Cordavision Music Reviews

If it’s not blocked in your country, I reacted to this album live on my YouTube channel. Click here to watch it. Okay, let me start off with this. I don’t have to do an intro to Taylor Swift. Whether you like her or not, she’s one of the most recognizable names on the planet. Hell, a testament to this is that this album, Midnights , is set to be the first album in six years to sell over a million copies in its first week. The last time this happened was Swift again. In an age where it’s tough to reach half of a million, it’s really impressive. But I’m not here to talk about sales, I’m here to talk about the music. During the height of the pandemic, she dropped two indie-inspired albums, folklore and evermore . Both of these albums, especially folklore, opened my eyes on how good she was at writing these relatively complex stories into her songs when she teams up with The National. I was blown away by it and, for lack of a better term, I realized I was a Swiftie. Now, in the middle of...

Legitimately gorgeous cover art, by the way. It pains me that I’m late to the party when it comes to 070 Shake. Like a good amount of people, the first time I heard her was during Kanye West’s series of mini-albums in 2018, featured on both Pusha T’s DAYTONA and West’s own ye , and being a highlight on both releases. I thought her debut album Modus Vivendi was pretty nice, and I’ve been looking forward to whatever she’d do next. Looking at You Can’t Kill Me , with an oddly bone-chilling cover, I’m pretty excited about this. Let’s get into how I felt about it. We’ll start off with the production first, and even without looking at the credits, I knew Mike Dean had his hands on this. This is definitely a contender for one of the most sonically-beautiful releases of the year so far, mainly because of its very futuristic vibe and how well it blends with Shake’s vocals. Speaking of her vocals, they’re absolutely hypnotic and is the best part of the album to me. They’re very alluring and th...

Every musician’s gotta have that butterfly on the cover moment, yeah? It’s no mistake that Post Malone’s one of the more recognizable voices in mainstream music right now. If I’m being honest, he’s been on a pretty decent streak recently. His last two albums, beerbongs & bentleys and Hollywood’s Bleeding , are some of the best pop-rap albums of the 2010s and most of his hits have aged pretty well over the past couple of years. Even if it’s been oddly silent on the marketing front, we now have his new album Twelve Carat Toothache , a first-world problem if I’ve ever heard one. Because of his track record, I’m actually pretty excited about this, so let’s just get into it. Let me just get the cat out of the bag: This is pretty easily Posty’s worst project, in my opinion. A lot of the songs in here just felt very uninspired and borderline lazy in some cases. However, I won’t say that Posty doesn’t have the range to pull off the pop and rap songs on here because he’s done it in the pas...

Honestly, this cover’s just pretty. It’s no secret that I’ve been a Harry Styles fan for a while now. Well, at least since the hiatus that One Direction is currently on, which probably won’t stop anytime soon. Even since those times, I could tell that there was more to Harry Styles. While most of the other 1D members’ solo careers have floundered, Styles has been absolutely killing it, even outside of the music industry with being a full-time actor at this point now. Now, about three years after his last studio effort, the incredible Fine Line , we have Harry’s House , which I think is gonna be something more intimate than we’ve gotten in the past. Let’s get into how I feel about it. Let’s do a fun comparison. If Fine Line was Harry’s funk album, this is Harry’s synthpop album, and this is a sound that fits him pretty well. In a couple of places, especially in the first half of the album, there were many parts that reminded me of Prince in a couple of ways. The 80s-rock-inspired produ...

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 ...

Finally got some musicians to commission some work from my little cousin, she loves it! I’ve said in the past that I’m not drained, as they say. I’ve covered both Bladee and Ecco2K on this site, and out of what I’ve heard of them, I think that I prefer Ecco2K over Bladee at this point. It may be a voice thing, but the neurons fire more when I hear Ecco, especially his E and PXE projects. Even if they’ve worked together quite a bit before, this is actually the first time they’ve worked on an entire album where it’s just them two. Crest was a surprise release, so not that many expectations are tied to this. Let’s get into what I thought about it. It may not be the first time someone has said this, but I think these two work really well together. It’s genuinely scary how good they are together at times. Like the other Drain Gang projects I’ve covered, my favorite part of this album is the production. I believe the producer of this is Whitearmor, and he’s just as big of a part of why th...

This album cover is already iconic, no matter the quality of the album. I genuinely have no clue on how to start this review. Charli XCX is an artist that I admire from an artistic standpoint but really hasn’t connected with me that much. The closest I’ve connected to that music was her last album, how i’m feeling now , but that may just be because it was released at the start of the pandemic and that album is so tied to that time. Even with liking some of the singles from this new album CRASH , this has been getting a pretty divided response. Let’s get into what my thoughts on this are. Right off the bat, I think I know what the biggest issue was with this album for me. The production on this just didn’t hit me at all. I know it’s popular to hate on this because it’s a more standard pop project compared to her other albums, but there are very good producers here like A.G. Cook and Oneohtrix Point Never on this. It just seems way too amateur to come out like this. I also just think tha...

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...

Ah, I don’t think I have a quirky one-liner for this. Alice Glass deserves the fame. Crystal Castles, a duo she was in with one Ethan Kath, deserved the fame. Hell, even as CC’s music began to decline, it was Glass’s vocals that were holding up that quality to me. It was understandably shocking to find out that Kath was abusing Glass for practically their entire professional careers as Crystal Castles. Either way, after all of that, Glass laid low for a while. Then, eventually, we now have Alice Glass’s first solo album, PREY//IV . I’ve only heard one song from it, so I’m mainly going into this blind. Let’s not waste any more time and get into it. I’ll say that the album’s biggest strength is its lyrics and songwriting. Speaking about any kind of trauma in music, especially when it’s the core concept of an album, is a very brave thing to do, and Glass really has done this in spades. I think it’s the album's biggest draw and its main strength. I also think Glass’s vocals are very st...

Why is everyone saying this is called Laurel Hell ? I’m definitely seeing Yanny Hell over here. Mitski has been an artist that has just been a little cool for me for a while. Yes, I adore Bury Me at Makeout Creek , Puberty 2 , and Be the Cowboy , but I’ve never really thought of Mitski as an artist I tend to go back to as often as some other artists I like. However, there seems to be a divide with this new project of hers, Laurel Hell . This is mainly coming from the sonic direction of the album, which includes more electronics and a whole lot of synthesizers. Either way, the singles from this intrigued me, so let’s not waste any more time and get into Laurel Hell . Look, let’s just get started with the positives. I think, as always, her vocals shine through quite a bit through the new sound and this new combo works surprisingly well. Even with the more synthesized production choices, it feels just a tiny bit forced. I'm sure that Mitski wanted this albums’s sound to go in this di...

If I haven’t said it yet, happy new year! And cheers to some great new music this year! Alright, it stands to reason that I’m a massive fan of The Weeknd. Before the tour refunded my tickets, I had nice seats at the After Hours tour, but I’m hoping to get those seats back when he comes back to my area. Either way, a release of this magnitude in the first week of the new year is generally unheard of in this day and age. I’m not complaining, but I was gonna be on a break for a couple weeks, but Abel over here decided to drop an entire fucking album. After The Weeknd’s massive After Hours era, he comes back in to give us a sister album to it, Dawn FM . He has many big names coming with him, and not just in the music world. Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Oneohtrix Point Never, Quincy Jones, and Jim Carrey come along the ride this time. Let’s not waste any more time and get into the first big release of 2022, Dawn FM . I’d say that the biggest inclusion on the musical end is the extensive ...

I was so tempted to put this review out on Friday, but that’d be too easy. Ah, yes. 2011. The Harry Potter film franchise concluded, Adele was everywhere, and we lost Amy Winehouse and Nate Dogg. Oh, and a little group called Death Grips formed. A decade can be a very long time for anything to evolve, whether it comes to films or especially music. One of the most infectious songs of the early 2010s, for better or for worse, was Rebecca Black’s “Friday.” Now that’s stuck in your head, so I’ll try and get through it. There’s a reason why that song is so hated, mainly because it has the fundamental workings of a ‘perfect’ pop song. I know that’s a hot take, shut up, but either way, it seems like it had a pretty negative impact on Black’s personal life as she went mostly quiet when it came to her music. As a result of that, the music she did make really didn't hit that level of popularity. Then, all of a sudden, when I was sitting down to listen to/review Dorian Electra’s newest album...

I may be wrong, but I think they like butterflies. For being around for a little under a decade, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are pretty prolific. Since their inception, they’ve put out seventeen albums. That’s a very big album, and admittedly, there’s not a bad one among them. That’s very impressive, and quite frankly, I always take a look whenever they drop. Speaking of, they dropped an album earlier this year called L.W. , and it was kind of forgettable. It was cool, but since it was a sister piece to last year’s K.G. , it didn’t feel like a new trek into a new sound, which is what they’re usually known for. Now, for this next album here, Butterfly 3000 , they’re back to their old habits by not having a habit at all. This time around, they boldly go to a new sound: psychedelic pop. Interestingly enough, leading up to this, there was no tracklist, cover, or single for it, so we’re going in blind on this one. So, let’s not waste any more time and get into Butterfly 3000 . Damn, ...

Something feels… off. Alright, there’s gonna have to be a disclaimer with this one: I haven’t seen Inside . Oddly enough, I might be one of the only people in my age range that doesn’t have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Roku, or whatever fits under that category. Except for Disney+, we MCU fans have been eating recently. Why do I say this? Well, again in my age range, Bo Burnham is a bit of an icon. He started on YouTube and jumped to stand-up comedy, where he only grew. After a bout with anxiety, he disappeared from live performances for a while. In that time, he wrote and directed a fantastic movie called Eighth Grade , directed Chris Rock’s most recent stand-up special, and starred in a critically acclaimed movie, Promising Young Woman . Now, he returns to what made him a superstar with Inside , a Netflix special that was created entirely by Burnham during the beginning of the pandemic. Everything was done by him: writing, direction, lighting, cinematography, editing, etc. All of it....

What does a person have for breakfast in Japan? Toast? This is gonna be a weird review for me. This is one of those reviews where I know nothing about the artist outside of their name. Michelle Zauner, better known as Japanese Breakfast, seems to be a pretty accomplished producer along with being a singer-songwriter. Outside of a few credits, the production on Jubilee is done entirely by Zauner herself. I’ve only heard one single from this, “Posing in Bondage,” and it’s quite fantastic. It left a very good first impression on this album, so let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get into Jubilee . Zauner is a pretty amazing vocalist. I loved pretty much every song when it came to the vocals on the album. The production on here is also so fucking gorgeous, especially in the standout track “Kokomo, IN.” I’d also love to highlight “Posing for Cars,” which has this genuinely stunning guitar solo which is *chef’s kiss* BEAUTIFUL. Also, I love the whole ‘quality over quantity’ aspects of this...

This one sparks joy. I honestly am not familiar with CHAI’s previous work and who they are. I’ve heard some singles from this project here, and they worked with JPEGMAFIA on the last Gorillaz album Song Machine - Season One: Strange Timez , which has definitely grown on me. The Peggy/CHAI collab is one of my favorites off that project, and since I already know about Peggy, I should wait to see what happens with CHAI in the future. Lo and behold, that new project is here. WINK is the name, and indie-pop is CHAI’s game. Let’s get into it. WOW, this thing is weird. First, the production is pretty nice. It’s nice to hear elements of future funk in a major album release, and it honestly gives me hope for that subgenre. The opening track “Donuts Mind if I Do” is relaxing and quite catchy. There are a lot of elements of dance in “Nobody Knows We Are Fun” and “IN PINK,” “END” is a legitimately strange track in the best ways possible, and “PING PONG” has some chiptune vibes that are so legitim...

JUST CROP THE COVER BETTER. IT WOULD’VE BEEN SO GREAT IF YOU COULD SEE MORE OF THAT STUPID DRAGON. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, better known as twenty one pilots, have been a very scattered band for me. I’ve always found their music enjoyable, though, don’t get me wrong. They haven’t put out an inherently bad album yet. Their two best in my opinion, Vessel and Trench , just mean that they were the most consistent releases, the albums I’ve returned to the most. Their other albums like their self-titled, their breakout Blurryface , and even their often overlooked Regional at Best just haven’t hit that hard even with their standout singles. Three years after Trench and a couple loose tracks, they’re finally back in full capacity with Scaled and Icy , their sixth studio effort. How did I feel about this? Let’s find out. Let me just get this out of the way: I was very very VERY nervous about this album. Nearly every single on here just didn’t vibe with me. “Shy Away,” “Saturday,” and “Choke...

This cover is setting off my fight or flight reflexes, and I’m not entirely sure why. Kero Kero Bonito is a band that rarely gets talked about enough. One of the most consistent bands in recent years, the trio of vocalist Sarah Bonito and instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled haven’t put out that many projects. If you’re into internet culture, you’ve certainly heard their track “Flamingo,” which I’ll link here . Along with this, their music has also been pretty rooted in video game music, even contributing to the theme song of the viral game, Bugsnax . Outside of this EP, they’ve put out two albums and two EPs, all of them ranging from pretty good to absolutely stunning. They haven’t missed yet, and Civilisation II is a pretty daunting task. It’s only three tracks long, and when you make a project this short, there’s a lot of pressure. Even though I know how consistent KKB can be, I was a little worried getting into this. Has KKB upended my expectations yet again? Let’s see. Le...

Daniel Lopatin has gone by many names throughout his career. Chuck Person, Dania Sharpes, KGB Man, and his most famous persona, Oneohtrix Point Never. The last time he put out music under the 0PN name was in 2018, with his James Blake-assisted Age Of. Between then and now, he’s produced multiple tracks on The Weeknd’s latest project After Hours and wrote the original score for the Adam Sandler film Uncut Gems under his real name. Back under the Oneohtrix Point Never name, he’s back to studio album capacity in Magic Oneohtrix Point Never . He’s going back to his more sampled-based roots, and taking his new friends Caroline Polachek and The Weeknd with him. I was pretty excited for this project, so let’s not waste any more time and talk about Magic Oneohtrix Point Never . Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is an electronic album with synthpop, plunderphonics, and vaporwave vibes. For those that didn’t know, the ‘Oneohtrix Point Never’ came from Lopatin mishearing the FM station 106.7, which ...