Music Reviews

Released on November 11th, 2022, KD3 is the third and final album of Nas’ King’s Disease trilogy, which kicked off in 2020 and has been executively produced by Hit-Boy since its start.

Many of you have probably not read the book Feed by Matthew Tobin Anderson. It's okay; it's not the best. I mean, it's fine, but like, do you really NEED to read it? "No," is the answer.

Anyway, the book is about a future where people basically have the internet installed in their brains and mainly centers around a small group of teenagers living in this world. It has various comments on economic class, societies obsession with social media, and of course, since it was written in 2002, there's a whole "young adult" love subplot.
 
But the most interest concept presented in the book, and the part that still sticks with me is the following:

Boy, the new Zeal & Ardor album is good.

Oh, that's probably bad. I shouldn't start out with the direct opinion, right? It defeats the purpose of you reading the rest of the article. But, then again, I can't be accused of burying the lead. Maybe what I should do is act like I didn't start with any of this. I could edit it out I guess, but... no, that seems like work.

“For me, (punk) is doing what you want to do unabashedly,” TV Freaks frontman Dave O’Connor said in a 2014 interview with The Silhouette. It is this same attitude that has carried the Hamilton band through a decade of feverish and brazen garage punk records.

Those familiar with LA-based electro-pop outfit Ming and Ping may have a particular sonic vision in mind for BAO’s debut album - BAO is the solo venture of Bao Vo, the producer and musical mind behind the duo’s sound. As a producer, Vo has worked with a number of other Asian-American artists, including the aforementioned Ming and Ping and Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, lead vocalist of How To Destroy Angels.

Photo Credit: Louder

It will probably surprise no one that I am a fan of bands with gimmicks. I firmly believe that having a gimmick can bring an overlooked aspect to bands, that being "theatrics". For so long, bands like KISS, Slipknot, and even Babymetal have been utilizing the power of their gimmicks to justify adding non-music elements to shows and giving fans an interesting other aspect to explore.

Hot on everyone’s minds right now are Tomb Mold, Toronto’s Bloodborne-infused flagship death metal band. They are currently reigning supreme once again this summer with their third full-length, titled Planetary Clairvoyance, which is debuting alongside a North American tour. Their sophomore record, Manor of Infinite Forms, released a year ago in similar fashion alongside an admittedly smaller set of shows, but nonetheless to high critical acclaim.