Written by Louis Pelingen Amidst the lunge in the 2020s, the alt-rock scene has been slowly pulling all the stops in the corners of South Korea, slipping itself knee-deep in the various alternative rock facets such as shoegaze, dream pop, and especially post-rock. Through tightly-knit connected dreamers and nugazers like Parannoul, Brokenteeth, and Della Zyr, you see how they piece together those influences into their personal musical avenues. For Parannoul, he embraced cutthroat, massive walls of shoegaze flair in his breakthrough project To See the Next Part of the Dream which has now been simmered down for a delicate air on his 2023 project, After the Magic, just before he embarked once more on that massive soundscape for his 2024 record, Sky Hundred. For Brokenteeth, he emphasized the power of that shoegaze sound to create a saturated dredge in his albums. Della Zyr stretches apart more of her dream pop embellishments across her debut and her EP, filling in more atmosphere within that floating expansion. In the year 2024 comes another dreamer that expands that compositional complexity and scale into their debut project that just came out in the early days of January through every listener’s favorite activity: scouring through Bandcamp. Within Yo’s affirmed debut album, 희망열차를 타고 우주로 가요 (Hopetrain to Universe), he glides through the vastness of the universe and delves his alt-rock influences closer to progressive rock, full of entrancing bright tones and ascending progressions with the accented gleaming pianos, organs, wurlitzers, and trumpets offering an enthralling listening experience across the entire record. These imbue Yo’s raw performances, knacks for melodic swells, and diaristic songwriting approaching pain, nostalgia, and hope in the spaces of love with spacious scale where that yearning is launched across the grand kaleidoscopic beauty of the universe, brimming more light and color as it travels at farther distances. On songs like “Tilikum” and “Hopetrain to Universe,” there is a blazing flair from the keys, drums, and guitars paired with their ascending compositions that erupt and bloom into their joyous forms. Yet the scale on certain cuts takes on a different scope entirely. “3:16” takes a bumpy trek on the overall soundscape with its rougher, blown-out bombast as the track’s internal structure starts on a glossy sheen before it succumbs to the bellowing abyss. “Sweetrain” and its riveting coats of impassioned atmosphere put you into a state of skyward excitement, immersed through palpable progressions amidst frothing beds of horns all around. And “God’s Gift” with its glorious stuffy layers of organs, choral vocals, and Yo’s distant yet echoing performance illustrates the essence of what the album is aiming for, shooting for the stars and beyond to clasp a sense of long-lasting hope that paves a lilting way forward. Another step in branching out South Korea’s fledgling dreamers and nugazers to the mass of alt-rock palettes, Yo certainly takes a shot to reach for the stars and eventually linger within the exciting ventures that he can go across the infinite spaces around him. Through his embrace of progressive rock tapestries, he’s putting another mark on South Korea’s exciting new acts in their growing flock of alt-rock talents thus far, slowly making waves with a live show alongside fellow South Korean act khc back as well as an in-depth interview by poclanos back in February. Don’t forget to get a ticket to a journey of a lifetime, you might also want to take a chance of feeling these glimpses of optimistic hope.
Tag: Louis Pelingen
ALBUM REVIEW: crwn – Séance
Written by Louis Pelingen Sometimes, it takes a while for an act to put out their debut record. Case in point, King Puentesmina – also known as crwn – has been a veteran within the local music scene. He is known not just for his ability as a drummer of SOS, but also as a producer and songwriter in his own right. Building up his portfolio under the crwn alias since 2013, carving his identity as a producer whose ability towards crafting beats with soulful textures and enough melodic space for everyone willing to swing by and contribute their vocals on his well-crafted instrumentals. This allowed him to collaborate with numerous artists throughout the years, which only allowed him to expand his open space in creating beats that slot within other genres and is an opportunity to continue refining his skill as a producer – improving upon the textures and the melodies that he has shaped. Since then, he has gotten more acclaim and recognition as a producer, and his production credits have only gotten bigger and bigger, yet it will take a while for a debut album to eventually manifest, up until this year. Séance is the long-awaited debut album that crwn has been working on for 5 years ever since he put out his Orchid beat tape back in 2018, pulling together an assortment of flavorful instrumentals with a full stack of collaborators pulling up vocal melodies within these diverse dance-ready beats. It’s essentially a project that places crwn as the producer who’s able to bring these old and new collaborators together and nestle them to his crafted beats that showcase how much he has gotten better as a producer for a long time. His attention to texture has only gotten fuller and warmer, his attention to mixing is consistent – never taking the clear scope of the vocals and instrumentation, and his melodic sensibilities have excelled – always making the grooves as sharp as they can get. Given the feature-heavy element on the album, there is the looming question of how much these collaborators will be able to stick the landing – whether that be the long-familiar collaborators such as Jess Connelly, August Wahh, and Curtismith, or the more recent collaborators such as LONER, Jolianne, and TALA – fortunately, for the most part, they do manage to aim high. Their writing manages to consistently stay within the simple themes of longing romance and their vocal performances do manage to shine within crwn’s production palette, eventually leading to quality spilling forth. The drum and bass splash of ‘Good Enough’ where Jason Dhakal’s silky vocal touch ups works for the frustrated relationship exit that the song aims for, The 80s house tune of ‘Wish It Never Ends’ where Olympia’s hushed delivery creates a romantic allure in the dancefloor – a characteristic that’s clearly reminiscent of Jessie Ware in a positive way, the bouncy groove of ‘Honey’ that has enough striking melody and space for August Wahh to rap and sing about needing that passionate intimacy with an assured confidence, the slow-building electronica of ‘Waiting For You’ with its buzzier synth melodies, shuffling drum patterns, and acoustic strums that overall coalesce for LONER’s longing delivery for the need to communication to connect through, and the emotive, dreamy melodic swells of ‘Dreaming Of You’ from TALA’s soothing vocals and shuffling instrumentation that ramps up to the potent hook does manage to work, especially with the song trying to put a semblance of comfort towards how love heals and changes people. And while the album is certainly consistently well-produced and put together, it doesn’t always go all the way to the top, mostly due to two things. The small quibbles in certain songs where are certain elements that could’ve been tweaked better: the lyrical flair on ‘Rooftops In Paris’ where Curtismith’s flexing doesn’t carry as much resonance and can be quite disconnected amidst the other songs that touch upon the yearnings or frustrations within relationships, the hook on ‘Another Day’ that can sound quite clunky despite Jolianne’s jumpy vocalisations really giving her all to make it stand out, and the fleeting immediacy of ‘Feel Something’ that could’ve fleshed out a little bit more given how Nadine Lustre’s breathy vocals and the overall melody of the song does come out pretty good. Then there are the big ones that hamper the album back. The shaky momentum where after ‘Wish It Never Ends’, the album structure starts to become more languid, with certain songs such as the pure instrumental ‘Ouroboros’ really putting a dent in the momentum moving forward. But there is also the overall sound that crwn favors to create in the record, full of UK Garage, Drum and Bass, and House elements that he does manage to pull off extremely well, but not exactly in a way that’s remarkable as he could’ve added intriguing ideas within these beats that could allow these already good tracks become spectacular. But as a debut project that crwn perceives as an updated version of his style of production since Orchid, Séance does deliver in that assessment as his ability in putting together melodies, textures, and genre variations has improved, allowing his collaborators to give really good performances within these collection of instrumentals. At the same time, certain issues does take away the sparking flair that the album mostly has, eventually resulting in the project not as striking as it should’ve been. Despite the waning structure, this séance is still able to successfully communicate to the spirits, letting everybody’s sense of yearning keep on growing deeper. Support the art and the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Juan Karlos – Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 2
Written by Louis Pelingen The story within Sad Songs and Bullshit hasn’t ended just yet. When Juan Karlos released the first part of Sad Songs and Bullshit, it showcased a soaring high in terms of streaming metrics when “ERE” broke through the local Spotify charts, proving that he can still make songs that can still slide into everybody’s playlist and listening routine where they can sing along to that ridiculously effective hook, but the music and narrative just does not follow through in the same way. There are a few quality standouts where the potential can be pieced together such as “Paruparo” and “Gabi,” but the oversold performances paired with the non-descript sound and the broad post-breakup narrative where Juan Karlos starts getting way self-pitiful just creates a sour touch that makes the album quite messy to go through. So to follow through the first part, Juan Karlos managed to put the second part of Sad Songs and Bullshit, finally completing the overall picture of this arc. If Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 1 relied upon its bombast to carry through Juan Karlo’s attitude with this breakup, Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 2 saddles its sound within a generally low-key and intimate foundation, eventually creating a followthrough where the sadness takes place after the bitter emotions of part 1. However, just like the first part, the overall array of these songs doesn’t have enough interesting flair to provide. Still carrying the tepid display of acoustic folk-pop that just got way overdone to the ground, specifically with cuts like “Limang Taon” where the inclusion of that zapping synth that doesn’t add to the ending, “Bukas” with its middling shuffling tune, and “Tanga Mo Juan” ending up coasting along even if the presence of backing vocals does add more to its melody. While there are still some variances within this sound alongside Juan Karlos’ adopting a restrained vocal performance that does make some decent enough flair to these songs – the prettier spare flourish of “Kasing Kasing” where the solid grooves and vocal harmonies from Juan Karlos and Kyle Echarri carry some charm, “Tulog Na” where Juan Karlos carries the 2000s pop rock tune really well as the guitars and drums provide some warm texture, “Baka Sakali” with its inclusion of solemn horns is a welcome addition to that song, as well as parts of “Medyo Ako” with its blurry textures and “Bagong Simula” with its bare guitar melody that could’ve worked better if the low end is mixed a bit better – the sound palette just carries a consistently dull note that doesn’t do much with the composition and instrumentation, pushing them back into the background more than ever. And if the sense of sound and instrumentation doesn’t do much for the most part, the narrative certainly doesn’t either. This album continues where it left off in the 1st part, still shouldering the lingering feeling of the overall breakup and where Juan Karlos slowly picks up the pieces of himself as he focuses more on recovering from that breakup. Reflecting upon the overall situation, meeting with that ex after what occurred with the tension now resolved, and finally, moving forward to start anew as he falls in love once again. It’s a clear and simple resolution to the overall arc, but the writing just doesn’t do enough to expound on that in general. Amidst all the bitter attitude that still puts Juan Karlos in a frustrating position where the reflective aspect only comes through in bits and pieces, there is not enough detail to show more layers during this recovery. Sadly, the lack of detail as it relies on broad emotionality is a characteristic that plagues every single song on the album, where a lot of the quaint lovesick moments start to become generic, and what should be a down-to-earth meditation on this heartbreak just comes off as a brief “aha” moment that never goes deeper into untangling his internal musings and emotions. Letting it deflate the impact within this arc as a result. As a whole, Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 2 may have pieced together what Juan Karlos wants to impart within the entire picture where he works through this entire breakup with irrational bitterness and quaint sadness, but there is just not enough distinctive lyrical throughlines and compositional heft to help deepen what Juan Karlos has gone through, where as much as the hooks can stick the landing, the consistent mildew instrumentation where there are only a tad few cuts that really sticks out, the shaky performances that can get more oversold than good, and the generally underwritten writing that relies on the bitter and sad tones without adding dimensions that can deepen the impact and emotions to the story. The second part does balance out the bullshit with the sad, but the overall picture just comes off deflated on an overall scale. With these pieces connected all together, Sad Songs and Bullshit is indeed presented with songs that are both sad and bullshit, just executed in a frustratingly one-dimensional package. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: VINCED, Fern. – SITUATION
Written by Louis Pelingen With Kindred putting their mark within the local music space last year, that doesn’t stop the members from working further and further into their craft. Just this year, some of Kindred’s members started doubling down on putting out singles as a sign of them pushing themselves into refreshing soundscapes. I might be unsure if it does lead to a future release of a solo project, but just pulling up to create a song is good for the time being, keeping things vitalized as each member focuses on something else. Clearly harking upon the 2000s era of R&B, VINCED and Fern. carries their effortlessly pleasant vocal flairs and harmonies that effectively convey the song’s flirtatious winks, pulling in someone to their passionate presence. Despite the instrumental textures coming off a tad wooden and thin – the wonky guitars don’t exactly mesh well with the sleek synths and clean beat – the overall melodic groove that it carries is solid, allowing the song to have some swell and bounce that VINCED and Fern. rides on wondrously. A quality that will enable VINCED and Fern. to pull off a sense of cool in every situation possible. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: July XIV – Hunger
Written by Louis Pelingen Six years might be a long time, but the result is worth the wait. July XIV is an indie rock group whose debut project has been waiting in the wings for some time now. Back in 2018, they first put out “Hunger,”, their very first single that carries off a potent rock tune amidst Evee Simon’s tender vocals punching through the vigorous grooves and soothing melodic flair. That song is perhaps the only song they’ll put out in the open during that time, as they have been focused on performing live since then, with more songs that they will eventually bring onto the record. Some of those live songs will be then released in 2022, keeping that upcoming project still bursting with hope after all that silence. 6 years have since passed, and July XIV have finally put together their debut album, charmingly titled after that debut single, Hunger. Running just around 28 minutes, July XIV brought together a tightly-knit package of indie rock cuts, a straightforward enough descriptor executed well through the stronger compositions by members of this band, as well as the production, mixing, and mastering duties by Evee Simon, Kevin Ingco, and Megumi Acorda respectively. Allowing these cuts to have a consistent sound quality, even if the dryness can run together at spots. But nevertheless, the blend of punchy textures paired with contrasting moments between flashy passages and tender moments are at least solid, from the riveting guitar work and solid grooves of “Chainsmoker,” the aforementioned “Hunger” where Evee’s vocals spark every time the song hits the chorus, the grunge flair that pops up on cuts like ‘Belief’ and ‘Deus Ex Machina’ with the meaty guitars smashing through with aplomb, and the string accented ‘(with feeling)’ allows the album to end in a more solemn note as those weary strings anchors a welcome emotive presence within the instrumentation. Ruminating towards the lyricism, the album title “hunger” feels apt for what Evee Simon is reaching out within this album, as her writing focuses on yearning for so much more within life despite the sense of loss and hardships being felt and gathered over time. This focus sticks the landing due to the sharp metaphors intensifying the drive to live within a grounded reality. Clinging towards dreams, memories, and fantasies keeps the protagonist moving onwards which eventually culminates in “No Sugar” where the protagonist ruminates how getting older does make them wiser and stronger, yet that maturity still can’t drift away the pang they still feel towards losing some important to them on ‘Revelations I’. But despite all that, “(with feeling)” put things back to a much more hopeful but also complex scope, where despite questioning the overall spectacle towards what it means to be a musician, it still gives a reason for the protagonist to feel alive—perhaps creating a new dream that they want to achieve sooner rather than later. Despite the cut-and-dry approach to the production alongside the briefness that can leave the back half feeling less stellar as a result, the melodies that July XIV puts into have some invigorating moments, and the lyrical arc that observes and reflects one’s own hardships and yearning to hold on to better things have sharp details that are worth looking into. Hunger as an album might be a double-edged sword, keeping everyone who has waited for this album to feel satisfied on one side but also leaving too much empty space on the other. Yet, when the album does hit its stride – an exceptional one at that – it leaves us hungry for so much more. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Fern. – SO FLY
Written by Louis Pelingen It seems as Fern. is now working towards his next solo project for the foreseeable future, with him steadily putting out songs that now linger within 2000s R&B that he fawned over, showcased through both the art direction and the music itself as there has been more intrigue towards the 2000s nostalgia more than ever before. But out of the three songs that he has put out thus far for this upcoming project, “SO FLY” is the one that struck the most within his delve towards this 2000s R&B flair. From the chalky drums, glittery synths, and warbling bass that carry a composed, pristine melody, Fern’s vocal touches ooze with so much charm and wonder that he manages to stick the landing towards creating a sense of inviting allure, something that his vocal flair alongside the abundance of harmonies and melodies able to encapture marvelously. Despite the drum textures sound a bit flimsy, this song’s melodic spark is remarkable from front to back. With every single listen, it never fails to fly high to something ever so spectacular. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Fax Gang + Parannoul – Scattersun
Written by Louis Pelingen When reaching a sense of stability, there is no doubt that it’s sometimes a fleeting moment, a feeling that provides meditation and strength just before everybody has to push forward to the next phase of tension in their lives. On the last projects that Fax Gang and Parannoul have put out, this does ring true as they take a lot more effort to embrace the sense of the calm before the storm: Fax Gang offers more openly brighter melodies and textures on Dataprism and Parannoul moving away from the aghast distorted perks of his debut as he takes more dreamy wistfulness on After The Magic. So now that they’re both under Topshelf Records, the possibility of working once again since their collaboration on the last track of Dataprism feels like a star that can be reached, where the light keeps on burning brightly. And it sure does, as on Scattersun, Fax Gang and Parannoul merge their varying worlds in absolute delight. Within this project, Fax Gang and Parannoul’s musical chemistry bounces off in a way that resonates with their strengths as they leap off into various characteristics that morph into their own being – all filled with post-rock crescendos, eclectic sound design, distinctive production palette, and amorphous genre swervings that Fax Gang and Parannoul just makes it all work. Riding these risky musical ideas that both acts are willing to do, and create an exciting endeavor where those risks are rewarded tremendously, intersecting their creative worlds where they know which parts of their ideas will work and proceed to experiment even further outside of their comfort zone that also manages to stick the landing in a remarkable fashion. ‘Double Bind’ showcases this toast of ideas clearly, with the first half lurking within the familiar bit-crushed soundscape from Fax Gang with PK Shellboy’s vocals rummaging through that chaos, just before it slowly and sleekly transitions to the usual fractured distortion from Parannoul’s part on the back half that also has a jersey club rhythm implemented within, displaying familiar pieces of sound that work around with newer facets of experimentation. This experimentation continues further all across the project, from ‘Quiet’ where PK Shellboy joins within the crisp and bulky alt-rock palette that’s clearly Parannoul’s signature wheelhouse but is wrapped around with warping synths, ‘Lullaby for a Memory’ with the jaunty array of rapid organic breakbeats, wistful synth progressions, and galloping crescendos that spearthrows itself into the skies, ‘Wrong Signal’ where the warbling production creates a cacophonous black hole for Mudd the student of Balming Tiger and PK Shellboy to break through with anxious performances just before the production clears up into a danceable but still suffocating beat, ‘Circular Motion’ takes a mellower tone where both PK Shellboy and Parannoul’s vocals are cushioned within the spare lilting synths and chalky percussion that eventually collapses into a charged EDM instrumental passage that bolts to the end of the song, and ‘Soliloquy’ may as well be the absolute charming cut from album – filled with glorious melodic progressions that can fit into a rhythm game song selection as the sweeping drums and synths glimmer before it cracks and dishevels as it moves along, even adding a random jazz sample that swivels into the cut’s last ecstatic chorus. And even despite ‘Ascension’ and ‘Scattersun’ paling off for different reasons – with the first song that could’ve expanded upon its harmonies and the second song that could’ve sharpened parts of its transitions and melodies, they still manage to land with aplomb as the former cut’s fleeting calmness creaks from its fuzzy textures that never overshadow the performances of every vocalist – gatka’s soothing vocals especially – and the latter cut’s attempt on creating a 10-minute plugging, cloud rap, and drill epic is nothing short of impressive in just going along on that idea and just making it happen. This overall scale is also reinforced within the writing of the record, taking a grand leap as Fax Gang and Parannoul return back into exploring humanistic existential dread that they find themselves lurking within, all with an embrace of abstract metaphors that expound the exhausting emotions even more. There is a desperation to cling to the brighter future that they try to reach as much as possible even despite all the murk that keeps on piling up more and more each day, intensifying the anxious dread that they want to avoid for their sake. Yet it is an attempt of avoidance that they cannot do successfully anymore, especially with the doomed tone displayed on cuts like ‘Wrong Signal’ where internet doom-scrolling will continue to display the destructive parts of reality that they can’t risk to not care about anymore. Thus, it overall colors the bleak aspects within these deeper reflections, whether that be having to mature and moving past their inner child on ‘Lullaby for a Memory’, reaching out to friends and trying to help them out even if they themselves are dealing with their own struggles on ‘Ascension’, and just how accepting a defeatist mindset due to the constant effects of isolation, aging, and ennui in this devastating world soon collapses upon ‘Scattersun’, the darkest cut in the album as there is a realization where the process of reflecting through these harrowing moments don’t seem to make sense anymore and is easier to just find some release in self-harm – a dour thought that’s compounded from the continuous wallowing that pushes everybody else away, and leaves them struggling with not knowing who they are anymore. Eventually concluding on the aptly titled ‘Circular Motion’ as the null in this negative state of mind will persist, a stillness that may never be broken apart where loneliness seems to be the only relief for all of this. As a whole, there is an astoundment that swings around Scattersun and all of its elements. A collaboration that tries to break out of their comfort zone where Fax Gang and Parannoul embrace their wildly varied musical components and
TRACK REVIEW: Squaretoe – Subzero
Written by Louis Pelingen There is a chilling mist that Squaretoe – the trip-hop duo consisting of Mazerboy and Maggie – conjures within this newest cut as it immerses deeper in a glacial tone. Through its flickering synth pads, needle-sharp drum machines, and saturated guitar mixes swirling around Maggie’s haunting vocals that loom and bend around the general mix, it creates a dream-smeared atmosphere that drowns into gloomy moodscapes. Ever so carried along with the spare writing presenting a lingering cruelty that lurks deeper, a feeling that Maggie’s dreamy performance effectively brings as her voice rings all across the song. There is an assured quality that Squaretoe brings to ‘Subzero’ in an immediate way, sinking deeper into more layers of atmosphere that the duo lurks in slow, but curious spaces of mercurial triphop and frosty electronica. Overall resulting in the fleshed-out sonic ideas on the production and compositional side amplifying the atmosphere to a certain degree even if the briefness of this cut feels like the duo is still testing out where they would go in the future. Still, it’s potent enough to move the temperature to its freezing point, letting that sullen dread nestle in its unmoving place. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Munimuni – Alegorya
Written by Louis Pelingen 5 years after its release, Kulayan Natin is quite the impressive musical landmark for the quintet band Munimuni. Not just because of the breadth of melodic phrasing and comfortable aura that it provides, but the fact that Munimuni was able to put their spin on progressive folk in the local scene and push the sound a little further where the rustic compositions unfold in a fascinatingly majestic fashion that allows the beauty of the emotional resonance from the poetry and performances to captivate with aplomb. However, the band has experienced bumps on the road, taking a needed hiatus due to the isolating lockdown in 2020 and TJ de Ocampo leaving after the band’s comeback in 2021. Since then, the band has taken their time to ruminate what had transpired beforehand as they carefully kept putting more songs on the road as well as adding their new member Ben Ayes in 2023 to contribute more flourish to the band’s instrumental beauty. All of this culminates in the long-awaited sophomore album of Munimuni, Alegorya, and how it mostly retains the progressive tapestries that are usually filled with wondrous melodic swells and buildups that end in fantastic quality, courtesy of the delicate array of woodwinds and acoustics that are twinkling as ever. But there is a shift in the compositions and performances this time around. Adj Jiao’s singing tries to push his vocals in more expressive ranges to pair off with the compositions that have more groove and textures taken from modern indie rock which makes the melodies more tasteful in their direction to go for more immediate swerves, a direction that can become a double-edged sword, especially when the production makes the textures and mixing bit too modestly pristine and tame for its own good and the melodic stripes all across the album may carry some of their usual dynamic progressive tapestries but don’t have the same impactful heft that the band managed to pull together back on their debut album. It doesn’t mean the band doesn’t carry it well enough as they still create flickers of melodic charm. The lilting air of “Sikat ng Araw” is soothing as the vocal harmonies, blurry guitars, and winsome flute melodies are soaked with a warm aura around it, Adj’s vocals build the sense of assured realization as he picks up more bombast on Alegorya, the layered melodic progressions on “Paraiso” successfully leads up to the frenetic solo guitar melody careening off at the end, the overwhelming instrumental freakout on “Alpa” is a welcome surprise as it slowly composes itself before it soars up to the skies with an ecstatic blaze, and the spare acoustics and flutes gliding around Adj Jiao and Barbie Almalbis’ gorgeous vocal harmonies on “Tupa” are terrific even if it could’ve been extended so the string section can have more presence to add more emotional swell to their harmonies instead of being used to accent the atmosphere at the very end of the song. The emotions that were written in the poetry also took a flip as well. Unlike the comforting tones that were embedded all across their debut, this album generally delves into musings of frustration and melancholy. Emotions that put the band in a state of creative burnout on “Respeto’, which eventually leads to the subsequent pieces of writing to feel like an exploration within that gloomy space, providing an introspection towards understanding the range of emotional raft in addition to the existential reflection towards love, life, and identity. All of these are tied together through the imagery of a cave that may serve as the metaphorical personal journey of the band’s introspective process, one that allows the insight and realization to parse through their mind but can also become a limit when it becomes a hideaway that never allows them to move past that melancholy. Yet, amidst all of that sorrow, there is still a consistent cling on yearning to the aspect of love, a presence that despite all odds, gives them hope to move on forward to that dark abyss and come out feeling much better at the end. Creating an emotional throughline that does have its resonance, yet the use of details and imagery could’ve been pushed forward, allowing the moving quality to be intensified as there are spots in the lyricism where the simplistic phrasings don’t exactly support the internal emotional insight that the performances and compositions try to sell. Moving into and out of the darkness, Alegorya pivots around with its sound, performances, and writing to create reflective pieces of the personal struggle that the band works through, pieces that eventually hold together when the specks of melodies and writing manage to stick the landing. As much as parts of the compositions open up the emotions to poignant places, the exploration of this pathos is less stellar, where the production, poetry, and progressions have a semblance of restraint that hides that poignancy rather than open it up much more. The allegory of this journey may be well-defined, but there is a hushness that keeps the feelings from echoing astoundingly. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Jade Fake – isa kang PUTA
Written by Louis Pelingen Within just two extensive verses and a set of devastating refrains under a clattering, shambling production is enough foundation for Jade Fake to burst up all of her provocative confrontations towards men and all of their borderline pathetic sexual fixation. There is a genuine sense of rage that Jade Fake indulges in, her exasperated delivery and lyricism spilling out scathing whiplashes as the Arca-esque inspired production stiffens and shrivels around her—creating more discomfort as it goes along. The peak of this intensity slowly unravels as the production becomes the center point of all of this, covering up Jade Fake’s voice with its shaky, bleeping textures and its unorthodox melody progressing through with a stomping beat, eventually leading to this track embracing harsher electronics that gives an overstimulating unease and ending with the shrill noise taking control of the atmosphere of the song. It’s clearly an inflammatory pursuit that is portrayed well by Jade Fake in both her production and melodies, taking her lyrical flips to take the spotlight with a potent amount of disgust carried by her performance just before her production steals the entire show, complementing that sense of discomfort and elevating it to the point that it manages to execute its intended message exceedingly well, pricking everybody’s ear who have listened to the song for a single or even repeated listens. Pulling aside subtlety for an in-your-face approach might create some lopsided results, but when the anger toward the insufferable obsession with reckless sex is palpable, the harsher edge may as well permanently disrupt the climax point. Support the art & the artist: