A full list of my blog posts. Use the search function to find specific reviews.
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Incredibly ‘edged’-out (for lack of a better term) guitars, a mix between the wall of sound vocals vs. the sort of Robert Plant esque higher pitch vocals for Billy Corgan and really solid rock percussion makes up the bulk of the Smashing Pumpkins sonic profile, a band that also doesn’t really make fit the bill
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King Gizzard has continued to prove to be one of, if not the most versatile band currently putting out music. Contrasting this to their most recent (and soon to be reviewed) album, you would think that they were created by totally different bands. This album is atmospheric, psychedelic rock, and it’s really fucking good. Their
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Khruangbin’s 2020 release Mordechai continues to extend their funky, smooth, jazzy, laid back, chill sound, adding some more Latin American sounds – including even an all-Spanish song in “Pelota”. Like the other Khruangbin record I reviewed here, there really isn’t too much to say. I do think that The Universe Smiles Upon You is a
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Kid A is a very electronic, synth based album that is much more melancholic than a lot of Radiohead’s other music – which is quite the feat given how often Radiohead’s music does dip into the melancholic – alongside the trope that if you are listening to Radiohead a lot, something must be wrong (all
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Another crack at Spotify’s psych rock mix was the 2013 release Floating Coffin from band I had never heard of, Thee Oh Sees. No beating around the bush here – this one was a bit uninspiring for me. There were certainly some good psych (and just general alternative rock) songs on this, however I often
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Thank you Mark for this one – Pup is a Toronto band (Canadians!) that is best described as pop-punk – they certainly have the pop punk lead singer voice nailed down perfectly, albeit with a bit of an indie rock lead singer voice flavor (well said, I know.) I am not sure why Spotify discriminates
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Believe it or not (I don’t care), I only gave this album one shot before pulling songs from it and concluding that while it would be 90% of rappers best album, it’s Kendrick’s worst. I don’t think that actually changed with this listen, but it certainly made it a lot closer than I thought. Tangentially
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Another recommendation from the ol’ Spotify algorithm, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, an Australian outfit, produce exactly the kind of music that you would expect. There isn’t a need to mince words here – this is some good psych rock music. I wouldn’t call it sonically groundbreaking by any means – but the riffs are cool, the
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Metaphorical Music is another very smooth and jazzy hip-hop & instrumental release from the Japanese DJ. This one compares to Modal Soul, which I recently reviewed, fairly 1:1; they both are very mellowed, about half instrumental tracks and half 90s/00s hip-hop songs. I do prefer the sonic profile on Modal Soul to this one –
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Haitus Kaiyote has frequented my blog, and is a band that I’ve listened to in reverse chronological order. Tawk Tomahawk, their 2013 debut, sets the sonic tone for a lot of their future releases – neo-soul via rhodes, lots of interesting and unique grooves, and often out of the box vocal structuring. This album does
365 - New Music Daily 