#brianpick

[thebolg]

A 2nd Shape by The Wolfgang Press

5.3 - I mean… the weirdness and 80s vibe feels right, but the whole thing has this odd sensuality to it and weird feeling sensuality isn’t really my thing - Jt

7.9 - Gloomy, gothy post rock slowed to a black snail's pace!! -b

[thebolg]

Village by Jacob Banks

6.7 - Neo blues mixed with James Blake-inspired soul, covered in syrup, served at room temperature. -b

4.9 - Good singer, sounds like he's stuffed up but not even as a bad thing, and the album is in a lane that feels safe, yearning to trend, like a really good Instagram pic of a latte in a hip coffee shop with a cool filter. -ty

5.1 - This is a fine album that twists contemporary radio friendly soulful roots rock with reggae and will leave hozier drooling. - Jt

6.4 - I don’t know; it had some highs but overall felt like something was lacking; I do wonder if it will pursue me the way Golden Hour did but since no song hooked me, I doubt it. - Tj

[thebolg]

Sli'merre 2 by Young Nudy and Pi'erre Bourne

6.5 - A 10 for anybody who gets to spend their weekend nights hot box slow rolling, a 6.5 for middle-aged men committed to Friday family movie night. -Jt

8.2 - This duo is at their best when they're having fun, and about 2/3 of this album is exactly that - a producer and MC in their prime having so much fun. -b

[thebolg]

Scheduled Explosions by 2nd Grade

7.5 - My favorite part about this collection of fuzzed out, beachy, poppy, jangly tunes is that they are delivered in quick installments...LONG LIVE SHORT SONGS! -b

6.9 - While it’s usually filled with revisits to Material Issue, TMBG, Smoking Popes, and Matthew Sweet, there’s a little space in my eternal pit of music need for new sugary teen white boy alt pop rocks. -Jt (they got a bonus .3 for introducing me to the concept of being buried at pepperidge farms)

[thebolg]

Charli xcx - Brad and it's completely different but also still brat

6.4 - I think complaining about how this release exemplifies the gross over-releasing of music to jump the charts is kinda brat… that said, the guests are pretty amazing, and having too much brat in my ears helped me push through some authoritativeness - Jt

7.5 - The rare instance where a remix edition is a wholly new and unique platter of music and this one is jam packed with crazy features that bring interesting angles to the best dance pop album of 2024. -b

[thebolg]

In Waves by Jamie xx

8.0 - Hit play for an automatic dance party or be inspired to revisit that weird time in the late 90s when I was into the breakbeat that was chunking itself into the pop music. - Jt

8.2 - In Waves utilizes fun little callbacks to different aspects of rave music and churns out dance bangers full of technicolor electronic matter. -b

(the experience was like being dragged behind a car sitting cross-legged on a circular sled with no prostate cushion - there was some fun but largely a pain in the ass) - chres

[thebolg]

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

Part of what I love about Sufjan is that his albums make sense, and in a week of listening, I haven't figured out what he's talking about, but it sounds like a return to when he was writing about states and I wish he was telling me about MN history. - Jt

9.0 - I could go on and on about this, Sufjan's new record, and how it might be going this way or that, or is a certain type of musical growth in x and y ways, but at the end of the day, like all Sufjan records, the best way to sum it up in review is with that cry face emoji. -b

9.0 - Serving as a loadstar, Sufjan's albums have marked different periods of my life with befores/afters and while Carrie & Lowell marked a transitional stage in my life with striking brilliance, Javelin serves as more than just an afterglow but a reminder of beauty in the present, notwithstanding sadness. - Tj

[thebolg]

We Buy Diabetic Test Strips by Armand Hammer

8.3 - The year of Billy Woods continues with a very hard-to-describe, creative, off-kilter set of rap that unfolds in new ways as you listen more. -b

6.4 - Grey chilled-out deconstructed sound over minimal beats with lyrics and flows beyond my comprehension makes this intellectual hip-hop movement a little too challenging of a listen - Jt