EP Review

Streaming has birthed an odd kind of musical inflation. Albums are deluxe editions. Deluxe editions become “complete” editions. Singles include five mixes that are only discernibly different if you possess the hearing of a bat or the patience of a saint. Somewhere along the line, we became conditioned to believe that quantity was an acceptable […]

Let’s be honest, there’s a specific type of musician out there who genuinely sounds like they believe rock and roll has all the answers to the world’s problems. But I don’t mean the huge political, or economic kind of problems. We’re talking about more personal ones. The sort of problems that involve regret, wasted time,

There’s a very specific kind of project that doesn’t just want you to listen to it; it wants you to understand it first. Like, really understand it. Read the documents, absorb the mission statement, maybe reflect on the global state of humanity for a minute, and then press play. War Torn, the debut EP from

There is something deeply comforting about a band that knows exactly what emotional weather they want to trap you inside. Not tell you about. Not politely gesture toward. Trap you inside. Tár’s Dancing on the Event Horizon is four tracks of beautifully managed atmospheric collapse, a record that seems less interested in introducing itself than

There’s a certain type of debut EP that arrives sounding like it was engineered in a laboratory somewhere by people who use the phrase “market positioning” without irony. Then there’s Only Love by Mark Moule, which sounds like the exact opposite of that: four songs built slowly, patiently, and with the kind of emotional honesty

There’s a certain kind of artist who talks about “authenticity” as a branding exercise, and then there’s I.K.P. (The Infamous King of Positivity), where authenticity feels less like a choice and more like the only available option. Psyche, their latest EP, sits very firmly in the latter category. It’s not trying to convince you it’s

There’s a very specific kind of gamble in releasing a live EP when you’ve been a band for over twenty years, and it’s this: you are effectively saying, “Alright, no tricks now. This is what we actually sound like.” No studio safety net, no post-production wizardry smoothing over the edges; just a room, some microphones,

“Anodyne” opens with the kind of quiet, tentative confidence that suggests either deep artistic intent or someone sitting alone in a room thinking, “Alright, I guess I’m doing all of this myself now.” In this case, it’s both. Satsuma, the solo project of Edinburgh multi-instrumentalist Cam Halkerston isn’t just DIY in the vague, aesthetic sense.

There’s a very specific kind of project that doesn’t just present ideas; it kind of circles them, pokes at them, contradicts itself, and then just… leaves you there to figure out how you feel about it. The Beauty of Danger sits squarely in that space. It’s not trying to tie things up neatly, and it’s

A good rap project doesn’t bother announcing itself with spectacle. No dramatic reinvention, no desperate attempt to chase whatever sound is currently trending on TikTok; just beats, bars, and a very clear sense of purpose. Loyalty & Respect by Solar Soundz is exactly that kind of project. It doesn’t try to convince you it’s important.