Reviews
Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Dances Through the Pain and Trauma: Review
The Lowdown: It feels strange listening to dance music at a time when dance clubs themselves, nights out with friends, and, for many, friends in general are impossible to access in person. Like so many of the joys people have managed to find in quarantine, kitchen-floor dance parties and celebrations shared via Zoom and FaceTime — while necessary reliefs and real, genuine joys — can also sometimes feel tinged with a hint of delirium. But Chromatica feels like an appropriate answer to the vacancy created by this dissonance — as a lot of Lady Gaga’s work has done in the past, it offers up some honest-to-God bangers side by side with some honest-to-oneself reckonings with trauma, pain, addiction, and the very idea of what it means to be flawed and how this idea shifts depending on who’s defin...
Polo G’s The Goat Laments Chicago’s Violence with Poetic Precision: Review
The Lowdown: In this winner-take-all economy, the owner class is shrinking faster than you can read a foreclosure notice. Yet, Polo G’s talent for quivery, upwardly inflected sing-rapping made him a homeowner. He has a backyard. He can come and go as he pleases. No more agonizing wait times at apartment security checkpoints; no more having to dodge the prying eyes of too-inquisitive neighbors. On his sophomore album, The Goat, Polo G — who was raised in a squat brick mid-rise on Chicago’s Near North Side or, as he calls it, “the zoo” — marvels at his sudden freedom of movement. But he’s restless and slightly remorseful in his new life. Privacy is one of those benefits that redounds down to the upper, petty bourgeois. As long as his friends on Sedgwick Street are still living under state su...
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Dedicated Side B Delivers More of the Same: Review
The Lowdown: To maintain her almost decade-long reign as the ultimate trustworthy, sword-toting synth pop songwriter, Carly Rae Jepsen has had to write a lot of songs. Like, a lot of songs. For her latest record, Dedicated, which was longlisted for last year’s Polaris Music Prize, Jepsen told Rolling Stone that she wrote around 200 tracks. “You have to promise you won’t think I’m a maniac,” she warned her interviewer before displaying a series of post-it-covered poster boards of song titles. Since the full-length version of the album was narrowed down to a mere 15 songs, it’s safe to assume that Jepsen was keeping a couple of bangers in her back pocket. And considering the success of Emotion: Side B, which turned out to be even more critically acclaimed than the 2015 album it referenced, f...
Whitney Houston’s Self-Titled Debut Introduced a Voice for All Times: Classic Review
The Opus: Whitney Houston premieres on Thursday, May 28th and you can subscribe now. You can also prep for the experience by listening to Whitney Houston via all major streaming services or enter to win a copy of Vinyl Me, Please’s 35th anniversary Whitney Houston box set. Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Follow on Facebook | Podchaser Music allows us to feel an array of emotions and is one of the universal aspects of the human experience. It can be the cause of laughter or the reason for momentary sadness. It sparks fond memories and serves as a time stamp of the most pivotal points in our lives. The music industry is forever changing, and even the most skilled of artists can fade into obscurity if they fail to adapt. Musicians come ...
Feel the Wrath of the Fuckin’ Devilation: Three 6 Mafia’s Mystic Stylez Turns 25
Mystic Styles of the ancient mutilationsTorture chambers filled with corpses in my basementFeel the wrath of the fuckin’ devilationThree 6 Mafia: creation of Satan By the time Lord Infamous uttered that incantation, it had been seven years since the FBI threatened N.W.A. over “Fuck Tha Police,” four since Scarface had “visions of bodies being burned,” two since Method Man and Raekwon recorded a skit about vivisecting victims with red-hot hangers and rusty screwdrivers. Hip hop had already expended a good deal of shock value, but on their debut album, Three 6 Mafia took it further. Mystic Stylez, released 25 years ago tomorrow, laid the groundwork for Three 6’s path to domination. Combining pulpy horror, gangsta rap, and murky sounds from the Memphis underground, Three 6 landed on a formula...
The 1975’s Notes on a Conditional Form Marks a Definitive Moment in Time: Review
The Lowdown: The 1975 are undeniably divisive. From the start of their roughly 18 years together, frontman and lyricist Matty Healy has generated mass deliberation on whether or not The 1975 are a “serious” band. But that’s typically the case, right? Once something becomes “mainstream,” critics have to re-evaluate, for whatever reason. Can the cult curtains be pulled back to reveal a more substantiated, dynamic legacy? Are fans unanimously delusional to admire a band that talks a lot about crying, erections, and Internet love. I mean, how many times will “she say” something? Spoiler alert: she says a great deal on their latest record, Notes on a Conditional Form. Matty also still cries a lot, too, so don’t worry about that. But to be fair, the skepticism surrounding the band isn’t unwarran...
Brilliant Borussia and Sloppy Schalke: Match Report: Borussia Dortmund 4 – 0 Schalke 04
Overall Report: At the start it seemed that we would have a cracker on our hands. Schalke came close to breaking through the Dortmund defence in the first few minutes, but they couldn’t create a proper chance. Dortmund grew into the game and pierced Schalke’s defence with some precise passing, ingenious touches and a clinical assist and finish. After that they never looked back. Goals on either side of half-time saw them go clear. Schalke looked to get better after the third, but then Dortmund got a fourth goal through Raphael Guerreiro and the game was put to bed. It didn’t seem to be much of a derby, let alone the mother of all derbies, but let’s be happy that there was a game in the first place. Highlights: [embedded content] Tactics: The battle of the back 3s saw Dortmund emerge victor...
Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now Offers Honest Expression for Uncertain Times: Review
The Lowdown: Throughout her musical career, Charli XCX, born Charlotte Aitchison, has occupied both sides of pop stardom — the radio mainstream and the small, sweaty clubs where experimental pop flourishes. Coming onto the scene in 2012 with “I Love It”, Icona Pop’s chart topper, which was written by and featured Aitchison, was quite the breakout, reaching car-commercial levels of unavoidability. Not long after that, Aitchison’s feature on “Fancy”, which she co-wrote with Iggy Azalea, was named Billboard’s song of the summer, and her song “Boom Clap”, featured in teen-favorite The Fault in Our Stars, rivaled “Fancy” for that title. Despite Aitchison’s ability to craft radio hits, her affinity for experimental hyperpop is what makes her a cult-pop icon who continually pushes the genre forwa...
