70/100 Genre: Indie/alternative rock/shoegaze I didn't expect Jirapah to be a band from Jakarta, Indonesia , even though they originally formed in New York . After trying to really sink into it, what instantly came to mind was Radiohead 's " Creep " alongside local acts like Rrag and Sajama Cut . Well, it doesn't sound quite as artistic as Radiohead, but that flavor is definitely there. It might also appeal to fans of What is Your Name? , Phoebe Bridgers , The Strokes , and the like—if I'm not mistaken. Tracklist:  1. Drowning Madonna  2. Sol

60+/100 Genre: dark ambient/experimental, soundtrack Even though I rarely watch movies anymore because nowadays I only end up focusing on the music, I do have my own specific preferences when it comes to cinema. One indicator I rely on is whether a film has received official accolades or awards . So, it's not just about viral factors or box-office hype, let alone ratings guaranteeing quality. A prime example here is the documentary film, The Last Hillbilly (2020). The film captures life in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky , where members of a free, self-reliant, and seemingly rustic rural white American community have weathered the coal crisis alongside the economic and industrial decline of their region. They are the " Hillbillies ." Brian Ritchie is one of them, and he befriended French directors Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe after a chance meeting at a roadside diner back in 2013. The two directors dedicated their first feature-length doc...

80/100 Genre: cinematic piano/soundtrack , ambient Walking along the seashore under overcast skies. The wind blows, carrying a sense of grief. Melancholy. Lost in deep thought for a long time. Until finally, the tears flow, and all pent-up emotions spill out, crashing together with the drone/noise ambient sweeps—which are somewhat intrusive and disruptive to the mood—in the second half of " Lights ". Perhaps this serves as an interpretation of the body itself being swept away into the ocean. Vanishing and forgotten. It instantly brings How to Disappear Completely to mind. Link: Bandcamp Tracklist:  1. After  2. Stay  3. Lights

70/100 Genre: Ambient electronic/synthwave The track that actually serves as the most fitting ambient opener is " Please Believe | Please be There ," given that "Going Home | For O." leans on the noisier side. Past that point, we plunge into a dense electro-synth arena with " lies taken for truth, and hideousness traded for beauty ," before things wind down and " Caffeine " kicks in to shock the brain into staying wide awake. I also personally quite like the album artwork. Link: Bandcamp Tracklist:  1. Going Home | For O.  2. Please Believe | Please be There  3. Lies taken for truth, and hideousness traded for beauty  4. We Don't Rush Home Anymore  5. Caffeine

I’ve been thinking that it might be better for me to stop posting altogether if I can't provide several full paragraphs per review, rather than continuing to force them into a compressed format that I usually use currently. It’s starting to look like Rate Your Music , Last.fm , or AOTY , where you just get the bare minimum information. Whatever. I’ll keep my complaints to myself for now. Here is a summary of a few metal releases I've put together. 1. 6enerator - 6enerator (1996) 55/100 Genre: Industrial rock/metal FFO: Ministry , Nine Inch Nails Quite abrasive and could really use a re-recording if possible. Tracklist:  1. Ruin  2. Someone  3. Alarms  4. Liar  5. Take  6. Burn  7. Silence  8. Probe  9. Pets  10. Trauma  11. Elevator I (Descend)  12. Elevator II (Across)  13. Elevator III (Hell) 2. Abyssal Catacombs - A Hellish Awakening (2020) 70/100 Genre: Blackened doom metal FFO: ? Ah... A creature that can do not...

The Rapid Log returns. Wandering through this vast ocean of music is utterly exhausting. When will I ever feel content with the thousands of favorite songs I already have? No need for small talk, idiot! Alright. Just 10 releases. My patience is worn too thin to add any more. 1. Eir Aoi - Hello Hello Hello (2022) 70/100 Genre: alternative/J-Pop/singer-songwriter Looking at the artist's photo on the album cover is the most painful part. It's not that Aoi Eir is the most beautiful woman out there, but staring at her only makes me feel more wretched. I want a life partner. As for the music, "Hello Hello Hello" is a typical indie/folk-pop track and serves as the main offering here, pulling double duty as the ending theme song for the anime A Couple of Cuckoos . Tracklist:  1. Hello Hello Hello  2. Resonance  3. CaCo  4. Hello Hello Hello -TV size version  5. Hello Hello Hello -instrumental  6. Resonance -instrumental  7. CaCo -instrumental 2. Fernando M...

70/100 Genre: Progressive Death Metal I finally worked up the courage to try one of the deities of progressive metal, Opeth , tackling what is considered their best album—according to Metal Hammer (Louder)—even though I have previously dipped my toes into Pale Communion (2014). The opener, " Ghost of Perdition ," instantly made me feel a sense of sorrow. Was it sorrow from being deeply moved by remarkably pristine music? No, it was sorrow because the use of clean vocals on that track left my brain yearning entirely for death/doom metal . As the record progressed through " The Grand Conjuration " and " Isolation Years ," the feeling remained exactly the same. The riffs and emotive growls, set against an instrumental dynamic that lacks the sheer destructiveness of typical death metal, constantly had me wishing for death/doom approach instead. In the end, this highly revered offering failed to win me over. Will Blackwater Park suffer the same fate? We sh...

70/100 Genre: Metalcore/hardcore Animals is the debut EP from Semarang, Indonesia -based female solo artist Gabriëlle . The four tracks within feature aggressive scream vocals delivered in a modern metal style fused with hardcore. The EP centers on themes of capitalism and social critique , conveyed through the interpretation of four animals that are also displayed on the album cover: the pig (power-hungry), the dog (blind obedience to the system), the goat (social control and blind authority), and the rat (global capitalism and structural oppression). First of all, it instantly reminds me of the cover artwork for Burgerkill 's Adamantine . Now, as for the music—it clearly isn't what I read elsewhere about there being a melodic death metal vibe; instead, the overall sound leans heavily toward metallic hardcore. Like who? Don't ask me! This isn't my domain, and my only real desire was to get through this EP quickly and discard it. It only lingered because I hadn...

In reality, there is no pressure or obligation to comment on everything I listen to—and that is exactly how the world works. Whatever is bad or below standard ultimately ends up as if it never existed, filtered out by society. No matter the method, it feels impossible to elevate "bad," minor, or underrated products because the market struggles to accept unfamiliar names, preferring to stay nestled in their comfort zones. The world truly is unfair. No matter the sector, the giants are the ones who win. After all, even when there is a drop in quality in the latest outputs from upper-class artists, listeners can simply return to their favorite tracks and play them until they grow numb. Yes, their lives are so simple, while I am here, having to archive so many tiers of quality just so there is proof that they once existed. I am trying to write these impressions based on a single listen for this batch, for the sake of time and mental efficiency. Then here is the list: 1. Abiozis ...

70+/100 Genre: field recordings/Ambient A few years ago, Sigur Rós 's Route One seemed quite unique because it used geographic coordinates as track titles, and if I recall correctly, that album was dominated by noise/ambient textures rather than post-rock . Far-Field Emissions follows a similar path here, but the output is far more minimalist, requiring you to crank up the volume. It is best experienced during quiet times and conditions to truly capture the sensation of silence in a cold world. Tracklist:  1. 80°00′53″S 119°33′56″W  2. 74°35′00″S 11°13′00″W  3. 78°27′52″S 106°50′14″E  4. 66°33′11″S 93°00′35″E

70+/100 Genre: post-rock/metal Déhà , a Belgian project that dabbles in various genres, leans into post-metal /rock for this album. I actually gave it a spin a few years back, but naturally, I didn't think much of it at the time. A newfound appreciation only emerged when I intended to write commentaries like this one. It makes me think that a natural first impression is what truly makes a song endure in your heart, because it feels alive from the very beginning, rather than being an acceptance built upon forced, deeper listening. The song structures here are predominantly typical of the crescendo style, with " I Am Mine to Break " serving as an opener that echoes the style of Oh Hiroshima , though it doesn't quite act as a hook. The subsequent parts grow heavier, shifting into a dark, depressive, classic post-metal sound. However, the introductory crescendo lines on each track run quite long, which left me feeling a bit bored—even though listening to it while exhau...

60/100 Genre: experimental hip-hop If hip-hop is infused with elements of jazz, what do you call it? Jazzhop? Beats me. I might be mislabeling the genre here. My bad. JR D∆ZE doesn't offer much of that particular blend. Even the opener, " Kedo ", sounds rather simple—dominated by drum beats, hi-hats, and scratching. It's only on " Jazz Noir " that he brings out, well, jazz noir with a vaporwave aesthetic . Then, "「 22 」" feels more like a raw, less-than-serious bonus recording that was just too good to throw away. Well, this is pretty much a snapshot of a typical Bandcamp inhabitant . It serves as proof of the footprints left behind by people who just make music whenever they find the time, leaving a handful of tracks—whatever shape they take—before vanishing without a trace. And many of them ultimately choose to delete everything anyway, not really caring whether anyone was watching or not. Tracklist:  1. Kedo  2. Jazz Noir  3. 「 22 ...

65/100 Genre: minimal/deep techno/house Franco Musachi is an Argentine electronic artist, and the four self-titled tracks here are packaged and released by Welter Records , a record label based in Romania. Even though it's tagged as minimal, I still don't quite understand where the boundaries lie. Is it just bass and drums? Not exactly. There still seem to be synth additions that, while not dominant, are spread evenly with vocals across all tracks to alleviate the monotony of the seemingly repetitive drum beats . Tracklist:  1. 4 Cards  2. Always in Mind  3. Da People  4. Talking

65/100 Genre: Black/Death Metal I honestly don't know what to say. The combination of abrasive black metal guitars and the heavy-footed pace of death metal that Abyssal Void crafts here creates such a thunderous battlefield that I found myself throwing in the towel rather quickly. My only slight solace was catching the melodic-style tremolo picking in "Pozostałości (Ruīnae)". Oh, considering they hail from Poland, I figure this would be a good fit for fans of Behemoth , Goathrone , Azaroth , and the like—assuming my guess isn't too far off target. :V Tracklist:  1. The Archivist  2. Inferno  3. Pozostałości (Ruīnae)

75/100 Genre: post-hardcore/emo Chicago band Mail. opens the show with abrasive guitars and noise on an instrumental intro that bleeds right into "Third". "Doe Eyes Don't Work In Headlights" shifts direction, turning more emotional before getting a bit rowdy on "Thurn & Taxis" and "Saltpeter". "Winter Song", the title track, and the closer "Twenty-one in Texas" all carry a crescendo influence that completely shatters the satirical remark I made before listening closely. Specifically, I had thought: "This album touches the souls of its listeners. Obviously not mine, but rather people who love Fugazi , Turnstile , and similar bands that I have yet to discover." In the end, I have to admit it's quite good despite being a little raw, and I find myself half-hesitant, almost shy about pulling a few of these tracks into my favorite playlist. Tracklist:  1. Take Me to the Jazz Floor  2. Third  3. Doe Eyes Don...