There’s a certain type of rapper who spends years buffing their sound until it’s as glossy and frictionless as a Spotify playlist made for dental offices. BruceBan$hee is not that rapper. His new EP, 4th Wall, is what happens when you take the polite façade of modern alt-rap, set it on fire, and then throw […]
BruceBan$hee Doubles Down on Something Simpler and Riskier: Sincerity Through Chaos Read More »
There’s a certain audacity in writing a song about a schizophrenic patient breaking out of a mental facility, stumbling into a circus, and watching lions eat clowns. On paper, that sounds like the kind of pitch you’d get from someone cornering you outside a record shop in the ‘90s; wild, messy, and maybe brilliant, maybe
“Bread & Circuses” Is Jagged, Haunting, and Utterly Committed to Its Own Vision Read More »
There’s a special kind of boldness in titling your record Grace First. It’s the sort of name that sounds like it should be stitched on a motivational pillow, but in practice becomes this sharp thesis statement: whatever else happens, whatever braggadocio or flexing or chaos exists in the record, it’s grounded in the simple idea
PEOPLEZ330’s Grace First Swings Between Moods and Genres With Reckless Confidence Read More »
The trouble with a lot of modern pop is that it feels designed by committee; engineered for playlists, calibrated for TikTok, as if the only goal of a song is to survive fifteen seconds before being swallowed by the algorithm. That’s why when a song like Ooberfuse’s “Better Than Gold” comes along, it feels a
There’s something inherently funny about naming your album summrWondr. It looks like someone took out all the vowels because they were too expensive, but what you get in return is an accidental mission statement: no excess, no fluff, just the essentials. And that’s what this record feels like; an album stripped down to memory, sample
In 2025, it’s rare to hear a hip-hop record that feels like a record. Most “albums” now arrive as Spotify fodder: trend-chasing playlists designed by committee, padded with features from whichever TikTok darling has clout this quarter. John Keenan’s Wreckage of the Past, though, doesn’t play that game. It’s 18 tracks, entirely self-produced, with no
Here’s the thing about albums called Dream Odyssey: you expect them to be either unbearably pretentious concept records with hour-long synth drones and a booklet of poetry stapled to the sleeve, or a perfectly fine indie project about “journeys” and “growth” where the word odyssey is doing some fairly heavy lifting. Carpe Diem, a duo
At Its Best, Carpe Diem’s Dream Odyssey Transports You to a Great Big Adventure Read More »
The thing about songs with titles like “Liberal Anthem” is that you expect them to be bad, or at least unbearably smug, the sort of thing a think-tank would use in a promo video where some smiling intern types “equity” into a whiteboard and everyone claps politely. And yet, against all odds, Polish duo Transgalactica
When Mdou Moctar released Afrique Victime in 2021, the critical response was pretty unanimous: this was a landmark. Not just in the nebulous “best of the year” sense, but in the way you talk about a record that feels both timeless and urgent. It was a guitar album that sounded like it could summon a
Most people celebrate their eighteenth birthday with cake, bad photos, and maybe one of those “haha, I’m legal now” jokes that’s only funny if you’re drunk. Alessiah, on the other hand, decided to release Obscentra, her debut album. Because why settle for a party when you can drop a meticulously crafted, emotionally destructive pop record
Obscentra Is a Storm in Neon Lighting, and Alessiah Controls It With Unnerving Precision Read More »