Vylet Pony - Mystic Acoustics

September 02, 2023 / lucythegray / Source

Every time I listen to Mystic Acoustics, I notice some new detail that was woven into its sonic fabric.

It manages to deliver a carefully and tightly constructed world in just over an hour of runtime. I'm a songwriter and I know how difficult it is to tell a story through music, and this is a real exercise in restraint. There really aren't that many lyrics, with the most traditional song structures being present on the opening track "Forewarning" and "Wonders," the latter of which has a wonderful guest vocal appearance from Chi Chi. The rest of Mystic Acoustics takes a less is more approach, where the music largely speaks for itself, only using a sparse amount of sung lyrics or voice acting to deliver specific story beats. Leitmotifs are used very purposefully; just as one example, the use of a melody from My Little Pony's "This Day Aria" on "Statera" teases the presence of changelings. There are also many melodic arcs unique to the Starship Ponyville saga that are present here, and it rewards attentive listening.

The production is enchanting and otherworldly. In discussing this with friends and members of the fandom, I've heard many people write off the brostep/dubstep sections, and that makes me sad because this is far from boilerplate Skrillex wannabe schlock. I'm a longtime defender of electronic music being used to create unique timbres that never could have been created through traditional acoustic means. Mystic Acoustics takes full advantage of the possibilities of synthesizers (and orchestral instrumentation) not only to create beautiful atmospheric pieces like "Tales of Conviction," "Fall of the Empire" or the closing piece "Asteri," but also to make the opposing forces feel artificial and intimidating with hefty, chunky, huge bass and screeching, metallic leads on songs like "The Watcher" and "Death's Whisper." Yes, the occasional trappings of late 2010's EDM are present, but they're re-contextualized in such an artful way that's allowed this album to last far longer than the work it was influenced by. The raw skill and the breadth of the palate this project illustrates is aspirational.

I liked Mystic Acoustics when it first came out, but as I've been going back to it as the years have gone by, I've realized something: this isn't just the greatest album of Vylet's discography, but one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. Period. It's that good. It sounds exactly as fresh today as it did on its release date, and it still gives me shivers to this day. Clear out an hour of your time, get on your best set of headphones and really listen to this masterpiece track by track. It's a magical, captivating, and breathtaking experience that's worth every second.

Track Ratings

Forewarning - 100/100
Statera - 90/100
Wonders - 85/100
The Watcher - 95/100
World Adrift - 85/100
Deception - 80/100
Tales of Conviction - 75/100
Fall of the Empire - 90/100
Inequality - 85/100
Treachery - 75/100
Cadence for the Dying - 85/100
Death’s Whisper - 80/100
Remember the Words She Spoke.. - 80/100
αστέρι - 90/100

Average Song Score: 85/100

tl;dr - peak fandom music, cannot be convinced otherwise, fight me

Original Publication Info:

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Location: Rate Your Music
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Title: "A truly awe-inspiring work of art."

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Rating: 5/5 stars
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Date: 10 December 2021
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xaev - berdlycore chapter 1

September 02, 2023 / lucythegray / Source

So, the other night while we were in a Discord call, my friend happened to find this album floating around on RYM's charts and we listened to this fully expecting it to be some mediocre breakcore schlock.

From beginning to end, I was smiling and laughing at the sample choices and over-the-top production. The blown out kicks, meme music (for example, “Undertale the Musical”) and plucky snares of "gamers dont die" are an instant tone setter for a project that never once brings down the energy. Normally, I loathe music that's adjacent to nightcore or breakcore, but I dunno, there's just something magical to me about this project.

The bass on the first drop of "u cant look at my priv twitter sorry" sounds like it would taste like candy; in fact, I would go as far as to say that this entire album would taste like Rainbow Nerds. Is there any substance to it? No, absolutely not. Will it probably decrease my lifespan? For sure. Is it the most addicting serotonin overdose I've had with music in years? Definitely.

I don't really have a lot of coherent thoughts on this project, to be honest, and for me, that's really exciting. I try to enjoy music, but I find that I struggle a lot to have fun with it. This is probably the most fun I've had with an album since the first time I heard 1000 gecs.

Thank you for making this, xaev. What an incredible little album.

Track Ratings

gamers dont die - 80/100
who wanna share gamer juice - 70/100
u cant look at my priv twitter sorry - 70/100
i like you OKAY god DAMN!! - 70/100
its always a good time - 70/100
sirens r kinda scary - 70/100
it WAS yo mf birthday but im late - 60/100
we respawn - 90/100
what a shame - 70/100
call me - 80/100
i started the UTSC to dariacore pipeline - 75/100

Average Song Score: ?/100

tl;dr - the mixes are pretty crunchy but idk sometimes music is fun when it kinda sounds like shit

Original Publication Info:

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Location: Rate Your Music
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Title: "This album right here? This is why I love music."

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Rating: 2/5 stars
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Date: 23 April 2022
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Silk Sonic - An Evening With Silk Sonic

September 02, 2023 / lucythegray / Source

Bruno really loves his pastiche, and after hearing just the first few tracks off Anderson's Ventura, it makes perfect sense that the two of them would put together a collaborative project. Mixing the pristine detail and neo-soul aesthetic of that record with the addictive RnB jams of Bruno's 24K Magic, An Evening With Silk Sonic almost seems like an inevitability in retrospect, as did the rapid success of "Leave the Door Open." It's a passionate throwback to an era of music that hasn't gotten a lot of mainstream attention in the past decade or two.

Singles from this kept dropping left and right, to the point where half the album was already out by the time it dropped. Not that I or anyone else was complaining; after all, the singles were all pretty damn good. Regardless, the full record finally came out near the end of 2021, and after giving it a few listens, it's clear that Silk Sonic and company accomplished everything they set out to. Unfortunately for me, I think that their ambitions weren't set all that high for what they wished to accomplish.

The vocal performances are all on point throughout, there's a wonderful cohesion to the instrumentalists, the production manages to be both intimate and larger than life; there's a lot to appreciate. It's just a shame to me that all this skill and talent is in service to really safe soul-RnB sex jams. I know that's a bit of a reductive take, but I can't help but feel like this record just needs to do more. At just over 30 minutes, there's not enough time to do anything all that adventurous, and there just isn't a whole lot of meat to the album. This album is like Toblerone: it's premium, it's sweet, it's a really fun indulgence, but it just leaves me wanting more.

All in all, An Evening With Silk Sonic is a delightful record, and I totally understand why people love this to pieces. It's super easy for me to recommend, even if it didn't end up being something I loved quite as much as the rest of the world.

Track Ratings

Silk Sonic Intro - 70/100
Leave The Door Open - 90/100
Fly As Me - 85/100
After Last Night - 70/100
Smokin Out The Window - 90/100
Put On A Smile - 60/100
777 - 70/100
Skate - 55/100
Blast Off - 60/100

Average Song Score: 72/100

tl;dr - the oldheads are gonna tell you it’s basic to like this album, but good music is good music: hop on love’s train babyyyyyyyyyyyy

Original Publication Info:

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Location: Rate Your Music
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Title: "A sugary sweet (if unambitious) soul record."

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Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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Date: 12 December 2021
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Vylet Pony - CUTIEMARKS (And the Things That Bind Us)

September 01, 2023 / lucythegray / Source

Now, to make this explicitly clear, I have nothing against My Little Pony, and I also don't have anything against people using it as songwriting inspiration. (After all, I'd be a hypocrite to claim otherwise.) I get that "brony music" has a bit of a bad reputation, so I want to preface my thoughts with this to make it crystal clear that my issues with this project lie not with its inspirational source material; rather, my problems are entirely in its execution, and in that it feels like a noticeable hiccup in quality.

There are a handful of songs that, while produced quite well, feel out of place alongside the deeply earnest and personal cuts. "SYNDICATE" sounds more like an off-cut from her previous project, Super Pony World: Fairytails, and it's incredibly jarring that it's sandwiched between the cutesy, bubbly, generic "LESBIAN PONIES WITH WEAPONS" and the emotional, grandiose pop piece "WAYFARER." The bass is rich, the drum & bass breakdown section is executed well; the song is good in a vacuum, but its placement on this particular album is puzzling to me. This exact same bookending track problem is also present with "ATYCHIPHOBIA" and, to a lesser extent, "HONEYMOON PHASE."

One other aspect of this album that I find difficult to ignore is that a handful of songs use characters from My Little Pony purely for aesthetic imagery. The easiest example to point to is "ISOMETRICA," which is a song that would entirely be about the artist's own life if not for the occasional shoehorned references to Queen Chrysalis, a la "you really thought a changeling could change?" or the references to writing letters. I take zero issue with Vylet being open about her past experiences, especially with how emotionally raw those songs end up being; rather, I believe this song and many others - for instance, "HARPER" - would have been even more powerful if the lyrics 100% committed to their real-world topics. An example of a song on this album that does commit in this way would be "SEABOUND," which is easily one of the best songs on the album, if not of Vylet's entire discography. The blunt, vulnerable lyrics match perfectly with the lo-fi, intimate aesthetic of the first half, and the passionate vocals of the second half pairing with the production opening up? It was a bit of an aha moment for me as a listener, and it made me wish there were more songs like this on the project.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about just how much fun "BONNIE" is. Like, I don't know how else to put this other than "the vibe of it is damn near perfect;" Vylet's in her element with the vocals, and hearing her make a track like this was a pleasant surprise. I'm still not sure how I feel about the transition between the first half and the second half, considering how quickly each of the two halves go by, but they're both wonderful on their own. I'll also point out that even on songs that I loathe, I can't deny just how much drive is put into nearly every vocal performance; the vocals are the one component I will concede is better than nearly every other Vylet album that preceded this one.

I will openly admit that a fair few of my gripes with this project are in comparison with the rest of Vylet's discography. Is the production solid? For the most part, yes, but it's far less consistent than many of her other works. Does it work as a concept album? Sort of, but the concept is really hammered in with the "sing a song about life" sample, and it greatly loses its charm 15 songs in. (This idea worked on Fishmonger, to me, because the album was much shorter, there were more samples being repeated, and none of them were calls to action.) I'm not averse to Vylet making a bold foray into pop music. Quite the contrary, in fact: I think her album Queen of Misfits is a fair bit stronger than CUTIEMARKS simply by nature of using the same specific MLP character - in this case, Trixie - as a means of exploring different subjects rather than relying on the far vaguer idea of "sing a song about life" as a springboard.

Am I coming off harsh? A little bit, perhaps more so than necessary, even; however, it doesn't come from a place of malevolence. Rather, this is coming from someone who's listened to this artist since 2014, seen what they're capable of and can tell that this didn't hit the mark (if you'll forgive the pun). Despite there being much to appreciate about CUTIEMARKS, its noncommittal songwriting and aesthetics hold it back from being truly great.

Track Ratings

THE THINGS THAT BIND US - 10/100
CUTIEMARKS - 45/100
BONNIE - 80/100
ANTONYMPH - 25/100
LESBIAN PONIES WITH WEAPONS - 15/100
SYNDICATE - 50/100
WAYFARER - 60/100
I DON’T NEED TO BE FIXED - 90/100
PROTAGONIST SYNDROME - 50/100
ISOMETRICA - 50/100
NONEXISTENT MEET-CUTE [IDLYAM] - 50/100
ATYCHIPHOBIA - 55/100
HARPER - 65/100
HOW TO KILL A MONSTER - 30/100
IMITATION GAME - 70/100
HONEYMOON PHASE [LIMERANCE] - 5/100
CITY OF THE SILENT - skip
37.6486° N, 122.4296° W [SEABOUND] - 100/100
THE KID WHO KEPT RUNNING - 50/100

Average Song Score - 50/100

PRODUCTION: 55/100

PERFORMANCE: 35/100

PERSONALITY: 15/100

OVERALL: 35/100

tl;dr - shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Original Publication Info

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Location: Rate Your Music
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Title: "In a word? Noncommittal."
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Rating: 2/5 stars
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Date: 10 December 2021
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welcome

August 25, 2023 / lucythegray

Hello everybody!

Apologies if you’re here and the page is empty; there’s a lot of reviews to transfer over from other platforms, but once everything’s moved over, this will be the place my written reviews are hosted.

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