Machine Gun Kelly - Welcome to My Downfall (2020)

An entire video with Travis Barker, nonstop, MGK goes full pop punk. Tickets to My Downfall is definitely an odd revival.

And if you had ever told me that he would release an album like this five years ago, I would've laughed. But the truth is that this transformation isn't new and has been a long time coming.

When he first released "I Think I'm Okay" in 2019's Hotel Diablo with Travis Barker and Yungblud, this was the clear next step. Furthermore, some of the newish artists doing trap rap at the moment are blending pop punk elements with their sound, such as blackbear, Lil Aaron, and the forenamed Yungblud (two of whom are featured in this album). I suspect within the next five years we will see a similar trend and future pop punk releases by other members that began their career in contemporary rap.

Some standout tracks include "WWIII", "drunk face" and "forget me too", the latter featuring Halsey. Their collaboration is stellar, and I hope that Halsey delves a bit into this genre as well. Her verse in "forget me too" outshines MGK in tone and style, and it's noteworthy

Lastly, the drumming by Travis Barker throughout this record is stylistically on par with his other collaborations. However, it should be noted that not once did I feel like I was listening to Blink-182 or Box Car Racer (RIP?). He manages to make the passages stand out without taking away any limelight away from MGK.

77/100

Track Listing (for the SOLD OUT Deluxe version:

1. title track

2. kiss kiss

3. drunk face

4. bloody valentine

5. forget me too (feat Halsey)

6. all I know (feat Trippie Redd)

7. lonely

8. WWIII

9. kevin and barracuda - interlude

10. concert for aliens

11. my ex's best friend (with blackbear)

12. jawbreaker

13. nothing to hide (feat iann dior)

14. banyan tree - interlude

15. play this when i'm gone

16. body bag (feat. YUNGBLUD & Bert McCracken from The Used)

17. hangover cure

18. split a pill

19. can't look back

20. Misery Business (with Travis Barker)

21. bloody valentine - Acoustic

Interscope Records

9/29/2020

Mogwai - As The Love Continues (2021)

Some of the instrumentations I heard in this album are so complex that I had to pause, compose myself (get it?), and re-listen to fully understand what I had just consumed. The drums that kick in at 3:20 on the intro track "To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth", the vocals sprinkled throughout the record, hypnotizing piano/bass combinations in "Dry Fantasy", the layers in "Ceiling Granny", intricate and gorgeously post-rock in their DNA, with the flare of indie like a pinch of salt. It's the type of music passages you want to share with your grandkids.

Hyperboles and tongue-in-cheek words aside, the 10th album by 26 year-old band Mogwai is what I like to call "another one for the books." The post-modern rock-&-roll hall of fame yearly entry for one that hasn't quite yet been created- a hall of fame that admits that experimental music is an acceptable attribute for the genre that is "Rock." Redefining what can be done with traditional rock instruments has always been the post-rock backbone, and experimentation is at the core of this. Mogwai doesn't shy from this, as usual. After all, they defined this genre for what it is today.

As The Love Continues is weighted and balanced, in the chaos that is their song composition. It is the quiet end to a Sunday night before a long Monday shift, and the peace that comes from letting go of that nightly turmoil just in time for morning coffee the next day.

82/100

Track Listing:

1. To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth

2. Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever

3. Dry Fantasy

4. Ritchie Sacramento

5. Drive the Nail

6. Fuck Off Money

7. Ceiling Granny

8. Midnight Flit

9. Pat Stains

10. Supposedly, We Were Nightmares

11. It's What I Want to Do, Mum

2/19/21

Teenage Wrist - Earth Is a Black Hole (2021)

When I heard that Teenage Wrist had parted ways with their previous singer and bassist, Kamtin Mohager, I was concerned that the band would lose the magic they had on their first LP & their "Counting Flies" EP from 2019.

But the reality is that Marshall Gallagher is an excellent singer of his own merit, and in songs like "Silverspoon" and "Yellowbelly", he combines grungy undertones with soft, almost ethereal, breaths of fresh air to a saturated genre. Unlike other participants in shoegaze's recent hijack from other Pop Punk acts, like Fireworks and Turnover, Teenage Wrist were essentially born into the shoegaze mold, with a nostalgia-driven emphasis behind everything their debut Chrome Neon Jesus was.

This sophomore release lacks that same trip down memory lane, but it still affected me in ways that were pretty hypnotic. For one, the "gazyness" needed to keep carrying the "genre" mantle is still here, albeit turned down to a volume 2 comparatively. It's mostly stripped, but the singles released painted an accurate picture of how the mood of the rest of the album would culminate.

It would remain dreamlike, but the good news is that it's mostly time to wake up, and their maturity shows them heading in a great direction.

80/100

Track Listing:

1. Squeeze (Intro)

2. Taste of Gasoline

3. New Emotion

4. Yellowbelly

5. Silverspoon

6. Wear U Down

7. High Again

8. Wasting Time

9. Earth is a Black Hp;e

10. Stella

Epitaph Records

2/12/21