Written by:	RaduP, musclassia, Roman Doez, X-Ray Rod
Published:	April 14, 2025

Wait A Minute! This Isn't Metal! - March 2025
Metal Storm's outlet for nonmetal album reviews





We here at Metal Storm pride ourselves on our thousands of metal reviews and interviews and article; metal is our collective soul and passion, which is why we bother with this junk. That being said, we'd be lying if we stuck to our trve-kvlt guns and claimed that metal is the only thing we ever listen to. Whether we want to admit it or not, we do check out some other stuff from time to time; some of us are more poptimistic than others, but there's a whole world out there aside from Satan-worshiping black metal and dragon-slaying power metal. We do already feature some nonmetal artists on our website and have a few reviews to back them up, but we prefer to limit that aspect of the site to those artists who have been a strong influence on the metal scene or who are in some way connected to it. This article series is the place for those artists who don't matter to metal in the slightest but still warrant some conversation - after all, good music, is good music, and we all know metal isn't the only thing on this planet for any of us.

Down below, you might find some obscure Bandcamp bedroom projects or some Billboard-topping superstar; as long as it ain't metal and the album itself isn't a best-of compilation, it fits. Obviously, we're certain that not everything will be for everybody (you guys can be viciously territorial even when metal is the only thing on the menu, and we're all supposed to like the same things), but we do hope you find at least one thing that you can enjoy, instead of just pointing and screaming in horror "Not metal!" as if that would be an insult.

Here are our previous features:

February 2025
January 2025
December 2024

And now to the music...

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I often cover stuff that's very borderline in between being metal and non-metal. I sometimes make the call to actually cover said album on the main page, like I did with Haunted Horses. The one album from this edition I was closest to doing that again was this one. I even had it in my queue for a while, before giving it another listen and deciding that it's not over the border enough for that. Now, when I'm writing this writeup while listening to it, I'm having doubts again, which should go to show you how appealing I find this album to be for metalheads.

A Harmony Of Loss Has Been Sung is a short package at only six tracks and 33 minutes of runtime, self-described by the band as a "document of pure pain", centered around the grief that came out of a miscarriage that happened to the wife of the vocalist, and that's something you can definitely tell by how bleak and brooding the tracks are. Bass-heavy and sludge-adjacent noise rock / post-hardcore that feels dense and crushing, along with a vocal performance that shifts from shrieks to anxiety-filled pleads to deadpan spoken word. It's the kind of listening experience that, despite its short runtime, feels emotionally exhausting.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP







Another band in the lines that could technically be added to the database because, even if they're not metal themselves, they play around with genres that are metal-adjacent enough to get a pass, Honningbarna (Norwegian for "honey kids") are a punk rock band whose sound pushes in heavier territories with post-hardcore and noise rock and more. They've mostly been a more straight-forward hardcore punk band, sometimes having a garage rock leaning, up to 2017's Voldelig lyd. I discovered them with 2022's Animorphs, which I covered back then, one I appreciated for how many of punk's different sounds it covered.

Soft Spot continues that expansive trajectory, taking the hardcore much further into post-hardcore, making the loud and noisy soundscape feel like an integral part of the songs in a noise rock way, taking some industrial leanings in the production, and making the post-punk melodies feel weirdly groovy and almost psychedelic. The Norwegian acting as a language barrier does leave the energy in the music and the vocals to push the rebellious vibe further. There are moments that feel more fun and tongue-in-cheek, and ones that feel genuinely somber, the latter even having moments where the drumming and the post-punk melodies in the guitars create a very metal sounding atmosphere.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





As Slift continue to take the psych-rock world by storm, another French family affair emerges in the form of The Baptized, comprised of three cousins. After a self-titled EP in 2022, Exilion is the band’s full-length debut, set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by exiled criminals. Well, that’s the concept stated by the band at the very least; with the album being instrumental-only, its contents are very much open to the listener’s interpretation. What’s less open to interpretation is the high quality of this debut.

Like Slift, there’s times in which the psychedelic/stoner rock of The Baptized flirts with metallic tone and heaviness, but to start off, “Furvent” is a bright, light melodic effort with danceable drum rhythms, soaring lead guitar lines and solos, and tranquil mid-song soundscaping. “Endless Blast” hits listeners with the first bursts of heavier distortion, but also has some light, bouncy grooves during its electric soloing, as the bass is given plenty of opportunity to shine. “Jerry’s Escape” is trippy and transportive, while “La Malterie” is driven and pounding. Capping everything off is 11-minute closer “Storming The Dark”, a nice encapulsation of The Baptized’s range, from fuzzy to dainty, and from showy to atmospheric.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by musclassia





Coming 25 years after their self-titled debut, Dead Meadow’s tenth latest studio release is significant not only as a milestone, but also due to the tragic events surrounding it. Voyager To Voyager is the final release to feature founding bassist Steve Killie, who passed away from cancer before the album could be completed; he was just able to finish tracking before his death, but Jason Simon was dissatisfied by the initial mixes produced at Studio 606, and opted to remix the record from scratch in his own studio. The finally released version of the album serves as a testament to the band’s journey with Killie over a quarter-decade.

The album is very recognizable as the work of Dead Meadow; it’s the kind of low-key psychedelic rock that prioritizes groove and melody over volume, and “The Space Between” is slick and charming with its easy-going flow. Subsequent highlights on Voyager To Voyager include “The Unhounded Now”, whose jagged, swinging main riff is pleasantly contrasted by some retro Hammond organ blasts in the background, and the slightly faster and hooky “Dead Tree Shake”, which finds a soothing harmony between Simon’s soporific vocals and driving guitarwork. Whatever happens to the band going forward, Voyager To Voyager is a fitting conclusion to their long chapter with Killie.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by musclassia





Wait a minute! This is metal!... On the first track at least!

Bands with 50 years of baggage are rare to come by, and usually their new records are more of a formality than a real new piece with real artistic intent. But The Residents have never been your average band, and they make that very apparent on Doctor Dark. This is a 76-minute-long concept album involving several storylines based on true stories, including one where a teenager tries to kill himself after listening to a metal band. It’s wild and ambitious, and you can clearly tell a lot of heart was put into it (with the band even hoping to play the album in a theatrical context), which is extremely rare for such a late career release.

Musically, a lot of ground is covered within these 76 minutes, opening with the industrial metal of “Prelude / Metal Madness”, which is followed by the amazing symphonic rock track “White Guys With Guns”, and then devolves into narrated soundscapes with lots of strings. This type of composition that starts with the third track makes up the majority of the record, and, I have to say, I don’t find them all that thrilling to listen to. There is a clear focus on the story being told above all else and it isn’t always to the benefit of the album. On the other hand, the tracks veering into rock territory, like the two I mentioned earlier, are all really good. And maybe I would’ve enjoyed Doctor Dark more if it stuck to that style instead of doing chamber music for 75% of its runtime. Overall, I still applaud The Residents for attempting something so ambitious and putting so much passion into it so late into their career. And while it isn’t for me, the carefully crafted narration is interesting enough to warrant a listen, and I could definitely see myself return to a few of these tracks.

Apple Music | Spotify

by doez





It must be quite a challenge keeping the same lineup for nearly two decades, but Bambara is the exact same trio since their formation in 2007. In the meantime they've played around with a bunch of sounds, not only with subgenres close to the core post-punk one, but their past two records had pretty strong country and blues leanings that made for a pretty interesting palette. 2020's Stray had a very specific twang by blending gothic country and punk blues with the post-punk sounds that have dominated the 2010s. Bambara have always been strong songwriters, but I can't deny that it was the blend of sounds that made them stand out most.

Birthmarks diminishes some of those overt country and blues leanings, but Reid Bateh's voice sounding so much like a combination of Nick Cave and Mark Kozelek does make sure that there's at least some of that similarity in nuance, plus there's something infectious and attention grabbing about the vocal performance's presence. Otherwise Birthmarks sounds more ethereal in production, taking a bit from dream pop, and the lushness in songwriting and the presence of various guest vocalists does give a bit of a sophisti-pop vibe that blends really well with the darker gothic edge. The kind of album that really deserved a night time listen.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





The South Korean experimental post-rock scene has really benefited from the emergence of Asian Glow and Parannoul, two one-man bands that managed to reinvent various sounds for the internet age, with Parannoul especially feeling like a very DIY and personal take on shoegaze, and some of its releases making a huge impact on me. The person behind the project has already showed a penchant for exploring sounds under different names, from more naive post-rock under the laststar precursor, to the more ambient new age of mydreamfever. The latest of these side projects for new sound explorations is Huremic.

Seeking Darkness, the project's debut, is divided into five tracks, each without a specific title, totaling exactly one hour of runtime, so it's definitely the kind of album that's made for the full listen. The jovial joie de vivre nature of Parannoul's other works is pretty much absent here, leaving behind a much heavier and darker experience, one that's often so heavy I considered adding it to the main page, with plenty of similarities to krautrock and post-metal in how the long-form songwriting builds up to something that's noisier and more chaotic and dissonant. It's the kind of crescendocore that's cluttered with noises in a way that would feel overwhelming in the hands of someone else, but Huremic makes the entire experience feel emotionally harrowing.

Bandcamp

by RaduP





Goddamn, imagine debuting with a colossal 78 minute post-rock / noise rock work. Chileans Hesse Kassel have some big cojones and I can’t imagine how much time, blood, sweat and tears was put into these compositions. There are too many styles which are perfectly mixed here. I hear the hypnotic bass lines of krautrock and the improv nature of jazz for example. But in general I would say the structure of the album, its build-ups and crescendos are mostly rooted in post-rock while the most savage and dissonant moments are pure noise-rock ecstasy. Swans fans will certainly pick up on the intense and repetitive moments filled with tension no less thanks to the intimidating vocalist. He dances on the verge of insanity. He does mostly spoken word but the way he quickly snaps and screams is really unnerving. I adored his transgressive and maddening words but sadly this is an aspect that can only be appreciated if you know Spanish. It’s a bit frustrating because it really elevates the album.

But fear not music lovers; while many words are spoken/sung, this is a loooong album and it is the instrumentals that will take you to untold places. Besides the core rock instruments, a delicate saxophone, piano and strings show up every now and then to really lull you into a sense of security. Some of the up-beat, serene and beautiful moments are not unlike what you would hear from bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mono. The danger is ever present though and you feel that Hesse Kassel is about to snap at any minute. La Brea is without a doubt the most rich and detailed album I’ve heard so far this year and at only one dollar at Bandcamp this is a major steal!

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by X-Ray Rod





The Murder Capital is a band that I've gotten to know through our writeup of their debut album, 2019's When I Have Fears. Since then I've covered their follow-up, 2023's Gigi's Recovery, saw them live last year opening for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and I'm poised to see them live again this year at a festival I'm attending. Despite not being a metal band, they've been very covered by us, and even if each album has had its own personality, with its own touch of heaviness, now with album number three, they're adding some very specifically warm tones to their harsher tendencies.

Primarily a post-punk band with goth rock touches on their debut album, The Murder Capital shifted towards something closer to indie rock and art punk on their follow-up, and on Blindness that's a course that is expanded in a way that feels heavier without necessarily moving towards genres that are associated with heaviness. There's a pulsating distorted heaviness underneath, a noisier side to the production, a lumbering drone to the guitars that enhances the very somber and emotional core of the album. Vocalist James McGovern is truly captivating and a powerful medium for all the grief and anxiety in the songs.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





Weatherday's debut album from 2019, Come In, is an album I've often seen regarded as somewhat of a modern emo classic, especially because of it's DIY bedroom pop adapted for the internet age vibe, and even though its mix of slacker rock and noise pop is something I can appreciate, it wasn't an album I liked as much I hoped to based on the acclaim it got. I was more warm towards the collaborative EP released with Asian Glow back in 2022, Weatherglow, but I was still curious to see whether the six years since the debut album's release made Weatherday more of a project that I could resonate with.

I have mixed feeling, mostly because while I think Hornet Disaster does the sound better as a whole than Come In did, the runtime increase from 50 to 75 minutes does make Hornet Disaster a bit of a chore to listen to. Credit where credit is due, Hornet Disaster is more bold and creative with the wider array of electronica it introduces alongside the very loud and noisy rock/pop, and the way the hooky songwriting contrasts with its raw production feels like something that's an acquired taste, with the "noisy" aspect of it being really pushed to the forefront. So there are a lot of moments throughout it that do resonate with me, but the entire listening experience doesn't.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP







It’s crazy to think that Coheed & Cambria are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, but the band have gotten up to a lot in those years; after the Amory Wars tetralogy with which they made themselves household names, they explored further conceptual stories with Year Of The Black Rainbow and The Afterman duo before gambling on a non-conceptual and more accessibly minded album in The Color Before The Sun. This habit didn’t stick, as they’ve since returned to the Amory Wars with the Vaxis series; however, while Act I: Unheavenly Creatures generally followed in the footsteps of the acclaimed Good Apollo albums stylistically (and in the process became my favourite release by the group in a decade), Act II: A Window Of The Waking Mind replicated the increased accessibility of The Color Before The Sun, dividing audiences somewhat in the process (and leaving me fairly ambivalent). Now, Act III: The Father Of Make Believe comes along, building on every success and failure from the past two decades and getting Coheed & Cambria very much back on track.

Although the tender electronic ballad “Yesterday’s Lost” may not be to everyone’s taste as an opener, the band then kick into gear with a trio of great songs; “Goodbye, Sunshine” is a very fun catchy rocker, “Searching For Tomorrow” is a very 00s C&C bopper, and the title track is grand and expansive in the perfect way. The album plays around with a few different styles in its middle stretch, from the fast, punky “Blind Side Sonny” to the nu metallic tendencies of “Play The Poet”; I’m not as fond of this section of the record, but Coheed save the best for last with a multi-track suite titled “The Continuum” that harks back to the Good Apollo albums, and contains some of their best music since those releases. From the janky groove of “Welcome To Forever, Mr Nobody” and stirring emotionality of the chorus in “The Flood”, to the soaring nature of “Tethered Together” and quirky ELO charm of “So It Goes”, “The Continuum” is a joyous 20-odd minutes of music that does a lot to excite me about one of my favourite bands again after the mixed fortunes of this album’s predecessor.

Apple Music | Spotify

by musclassia





Do you miss the late 70s? Are you a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Dire Straits? You're in luck! Heartland rock of that kind seems to be getting some newfound traction, at least judging by the fact that other bands like The Killers started leaning into it a lot more. England's Sam Fender is however a newer singer/songwriter taking on this sound, having released his debut, Hypersonic Missiles, back in 2019. On this third album, there seems to be a joining of forces towards an even heartland-ier sound due to the production being handled by Adam Granduciel of The War On Drugs.

Sonically, a lot of what Sam Fender does is a bit too indebted to an established sound, People Watching having even less of the alt rock leanings of his earlier albums, but the way the sound works for Sam makes for a really good listen. Sam's vocals are fittingly raspy and filled with nostalgia, and where the album really shines are the story driven lyrics that make the most use of the nostalgic sound. And with the production job that this album has, it sounds even more grandiose and anthem worthy, enhancing the strengths that the album has in its resonating sentimentality.

Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





Shoegaze is already a tried and tested sound and has been for a long time. And I can tell you already that there are no wheels reinvented by Terraplana. There might be some novelty in it being Brazilian shoegaze, a country that produced a lot of the music that I loved, but coincidentally not a lot of it in this genre. And there's something about shoegaze / dream pop that works really well in tandem with the Portuguese language, similar to how well I enjoy hearing it in Sinistro's music. Having already checked out Terraplana with their debut album, Olhar pra trás, two years ago, I was curious to see how they'd fare on a follow-up.

Though there aren't any fundamental changes to how Terraplana approach the sound, Natural does, ironically, sound more natural than the debut. The vocals, from both the vocalists, work better in tandem and create a more dynamic feeling this time around. There's just a dash of noisiness in the production to complement the ethereal fuzz, and all of it feels just the right amount of bittersweet. I already mentioned how well the Portuguese language sounds here, but that might also be more due to how well the songs and the vocals make it sound than just the language itself.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP







Somebody with a voice as deeply baritone as Haley Fohr shouldn't, by most metrics, be able to toe the line between pop and experimental music as well as her project Circuit Des Yeux has. Starting out as a weird avant-folk singer/songwriter thing, which eventually blended into something closer to Dead Can Dance on the previous album, 2021's -io. That one already showed a pretty strong palette reinvention, with a stronger presence of electronica, though Halo On The Inside feels like the dive where -io was the dipping of the toes, leaving a Haley Fohr that seems almost unrecognizable.

Given how a lot of goth music is basically built for baritone voices, her vocals fit the new dark electronic soundscape like bread and butter. The pop side feels even stronger because of how in-your-face the electronics eschew the inaccessibility that the avant-folk side of her previously had, while an experimental side remains in the post-industrial and neoclassical darkwave sounds that still permeate the beats and the way they blend with her vocals. But it's also the catchiest and most direct of her albums to date, somehow feeling like she didn't make her music more pop, but she made pop music darker to fit her music.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





I've gotten to encounter Polish jazz fairly often recently (it was a couple of times only, but still a lot compared to other countries), both in terms of older classic artists and new ones taking the mantle. Niechęć falls in the second category, but they're also soon to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, so they're not exactly new. My first encounter with them was through musclassia's (Hi!) writeup of their previous album, Unsubscribe, one that he found could be appealing to fans of post-rock as well due to its emotionality and dynamic fluctuations.

That's quite the case with Reckless Things as well, with most of the songs being in the 6-9 minute mark leaving a lot of room for the aforementioned dynamic fluctuations. With a reworked lineup that includes a new drummer and saxophonist that really make their mark, with there being plenty of moments where the saxophones and drums get to shine. One instrument that I feel makes Niechęć stand out the most are the keys, and the mood they can bring in the mellower pieces really adds to the dynamic sense, as well as providing some explosive tension in the rowdier moments.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





The Arabic Jazz sound is one I have explored way too rarely, but one that I've enjoyed every time that I did. Having a record spearheaded by a trumpetist (and flugelhorn too) is not entirely unusual, though not something I've encountered with this particular sound, especially after finding out that Bahrain-English trumpetist Yazz Ahmed's credits include working with Radiohead and These New Puritans, as well as a solo career that's nearing 15 years. A Paradise In The Hold comes six years after her previous record, Polyhymnia, and with a runtime on nearly 70 minutes, it more than makes up for that absence.

I admit that the first couple of minutes of the record didn't make the best impression, sounding more akin to the stereotypical Orientalist soundtrack, but that's a feeling that quickly dissipates the more jazz elements get introduced. There's a strong early 70s-ish feel to the jazz parts, blending the jazz fusion of something like Miles Davis' Bitches Brew with the spiritual jazz of Pharaoah Sanders' Karma. There are moments where the Arabic folk elements get more attention, as well as others that feel jazzier, and the blend of these work best in the meditative slower paced bits. Highlights do include the occasional electronic touches, the often splendid percussion, and obviously the trumpet playing.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





My knowledge of ambient music is limited, but Park Jiha’s name is one I haven’t forgotten since listening to The Gleam in 2022. And All Living Things is here to cement her as one of the stand-out artists in the genre for me. The different soundscapes presented here are surprisingly varied for a genre I assumed was a little monotone, with “A Story Of Little Birds” folkier sound presenting a very different experience to “Blown Leaves” or “Water Moon”. And those tracks manage to evoke different feelings that all emerge from this seemingly quiet and peaceful ambience.

In truth, the album that All Living Things reminds me the most of is C418’s Minecraft: Volume Alpha. It may just be my lack of experience with ambient music talking, but both albums evoke the same feelings within me, and a track like “Bloom” would fit right at home in Minecraft with more electronic textures added to it which is one of the greatest compliments I could give to All Living Things. As far as ambient music goes, I couldn’t ask for more than what Park Jiha delivered here, and I could see myself returning to some of these tracks for a nice, calming and introspective experience. I really was not expecting to enjoy it so much and I want to dive deeper into ambient music now.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by doez





It did feel a bit surprising to see a new Mdou Moctar so soon after they had just released another one, Funeral For Justice, last year. But since Mdou Moctar are the leading band in the Tishoumaren scene, a scene combining Tuareg folk music with Western influences in the form of psychedelic rock and electric blues, I didn't question it. But the short gap between releases, as well as the title similarities, and the change in sound (more on that later) do make more sense after figuring out that Tears Of Injustice is basically an acoustic version of Funeral For Justice. I don't normally cover alternative versions, but there's something about Tears Of Injustice that feels unique.

First off, I'm not even sure if this should be tagged as "Tishoumaren" instead of finding a proper Tuareg folk genre tag to use (RYM suggests "Takamba") because the blues / psych rock aspect of it is diminished by the lack of distorted sounds. The sound is still recognizably from the same scene aside from that lack, which is then replaced by a lot more folky percussion. The Bandcamp page states: "If Funeral For Justice was the sound of outrage, Tears Of Injustice is the sound of grief.", and the context of the band's initial inability to return to their home country because of the political situation in Niger does fuel the emotions on this album, but even aside from that, it's great to hear the band's improvisational quality being used in a different setting.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





We're already halfway through the decade and that leaves some time for certain albums to have solidified themselves as decade highlights, and of those that blew me away initially and stood this initial test of time was 2020's Windswept Adan, a gorgeous piece of singer/songwriter-led folk music that blended orchestrations with a very naturalistic atmosphere. In retrospect, that was also a watershed moment for Ichiko Aoba for how large of a presence the orchestration had, at least compared to the more stripped back folk of albums like 2013's 0 or 2018's qp. Five years later, it seems that the orchestration fascination has only grown for Aoba.

Luminescent Creatures follows very closely in the footsteps of Windswept Adan, showcasing the same blend of sounds, a slightly water-themed naturalistic focus, soft Japanese language singing, and a very fragile soundscape. Luminescent Creatures is however almost 15 minutes shorter than its predecessor, feeling like a lower stakes album than the shift done by the aforementioned. This leaves the focus on the gorgeous atmosphere conjured by the voice and the instruments, with the orchestration varying in scope and components throughout the record, ranging from more fully fledged on the opening track, to softer background touches throughout.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP







Nemesis & Nativity by The Infinity Ring is one of the standout releases I’ve covered in this series, a lush mix of dark folk and gothic rock with faint hints of metal, producing a deep, rich atmosphere from the mesh of sounds. New release Ataraxia broadly continues on from its predecessor, albeit with perhaps a minor shift towards a lighter overall experience, but the record still spans the whole spectrum of intensities offered by the group, and excels with each different approach.

For those who enjoy the fuller, slightly heavier material from The Infinity Ring, “Elysium” is a rich mesh of subtle distortion, stirring vocal harmonies, measured yet grand acoustic guitar and pleasant instrumental texturing, while “The Drum” is both a bit livelier and a tad more twisted with some more incongruent instrumental clashes. Ataraxia shines in its quieter moments too; “Obsidian” is a tender slow-burner of an opener, sticking with crooning gothic country for the first half until electronics and violin work their way in with stirring melodies. At the opposite end of the record, “The Archway” eschews percussion, instead wallowing in melancholic and majestic soundscapes crafted by piano, strings and the faint strumming of an acoustic guitar. The presence of The Infinity Ring on the Profound Lore intimates that this is non-metal music predicted to appeal to metal fans; part of that might be due to the background in metal bands of some of its members, and also the crossover appeal of its gloomy atmosphere, but also part of it is likely simply that this is darn good music that should appeal all music fans.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by musclassia





There are some albums you pick up just because of their cover arts. That's a tradition that was as true back when you'd browse CDs and vinyls in a store as it is when you're browsing things digitally. There's something that struck me about Saya's cover art, so you can say that it did its job. Turns out that this is a debut album (save from some EPs) from London singer/songwriter Saya Gray, and trying to pigeonhole the music that they make into simply being singer / songwriter is not entirely wrong, since a lot of its is playing around within similar bounds, but also plays with enough things outside of it.

As most albums of its kind, Saya is about love and identity, particularly the kind that comes after a romantic disillusion, and Saya Gray proves her lyricism is as playful as it is poignant. But what really made this album stay with me is how oddly psychedelic and beguiling it is. It's the kind of album that really feels stereo when listened to with proper headphones, and its very precise production intricacies, stripped back sound that still introduces very unusual sounds, dipping its toes into sounding avant-garde without jeopardizing the soulful and emotional side that comes from its more straight-forward musical side.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





They're finally making music for sad women!

The problem with discovering an artist with a certain album, one that's sort of a reinvention in style, is that you're gonna start using that album as a benchmark for how that artist should sound like. I loved Japanese Breakfast's Jubilee from 2021, and it's chamber / synthpop sounds made "Be Sweet" be a song I've returned to over and over again. Obviously I went ahead and listened to her back catalog as well, and while the dreamy indie pop was something that wasn't a far cry from how Jubilee sounded like, it did make it clear that there were ways in which that album was a reinvention for Japanese Breakfast.

For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) is then similar to the more laid back singer/songwriter stuff that the project started out with, diminishing the more upbeat pop that made so many moments of Jubilee stand out. Laid back, but not exactly stripped back, with a lot of the folky instrumentation on For Melancholy Brunettes being very dense and orchestral in a way that feels quite intriguing. Michelle's vocals and lyrics still feel quite sweet even with the change of direction, leaving more room for moments that feel intimate and sparse, and definitely more melancholic than its predecessor. There was some reshuffling of expectations necessary to fully get into it, but the end result is rewarding.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





I've been covering the Boygenius alumni, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, for quite a while now, including the latest Boygenius album itself, and right now it seems like Lucy Dacus is the first out of the three to have released a new record since Boygenius's 2023 debut full length, The Record. I've really enjoyed both 2018's Historian and 2021's Home Video even if I didn't return to them as much as I would've expected to, and I think that's because the lyrics that really resonated with me lead me to only return to the couple of songs I actually felt I wanted to rather than for the entire album.

This focus on the lyrics is something that's also the case for Forever Is A Felling, and even if that's not necessarily a bad thing with it being a staple for singer/songwriter music, Forever Is A Feeling really pushes it further by being the boldest romantic album I've heard in a long time. The indie pop / folk / rock instrumentation does more than the bare minimum to give each track some identity and to not leave all the focus on the vocals, but the vocal performance itself focuses a lot more on the lyrics themselves than on the delivery, which is a bit at odds with how bold the album is in its lyricism. The end result is beautiful, but it makes me wish the lasting impact wasn't concentrated solely in the lyrics.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





More than half of the music out there is about love in some way, and part of that is music that is about love not gone right. It's a theme as old as time and that has been done to death, but it's also such a universal experience that of course it makes sense that songwriters would want to put their own lived experience of it into song. Certain genres are more prone to being this type of confessional introspective outlet, and the folkier stuff that's focused on the singer usually does it, and I've come to appreciate country and Americana's penchant for that kind of emotional stuff. So when a songwriter like Jason Isbell does a breakup/divorce album, it's a tough one.

This is more stripped back than what I've come to expect from Jason Isbell, who usually records stuff alongside his backing band, The 400 Unit, with Foxes In The Snow being pretty much just voice and acoustic guitars. So, as advertised, just Jason Isbell, his words, and his playing. The Jason on this album is one that doesn't feel like has fully processed the romantic failing, with lyrics that, while very well written and full of details and compelling stories, feel scattered in their emotions. This doesn't impede the album's enjoyment, though it does sometimes feel like this is more of a therapeutic thing than for music's sake. It feels genuine and authentic, and that matters a lot.

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP





I’ve shown my appreciation for Backxwash’s music on more than one occasion; in the continued absence of a new Death Grips album, she has pretty much been the sole hip-hop artist that I’ve harboured any real interest in. A lot of that has to do with the heaviness, aggression and intensity of the horrorcore contained on the trilogy of albums released between 2020 and 2022. The musical and lyrical content of those albums was an allegorical and cathartic dive into Ashanti Mutinta’s painful upbringing; following its conclusion, the dust has settled, and on her first release since then, Only Dust Remains, the industrial intensity of the music has been dialled down, if not the anger simmering under the lyrics. As someone who became a fan of Backxwash because of that heaviness, this change has affected my own appreciation of her music, but on top of the continuing fierceness of Mutinta’s vocal delivery, the musical composition retains enough of what made the trilogy so great that I still ultimately enjoy the album.

“Black Lazarus” has a darkness to its underlying beats, but between the backing gospel chorals and the bright synths, it’s a different type of soundscape this time around, but a compelling one nonetheless. There’s also bright melodic synths shaping the sound of the epic “Wake Up”, along with tasty electric guitar and huge industrial percussion; “Wake Up” is the real highlight of the record, initially huge and relentless, but taking an unexpectedly melancholic turn in its closing minutes. Subsequent highlights on Only Dust Remains include the huge, brash production on “Dissociation” and the guest-heavy gospel-ish title track, one that is musically light but lyrically deep as Mutinta seeks to overcome her struggles. The most attention-catching and potentially divisive lyrics appear on the Palestine conflict-centred “History Of Violence”; that said, as someone who is very much drawn to music over lyrics, Only Dust Remains mostly maintains my enthusiasm towards Backxwash despite a few misses in the tracklist.

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by musclassia







The 2010s saw a reinvention wave in hip-hop, building upon the work of Dälek and Deltron 3030, spearheaded by the likes of Death Grips and clipping. Starting out by fusing hip-hop and harsh noise with 2013's Midcity, clipping. went on to use their penchant for electronica into reinventing what could work as a hip-hop beat, from industrial noise to dark ambient to spirituals to experimental rock, while playing around with time signatures and textures, and using lyricism for some insane worldbuilding that culminated in the horror inspired duology of 2019's There Existed an Addiction to Blood and 2020's Visions of Bodies Being Burned.

Five years later, clipping. continue their progression both in terms of the sounds they pull for their beats and in terms of the conceptual focus of the record. Dead Channel Sky is the closest thing I've heard to a futuristic cyberpunk hip-hop record, and all the things that come along with it conceptually. Sonically, a lot of electronic dance music subgenres get passed through a clipping. filter, with breakbeat, drum & bass, and the kind of techno that gets associated with hackers in movies all getting an industrial noise injection and a chopping up. The Aesop Rock collab might feel a bit out of place comparatively, but it's such a dream collab that it doesn't distract as much.

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by RaduP





Montreal's Marie Davidson has mostly worked in minimal synth so far, often taking cues from coldwave, using a spoken word approach to the vocals, and while it slowly started integrating more EDM sounds in them, it wasn't until 2020's Renegade Breakdown, released in collaboration with two other producers as a new trio, that a proper reinvention took place. Even though I'm not very fond of that album because of how the spoken word is at odds with the rest of the music, the more art pop sound of that album feels now like a stepping stone to the reinvention that happens here with City Of Clowns.

A minimal synth thread is still felt in the music, especially the intro track being pretty much in that exact same vein, but the sounds now take a lot more from harder minimal techno sounds like Electroclash and EBM, leading to the album feeling much closer to techno than anything she's done previously. The spoken word feels more lively, now being more of a deadpan singing, whose deadpan-ness feels in line with the vibe of the record this time around, the vulgar and humorous approach making more sense in music that also feels harder and boastful. Even though it feels really cold and mechanical, it also being fun just works.

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by RaduP





Hating on "Friday" and Justin Bieber was a defining characteristic of early 2010s internet culture. Out of the two, Bieber went on to have a very commercially successful music career, even if not critically. Meanwhile Rebecca Black continued to be identified with that specific song she made when she was 14. Pop music and internet culture moved on, interacted with one another, and internet age hyper-pop gave way to pop music that made the best use of its obnoxiousness, creating a new framework to relate to the annoyance of it. When Rebecca Black featured on a Dorian Electra track, it's like the floodgates opened, and it culminated with this Boiler Room set that closed off with "Friday", now in a new light.

Turns out that she didn't stop making music after the global bullying campaign, and though it was only around 2019/2020 that that music started to actually be good, we're now at the point where we have a second Rebecca Black album, with 2023's Let Her Burn being a pretty good debut, albeit a more watered down one compared to Salvation. It's only 20 minutes in length, but it packs more hooks and moments than a lot of other pop albums, makes bold production choices, has lyricism that's actually interesting by dance pop standards, and somehow found her moment in the wake of Brat summer. Now I'm even more excited for what comes next.

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by RaduP





We're so back!

It's crazy to think that back when Lady Gaga first made her splash in the music scene in the early 2000s, I hated (most) pop music and Lady Gaga was especially one that I found too obnoxious to be even remotely enjoyable. Fifteen years later, I've grown fond of Lady Gaga, she kept making pretty good music, pursuing a music-related acting career with highs (A Star Is Born) and lows (Joker 2) but it also seemed like she lost a bit of what made her such a undeniable thing back then. When "Abracadabra" dropped, it was an instant recognition and reevaluation of her earlier stuff, because it was my first time being reminded of it while also having done a 180 on how I feel about it.

Mayhem (no relation to Mayhem sadly), is thankfully more than just a throwback to the earlier Gaga days, even if there's a lot of it that is indeed in the The Fame Monster vein. This time around the darker edginess has a slight dash of Nine Inch Nails, with others having a weirdly strong disco touch to add some glitter. Even if the album loses steam towards the end, especially with the packaging of non-album single "Die With A Smile" featuring Bruno Mars feeling at odds with the vibe of the album, what really works for this album for me is how Gaga feels like a more rounded up vocalist now that she's had 15 more years of experience to get a raspier edge to her performance.

Apple Music | Spotify

by RaduP

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And that was it. You've made it through still alive. Congrats. See ya next month. Here's a Spotify playlist we compiled out of stuff featured here: