Animal Collective's second album in a year and a half, Isn't It Now?, proves the group is in top neopsychedelic form

Animal Collective - Isn't It Now? Review

Animal Collective, a band formed from a small group of childhood friends, are a class all their own. Whether you love them or hate them, there can be no in between. This is how deeply committed they are to their songs. From their rather small and humble beginnings making music from their debut Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, the playful melodies were always there, either prominent or buried under their experimental avant-garde well of sounds.

Masterpiece Crate #5: Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of The Moon

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary Analysis and Review

Update: our review of Roger Waters’ The Dark Side of The Moon Redux is now live for those who want a comparison review of this classic album.

Time keeps on changing, but what is timeless remains the true feat of human and artistic achievement. When it comes to our Masterpiece Crate series, there is one guiding principle through each of these albums: they are undisputed, stone-cold classics. Nothing can be more true then for this album we have been gifted 50 years ago by one of the most forward-thinking bands of their time, Pink Floyd, with arguably the most successful worldwide album in modern music history, The Dark Side of The Moon.

The Beach Boys - Sail on Sailor - 1972 Boxset drives home the brilliance of this magical and underrated period of Beach Boys history

The Beach Boys - Sail On Sailor - 1972 Boxset Review

 

We live in a time where the excess of everything in media can feel overwhelming; that there's so much music, film, and entertainment to consume that nothing feels sacred anymore and nearly everything that's made has been touched upon before. The question of deep and soulful music that stands out in the sea of music past and present can be answered with the many greats who have graced our collective culture, however, none of them have had as varied and tumultuous of a career as the brilliant yet personally flawed Beach Boys. Their latest archival boxset of unreleased live and studio recordings focuses on a time when the magic of music made them and changed them for the better. 

My Top 100 All-Time Albums

My Top 100 Music Albums

After stumbling across an excellent website, neverendingchartrendering.org, I realized that I could take a crack at putting together a top 100 album list. The resulting list is my top 100 albums of all time from my own personal music journey. 

How to successfully downsize your vinyl player setup without sacrificing audio quality

How To Downsize Your Vinyl Setup

Being a part of a few vinyl social circles, I have seen a number of posts of newcomer’s setups, which usually include a suitcase record player, and this motivated me to share my own downsized setup and my story of how it came to be. It is awesome to see so many new record lovers’ humble beginnings! Loving and collecting records is really a special thing. When the album artwork (especially if it’s cool art) is that much larger to behold its beauty in your hands while listening to a nice set of speakers or headphones, it makes the music listening experience so much more immersive. 

Dark Flow Designs Etsy Shop - Visually Stunning Kaleidoscopic Art

Dark Flow Designs Etsy Shop

I am unveiling the launch of my brand new Etsy shop, Dark Flow Designs! Over the past few years, I have enjoyed creating various abstract artwork. Two years ago, I used this artwork that I have created for my DJ Dark Flow music releases, namely my Cracking the Code and Backwords Thoughts singles and my Crystallize album cover. 

Transatlantic duo Configa and Hastyle unleash The ConfigHas Crates, setting hip-hop ablaze!

Configa Presents: The ConfigHas Crates Review

Hip-hop has been through many trends over the years. As the founding hip-hop genre has inevitably morphed into subgenres such as east and west coast hip-hop, underground, gangsta rap, conscious rap, crunk, southern rap, trap, mumble rap, etc., the prevailing sound has always been real hip-hop. Old heads remind the younger generations of aspiring artists and avid fans, while newer players help by keeping the style alive. The ConfigHas Crates is no different, as transatlantic duo Configa (beats) and Hastyle (rhymes) prove that no "body" can keep these two talented artists apart for this compilation, exhumed, electrified, and brought back to life. 

Earth’s Full Upon Her Burning Lips (2019) is an awesome showcase of doom metal, and probably the ultimate example of metal you can chill to

Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips Review

Earth, a group that helped to define and form the genre of ambient metal, doom, drone, or stoner metal, has had multiple releases since the early 1990s. Taking elements from grunge and other forms of heavy metal music, Earth's founding member Dylan Carlson was notably friends with Kurt Cobain. Earth's origins in Seattle also explain this emerging hub of hard rock music that continues to be a haven of major and independent music to this day. Their latest release was last year's Full Upon Her Burning Lips, and while I am guilty of sleeping on this instrumental album, Earth has remained a personal favorite of mine, as they defined the perfect form of metal that you can relax to. Full Upon Her Burning Lips builds upon their previous releases and makes for an engrossing showcase of strong and steady guitar riffs and atmospheric drums and percussion. 

System Of A Down’s first music in 15 years, Protect The Land, and Genocidal Humanoidz, brings to light immediate atrocities committed in their homeland

System Of A Down - Protect The Land / Genocidal Humanoidz Review

Now is a pivotal time in world history, which should go without saying. Not only are Americans and worldwide citizens bearing witness to a historic election year, but a once-in-a-century worldwide pandemic has rocked the world. If there could be any more unpredictability, it is that ISIS terrorists from Syria, along with the corrupt regimes of Azerbaijan and Turkey have declared war on the independent Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, committing unspeakable crimes against humanity. These atrocities that are being committed have brought out from hiatus System of A Down, who are releasing their first new music in 15 years. 

Long Island artists Thomas Coppola and Fendii release their collaborative album, Fendii Flannel!

Thomas Coppola - Fendii Flannel Review

Amid the bleak worldwide pandemic, both major and independent music has been thumping and more alive than ever. Artists’ projects that have been cooking for the majority of 2020 and some of 2019 show that the perseverance to survive and thrive is strong in artists. We have covered Thomas Coppola's previous album releases, Dusty and Cold Cuts, and have even featured him in our first ever interview! Suffice it to say, Coppola has come a long way, and releasing just on Halloween is Coppola's entirely produced collaborative album with rapper Fendii, Fendii Flannel!