Amoeba Music

if you love goth rock im sure you will love this band

goth rock band that somehow makes me feel elegant at dark (:

Some afro futurist rnb and soul from the venerated Kelela herself. A bit of ade[arture from Mercury but a step above nonetheless.

Some really good music. That is all.

Great heavy punk from members who don't shy away from radical politics.

Some great alternative rock that ventures into trip hop and math rock.

Some amazing modern soul.

This TDE legend is back after a long hiatus and it sounds like he never left.

FINALLY! Some kind of written documentation telling the story of my all-time favorite label! Seriously, everything kranky puts out is worth a listen and it's so cool to see them being discussed in this book. This is a must-read for any experimental music fans out there.

One man. One guitar. Pure bliss. There's something oddly creepy about this collection that I just love. It kinda sounds like the old recordings that The Caretaker manipulates for one of his disturbing ambient albums. But without any sort of manipulation, the songs on here have a natural atmosphere that's both beautiful and haunting. Once again Numero Group outdoes itself by exposing us to more almost forgotten music.

I'm usually not one to get hooked onto an artist simply because of their ability to sing well... but Rosalia was the acceptation. Whenever I hear her sing, it makes me feel things- it's that good. Plus, the whole album is just so damn cool. You get badass songs with killer production akin to Death Grips, beautiful ballads that just tug at your heartstrings, and even some playful songs sprinkled in here and there. I also gotta shout out The Weeknd for his feature on the track 'La Fama.' I knew the man could sing but hearing him sing in Spanish was excellent and really complimented Rosalia's verses. This album rules! Easily one of the best realses of 2022.

Just when you thought nu metal was dead, this band (along with a handful of others) have been keeping the genre afloat following the traditions of their contemporaries. That's right, cracked out vocals, chunky guitar tones, metallic bass riffs, and even some turntable scratches! YIKES!!!

Alright, I know long-time fans were pretty unhappy with this album. Sure, it's vastly different sounding compared to the band's previous albums, but it was kinda nice to hear some laid-back grooves versus bonkers psych-prog. Screw the haters, this album was a great comeback and I look forward to potentially hearing more like it in the future.

From out of leftfield, Lil Yatchy ditched his trap outfit in favor of... psychedelic rock? I swear, the man must have been listening to a ton of Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra and thought "Hey! I can do that too!" But unlike other rapper's failed attempts of switching over to rock (see Kid Cudi's "Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven" and Lil Wayne's "Rebirth" for reference), this album is actually great! Sure, it may not be the most groundbreaking psych album I've ever heard. But as a first attempt, he nailed it. I wouldn't mind if he kept going with this style as I think he'd just get better and better at it. I know we're only a few months into 2023, but this is easily my favorite album of the year, so far.

God, this album is painfully heartbreaking in the best way possible. If you've been following this group since the Saturation days, you're probably just as invested in each member's personality as much as I am. In true boyband fashion, every member brought something unique that gave them an identity. Joba was the musical one, Merlyn was the wild one, Dom was the technical one, Bearface was the mysterious one, and so on. Knowing who everyone was made listening to a Brockhampton that much more entertaining as you were essentially getting to know them more and more through each release. So, when this album dropped and only featured Kevin Abstract on the mic, it was puzzling. But the longer I listened, the more apparent it became that this wasn't going to be the zany off-the-wall Brockhampton album that I was used to hearing. Instead, we got a dense, complicated, yet heartfelt insight into the band from the perspective of its leader. Here, Kevin literally touches on everything. From fondly remembering the band's early days to his internal struggles from getting famous to throwing shade towards specific people to acknowledging his own problematic behaviors. Essentially, the album is one big open letter to the fans of the band explaining why they're calling it quits. The whole thing is incredibly eye-opening and a brutally honest good-bye to a beautiful collective of talented musicians. I miss the band, already...

Such an excellent debut! If you're a fan of Sophie, Arca, and/or deconstructed club in general, you NEED to listen to this one.

Swanky Japanese vaporwave that is a must hear! Fun fact, this is the same woman who composed the Drum n' bass heavy soundtrack for N64's 'Bomberman Heroes.'

Neo- boogie greatness complete with INFECTIOUS grooves! If you aren't dancing to this while you listen there's something wrong with you.

So many people are talking about this show! At the end of the second season, my co-watcher looked over and said “I think the people who made this show want you to be uncomfortable.” It hadn’t struck me because I was so busy being uncomfortable, but of course he’s right. With The Bear, I tolerated discomfort and irritation, it became in many ways, a test of endurance. The screaming, the bullying, the chaos all somehow forced me to focus more to just keep track of what the hell was going on. (A co-worker said he watched with the subtitles on, which I thought was genius). The soundtrack was a character in many episodes of Season 2. Sometimes, I’d wait for the music to fade so I could concentrate on the dialogue, and it just didn’t. Little bit of a Goodfellas vibe for me in that way. Like most aspects of the show, I was conflicted about whether I liked it or not. But this show knows the story it’s telling and doesn’t apologize for it. I admire that.

Creator Christopher Storer and Music Supervisor Josh Senior used a song by R.E.M., one of my major musical touchstones-guaranteed to evoke my angst ridden, adolescent self every time. I can recognize Michael Stipe’s voice within about 5 seconds. The track The Bear uses is from Monster, called "Strange Currencie." I couldn’t get it out of my head for days, so I decided to go back and listen to the entire album. When that album came out, I had taken a hard turn into Hip Hop and to be honest, hadn’t connected to Green in the same way as R.E.M.’s first 4 (and a half counting Chronic Town) releases, and hadn’t listened to their subsequent releases. With Monster, seeing them leaning into Rock hard with static, reverb, and growling is bold and I respect it: it’s a solid record. After the buried vocals of their earlier stuff, it is fun to listen to Michael Stipe get more direct, saucy, and to really own his own vibe. “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” is an earworm, and “Strange Currencies” is indeed haunting. “I Took Your Name” simmers with conflict. I like the way it kind of echoes on itself. Stipe still buries his vocals sometimes (“Let Me In”) but it seems more intentional. It’s been a strange combination of nostalgia and grounding listening to Monster. When I was 14, their music was my avatar- my yearning personified. At that time, under it all, for me, their music was a question. I felt like I had a witness for a kind of free-floating melancholy that made me feel like I could fit in somewhere. Still can sing every word to those albums 35 years later.

I have a relationship with The National. We’ve been together a long time, shared so much. Like R.E.M. when I was younger, their music forms the backbone of how I have comforted myself through turmoil, contemplation, and the aspiration to understand myself in the last decade or so. So many of their songs cradle moments in time, particular eras of my life. If I was making a time capsule, or some type of receptacle that people from the future could reference to get a sense of who I was, The National would be in there. But they don’t really surprise me anymore. They are really good at what they do, but I don’t get the feeling that they are pushing themselves. They’ve found a sweet spot that can feel a little formulaic at times, kind of predictable. That being said, I got their latest release, The First Two Pages of Frankenstein, when it came out and listened to it on rotation for at least a month. “Once Upon a Poolside” is beautiful. The swelling voices under the bridge gets me every time. “This Isn’t Helping” has a line that feels so personal and also so meta about relationships. The talker and the one who stews. Matt Berringer is so good at mining neurosis. In the song, he sings, “cause I only have two things to say to you, but you say two things about everything babe.” Shit. There I am. Definitely has made me try to measure my words more.

“Your Mind is Not Your Friend Again” is a perfect example of a song that I’ve assigned my own meaning to. The phrase is a perfect reminder to question my premises. We create these stories that we superimpose on our experiences about ourselves and other people, assigning intentions and motivations that are based on our fears and insecurities. And when we do that, we run the risk of making them come true. If I am afraid to need people, then I never depend on them so that I can “protect” myself from some type of shapeless pain that might or might not come. I tell myself that I have to take care of myself alone because that’s what I do, not because someone who loves me wouldn’t be there for me if I asked. And so, I make it true. I get in my own way. As I listened to the song over and over again, it was an affirmation of what I’ve been trying to do in the last few years. Be vulnerable, ask people questions instead of deciding their answers by myself. Remember that my ego is not my actual self. We all have an essence that floats around the internal constructs we’ve built. When I can connect to that essence, that’s when I like to believe that I am the most who I am.