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Album Review

Simply Put, Jeppediinho Makes Music With a Heart

Every once in a while, an electronic album arrives that isn’t desperately trying to become the soundtrack to someone’s gym montage or the background noise for a TikTok recipe or whatever passes for emotional catharsis in the algorithmic age. Jeppediinho’s Games of Life; a title that sounds like it should come with a glowing “Press […]

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All I Live For’s Sophomore LP, “Into the Ether,” Is Your Gateway to Metal

If you’ve been reading a lot of my reviews, I’m geared towards simplicity over technicality, but what if you have an album that balances both simplicity, technical mastery, and skillful execution? ALL I LIVE FOR had just released their sophomore LP, ‘Into The Ether.’ Join me as I discuss this record at length and read

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The Bateleurs Aren’t Just Standing in the Fire; They’re Learning to Sculpt With It

There’s a certain swagger that only comes from a band that’s been through hell, scraped themselves back together, and then decided the flames might as well be repurposed as stage lighting. A Light in the Darkness, the second full-length from Lisbon’s The Bateleurs, is that swagger weaponized. Not self-destructive, not nostalgic, but sharpened into something

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Aeons Isn’t Just Esprit D’Air’s Most Accomplished Album; It’s Their Manifesto

There’s something almost poetic about Aeons landing in a world that feels like it’s collapsing and rebooting every other week. Esprit D’Air; the eternally DIY, never-quiet, never-dead metal project has always sounded like it was forged in the middle of an existential crisis, but this time, the crisis feels mutual. Where Oceans (2022) and Seasons

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Luke Pacuk’s 1983 Is Less a Nostalgia Trip Than a Reckoning

Luke Pacuk’s 1983 isn’t just another artist raiding the thrift shop of eighties nostalgia. If anything, it’s a full-scale reconstruction project. This record doesn’t merely wear its influences on its sleeve; it embalms them, reanimates them, and sends them staggering into the modern world with unnerving confidence. The result sounds less like a retro pastiche

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Elion Melody’s “Engraved Onto Infinity” Delivers Everything Its Name Promises

It makes a difference when an artist wants you to feel something instead of just shoving their sound at your ears for streams and plays. Elion Melody’s “Engraved Onto Infinity” does exactly that, inviting you to sit with his curation that feels like a love letter showcasing his suave confidence and vulnerability. Originating from the

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Across Its Ten Tracks, Avaraj’s The Crumble Isn’t Neat, nor Should It Be

Heartbreak albums are nothing new. Everyone from Adele to your coworker with a ukulele has made one. But The Crumble, the debut full-length from Georgia-born singer-songwriter Avaraj, isn’t just about heartbreak. Rather, it’s about the aftermath when the love songs stop working and all that’s left is the noise in your head. Written in the

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Sleeping Fits Is an Album About Friction Between the Organic and the Artificial

Matt Chabe’s debut as Sleeping Fits feels like the kind of record you stumble across by accident; an unassuming Bandcamp upload that turns out to be a miniature world of fuzz, heat, and human messiness. It’s the product of a one-man operation based outside Guadalajara, Mexico, recorded with what Chabe calls “busted amps and cheap

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Bastion’s Wake “Go Tell the Bees” Is A Vessel Of Stories For Everyone Who Has Lived, Lost, and Returned

There’s something so intriguing when you name an album “Go Tell the Bees”. Like, excuse me, are we really talking to bees now? No — but close. So you listened to the album and realized Bastion’s Wake is onto something great, the kind that cannot be replicated by some AI or any formulaic pursuit to

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On Pertinax, Suris Are Out Here Writing Songs About Feeling Too Much

There’s something quietly rebellious about an album like Pertinax. Suris, composed of the duo of Lindsey and David Mackie, have decided to make something defiantly sincere. It’s the sound of two people who have been doing this long enough to know better, but went ahead and did it anyway. “Pertinax” literally means “resolute,” which is

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