Album Review: BabyTron – Out On Bond

By Cody Englander, Contributor
[The Hip Hop Lab Records; 2023]
Rating: 4/10
Key tracks: “A2Z”, “Overthinking”
The story of BabyTron’s latest EP may be more entertaining than the EP itself. Much like the title suggests, after being arrested for drug possession, he got set out on bond, and recorded part of this 12 minute EP on the road directly after getting out. This EP is coming off of the success of Babytron’s success of his last album, Bin Reaper 3: New Testament, widely agreed to be one of his better works by fans and critics alike. Babyton addresses his arrest on the very first line of the project, “Stop saying free me, I got out the next day, man.” While this EP may not be high art, the context of this 5 song EP really helps to understand how we got the project that we did.

Album Review: Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

By Nicholas Kobe, Contributor[Sony Music; 2023]Rating: 7/10 Key tracks: “Bunny Is A Rider”, “Sunset”, “Blood and Butter” Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is Caroline Polachek’s sophomore release (under this name). In the mid 2010s, she released one studio record each under the names Ramona Lisa and CEP, Arcadia and Drawing the Target Around…

Album Review: Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs

By Devon Risner, Contributor [Mac’s Record Label, 2023] Rating 6/10 Key Tracks: “Victoria”, “Crescent City” Whether DeMarco is retiring is still up for debate. Entering 2023 with a new record, Five Easy Hot Dogs, it leaves to question if he will quit at his peak. Moving away from his younger sound of “the laid-back prince…

Album Review: This Stupid World – Yo La Tengo

By Venus Rittenberg, Editorial Director [Matador; 2023] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Fallout”, “Aselestine”, “Until it Happens”  Yo La Tengo is back with another fantastic record. For a band who appeared to be past their prime (and has appeared that way for a while), this is phenomenal. This Stupid World is the best the band has…

Album Review: Pierce The Veil – The Jaws of Life

By Nicholas Kobe, Contributor [Fearless Records; 2023] Rating 5/10 Key Tracks: “Death of an Executioner“, “The Jaws of Life”, “So Far So Fake“ San Diego rock band Pierce The Veil are a group that feels both surprisingly old and young at the exact same time. Formed in 2006, the band has been kicking for almost…

Album Review: The C.I.A – Surgery Channel

By Roman Salomone, Contributor [In The Red Records; 2023] Rating: 6/10 Key Tracks: “Impersonator”, “Over”, “Bubble” With enough albums under his belt to break Wikipedia, Ty Segall has taken full advantage of his 14+ year career releasing as many albums, singles, splits, comps, and collaborations as humanly possible. More often than not, he sticks to…

Single Review: PinkPantheress – Boy’s a liar Pt. 2

By Cody Englander, Contributor
[Warner Music UK; 2023]
Rating: 8/10
In a surprising turn of events, one of the top songs of the month is a sequel to a PinkPantheress track, this time featuring Bronx rapper Ice Spice. “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” is a fun single that has more replay value than the original, even if the only major change is the inclusion of Ice Spice as a feature. 

Album Review: Ice Spice – Like..?

By: Cody Englander, Contributor [10K Projects] Rating: 6/10 Key Tracks: “Princess Diana”, “Bikini Bottom” Ice Spice has emerged as one of the most beloved new celebrities of 2022. Her unproblematic and charming personality attracted many new fans over the last year.  Read more: Album Review: Samia – Honey She has curated a brand of self…

Album Review: Samia – Honey

By: Grace Koennecke, Columns Editor  Grand Jury Music; 2023 Rating: 6/10 Key tracks: “Kill Her Freak Out,” “Charm You,” “Mad At Me,” “Breathing Song” In 2020, Samia was just getting her start, a budding pop star following the same blueprint as the other young female singers around her. Her debut album The Baby saw her…

Album Review: Kaiba – Three Tyrsts

By Roman Salomone, Contributor [Self-Released; 2022] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Blue Mirror Window”, “Wake”, “Broken”  Kaiba is a four-piece skramz outfit from Athens, Ohio that formed in the summer of 2019. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Lane Moore, drummer Jack Hampton, vocalist/guitarist Emma Campbell, and bassist/sound engineer Jeff Podolski. The quartet recently embarked on a…

Album Review: Obituary – Dying of Everything

By Nicholas Kobe, Contributor [Relapse Records; 2023] Rating 7/10 Key Tracks: “Barely Alive”, “The Wrong Time”, “My Will To Live” Legendary death metal band Obituary kicks off 2023 with Dying of Everything. This is their first LP since 2017’s self-titled release. Fans of Obituary will be pleased that Dying of Everything is not an incredibly…

Album Review: Show Me the Body – Trouble The Water

By: Liam Syrvalin, Contributor [Loma Vista Recordings, 2022] Rating: 9/10 Key Tracks: “Loose Talk”, “Radiator”, “WW4“ Within every genre of music, there are bands that serve to push the boundaries of the style of music they subscribe to. Show Me the Body is one of these bands, continually challenging traditional ideas of what hardcore music…