DreamWeaver – Blue Garden

Blue Garden is a cozy and serene little trip of a record, offering more than enough in the way of lush, textural composition and simple beauty to find its way into the heart of somebody who has no idea what “progressive breaks” is. The tender vocal songs punctuating the tracklist offer an inviting hand to me and it’s not hard to find myself enjoying the rest. It is my favorite record of June, and not just because ****** made me write this.

-mechamagica

Jeromes Dream-The Gray In Between

There’s a ferociousness again to Jeromes Dream, a hunger that, while scattered into tiny doses throughout 2019’s LP, is now unhinged and unleashed on The Gray In Between. The Gray In Between goes for the throat. Between Jeff Smith screaming again, Sean Leary’s pummeling riffs, and Erik Ratensperger’s phenomenal and frantic drumming. Jeromes Dream has written an album that very much serves as the spiritual successor to 2000’s landmark Seeing Means More Than Safety. Simply put, Jeromes Dream has roared back, and let’s hope there’s no slowing down anytime soon.

–calmrose

Yune Pinku-Babylon IX

Wow. Another month has come and gone. Which means, of course, it’s time for a blog post. Dare I say 2023 is shaping up to be a very memorable year for music? Spring is in the air, the pandemic is finally over, and everyone is leaving their virtual discos in favor of good ol’ fashioned ragers. Who doesn’t love hearing loud trance music in dark tightly packed spaces? Maybe this year ACL can have a good lineup, who knows. Anyway, May 2023 is off to a weirdly boring start for music. I can think of several reasons why but the most obvious one is that April was just too damn exciting. Now that the Sheeran trial has run its course and musicians are safe again, we can all relax and play the new Zelda game or if you don’t have a Switch, Hyper Light Drifter is recommended on any platform. By the way, have you heard the new Yunè Pinku EP? The new Yunè Pinku EP is Sputnikmusic.com’s album of the month.

Yunè Pinku’s BABYLON IX doesn’t quite have the staying power of new Metallica, nor does it make me cry like the new National, but it kinda rules. Marvelously produced opener “Trinity” continues to amaze and uplift, even when it is boring and rainy outside or in the world of other music: quite a trick. It is not easy to make electronic music sound lush and inviting on first listen without sacrificing some element of…

jonatan leandoer96-Sugar World

Sugar World, Yung Lean’s new album released under his jonatan leandoer96 moniker, might be the sweetest he’s sounded. Not vocally, mind you–his crooning is as tuneless as ever–but he’s as charming and earnest as he looks on the cover. Sugar World is primarily a collection of ballads adorned with lush pop-rock instrumentation, and it’s a new direction for Lean, even under this name. His versatility is impressive, and this new album demonstrates that he isn’t afraid in the slightest of experimenting or branching out into new territory.

The music backing Yung Lean is glossy and easy-going, providing a wonderful juxtaposition with Yung Lean’s aforementioned vocal performance. Critics have decried his vocals as unpalatable throughout his career, so there’s nothing really new here on that front; yet others, whether they be long-time fans or curious newcomers, will appreciate the romance and quirkiness in his voice. Lyrically, nearly every song touches on affection and intimacy in some form, and it’s hard not to find Lean delightful and alluring as he sings about blue feelings, amusement parks, and remote-controlled love. In fact, this may be his strongest set of lyrics to date. It may be nothing extraordinary, but the combination of melancholy, wistful instrumentals and lovesick rhymes is evergreen. With the added layer of Yung Lean’s monotone vocal delivery, there’s a number of competing and compelling dimensions here that make repeated listens rewarding.

Perhaps no song exemplifies this better than “Rivers of Another Town,” a piano-backed jaunt that wouldn’t…