Music Reviews

Wow, this is a big one, isn’t it… So yeah, the new Billie Eilish, what are my thoughts on this one? Well first I’d like to say that it’s been a real journey watching Billie’s artistic progression throughout the years, her maturing as an artist and as a a person, if this albums reflects anything, it’s this, maturity. This album may not be as instantly catchy as her „WWAFAWDWG“ record two years back, but there is also much more to this one then that record, it’s not as edgy and sometimes even cringe-enducing as that album way, this one is much more calculated, she’s really come into her own as an artist on this one, she has a clear goal and she’s succeeding at reaching that goal – this album is also much more cohesive then any number of her previous efforts, there are many themes of love and different personal issues Billie expirienced throughout the years that pop out throughout this whole record.

„Getting Older“ start out the record very low-key, the production is minimal and the focus as with most Billie Eilish songs on her angelic voice – Billie here talks about her frustrations of entering adulthood, being the biggest pop start on the planet etc., getting really personal with the listener. The next song „I Didn’t Change My Number“ builds on the foundation the previous track layed out, the production is much more adventerous here, but still sort off low-key, there is just this vibe going throughout this whole record and it never really gets boring, there is a different spin on it everytime. The blaring synth breakdown towards the end of the song is also a nice touching, even though it may seem a little out of place at first, but the more you listen to this song, the more it actually makes sense. „Billie Bossa Nova“ despite what the title implies is actually a nice accoutsic number that is just so gentle and soft, I just wanna hug this song – generaly not one of the more out there tracks, but still a nice addition to the tracklist. Then comes the first single released prior this album’s release, which is „my future“, which has a really long-winded slow build-up, that I admit can get really tiring really fast sometimes when I listen to this song, but most times, the funky pay off this song has is just that worth it – seriously, the groove on that is out of this world. Speaking of groovy out there songs, here is one – „Oxytocin“ by Horny Eilish is a very sexy song to say the least, but it can be interpreted in basically two ways – one way is through the eyes of Billie’s abuser, which is obviously the less exciting way, but the other way is just Billie really feeling herself and for the sake of my enjoyment of this album, that’s how i intepret this song. The song instrumentally is just really filthy, the bass is dirty, it’s so just sensual beyond words, really dig this one. The sort of interlude-type song „GOLDWING“ tries something Billie (by that I mean mostly her brother) hasn’t really branched out into yet and that is sampling and honestly, it turned out better then I could have asked for – also this song having one of the more catchy hooks on here doesn’t hurt it either. Another single that was released before this album dropped „Lost Cause“ is like the definition of a grower – the song isn’t anything special at first, the lyrical content and the groovy bass is what carries this song, the production is just kind of empty, but as with most Billie songs, the more you listen to it, the better it gets, now it’s actually one of my favorites (also the bass tab on this one is just so fun to play). „Halley’s Comet“ is a piano ballad with really simple spacy production and it’s biggest strength is just how much it does with so little, the song is really beautiful in it’s simpleness. „Not My Responsiblity“ is a spoken word interlude of sorts, that talks about people objectifying Billie’s body for their own excitement and how they just judge a book by it’s cover and don’t bother looking what lies under the surface, just as simple as that, it gets the message across and the instrumental from this one is actually what the instrumental of the next song „OverHeated“ consists of. Now this song build on this topic even more with a more catchy formulaic song, the song itself isn’t anything we haven’t seen Billie do before, but the instrumental, dear GOD THE INSTRUMENTAL, it’s just so good, I can’t get enough of this song’s instrumental – best way to describe the sound of this song is like a magical mysterious space adventure, it’s just so weird, yet catchy and it just instantly grabs you by the ear, one of my favorite songs on here just for the instrumental alone. „Everybody Dies“ is in all honesty kind of a filler song, it could have easily been left of the album and I wouldn’t be even all that mad – there just isn’t much to say about this song, it’s kind of forgetable, some cool ideas production-wise but that’s about it. Now here is where we enter the „single area“ and no, that doesn’t translate to hot singles in your area (though I wish it did), that means there are literally 4 singles stacked right after each other, before the final closing track and boy do I have some opinions on those. The first one is „Your Power“, where my enjoyability of this song HEAVILY depends on how I’m currently feeling, because this is like a 9/10 when you’re in the right mood, but like a 4/10 when not – it requires a lot of patience and I don’t always have that, so this is an easy skip on some days. What isn’t a skip though is „NDA“, probably the single that’s doing the least numbers out of all the singles released, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s not a good song, it is in fact a great song – I’ve seen a lot of people take issue with the autone on this one and I just don’t understand why, we obviously all know that Billie can sing and if used right, autotune can be a great tool to help improve the song, here it’s clearly not to fill in the gaps of Billie’s singing, but an artistic choice. „Therefore I Am“ is the song probably sounding the closest to the WWAFAWDWG era. It’s really bassy, dark, edgy, it’s the whole Billie Eilish package. After that comes the next and final single and that is the title track „Happier Than Ever“ – now for this one, all I’m gonna say is, that this is without a doubt her best song PERIOD, if you haven’t heard this one yet PLEASE go do yourself a favor and check it out, the hype behind this one is more then justified – now for the song itself I’m honestly at a loos for words, because this is just otherwordly. Still can’t believe this is the same gal that made bad gay, like how is this real?? The song is just spectacular, the emotional weight this song holds is just so much to take in, her voice sounds so broken, the lyrcis are obviously written from a place of personal angst and anguish, the instrumental just breaks loose in the second half into absolute chaos, that just couldn’t be more fitting for what the song is trying to convey – I literally broke down in tears the first time I heard this, it’s actually just too much. Now after this emotional rollercoaster of a song we get the closing track „Male Fantasy“ and the Phoebe Bridgers influence here is almost bordering with straight up copy and pasting a Phoebe Bridgers song, though I’ll admit with a nice Billie EIlish twist on it, that only she can do. One thing I’ll give this song is that it’s an excellent choice for a closing track, really left feeling like I finnished some sort of larger than life expirience and isn’t that kind of what closing tracks are for?

Wow, just wow – this album proves many things. First and foremost, that Billie Eilish isn’t just a one hit wonder and that she is here to stay, second she can write some pretty introspective and compeling lyrics and three, that don’t underestimate title tracks, because that track has been on repeat since the day it came out. Overall, I’d say this record is a success and I honestly am at the edge of my seat to see where Billie takes her sound next.

Strong 8/10

Let’s just cut to the chase with this one, shall we – the Italian rock n roll stars Maneskin come with their first studio album „Teatro d’ira“ (thank god I don’t do audio reviews, beacuse I have genuinely no clue how to pronounce any of that) clocking at only 29 minutes, this album doesn’t mess around – it’s as direct and straight to the point as you’d expect an album like this to be. And for sure, the sound is a little generic at times, but if this album does one thing, it’s keeping the rock genre alive and well. This album alone also contributed a significant margin to the new wave of popular artist incorporating rock elements into their music and that’s honestly never a bad thing to have those in your music, it makes the music sound more lively.

Now this album only has 8 tracks, none of which are necesaarily bad, but I do believe some tracks turn out better then others. For example the opener „ZITTI E BUONI“ doesn’t mess around, instantly locking you in with it’s pounding guitars, that sound straight out of some western movie and an eargasmic chorus, that just won’t leave my head. The italian lyrics and accent throughout the majority of this album is also strangely addicting, it just sounds so good to the ears. The music is just filled with charisma and personality and I can’t get enough of it – this song is the perfect tone-setter for the rest of this album. „CORALINE“ is another banger tune, starting more low-key with some gentle guitar plucking and then the song breaks down into what I consider to be the emotional high-point of this record, the second half of this song really hits hard. Overall definetly one of the better cuts here, might actually be my favorite song of the whole album. The song „LIVIDI SUI GOMITI“ is an alright song, the guitars are nice and catchy, the rasp kind of growly vocals at times fit the song quite well and overall it keeps the theme of the album going. Then of course comes the smash hit „I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE“ which isn’t anything groundbreaking, especially lyrically is where the track suffers the most, but I’d be lying if I said the song isn’t catchy as hell, it deserves all the attention it’s been getting. Then comes probably my least favorite song on here „IN NOME DEL PADRE“, not because it’s bad, but because it just is the most forgetable one on here, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table nad just overall could have easily been left on the chopping board – also the chorus is easily the weakest of all the songs here. Now the other english song on here „FOR YOUR LOVE“ picks the album right back on it’s feet, this song honestly should get more recognition then it does, the frontman’s voice just sounds so sensual and lustful, but also broken and desperate, it’s a blend that works surprisingly well. The last two songs „LA PAURA DEL BUIO“ and „VENT’ANNI“ in my opinion go hand in hand and work together as the perfect closer for this album, both are more low-key, gentle and touching and they are just a joy to listen to, especially the latter of the two.

So there you go, that’s Teatro d’ira (still don’t know how to pronoucne that), album that honestly while being pretty generic offers much more then it initially lets out, give this thing a few listens, it’s not for everyone, but you might be surprised what you find here.

Strong 7/10

So this is kind of a new thing I’m trying here, basically how this is gonna work is I’m gonna select a few albums I feel like I wanted to give my opinions and brief thoughts out, but didn’t get the chance to make like a full blown review on, this segment also helps me focus on more important releases to give a proper and more quality review for, since I won’t have to be bothering with reviewing any of these records anymore. So here it is, the first official Album I Missed, and oh boy do we have a few of those.

Imagine Dragons – Mercury – Act 1

This new Imagine Dragons album… Well it’s not terrible (basically the biggest compliment I ever gave an Imagine Dragons project, so that’s gotta count for something). One song that stood out to me in particular was the opening song „My Life“, which is dare I say even a really good song, if we look past the really cheezy over the top vocal performance. The rest of the albums is kind of a rollercoaster in quality, but it all evens out at the end.

Light 5/10

KSI – All Over The Place

Yep, the title fits the album almost poetically. „Madness“ is a banger tho, no cap. Not bad for a youtuber album.

strong 5/10

The Gentle Men – The Evolution of Tears

Now THIS right here is what I call an youtuber album done right – Charlie and the gang pull through with some of the most exciting metal music I’ve heard all year, really brings that old school 2000’s nu-metal era style to new life. I still can’t feel my neck from headbanging so hard the first time I heard „Your Boyfriend Doesn’t Scare Me“ (also did I mention how hillarious this album is and NONE of it is cringe-enducing in the slightest?).

Light 7/10

Oliia Rodrigo – SOUR

Honestly I didn’t mind this, for sure it is predictable and yeah, it is pretty melodramatic, but for what it’s worth, this is a pretty solid break-up album, nothing more, nothing less. The lyrics are honest, broken and packed with emotion, it’s nothing revolutionary and yeah, it’s been done before, but so what, it still can be done right and I’d argue that this is one of those instances of a good break-up album. Also „good 4 u“ has been living in my head rent-free for like the last half a year or so and I ain’t even mad.

decent 6/10

The Killers – Pressure Machine

A pretty good concept album from The Killers in 2021, who would have guessed that. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by this one, it’s not the most memorable thing in the world, but as a whole cohesive expirience, this thing is a treat to the ears – the scenery is so vivid, the strings are lush and beautifully orchestrated, overall just a really up-lifting expirience, left it feeling like I was floating on a cloud.

Light 7/10

Lil Nas X – MONTERO

So originally I was gonna give this a full review, but I honestly don’t have that much to say about it – don’t get me wrong, it’s good, really good in fact, but it just kind of is what I expected it to be, a good ass pop rap album. Lil Nas X has really come into his own on this project and you just can’t help but to root for this man. Not every song here hits, but those that do, hit you like a damn truck. Also I think he might be gay lol, but maybe that’s just me.

Light 8/10

Gorillaz – Meanwhile EP

This EP sure does exist.

Light 5/10

Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Not as breath-taking as Norman F***ing Rockwell, but still one of the better Lana albums for sure. Also I’m not crying, you are.

Decent 7/10

Hobo Johnson – The Revenge of Hobo Johnson

Hobo Johnson, are you well? Are you like feeling okay? Because no person in their right mind would ever release anything like this to the public… Stop it. Get Some Help (no like for real tho, talk to your therapist or something, I’m genuinely concerned with your mental well-being after hearing this garbage).

Decent 1/10

Hobo Johnson – Hobo Johnson Alienates his Fanbase

… just no

no/10

Spelling – The Turning Wheel

Now this is more like it! This album is just magic front to back – a serious album of the year contender for me right here. It really cannot be put into words what this album does to you… But numbers may do the trick:

Strong 8/10

Bo Burnham – Inside (The Songs)

Simply breath-taking, really helps if you’ve seen the movie too, but this soundtrack works as an album on it’s own too. I only wish Tik-Tok didn’t ruin some of the songs on here for me… Still a great album nonethentless.

Decent 8/10

After what I consider to be one of the most confusing album roll-outs in recent memory (4 different concerts that took place before the release of this album, each varying in quality, also the fact he literally kept his producers locked somewhere in the basement night and day just producing this thing) and with a name like this (named of course after mr. West’s late mother), DONDA was setting up to be one of the most intresting albums in Kanye West’s carier, which is not an easy thing to do mind you, the dude literally changed the entire course of modern pop music with one of his albums, which alone makes him one of if not the most influential artists of our generation. On Ye’s last album „Jesus Is King“ he tried to embrace this more spiritual no-swearing christian character, which resulted in mixed results, the album was mostly a fluke, but if done right, this new path for Ye had shown at the very least some maturity and also some serious potential for future projects along the way. So of course, the expectation of this album here were sky high and so was my initial reaction to this album – that’s why I took my time with this review, just to kind of let the hype around this thing die down so my real opinions on this album come through and I’m honestly really glad I did so, because this album is in two words just a „beautiful mess“. It has easily some of the best song this man has EVER recorded point blank period, but at the same time, some of the biggest L’s this man has ever taken. Now nothing on this record really comes nearly as close to the level of badness like the song Drunk and Hot Girls does (only exception being Tell The Vision, which I’ll come back to later…), but still, there are some duds that are holding this record back from being the true masterpiece it was meant to be.

Let’s start with some of those misses, beacuse I kind of wanna get the bad stuff about this record out of the way, so we can focus more on the positive side of things, which is fortunately a much greater chunk of this record. Now right of the back, easily the worst track hands down no competition on this whole 27 TRACK LONG ALBUM has got to be „Tell The Vision“, which is barely a song – to this day I can’t tell you what in God’s name (pun very much intended) this track is suppossed to be, it’s this weird horrendously mixed interlude with Pop Smoke as the feature, where he literally just repears himself over and over saying „We made it“ – the song not only doesn’t sound finnished, it doesn’t sound like they even really started working on it, this is the demo of all demo’s, the song could have easily been cut from the record and actually nothing would change – honestly the only reason I unfortunately think this song is on here is just to expose Pop Smoke even more after his unfortunate passsing, which is kind of disgusting if you ask me. Alright, now that’s out of the way, the rest of the tracklist varies from good, not so good to spectacular or just really forgetable. Also technically this album has 27 songs on it, but the last 4 tracks are just second parts of already existing usually much better songs on the album, so I won’t be talking about those, with the exception of „Junya pt. 2“ which IS the superior version and I’m still left here wondering, why this isn’t the one we got on the „official“ album. Coincidently the only other song besides Tell The Vision I can really say is „bad“ is definetly the song Junya – the bass on this song is atrocious, even for someone like me, who has terrible ear for music theory stuff, it’s just mixed waay too low and it’s just really distracting and un-fitting. Playboi Carti nor Kanye can’t save the song and honestly they don’t even really try to, definetly a low point on this album. Now to some of the good stuff, I think the mixing overall throughout this record turned out to be not so shabby actually – some of the song might need a remastering somewhere into the future, but I was left mostly statisfied regarding this aspect of the record. Now to take it more track-by-track, the record opens up with the interlude song „Donda Chant“ which was a really confusing start initially, but once I learned the background to this song and what it meant (Ye’s mum’s last hearbeats before hear death), I got a new found appreciation for what the song was trying to do. It also lead smoothly into the next, first real song of the album, „Jail“. This song is a 5 minute monumental opener with no drums, only electric guitar and it somehow just works wonders – something Kanye has been known to do for a long time now, is taking something that in theory just shouldn’t work and makes that thing work and this song reflects that beautifully. The next song in line „God Breathed On This“ is much more abrasive, much more dark, but keeping it still kind of low-key, it’s an okay song, but the 2 minute dragged out musical outro was really unnecessary and honestly it kind of overstayed it’s welcome. Now the first real banger this record has to offer is „Off The Grid“ featuring Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign and sweet Jesus was I not expecting this to go as hard as it did when I first heard it – this song absolutely slaps and completely justifies it’s almost 6 minute run time. The highlight of this song is definetly the drill-style beat switch, that occures around the one minute mark, which I seriously didn’t even notice until like a minute later or so. Now after this point, the record kind of starts to loose it’s focus and starts being all over the place – „Hurricane“ featuring The Weeknd is a highligh for many, but for me personally, the song doesn’t click as much as it did with so many people – still a good song, I just don’t think it’s as crazy as everyone is making up to be, like it’s the physical proof of God’s existence. Some highlights for me also include „Believe What I Say“ which is so groovy it hurts my brain (seriously, try not to move to this beat, you either can’t or you’re a liar), „Moon“ with Kid Cudi, which never not makes me cry, „Heaven and Hell“, where Kanye really let’s himself go off, though the song structurally isn’t the greatest thing ever and „Jesus Lord“ which in it’s 9 minute long runtime really goes for that Runaway nostalgia factor and I’d be lying if it didn’t succeed. Now here I wanna take a quick moment to talk about what I consider to be not only the best song on the album, but also one of Kanye’s best songs in general, and that is the song „Come To Life“ – now when I first heard this I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, this song is actual magic in audio form, it’s enough to make a full grown man break down and cry. Kanye pours his heart out on this track and it just cuts so deep, the piano switch in the second part, the beautiful melodies, Kanye’s angelic singing, everything in this song just comes together to create something magical, one triumphant expirience, I’m telling you people this is what plays when you enter heaven after you die. It’s just really touching, I have nothing more to add, it’s stunning. Some other stand out tracks include „Remote Control“ just for that ridiculous Globglobgabgalab sample (can’t believe this sentense I just wrote is real) and „Pure Souls“ featuring Roddy Rich and Roddy absolutely carries this song. The closer „No Child Left Behind“ has one of the most gorgeous and infectious melodies of this whole abum, it’s beautiful lush production compliments the simple yet effective lyricism and comes togehter to form one really strong and moving closer that wraps up the whole record pretty nicely.

So ther you have it, the long-anticipated DONDA. The question that everyone’s been asking recently, was it worth the wait? And to that I say yes, for the most part it lived up to the set expectation (not that it realistically completely could). I guess if there is one thing this record proves, it’s that Kanye has still very much got it, even in his new christian-friendly form and he can still make good life-changing songs with it.

Strong 7/10

After 2019’s IGOR, which still stands as my favorite Tyler, the Creator album and personally one of my favorite concept albums any artist ever, my expectation for this new album over here were sky high. Now were my expectations surpassed? In a sense yes – Call Me If You Get Lost is a beautiful amulgamation of all the past Tyler, the Creator releases into one gorgeous abrasive mess.

There is something for everyone on this album, if you’re either talking about the raging bangers that are „LUMBERJACK“ and „JUGGERNAUT“, more introspective cuts such as „WILLSHIRE“ and „MASSA“ or just good vibes that the songs „WUSYANAME“ and „SWEET/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE“ provide. And somehow, Tyler and his right hand on this album DJ Drama manage to make sense out of all this into one cohesive experience. To kind of take it track by track here the album opens up with the dreamy „SIR BAUDELAIRE“, which honestly feels like a damn sunrise – it sets the tone for the rest of the album and just works excelent as an opener. It also transitions smoothly into the next track „CORSO“, which is one of my favorite bangers on here, it’s got a little bit of everything, heavy trademark Tyler, the Creator bass, with blissful keys and memorable melodies, the track throws you into the album head-on. The next song „LEMONHEAD“ featuring 42 Dugg I have mixed feeling on – the song in it’s core is great, the tune is there, it’s abrasive as hell, feels like a killing machine robot marching towards me, also the tuba slaps. This track’s biggest weakness though has to be the feature, 42 Dugg sounds like ass on here, I’m sorry, he just does. The outro here is nice though an fades smoothly into „WUSYANAME“ and wow, this track is honestly just pure bliss, this is music for my ears. Tyler does great here and I was honestly a bit sceptical about Youngboy NBA coming on here but shoot me in the head if this isn’t his best performance on any song PERIOD. The first teaser track to this record „LUMBERJACK“ once again revives the streak of bangers on this album and so far it’s honestly 3 to 3. The song is really good, it sounds a little demo-ish, but that is clearly what Tyler and the gang were going for, so it works as an atristic choice. The following track „HOT WIND BLOWS“ is another amazing track, but I gotta say, the real highlight of this song is the Lil Wayne feature, the dude hasn’t sounded this confident and in his zone in a long time, really shows how Tyler bring the best out of each and every one of his features. „MASSA“, the next song, is one of the many songs on here that baits the listener into thinking it’s gonna be one thing, but then just out of nowhere a beat switch comes in and is something completely different – this and later on in the tracklist the song „JUGGERNAUT“ are the prime examples of this. The song sees Tyler going more personal about his life, really going in at like the last minute of the song, where Tyler pours his heart out about just about everything that’s been bothering him in the past few years. Now the song „RUNITUP“ is by no means a bad song, just a little boring for my taste – I personally see it as more of a transition point in the album, essentially splitting the album into two halves. Right after this comes the song „MANIFESTO“ and oh my god, what a banger this track is, without a competition one of the best beats Tyler has every been on, really makes me wish he would do more often experimental stuff like this. The sample is top-notch, the rapping is on point, overall just one of the best songs on the album, everything just clicks for me with this one. Now the song after this „SWEET/I THOUGH YOU WANTED TO DANCE“ is a really intresting one ranging at almost 10 raw minutes and somehow never gets boring throughout – the song is a blissful two-parter, first half feeling like an IGOR leftover and the second half going into more Reggae style, both halves complimenting each other quite well, it’s just heaven to the ears, especially the latter half. Now I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes, when I don’t feel like listening to the whole 10 minutes I tend to skip this song the most, not because it’s bad or anything, but just beacuse it can be very long-winded and kind of ruin the momentum of the album for me. What then follows is one interlude track „MOMMA TALK“, where, you guest it, Tyler’s momma gives a few words, then comes the track „RISE!“ which has a really beautiful chorus and a nice performance from Tyler, but that’s really about it and then another interlude in the form of „BLESSED“, where Tyler talks about how people don’t appriciate what they have. Now after this exhausting 4 songs run comes the song „JUGGERNAUT“ and holy mother of god, somebody call the fire department, beacuse this song is absolutely fire. Like seriously, Tyler, the Creator on a song with Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell Williams, what’s not to like? The feature list on this one honestly speaks for itself, they all do extraordinarily well on the song and it’s just all and all a fantastic display of talent. The second to last track „WILLSHIRE“ sees Tyler going in a Kendrick Lamar Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst type fashion and it wokrs wonders. My biggest complaint about this song is that it just has this weirdly mixed drum in the right ear channel when listening to the song on headphones, not sure what’s up with that, but besides that, the song is really impressive. Last but not least the closer „SAFARI“ ties the whole travelling theme of the album together in a somewhat satisfactory way, but the song on it’s own isn’t anything ground-breaking, it does what it’s supposed to do.

One major criticism that I guess I have with this album is that it doesn’t feel nearly as cohesive as IGOR or Flower Boy did – it’s kind of a big mess, but nonetheless a beautiful one at that. Still a huge accomplishment for Tyler and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Light 9/10

I’m just gonna be honest here, I didn’t finish the album all the way through in one sitting, beacuse my ears literally just physically couldn’t do it… I had to take mind you MULTIPLE pauses to crawl through this laughably bad expirience of an album. Like this is the reason why I stopped listening to the radio, this album alone is the reason why people trash on modern pop music and it is as horrible as those people make it up to be, if not worse – this is hands down the most generic, bland, soulless piece of music I’ve quite possibly ever heard. Now before you say it, the album as a whole is not as bad as the war crime of a song that is „Dance Monkey“, the song that somehow managed to popularize Tones and I, but still, in all honesty, by far the biggest sin this album commits… It’s those damn vocals. Like OH MY GOD how do people listen to these and just not want to take out their ear drums? The vocals are beyond trash and no music surrounding them could save it whatsoever, they are quite literally unlistenable. Also doesn’t help the fact that the giant majority of the songs here are forgetable as hell, which can also be interpreted as a saving grace, but what I’m saying is that it’s not even „so bad it’s good“, no, trust me, I wish that was the case here, these songs make Corey Feldman’s music sound tolerable. Honestly, do yourself a favor and just don’t listen to this, save your ear drums for something more enjoyable (which is quite literally anything if I’m being honest).

There are no favorite tracks, no redeeming qualities, no saving graces to this – this album is audio torture in it’s finest. Like this is the ultimate torture method, I wouldn’t be surprised if countries were using this to torture their hostages, it should actually just be illegal.

Decent 0/10

Alright, so, right off the back, this guy was always really hit or miss with me and it will probably always remain this way – some of the teasers for this project however get me very intruiged in what was bbno$ up to this time, especially with the gorgeous single „Help Herself“ which still remains to be one of my favorite singles this year periodt. Still though, it’s clear that bbno$ is still in the phase of experimentation and is still trying what sound fits him the most, but I gotta say, he really hit the nail on the head this time. This 5-track EP has it’s shortcomings but when it really comes to it, this thing is just all killer no filler – front to back just 13 minutes of pure fun in musical form. The opener „sorry“ is one of those songs that may not grab your attention at first listen, but once it clicks, it just fricking clicks – the rush of dopamine I get from this song everytime I hear it is just unbelievable. The production is immaculate, the rapping is on point, for all my money (pun so much intended) it just works. The following title track „my oh my“ takes a much more mellow approach, it’s much more calm and tame in comparison, however the tune is certainly there, it’s still catchy as hell and overall keeps the momuntem going fairly enough to where it’s not out of place but still manages to smoothen things up, which works perfectly for the next cut, the remix of „help herself“ with none other then Benee and the chemistry here is unmatched, it goes without saying that Benee kills her verse here and her vocal contributions compliment the song quite well. Now the fourth track here is also probably the most underwhelming of the bunch – „bad to the bone“ is not a bad song as the title may suggested, it’s just really underwritten compared to the rest of these cuts – the beat switch is cool though and I like some of the melodies here, it just that the core melody isn’t enoug hto carry the song. Now last but not least we have the closer „help herself“ which I just can’t get enough of – this song is an aboslute joy to listen to. Bbno$’s vocals sound just so defeated and broken, I adore the melody here and the song just gets better the more you listen to it – this more indie approach is really what Bbno$ shines at the most.

Now while this little project does contain some fatal flaws, biggest one being that there is just zero ambition whatsoever, it still is a fulfilling and statysfying listen, really hyped for the whole studio album now.

Strong 6/10

Alright alright, this one is a quickie…

So, Wilbur joined a band, huh? The important question we’re all asking though is – is the music any good? And I can happily report to you that yes – for the most part anyway. There are some pretty major flaws but other then that, I’m just impressed by the sheer musicalship of this album – it’s just a bunch of dudes being dudes and it works like a goddamn charm.

Now there are just four song on this four song EP (who would have guessed?), which don’t really varry in quality, they are all relatively well made indie rock song with one thing holding all of them back – the mixing. The mixing on this album is very… Ammateurish to say the least. Some could argue that the rough around the edges mix benefits the raw sound of the album, but I just don’t feel like that’s the case – the ideas are still present there though, I just think that with some better production and more of a vocal presence from Wilbur, this thing could go from good to outstanding. The opener „Taunt“ is probably my favorite song on here, really cool Arctic Monkeys inspired guitar work, with horns that just add so much to the mix, it sounds so much richer and so much more sweet to the ears. The follow-up „One Day“ is much more poppier in comparison, the drum work on this song is something else truly and honestly. I like the catchiness of it, it’s just a really fun song, the tune is certainly there. The second to last song „Sex Sells“ lives rent-free in my head and I’m not even mad about it – being the longest song on here it manages to keep my attention all the way through, the chorus is the main selling point here. Now the closer „Cause for Concern“ is nothing special but it does it’s jov right, closes the whole thing off fairly well – once again I really like the trumpet here, it just adds so much.

So yeah, if this project shows anything for this up and coming band is mostly potential – with some proper mixing and once Wilbur gets his vocals more worked up, this can be the start of something truly special.

Decent 6/10

Uhhhh, where do I even begin with this… This is a bigger disapointment the my non-existent son.

SO, after the absolute mind-shatter that was „Ok Human“ the band released earlier this year I had no reason not to be hyped for this thing – all the singles were very fun and very ligh-hearted, with some typical weezerisms. But Jesus H. Christ, this thing is so front-loaded it hurts – the quality after the fifth track just drops substantially, it’s almost like the band completely stopped trying after that point and are trying their very best to save it last minute with some hot guitar solos that just becomes super predictable and migraine-enducing after like the fifth time the band does that. Now taking this track by track is gonna be seperated in two segments – me being an absolute weezer stan and me being an absolute weezer hater. So let’s get the less fun one out of the way – the track „Hero“ is a great powerhouse of a track with some really heartfelt lyrics coming from River with power rock riffs and an explosive chorus, I seriously adore this track. „All the Good Ones“ is much more tamer in comparison, still in a similar vain – wasn’t crazy about it at first, but it grew on me a ton after repeated listens, the harmonizing on the chorus is one of the saving grazes here. „The End of Game“ sees the band doing an AC/DC worship with some pretty succesful results if I do say so myself – just the introductory tap solo is aboslutely mind-blowing. Really old-school Weezer vibes on the chorus. „I Need Some of That“ is nothing ground-breaking, but the chorus is soo damn catchy it should be ilegal, one of my favorites just for that sole reason. Now the last tolerable song on here is „Beginning of the End“, it really goes down-hill from here, which has a much more grungier approach and some insane musical passages in the second half. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move to the awfulness – „Blue Dream“ is literally just a demo version of Ozzy Ozbourne’s and that’s not even a stretch, it’s literally just that, an objectively worse version of the song, this song is begging to be skipped everytime it comes on. „1 More Hit“ is… God, where do I even begin with this song – I get the sentiment of it, I get the message it’s trying to communicate and I like some of the riffs on the back end of it, but Jesus if the lyrics to this aren’t just unironically like some of the worst of the year, I get in tears everytime I have to crawl through this song though. „Sheila Can Do It“ is indeed a song, that very much does exist – that’s really about it, I actually just have nothing to say to this song, it’s just filler filler and more filler. Same story goes for „She Needs Me“, this thing is just so boring it hurts, so generic, unintresting and pointless through and through. Finally the song „Precious Metal Girl“ is um… Look, all I’m gonna say is just that I have heard better love songs from this band before, this ain’t it chief.

So there you have it, this thing is kind of a disapointment on all levels – I really wanted this to slap, but just some things are not meant to be… This just should have been good, I’m really tired after this.

Strong 4/10

So here it is, after a tremendous ammount of waiting we finally arrive at the new Twenty One Pilots a highly anticipated follow-up to their critically aclaimed magnum opus „Trench“ – on Trench the group proved that they were more then your average pop music duo, experimenting with variety of sounds and styles, with very statisfying results, yet they still managed to keep their signature sound through all of it. Now here we are, Scaled and Icy, it’s fresh, exciting and most important of all, super disapointing – here is why.

So breaking this track by track we have quite a lot to unpack here and let me tell you, this thing is like the definition of a mixbag – the record starts with the low-key charming Beatles inspired ballad „Good Day“ which is an okay mood-setter. Off the back it’s very piano-driven, very tame with some occasionally cheezy but otherwise introspective lyrics talking about a hypothethical scenario, where Tyler looses everything in his life, from his wife and children to his music career, just all gone – the cheery sound compliments the depressing lyric quite well actually. The follow-up „Choker“ aslo the second single released prior to this thing is the first red flag that got me a bit worried going into this album – the souund clearly takes inspiration from their Vessel roots, the synths are kind of cute and the weirly mixed drums actually grew on me a bit, but I just can’t get past the chorus on this thing and ESPECIALLY the final rap verse at the last leg, that really makes me physically cringe, it really gets on my nerves. Now the first single „Shy Away“ is actually one of the best if not THE best song on the album – the clever synth-driven beat with the sharp drumming and the kind of 80’s inspired sound really works in the song’s favour. Now so far the album is okay, but just suffers from one critical flaw, which is how poppy it sounds – this album just takes NO risks whatsoever and rather then an evolution from Trench it feels like some cheap radio-friendly knockoff of that album. This also carries to the next song „The Outside“, which I found insultingly boring at first, but if I’m being completely honest, it grew on me a little – the rapping here is also substantionally better compared to like let’s say Choker – it’s justt kind of a funky vibe. Which is also something that can be said about the next song „Saturday“, the instrumentation is really what saves this one, beacuse the chorus is legitemately horrible. I also really like the pre-chorus on this one, it sounds really nice to the ears. It’s not bad, but neither is ait all that good, it’s just kind of there, whatever. „Never Take It“ is like Choker part two, with the weird mixing and more sellout sounds, like the handclaps. There are SOME cool ides but just burried under this awful mix and commercial sound that just starts to get a bit tiring by this point in the album. „Malberry street“ is one of those songs that you just completely forget every note from once the song ends, I can’t recall anything from this, all I know is that it sounds exactly like it’s title – make of that whatever you want. „Formidable“ more like FORGETABLE amirite? No but to be honest, this song is one of the more better sounding of this whole thing, it’s just kind of a charming guitar ballad with a nice laid-back summer vibe and some actually pretty cool guitar passages, but as everything so far in the second half of this album, it just gets stale after a while. „Bounce Man“ is literally so horrible I can’t even begin to tell you why – first of all the awful ukulele intro gives me severe PTSD and it somehow actually gets worse from there – the song is just a fricking mess, that’s what it is. This is three minuts of my time I’m never getting back, oh my lord… Anyways the band kinda saved the best for last with the both barely tolerable „No Chances“ and „Redecorate“ which the former of the two makes me so damn mad, because there is just so much potential to this song and yet it wastes almost every single bit of it – it’s just all over the place, when it should have been the biggest banger in the world. The closer is the more statisfying of the two with some legitemately beautiful guitar plucks that almost make up for some of the weirdly mixed backing vocals – I gotta say though, this song really is a grower and quite a nice finnish to this album.

This thing really is a front-loaded snooze fest with some cool ideas saved for last, but that doesn’t excuse the painfully average part in the middle. Also the mixing throughout the whole album is just so… Cheap and skeletal, I just don’t get it, what happened Tyler? It’s still istenable though, I’m not mad at this, just very disapointed.

Light 5/10