THE WHITE ALBUM- THE BEATLES This is a hard one to talk about for me. Very high highs and very low lows. For every happiness is a warm gun there’s a let’s do it in the road. One thing I thought about a lot with this album is the Manson family because Charles Manson really loved this album and used it during his sermons. So bizarre. I’d say has it more bad than good overall but I think it’s so bloated. Especially if John Lennon isn’t your flavor of Beatles this is a very John Lennon heavy album. So overall I’m kinda meh on it
BLACK HOLE SUPERETTE - AESOP ROCK Aesops run is insane I don’t think he’s had a single album I dislike and this album continues that run. Probably my favorite thing he’s done since spirit world field guide. Beats are dope rhymes are sick I love the aesthetics of the album. And man it wasn’t the lead single but send help is such a good single I gotta shout it out. It’s PAINFULLY Aesop he really has perfected his style at this point
TECTONIC TEXTS - MC PAUL BARMAN I feel like with every album barman gets more introspective with his music and that’s something I can always appreciate in an artist. This is a really good step in that direction. I didn’t like it as much as echo chamber but that’s one of my fav albums of the last decade so it’s not surprising. Overall this is more of the same but I love the direction he’s heading in. Excited to hear more from him in a couple years.
LET GOD SORT EM OUT - CLIPSE, PUSHA T, MALICE Here it is guys probably terras album of the year. I don’t even know where to begin with this there’s so much I could say. Fantano gave it a fucking ten and I agree there’s not a single thing I would change about this album. The mixing is Perfect the rhymes are sharp and aggressive. Malice and pusha t have perfected chemistry with one another and put over some of my fav production in Pharrell’s career. Coke rap is back baby and they’re dealing. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is my album of the year in fact I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t.
THE STRANGER - BILLY JOEL I don’t know why I have such a soft spot for this album but I really do. It’s iconic it’s some of the best songwriting of the 70s and that is a decade with some DAMN good tunes. And weirdly enough some songs on this album are genuinely cool? Like the title track is such a Badass song and that’s not something I’d use to describe Billy Joel but for some reason it just really works. There’s just something really special about this album it’s very theatrical. It feels like watching a really good musical of sorts more than a pop album and I think that’s something that could only work in this era but it really really does
CONSTANT COMPANIONS (deluxe!) - JAMIE PAIGE Wow Terra dips her toes in to vocaloid for once. I can’t talk to much of the technical aspects of this album because I don’t really have the expertise to but from a songwriting perspective this album rules. It’s so infectious it’s ridiculous these melodies are insane. It’s catchy as all hell and I highly recommend it to anyone with interest
LEVIATHAN - MASTODON This might be one of the best metal albums I’ve ever heard I really love that mid 2000s pocket of heavy metal where it’s not too heavy for me like black metal but is just barely on that border. Gojira also falls into that category which makes me think. This album and from mars to Sirius are like a perfect double feature. Both thematically and sonically these albums really feel like two halves of the same whole. Also this album taking heavy inspiration from moby dick is awesome. Blood and thunder right into I am ahab is such a good way of starting an album and it keeps that momentum all the way through. A fucking rollercoaster of an album and it’s only 42 minutes long. What a ride too. Also I can’t understand too many of the lyrics but I’d be ashamed if I didn’t bring up “split your lungs with blood and thunder as you see the white whale, break your backs and crack your oars men if you seek to prevail” as some of my fav metal lyrics ever
LOUDER THAN LOVE - SOUNDGARDEN This album is interesting to me because it’s very Protogrunge. Like I can see how it lead to the grunge movement of the 90s but it wasn’t quite there yet. It’s very much in the same vein as bleach by Nirvana in that the singers still kinda finding his voice but it works over the rougher production. Not an essential album for sure like badmotorfinger or superunknown but still a great listen for fans of the band. It’s good
PSYCHOCANDY - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN I think out of all the albums in here recently this is the one I’ve listened to that I could see the most people enjoying in this server. It’s not quite as abrasive as shoegaze but very much falls into that dream pop surrealism niche that cocteau twins are pretty famous for. I’m not the biggest fan of that admittedly, I’ve always liked my shoegaze skin to spiderland by slint as opposed to loveless by my bloody valentine. That being said I really liked the tones this album plays with it’s very fun. Also somewhat covers a goth niche akin to joy division which is very fun. If you’re reading this and you liked any of those bands check it out and tell me what you think
JEFFERY - YOUNG THUG Some of the most 2016 trap I’ve ever heard but that’s not a bad thing that’s a good era for trap. Pre SoundCloud blowing up. I love the vocal performances on this album which is like the very obvious appeal of young thug for me is he just gives vocal performances that you can’t get anywhere else. He’s such a unique rapper in the way he uses his voice almost as a percussion instrument as opposed to a wind and I think that ingenuity is something else unique to young thug. Like on harambe the tones he plays with are so bombastic that it feels so one of a kind. Some real classic stuff on here
LONG. LIVE. ASAP - ASAP ROCKY This album is such a step up from live love asap it’s crazy. In everything from production to rapping ability to features pulled everything on this album succeeds and it does a really great job at tying it all together too. It also just has some iconic songs like fuckin problems and 1train (which it’s crazy 1train is an asap rocky song btw. There’s like 7 rappers on this song on this album including KENDRICK.) i truly feel like this is an album that needed to happen both for asap rocky as an artist and rap as a culture. I don’t think rap was ever really dead but in the early 2010s I feel like pop rap was taking over and projects like this were kinda bringing it back to its roots. It’s a very cool project
ALFREDO 2 - FREDDIE GIBBS, THE ALCHEMIST If let god sort em out was my album of the year this is probably my runner up. It feels like a lot of ideas that were put on the table were expanded upon here and I really like that. The rapping is improved the beats are just a little bit sharper and memorable the features are great. One of only complaints is it should’ve been called ramen but that’s so minor. But yeah listen to this it’s Really really good
VETERAN: DIRECTORS CUT - JPEGMAFIA This is both an expansion on and an excuse to talk about one of my favorite albums ever so this review is gonna be glowing. It’s essentially the original veteran with 6 bonus cuts so I’ll talk about those in separate sections. Veteran is a throwback to hip hops roots in punk clubs in New York while also being completely inventive, forward thinking, and experimental at the same time it’s incredible. I think the album starts off on its highest point mood wise and just gradually becomes more bitter and hateful as time goes on and I kinda love it for that. Curb stomp is such a brutal ending song and I revel in that brutality. I do want to talk about the new tracks more so I’m gonna transition to that. Holy shit these are good. I think most of them were released as singles previously but hearing them collected in the context of veteran makes me like them way more. I’m addicted to this album it truly is a one of a kind experience
AMERICAN IV: WHEN THE MAN COMES AROUND - JOHNNY CASH The last album cash recorded in his lifetime and in my opinion it holds a very similar place in my mind as David bowies blackstar. A tragic album from a hugely influential artist with a morose self reflection of what has come of their life. Though it’s a cover hurt encapsulates this better than any song on here. I also quite like the covers of bridge over troubled water and personal Jesus on here. It’s cool to me a country musician picked all these goth bands to cover because in my opinion when it’s Perfect for me Johnny cash’s music really captures the picture of a southern gothic novel. Grim, morose, and American to its core
THE NAUGHT - INSANE CLOWN POSSEE This album is way better than I expected. I haven’t liked icps newer stuff so this was a huge return to form while also experimenting in some new areas for me. This album pulls from a bunch of different sounds so it’s hard to categorize but surprisingly some of the weirdest of these sounds work the best. The trap inspired ONLY WICKED SHIT is a modern juggalo trap banger which is insane to me. THROW EM UP is by far my favorite track on the album with this insane dance funk beat that all just comes together beautifully. SOFTY PILLOW MAN features this weird tuba beat and also all these lyrics are making up a person that doesn’t exist and the direction it takes just kills me one of my favorite songs from icp comedically. Also this album pulls from a lot of older icp songs for just a second such as southwest voodoo or everybody rize and I really liked that. All of that being said I don’t think this album is for everyone I can’t emphasize enough how much icp is an acquired taste. That being said I really liked it and that’s enough for me
DONT TAP THE GLASS - TYLER THE CREATOR This is far from my favorite Tyler album but it may be the most fun. I feel like he hasn’t had a hit as good as sugar on my tongue since like earfquake. Despite all that though this album hasn’t quite clicked for me right yet I simply can’t vibe to it as much as I’ve seen people have. Which I hate writing that as a criticism because it’s so non specific but I think what it comes down to is I like Tyler when he’s being more lyrical like especially on cmwygl but on this album it’s the production that stands out to me. Which isn’t a bad thing at all it just means I’m having a harder time getting into it
HYPERYOUTH - JOEY VALANCE AND BRAE I liked this album! Not quite as much as I liked no hands but it’s still really good and I think if you’re not on the wave of JVB you kinda gotta be because they’re doing really special and unique right now and it’s great being a fan of it. I think what it comes down to for me is that the aesthetics and theming of no hands appeals to me more than this project but at the end of the day. It’s more jvb and that’s something I’ll take any time I can get. There’s a few bars I would call corny if I had any criticism but that’s literally their Thing so I can’t complain about it. Like they’re corny dudes rapping they’re gonna say corny shit. Overall though this shit goes hard. If you listened to anything I’ve reviewed this year it really is between Jeff rosenstock and JVB
THE POST TRAUMATIC MANIFESTO - WEEVILDOING Okay to be up front I know very little about the tptm characters or anything so I’m judging it purely as an album here. And as another disclaimer I don’t know much about the technical aspects of vocaloid so I won’t be talking so much about that as the songwriting. All that aside I fucking loved this album I listened to it again immediately after listening to it the first time. The songwriting here is just absolutely fantastic you get such vivid pictures of these characters lives that you really get attached to the idea of them at least as someone who doesn’t know all the actual characters. It’s so fucking good. I know always say I hate the fantano system but this is a 9 if not a 10 to me I wouldn’t change a thing about this album if I could
SURFS UP - THE BEACH BOYS This album is simply phenomenal. If any other artist made exactly this it would be their best albums but pet sounds just is one of the best albums ever. Like it’s in its own dimension. First off the title. Surfs up is such an apt title for The Beach Boys shedding their surf rock sound into something much more complex and almost experimental. The topics this album are vast and you can tell Brian Wilson was really depressed during this time because though there’s some very direct social commentary on student demonstration time there’s also some of the most depressing and beautiful music I’ve ever heard like A Day In The Life Of A Tree and Til I Die. I’m deeply in love with this album right now
FLOCKAVELI - WAKA FLOCKA FLAME this album is awesome its influence on like trap as a whole is insane but also for such an aggressive album to have hits like no hands on it is pretty insane. Like they were just playing flocka on the radio in 2012 that’s crazy to me. Overall I also really like that this album keeps a consistent hype energy all the way through it really is a great upper. And of course. Hard in the paint my beloved. One of the best rap songs ever this album deserves all the flowers I can give it and more
NONE OF THIS IS REAL - DJ ROZWELL Probably the most specific and unique I’ll ever get the pleasure of doing. The catch of this album is that the first song comes with instructions. The instructions are to put it on shuffle and turn the crossfade on to 5 seconds. What this does is make a completely new experience every time you listen to it. You make recognize certain parts on first listen but it all blends together so specifically that you probably won’t. The downside to this is the album as a whole is far more memorable than specific tracks. It’s like a rougelike song that’s different everytime but that song will always take 73 minutes even though it’s different. Extremely incredible album
SMILEY SMILE - THE BEACH BOYS This album was ever so slightly disappointing to me but I think it was because I was just riding the absolute high of surfs up and wanted more but this album doesn’t exactly deliver. I only know what I got off a brief Wikipedia dive but I think this album was initially just supposed to be called smile before it got scrapped because of what I assume is creative differences and this is what’s left of it. That kinda shows as I feel the album lacks coherency it just kinda feels like a collection of beach boys songs. Which is totally fine but after the grand narrative of pet sounds and the social commentary of surfs up I expected more I guess. Not a bad album but I can’t help but feel like they have way better ones.
INCESTICIDE - NIRVANA This, ironically compared to the previous review, is a collection of b sides, demos, and live performances compiled after nevermind but before in utero. The reason it’s ironic is because though smiley smile is sold as a complete album this just feels so much more coherent than it. Which could be my Kurt cobain bias but I also think it has to do with the way Kurt writes songs. I feel like you could take all of nirvanas discography, mix them all up, and release the tracks in any form and they’d still be extremely coherent. Anyways I digress this is a good listen if you’re a nirvana fan. Not recommended material for people new to the band but for die hard Nirvana fans this is definitely worth checking out.
BLUE LIPS - SCHOOLBOY Q This albums weird for me because though I did enjoy it I don’t really see myself revisiting it outside of certain tracks. And I don’t know why that is. Maybe it could be because I don’t have attachment and nostalgia tied to it like blank face lp or oxymoron but it just lacks a certain je ne sai quoi that those albums have. I feel like the closest it ever comes to reaching those heights is definitely the first non intro song, pop. It just honestly felt like generic modern rap without much to say to me and that’s kinda disappointing as a schoolboy q fan. If I do return to this album and love it I’ll talk about it again but for now I can’t help but feels like it overstays its welcome for what it brings to the table
ELECTRIC LADYLAND - JIMI HENDRIX Man. Talk about all killer no filler this album kicks ass. And it’s a long one too so the fact it keeps the intensity and vibe it’s going for the entire time is just astonishing. There are quiet moments like rainy day dream away and though I enjoy those tracks like crosstown traffic, voodoo child, and house burning down are just undeniable raw energy. Of course I’d be ashamed to not bring up his cover of bob dylans all across the watchtower, a cover that undeniably has outpaced the original in terms of being iconic. Right behind fortunate son as The vietnam war protest song. An incredible ending to a tragically short career. One of the finest rock albums I’ve ever heard.
GUNFIGHTER BALLADS AND TRAIL SONGS - MARTY ROBBINS It’s an understatement to say country is a weak spot in my musical vocabulary so I’ve been trying to absorb more country music and god. I absolutely love this album. I honestly was expecting to just like big iron because fallout new Vegas moment but this album REALLY stands the test of time. I love when country is less “I love beer and my god and my country” and more “I’m a lone gunfighter who lost his only love and will die the same way I’ve killed others” and this album just captures that vibe so perfectly. So many of the songs are so macabre for a country album if you listen to the lyrics and it really is just an awesome experience. I’m a very big fan of what this album does for me.
VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND I’m so funny because I think I’m cooler than indie music (no offense to indieheads it’s just what I grew up with so I think I’m burnt out on it) and then I’ll hear something like this and just love it to death. Every song on this album is so fucking good. Maybe it’s because they’re both British indie bands but I hear so much Arctic monkeys influence which I absolutely love although in a way it makes me wonder. I like the more distorted fast Arctic monkeys stuff and this feels a lot more like their more recent stuff but it came out before they released that so what I’m wondering is. Did Arctic monkeys inspire vampire weekend who then inspired Arctic monkeys to make more accessible stuff? I don’t know but it’s interesting to think about. I love this album and will be checking out contra soon.
DATE EVERYTHING! I honestly don’t have a ton to say about this game. It’s fun and I recommend it but ultimately it’s not what I prefer out of dating sims. I could’ve used 25 characters with fleshed out routes as opposed to 100 with a bunch of mini arcs. I appreciate the gumption but it just doesn’t work out as well for me. I also wish the rumor system was more involved because it feels like in a characters route like the same 4 side characters will show up for that route and there’s not a lot of variance. I think it would’ve been cool if the whole house was more of a community. Good game but a bit forgettable it definitely could use more than premise and voice actors to make it shine
PERSONA 3 RELOAD Hoooooooooooly fuck this game is perfect? Maybe the best modern persona game????? Definitely so there’s like nothing I can complain about and I can bitch about 4 and 5 for an eternity. I’ll begin with the gameplay: it’s the best the persona series has ever been. Skims the bullshit bosses of five for good challenges and everything else is simply as good as persona is getting. The writing of p3 was already the best in the series but I’d say this was just a pinch better. The social links are great and memorable. Like fuck dude even if people hate nozomi they at least remember him and like none of the other ones are bad. I liked there being a lot to do at night I only found myself hitting up the arcade to pass time a bit in the late game. It really is just fucking phenomenal. The best the persona series has ever been
TRAVIS STRIKES AGAIN: NO MORE HEROES (replay!) Okay so I used to think this was the best suda game. High praise from me. Though I still love what this game does allegorically, every level being a different moment of the directors time directing video games. A pure reflection on sudas career told through his own words (though those games are draped in the metaphors his games are known for). That being said after replaying it I do think people who complain about the gameplay are kinda right. Maybe not to the extent they complain but it’s undeniable this games controls are dogwater. That and I’ve come to dislike the way you have to search for the story in this game by reading optional emails and faxes to understand what’s going on. It’s still a great game but honestly I was just not vibing with the gameplay the way I used to. I still love this game and this series but it’s because of this love I feel the need to criticize them all for their collective flaws. It sucks there’s no perfect no more heroes game. If you took the gameplay of 1, music of 2, writing of tsa, and aesthetics of 3 you’d have a perfect game. But then again I think that’s what killer7 is for lol. So I digress, a good game but I don’t love it as much as I used to
PIKMIN (replay) I love this game dearly I play it AT LEAST once a year I just wanted to talk about it this time. Oh man I love the concept of pikmin and even if the ai would be…. Improved later in the series the fact that the gamecube can render 101 little guys, flowers to make more guys, and enemies all at the same time is really really impressive to me still. I love how every level in this game feels like a little miniature model of an ecosystem you’re running through. I love how there’s only three types of pikmin so I can just make 500 reds and blitz through the game without having to worry about my numbers. I love how each ship part is a little puzzle waiting to be solved really pressing how well you know the games mechanics. It’s just awesome I really do adore it.
PIKMIN 2 Okay so with how much I just gushed over the first pikmin surely the second has to be good right? Right? I have to like it. FUCK NO. Everything I like about the first pikmin I love has been ripped away from me. I hate the cave system so bad I hate it I hate how every level is randomized so you just have to go with the flow instead of carefully planning your moves. At least purple pikmin are here because I love them but only being able to make white and purple pikmin in caves SUCKS. Ugh. I’m gonna be honest I got really close to beating this game like 95% of treasure recovered but I can’t be assed to finish it I really didn’t like this game
PIKMIN 3 DELUXE Okay back to you regularly scheduled glowing reviews I think this may be one of my favorite games of all time. The way everything the first pikmin did right is just expanded upon here simply tickles me pink. Every last piece of fruit is an adventure waiting to be had and it’s great. I can’t wait to replay this game too because like. I was already pretty damn efficient at getting all the fruit but now what I know what I’m doing I can blaze through this fucker. I can’t wait to play all the side content too it really just is so phenomenal
SUPERMAN (2025) This movie was really good and it may be cheesy but I think people needed something this overwhelmingly hopeful and positive to come out in these dire times. It’s everything Superman should be and I enjoyed that a lot considering I haven’t liked a Superman movie since like uhhh. Superman 2005? I don’t even remember that one but I liked it as a kid. Some people say the parallels to the Israel palenstine genocide are heavy handed but I thought it was done well both in the sense of it exploring whether Superman did what was right when it comes to saving lives without consulting anyone about it in a global conflict but also like. You get Guy Gardner summoning giant middle fingers from the ground to flip over idf tanks that just rules. Lastly every performance in this movie is just phenomenal I didn’t have a problem with a single roll. Overall I love what James Gunn is doing with his dc characters this movie was really good
DANDADAN: EVIL EYE This is technically just episode 1-3 of season 2 of Dandadan but we saw it in theaters early so I wanna talk about it. Holy fuck this movie devastated me. Like I wasn’t expecting to feel sympathetic for a Dandadan villain because they’ve all been either comical, irredeemable, or become allies later. Holy fuck did evil eye break that trend I cried multiple times during this movie it really threw me through a lot. The animation is fucking awesome and it’s just really good i highly recommend Dandadan to everyone
SUMMER WARS (2009) This film was just phenomenal. Everything from the animation to the music to the writing to the voice acting to the characters was just perfect for me. I think having the main character be an average joe who doesn’t know what he’s getting into really serves the plot well as opposed to having like a typical mc. Like if kazuma was the mc instead of just The Fighter I don’t think this movie would work nearly as well. Lastly I think the way the story handles technology and society through the world of oz is both fascinating and super ahead of its time. Like in the digital age it’s crazy how this movie only came out in 2009 at the dawn of like Facebook and now we’re like. A decade removed from oz. Truly an all timer for me, I can’t recommend it enough
