ which features really heavy synths that feel like you’re getting beaten up by the music and I mean that in the most flattering way. The different random transitions and samples are exactly what you would expect from a JPEGMAFIA produced song, it feels very chaotic and out there and it serves as one hell of an opener. My only real gripe with this song is just that Danny is mixed rather… Weird? A little quiet? I don’t know but it doesn’t feel as natural as when JPEGMAFIA is on the beat which is a shame because his verse ain’t bad either but whatever, what can you do, it’s stil a banger regardless. Speaking of bangers the next song „Steppa Pig“ has a really similar vibe to the first song however Danny’s voice is mixed just miles better then it was on the previous one. Plus the longer runtime of this one makes it a much more impactful experience – the production is really glitched and all over the place and you are just never bored. I especially enjoy everytime the main synths hit, JPEGMAFIA is just an absolute beast with the synths on this album. The constant switching up of the instrumentals is really ADHD-inducing but it sounds amazing so who cares. It really feels like 3 different songs mixed into one. Anyways after that is the title track „SCARING THE HOES“ which is like the definition of something that REALLY shouldn’t work on paper but it somehow just does – the clapping beat mixed with what I’m assuming is like a cello of sorts, I mean just reading this without hearing the song you have to say that just doesn’t mash together and yet JPEG once again manages to somehow pull it off. He pulls it off so well in fact that this remains as one of my favorites on the album – I just can’t get enough of how different it sounds. And man when the actual drums and then the bass kick in, it just transports you onto another plane of existence. It’s just so goofy yet it goes so hard, words can’t do the mix on this justice, you just have to hear it for yourself. Next up is the song „Garbage Pale Kids“ which features some realy crazy sampling and a really clunky beat, I honestly wasn’t really feeling this one on my first listen but I’ve grown to appreciate it a bit more. It’s once again very different in a very different way than the other songs are different and not every experiment on this album is as effective to me as others are, however they are all still very well produced and realised so. Also the electric guitar at the end of the song is really what makes this one click for me, like it just comes completely out of nowhere but it wraps up the song really nicely. After this we have another really sample-heavy song with „Fenatyl Tester“ and this one feels especially mysterious. I enjoy the sampling on this one waaaay more, the sampled female voice just sounds absolutely heavenly and Danny Brown goes completely crazy over it. This one is so good that even the hoes have to like it, enough said. Next up is the song „Burfict!“ and this one is THE hype song of this album. The trumpets are probably the best thing that’s touched my ears the whole year and even though the beat isn’t maybe as crazy and out there as some of the others on this album, it’s definetly the hardest and the most infectious. My only problem with this song is just how short it is, this one really could have profited more from a longer runtime. After that we have the double song „Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters“, the first one featuring only Danny Brown and even though I’m not the biggest fan of the beat on this first part and honestly the whole song, Danny really hold his own and carries his part so heavily to the point where it frankly makes up for it. JPEG’s part isn’t bad either, just kinda forgetable, I think my favortie part of the song production-wise is more the really cool transition between the two beats more than the beats themselves. However in terms of beats the next song „Orange Juice Jones“ more than makes up for it which correct me if I’m wrong but is that a fricking Michael Jackson sample I’m hearing? Well either way it sounds out of this world and even though the mix is a bit muddy here, it’s still one of the best beats on the entire album. Danny’s verse is also really good here. Following that we have the track „Kingdom Hearts Key“ another absolute sampling giant – I don’t know the origin of the sample here but it’s probably one of the best on the album (once again). I know this has to be a little tiring hearing this about quite literally every other song on this album, but it really is like that. This song especially honestly, the more I think about it, this beat is probably the most smoothest, most clean and most angelic on the entire project, it doesn’t even feel real. After that is the song „God Loves You“ which features some heavy gospell samples that just go super hard, like this song alone puts basically all Kanye’s gospell songs to shame. I really like the drums on this one aswell, they sounds super crisp and go surprisingly well with the gospell elements. After that we have the short almost interlude-like „Run The Jewels“ which start REALLY promising like the trumpet is super clean and sounds fantastic, however the song then transitions into this spacey almost 80s like beat and it’s over before it can even start – this is definetly the most confusing song on the album, even after hearing this album like a million times over I still can’t give my final verdict on this one. I mean I guess I’m glad it’s on the album you know but not much would honestly change without it, it doesn’t ruin the album but it doesn’t really bring anything to it that much either, it just sort of exists, it has some elements I like but that’s about it. The song „Jack Harlow Combo Meal“ starts of kind like a hotel-lobby-music-interlude-thing before the song just sort of comes and goes into like a million different directions and doesn’t stay at one idea for more than like 5 seconds and as a result this one really feels kinda empty by the time the song ends. „HOE (Heaven on Earth)“ honestly also sort of exists? Like I like the song it has some really cool elements to it, the gospell snippets are really nice, but the beat feels sort of weak to me compared to the earlier songs even though the transition at the end is kinda nice and it makes sense considering this is the second to last song on the record, you kinda want things to calm down a bit before the finnishing track. I don’t know, the final leg of this album just isn’t AS exciting to me as the earlier songs are. Fortunately the album at least finnishes on a strong note with „Where Ya Get Your Coke From?“ which feels like the perfect closer for this album – there is a constant shift between a simple beat consisting of literally just two sticks smashing against each other and an absolute explosion of noise and color, it sounds almost Death Grips-like and I find the contrast between the two very fitting for this album.

So yeah, as to be expected with two artisits like this collaborating, this turned out pretty great. There are some weird mixes here and there I’m not crazy about, I kinda wish Danny Brown had a bit more presence on this album and yeah, the final couple of songs feel almost improvised to me at points, but those are all just small nitpicks that ultimately don’t lower my enjoyment of this album as a whole. A really spectacular record for both artists that shows great potential for future releases between the two of them (if we’re lucky).

-favorite tracks: Lean Beef Patty, Steppa Pig, SCARING THE HOES, Garbage Pale Kids, Fenatyl Tester, Burfict!, Orange Juice Jones, Kingdom Hearts Key, God Loves You, parts of Jack Harlow Combo Meal, parts of Where Ya Get Your Coke From?

-least favorite tracks: Run The Jewels, first leg of HOE (Heaven on Earth), parts of Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters

Light 9/10