Danny Brown – Stardust [Warp 2025] The real radical shift is not the hyperpop production crafted by mostly young trans artists, though it’s reflective of his fierce love of outsiders despite his apolitical stance. Nor is it the honesty with which he documents and confesses his substance abuse excesses which landed him in rehab, a …
Author Archives: tombaumser
Reviews This Week: Water From Your Eyes, Billy Woods, Creedence, Dijon
Dijon – Baby [R&R/Warner 2025] R&B new dad has a lot of experimentalism in his sound – Prince plus Bon Iver – but melodically underwhelms. 3.5/5 (“Yamaha”, “Rewind”, “Automatic”) https://open.spotify.com/album/3hKlec1wgYVJcI0YvwCFJB?si=yOe7hyoFQKeHDyfXFa2tDQ Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed [Matador 2023] Album three from the duo of Nate Amos and Rachel Brown – these two are art …
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I Reviewed All Of Jay-Z’s Solo Work: Jay-Z Compendium
Having sat on my hard drive now for almost 6 months it’s probably good that these compendium follow up pieces see the light of day. This (the Jay-Z stuff) was approximately 3 years in the making, starting at the end of ’22 and following me through a move, an engagement, and a promotion. Jay’s own …
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I wrote this Chance the Rapper review like a month ago and forgot about it until now.
Chance the Rapper – Star Line [Self Released 2025] This 32-year-old divorcee seems to be posturing for “return to form” hosannas, but he sounds tired. Reflecting on his Obama-era work there was always a youthfulness to it, even in its mature moments; a boundless feeling that anything was possible, the peaceful-yet-poignant ways that life can …
Indie Rappers Meets The Guitars of Today
Billy Woods – History Will Absolve Me [Backwoodz 2012] If you couldn’t tell by the album title and cover art, Woods is the son of a Zimbabwean Marxist, based in NYC. As such he’s got stories about being the foreign kid in school, colonialism and post colonialism as metaphors for the music industry, and a …
Using buttermilk and shredded butter will make better biscuits than heavy cream
Bob Vylan – We Live Here (Deluxe) [Independent 2021] Very British, very Black, very left, very willing to settle on rage as a solution. Which, under the COVID-Era Johnson administration is short sighted, but enough. 3.8/5 https://open.spotify.com/album/6mciOh2YVlEdXdmHDmphz5?si=biJjItaWTbuQyY3CSnf5XA Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn [Matador 2025] Freshly out of their teenager years, three Chicago mascs make art-punk …
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Derrick Thompson said “I’m not a Medicare For All guy” on PSA and now I’m unabundance pilled. Centrist shill.
Model/Actriz – Pirouette [True Panther 2025] On their second one they get closer to properly recording their strengths, especially by emphasizing texture that pleasantly irritates while holding the listener’s focus as opposed to Dogsbody’s dull thuds of noize. There’s also more room to breathe, and their rhythm section creates audible grooves for Cole Haden to …
If You’re Reading This, You Should Watch Road House (1989)
Illuminati Hotties – FREE I.H.: This is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For [Tiny Engines/Self-Released 2020] The backstory, which is quite explicit in the lyrical content, is that her label wasn’t paying her and in order to release herself from her contract Sara Tudzin released these 12 songs in 23 minutes. Her voice now …
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Lmao jk…unless 😳
Benjamin Booker – POWER [Fire Next Time Records 2025] Eleven years after his debut as a garage/blues wunderkind backed by a Jack White co-sign, Booker sheds his traditionalist skin by consciously corrupting his sound with the aid of underground hip-hop architect Kenny Segal. It’s a move that obsessives might’ve read in the tea leaves – …
We Watched Dinner In America the Other Day, Good Shit
Previous industries – Service Merchandise [Merge 2024] In the age of Divorced Dad Rock’s return why not add Divorced Dad Rap too? Against a production backdrop of wheezy cold sweat loops the cast is three Chicagoans who’ve known each other for decades and who’ve both hit 40 and moved to the City of Angels in …
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Cosmic Hero 