Latest Reviews

Adrianne Lenker has released a drumless and bassless banger titled "Fool." This track would go well over the melting winter snow and a cup of tea. Along with the track follows a video—an extremely wholesome video. The video captures a group of people in cowboy hats dancing weirdly and freely to the track. It also has dogs living their best life. The video goes very well with the song. If you are a regular fan of Adrianne Lenker, you might find that her voice and melodic soul are very well represented in this song, but the instrumentation is a bit different to what you have heard before. Anyhow, it all comes together very well.

Jacob Collier's eagerly anticipated "Djesse Vol. 4" album release is now just days away, and the avant-garde virtuoso excites us with a final preview, this time in collaboration with the acclaimed Colombian pop sensation Camilo.

The platinum-selling artist, Jordan Davis, brought his pop-country vibe to a sold-out show in Manchester on Sunday night, supported by the emerging talent Ashley Cooke, as part of their ongoing Damn Good Time World Tour across Europe.

Dua Lipa is back with another banging hit titled 'Training Season.' Dua Lipa is continuing to push for her title for Queen of Pop, and I would say if she isn’t there already, she is getting closer every day. Following the release of her hit 'Houdini,' she continues in the same fashion with extremely catchy love-themed songs with a little bit of a twist to them. The track 'Houdini' was perfectly simple, like so simple and catchy that you can’t even imagine how much work went into making it that way. The theme of 'Training Season' is that of Dua Lipa searching for the right partner. She is stating her needs and requirements and seems sort of fed up with the whole process of trying to find someone who can truly appreciate her. The featured music video goes hand in hand with this, and I highly recommend you to watch it. It basically shows a lot of men trying to get Dua’s attention, but it seems all of them fail.

Girl in Red has just dropped her latest track, titled "Too Much". The accompanying video portrays a couple ensnared in a silent conflict, one desperately seeking attention from the other but failing to garner it, leading them to feel overwhelmed by their own presence.

The artist Caity Baser has just released a new track titled “I’m A Problem”, and long with the track follows a music video. The song is a poppy, anthemic tune about not adhering to what anyone is trying to think you should be. Caity is showing that she is her own artist and throughout the whole song, she is swinging little jabs at internet trolls etc. I think that this trope is something that most artists explore at some point. However, most people do it a bit more low key, where they don’t expressively make whole songs about it with such blunt language. This is why Caity’s rendition is actually really refreshing, straight to the point. It seemed like I was going another direction, but I appreciate the bluntness here - more power to her. 

Owl City releases a new track titled "Boston". This track is about love and starting over in a different town. What is more satisfying than listening to a one-man band where that one-man has absolutely mastered the art of making satisfying synth sounds and catchy melodies? Well, I can think of a few, but it is pretty darn high up there. The song "Boston" sort of starts in a “classic” Owl City fashion, from what I can remember, with the cute synths modified to perfection and an overall bubbly feeling. It is an interesting track because the sonics really follow along with the story. The first part, being more of a lament about how one part in a relationship feels left out and unloved. When the narrative breaks over and the character starts considering the freedoms that go along with moving to another city, all the musical elements change. We introduce distorted guitars, rebellious pop-punk vocals, and much more. I would say this switch-up makes sense, and it is appreciated that someone put so much thought into their song. Just like how getting up and moving to a new city all of a sudden would be a bit shocking, the rock elements kick in at the same time as that lyric starts supporting that shocking feeling.

Lizzy McAlpine releases a heart-clenching piano ballad titled “Older”. The soundscape is incredibly full even though it is only piano and voice. This is the type of track I would put on in the late night or in a long car ride to really gain some introspection. Currently, it is 6 am and I just woke up. This song is too sentimental and beautiful to listen to right now, for me at least. But I will indulge.

Madison Beer releases a sensual pop banger with lo-fi elements and a steady house beat titled “Make You Mine”. This track was produced by Leroy Clampitt and Madison Beer. Leroy is less known, but if you look into it, he is also, just like Madison, a known bop maker. This track very much feels like something that belongs in a dimly lit room or late-night party. That is because none of the sounds really pop out in the high register; everything blends together in a low-fi sort of way. Now, this could be something very bad, but in the case of Make You Mine, the blend is very nice. A lot of producers who lack experience will make a low effort track and call it lo-fi just because it sounds better than low quality. Then, there are a lot of producers and songwriters like Madison Beer and Leroy Clampitt who have mastered the art of blending lo-fi sounds together to release that comforting energy that lo-fi brings.

Little Simz just released a new track titled “Mood Swings.” This track has impeccable production and vocal flow; let’s dive into it. After a few seconds, I can personally say with great confidence that I am going to enjoy this tune a whole lot. The track starts off very minimalistic with dark alien percussion, really hard-hitting 808s, and Little Simz doing what she does. The mix of everything together is very good. The percussive elements are clacky in just the right way, the vocals are naturally fitting where they need to be, and the low end with kick/bass is quite satisfying. The track gives a pretty hypnotic mood, even though it keeps switching up, alluding to the theme of “mood swings.” If you look at the little visualizer that came with the track, it enhances the whole futuristic sound pretty well. If I am not careful, I think I’ll listen to this track 240 times.