Miss Grit - Follow the Cyborg - Feb 24, 2023
Margaret Sohn, otherwise known as Miss Grit, is a Korean-American artist based out of New York, and her highly anticipated debut LP Follow the Cyborg is finally here. Inspired by Serial Experiments Lain, an anime by Yasuyuki Ueda that traces the narrative of a girl losing herself to her own online persona, Miss Grit discusses very similar themes on this semi-concept album. A cool idea is only half the picture here, though, as it was certainly the instrumentation that blew me away. This is an extremely dense record, littered with a variety of electronic sounds spanning from noise and hyper-pop to psychedelia in its purest form, with a hint of chamber music on some of the b-side tracks. Miss Grit really makes her mark in moments like the middle of the second track, "Your Eyes Are Mine," where the screeching guitar comes in for what I suppose is the chorus. Sohn carefully and tastefully chooses the moments when these songs become so full and almost deafening, where they evolve from semi-predictable pop tracks into a swelling storm of anthemic and personal balladry. This is undoubtably one of the most impressive releases from the year thus far.
Favorite Tracks: "Your Eyes Are Mine" ; "Like You" ; "The End"
- Will Lewis
Gorillaz - Cracker Island - Feb 24, 2023
Gorillaz is back with a new album after the critically acclaimed Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. Their new album, Cracker Island, is a return to form for Gorillaz. No longer jumping genres like Song Machine, Cracker Island lands on electropop and psychedelic funk as its genres. The features on this album are great as always, with the lineup including Thundercat, Stevie Nicks, Beck, Bad Bunny, Adeleye Omotayo, Tame Impala, and Bootie Brown. Unlike Song Machine, this album features songs made solely by Gorillaz, and they’re some of the best tracks on the album. If you’re craving for something more akin to Gorillaz earlier music, this is the album for you. It's good, but following the genre bending album that was Song Machine, it's a little disappointing.
Favorite tracks: “Silent Running”, “Skinny Ape”, and “New Gold”.
- Logan Hurston
shame - Food for Worms - Feb 24, 2023
English post-punk quintet Shame have been on a steady rise to the top of alternative rock for the better part of the past five years, beginning with their debut release Songs of Praise in early 2018. An extremely fun and lively band that our regular readers may be familiar with, this latest release in their discography captures these familiar elements, while darkening their ethos on the b-sides, more akin to their last record Drunk Tank Pink. The singles released leading up to this album gathered some serious traction, and the full record was an excellent follow. Food for Worms is too full and well constructed to be lumped aside with dime-a-dozen sprechgesand post-punk records, as the emphasis on melody and choruses make this record accessible, all the while retaining that true punk spirit.
Favorite Tracks: "Fingers of Steel" ; "Orchid" ; "Different Person"
- Will Lewis
