Home

Category: Reviews

  • Nature Is Healing on horsegiirL’s Debut Album (+ My Club Underground Set List 6/05/16)

    horsegiirL Nature Is Healing album cover
    horsegiirL Nature Is Healing album cover

    You might not expect to read this, but I’m way into Nature Is Healing, the new album from horsegiirL. If we’re IRL friends, though, you might think, yeah, Liz would totally be into something that sounds like the rave at an anime convention. And that’s true. But, there’s also a lot more to horsegiirL than DDR beats and pitched up vocals.

    Just to back up a second for anyone who is like, wtf are you talking about? HorsegiirL is a DJ/producer/singer known for wearing a horse mask, or horse prosthetic face makeup, who had a viral hit some time back called “My Barn My Rules.” She’s known for playing hard, fast dance music- roughly equivalent to what ‘90s ravers would know as hardcore or happy hardcore- and has been buzzy for a good while. She played Coachella in 2025, made guest appearances during Wet Leg and PinkPanthress’ sets at this year’s Coachella and will be opening for Robyn at the Forum in September. 

    Nature Is Healing is horsegiirL’s debut album. It dropped yesterday and it’s a genuinely strange and subversive album. Musically, it’s not really something you can categorize. You’ll have something like the single “That’s My Beach!” that brings together a summer party sound with a play on words to talk about respect for the beach or “Only the Best,” which satirizes materialism. Then there’s “An Apple a Day,” with its relentless kick drum and campy, Europop-style lyrics and vocals, and “Fun Guy Fungi,” an avant-garde, new age interlude. Last night, I tried out “Hands Hands Hands,” a synthpop tune with bit of a Kylie Minogue vibe and a touch of house percolating underneath. Hopefully, sometime soon, I’ll have the chance to play “Music Goes On” because I love how it morphs from euphoric rave track to Pure Moods jam. The sounds are all over the place on Nature Is Healing, but it makes sense as an album because the songs all seem to tied to this very My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic-meets-Nausicaä Valley of the Wind message about taking care of the planet and each other. Right now, it’s not too often that we see people making art that’s both light-hearted and serious, so, if you’re looking for something that hits those notes, I recommend checking out Nature Is Healing. 

    Last night’s set list from Club Underground is below. As always, the new-ish stuff links back to previous mentions on this blog.  In addition to horsegiirL, the other brand new song from last night is “Every Single Weekend” from The Avalanches and Jamie XX. 

    (more…)

  • Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi, XL Middleton and Milk Talk Appear on Tokyo Love Song’s First 7″ Release

    "In Praise of Mitochondria" "Funkin' Me Up" 7" on display at Salt Box Records
    Tokyo Love Song’s first 7″ release features Minoru”Hoodoo” Fushimi on the A-Side and a collab between XL Middleton and Milk Talk on the B-Side. Seen here at Salt Box Records. (Pic: Liz O.)

    Tokyo Love Song, the L.A.-based party that focuses on Japanese funk and city pop, dropped their first vinyl release earlier this month and it’s a good one. The 7” split single features “In Praise of Mitochondria,” the cult classic cut from Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi, on the A-side. For the B-side, modern funk musician and producer XL Middleton joins forces with Japan-based duo Milk Talk for their take on Fushimi’s song, which they’ve titled “Funkin’ Me Up.” I bought a copy of the single last time I stopped by Salt Box Records, Middleton’s shop in Little Tokyo, and was instantly smitten with it. 

    (more…)

  • Album Review: Kneecap Fenian

    Kneecap Fenian Album Cover

    The first time I heard Fenian, the new album from Kneecap, was at a listening party in January. It was a private thing- mainly press and industry, I think- in the back room of an LA pub where the album played once and I spent the bus ride home scribbling notes about the album’s clubby flow, its nods to ‘90s hip-hop- there’s definitely a Wu-Tang energy in there – and the killer drum ’n’ bass track in the middle of Fenian. This isn’t an overstatement or the result of a hype-buzz, but I was genuinely excited for the new album. 

    The second time I heard Fenian was roughly three months later, on the album’s May 1 release date. In between, I had amassed the digital singles- the album’s title track is now one of my current favorites to play when I DJ at Underground– and scrolled through enough posts that half my Instagram timeline would have me convinced that this is the most anticipated album of the year. TBH, I’m not sure if that’s the case for anyone but myself. But, whatever. Fenian is top-tier album.

    (more…)

  • ADULT. Captures Real World Dystopian Tension on Kissing Luck Goodbye

    ADULT. Kissing Luck Goodbye Album cover

    Maybe the best place to start talking about Kissing Luck Goodbye is at the end of the latest album from ADULT. Just when you think “Destroyers” is done, an electronic swoosh gives way to what sounds like traffic noise. Then, Nicola Kuperus’ voice reappears, singing, “We pay the price for those in power/Exploiting you, exploiting me/Consuming you, consuming me.” 

    I’ve had an advance copy of Kissing Luck Goodbye for a good minute and have now listened to it enough times to be somewhat haunted by the album’s finale. Listening to “Destroyers,” I think about how we’re literally paying the price for those in power every time we go to a store or restaurant and notice how things are ever-so-slightly more expensive than they were the week prior. We are being exploited, by politicians, by Big Tech, by virtually every corporate entity. We know this and, yet, it seems like there’s no way to stop it. 

    (more…)

  • Depeche Mode, Fontaines D.C. and War Child: The Wars Change, But the Protest Songs Remain the Same

    Photo of antiwar protestors in front of Los Angeles City Hall on March 7, 2026 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Protesting outside City Hall, March 7, 2026 (Pic: Liz O.)

    As the Santa Ana winds whipped through Los Angeles, downtown protestors clung to signs that read, “Invest in peace not the Pentagon” and “War crimes don’t hide sex crimes.” A string of activists spoke on the steps of City Hall. They led us in a run of chants all of which could be summarized in one point: end the wars. 

    Before walking to the Saturday afternoon protest, I listened toHelp (2), the War Child compilation album that came out on Friday, for the second or third time. On it, Depeche Mode covers “Universal Soldier,” written by Buffy Sainte-Marie in the early 1960s. It’s a striking condemnation of war made all the more ominous when performed as a dark, synthpop song. Listen closely and you might swear you hear jets in the background. Even if you’re only playing the song in the background, you can’t miss the resignation in Dave Gahan’s voice when he delivers the closing line, “this is not the way we put the end to war.” 

    (more…)

  • Gorillaz Reach The Mountain + New Music from Heavenly, Voxtrot and Jupe Jupe

    Cover of Gorillaz The Mountain
    The Mountain, by Gorillaz is out now


    If your taste in music lives at the intersection of 1980s alternative, 1990s Britpop and 2000s indie- and if we know each other IRL, there’s a good chance it is- then this is your week for new music.  Heavenly just dropped their first full-length album in 30 years! Plus, Voxtrot has released their first new album since the MySpace era. And, of course, you know Gorillaz are back. Reviews for all three albums , plus the latest album from Jupe Jupe, a Seattle band who really gets why people still love the new wave bangers, are below.

    (more…)

  • Peaches Proclaims “No Lube So Rude” + More New Music

    Apparat A Hum of Maybe album cover

    Not to date myself here, but I’ve been around long enough to remember the pre-Shazam days when “Fuck the Pain Away” was the new club jam that had people asking, “Who is this?” That said, in my timeline, a new Peaches album is cause for much celebration. No Lube So Rude, the first album from Peaches in over a decade, is out today. But, that’s not all. We also have new albums from Apparat, Mirah and Night Ritualz available now. Keep reading for my reviews.

    (more…)

  • Mariachi El Bronx, Charli xcx and More New Music

    Mariachi el Bronx IV album cover

    It’s time for another album review round-up. This week, we have new releases from Mariachi el Bronx, Felsmann + Tiley and Charli xcx, plus albums from KMFDM and Lapêche that were released in the past few weeks.

    (more…)

  • New Music from Sébastien Tellier, Kula Shaker and Sam Quealy

    Sebastien Tellier Kiss the Beast album cover

    Technically, this is last week’s batch of album reviews, but I put the list on hold until today. Sébastien Tellier, Kula Shaker and Sam Quealy all released new full-length albums on January 30. Musically, they are all very different, but, each one is quite worthy of your attention. Check out the reviews and then follow the links to find where you can stream or purchase them.

    (more…)

  • Robbie Williams on “Morrissey” and Britpop + More New Music

    Robbie Williams Britpop album cover

    I’m trying to catch up on new releases, so the following reviews are for music that came out in January, but not necessarily today and, not everything released on January 23, 2026 appears in this post. This week’s batch of reviews includes Robbie Williams Britpop, The Cribs Selling a Vibe, Maria Somerville Luster (Remixes) and Draag Miracle Drug. Keep reading for the details.

    (more…)