Cordavision Music Reviews

Did you know that King Gizz’s discography is the length of two football fields? How many times have I raved about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard? Like, I shined praise onto them five times last year alone for all of the projects they dropped. What else can they even do? And yet, they continue to surprise. A huge highlight of not only their 2022 but their careers up to this point is playing three 3-hour shows in a single weekend over at Red Rocks, Colorado. Each of them were completely different sets, and while I was excited to hear about this massive achievement for the group, I’m a broke college student and couldn’t get to Colorado, which I bet I’m not the only one that felt this. However, each show they played has now been released as a massive 86-track, nearly 9-hour box set for the fans to enjoy. It took some time, but I actually listened to the whole thing. Let’s dive into it. I’ve had to edit this review down a couple of times, but I’ve slowly realized that this is just gon...

I gotta keep holding to my promises about reviewing. I always love it when an artist takes a risk with their material. Whether or not it works out, I usually admire the risk and appreciate the fact that any artist can do something out of their comfort zone. Either way, the artist in question today is Lil Yachty, a rapper that has basically become a joke the longer his career’s gone on. However, going into a new genre out of left field isn’t totally new to rap. Childish Gambino jumping into the world of neo-soul with Awaken, My Love! , along with later projects from Mac Miller and Tyler, the Creator having more jazz influences, have proven that turning to a new genre for new ideas has worked out pretty well. Yachty, however, has turned to psychedelic rock in the vein of Tame Impala for this new album, Let’s Start Here. to mark the new chapter of his career. Let’s get into it. Having stuck around with Yachty during the rough patches, I can easily say that Let’s Start Here. is his best ...

Canada’s a real wild place, huh? Ah, the first review of the new year. It’s pretty exciting to see what the standard will be for the first big albums of the year, and the fact that there was a surprise album from The Weeknd that kicked off 2022 and that *wasn’t* the highlight really said something. 2022 was a banner year, and we’re already off to a good start this year. Canadian singer-songwriter Nicole Dollanganger is back, five years after her last album Heart Shaped Bed , with a new album, which came as a surprise to me. She dropped a great single in support of this album last year titled “Whispering Glades,” and mainly because I’m an idiot and didn’t keep track of any other singles, a new album flew off my radar. Basically, Married in Mount Airy came as a wonderful surprise when it came up last week on my calendar. Either way, a new album is here and, most importantly, I’ve heard it. Let’s get into it. I haven’t been riding or dying for Dollanganger’s music in recent months, but t...

Shoutout Hivemind. Right off the bat, I’ll say that I didn’t expect this from Quadeca. The section of YouTuber-turned-musicians that are on my radar are pretty big, especially since I upload on YouTube. Of course, there’s Joji who successfully made the jump, but there are other YouTubers that happen to make music like KSI that really just don’t hit hard to me. Quadeca’s last album, From Me To You , really set up some potential for Quadeca to be a pretty successful YouTuber-to-rapper jump and I still enjoy that project today. His latest release, I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You , leans into a much more experimental and ambitious project. I plan to watch the accompanying visual album too, but it’s just been busy. So, let’s just get into it. So, if I didn’t make it obvious, this project is a whole different beast compared to the other Quadeca projects I’ve heard. This is much more of an art pop album with some alternative R&B, experimental rap, and even a little tinge of industrial thrown i...

They’re just farming for XP to level up by the end of the year, don’t worry about quality over quantity. Since I literally wrote about these guys a few weeks back, I have no idea how to properly introduce you other than to link you to my Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava review so you can get the full picture. However, there’s even more context behind this release. In 2017, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard put out five albums, just as they did this year with this album, Changes . This album, however, was meant to be the fifth album of 2017. With most King Gizz releases, there’s a core concept, with this one having every track in D major / F# major chord changes. I’m not even sure if I worded that correctly, but you get the idea. There’s also a pretty visual reference to the track titles, if you’ve got a keen eye. King Gizz have continued to raise the bar all this year and this shouldn’t be any different. Let’s get into Changes and see how I felt about it. As I looked ...

I have a poster of this cover in my room, yet I have no idea why I have this over IGOR . Tyler, The Creator is arguably a superstar now. For the past few months, he’s been on a wildly successful tour, been doing features on some great projects since his last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST , and he’s actually legally allowed to enter some parts of the world now. Personally, I think he’s one of the best artists working today. I definitely wouldn’t have thought that over a decade ago, mainly because I was a kid, but it’s mainly because he was known for Goblin , an album that I think had great ideas [especially that opening track, holy shit] yet is now plagued with material that hasn’t aged well in many different ways. I thought about reviewing Goblin , its better follow-up Wolf, or even give his first project Bastard a second shot. However, I chose this project, 2015’s Cherry Bomb , which I could safely say is Tyler’s most divisive project as of now. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and...

This is proof that AI art can sometimes be beautiful. I recently hit a milestone that I’ve been wanting to hit with my music-listening journey: I’ve gotten through every single studio album from King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, just in time for them to ANNOUNCE THREE MORE ALBUMS RELEASING THIS MONTH. Yeah, that’s how these little Aussies roll with their music. King Gizz’s previous release, this past April’s double album Omnium Gatherum , is one of the best rock albums of the decade so far, in my opinion, so they’re setting the bar pretty high. With their third album of 2022, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava is tackling a pretty big concept: Seven tracks that are built around the main 7 Greek modes of music. It’s an interesting idea, so let’s see what tricks these little goblins have up their sleeves. As I mentioned earlier, each track on the album is built around and/or inspired by the seven major Greek modes of music. I’m not someone who knows about music theory or a...

Ther's a great Hulk Hogan bit on here. Quite frankly, I have no idea who The Koreatown Oddity is. I’ve heard his music, especially one of the best albums of 2020, Little Dominique’s Nosebleed , and that certainly grabbed my attention for his career. To put it in perspective, I think Nosebleed is one of the best releases on the Stones Throw label, which includes classic albums like Madvillainy , J Dilla’s Donuts , and Yes Lawd! from Knxwledge and Anderson .Paak. It’s in very good company, and now, we have an official follow-up to it titled ISTHISFORREAL? , so let’s not waste any time and get into it. I should most likely state that I’m not looking for this project to top Nosebleed in any way, mainly because I think that project’s the closest thing we have to that lightning-in-a-bottle feeling in rap this decade. That being said, I still really fuck with this album. No matter if it’s an entire album or a feature, you can tell that a lot of passion has been put into this and cares ...

CAPRISONGS vs. Gemini Rights . Fight. I’ve always enjoyed Steve Lacy’s work with a catch. Oddly enough, his first solo album Apollo XXI really didn’t do anything for me at all, but his work with Odd Future-adjacent R&B group The Internet has always stood out to me more than his solo work. I am a sucker for some good neo-soul though, so why Apollo XXI didn’t click for me is beyond me. Either way, I’ve been pretty excited about his next release, Gemini Rights . How does it sound? Let’s get into it. In a weird way, there was an immediate comparison that I made a little bit after my first listen of this, and it was André 3000’s The Love Below , the second half of Outkast’s iconic double album. There’s no deep comparison on it like a similar theme or Lacy sounding like 3 Stacks at all, that’s just the vibe I felt while listening to this. Another thing about this is that this is beautifully produced across the board. Lacy’s voice, the beats, everything just comes together so smoothly. H...

Sometimes? Forever? What’s the difference? I’ve always liked Soccer Mommy’s brand of lo-fi, indie rock and what she’s gone for in terms of her content. I like all of her albums, but my personal favorite is 2020’s color theory, mainly because I think that it took her biggest strengths and concentrated it into a project. Now, we have Sometimes, Forever , a new album with a pretty big shake-up behind the scenes. Producing the album in its entirety is Daniel Lopatin, better known as Oneohtrix Point Never, who’s essentially a pioneer in electronic music and has currently found a second wind in his career with film scores and producing nearly the entirety of The Weeknd’s last project, Dawn FM . How does this clash sound? Let’s get into Sometimes, Forever . I still think Soccer Mommy’s writing and vocals are just as good here as in her past projects, and she has a way to capturing sadness into a song that’s unmatched by anyone else in the genre right now. I already think that this is her most...

Australians are fucking crazy, man. That’s the biggest takeaway I got from this. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard really have it going for them. They’ve been a functioning band for ten years now, and not including live albums, they have twenty studio albums. Twenty. I’m on a trek to listen to all of them right now, and I think I have about seven down. Their third release this year, Omnium Gatherum , is their longest studio effort yet with 80 minutes in length. The Aussies gave us a lot to unpack in this album, so let’s not waste any time and get into Omnium Gatherum . At this point, it’s predictable for King Gizz to be unpredictable, and I’d say that this is one of the most all-over-the-place they’ve released yet. If they were throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck, they did everything and included the wall. The elements of rock, metal, pop, electronic, soul, and even rap just combine to make a smorgasbord of sound. Even one of the band member’s grandmother plays the role of a ...

Catching up on the lore, don’t mind me. Whenever I’ve covered Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, I’ve tried to keep up with their insanely large output. However, for the first time in almost two years of this brand’s existence, I’ve failed. King Gizz has already announced a new album that’s set to drop next month. It’s all satire, I know, I’m not genuinely that upset, but King Gizz albums have their own loose lore to them that I really don’t know yet. Anyway, Made in Timeland is yet another turn in the band’s varied discography. What did they do this time? Let’s see what happened. So, even in a unique discography, this album is quite different: this is intermission music. For context, the band were originally set to do a bunch of long shows in 2020 tied to their own Timeland Festival. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but it’s still set to happen later this year. There are only two tracks on this album, and each of them run for 15 minutes on the dot. They essentially mad...

Based on the title alone, that man can do more than me. Throughout nearly two years of writing and reviewing music on this site, this is the first time I was actually hit up by random people on Twitter to review something. To my knowledge, Cities Aviv is a rapper and producer from Memphis. He’s been around for about a decade now, and it seems like this album here is finally going to be his breakout album. Right out of the gate, the cover art for Man Plays the Horn stands out to me. I can’t really make anything out of it, so if there’s an official description or reason said by Aviv about it, I’d love to see it. Either way, let’s get into Man Plays the Horn . Given the cover, I had a general idea about what this album could sound like. It’s an abstract rap album in the vein of MIKE and Navy Blue, but there’s something very unique about this one. The production on this is incredibly immersive and lures you in so much that it eventually becomes suffocating. It’s also taking much more insp...

I’m all for artistic choice, but the gold frame missing on the left side is pissing me off personally. I have a weirdly specific story of how I came to find out about Beach House. When I was a kid, I went to the library a lot to look through the CDs to see what they had. Most of the time, they had the duo’s 2013 album  depression cherry on the shelf. I’d take it around and hold it often because it had a felt packaging. To this day, it’s something about that physical release, and the album itself, that I feel is weirdly nostalgic for me. Why do I say ‘weirdly?’ Mainly because it’s the only Beach House album I’ve heard up to this point. I don’t know why I never went back and listened to their other albums, I just haven’t yet. Maybe the weird sectioned release strategy of their newest album, Once Twice Melody , should’ve done it, but that’s just me. Either way, I waited until the whole album was out to review this one, and it’s finally here. Let’s get into Once Twice Melody . I state...

Getting some Fantastic Mr. Fox vibes on this one. Big Thief has always interested me, but what really caught my attention was lead singer Adrianne Lenker’s solo album from last year, songs . I just loved her voice and writing style, and after listening to some of Big Thief’s work, it translated very well to the band. Ever since then, I’ve been anticipating whatever Lenker or Big Thief would do next, and we have that in the form of a new double album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You . It’s a mouthful, I know, but if it’s anything like the group’s other albums, we’re in for a good time. Let’s get into it. Right off the bat, I’ll say that this is a massive album. It’s 20 tracks and a little over 80 minutes long, but miraculously, I wouldn’t cut a single song from this. It’s almost like a jam session happening while you’re sitting around a warm campfire with the group, pretty much like the cover art. Like I said earlier, Lenker’s songwriting and vocals carry over from other proj...

I provided the extra butterfly, by the way. I’ve been sitting here for almost 15 minutes now, trying to think of a good way to start this. So, I guess I’ll say that King Gizz is one of the most versatile groups I’ve heard in a minute. I may be repeating myself at this point, but they’re always going to keep my attention whenever they drop a project. That being said, their last full project, Butterfly 3000 , has grown on me since its release, but I’m pretty surprised that there’s a remix album for this project out of all of the Gizz albums. To my knowledge, I don’t think the band was fully involved in this side project, but Butterfly 3001 has the possibility of being caught in my net. With contributions from DJ Shadow, DāM-FunK, and The Flaming Lips among others, there could be some good stuff in here. Let’s get into it. This is one of the cases that I’m probably just going to appreciate that it’s a thing that exists. I do think that Butterfly 3000 is a pretty good King Gizz album to ...

To read my review of the first album she dropped this past month, The Makin’ Magick Album II , click right here ! Alright, there isn’t gonna be much lead-up to this one because it was mainly done in the first review, but to sum it up, DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ is quickly becoming one of my favorite producers ever. Her previous two albums, 2020’s Charmed and the other album released on the same day as this, The Makin’ Magick Album II , are some of my favorite electronic albums in recent memory. Now, we have the wonderful Christmas gift of covering not one but two DJ Sabrina albums. Let’s get into my thoughts on the second album, The Other Realm . See, having to review two albums from the same artist in one day is a little tough. I have to admit, seeing Sabrina go ambient on the opening track “Transcendence” is a welcome surprise. I know we have a working formula in DJ Sabrina’s music, but the ever-so slight change without completely diverging from her sound tends to work in their favor...

We’re gonna close off 2021 with a massive series of reviews, starting with this magical one here. This past March, I reviewed what was possibly one of the best electronic albums in recent memory, and that’s the nearly three-hour epic Charmed from London producer DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. I didn’t say it in my review, but after listening to Charmed quite a bit, I could honestly say it’s up there with one of my favorite albums ever and I think it’d eventually be as influential as The Avalanches’s debut project, Since I Left You . After dropping the Charmed review [and receiving a very kind message from Sabrina herself], that’s when I took the deep dive on her discography. Luckily, just as I finished it, I saw that not one but TWO new albums dropped. The second review will drop a little bit later today, but the first album is the sequel to her first full-length project, Makin’ Magick . So, let’s just jump into The Makin’ Magick II Album . For shits and giggles, I’m gonna run back to t...

Arca Week continues with KicK iii , where I start to feel the tiniest bit sorry for straight people. You know, as I said with KICK ii yesterday, I was kind of disappointed by it and I actually got pretty worried about the rest of this week-long trek. Luckily, in casual terms, THIS SHIT SLAPS. Holy christ, man. This might be Arca’s best album. It’ll be hard to top this one. Even though I had said that KICK ii was experimental, that might as well be top 40 pop compared to this. It’s so loud and abrasive that it could honestly pass as a harsh noise outside of an electronic album. Along with that, she’s rapping on this. Like, rapping on it incredibly well. My personal favorite track has to be the instrumental “Fiera,” which genuinely might be one of my favorite songs of the year right now. It’s genuinely psychedelic and if you’re not into this kind of music, it will be very VERY hard for you to get into it. If KICK ii was the countdown, KicK iii is the explosion. This is truly incredib...

Arca Week starts today! Tuesday-Friday will cover all four new KICK albums, and I will give my ratings on each album on Friday. Let’s start with KICK ii , the first album to my knowledge that samples Among Us . This is gonna be the only review with an intro, so I’ll just get it out of the way now. Arca is one of the most creative producers working right now. I could honestly go on and on about how many new sounds I’ve heard from her, but that would take forever. The first album in this series, KiCk i , catapulted her into worldwide fame, even getting the chance to work with artists like Frank Ocean and Lady Gaga. Now, in a new experiment specifically to torment my review schedule, Arca has released FOUR NEW ALBUMS in the KICK series. I’ll be covering them one at a time and ranking them on Friday. So, let’s get into KICK ii . In her past albums, there were hints of experimental reggaeton and I enjoyed the little bits of that sound, but here, she goes all in on this sound. Oddly enough...