2019 pt. 8

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

Big Thief - U.F.O.F. 9/10

Inter Arma - Sulphur English 8/10

Numenorean - Adore

Canadian blackgazers with breakout potential up the ante from their great-but-kinda-forgettable debut for sure. The flow and flexibility here accomplish it alone, but helps too when there's a well-defined hook driving half the trax. What they've got in range and remarkable loud/soft dynamics they kinda lack in genuine gnar and spirit, however. Voice variety capable+considerable but few moments I'd mark as truly moving. Drums too dominant. Post-y parts glimmery-n-pleasant yet too oft a bit prosaic-n-tiring. Half of it also seems like interludes, for better or worse. Title track sounds like black metal itching for a brightly lit stadium all on their feet clapping along and a bit like Aaron Lewis; drip and triumph and fury neatly segmented and lasting about two minutes too long, for better or worse. 7.5/10

Sir Babygirl - Crush On Me [EP]

Kelsie Hogue's background as hardcore singer and drama student seem collectively imperative to this perfectly preposterous alt-pop phenom -- the piercing punch and musical-esque madness own it. Sangin' unadulterated and forever shocking, hooks+quirks so ecstatic and unparalleled you'd have to be soulless to hate em, vibrancy seemingly stemming from an intravenous thousand volts. Brief reprises help give this EP a rounded flow and much needed calm-downs, and the highs are immediate and humongous: "Heels", "Flirting With Her", "Cheerleader", and "Haunted House" make for one of finest chunks of fire pop in recent memory. Each irresistible not just for their infectiousness and numerous omg components, but for the themes behind em: the flirtation zipping from zeal to real obsession with basic texts leading to horror screams ontop of anxious chatter, the chipper cheerleader chants support for sultry bathroom stall secrets and ruined reputations, the haunted house a house party in which friends are fleeting and drowning in detachment is inescapable and everyone's "20 shots under the sea", "Heels" all tears-n-knives in the dark and the sass of acquiring a new hairdo. By the end she's a non-smoker who smokes too much that manages to muster an alt-rock/big chorus payoff vibe well beyond her years and has this to say about her crush on, yep, herself: "Ummm, we're just gonna ride this one out, we're just gonna see where it takes us." And so we shall. 9.5/10

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Amon Amarth - Berserker 5/10

Central - Om Dans 5.5/10

Fennesz - Agora 7/10

Priests - The Seduction of Kansas 6/10

Schoolboy Q - Crash Talk 5.5/10

Sunn O))) - Life Metal ~*~meh~*~