Diving Into Gadabout Season By Ian Sherry 10/23/2025 On June 13, 2025, Brandee Younger released her latest solo LP, Gadabout Season. We have deemed expansion necessary, to new heights, new depths, new mediums, greater variety, and widened horizons. The relationship between demand and results, however, can be trepidatious. (Now switching out of the royal collective) I have been in the lab for you all, ruminating on an expanded product and the potential of a community attached to such a product. For now, you are that community. You are also the face of that torturous monster called Pressure. It’s a monster of my own creation, constructed from the expectations I imagine you all might have for me. Under Pressure is where I’ve done my best work, but his weight is tremendous, difficult to carry. This most recent phase of expansion has forced me to reckon with my inability to lug him any further, examine the ethics of projecting my own lofty expectations onto you readers, and grapple with the fact that pressure may not equate to progress. Pressure makes diamonds. But, is frozen crystal my desired form, or does my path require malleability? Maybe it’s not a push I need after all, but a pull. To run towards something is much different than away. Watching your goals come into view is a sounder reward than watching worries fade slowly into the rearview. The fact is, they can always catch up and present new reasons to move forward. Knowing that, there’s no point in dwelling on their presence, no matter how near, because you may miss something on the path in front of you. As I scanned my path a few months back, I stumbled upon two music courses to complete my journalism-filled collegiate schedule. Yes, I’ve been in the lab, the music lab, and it’s just what the doctor ordered. With just a bit more knowledge, optimism, and moxy than I had yesterday, I bring you my review of Brandee Younger’s 2025 LP, Gadabout Season. Brandee Younger arrived at an interesting time in jazz. A genre in no real danger of dying due to its lack of a single definition, the lines of jazz grow increasingly blurred in the electronic era. How does an artform built on pillars like improvisation and swing survive in a world of endless sonic possibilities where musical form as we know it has been simplified to production software displays, and abstracted, ambient electronic production has become a commonality? How do you wrangle the interest of an audience with shrinking attention spans, access to a skip button, and ears trained to subversive autotune? Well, if anyone can navigate that dilemma it’s Younger. First trained classically at NYU, then as an apprentice of jazz (adjacent) greats like Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, John Legend, and The Roots, she gained experience in bridging generations and genres. So, when it came time to go solo, Brandee Younger was more than equipped to form a sound around her chosen chordophone: the harp. In my experience with the harp, its often are used as melodic fill behind the rhythm-driving instruments or overshadowed by horns. Music that solely features harp almost always feels loose and thin – sonically elegant but musically stagnant. That’s a line Younger toes at times on this record. Track 1, “Reckoning,” is a great example of the kind of flourishing and solo melodic blitzing I’ve come to expect from a lead harpist. It’s exciting, but borderline overstimulating and across an entire record it would produce the fatigue that I believe most jazz-avoidant listeners fear. Her presence had to be announced though, so announce it she did. Track 2, “End Means,” moves nicely into the sound of the album and features the versatile flautist Shabaka. The two soloists share the lead role, with Younger playing underneath Shabaka’s runs and quality support from the drums and upright bass, which arrived for the remainder of the record. The title track follows. Placing “Gadabout Season” at 3 makes perfect sense – it’s not a leadoff piece nor the most memorable or captivating, but it’s pleasant mundanity, comfortable quality, and swinging bounce embody the soul of the record. It’s easy to picture Younger cutting this track and knowing it was the bones of something bigger. “Breaking Point” is the first of my favorites. The bass is more present and sonically supportive than on any other piece as it churns out a 2 bar progression, lurching, 4/4 then 2/4 with drums flourishing in between. It’s an aggressive, high-tempo rendition of the swing feeling and Younger wails away with increasing might, steady precision, and decreasing restraint for 2:43. Fifth is “Reflection Eternal” - a melodic breather before the next jumbo composition rolls out of your speaker. Track 6 picks up the light swirling sound of its predecessor with more convincing but infrequent bass support and shimmering drums underneath. The harp carries the tune, touching on the main melody repeatedly then cycling away into pseudo improvision and climbing higher towards the so-called “New Pinnacle.” It’s a grand track to throw in the center of a record, and while it resonates just fine from my speakers at home, I can’t help but imagine hearing it in a big space. “Surrender” features pianist Courtney Bryan. The two trade back and forth, but to the untrained ear the load of strings could be indistinguishable. I’m just now feeling the ability to parse out the harp and it’s horizontally boxed counterpart, but Younger often emulates piano-style notes in her playing on this record making this feature less impactful than the others. “BBL” has some bass to it as well, and if you can’t tell by now I prefer it that way (real bass). To me, the offset provided by a firm bottom like that of track 8 elevates any instrument on top of it. The harp soars more effectively with ground to push off, and when Younger meanders down amongst her accompaniment, as she does on “BBL”, it creates warm, thriving sonic ecosystem. Younger welcomes vocalist Niia into said ecosystem on the dreamy “Unswept Corners.” These corners accumulated the mutual appeal of classical lounge-type music and suave contemporary r&b via the sparse and restrained contributions from all players and the tonal additions of a solid feature. Josh Johnson’s presence was likewise productive on the final track “Discernment.” The somewhat sluggish build of the closer is wiped away by the bulkiness of Johnson’s alto saxophone. He appears all over the track, supporting a reaching Younger on her lengthy and ambitious runs, soaring alongside her at times, and occasionally cutting straight through all the noise to the center of the sound. Another quality contribution to a well-constructed, intentional record. Brandee Younger may not be a musical visionary or Grammy-winning performer, but she is rich in understanding and control of her sound. She knows music. She can conceive it. And she did so with contemporarily uncommon consistency on this 2025 LP. Gadabout Season is a 8.

LIL YACHTY'S LET'S START HERE BY: Ian Sherry 2/14/23 My go-to word when asked about Lil Yachty’s music has always been “fine”. That’s exactly what it is. To be fair, he does some things really well. His production is often compelling and he showcases versatility in his delivery when he is at his best. He also has been a part of a few fun pop crossovers. But, those songs are just that: fun. He falls victim to repetitive flows and occasionally leans too hard on autotune, but these problems aren’t unique. That is probably my biggest issue with Yachty: he is very talented in multiple facets of music-making, but he still makes mistakes that every other mediocre mainstream rapper does. So, as much as I like Yachty as a person, prior to this release, I would describe him simply as “fine”. The last few years have been interesting for Yachty. He’s gained a sizable media presence, mostly because he is a genuinely entertaining personality. He also has expanded musically. For example, in 2021, he decided to come to Detroit to make his album Michigan Boy Boat. The album featured some of the biggest artists in the Detroit scene -Tee Grizzley, Sada Baby, Babytron, YN Jay, RMC Mike, and Rio Da Young OG, to name a few- and his deep dive paid off in what felt like an authentic Detroit Rap project. As a Detroiter, I can attest that although for some people Detroit Rap can be an acquired taste, it is unique and hard to duplicate just for a given album. For the most part though, that is exactly what Yachty did, embracing the punchline-focused delivery that makes Michigan artists great. On top of his time in Michigan, over that last year or so, Yachty has reportedly been a part of studio sessions for several rap projects, and he’s written songs for other artists as well. He also released his single “Poland” recently which immediately blew up because of its show-stopping autotune, even though it was admittedly one-dimensional. There was some buzz over his upcoming album, but, even with the knowledge I had, I still wasn’t convinced it would be more than just a slight improvement over the previous Lil Boat albums. Simply put: I was wrong. Let’s Start Here is essentially an alt-rock/hip hop crossover, and it's good. The album could not have started out with a better track. “The BLACK seminole.” starts with heavy base and drum hits, immediately diving into the unique atmosphere of the album. Then, after the first verse, the guitar comes in. Not just a guitar riff or sample, a guitar solo. Not only does this speak to his immediate commitment to this new concept album, it shows his confidence in his musical expertise and versatility. After a somewhat lengthy tension release (something Yachty does well on this record), “the BLACK seminole.” finishes with the moaning vocals of Diana Gordon, who is brilliant throughout her multiple appearances. Once again relieving some tension, Yachty rolls right into the second track “the ride-”. It’s a relaxed, upbeat track that feels like Yachty’s version of what Steve Lacy does often on his 2022 album Gemini Rights. And, guess who is featured! Steve Lacy. Steve’s feature is simple and enjoyable, even though simplicity is not Yachty’s style on this album. Upon closer listen, “the ride-” has plenty of complexity to it. The baseline which roams throughout the song, keeps pace and bolsters the song’s personality. The third song “running out of time” is very easy to listen to, as is the fourth song “pRETTY” which features autotune reminiscent of “Poland” and a solid feature from Foushee. Unfortunately track five raises my first big issue with the album. “:(failure(:” is an interlude that consists of Yachty reflecting about his failures in a roundabout way. Here’s the thing: Yachty has a great personality. The problem is the placement. He led off the album with four great tracks but he then broke up the momentum with an interlude that could have slotted in anywhere. “THE zone” and “WE SAW THE SUN” come next. Both have their strengths. The first features, possibly, his best songwriting on the album, and the second includes more great autotune and a perfectly done mini-interlude. The interlude reminds me of some of Kendrick Lamar’s best. It simultaneously entertains and leads into the next song, as the bass kicks in towards the end for a seamless and satisfying transition. “drive ME crazy” and “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST VISION” mark the last two Diana Gordon features. Her impact on this album is probably greater than it appears on the surface. Her voice is a familiar mix between Alanis Morrisete and Tracy Chapman, and it adds completeness to the album by tying songs together stylistically, in a way miscellaneous features could not have. “sAy sOMETHINg” flirts with Yachty’s habitual repetitiveness but avoids it by pushing the limits of autotune and leaning into it heavily from the bridge throughout the conclusion of the song. “paint THE sky” opens with a muffled sample of the Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears”. Yachty does a mild stylistic Weeknd impersonation for the remainder of the song and executes it tastefully. “sHouLd i B” and “The Alchemist” combine for the weakest pair of songs on the album. Both are fairly repetitive, and though they stay within the niche of the rest of the album, they are missing the palpable creativity on every other song. “The Alchemist” has a nice finish that leads into the album’s final song. But aside from that, I could do without them, especially on such a strong and reasonably lengthy (57 minute) album. “REACH THE SUNSHINE” is the final song on the album. Although it doesn’t reach the heights of the opener, it brings in some of the same elevated vocals. Daniel Caesar has a great feature, adding to the atmosphere of the album’s conclusion with great vocals. Yachty decides to ride out the album on a wave of synths and sound effects, the same synths and sound effects that create the exotic sonic world that is Let’s Start Here. Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here is a musically alternative take on mainstream music industry style. It has its flaws, namely: the occasional grating vocal performance, incoherently high decibel combinations of instruments, and Yachty’s repetitive flow. But, it is a triumph nonetheless. Let’s Start Here sits in a strange yet surprisingly common set of circumstances, where the album can easily rub a given listener the wrong way. Yet, it would be a mistake to miss the genius behind it regardless of personal taste. Other albums that share these circumstances, especially within alternative hip-hop, are: Tyler The Creator’s Igor, Danny Brown’s Atrocity Expedition, JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran, even Death Grips’ The Money Store. If you’re familiar with those, I think Let’s Start Here is on its way to their level. Yachty is young, talented, and after this album it seems he’s poised to start making timeless albums. Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here is an 8.5/10.

2024 In Review BY IAN SHERRY 1/1/2025 When I started The Culture Gyre more than a year ago now, it was in hopes that I'd get to cover years like this. Enjoy! Animal Cheer - Big Search Here is the definition of a solid record. Animal Cheer is made by and for music fans, and that’s evident on every track. Big Search is the solo outfit of Matthew Popieluch and this was a true solo undertaking, which only speaks to his artistic vision. Each song, in addition to the seemingly guaranteed warmth and familiarity, has the solid bones and decisive musical palette needed to create a status quo just waiting to be elevated. That elevation can be found in his applied influences, the most encompassing being George Harrison - but if you listen you’ll hear hints of a Rubin-ized Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, King Krule, and perhaps a variety of your personal favorites. Big Search’s newest result is a 8. 18 "Loose Ends" "Wellsprings" "Luck Rains Down" Here In The Pitch - Jessica Pratt Jessica Pratt has mastered the art of simplicity. Her songbird voice floats through the thin but palpable atmosphere of her music alongside her washy acoustic guitar, and that tandem remains undefeated on her latest release. As an artist with what some might consider limited tools, Pratt has spoken about her fear of being pigeonholed, and in some ways that’s what this record addresses. In comparison to her other equally short n’ safe LPs, her 2024 effort does a better job of spanning the spectrum of her stylistic abilities. Whether it be a subtly rising synth here, or the rare if not singular background vocal there, Pratt’s excellence in the details -particularly when crafting the sonic backdrop - allowed her to guide each song on this album in whatever direction she pleased. Also - if Pitchfork listened through all 27 minutes they’d have “The Last Year” at no. 2 on The 100 Best Songs of 2024, not “Life Is” - just saying. Here In The Pitch is a 8.2. 17 "Life Is" "The Better Hate" "The Last Year" Alligator Bites Never Heal - Doechii Of all the year’s rap releases, this may be the most intriguing. While it had been four years since Doechii released an album, it’s clear now she’d been building to something, because after consistently releasing singles over that gap she finally struck the charts in May of 2023 with “What It Is (Block Boy)”. A little over a year after that warning shot she dropped this ambitious 19-track LP. Like many other artists who found their beginnings on the internet, Doechii’s talent for entertainment has never been in doubt - that remains true through this entire tracklist. She raps with as much confidence and bubbly performative energy as ever while delivering her most cutting lyrical performances to date. Additionally, she included several vocally impressive cuts that showcase her take on contemporary pop/r&b. It’s the kind of song collection that can draw endless comparisons, from the obvious Doja Cat to the legendary Missy Elliot - neither of which ever ventured into boom bap, which Doechii does on more than one occasion here. Alligator Bites Never Heal , while not perfect, seems to cover as many bases as the late Rickey Henderson - though with a 2% lower rate of success (yes I’ll do math for music and baseball) - making it a true showcase album. Whether it be the lyrical content, which I mostly found compelling, the cultivation of emotion, or the musical stylings themselves, variety was the name of the game for Doechii this year, and she played the game very well. Alligator Bites Never Heal is a 8.3. 16 "DENIAL IS A RIVER" "DEATH ROLL" "NISSAN ULTIMA" Imaginal Disk - Magdalena Bay While I wasn’t previously familiar with the Magdalena Bay beyond a small handful of tracks and bits of internet chatter, the Floridian pop duo will have a hard time escaping my attention after this 2024 LP. Music makers of the future - this record feels like an exploration of the many corners of pop they felt were within reach, from borderline-retro synth pop to the unmistakable elements of indie and hyperpop on each track. This sound is their own, and despite the insistence of their growing fanbase that Magdalena Bay has long been A-List-ready, this has the feel of a true breakthrough album. Does that mean they’ve reached maximum speed in their lane? Absolutely not. The borders of pop music broaden every year, opening endless opportunities for a group with this level of ingenuity to become even more prolific. Their versatility and song-making ability are on display throughout this 2024 product, but some tracks undeniably stand above the rest and consistent replication of that elevating ‘it factor’ would vault them to the pinnacle of any given year in music. Imaginal Disk is a 8.3. 15 "Killing Time" "Love Is Everywhere" "Cry For Me" CHROMAKOPIA - Tyler The Creator For the fourth time in a row, Tyler The Creator released an album that perfectly met the moment. Settling somewhere in between Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost , he continued to hone his own pop/alt hip-hop sound with yet another noticeable increase in maturity and production quality. Tyler covers every corner of the sound he’s spent a decade zeroing in on, which makes for a wide musical range that allows him to address anything on his mind and lean into whatever stylistic tropes he wishes. My favorite trope from this particular record was his brilliant song progressions. While he adheres to portions of traditional song structure, Tyler has cultivated this unique ability to make songs with a definite directional vision minus the limiting aspects of typical song design. Much like Igor, most tracks feel more concerned with the build and payoff than creating the literary definition of ‘song’. The difference is that CHROMAKOPIA has years of realized talent and acquired skill aiding its ambitious track-by-track undertakings. It’s clean, and while not groundbreaking, singularly focused, or conceptually compelling, it feels personal and complete. Tyler’s most recent success is a 8.4. 14 "Noid" "Sticky" "I Hope You Find Your Way Home" Manning Firewords - MJ Lenderman I’ve seen and spoken to folks who hail this record as the year’s best. I understand the appeal - besides his strengths as an artist, MJ Lenderman’s music simply feels good. Lenderman has an earthy genuine way about him and it leaks all through his music. From his chest-voice vocals to his recognizably pleasant guitar, there’s no mistaking the Wednesday guitarist for any other day of the week. Speaking of his main gig, the North Carolinian group does a lot of bridging their folk-rock influences with the world of alt-noise, and while it can result in an occasionally elevated sound, it’s been a treat to hear Lenderman get so much solo exposure this year. Some things don’t need elevating, although I suspect his best work has yet to come. Manning Fireworks is a 8.4. 13 "Joker Lips" "Wristwatch" "You Don't Know What Shape I'm In" GNX - Kendrick Lamar Well yeah. Between his triumphant feud with Drake and this chart-topping record, Lamar reached heights of celebrity this year that no rapper has quite seen since Travis Scott dropped Astroworld (‘19). His reinvigoration of the West Coast sound he emerged and, for a time, separated from is largely responsible for this album’s success, and while the record will likely go down as the release that followed “Not Like Us”, I believe it may one day receive credit for establishing the sound the next generation of Kendrick Lamar fans grew up with. Kendrick’s victory lap is a 8.5. 12 "squabble up" "hey now" "heart pt. 6" Underdressed At The Symphony - Faye Webster If you haven’t heard Faye Webster you’ve been missing out - all she does is make good music. Her mellow indie-rock often relies on breezy instrumentals and the pureness of her voice but ultimately focuses on simply finding catchy grooves, which she does with ease. On Underdressed At The Symphony the 27-year-old upheld that standard and included some more active listens for fans who may want more than to float beside her for 10 songs. Whether you came for the Lil Yachty feature or to find the next Faye Webster fixtures on a playlist of yours (that’s me), you’ll be pleased with this record. Faye’s most recent people-pleaser is a 8.6. 11 "But Not Kiss" "Wanna Quit All The Time" "He Loves Me Yeah!" I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU - JPEGMAFIA By this point, if you’ve heard JPEGMAFIA you’ve got an opinion. He is the foremost artist in his field of - let’s say ‘abstract’ rap. Known for his hyper hodgepodge instrumentals, loose performances, and goofy lyrics, assessments of his music range from ‘he’s the best rapper ever’ to ‘this isn’t music’, but I’ve always found his records to be mixed bags. Last year, with the help of Danny Brown, he released his most coordinated and listenable album at the time, and now he’s done it again. This 2024 LP reaches new heights of sonic palatability over a quality tracklist with perhaps the most stylistic and contextual range he’s ever shown, strongly displaying some of his most digestibly emotional songwriting ever, without compromising his signature nonsensical internet humor. His ability to seamlessly accommodate his features - namely Vince Staples and Denzel Curry - resulted in some of the best tracks on the record, and his production-based execution of increasingly ambitious song concepts is getting better and better. Peggy has always had all the tools he needs and I couldn’t be happier to see them come together in such a thorough and diverse offering. I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU is a 8.7. 10 "New Black History" "JPEGULTRA!" "either on or off the drugs" Bright Future - Adrianne Lenker There are few things I love more than supplementing a great album with a related Wikipedia scroll, and the latest LP from Big Thief’s timid leader Adrianne Lenker sent me to my favorite internet encyclopedia faster than any other record. I’ve always felt as though her pointedly midwestern blend of folk and alternative must’ve come from somewhere other than New York - her band’s home base. Turns out I was right (what else is new?). Much like her music, the sheer amount of life Lenker lived before recording her first album at the age of 13 lands somewhere between incredible and unnerving. For the length of Bright Future she toes that line, effortlessly communicating both the messages and moods she intends with the musical equivalent of comfort food for her fans. It’s yet another well-executed project from a woman who was born to be an artist, and while it may not touch the heights that certain Big Thief tracks do or have the pent-up energy of Songs (‘20), you’ll be hard-pressed to poke many holes in this safely stellar project. Bright Future is a 8.7 9 "Sadness As A Gift" "Vampire Empire" "Donut Seam" Dark Times - Vince Staples Vince Staples seems to have secured a solid B+ reputation across his first 7 studio albums, with The Big Fish Theory widely considered his masterpiece. That’s the status he’s been awarded, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the now 31-year-old never saw an upgrade in that respect. That’s what consistent coordinated releases do for an artist like Vince, and to me that’s a travesty. Vince Staples is one of the best artists in the rap game right now, and while he won’t throw it in your face, I will. Dark Times marks his third consecutive album-to-album improvement in terms of artistic and stylistic maturity. From the well-written songs throughout the record to the sonic palette which is the very best of the year, bar none, Vince is in complete control. His music feels calculated yet genuine, smooth yet rigid, laid back yet cutting, and you can only produce that kind of product if the product itself is your ultimate focus. This record, while not stylistically groundbreaking maximizes the sound he’s been working to perfect. If he chooses to move on to something new and does so with the same level of artistic execution he brought this year, everyone else better watch the hell out. Vince Staples’ best record yet is a 8.8 8 "Justin" "Children's Songs" "Little Homies" Almighty So 2 - Chief Keef Chief Keef struck again! Any year where the patron saint of the Southside sits atop the ranks of hip-hop albums is a good year in my book. Keef has been releasing generally solid projects in the 12 years following his emergence on, or rather creation of the drill rap scene we know today at the age of 16. Now, with the follow-up to his decade-old sophomore release Sosa’s struck gold again. As an artist whose reputation was staked and secured 4 minutes into his debut record, Chief Keef’s artistic development has gone severely underrated. So, if you haven’t been paying attention, he now is the near sole producer of his music, and that happens to be the greatest strength of this record. The production in question is by far the strongest I’ve heard on any drill record - he commands a massive energetic atmosphere on most of the songs which is nothing new to the drill formula, but with greater sonic depth and cleanliness than ever. His generally organic instrumentals only further legitimize the production effort, and he displays a greater understanding of the instruments themselves than producers pushing a similar envelope in the trap scene (Metro). The fact is, Chief Keef built this sound from the ground up while learning and developing his skills as a musician along the way and maintaining the performative stylings that won the hearts of his fans in the beginning. Now, the result is a new high water mark for not only himself but the drill scene at large. Almighty So 2 is a 8.9. 7 "1,2,3" "Banded Up" "Never Fly Here" Wall Of Eyes - The Smile The Smile is what you might call a perfect spinoff, and their third release (the first of two this year) is the perfect proof. When an established artist (or in this case three) embarks on a side project there is a key balance to be struck. First, in order to justify the spinoff in the first place the product ought to vary from their usual work, however straying too far opens up the risk of losing the original audience. If you’re wondering exactly how someone might go about striking that balance, give Wall Of Eyes a listen. Thom Yorke and co. brought the best elements of Radiohead to their 2024 record. Despite lacking the sonic brawn a 5-man band like Radiohead possesses, The Smile did a great job of cultivating similarly fantastic atmospheres, and I think it’s fair to say the thinner cast of musicians opened up greater stylistic flexibility. In a true example of doing more with less, the added air allowed for them to lean further into spacey psychedelic sounds as well as some of Skinner’s jazz inclinations and Yorke's more abstract vocal stylings. It’s a record made by true professionals with complete awareness of the tools in front of them and the collaborative mojo to execute some of the more difficult and conceptually loose tracks of their collective discographies. Wall Of Eyes is a 9. 6 "Wall Of Eyes" "Read The Room" "Friend Of A Friend" Mahashmashana - Father John Misty I’d like to say this is Father John Misty’s best album. A bold claim perhaps, especially for such an established artist with the dedicated fanbase he has, but one that can be easily backed up. While Mahashmashana may not prove to be loaded with signature tracks to the level of his 2012 debut, for instance, this 8-track 50-minute LP is packed front to back with significant undertakings. With 2 songs in the 4-minute range and the rest spanning 5-9 minutes each, Father John bit off as much as he ever has and executed at a new level. There are zero skips across a decently wide variety of songs, from his spiritual balladry to rambling rock and all the alternative space that he occupies so effortlessly in between. To me, it sounds as though the high-potential 43-year-old has reached a new level of comfortability within his music, and frankly, it shouldn’t be so easy to write and execute lengthy yet captivating songs in unwavering succession. That’s why as of right now, I’m placing Father John Misty on ‘perfect 10 watch’ - just wait. Father John Misty’s most complete effort to date is a 9. 5 "Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose" "Screamland" "I Guess Time Just Makes A Fool of Us All" Diamond Jubilee - Cindy Lee Cindy Lee is a fairly massive talent. The music industry vet has performed in different groups, under different names, and in different genres, and all that seems to have led to the sort of indiscriminate ‘screw-you-attitude’ that can only be properly expressed by someone who’s either highly skilled, highly pissed off, or both. I know this because the murky abrasive nature of this music is exactly the sonic palette one might choose if they wished to avoid the underqualified attention of mainstream audiences. That approach has kept Cindy Lee in that perfect grey area where fantastic music can exist untouched and unbothered, which is no small feat. Unfortunately for Cindy, they might have blown that window wide open with their latest release Diamond Jubilee . The 2-hour 32-track triple record is a peak indie album (available for download on Bandcamp). Lee floats through genre-various influences with ease, challenging the listener on nearly every song while thriving in the tantalizing minimal complexity that makes this gaudy listen bearable. Rock, alternative, indie, folk, and psychedelic are no strangers to one another, but combined with the dual vocal deliveries, highly skilled and uniquely restrained guitar technique, and unwavering intention behind each track, this sound can be contained under just one umbrella: Diamond Jubilee. Cindy Lee’s odyssey LP is 9.1. 4 "All I Want Is You" "Dracula" "Lockstepp" Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee This was perhaps the best album referral I’ve ever received. Thanks Joe. Tigers Blood is not only my favorite record of the year - it’s also home to some of the most well-written and emotionally performed songs of the year, the most productive feature of the year in MJ Lenderman, and what I consider the best collection of vocal performances as well. Waxahatchee is a one-woman music machine who, with the help of a backing band can move you to tears with one song and out of your seat with the next. I found myself hanging on her every word, even considering the cost of a move to Alabama, because each track on this album somehow feels like home. She effortlessly combines elements of rock, alternative, folk, country, even a tasteful tinge of 2010s pop, and it all comes together in a sound I feel as though I’ve always known. I went back and listened to all of Kathryn Critfield’s other work, both under this outfit and in her previous band P.S. Elliot, and I can safely say that while all of her music prominently displays her strengths in one way or another Tigers Blood is simply another gear. I cannot wait to see what comes next. My personal favorite release of 2024 is a 9.2. 3 "3 Sisters" "Right Back To It" "365" Cowboy Carter - Beyonce Well, it’s official Beyonce has broken music. For the second release in a row, she arrived on the album cover on horseback in full pop-star regalia and released the most bombastic project of the year. Why would a veteran pop star with nothing left to prove coming off an unnecessarily adventurous but brilliantly executed electronic pop/r&b album choose to backtrack and release her first ‘country’ album - because she felt her roots have been neglected, because there’s always more to prove, or simply because she can? While my best bet is all of the above, there’s only one person who can answer that question, after all, Beyonce answered every other question with her latest success. Cowboy Carter covers all the bases. It ranges stylistically through her bread and butter, back to Renaissance , and forward to a brand new fusion of pop, r&b, and country that she can call her own. While the album's most potent country tendencies are found in the content and tone rather than the musical stylings, Queen B’s ability to meld whichever genre tropes she pleases is on par with some of contemporary music’s most venerable names. The vocal onslaught was as strong and sustained as ever as she glided through a lengthy record packed with big-name features, gutsy covers, and statement after statement in the form of standout tracks and calculated lyrical presentations. She has mastered the art of the album (it’s like she’s seen my scoring system), from the rollout to the song placement and what I can only assume was a massive collaborative effort behind the scenes. Beyonce’s country takeover is a 9.3. 2 "AMERIICAN REQUIEM" "ALLIIGATOR TEARS" "YA YA" Brat - Charli XCX Well, this should be no surprise. Charli XCX first emerged from the London party scene and entered the pop charts more than a decade ago. Since then she’s carved out a niche of her own somewhere between pop and dance/electronic, become one of the driving forces in the ever-developing hyperpop scene, and secured a reputation as a sort of all-around-icon by the age of 32. Her playful partygirl aesthetic goes just as far towards wrangling new fans as it does towing her most veteran supporters along her musical journey, and with her stunning 2024 release it's safe to say she’s done fans of every kind a service. Brat is a pure hyperpop record, a career-best undertaking of innovation, and the kind of record that cements an artist's legacy, but most of all it is a movement. ‘Brat Summer’, Brat for Halloween, Brat as an adjective - when was the last time you heard the name of an album take on such a socially verbose nature? Never is my answer, and it's for good reason. It’s a perfectly digestible, near-perfect 15 songs over 41 minutes. Each one is danceable, means something to someone, and stays perfectly within the abstract but contagiously understandable world that is Brat . Each time I listen to this album, whether in the car, on my audiophile stereo setup, or in my noise-canceling world-blocking headphones I discover something new in the mix, something that makes a song better, something that further cements Brat as the album of the year. 2024’s best record is a 9.4. 1 "Von Dutch" "B2b" "365"

MUSICAL MATCHMAKER VOL. 1 3/26/24 BY: IAN SHERRY On March 24, 2023, Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA released SCARING THE HOES , and out of my newfound obsession with Danny Brown’s collaborative potential, a series is born. Allow me to speak on everyone’s behalf for a moment. We all have artists we’d like to see work together, or collaborations we believe would’ve changed the musical landscape as we know it today. Who wouldn’t want to see Kendrick Lamar put out an album with his little cousin Baby Keem , and who wouldn’t have wanted a full LP from David Bowie and Queen . This series is an opportunity for us to explore what we believe could be or should’ve been, and we’re starting with Danny Brown. Collaborative albums are one of the music industry’s greatest treats. Diversified groups of listeners get new material from their favorite artists while becoming more familiar with someone new. In the very best instances, both artists gain fans, fans gain good music from both artists, and a whole world of future collaborations, connections, and stylistic innovation reveals itself. From bands adding a key sound-altering member for a project, like Michael McDonald with Steely Dan , to established artists combining their unique sounds, like Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA, the best artists find ways to make each other better. SCARING THE HOES was a project long-rumored on the internet and their combined fanbases. A crossover between two of the most prolific alternative hip-hop artists of this active generation is bound to receive attention, after all. Brown and Peggy didn’t disappoint. They each brought their signature senses of humor, unique rhyming styles, and studio skills. The result is one of the best produced, thematically strong, witty, and entertaining albums of last year. For me, it spawned a new interest: Danny Brown’s ability to collaborate. In all of my Danny Brown solo listening (and I’ve heard it all, to my knowledge), I never imagined that he could fully exist as himself outside of his own projects. While he delivers solid features on a yearly basis, he’s always felt strongest on beats catered to himself by himself, when he has complete creative control. However, on SCARING THE HOES, it's Brown who does most of the bending. While both MCs prefer to exist in sonic chaos, JPEGMAFIA relies on it. His rhythmically abnormal cadence doesn’t lend itself as kindly to more traditional hip-hop beats. Brown can go either way. As an artist who often buries or alters traditional beats underneath his more cluttered soundscapes, he can rap in any pocket without relying on, or being limited by, his production. So, what do I do when an artist has such obvious collaborative prowess, like Danny Brown? I dream up new collabs. Welcome to Musical Matchmaker Vol. 1. Recently, on a tip from a friend, I was listening to Bruiser Wolf , another artist involved in Danny Brown’s Detroit alt-hip-hop scene. He, unlike his pal Danny, sticks to pretty conventional production. It was in their scattered collaborations and work together in Bruiser Brigade , that finally pointed to what I really want from a Danny Brown collab: cleaner production. 1. Danny MF BROWN Well yeah, who wouldn’t go well with MF DOOM ? A fair point, and the answer is nobody (or maybe Elvis), but this is an intentional selection. Danny Brown, despite not solely producing his beats since early mixtapes, has developed an individually recognizable sound. His vocal expertise allows him to exist in a permanent state of semi-chaos, with projects like XXX and Atrocity Exhibition leading the charge, however even when his sound is less cluttered, orderliness isn’t his strong suit. MF DOOM is, genres aside, one of the greatest producers of all time. Few artists inject as much personality into their instrumentals as DOOM. In fact, it's his zany intro/outros and perfectly off-center sample-work that are responsible for his unprecedented notoriety as an artist in an alternative space. What draws me to DOOM in this particular instance, however, is one of the key ingredients Danny Brown has yet to fully incorporate into his own work: cleanliness. MF DOOM’s production, despite its abstract and cluttered nature on the surface, is just as clean and organized as today’s most prominent pop-rap producers. Let me take you under the hood. Given, DOOM’s catalog is expansive enough to nitpick until your nitpicking appetite is satisfied completely, he generally thrives in clean contrasts. Take “Doomsday” ; by sampling Sade’s “Kiss of Life” , he introduces the very essence of smooth, under which he layers a semi-complex drum hook that dictates a much quicker tempo than the original sample. In addition to the sharpness of the drums he interjects occasional record scratches, cuts, and a scattering of extremely brief samples. All of these choices come together to achieve a perfectly balanced texture, as well as a fairly neutral base to rap overtop. As far as I’m concerned, that level of production expertise is exactly what Danny Brown needs, because while he’s collaborated with plenty of top-tier producers, that solid base that DOOM creates is unrivaled. Not to mention, the lyrical collaboration between the two would be an absolute dream for any fan of unique deliveries and lyrics that toe the line between genius and nonsense. 2. Ol’ Dirty Brown Ol’ Dirty Bastard is one of the greatest performative rappers of all time. So is Danny Brown. See where I’m going with this? There are endless aspects to good performative rapping, and endless combinations in which either of these artists would thrive, but I believe their particular strengths overlap on the highest level. Firstly, ODB’s background with Wu Tang and the NYC posse rap scene is priceless when it comes to collaboration. Manufacturing verses that stand apart from anyone else on the song is a skill, and one that elevated ODB in his prime. When other members of the Wu Tang Clan’s styles had more of a tendency to blend together, especially his cousins RZA and GZA , Ol’ Dirty Bastard cultivated one of the most recognizable deliveries ever. His ability to exist as himself in a collective space is rivaled by very few, and Danny Brown is on that short list of competition. Listen to Brown’s verse on A$AP Rocky’s “1 Train” or Bruiser Wolf’s “2 Bad” (they’re the same sample), and notice how clearly he stands apart. Then compare that to ODB’s “Intoxicated” ”; you might notice a similar phenomenon. When these two MCs are turned loose on more simplistic beats and have room to deliver an uninhibited performance, they’re untouchable. The ability to work as individuals while finding a shared stylistic sweet spot has elevated legendary hip-hop duos like Outkast and Black Star . Ol’ Dirty Brown shares a lot of strengths with those legendary groups, from similar content and life experiences (street life and addiction) to similar performative styles. Their breath control and borderline cartoonish deliveries would work well together in my mind, which leaves just one question mark. What are they rapping on? As much as I’d love to hear ODB work into contemporary Danny Brown production, that doesn’t feel like a realistic adjustment for the 90s MC. Instead I’d look back to Brown’s earlier work. On Hot Soup especially, you can find more drum-forward production, reminiscent of the boom-bap sound, which ODB would’ve been much more accustomed to. From there, a knowledgeable producer would be wise to reconstruct Brown’s typical sample-work, which normally rides overtop or in stride with the verse. Dropping it in the mix so that the vocals take precedent would allow for the duo’s performative skills to dominate the audience. It would also loosen up the vocal pocket and allow the less frequent samples to take up a larger role in the structure of the song, marking transitions between consecutive verses or choruses. The result, theoretically, would be two of the strongest rappers in their given generations spitting on production that combines signature aspects of their own styles and eras. All of that combined with their ability to exaggerate syllables, which dictates pace regardless of the actual word quantity, Ol’ Dirty Brown would be the perfect lyrical storm, and one of the finest live shows in hip-hop history. Danny Brown has one of the most unique skill-sets in music today. His album with JPEGMAFIA was one of the highest quality releases of last year, but it was not his collaborative ceiling. He is the most versatile rapper in music right now, making him the ideal collaborator. His willingness to experiment is evidenced in his own work as well as his scattered features, from Euro-electronic producers like Paul White to genre-bending artists like Quadeca . Danny Brown will continue to innovate as long as he makes music, and while there may be no living artist with whom he can strike the perfect collaborative balance, if there is, he’ll find them.

The Hunting Party 2/10/2025 BY: IAN SHERRY The Hunting Party premiered February 4, 2024, on NBC. The sole focus of network television, perhaps more than any other form of media, is to secure viewership. Each and every episode must supply something that brings the audience back the next week, which places a unique and permanently immediate sense of pressure on everyone involved. That pressure begins the moment the creators cross the threshold from idea to product and doesn’t cease until the show itself does. Network television’s latest million-dollar idea sprung from the mind of JJ Bailey. Bailey has experience with the pressures of Network show-biz, having had Echo, his only prior show, canceled after the pilot. The Hunting Party, in many ways, is a reflection of his learned approach to the genre. We can start with the premise. An unknown number of assumed-dead serial killers escape from a massive CIA-run subterranean prison via explosion. Now that’s a headline, albeit one that’s kept from the fictional public. The result of that jailbreak, therefore, is a technically unlimited (but more like unspecified) number of future episode plots. In that sense, The Hunting Party is pure genius. That, however, is not the only sense I care about. One of the givens of network television, in my eyes, has always been the limited quality of the art itself. There is a definite standard that this meticulously analyzed audience is known to expect. Falling short of that standard in any way, whether it be writing, acting, set design, or one of the many other requirements of TV production, would likely be received as a critical error. However, that standard is so demanding, there are so many boxes to check, that it encourages a sort of ‘good enough’ attitude, rather than the perfection in a vacuum that an alternatively produced show might aim for. The Hunting Party, for all its broad-stroke-strengths, is no exception to the phenomenon above. If you watched the promos, you’d be fooled into thinking Bex, played by Melissa Roxburgh, is the star of the show. In reality, the star is the plot. For instance, Bex goes from an FBI profiler posted in a casino (the FBI’s doghouse) to lead profiler in the most crucial multi-manhunt in the country’s history before the first commercial break. If that seems sudden, overly convenient, or even unrealistic to you, you’re not alone. But, that fast, loose, fairytale style was a conscious choice - one that, while limiting to the actors as they come across stiff and defined by their function, allowed for the writers to work in a borderline ludicrous number of plot twists, eureka moments, and cliff hangers in place of thoughtful, time-consuming small-talk or character definition. JJ Bailey’s masterpiece is not, nor will it be, a show defined by its acting, and certainly not by its writing, but neither is the genre. Network television is defined by ambition (I should know I watched 30 Rock). And while a show like The Hunting Party simply cannot compare to a show like 30 Rock in the classic critical categories, it just delivered perhaps the most ridiculously plot-packed pilot episode I’ve ever seen. That kind of unchecked creativity and ambition, at the end of the day, is what brings audiences back, and despite the various surface-level limitations I can’t help but consider myself a part of this audience. I will be back tonight for more.

Hurry Up Tomorrow : Monday Is Looming By Ian Sherry 3/8/2025 The Weeknd released Hurry Up Tomorrow on January 31st, 2025. Abel Tesfaye searches for end-of-era-defining songs on what is rumored be the final album released under his present moniker. The Weeknd rose to prominence in the early stages of last decade when his trio of mixtapes, Trilogy , caught listeners’ ears with the shock-toxic club-pop he pioneered. Now, after releasing a decent debut, 2 consecutive smash hit records, and the first 2 records of his highly successful and allegedly final trilogy, the Toronto superstar entered this record evidently shorter on inspiration than he’s been in a long time. The reception of The Weeknd’s latest has been the increasingly typical mix of middling to high scores and mild to moderate enthusiasm. With the world’s top sound engineers at his disposal and having the knack for delivering sonically enticing soundscapes that he does, a certain level of critical success is all but guaranteed. The Weeknd will always provide a song like “Baptized In Fear” to scratch the hifi itch. But, if the repeated achievement of sonic standards is akin to success in your view, consider the remainder of this review a dissenting opinion. The Weeknd is out of gas. Fueled in his early days by the nightlife, Abel Tesfaye seemed to know his lifestyle wasn’t sustainable. So began his journey to pop stardom. His now 15-plus-year career has been marked time and time again by well-executed shifts in identity, ultimately bridging the gap between toxic trainwreck and cynical celebrity, but on Hurry Up Tomorrow he was too slow to pull the plug. The sound has reached its expiration date. The Weeknd’s identity, which was always a poignant feature of his artistry, is currently reduced almost singularly to his star status. The result is a hit-driven approach to the majority of tracks. With his mind perpetually set on the high point, the instrumentals have become electronic clouds of ambient ambiance. Take “Reflections Laughing.” The track begins with The Weeknd singing alongside a meek guitar playing no discernable melody, then with the help of a chipmunked sample hook and someone sitting on the bass button, he begins to build to the climax just 1 minute into the 4:51 song. He even drops an interlude into the middle of the song before a painfully lethargic Travis Scott feature accounts for the last 1:37. The song relies so heavily on audience buy-in that it is held together more by the robo-popstar personas of Tesfaye and Scott than any legitimate musical structure. “Wake Me Up” kicks off the album with artificially anthemic energy that is essentially typical for a record chock-full of musically hollow moments of sonic cinema. Because The Weeknd’s voice is so piercingly clear, it lacks texture. This can be positive when belting out pop choruses, clarity plays well to general audiences, but like any other form of delivery, there’s a time and a place. The wider variety of vocal stylings on his early mixtapes occasionally put The Weeknd in uncomfortable vocal pockets that were a more challenging match for his performative skillset. It was not uncommon to hear the strain in his delivery, but it only added to the already edgy sound. That edge is gone. “Timeless” is a jam and the perfect counter to last paragraph’s claim. Playboi Carti settles into the atmospheric Weeknd-style trap beat like he was born there and brings a couple flows along with him. The Weeknd steps up to the plate next and handles the later majority of the track like he can and should, effortlessly delivering multiple delivery styles, rhythms, and rhyme schemes. Unfortunately, while performances of that caliber aren’t singular to track 13 of the 22 total, the average vocal performance is much more pop formulaic - fine but nowhere near the displays of talent and skill he’s achieved. Instead, he gets outperformed by both Future and Lana Del Rey and milks a third of the songs for minutes longer than nature would’ve allowed. 22 songs is a somewhat ridiculous number, but exceptions can be made. That’s a status The Weeknd has certainly earned. Likewise, he’s earned a few electronic pop flops. Acts that categorically raise the bar in certain areas of evaluation can perhaps be allotted modified expectations in select areas that are less favorable given their skillset or style of undertaking. But this year, there were just too many lapses. I’d return to just 4 songs: the hifi success “Baptized In Fear” (7), the prompt, washy “Opening Night” (8), the aforementioned “Timeless” (8), and the a1 trap-pop “Niagara Falls” (10). There was a smattering of excellent transitions, and of course, the soundscapes were on point. Hurry Up Tomorrow is a 5.8 .

OBSESSION, NEXT-GEN HORROR WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY: DAWSON SARCONA, 6/10/2026 Recent horror blockbusters have the box office in a chokehold, due in large part to the genre’s popularity amongst upcoming generations. The youthful zeitgeist is horror-acclimated, and Curry Baker’s Obsession is the latest and loudest proof of that. Obsession has no shortage of achievements after just three weeks in theaters. For a movie with a budget as low as $750,000, Obsession has blown its expected earnings out of the water as it’s now on track to reach $250M (or more) before the end of its theatrical run. Further, if you look at the weekend-to-weekend growth of Obsession, you'll notice that the lowest earnings are in its opening weekend, before growing 30% in week two and an additional 10% in week three, implying cult-classic momentum. The last film to behave as such at the box office was all the way back in 1982, Stephen Spielberg's classic E.T. So what is so great about Obsession? Well, to put it plainly, everything. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I think we might be dealing with a near-perfect movie. Now, I will say, I have seen this movie 3 times in theaters, so I've gotten the privilege of looking back at it with the perspective of already knowing what happens. One thing that really stood out to me on my 2nd and 3rd watch was how well each scene served the story in getting us to the ending. Never before in my life have I seen a movie with such a tight script in which literally every single scene serves a distinct purpose. I genuinely believe that this film could not be cut any further and still tell the story it does so effectively. This is likely due to director Curry Barker's experience as a YouTube/TikTok sketch comedian. As a part of the Duo “That's a Bad Idea,” Barker mastered the craft of building short-form sketches and content. Due to the limited attention of viewers on these apps, Barker has gained an eye for what's necessary to keep the audience's attention and the story constantly flowing. These skills are put to expert use in the writing, directing, and editing of this film, all of which he did himself. SPOILER ALERT. The plot begins with a very simple concept: Bear makes a wish that the girl of his dreams, Nikki Freeman, “loves him more than anyone in the fucking world”. From here, Barker quickly distinguishes himself from the rest of the stories told under this Monkey’s Paw trope. As Nikki begins to become more and more obsessed with Bear, the story evolves into a horrifying tale of self-destruction and the extremes of co-dependency. I've always been a big proponent of horror’s effectiveness when it isn't explained. This is that to a T. Trying to assign logic to something supernatural often takes away the fear. Watching Obsession, it was very clear to me that Barker understood this principle. There is no explanation for how this wish magic works, or why it is that Nikki begins to get crazy and violent. Nor does it explain where the “real Nikki” goes during this wish. Instead, it just gives us little hints, moments of Nikki snapping back to reality, screams, outbursts, and indicators that something about this wish magic is cruel and terrifying. The use of ambiguity makes the movie so much scarier, and Barker has further gone on to say that he himself does not know and doesn't ever plan to create an explanation for these events. It's just spooky magic for spooky magic’s sake, and it works so well. Speaking of magic, Inde Navarrette’s performance as Nikki is something truly astonishing. Being able to play 2 distinct characters within the same movie is an accomplishment in itself, but being able to make them both distinct enough that the audience can instantly tell when either personality (Nikki or Wish Nikki) is on screen is something really special. The range of emotion Navarrette displays as both versions of Nikki is insane as a viewer, and it's because of her that this movie works. Every scary, uncomfortable, or flat-out violent moment in this movie hinges upon Navarette delivering, and boy does she deliver. This is hands down one of the best horror performances I've seen on the big screen, and the character will no doubt become a horror icon. While Navarrette is by far the breakout performance in this film, everyone who acts in this movie make great contributions. Michael Johnston as Bear does an excellent job grounding his character so we can see him constantly justifying his increasingly horrendous decisions. This allows for the slow-burning reveal that he may be the true antagonistic figure within the film. Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson as Ian and Sarah are great supporting characters in this movie, and really help to make the friend group dynamic seem real and lived-in. Obsession is, without a doubt, my favorite movie of the year. The aesthetic, the lighting, the set design, the acting, the writing, the directing, all of it works so well to make this movie something really special. For me, Obsession is a 10 out of 10, and I am actively recommending this to anyone who is looking for a good horror movie. Baker’s arrival marks the latest in the YouTuber-to-horror director pipeline. Past creators like Jordan Peele (Get out, Us, Nope) and RackaRacka (Talk to Me and Bring Her Back) have taken this path to great success. YouTube has become somewhat of a crash course in movie-making, particularly for those who’ve grown up with it. Every few decades, Hollywood begins to die out and needs revitalization. We are in the middle of a major shift in the movie industry. Most moviegoers, including myself, now go to see the new film by their favorite director. The tabloid-driven Hollywood of the 90s and 2000s is fading. The directors, the creators, have become the new movie stars. I believe this is mainly because of the YouTube space. We have spent years with creators themselves, seen them grow, develop, and learn the difficulties that come with trying to make something that's your own. YouTube has become a training ground for creators and put them in the driver's seat. For these creators, it's not about pushing out a movie quickly to meet a quota; it's dedicating themselves to their art form. It's bringing Hollywood back to its roots and creating stories that are fun, entertaining, and expertly executed.

Gretel Hanlyn Live: Schubas Tavern 11/11/23 11/16/23 By Ian Sherry Schubas Tavern is exactly that, a tavern. The front of the house is a bar/restaurant, and as you squeeze between the bar and booths towards the back of the restaurant, past the bathrooms, you can see a show room open up. Gretel Hänlyn and company played in that show room last Saturday, and anyone who came got a good show. Ever heard of Natsuma? If you have, I need to step my game up. The young British guitarist/vocalist led off the night, and despite playing solo, she impressed. To account for the thinner instrumental, she used a loop pedal, which, as Natsuma explained to her audience, allows an artist to play an instrument, loop a certain segment with a foot pedal, and build a layered instrumental. Despite this demanding solo performance, her vocal talent was fully on display at certain points, even elevating certain songs for the live instrumental. That takes real talent. She’s touring with Gretel Hänlyn, so catch her if you can, and listen to “Miss You” as a sample. Now, before I get to the main event, I’ll give my two cents on Adelaide. The Chicagoland native filled in for Grace Bloom last minute and did a great job. They did a great job, to the visible relief of their bill-members, despite playing solo instead of with the full band they’re accustomed to. Compared to the previous performer, Natsuma, Adelaide was much safer. Considering the circumstances, and their laid back shoegaze style, safety is to be expected, and the safety worked. The vocals brought a hint of emotion, the guitar was moody and consistent, and the stage was set for Gretel Hänlyn. Check out “Needles & Pins” As I was saying: I was right. Back in May, I wrote an article highlighting Gretel Hänlyn and two other talented artists. When I found out Hänlyn’s tour was going to stop just 40 CTA minutes from me, I couldn’t miss it. As I spoke about briefly in “Putting You On Three”, one of Gretel Hänlyn’s strengths is instrumental layering. She creates big sounds and expertly buries her vocals in the middle of the mix. She is clearly the audible focal point, yet the instrumental is never thin. This balance is difficult enough to strike in the studio, I’d imagine doing so live isn’t any simpler. Hänlyn manages just fine. Natsuma sat in on guitar, along with a bassist and drummer. The result was noticeably fuller sound than the previous two artists, to no fault of their own. H er sound was fantastic, and although it took a verse or two for her to slip into a studio-level vocal pocket, once she found it she didn’t look back. The first striking vocal performance came a few songs in with “Slugeye”, which she pointed out was her first ever song on streaming services. From there she executed tracks from every corner of her growing discography, touching different pitches, tones, emotions, and personas. She stepped outside of her discography as well, performing three unreleased songs. I am confident that two of the three will be elite editions to her discography. There were no misses last Saturday. She elevated even my least favorite song of hers “Head of The Love Club” by transitioning out of one of my favorites, “Little Vampire”. She looped an electric guitar chord and let the grinding note repeat itself as she casually strolled back, set down her guitar, sipped some water, then approached the mic again to deliver a great vocal performance. I always found the grungy guitar repetition to be overbearing on the studio version, but performed live, where the instruments are generally tuned evenly, it is easier to digest; it was an impressive adjustment. Hänlyn is definitely the most experienced performer of the bill. While Natsuma entertained with witty moments and an explanation of the loop pedal and Adelaide stood in with an angsty but comfortable energy, Hänlyn dominated the stage. She conversed briefly with a guitar nerd in the audience, casually dissed LA, and used the mic as a prop to add to her performances. She kept the audience entertained from the moment she stepped on stage until the post-show greeting line disbanded. I’ve never been more confident in an artist’s future than Gretel Hänlyn. She has a unique, yet well-established, sound. She’s a comfortable performer. She’s appeared at Pitchfork London, Pitchfork Paris, Green Man, Wilderness, and Coachella. Plus, she’s 20 years old. What more could you ask for? I’ve heard the approaching releases, I’ve seen the live show, I’ve reviewed her newest EP. I’m absolutely certain that you should keep an eye and ear on Gretel Hänlyn. Stream her music, buy her vinyl, and go to her shows. You won’t be sorry.

THE BOYS, IN FULL WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY: DAWSON SARCONA, 5/28/2026 2026 marks the release of many new superhero projects, but in one case, it also brings the end of a 7-year superhero series, The Boys. As someone who was around age 11 when The Boys first released, I wasn't a day-one fan of this series. However, about three months ago, I decided to binge the whole series (and its spin-offs) for the first time. S eason One Season one of The Boys starts with a bang, immediately dropping us into a world that's, at first glance, not too different from other superhero universes we've seen on screen. But as the season goes on and we dig deeper into the world of The Boys and the Vought corporation, something crucial happens. This show begins to encapsulate the media dependency and celebrity idol structure of American society in a way I've never seen a TV show do. On its surface, The Boys is a story of a group of misfits, criminals, and ex-military members taking revenge against a group of corrupt superheroes. But the show is so much more. It breaks down American media, propaganda, and how powerful figures can control so much of what we see. Since the early 2000s, directors have been trying to figure out how to depict superheroes more “realistically” with Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder taking their own cracks at it, but in my opinion, none of them come close to what showrunner Eric Kripke achieved with season one of The Boys. With a cast of very lovable, and in some cases very hateable, characters this show perfectly balances its comedic moments with serious and scary ones. Plus, Antony Starr as Homelander, especially in the last few episodes, flexes his acting muscle in such a way that rivals Heath Ledger for the best villain performance of all time. Season one has it all: decent action, comedy, a love story you can root for, a pure-hearted protagonist, a revenge story, and an ending that satisfies the emotional arc of its characters while leaving us on an immense cliffhanger. Season one of The Boys is one of my favorite seasons of television ever, a 9.5 out of 10. Season Two While initially starting much slower than its predecessor, this season builds upon itself very well, leading to an explosive finale that perfectly knots any loose ends from the first two seasons. Season two introduces a new character, Stormfront, who is an excellent addition to the series as her relationship with Homelander compels further descent into madness. The best parts of this season are series highlights, and it houses some of the most intense and chilling Homelander moments. The characters continue to grow, and we get to see everyone fall into their roles more. When you start a series its your job within the first season to set up who each character is and why they are that way, but once you get to season two, you get to really play with these characters. We know all of the core characters, so now we get to see them interact with each other and watch their dynamics develop. Seeing Hughie and Butcher on a more equal playing field, constantly arguing over the morality of what they're doing, is a great development rather than the mentor/mentee dynamic they had in the first season. This season is funny, more action-packed, and a great part two that enhances season one’s story. That being said, it does have its faults, the first two or three episodes being a bit of a drag. They're necessary to set up the rest of the season, but I wish they had a little more going on. Also, for at least half of the season, Hughie is in a depression, which makes sense for the character but darkens the show as Hughie is the only unwavering light and the heart in The Boys. In the end, like I said, this season starts bleak but it picks up a lot with some amazing prizes that bring it to an a 8.5 out of 10 for me. Season Three This season is hyped up as the best of the series by most fans of the show, and while I'm inclined to disagree, it is still peak television. This season gives us a lot of good things like Hughie and Starlight finally together, the Introduction of Soldier Boy, and the infamous episode “Herogasm”. The majority of the most iconic moments in this series stem from this season, and for good reason. I love how this season explores Homelander as he grapples with being on his own. In both seasons one and two, he had a woman that he clung to and directed all his affection and attention towards, but as we see him deal with the loss of Stormfront, he begins to truly unravel. Homelander is at his best, or I suppose worst, in this season. He is utterly terrifying, and it seems like they laid out some scenes purely to show off Antony Starr's acting chops. Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy is a great addition to the show. He is a constant flow of hilarious (yet very offensive) one-liners, and his interactions with Hughie and Butcher are great television. As opposed to the gloomy season two, season three feels the brightest to me. The Boys are employed by the government, so they have funding and (for the first time) aren’t hiding from the law, and that lends a sense of growth for them as a group. Hughie has my favorite arc this season, however, as he obsesses over saving Annie (Starlight). This results in a great feud between them that is resolved in an awesome moment during the season’s final battle. This show is really great at executing good action or shocking moments that also serve their characters on a really emotional level, and this season has some of the best examples. We also get the introduction of TEMP-V, which allows both Hughie and Butcher to temporarily gain superpowers. This is a great way to continue upping the stakes in a natural way and allow for these characters to get in more intense scenes without having to use plot armor to keep them alive. One of these intense scenes is a fight between Hughie, Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Homelander during the episode “Herogasm,” and it is definitely one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. It's so well choreographed and put together that it outshines almost any other fight scene in the show. Here lies the problem I have with this season: Episode 6 “Herogasm” feels like the peak of the season. It's a bizarre, wildly explicit episode that ends in this awesome action scene, and it completely outshines the actual finale, which left me disappointed closing out the season. Still, the battle between Homelander and Butcher gains an extra layer of complexity entering the finale as they now fight for Ryan's affection, and inserting that emotional backbone does add to the weight of the episode. So while this is not my favorite season of the show, it's close with a 9 out of 10. Season Four Similar to how season three seems to be universally loved, Four seems to be universally hated. Likely because it doesn't stack up to the quality of 3, and that harsh decline makes it seem worse than it actually is. This season makes a choice that works very well for some fans of the show, and alienates others. Season four loosens the reins on its commentary and centers the heart of the conflict around politics. I personally think this is a GENIUS move, and I love the way it is executed. But, I also understand the argument that some plotlines are too accurate, that it's no longer a fun escape. That all being said, we get some great moments this season, but they are fewer and farther between than in the past three. The concept of someone like Homelander dipping his toe into politics is a very frightening one, a pre-made propaganda machine. One of the characters that comes out of this plotline is Firecracker, who is a great addition to the cast and a smart foil to Starlight's character. However, what doesn't work is Butcher's season four storyline. Butcher is dying for a majority of this season and is hallucinating a past colleague of his that basically is the devil on his shoulder. So for the whole season, Butcher is just making increasingly poor decisions and is becoming harder to like. This really bothered me and felt like a disservice to his character, especially as it ends with him killing a mother in front of her daughter. There's just unnecessary tomfoolery in this season. Hughie being tricked by a shapeshifter version of Annie is one such example, but it resolves itself quickly to avoid bogging down the plot. I am a big fan of the way this season ends, with Hughie, MM, and Frenchie all being taken to a Homelander freedom camp, especially because it delivers one of the most gut-wrenching scenes for Kimiko. The ending montage of season four is another one of my top scenes from the whole show, and I was kicking my feet like a wee little superfan watching it for the first time. While this season has more negatives than any others, I do find myself really enjoying the political commentary and other aspects of the show, so it's still a 7 out of 10 for me. Season Five Season five of The Boys just ended this week, and with it, so did the entire series. A lot of people also seemed to have issues with Season 5, but I personally think the 21st-century fan hates how any good show ends. We saw it on the internet with Stranger Things, and now we're seeing it here. This season is a clear improvement from the 4th, while running with a lot of similar commentary. With Homelander and his goons now in positions of power within the government, we start the season in a country run to the tune of Homelander's every request. The people who don't follow him are put into camps and stripped of their freedoms. This is a chilling way to start the season, and it only gets worse from here as Homelander attempts to become a god. This feels like the natural final progression of his character. He starves increasingly for praise, so for him to want to be the literal center of a religion is the ultimate fix. All of the characters are well acted and written this season, including the issues with Butcher, which are completely resolved, leaving season four’s arc to seem even more useless. We also get more of Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy this season, and while most of his plot lines are blatant backdoor pilots for the Soldier Boy prequel series, Vought Rising, he is still a very welcome addition, and his interactions with Homelander are captivating. This was the first season of the Boys I've been able to watch week to week, and I have really enjoyed being able to react to it as it comes out with the rest of the community. Waiting week to week has allowed for more tension to build and hype to grow in anticipation of how this show would end. One thing I love about this season is that it feels final. It isn't afraid to kill off characters; in fact, it leans into it, killing more than half of its core cast. It carries these values into the finale and gives us a final fight between Butcher and Homelander that will also go down as one of the best scenes in the show. Finally seeing one of the worst villains in all American media be taken down after years of evil is so satisfying, and for it to be done by the hands of Butcher, a man who has dedicated his life to killing Homelander, made it all the better. Further than that, though, my favorite scene in this whole season is the final confrontation between Hughie and Butcher. Since basically day one, Hughie was been established as Butcher's “canary”, the only person with a pure enough heart to hold him back and prevent him from taking things too far. Their entire relationship across five seasons perfectly culminates in this scene where, to stop Butcher from spreading the virus and massacring all supes, Hughie ends up killing him. It's the perfect cap to this show, one last punch to the gut before sending us off to the tune of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. As the credits rolled, I found myself satisfied. Was it the perfect final season? No. There were some blatant issues, like prioritizing the setting up of Vought Rising and the chase for V1 that added little to nothing. However, The Boys gave us everything we needed from its finale and managed an 8 out of 10. I can confidently say that The Boys is my favorite superhero TV show. The characters are just so likeable, and the ability to break down America and its faults through the lens of superheroes and comic book characters is something I haven't seen before and probably won't see again for a very long time. Yes, this show can be overly gory, raunchy, and all around inappropriate. But it's a wild ride, which, when it comes down to it, is about hope and determination. The mantra of this show is that no matter how dark things get, no matter how many times we fall down, if we get back up together and fight for what's right, we will win. That's an important message for America and the world as a whole right now.

LIL YACHTY'S LET'S START HERE BY: Ian Sherry 2/14/23 My go-to word when asked about Lil Yachty’s music has always been “fine”. That’s exactly what it is. To be fair, he does some things really well. His production is often compelling and he showcases versatility in his delivery when he is at his best. He also has been a part of a few fun pop crossovers. But, those songs are just that: fun. He falls victim to repetitive flows and occasionally leans too hard on autotune, but these problems aren’t unique. That is probably my biggest issue with Yachty: he is very talented in multiple facets of music-making, but he still makes mistakes that every other mediocre mainstream rapper does. So, as much as I like Yachty as a person, prior to this release, I would describe him simply as “fine”. The last few years have been interesting for Yachty. He’s gained a sizable media presence, mostly because he is a genuinely entertaining personality. He also has expanded musically. For example, in 2021, he decided to come to Detroit to make his album Michigan Boy Boat. The album featured some of the biggest artists in the Detroit scene -Tee Grizzley, Sada Baby, Babytron, YN Jay, RMC Mike, and Rio Da Young OG, to name a few- and his deep dive paid off in what felt like an authentic Detroit Rap project. As a Detroiter, I can attest that although for some people Detroit Rap can be an acquired taste, it is unique and hard to duplicate just for a given album. For the most part though, that is exactly what Yachty did, embracing the punchline-focused delivery that makes Michigan artists great. On top of his time in Michigan, over that last year or so, Yachty has reportedly been a part of studio sessions for several rap projects, and he’s written songs for other artists as well. He also released his single “Poland” recently which immediately blew up because of its show-stopping autotune, even though it was admittedly one-dimensional. There was some buzz over his upcoming album, but, even with the knowledge I had, I still wasn’t convinced it would be more than just a slight improvement over the previous Lil Boat albums. Simply put: I was wrong. Let’s Start Here is essentially an alt-rock/hip hop crossover, and it's good. The album could not have started out with a better track. “The BLACK seminole.” starts with heavy base and drum hits, immediately diving into the unique atmosphere of the album. Then, after the first verse, the guitar comes in. Not just a guitar riff or sample, a guitar solo. Not only does this speak to his immediate commitment to this new concept album, it shows his confidence in his musical expertise and versatility. After a somewhat lengthy tension release (something Yachty does well on this record), “the BLACK seminole.” finishes with the moaning vocals of Diana Gordon, who is brilliant throughout her multiple appearances. Once again relieving some tension, Yachty rolls right into the second track “the ride-”. It’s a relaxed, upbeat track that feels like Yachty’s version of what Steve Lacy does often on his 2022 album Gemini Rights. And, guess who is featured! Steve Lacy. Steve’s feature is simple and enjoyable, even though simplicity is not Yachty’s style on this album. Upon closer listen, “the ride-” has plenty of complexity to it. The baseline which roams throughout the song, keeps pace and bolsters the song’s personality. The third song “running out of time” is very easy to listen to, as is the fourth song “pRETTY” which features autotune reminiscent of “Poland” and a solid feature from Foushee. Unfortunately track five raises my first big issue with the album. “:(failure(:” is an interlude that consists of Yachty reflecting about his failures in a roundabout way. Here’s the thing: Yachty has a great personality. The problem is the placement. He led off the album with four great tracks but he then broke up the momentum with an interlude that could have slotted in anywhere. “THE zone” and “WE SAW THE SUN” come next. Both have their strengths. The first features, possibly, his best songwriting on the album, and the second includes more great autotune and a perfectly done mini-interlude. The interlude reminds me of some of Kendrick Lamar’s best. It simultaneously entertains and leads into the next song, as the bass kicks in towards the end for a seamless and satisfying transition. “drive ME crazy” and “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST VISION” mark the last two Diana Gordon features. Her impact on this album is probably greater than it appears on the surface. Her voice is a familiar mix between Alanis Morrisete and Tracy Chapman, and it adds completeness to the album by tying songs together stylistically, in a way miscellaneous features could not have. “sAy sOMETHINg” flirts with Yachty’s habitual repetitiveness but avoids it by pushing the limits of autotune and leaning into it heavily from the bridge throughout the conclusion of the song. “paint THE sky” opens with a muffled sample of the Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears”. Yachty does a mild stylistic Weeknd impersonation for the remainder of the song and executes it tastefully. “sHouLd i B” and “The Alchemist” combine for the weakest pair of songs on the album. Both are fairly repetitive, and though they stay within the niche of the rest of the album, they are missing the palpable creativity on every other song. “The Alchemist” has a nice finish that leads into the album’s final song. But aside from that, I could do without them, especially on such a strong and reasonably lengthy (57 minute) album. “REACH THE SUNSHINE” is the final song on the album. Although it doesn’t reach the heights of the opener, it brings in some of the same elevated vocals. Daniel Caesar has a great feature, adding to the atmosphere of the album’s conclusion with great vocals. Yachty decides to ride out the album on a wave of synths and sound effects, the same synths and sound effects that create the exotic sonic world that is Let’s Start Here. Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here is a musically alternative take on mainstream music industry style. It has its flaws, namely: the occasional grating vocal performance, incoherently high decibel combinations of instruments, and Yachty’s repetitive flow. But, it is a triumph nonetheless. Let’s Start Here sits in a strange yet surprisingly common set of circumstances, where the album can easily rub a given listener the wrong way. Yet, it would be a mistake to miss the genius behind it regardless of personal taste. Other albums that share these circumstances, especially within alternative hip-hop, are: Tyler The Creator’s Igor, Danny Brown’s Atrocity Expedition, JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran, even Death Grips’ The Money Store. If you’re familiar with those, I think Let’s Start Here is on its way to their level. Yachty is young, talented, and after this album it seems he’s poised to start making timeless albums. Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here is an 8.5/10.

LOTUS GLOW , BY ADI OASIS BY: Ian Sherry 3/2 5/23 On March 3, 2023, Adi Oasis released her newest album: Lotus Glow. For those who don’t know, Adi Oasis, fka. Adeline, is a fantastic vocalist and bass player that sprung from the New York music scene. Performing as Adeline, she was the lead singer for Escort, a disco revival band led by JKriv, a fellow bass player and heavyweight DJ from New York. While they made great music, going solo was the clear next step. She’s assembled a great band, changed her name to Adi Oasis, and focused on touring and studio recording. Adeline has always been a stand-out bass player and vocalist fluent in many music stylings and arrangements, but Adi Oasis has found her own sound and identity. She is uber talented and possesses an impressive level of polish for someone who is new to solo recording, yet I had questions regarding her album making ability. Her first release, titled Adeline, was safe. She stuck to her enjoyable low-risk, low-reward R&B approach but it lacked her unique personality. Since then she has released two albums, blossoming stylistically and creatively, and getting closer to reaching her now obvious potential. Lotus Glow is not another hint at that potential, it’s a statement of fact: Adi Oasis is the real deal. My biggest question for Adi Oasis heading into Lotus Glow was her logistical album making ability. Her previous two albums were 30 and 25 minutes respectively. They had great moments, but for the most part they felt like collections of songs, not coordinated musical experiences. Lotus Glow’s album sequencing is much improved. It leads off with “Le Depart”, a short introduction that sets the scene with laid back instrumentals and a short chorus and cuts short just in time to bring the audience in. The anticipation is built and immediately released in the opening track “Get It Got It”. It brings energy, horns, a fun chorus, and the sound that she will fall back on for the remainder of the album. “Get It Got It” was one of the first singles and likely would have slotted in anywhere, but the opening slot was the perfect place for it. The only interlude, “Sugarcane”, is towards the end. The decision to place it so late is one I don’t fully understand, but it does serve to separate what I believe are the two weakest tracks. What impressed me most about her album organization was the final track, “FourSixty”. It begins with the exact same instrumental and chorus of “Le Depart” before satisfyingly dropping into her first verse. It is one of her strongest vocal performances on the album, and it holds a good feature from Aaron Taylor. While he feels a little bit raw at times, he brings a good contrast to her voice and sings in a variety of octaves. The song as a whole is a perfect sendoff to a near perfect album. Why near perfect? The biggest thing holding Lotus Glow back is “Naked” featuring Levin Kali. This song is already one of the most streamed on the album. This is no doubt in part because of the feature and his fanbase, but to be frank, Levin Kali is completely upstaged on this song. He begins with a rap verse which, while it was passable, lacked character in the performance. Everything Adi Oasis does, she does with swagger. Levin couldn’t hang. To make matters worse, down the stretch, the two harmonize for two separate vocal stretches. Their voices don’t blend well and they take away from what could have been a strong finish from Adi Oasis and Adi Oasis alone. Now, all the fault does not lie with Levin. He wasn’t the man for the job, but she is in charge. As she grows as an artist and gains access to better features she will learn how to incorporate them more effectively without cramping her own style. I think “Naked” proves this should be a point of interest for her next release. Adi Oasis is talented enough to pack a punch in every song. You can see her early work reflected in songs like “Marigold” and “The Water”, and her current sound is showcased in songs like “Serena”,”Red To Violet”, “Sidonie”, “Adonis”, and “You Make Me Want It”. However, “Multiply” is the best possible embodiment of Oasis’ style at this point in her career. It leads in with a murky base that contrasts perfectly with high pitched vocals and keys. The piano fills out the sound and allows the listener to settle into a fantastic vocal performance. Lots of times, when artists have heavy layers of live-recorded instruments, their voices can sit in the wrong part of the mix. It’s not a huge problem; maybe they just sing over the top or get buried at times by the weight of the tune. It can work, but Adi Oasis has the perfect balance. She creates an environment with her diverse multi-layered sound and sings in a perfect pocket that places simultaneous emphasis on her lyrics, bass, and wandering keyboards. Her personality is infused in this song and all of her best songs. The result is a fantastic listening experience. In the same sense that “Naked” holds the album back from perfection, “Dumpalltheguns” is what pushes it there in the first place. Though the year is still young, this song is an early candidate for my personal song of the year. On an album where Adi Oasis successfully plays to her diverse strong suits, she steps outside of her comfort zone on this song. The production is heavy handed and incorporates an electric feel I’ve never heard from her before. Once again the bass is very present, but so is a punchy electric guitar, a piano progression and layered keys, a cowbell, synth breaks, and echoed vocals in just the right spots. However, what stands out most is the message. “Dumb for your guns, wanna kill just for fun”. The first line of the song makes the message clear and Adi Oasis makes sure you can’t forget it, and with the absolute power of this song, you won’t want to. “Dumpalltheguns” is a perfect integration of her arsenal of capabilities. It displays a growing command over her own bass playing, songwriting, and vocal abilities, as well as a mastery of the studio and all hers has to offer. It is a successful callback to her work with Escort as well, bringing in elements of songs like “Cocaine Blues”. But, it's also a glimpse of the future: a future of much-needed social change in the USA and the future trajectory of Adi Oasis. 2023 music releases are off to a hot start, and Lotus Glow is my favorite so far. Adi Oasis scratches an itch that nobody else does. Her unique blend of influences combines for a cohesive, reliable, and recognizable sound. The best part is she has room for improvement. I could see her talent, but I had secret concerns about how far her seemingly niche style could take her. Those concerns are gone. She delivered moments on this record I’ve never experienced before, and I know she can do more. There are opportunities for improvement, but I have a feeling she already knows that. She seems to have a keen self-awareness, fixing problems like overly shrill vocals and the occasional inconsequential and uninteresting verses from previous releases. I have no doubt she’ll improve at incorporating features, and higher level collaborations feel inevitable. The future is bright for Adi Oasis, and at this point, her widespread success feels guaranteed. Lotus Glow is a 9.5/10.

Before The World Blows BY IAN THOMAS SHERRY 9/18/2026 On August 28, in cahoots with The Alchemist, Erykah Badu released her first studio album in 16 years, Before The World Blows . On September 11, 2026, I had the pleasure of seeing the duo live. SETTING THE STAGE It’s been a decade since Ms. Badu’s cell phone-centered concept EP, But You Caint Use My Phone (’16), and her digitimaterial focus has only sharpened in the time since (yes, I made that word up). If you’re lucky enough to see ‘The Abby & Al Experience’ live, like I have, you’d immediately see what I mean. The set consisted of two beds on the far right and left connected by a circular cushion that stretched the back perimeter of the stage, all white, kinda freaky. Two spotlights switch on, and there they are – Abby n Al in their respective beds, Erykah Badu outfitted in red heels, a white trench coat, and a blonde wig, which she’d chuck, and The Alchemist in the boyish black hoodie – speaking to each other ‘on the phone,’ hatching a plan. Quickly, The Alchemist retreated to the platform hidden at the top of the set beside his dark-dressing-DJ counterparts, and the beats began. SOUND REASONING The lines between Abby and Al go back to a wannabe Alchemist selling weed to Badu’s mentor and career-breaker D’Angelo and follow the gyre of neo soul to its current resting place, in the palms of women like Ms. Badu. Her hands have been anything but idle in the years since soul’s sound slipped away. If you caught the two-part New AmErykah series (’08, ’10), or her last LP, you’ll notice Badu’s increased interest in digital hip-hop production. Each record was en vogue, impressive for an aging genre-crossing solo artist, but each aged quickly. Met with the task of creating an updated, lasting product and continually interested in marrying analog hip-hop and modern digital production, Abby went to Al. THE GOODS They played the album in order (with bonus tracks interwoven), starting with the ethereal (Track 1) “Echoes.” As the album chimes and whirs to life, Erykah Badu’s singular aesthetic descends upon this decade of music. Lyrically, she comes out muthafuckin firing: “Ah, if we can't agree on the God we pick / Then, my God / Let's at least agree on this snare and kick / (Red, yellow, black, white, or brown) / Oh, if you can't love the one you with / Ah, then you ain't her God, mm / (Red, yellow, black, white, or brown) / Ah, John Lennon said / “They treat women like the n- of the world,” yes, he did / (So watch how you trеat your girl) / Ah, 'cause the future looking odd thеse days That's on Tyler, Frank, and Earl .” This opening lyrical rampage is more musically dynamic than your Spotify streaming quality can capture; but live, as the synths soared, beat lurched, and Badu wailed through her autotune I was met with a bombastic opening track (only rivaled by Action Bronson’s “Live From The Moon” in my concert-going experience). 7 minutes later it gives way to (Track 2) “I Just Play A Part.” Initially my favorite, and certainly the most climactic song on the record, the first of two Westside Gunn features consists of purely gun sounds for effect as the Clintonian techneo anthem roars to life. Badu picks a cadence and rolls with it for two minutes, until she runs out of bars and resorts to a scream solo that rips at the fabric of the track until it splits and the beat switches for DJ Creole Princess to spit a silky verse. (Track 4) “Witch Doctor” was this record’s lead single and the first look at Abby and Al’s sound. The lurching bassline’s rumblin nicely backs Badu’s mumblin and the simple but syncopated melody allows the entire track to swing in cadence with Badu’s words, before giving way to a hand drum solo which she performed alone at center stage to the crowd’s excitement. The stop and go effect of “Witch Doctor” was something to behold live. The crowd, including myself, floated entranced by her witchly wordplay, and by the end I knew all the lyrics. The sentimental being that I am, (Track 6) “Next 2 U,” which samples Mobb Deep’s “The Realest,” plucked my heartstrings on first listen, and has since burned itself into my brain. “I-IIIIIII wanna smoke blunts with you” too Erykah. (Track 7) “Love Me Not” details the uncertain progression of a relationship before giving way to a tape of Ms. Badu getting her booty waxed – thrilling stuff really – but it was easy to see why she chose to go a different direction for this portion of the show. In place of Track 7, The Alchemist descended to perform a medley of “Life Is Beautiful” and “Hold You Down” (both covers of originals he produced). FLASHBACK When Al was done, attention returned to Abby and her soundboard at center stage. She starts, 'You know, they say 90s babies were born with an irregular heartbeat… and it sounds like this,' - dundun duuuun, dundun duuuun – the first notes of the iconic, immediately recognized, “On & On.” As the crowd revved to life, Erykah Badu, filling with the energy and spirit of her youth as it poured out of the crowd back into her, began to deliver by far her most authoritative, studio-similar, and frankly legendary pair of performances of the night as she medleyed into “Didn’t Ya Know” with ease. When I saw Erykah Badu tour Mama’s Gun a year ago, in the climactic confines of the Fox Theater, she delivered every individual performance with the aforementioned moxie. Not only did this year’s venue, Freedom Hill, lack any sonic containment for her vocals, this year’s album doesn’t feature any such performances. To avoid belaboring my point, allow me to state with absolute certainty: Erykah Badu is 55 years old and holding back (no doubt conserving energy for the arrival of aliens). Badu returned to the tracklist and concluded her flashback with a mashup of (Track 8) “Breezy” (the album’s toughest listen) and “Bennie And The Jets” for the concert’s most surprisingly fun moment. (Track 9) “Abracadabra,” is a good interlude. (Track 10) “To The Moon (Plan C)” features Steve Lacy, who brings his sound to Badu’s record with the same grace she visits his newest release Oh Yeah? The three-way fusion between the sounds of The Alchemist, Badu, and Lacy, all of which are unique and individually decipherable, ought to be an intriguing listen for any music fan. Well-grouped features, Thundercat is next. (Track 11) “They Ain’t You” isn’t the album’s most exhilarating track, but the transition between Lacy’s sound and Thundercat’s bass is clever, but it drags on as TC tracks tend to do. (Track 12) “What The People Say (Apostle 1)” picks up the pace and Badu shakes off the mumbles, ramping up into the fastest-paced rap performance (Track 13) “Hot BiBi (Apostle 2).” Another well-intentioned pairing, but the best bars had yet to come. (Track 14) “No I.D.” captures a true freestyle feel as Badu names legendary DJs over the most quintessential Alchemist beat of the record. It was fitting then, to feature Westside Gunn for the second time, laying viscous flexes over the creepy-crawly instrumental and Erykah Badu’s sweet hook “Ain't nobody fuckin' with the K-I-D (No) / Big ball bangin', need no ID (Doot-doot-doot-doot-doot, ah) / I'ma get a beat from No I.D. (Mm, woo) / Ain't nobody fuckin' with the K-I-D (Yeah) / If Alchemist don't come through for me / I'ma get a beat from No I.D. (Woo).” That’s taste folks. (Track 15) “I Know That Man” mutters Earl Sweatshirt, before stating blankly atop the beatdrop “Everything is not a joke,” at the beginning of the album’s best verse over The Alchemist’s most emotionally charged beat only to give way to this chorus on gospel-style-repeat: “I, wanna be seen / as good / in the eyes of that which made us.” It brings tears to my eyes, even in listening to write this article. Now for the final time, check this shit out: “Too much dopamine can make a man mean / Dimethyltryptamine make a man dream / Ozempic and promethazine make a man lean / Mars' daddy Jay Elec', make a bitch real mean / Turn into a meme, make a big scene / Broadcast it on the whole block, live from the black box / Phone call, liberation or entrapment? / Mercury in retrograde, at midnight all was well / But suddenly the box became engulfed with a beam of light / Somebody gettin' some pussy, tonight.” Is your jaw on the floor? Mine was the first time I heard Ms. Badu rattle this off for a teaser at last year’s show, and so were the jaws of any fan who hadn’t heard (Track 16) “Black Box” before last Friday’s concert. Oh, and the second verse is just as good, so give it a listen and yours may be too. My name is Ian Thomas Sherry, but I’m Mr. Badu if she’ll have me. Before The World Blows is an 8.9.