Garrett Phillips

★ 8.1

album

Being So Normal

Peach Pit

“This album holds a special place in my heart. I didn’t discover Peach Pit through Peach Pit, but rather a college band. The first time I heard Drop the Guillotine I was so infatuated with its sound and emotion — and it was a cover! Initially I believed this was an up and coming rock group, but boy was I wrong. After giving everything they had put out to date, this was the first bedroom-pop/dream-pop group I had ever heard… and boy did it open my eyes to the possibilities of music. Musicians pouring their souls into a project that had little popularity (at the time) but could draw unsuspecting crowds into obsession with exposure to the sound. To me, this album was a gateway drug into branching out in music taste. Over were the days of cycling through the top charts and latest rap albums as my mains, and my eyes were opened to the groups that my normie friends roast me for seeing. In a way this album was the first hit of realizing music didn’t need to be popular to be good, and for that I owe this project (and group) too much gratitude to put into words. Strongest A side of any vinyl in my collection, but the B side is often not turned over for playthrough on my turntable.”

★ 6.4

album

Portal

Balu Brigada

“The singles released leading to the drop created expectation that were near impossible to meet. With the large lapse in release dates as the duo found their sound, the quality of the final additions definitely veer from the character of the early releases. Although decent tracks still exist in the project that were not released pre-drop, they fall far flat of expectations. If I could rate the singles pre-album as a whole they would score a 8.5, but the final songs would hover around a 4.5.”