Rapid Review!

What's up y'all. Time for this new segment where I review a combination of throwback and contemporary albums that I did not have a chance to fully review, but I still want to quickly recommend or give my thoughts on. For this week this segment will be replacing a traditional Throwback Thursday review as I didn't really find any old album this week that I wanted to fully delve into.

First, the contemporary albums I didn't review because I chose Fiona Apple and BC Camplight over them are The Strokes' new record and Melo's (from the Chinese rap group Higher Brothers) new album. The Strokes record was definitely highly anticipated by many in the music community, and I also heard very different opinions' on the album, so I gave it a listen. I actually enjoyed the collection of songs from The Strokes as the tracks are fairly accessible while showing a good amount of experimentation. I heard they recycled some segments from their older songs, which I think is neat. However, there's not much of an interesting concept along with lyrics that come off as generic love lyrics (even though the vocal use of these lyrics is well executed). I would've probably given it a 6-7. Next, Melo from the Higher Brothers was actually an album I didn't expect to release; However, when I saw it, I knew I wanted to listen to it. It seems like the Higher Brothers have been coming out with projects individually for the last year. We already saw KnowKnow and Masiwei's projects, which were both quite dissapointing, so all I really hoped for was something above average. And I think Melo's Old Master was exactly that: above average music. The album was for sure more consistent with catchy hooks and fast flows, along with Melo's weird, scratchy, quacking voice. However, it's all a unique blend that contributes to a collection of multiple trap bangers that are just significantly better than his other "brothers." Hopefully we see Psy-P (the last member of the group yet to release an individual project) impress us even more because I am definitely rooting for the Higher Brothers. They are definitely the Chinese rap group in the music scene making the most noise. Old Master would be around a 6 for me.

Lastly, just some throwback music recommendations that include the artists Panopsis, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and *Shels. Panopsis I actually found on a post-rock subreddit post that led me to their song Yearn for the Day. It's a great ambient, post-rock track that is very calming and employs many conventional post-rock techniques perfectly. The cover art of some kind of eclipse feels extremely fitting as the song makes the listener feel like they are being pushed off some musical boundary. It is a great listen if you want some simple-sounding post-rock that is similar to a slightly more rock and roll Godspeed You! Black Emperor track. Next, The Dillinger Escape Plan's One of Us Is the Killer attracted me with the opening track Prancer. This song so closely resembled what I love about one of my favorite bands Daughters' sound. The speedy noise rock reminded me so much of Hell Songs that I had to check out the rest of the album. I was disappointed to find that the rest of the tracks mostly sounded like conventional metal, even though it was good metal. However, I still think One of Us Is the Killer a good record and Prancer is great. Finally, *Shels' Plains of the Purple Buffalo is just an amazing post rock album. I don't know how popular it is exactly but y'all probably already know it. Just in case you don't, its vocals range from head-voice singing all the way to Sunbather-like black metal screeching. Along with some folky twists here and there, the album is a flawless post-rock LP that anyone who likes post-rock and hasn't listened to it yet, must listen to it.