Music Reviews

Yard Act – The Overload (post-rock)

This album so far has recieved a pretty polarizing reception – like it seems you either absolutely can’t stand it or think it’s the greatest lyrical achievment of the year. Me? Well I’m kind of in the middle with this – I generally LOVE the sound this album tries to go for, but honestly like half of the time I can’t even make out what is being said with the spoken-word formula it uses and it’s so much easier for me just to focus on the instrumentals, which are honestly kind of hit or miss, but at least with those I know what’s going on. Still a pretty impressive debut album, one that I unfortunately don’t really see myself coming back to all that much – most of my problems with this album boil down to personal preference though, so maybe give it a spin yourself and see if it’s more your cup of tea (get it, they’re british) – I just don’t really care.

Decent 6/10

foxtails – fawn (screamo, post-hardcore w/ jazz elements)

Damn… So this is what the fox says.

Decent 7/10

Billy Talent – Crisis Of Faith (alternative rock, punk rock kinda)

Billy Talent in 2022.

Strong 5/10

Utada Hikaru – BAD Mode (art pop, J-pop, alternative R&B)

I could honestly do without the Skrillex track, but other than that for something called BAD Mode (or as I like to call it „SOO NOT HALAL mode“) this is pretty GOOD Mode. Also Evangelion.

Light 8/10

iann dior – on to better things (pop rap)

This guy couldn’t write an intresting song if his life depended on it, like all of these song sound literally the same – the beat is the same, the generic guitars are the same, his voice is the same, EVERYTHING SOUNDS THE SAME. Also at points (by which I mean the majority of the time) this album tries to copy Machine Gun Kelly’s last album, which boggles me why anyone would even think is a good idea to do (there is even a MGK feature on one of these songs which I didn’t even notice at first, which only emphasizes my point). But unlike that album this one is at least listenable, even though it sounds like if they just took „Mood“, copied and pasted it 15 times and called it a day. I like „let you“ though, so it has that going for it.

Light 4/10

FKA twigs – CAPRISONGS (alternative R&B, glitch pop)

I mean, it has it’s moments – it’s definetly not on the same level of ambition like her LP or even some of her EP stuff, but it doesn’t need to be – it’s just a fun collection of tracks, nothing more nothing less. It’s kind of all over the place, but that gives it that raw mixtape vibe that kinda just clicks – though the interludes could have easily been cut from the album and nothing would change at all, they kinda bring the project down for me. Maybe at the end of the day I’m just mad it’s not called CAPRISUN, then it would have been a 10.

Strong 7/10

Korn – Requiem (nu metal)

So this is the first album in the „4th of February drops“ installment, because everyone wants to drop their album on this day this year it seems. Anyways what can I say about Korn that hasn’t been said before – they have been making the same album for the past decade, except this one is just a tiny bit more listenable. Still even though it’s formulaic to a point of actual numbness, it at least does the formula right. Just be glad they’re not working with Skrillex anymore (damn, that’s already the second time I mentioned Skrillex in this bunch, that’s not a good sign).

Decent 6/10

Animal Collective – Time Skiffs (psychedelic pop, neo-psychedelia)

I don’t know if this is a hot take or not, but I never really understood the hype behind Animal Collective – I like maybe 2 of their songs but I just never really got what’s all the fuss about. I just think they never really clicked with me yet and I was kinda hoping this record would change that – but unfortunately no, I still can’t say I get it. I’m sorry, but these songs just don’t do anything for me – I like some ELEMENTS of them and some IDEAS here and there sound like they might be going somewhere, but that’s all they are for me – not fleshed out elements and ideas. And honestly the songs sound good on a technical level, but they’re not super memorable nor intresting most of the time – I don’t know, maybe it’s just not for me. I still overall enjoyed the record, like the expirience of listening to it was mostly pleasant, but I just wish I left it feeling… Well I guess anything.

Strong 6/10

Saba – Few Good Things (conscious hip-hop, jazz rap)

This album is the musical embodiment of riding around with your friends on a warm summer night – I genuinely couldn’t believe it was still February after listening to it. It’s just so warm and inviting and so lyrically sharp and hard-hitting, it packs quite a punch to be honest. Also for some reason it just sounds so much like the album cover, I can’t explain why, but just go listen to it, you’ll see what I mean.

Light 8/10

Mitski – Laurel Hell (art pop, synthpop)

There obviously is still one album from this 4th of February drop of albums that I haven’t talked about yet, but you’ll have to wait for a full review on that one – and trust me, you don’t want to miss out on that. Anyways this new Mitski is pretty damn solid in my opinion, the instrumentation is lush, Mitski’s vocals are passionate, pretty much the level of quality you’d expect from her – except for „Everyone“ though, that track is like such a dud in the tracklist – it’s not like unlistenable or anything, but compared to the rest of the tracks you immidiately hear that something is off. Other than that probably the second best album to come out of the 4th of February drop, made me for some reason think of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless on tracks like „Working for the Knife“ – it’s like a more clean Kidz-Bop synthpop version of that and I do mean that as a compliment.

Light 8/10