Oh gosh. I’ve managed to review around 17 other albums that I have listened to and had wanted to write a review on over the first half of this year. Originally, I was hoping to get it published around the beginning of this month or maybe even as far back as last month. That of course gets delayed as I have diverged more into writing about video games (two articles done for Disco Elysium with maybe a good chance at writing about a real-time strategy game Warcraft III’s community in the future) alongside a bit of freelancing work. Not only that, but I even need to try and change it up for a bit as there are so much to cover! The good news I guess is that it’s finally out now.
Edward Skeletrix – Museum Music (1 January 2025)
Edward Skeletrix is a New York-born experimental artist of many varieties like visual or music. His works are oftentimes independently made to the point where he would turn to ethically questionable methods like using AI. Museum Music is his debut studio album after more than a decade’s worth of recording – and only two years after he started to get serious with releasing some as singles. Much of the songs in the album rely on its erratic and oftentimes idiosyncratic production that at least does call to mind JPEGMAFIA. Yet, it comes in conjunction with the repetitive plugg percussion and mumblesome rapping. Quite possibly the most luminous highlight is a blighted spot that is the weird sample of Niko Belic’s vengeful monologue from Grand Theft Auto IV. The vision is there, but it struggles to land on its feet in the sea of competition. 1.6/5
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (14 February 2025)
One of the up-and-coming names in slacker rock saw their sophomore record turn itself out to be a wholly melodic feat. Horsegirl’s Phonetics On and On is a deadpan exercise which is much more twee than what you would expect as you listen to it more and more. On top of its meticulously rough-hearted guitar riffs that would remind listeners of Beat Happening, the lyrics accompany its minimalistic charm like mitten gloves. It is a childish, rudimentary work that doesn’t have a boat-load of artsy symbolism behind it. Such a description doesn’t drag the album down so much as it does uplift it instead as it then stands out as one of the more fun albums to listen to for this year. It might not go down in the history books, but it sure can make you leave with a bit more contentment. 4/5
Sharon van Etten and the Attachment Theory – Sharon van Etten and the Attachment Theory (7 February 2025)
The self-titled debut album of the notable Sharon van Etten’s formalised band might not have hit on all the definite high points so to say. Their focus on the mellowness of the production that is comparable to dream pop and new wave’s retro-styled nostalgia does work its charm for a while thanks to its production which gives it a more modernised feel. Yet, pretty as the ethereal synths are that linger for a long time, it doesn’t necessarily stick its landing. Much of its music does come off as having a similar kind of spaciness as the likes of Beach House. Yet, Sharon van Etten and the Attachment Theory does not have a certain punch to make its presence all the more memorable. It simply works its job without having anything else to say. 3.3/5
Anna B Savage – You & i are Earth (24 January 2025)
Anna B. Savage is a well-respected, London-born singer-songwriter who currently lives in Ireland at the time of writing. You & i are Earth is her third album in her career since debuting back in 2020 with A Common Turn which carries onward the dignity of chamber folk. Lyrically, her central theme blurs the line between her growing nativism for Ireland on tracks like ‘Donegal’ and her romantic expressions to her love interest through the semantic field of nature. I wouldn’t say for certain that it’s as good in nearly all possible metrics as the likes of Sílvia Pérez Cruz or Cristóbal Avendano which is a very high bar to be fair. The instrumentals fail to be expansive in its diversity nor does it have any distinctively Irish instruments such as the accordion. If anything, the tempo generally leans more toward the slower end of the Spanish flamenco based on the guitar strums. While there is ample evidence to prove Savage’s competence on a technical basis, the album is ultimately a tad bit too “soft” in its success. 3/5
Zach Phillips – True Music (1 January 2025)
The one American half of Fievel Is Glauque’s latest album is a more mellow, more mundane, more midnightly twist on Rong Weicknes. True Music has no ambition to upstart its creator’s predecessor and it both works and falters as a result. Any flipsides in the song structure that one would have hoped would instead find it to be driven more by the simplistic, albeit still free-flowing, piano melody that ebbs along with much of Phillips’s themes of loneliness and love. This relative bit of minimalism results in much of the tracks being more suited for an afternoon stroll (ironic once you pay attention to the finer details) which isn’t entirely bad. It is, however, more hollow consequently as the lyrics prove itself to be lacking in flair. Fans of the original band would like this all the more for extra collection rather than clear-cut merits. 3/5
Youth Lagoon – Rarely Do I Dream (21 February 2025)
Youth Lagoon is the stage name of Californian Trevor Powers. With seven studio records on his belt at the time of writing, Rarely Do I Dream is the most recent entry that proves to be the most personal. It’s supposed to be grounded on his childhood memories and its relations with the rural areas he grew up in and its mythos with samples of recordings from when he’s little having often been used throughout. It has a nice sentimentality in its concept which is why it sucks that I can’t get myself to like the album more. The production as it stands is certainly informed by dream pop, but the more low-end mixing and fuzzled up kind of echo effect makes the effort tiresome rather than nocturnal. The androgynous singing unfortunately fails to illuminate the past life experiences so much as it does distract us from its meanings. Well-made as it sounds, the album fails to enrapt you to recall your beginnings. So much so that its biggest highlight is right at the end when you get to hear Powers’ relatives cheering him on when he was only an infant right up to just before his preschool years. 1.9/5
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Purple Bird (31 January 2025)
Near-mythic singer-songwriter from Kentucky, Will Oldman, saw his newest album come out under his go-to stage name. The Purple Bird is not a depressive eulogy as is on I See a Darkness back in 1999 nor does it reverberate in its relational mediation on 2003’s Master and Everyone. Instead, it sticks with the typical downtempo pacing like quicksand that sinks without an ounce of sound that is worth your interest. Additionally, while the lyricism tends to be the key selling point in a lot of Oldman’s records, it is here that the impact is especially lacking in affective substance. It’s too colloquial in a way to convey strong symbolisms, too “broad” so to say for a clear theme to take a hold of you, too dull in delivery that only aficionados of the artist would bear its storm. Fine as the Americana tunes are, it falls flat in masking what many would write off as an all-filler. 1.5/5
Denison Witmer – Anything At All (14 February 2025)
Denison Witmer is a Pennsylvanian singer-songwriter who is most noted for his handful of collaborations with the one and only Sufjan Stevens since 2005’s Are You a Dreamer? While he has long been performing since the mid-1990s, he never truly did manage to leave a lasting impression for his works. Anything At All in a way feels like his bid to make amends with the simplicity of his life. It’s based around his familial commitments alongside his goals of contributing to his local community; a concept that he outlined from a report by Stereogum. Melodic fingerstyle playing through unconventional chord progressions and a more mellow production however might have failed to deter the comparisons you would have made to Elliott Smith. The style might err more towards Nick Drake’s, but it doesn’t quite hold the same level of delicacy as he did for the feeling of fragility nor does it succeed in its ability to prove its structures’ flexibility. Despite these issues, it doesn’t stall the everyman kind of lyricism and the angelic vocal harmonies which proves that the album is deserving of its own kind of respect. 3.7/5
The Weather Station – Humanhood (17 January 2025)
My very first review in this blog is on the Weather Station, a Toronto-based band fronted by Tamara Lindeman whose thematic focus was on the facets of human problems. Their last one, summarily, lingered on climate change. Noble as the intent is, I always remember listening to the debut for a bit with the main impression being that they feel overhyped for all the acclaim they received. Humanhood sadly not only fails to turn that impression around, it even further dulls how I personally feel about them. It enjoys the kind of polish you would have hoped for in a Sophisti-pop record, but the instrumental playing feels too “safe”. It lacks the certain experimentation compared to Clipping (just after this one) that links humanity to its self-imposed modernisation that it just so happens to not be able to keep up with. The lyrical style at least does fit more with the textures of the entire album more. However, it goes without any condemnatory or radicalised quotations to hammer home our growing depersonalisation. The final result is a net negative compared to the previous album based on its failure to sufficiently address the theme of everyday life. 2.9/5
Clipping. – Dead Channel Sky (14 March 2025)
The acclaimed American hip hop group, whose frontman was the same guy who originally played Lafayette in broadway musical Hamilton, charges in with their fifth album. Dead Channel Sky carries onward their industrial footprint and places it within the framework of cyberpunk. Allusions to the lows of the rockstar life, being chronically online, and greed are tied to the technological growth that continues without any regulation. The beats, dystopian as usual with its metallic percussion and steel-like shrill, continue to hammer home the seeming futility of living in the system that feeds on consumption. That is, until you reach the end with ‘Ask What Happened’ when the revelation comes that owning isn’t simply about preservation. It’s the destruction that determines the right. 4.3/5
The Delines – Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom (14 February 2025)
The Delines are a country soul band founded in Oregon who, despite the long history between some of the original members, had only worked all together since last decade ago. Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom is conceived as a series of vignettes on runaway couples, lonely prostitutes, and the seedy underbelly of Florida. Its narrative-driven lyrics would call to home the Mountain Goats although its instruments contain a lot more twangy playing and a slower form of tempo which doesn’t exactly land on folk. Yet, it is that sluggish pacing which makes much of the listening experience a drag. Frontwoman Amy Boone’s vocal performance leers forward at the prospect of worldly weariness but it is continuously used to the point where it wears out its welcome (pun unintended). The singing in and of itself is good and the instrumentals are serviceable. These facts however do not save the band from the album’s meandersome lack of charm to make up for its bleak observations. 2/5
Asian Glow – 11100011 (6 January 2025)
One of the anonymous South Korean artists who rose up to prominence over the first half of this decade came back with an album that’s noisy in its shoegazey way. While they might not have matched the maximalist apex from Parannoul, 11100011 still remains as a largely solid record that still keeps in touch with its blizzard-like beauty. The feedback continues to submerge itself with the pedal effects that carries onward a certain melancholy feeling. Could these be the memories that were gradually fading away? Some of the lyrics might allude to that feeling which might explain the binary-looking title. Yet, without the sheer force from the volume, its impact might not have hit as hard as it would have been. 3.8/5
Guided by Voices – Universe Room (6 February 2025)
This is… what? The 41st album from Robert Pollack’s door-revolving band, that’s for sure. It dusts off the lacklustre direction from the last time I reviewed them on Welshpool Frillies. At first listen, it doesn’t seek to revolutionise indie rock in and of itself. The instrumental performance carries on as being relatively solid in the last two years I have reviewed them. What is worth noting however is the little differences made in their songwriting and production that gives it a bit more life in the performance as a whole – and almost an entire world’s worth of difference. Now, small moments like when Pollack’s singing start to reverberate stand out like a small gemstone to keep and the tempo feels more dynamic in its changes throughout certain songs. It isn’t going to put Guided by Voices back on the map, but it could remind several listeners on what makes the band a cult favourite. 3.2/5
LUACOLLIDER – Sunbelt Princess (1 January 2025)
LUACOLLIDER, also known as lua trilogy!, is a music artist from the US whose debut in Sunset Princess happens to already be an ambitious effort. It’s a post-rock record that’s largely driven by instrumental, one that contains a lot of diversity from its genre influences to its vibrant production and even its samples which contain an excerpt from the cinematic classic There Will Be Blood. That being said, the album also does suffer from the weight of its vision with how kaleidoscopic it is. One moment, you are listening to a plunderphonic symphony with film quotes and recognisable tunes going hand in hand. Then you might get a Swans-esque drone that transitions to the crescendo of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the section after. It can come off as too great a change to keep the interest in line without feeling dizzy. It’s technically impressive work. Yet, it is one that lacks a unifying direction to rally around. 2.9/5
Tom Wilson – Doomed Labours of the High Seas (5 May 2025)
I tried to look up on Tom Wilson and it appears that he doesn’t really have a vast social media presence. To note, he’s not to be confused with the other Canadian Tom Wilson who is known for his eclectic range of musical style. This Tom Wilson is most likely British and Doomed Labours of the High Seas is his short album that clocks in at under 24 minutes. Many of the instrumentals are done to the rhythm of the sea shanties and the lyrics adapt them as well with one notable example being ‘Broken Sailor (Drunken Sailor)’. With the details surrounding it out of the way, let me preface you with the warning that I do not like this album. It’s filled to the brim with electronic tuning with synths and trap-like drum pattern which makes the whole ordeal feel extremely disorientating. Combine this with the more amateur-like singing (which might be the nicest I could put it – and it still comes off as being rude) and the album isn’t exactly a masterpiece. That being said, there are creative merits to appreciate and I do hope that he would go a step further into experimenting with electronic music to make his music work better in the future. 0.3/5
Squid – Cowards (7 February 2025)
It feels like at this point that Squid might be one of those respected bands/artists that I might have to skip out on more often over the next few years. Cowards is their third album after O Monolith from 2023 that I’ve listened to and had reviewed. Even if you are hoping for the certain franticness that emanates from Bright Green Field like with ‘Narrator’, this album might well be the most disappointing out of the experimental band’s trifecta of studio records so far. Not only does the similar song structure remain as is with its leaning toward the unhinged for its climax, but it doesn’t carry on the energy that they often exhibit. It does get all the more baffling when they release a non-album single afterwards called ‘The Heath and Circle Round Fire’ which keeps the vocal bombast and electric production manipulation the band is so well-known for. This album sadly enough feels all too bit hollowed out even by Squid’s standards. 1.9/5
Panchiko – Ginkgo (4 April 2025)
In 2023, I got the pleasure to listen to a certain band called Panchiko from the UK without knowing about their devoted cult following before writing a capsule review on them. I always find their debut album (after 23 years’ worth of being inactive no less if you exclude D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L), Failed at Math(s), to be one of the uncrowned gems of the year and I’m very much excited to see what might come next. Enter Ginkgo for this year. I would preface by saying that it’s not as brilliant as the previous one. This is mostly due to both the production not being as out-there as it could have been with its glitchiness being absent and due to the high points not reaching the levels of the likes of ‘Failed at Math(s)’ or especially ‘Rocking With Keith’. However, the album nonetheless shows that the band are not counting themselves out of getting into their once-dream jobs as a more serious endeavour. From the feature with billy woods to the sunny hopefulness that emits from ‘Honeycomb’, it happily pushes on from their stunning comeback even if it loses a bit of its riches and wonders. 4.1/5
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