-ANNOUNCEMENTS-

• Rihanna will be the halftime performer of the 2023 Super Bowl.
• Mount Kimbie have announced their double album “MK 3.5”.
• Legendary jazz musician Pharoah Sanders has sadly passed away at the age of 81.
• 90’s rapper “Coolio” has passed away at the age of 59.

-SINGLES-

“Beguiled” by The Smashing Pumpkins

Genre: Alternative Rock

Rating: [6/10]

As the first single off of “Atum,” I thought it would be worse.  After their last album which was a disgraceful slog, “Beguiled” at least has some force to it, the instrumental sounds oddly hollow but Billy Corgan sounds like he always has, it’s just kind of a run of the mill Smashing Pumpkins track.

“Star Walkin” by Lil Nas X

Genre: Pop

Rating: [6/10]

It’s a pretty okay pop song, but not really what I wanted from him.  Lil Nas X is a very charismatic guy, which makes his songs the fun pop hits that they are, but this song kind of lacks that character.  It shows through a little bit on the drill switch-up in the middle of it, other than that it isn’t super notable.

“Ancestress” by Björk

Genre: Art Pop

Rating: [9/10]

In love with this, it’s a 7 minute beautiful ballad from Björk that is a celebration of her roots as an artist.  Throughout it’s runtime it goes through a multitude of different passages and concepts and it is all together one of her best tracks in years.

“Eddie” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Genre: Alternative Rock

Rating: [5/10]

I really hated RHCP’s last album, it was an absolutely bloated bore, and this points that their next album will be the same.  The track is fundamentally structureless with an off brand instrumental and cheesy guitar solo at the halfway mark that makes this song just an amalgamation of dad rock. 

-EPS-

“SZNZ: Autumn” by Weezer

Genre: Power Pop

Rating: [5/10]

Weezer tried to highlight a “fall vibe” and failed.  The SZNZ string of EP’s hasn’t been great so far, “SZNZ: Spring” was just mediocre and “SZNZ: Summer” actually showed some potential for the series, but “SZNZ: Autumn” halts that progress.  Most of the tracks here have Rivers Cuomo’s signature whiny sound to them and do not hold up to the EP’s supposed theme. It’s just another incoherent project from the band, nothing too surprisingly bad,  just normal levels of bad.

Favorite Tracks: “Can’t Dance, Don’t Ask Me” and “Should She Stay or Should She Go”

Least Favorites: “Francesca,” “What Happens After You?,” and “Tastes Like Pain”

-ALBUMS-

“God Save the Animals” by Alex G

Genre: Indie Rock

Rating: [8/10]

Alex G reinvents himself on his 8th album, now with extra autotune!  Alex G is my favorite Indie Rock artist at the moment, his unique songwriting abilities, awkward vocals, and odd song structure that helped him stick out.  On “God Save the Animals” he puts his focus on new, fun ideas through the rough auto tuned vocals of tracks like “S.D.O.S.”, ”Cross the Sea”, and “Immunity” where Alex’s vocals are completely drowning in this shaky, awkward vocal mixing that really works for these songs.  There are also a lot of tracks that feel much more personal and natural, from the extremely hopeless “Mission,” the catchy Indie Rock tune “Runner,” and the painfully human “Miracles,” “God Save the Animals” knows how to have fun but also how to be softer and sadder.  The ideas throughout the track list are unique and keep it feeling fresh, and all the way through, it is one of the most fun and sorrowful albums of the year simultaneously.

Favorite Tracks: “After All,” “Runner,” “Mission,” “S.D.O.S,” “No Bitterness,” “Ain’t It Easy,” “Cross the Sea,” “Immunity,” and “Miracles”

Least Favorite: None

“Guitar Music” by Courting

Genre: Post-Punk

Rating: [8/10]

The debut from Courting is another fun, short Post-Punk outing filled with potential.  “Guitar Music” fuses the fun lightheartedness of bands like “Squid” and “Shame” with a more electronic and experimental sound to great results.  The opener “Cosplay / Twin Cities” has this deconstructed, bouncy club beat, “Tennis” is an upbeat, repetitive, and catchy anthem, and the 9 minute “Uncanny Valley Forever” that perfectly infuses electronic sound with this weird concept for a track that is a wild sonic journey.  The album isn’t the longest, but it does make me extremely hopeful for this band’s future and the future of the genre as a whole.

Favorite Tracks: “Cosplay / Twin Cities,” “Tennis,” “Crass (Redux),” “Jumper,” and “Uncanny Valley Forever”

Least Favorite: None

“Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam” by The Comet Is Coming

Genre: Nu-Jazz

Rating: [7/10]

The 3rd album from the Jazz trio is just as smooth as their others and just as inventive.  “Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam” is just as grandiose* as it sounds, it’s a nu-jazz album like no other.  The jazzy, spaced out tunes transcend my ears with the emphasis on the future of jazz.  The powerful saxophone splits through the intergalactic soundscape on tracks like “CODE” and “TECHNICOLOR” as they pull together their very unique take on nu-jazz this year.

Favorite Tracks: “CODE,” “PYRAMIDS,” “TECHNICOLOR,” “TOKYO NIGHTS,” and “THE HAMMER”

Least Favorite: “LUCID DREAMER”