By Jackson Stein, Contributor [Def Jam / GOOD; 2019] Rating: 4/10 Key Tracks: “Selah”, “God Is”, “Use This Gospel” 2018 was perhaps the most turbulent year in Kanye West’s career. Although never afraid to challenge his audience’s loyalty, his recent outlandish tweets, unhinged interviews and an inexplicable embrace of Donald Trump have made the past…
Category: Reviews
Album Review: Cigarettes After Sex – Cry
By Marvin Dotiyal, Features Editor [Partisan; 2019] Rating: 6/10 Key tracks: “Don’t Let Me Go”, “You’re the Only Good Thing in My Life”, “Kiss It Off Me” When Cigarettes After Sex emerged with their sultry haze of noir ambient pop in 2017, their music naturally became a perfect accompaniment for candlelit evenings and starry-eyed pillow…
Album Review: Caroline Polachek – Pang
By Kiah Easton, Columns Editor [Perpetual Novice; 2019] Rating: 7.5/10 Key tracks: “Pang”, “I Give Up”, “Door” Caroline Polachek’s debut album, Pang, is full of emotional swings and subtleties that go unnoticed but not unfelt. Danny L. Harle and Polachek’s production feels light and airy, sweeping through you in a way that barely rustles your…
Album Review: Eartheater – Trinity
By Kiah Easton, Columns Editor [Chemical X; 2019] Rating: 7/10 Key tracks: “High Tide”, “Super Soaker”, “Pearl Driver” Trinity is the third full-length studio album from American multimedia artist Eartheater, a.k.a Alexandra Drewchin. Her composition is dark sludge spread thinly across the project, as each track surrounds its listener in a cloud of ambiance structured…
Album Review: clipping. – There Existed an Addiction to Blood
By Jonah Krueger, Contributor [Sub Pop, 2019] 8.5/10 Key tracks: “La Mala Ordina”, “Blood of the Fang”, “Run for Your Life” The cult of the horror movie is a strong, murky corner of the greater cinema community that often only gets mainstream coverage when a film makes billions of dollars—or it’s just the month of…
Album Review: Jimmy Eat World – Surviving
By Marvin Dotiyal, Features Editor [Exotic Location Recordings; 2019] Rating: 6/10 Key tracks: “Criminal Energy”, “Recommit”, “All the Way (Stay)” Twenty years ago, Jimmy Eat World released their third full-length album, Clarity. In retrospect, it’s a deftly crafted blueprint for second-wave emo that brought malleability to the genre with their dynamic, forward-thinking qualities. Then, the…
Single Review: Harry Styles – Lights Up
By Lauren Patterson, Contributor [Columbia; 2019] Rating: 8.5/10 Stepping into the light, Harry Styles returns with his new single “Lights Up”. Upon concluding his first solo tour in 2017-2018, in which he played songs from his debut album, Harry Styles, Styles hit the studio to begin working on his second album, finally giving fans the…
Album Review: Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿
By Jackson Stein, Contributor [Warp; 2019] Rating: 8/10 Key tracks: “Savage Nomad”, “Best Life”, “Negro Spiritual” Many artists claim to be ahead of the curve; Danny Brown is one of the few who truly is. The Detroit oddball didn’t start turning heads until the release of his 2011 mixtape, XXX, which was released four years…
Album Review: fake meat – galen tipton
By Kiah Easton, Columns Editor [Orange Milk; 2019] Rating: 9/10 Key tracks: “touch”, “orbs w/ frere tuck”, “tender” This article cannot accurately represent the experience presented by galen tipton’s fake meat. It is like broken glass smashed on the floor, light sparkling off of multi-faceted surfaces or a combination of textures and composites that never…
Album Review: Wilco – Ode to Joy
By Max Semenczuk, Contributor [dBpm; 2019] Rating: 6.5/10 Key tracks: “Everyone Hides”, “White Wooden Cross”, “Love Is Everywhere (Beware)” Ode to Joy, Wilco’s 11th album, loses the somber overtones the band is known for, exchanging those solemn feelings for a more optimistic sound. That doesn’t mean any lyrical validity is sacrificed, however. Moreover, the band’s…
Album Review: SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds
By Marvin Dotiyal, Features Editor [Pure Noise; 2019] Rating: 8/10 Key tracks: “With High Hopes and Clipped Wings”, “Late December”, “Put on a Show, Don’t Let Them See You Fall” SeeYouSpaceCowboy came out swinging earlier this year with Songs For The Firing Squad—an intoxicating compilation of their past songs that manifested their self-dubbed, “sasscore” trademark….
Album Review: Tove Lo – Sunshine Kitty
By Maddie Young, Contributor [Universal Music AB; 2019] Rating: 6.5/10 Key tracks: “Jacques”, “Bad as the Boys” Swedish singer Tove Lo has made a name for herself as a modern star with a forthright attitude toward her sexuality, and she delivers her fourth studio album, Sunshine Kitty, which details her lust for bad decisions. After…
