Hi, everyone!

I don’t know why, but for some reason it feels like I haven’t been posting on this site nearly as much recently as I was before … but in reality, this is my third post this month, and it hasn’t even been two weeks since my most recent post, so maybe I’m just imagining it, I don’t know.

Anyway, if this post feels a little rushed, that’s probably because it is. I didn’t go super in-depth on most of these albums, but as always it’s just my own personal feelings on these albums, and I’m not trying to be ‘objective’. And they are mini reviews at the end of the day; the point of them is that they’re brief.

I do have more mini reviews in progress, and hopefully I’ll get them posted sometime in the next week or so, but we’ll see. Anyway, for now, there are ten albums I want to talk about here, starting with …

Light Verse by Iron & Wine:

For the longest time, I thought Iron & Wine was a full band, that is until recently when I saw this album had come out and I happened to see that he’s a solo artist. That is, unless that whole time I was thinking of a different band and I’d never heard of Iron & Wine before, I’m not sure. Maybe I was thinking of April Wine? I’m not sure.

Anyway, Iron & Wine is the stage name of Sam Beam, who has released a lot of albums under this name, including some which have received a lot of critical acclaim. And considering how busy I’ve been with other reviews as well as working pretty close to full time, and also the fact that I have a life outside of music reviews and my job … well, I decided to skip going through the rest of his discography and just start with this album, which seems to be his most critically acclaimed in a while.

And it’s a very mellow album, probably a folk album if I had to pick a genre, and it’s the kind of album that makes me curious to hear more in his discography, because this style of music often does really work for me … but I don’t like the execution here all that much.

I like some of the storytelling and detailed lyrics, such as the opener which has some good descriptiveness to describe examples of how we really never know what the future is going to look like, even if we think we have it all figured out. And I like how that’s kind of echoed a few songs later on “Taken by Surprise”, with the line ‘I don’t get taken by surprise anymore’ being repeated throughout the song. And there’s also the sanguinity of “Bag of Cats” which I really like, with the way it tries not to take everything too seriously, while still acknowledging how special life is.

And even though I don’t find the melodies all that catchy, and it’s not at all flashy in the compositions or song writing, that can work if there are enough subtle details that I really like … but in this case, a lot of it just feels kind of hollow, and I think the biggest aspect where this goes awry for me is the production.

And it’s not like I think the production is all that bad or anything, but it’s definitely far from something that would really click for me. Even putting aside the very palpable slovenliness of “Sweet Talk”, there are a lot of moments here which feel like certain instruments could use more charm. And there’s also the fact that a lot of the time the bass just doesn’t feel like it fits at all with the production, either adding to the overall clunkiness or just sort of feeling like a non-presence.

And in some moments it feels like there’s a lot of potential that doesn’t totally feel lived up to, like “Tears that Don’t Matter” with its huge-sounding strings and a kick drum that feels pretty much perfectly placed in the mix, but the snares just don’t have the punch to them that I really wish they did.

And then there’s also “All in Good Time”, a collab with Fiona Apple which I really wish I liked more than I do, but the production gives this a very oily sound that distracts from a vocal duet that I really like. I don’t think it’s a bad song, but it could have been so much better.

So, overall, this album has some elements that I like, but it mostly falls flat for me if I’m being totally honest. I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “You Never Know”, “Taken by Surprise”, “Tears that Don’t Matter”, “Bag of Cats”
Least Favourite Track: “Sweet Talk”

Por cesárea by Dillom:

This album was released in late April, and it’s from an artist I think I might have heard of before, but this is my first time listening to a Dillom album, and it’s in Spanish and the only language I know is English, so while I looked at translated versions of the lyrics, I’m not sure how accurate they are.

Anyway, this album has been getting a lot of critical acclaim, and I can kind of understand why, although I can’t really call myself much of a fan of this album.

Honestly the language barrier might be a good thing here for me … at least in certain moments. Because while I get the appeal of an album like this in which the narrator is very unlikeable, I think it only works for me in pieces, and even then, it doesn’t feel unique enough to me that I really see a lot of replay value. Again, I get why it might strongly click for others, but it’s not really for me. But back to what I said at the start of this paragraph about the lyrics, in some moments it really feels like it doesn’t fit with the upbeat vibe of the music.

There are some moments where the music seems to represent a disguise for the narrator to try and hide the things the narrator doesn’t want people to know, and that can make for some kind of fascinating moments, such as “La novia de mi amigo” which has some really good Kendrick Lamar esque vocals. And sometimes the music just sounds bleak enough where it fits anyway. But those are only in some parts of the album.

And musically there just isn’t a lot here in the sound or the melodies that really grabs my attention all that much. Overall I don’t dislike this album, and I get what it’s trying to do, but for me it’s a 6/10. If this sounds appealing to you I’d recommend listening to it, but I can’t really get into it personally.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “La novia de mi amigo”, “Buenos tiempos”, “(Irreversible)”, “Reiki y yoga”, “Ciudad de la Paz”
Least Favourite Track: “Cirugía”

angeltape by Drahla:

Drahla are a post-punk band from the UK who released their debut album Useless Coordinates back in 2019, and after listening to it a few times to prepare for this review … well, I didn’t really give it all that much attention when listening to it, but for the most part it didn’t really seem like my cup of tea. I mean, I mostly liked it, but I don’t see myself going back to it much.

So, now here’s their sophomore album five years later. I mean, I like post-punk, and this has been getting a pretty positive reception. So, how is it?

Well, I really like it! The drums have a lot of punch to them, the guitars bring a lot of energy, and the vocals are very captivating as well! And it all combines together to create a really fun post-punk album that I can see having a lot of replay value!

There are so many moments here that really stand out to me, such as the dramatic feeling of the guitar on “Second Rhythm”, the horns in the background of “Concrete Lily” which are just subtle enough, and the intensity of the drumming in the closing track!

And while I like a lot of the lyrics here such as how “Lipsync” seems to possibly be about someone realizing they’re trying too hard to be someone else or how “zig-zag” could possibly be about a sense of desperation to be heard, I’ll also admit I mostly like this album for the way it sounds and how hard-hitting these tracks are sonically, and the vocals being great as well!

I do still like a lot of the ambiguity of the lyrics, though, and the basslines are really solid as well … I mean, I wish it felt a little more consistent, and it’s not the most groundbreaking album I’ve ever heard or anything, but I still like this a lot! Light 8/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Default Parody”, “zig-zag”, “Second Rhythm”, “Concrete Lily”, “A”, “Grief In Phantasia”
Least Favourite Track: “Talking Radiance”

CAROUSEL FROM HELL by LustSickPuppy:

So, this is the debut album from LustSickPuppy, and it’s a pretty short album full of some pretty intense hip hop bangers with very distorted, glitchy production and very impressive rapping.

And it’s not really an album that gives me much to say. The production is super distorted and glitchy, but not in a way where it feels overpowering, because the mixing is really strong and everything sounds like it connects together super well in the production, and while often in this style some of the higher frequency sounds would be a bit distracting, here I don’t find that to be the case.

And the production really fits with the angry lyrics and vocal delivery, and I think the album is about the right length, too. I mean, it can be a lot to take in, and as great as it is, if this ran on for much longer I could see it starting to become a bit much.

And I also like how this album sometimes flirts with other genres as well like the sort of 2000s pop vibe the album ends with, or the metal elements of “BLISSTER”.

So, yeah, this is an excellent experimental hip hop album that I highly recommend! 8.5/10 for me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “OFF THIS”, “EMPATHY RESERVED”, “AMERICAN HEALTHCARE”, “KETCHUP MUSTARD”, “LOTHARIO”, “CHOKEHOLD”
Least Favourite Track: “EVICTION”

Bats Feet For a Widow by Bingo Fury:

This is the debut studio album from Bingo Fury, the stage name of Jack Ogborne. And I saw this getting some hype as apparently some very experimental, epic art rock, post-rock, or something in that vein. I mean, this style of music has been getting a lot of critical acclaim in the past few years due to acts like black midi, and considering this album is under a half hour, I decided to give it a chance, and I was very intrigued to hear it …

And unfortunately I’m left feeling pretty underwhelmed. A lot of the instruments just feel like extra noise that doesn’t really add much in my opinion, like the horns in “Mr. Stark”.

And the piano timbre often feels a lot rougher than I would have liked, such as in “I’ll Be Mountains” or “Centrefold”, and I’m not really finding a lot in the melodies that really sticks with me. A lot of it feels like it’s trying to be really experimental, and not only do the more ‘out there’ ideas often not really work for me in their own right, but they often feel like they take the attention off of making the compositions really gripping, at least to me.

So, overall, while I do like some moments such as the buildup on the opening track and I like the percussion on “My Cup Overflows”, and some other moments as well … as a whole, this just isn’t really for me. I’m going to give this a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Carolina’s Theme”, “Unlistening”, “I’ll Be Mountains”, “My Cup Overflows”
Least Favourite Track: “Mr. Stark”

Pink Balloons by Ekko Astral:

Here’s a hardcore punk band whom I’d never heard of until recently, and this is their debut studio album, released a little over a month ago.

And on my first few listens this wasn’t really doing a whole lot for me … but after giving it multiple relistens, I actually ended up liking this a lot!

There’s a lot that I really like here lyrically, with a lot of the rage, and the creative way things are described, such as the ‘uwu type beat’ on the song of the same name. And a lot of this album seems to possibly be about how money has impacted our society, including “On Brand” which includes the line, ‘Spending all my money on a mass hysteria,’ one of my favourite lines on the album.

Based on most of what I’ve read, it seems like Ekko Astral’s music is in large part about lead singer Jael Holzman’s gender transition and discrimination that she’s faced because of it, and I’m having a hard time seeing it in the lyrics, although there’s a chance that’s simply just me being an unsophisticated cisgender person. But however you read the lyrics, there is definitely a lot of bleakness here, but I also think there are some moments that subtly show feelings of hope, despite how bleak things can get.

And I love the intensity of the music, with some crushing distorted guitars and a lot of really catchy melodies without losing the pure rage of the sound.

This album has a very messy sound to it which I think really fits with the lyrics a lot of the time, and while I do wish it maybe had a bit more punch in certain moments, for the most part I think the production style is fitting.

“Somewhere At the Bottom of the River Between l’enfant and Eastern Market” is a super eerie track which kind of feels like an interlude, and it’s very haunting. And “Devorah” has some excellent guitar distortion which really helps build tension. And there are so many other great tracks here as well!

This is an absolutely excellent punk album which is very daring and noisy, and I think it’s awesome! 8.5/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Baethoven”, “Uwu Type Beat”, “On Brand”, “Somewhere At the Bottom of the River Between l’enfant and Eastern Market”, “Buffaloed”, “Devorah”, “I90”
Least Favourite Track: “Make Me Young”

Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa:

It’s kind of hard for me to believe it’s been over four years since Dua Lipa released Future Nostalgia. The time really has flown by.

Anyway, I feel like I’m in the minority of people who actually prefers Dua Lipa’s self-titled debut over Future Nostalgia as a whole album. I think the best songs from the latter are better—most notably “Physical” and “Love Again”—but her debut felt like a more cohesive album experience and was probably more consistently good overall. Now, with that being said, they are pretty close for me, and in my opinion while both albums are quite good, I wouldn’t call either of them great.

But maybe this would be the one that really clicks for me? (No pun intended.)

Well … no. Not at all. In fact, I’m shocked by how big a drop in quality this is, at least in my opinion. And it really doesn’t give me much to say.

I gave this over a half dozen listens in full, which is more than usual for a mini review … and this just feels like a collection of bland, uninteresting pop songs built for the radio and nothing else. And I don’t mean this to be mean or anything, and Dua definitely seems like an artist who cares more about artistry than chart success, but if I hadn’t ever read/watched an interview of hers and had only heard this album, I probably wouldn’t think that.

The hooks don’t really stand out to me much at all, the goopy production creates some really awkward textures, and the vocal production really doesn’t flatter her at all, especially with how contrasting the vibe of the percussion is throughout so many of these tracks.

Lyrically, Dua’s music has never really struck me as being all that deep, and that’s once again the case here, with a lot of this seeming to be about brief relationships and hookups, and hoping one of them will turn into something more. But on Future Nostalgia it felt like there was way more passion and energy in the songs, so the lack of lyrical depth didn’t really matter. But here there’s so little that stands out to me.

I mean, “Training Season” and “Maria” are kind of catchy, the latter being probably my favourite song on the album, but even “Maria”, despite being really good, I wouldn’t call great. So, overall, this was a really underwhelming album for me. 5/10 in my opinion.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Houdini”, “Training Season”, “Maria”
Least Favourite Track: “Illusion”

Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend:

Vampire Weekend are one of those bands I’ve heard about a lot for a while but whom I hadn’t really listened to much. I knew a few songs of theirs before this came out, but that was about it. But before listening to this album, I listened to all their other albums—although I mostly just listened to them in the background and didn’t really closely take them in. So, take this with a huge grain of salt, but my overall feelings were that I mostly liked them but didn’t really love them.

But this is easily their most critically acclaimed album to date, and it’s their first in about five years, following Father of the Bride which didn’t get nearly as positive a reception as their other albums did. So, I was very curious about this album, and unfortunately I can’t really say it’s for me.

Lyrically there’s a lot going on here, and I’m not going to pretend I totally get it, but a lot of it seems to have to do with parts of society that are passed down from generation to generation as well as others which die out. And there’s some good imagery here, and I like some of the experimentation with the instrumentation, and some of the melodies are pretty good. But I wish there was a little more immediacy in the hooks and maybe more subtle details that really clicked for me, but I can appreciate the effort that was clearly here.

But arguably the biggest thing that holds this back for me is the vocal production, which often sounds like it was produced for a totally different album, and it brings what otherwise could have been a really good album down to a just decent one in my opinion.

There are some moments that I really like, such as the huge sound of the opening track “Ice Cream Piano”, the vibey instrumentation of “The Surfer”, and that really nice guitar melody in “Pravda”, which might be my favourite track here.

So, overall I thought this was a pretty okay album, and I’m feeling slightly more positive than negative on it, so I’ll give it a 6/10. I just really wish I liked the vocal production more.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Ice Cream Piano”, “Classical”, “The Surfer”, “Pravda”
Least Favourite Track: “Capricorn”

Silence Is Loud by Nia Archives:

This is the debut studio album by Nia Archives, a producer/singer/songwriter who has gotten quite a bit of critical acclaim for her debut album, Silence Is Loud.

And unfortunately I can’t really say this is doing a whole lot for me. It’s got a lot of tracks which are upbeat, and sort of danceable, with the sort of shuffling percussion that does work for me in some contexts but doesn’t really work here in my opinion, as it feels quite distracting and takes away from the vibe of the songs, such as in “Cards On The Table” … and various other tracks as well.

Nia Archives is a good singer in my opinion, and there are some nice melodies at points here. I like that melodic synth that shows up occasionally throughout “Out Of Options”, and the closing track has some nice strings and the vocal melodies are pleasant as well.

But when it comes to the lyrics … well, I don’t think they’re bad, but a lot of them feel very generic. And that doesn’t necessarily have to ruin the album. There’s a lot of music that I really like despite not really finding much that interests me in the lyrics, but there’s not enough in the instrumentals or production to really make this stand out to me on its own.

So, overall, I can’t say I’m in love with this album, and I’m giving it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Unfinished Business”, “Blind Devotion”, “Out Of Options”, “Killjoy !”, “So Tell Me…”
Least Favourite Track: “Forbidden Feelingz”

Strike That Man Down by Bug Bus Piano:

Bug Bus Piano is an artist I had never heard of until recently, and this is a very short instrumental ambient album, running for under a half hour.

And I don’t really know what to even say about it. I just don’t find this all that interesting or captivating. I mean, some moments here have a nice vibe to them such as “Judger’s Realm”, but often it just feels like I’m watching paint dry, without a lot of strong melodies or variety in the sound.

Yes, there are some smaller details here and there, but overall I just really struggled to get into this.

And especially with some of the sounds feeling more distracting than anything … I’m gonna have to give this a 5/10. It’s just not really for me at all. If you love ambient music you might like this more than me, but even as a fan of ambient music myself I’m not wowed at all.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Fear Spread In Their Minds and They Became Insane”, “Judger’s Realm”
Least Favourite Track: “Beginning of Part Two and Three”