album

Tame Impala’s headlining set Sunday at Treasure Island Music Festival was a fitting end to the weekendlong spectacle. The band’s minimalist, charismatic stage design and live performance culminated in a trippy yet immersive event that tore down the confines of the stage and mesmerized the gargantuan audience.

And when Kikagaku Moyo started its set, there was an immediate dive into a layered psychedelia. The band’s name translates to “geometric patterns,” which pairs nicely with the designation of psych rock as kaleidoscopic and trippy — music to be heard through a daze of fog, heads slowly bobbing side to side.

After a prolific 2017 and a comparatively quiet 2018, Texas boy band Brockhampton’s RCA Records debut "iridescence" stays true to the band’s ethos while successfully executing on an ambitious push toward new musical territory.

On his most recent album, WWW., Japanese-Mexican rapper Towkio jumped back and forth among different genres: soul-infused hip-hop to pop, R&B to trap. Given the blend of genres the rapper so fearlessly explored, it was disappointing to hear the rapper relegate his setlist to a series of repetitive, trap-inspired songs.

On the Pinclout Stage of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the lights went dark and the outro speech to YG’s “Handgun” played over the speaker. “Now you’re ready for the world, yadidamean?” the anonymous man says, as if to initiate the entire audience. “Stay dangerous.”

Watching Jaden Smith run and bounce across the stage with a seemingly infinite supply of energy leaves no doubt that the 20-year-old rapper had an incredible time performing his Rolling Loud 2018 set.

There are very few times that the name of an album is truly indicative of the music inside. This is the unique case of Big Red Machine.

Besides a few notable moments, there ultimately just isn’t much that stands out on Marauder. Interpol needs to think about what comes next for its sound.

Eckert leans harshly upon a performative element that is simply not there. In this case, this missing link seems to be a plot.

These give the album its light, pop feel. All these things culminate to help Mitski reach far past the sounds that launched her into stardom.