This is a big one! I won't review everything from my release calendar, but January was quite busy! We're rounding out the end of the month some banger remixes, singles, DJ sets highly anticipated albums from XG, Joyce Manor, and SĂ©bastien Tellier.
Reverxe by EXO
Reverxe is middling at best and a soulless cash grab at worst, struggling to maintain cohesion throughout, but this comes as no surprise to me given the amount of drama leading up to this comeback.
It would be foolish to say that an experienced group shouldn't be expected to release a fast and punchy tracks like their rookie days because SHINee's eighth studio album, HARD, is proof that idols shouldn't mellow into mediocrity. If anything, a group that debuted over a decade ago should be given a proper opportunity to demonstrate how they have refined their skills as performers, both individually and cohesively as a group.
This is not the case with Reverxe, and it is disappointing because EXO are known for their strong vocals and energetic performances, but without their full lineup (and their main vocalists!), the group loses a core part of their unique sound, with songs that feel empty because they lack the adlibs and harmonies they are known for.
Crown is too safe for a title track, especially coming from the same group who gave us tracks like Overdose, Call Me Baby, Obsession, Wolf, and Monster. The rest of the album fails to deliver, feeling more like a selection of scrapped b-sides pinched from the NCT vault, where they would've arguably seen their full potential under one of their sub-units.
I can't see myself ever revisiting this one as it serves as a reminder that power hungry companies won't hesitate to toss aside their artists for a petty cash grab, even when their artists are willing to compromise with them.
Muffler by BORA
Having narrowly missed out on debuting in Kep1er (shout out to everyone that endured how insufferable I was during GP999) and Cherry Bullet's disbandment, plus multiple failed re-debuts, I'm so glad Kim Bora never gave up on pursuing a career in music. Muffler is a gentle, soulful ballad, perfect for those winter blues, and an excellent solo debut for Bora.
As much as I was thankful for her time in Cherry Bullet, I always felt as though she would benefit more from a solo career. Bora's voice is perfect for jazz, soul, and folk-pop ballads, but there's really no limit to what she can cover. I mean, hitting that iconic Mariah Carey whistle note is no small task!
CHUN by Lexie Liu
It's a crowd favourite. Everybody loves a jazz square.
Confetti by MISAMO
I'm not sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't a whimsical, over-the-top jazzy pop song. It's cute and fun even if a little repetitive and generic during the chorus. A lot of pop music right now is dipping back into that era of 2000s theatrical pop music e.g Ryan Ross era Panic! At The Disco, Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B and Britney's Circus, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can wear you out rather quickly.
Do It (remix ft. Yves) by underscores
Crazy how at the time of writing, we're only 23 days into the year and we're already getting a firm contender for the Top 10 music collaborations of the year! Crunchy, glitchy and noisy, this remix is the perfect blend of underscores and Yves' soundscapes. There's also a very slick sample of White Cat by Yves 2:36!
It wouldn't surprise me if 2026 is the year that underscores and Yves both experience a huge surge in popularity, they're two of the best alt-pop girls out there right now and should definitely be on your radar. In the past year alone Yves has worked with PinkPantheress, Rebecca Black, and Bratty, so I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. I'm personally holding out for Oklou, Ninajirachi, FKA Twigs, Jane Remover and Lexie Liu.
I'm being greedy, I know, but you miss 100% of the collabs you don't manifest.
Portrait of My Heart (ft. Brendan Yates) - SPELLLING
I really enjoyed the blend of early 00s alt-rock, glam rock and art pop inspiration on the original album version of Portrait of My Heart, but this version with Brendan Yates (Turnstile, Trapped Under Ice) feels is loud, moody, and disorted around the edges whilst retaining a beautiful, soulful melody reminiscent of a Yves Tumour song.
HOTWIFE (ft. Boys Noize) by Tiga
This song is very bouncy, weird and just outright silly, but I can't stop myself from wanting to dance to it anyway. That's why it is so brilliant! Some of the best club classics are ones with the most reptitive, or outright obscene lyrics, like Daft Punk's Around The World or Gilette's Short Dick Man, respectively. I already know this one will get people all sweaty in the club, and that's what matters. I'm quite excited for this album, it sounds like it'll be a fun one.
This is also a great reminder to listen to your favourite artists on bandcamp, because you might strike gold with some exclusive commentary, such as this:
I won't lie, that's exactly what I thought the song was about when the title was unveiled. Regardless, it works well in his favour. How many people in the club are going to be reading a bandcamp disclaimer at 4am as Tiga takes the stage?
The Core by XG
The Core was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it did not disappoint! This album is retains that unique XG sound and heavily influenced by 90s house, r&b, hip-hop and disco-pop. In many ways, The Core sounds exactly like I had hoped Lisa's Alter-Ego would, which ultimately turned out to be a boring, uninspired, straight-to-Glassons compilation of songs.
The Core remains enjoyable throughout, with a strong sequence in the middle of the album. Yes, Hypnotize is a retail store banger, but I love a house-inspired title track! Take My Breath was one of the stand-out tracks for me, it's groovy, airy, and going straight into my Rekordbox collection for house nights.
I also enjoyed No Good and Up Now, which showcased more of the group's sultry, r&b infused sound. The album takes a surprising turn with O.R.B (Obviously Reads Bro), which delivers an early 00s bratty pop-punk sound in the vein of Avril Lavigne. It does feel quite jarring, but I'm all for an experimental moment.
As always with XG, the visual aspect of their work is just as important and I really enjoyed the otherworldly make-up, styling and prosthetics for Gala and Hypnotize. This music video made me want to do another double feature of The Shape Of Water (2017) and Fantastic Planet (1973).
Empty Hands by Poppy
You know what, I'm here for this. The album isn't particularly ground-breaking by any means, but honestly, go off! I want more pop stars to start screaming and evolve into moody, industrial, metal-core vocalists. I just know there's more of them who have some deep growls and screams in 'em.
DREAMCRUSH by MĂL
Out of all the blackgaze bands clamouring to fill the void Deafheaven left in our hearts, MĂL are the absolute cream of the crop, constantly pushing the boundaries on what this genre can achieve with every new record they release.
Bold, lush, and decadent are the only words I can use to describe how rich, textured, and thoughtful this album is. The composition is masterful, allowing guttural vocals and crushing riffs ebb and flow, before morphing into ethereal instrumentals and silky cleans. This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in my lifetime.
I'd also recommend this to anyone who likes the approachable sound of Deftones, but are also looking for something a little more sublime, pulling from the much heavier, traditionally inspired side of metal whilst retaining melodic and dreamy soundscape. The band are also inspired by a lot of 90s alt-rock, and it feels quite significant on this album!
p.s a special thanks to my Danish partner for always showing me incredible music out of his home country. Denmark is home to some of the most incredibly innovative and vibrant music scenes that are well worth looking into.
I Used To Go To This Bar by Joyce Manor
Happy Joyce Manor January to those who celebrate! Finally, these gracefully ageing LA punks are back with the some of the catchiest 19 minutes of music you'll get to hear all year.
If you were on tumblr in 2011, and you were into skateboarding, pictures of forests, screencaps from Daria and The Simpsons, pictures of people with tattoos, and post-punk/hardcore/emo adjacent music, then you definitely saw thousands of reblogs singer Barry Johnson or that one viral audio post of Joyce Manor's all-time closer, Constant Headache. I'm not ashamed to say this was my introduction to the band, and I've been here ever since.
Joyce Manor have always remained consistent with their modern emo/pop-punk formula, curating a selection of punchy songs filled with cheeky and wistful lyrics that are easy to sing along to. I Used To Go To This Bar will leave you in high spirits, grabbing your melancholic spirits by the reigns and taking it to the pop-punk dancefloor. All of Joyce Manor's albums feel like a coming of age film, each song a short vignette of ordinary, every-day experiences that we can all can relate to. This record is a little too on the nose at times, but it's an earnest message coming from ageing punks, unashamedly about writing about the humdrum blues of adult life, dealing with issues such as depression, lifestyle stagnation and relationship problems.
I Used To Go To This Bar isn't an innovative record by any means, but it doesn't exactly need to be, nor would I expect a drastic shift in Joyce Manor's sound, though the band dips their toes into a some experimentation on the latter half of the album. "After All You Put Me Through" explores a nostalgic pop-punk soundscape, kicking off with a funky bassline before sweeping away into a breezy melody backed by synthesisers, adding a splash of The Cars' Heartbeat City to the well-oiled JM machine.
Grey Guitar is the all-time highlight of this record and really captures the essence of who Joyce Manor are as a band, and a testament to their long career. This is an absolutely fantastic closing track, and their best since Constant Headache blew it out of the park on their self-titled. I hope Grey Guitar becomes one of their classic hits, because I need that song on every setlist since yesterday!
Kiss The Beast by SĂ©bastien Tellier
There is no other artist on the planet who masterfully walks the line between the overpriced polyester palace known as Glassons and the soundtrack to a porno with an overly-convoluted plotline.
You'll either love it or hate it, depending on how much cheese you can handle. Spoiler alert: Tellier is French, and this wheel has been fermenting in a cave for a few years. Kiss The Beast is a electro-orchestral cinematic experience which belongs in the background of a once-lost 80s action film, lovingly restored and masterfully edited into a somewhat comprehensible plot and professionally dubbed by voice actors.
With a long list of collaborators such as SebastiAn, Daniel Stricker (long live Midnight Juggernauts) Victor Le Masne, Nile Rodgers, Kid Cudi and Slayyyter, it's as ridiculous and sleazy as you can imagine. I mean, it's a SĂ©bastien Tellier record, what else is there to say?
Listen to this one at night time. It is outrageous.
(DJ) POSH ISOLATION...PUT IT BACK ON!
A handful of artists from my favourite now-defunct record label, Posh Isolation recently did a handful of DJ sets for Drift Radio. I love catching Posh Isolation sets whenever possible, since you always end up discovering a well-curated and niche selection of music, with the occasional appearance of Darude's Sandstorm mixed in the most compelling way you never thought possible. Such is the duality of art.
Emil F & Frederik Valentin have another upcoming collaboration, and if you want to listen to ethereal, other-worldly music to help you unwind, this performance of their unreleased material. This pairs well with a nice gin and tonic.
Next up are Sound & Company, a new duo comprised of Hannes Norrvide from Lust for Youth and Christian Stadsgaard, best known under his solo moniker Vanity Productions, or as one half of cult Danish noise duo, Damian Dubrovnik.
This is a rookie DJ set full of experimental, avant-garde noise which provides a nice glimpse into the music that influences their main projects. I discovered five new tracks I like from this set and hope they do more sets in the future as they continue learning how to DJ!
I was honestly surprised to learn they're both inexperienced at DJing, as I'd assumed they were well-established at it! Regardless, it's refreshing to see some rookies behind the decks and also proves that good DJs aren't just queueing up songs on a playlist.
Emma Acs (one half of moody EDM duo Evil House Party) gets an honorary mention here as a frequent collaborator and all-round excellent DJ. This is a really fun mix filled with r&b and alt rock!
Yuki is a multi-disciplinary artist and one of my biggest inspirations in my personal creative life, and she is always posting the most interesting material on her social media. This set is an absolute goldmine if you like collecting ambient music. It's cool to see her thought process up close like this.
To bring your night to a close, we have none other than oqbqbo, who is one of my favourite experimental electronic artists, and she's really starting to make a name for herself. If you ever get to see one of her DJ sets, I highly recommend it. You'll want to shazam the whole tracklist. This b2b with Soli City is a killer late-night electro-house set to carry you to sunrise.
Stats and other thoughts
I'm returning to my no-streaming roots this year. I'm doing this primarily to save money and repair my relationship with music. I hadn't realised how much streaming, while convenient, had destroyed it until I started crunching numbers and examining my listening habits.
I also credit the book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, which was recommended to me by my good friend , who writes a lot about cool music and other good reads over on nic's culture logs. This book was a real eye-opener to the more subtle and predatory ways Spotify has changed our behaviour around music - something I wanted to address in my everyday life.
I discovered an abysmally low amount of music last year. I had a busy and difficult time with my health, but I also didn't curate and discover in a meaningful way. I want to change that. Right now this means ripping music from CDs/vinyl/casettes from my physical collection and borrowing from friends and libraries, using CD players and DAPs, tuning into community radio, scouring the likes of Bandcamp and Triple J Unearthed, and using Soulseek to fill the gaps where I can. It can be as little as a handful of minutes to an hour a day, but as long as what I'm doing is meaningful, rather than absentminded browsing, then I'm satisfied.
In terms of music discovery, I hardly feel impacted by the decision to quit streaming so far. I feel more fulfilled by taking a more hands-on approach again! I'm cross-posting about music on leaflet, record.club and AOTY because it's fun and so I can have something meaningful to look back on at the end of the year, rather than the past few years of dumping new releases into a huge Spotify playlist as a 'record' of what I discovered in a single year.
This month, I've clocked in over 6 hours of brand new music and over a hundred tracks. This is admittedly more than what I actively sought out in a single month in the entirety of 2025.
Hell yeah!
Gig Recap
January is usually quiet for me, but this year was something special. I saw Julia Wolf at a small dive bar, watched Basement open for Turnstile in Sydney and cried when they played Aquasun - the most beautiful song that have ever written.
Basement are one of my all-time bands since their early days when all you'd see is the same audio post of Earl Grey reblogged on tumblr by all the cool emo kids. I'm delighted to finally have confirmation that a new album is on the way, but I don't think a song could ever top Aquasun for me...
I did my fair share of stage diving during Turnstile's set, and climbed on stage during Birds which featured a guest appearance from the one and only Jem from SPEED, a well-loved Sydney band that got me back into going to hardcore gigs.
But that was only the warm-up, because I did it all again the following night at the exclusive no-barriers charity show. The second show ended with me receiving a very sweaty, very unexpected hug from Brendan Yates in the middle of the mosh pit.
To cap it all off, I hustled some last minute tickets to Viagra Boys at Hordern Pavilion and ran into several new gig friends there at the barrier. I'd say it was a successful start to the year, so I'm taking a much needed break for the sake of my bank account...
...for now.