Melissa Kacar

"Mr. Mountebank" by Djo The Crux (Deluxe) gives so much more insight into the journey Djo took while writing this album and all of the different directions he could've taken with it narratively. It's more than just a regular deluxe album, it's more so a companion project of twelve songs that were written during the same creative period as The Crux , but didn't make the initial cut. That said, they don't feel like leftovers. Each track truly feels like a natural expansion of the time in his life that inspired this music, and collectively, they feel like a culmination of some of the more unhinged parts of himself that he had to work through to arrive at the final version of The Crux . "Mr. Mountebank" is one of my many favorites, he goes fully Djo XCX on it, diving into a wild and abrasive hyperpop sound that's completely different from anything he's made before. It offers a sharp commentary on fame and virality, especially in the wake of ...

As a part of her seven-date record store promo tour celebrating the release week of her long-awaited sophomore album Am I The Drama? , Cardi B made a stop at one of my favorite local record stores for a special meet and greet event. Spin Me Round, located in the Palmer Park Mall in Easton, Pennsylvania, was the second stop, the day after her album was released. It was so exciting to see one of my favorite local record stores included on this tour and I couldn't believe that she was actually in person for this event! Spin Me Round has built a massive platform across TikTok and Instagram and have definitely garnered a reputation as one of the most popular independent record stores in the North East. This is always one of my go-to record stores to visit for Record Store Day , early listening parties, and vinyl shopping in general, so it was cool to be able to see an artist as big as Cardi there! The price of admission was only about $15 and preordering a CD copy of Cardi's new al...

"The Subway" by Chappell Roan The long-awaited official release of "The Subway" is finally here and it is absolutely the best song that Chappell has released thus far. There's so much emotion packed into every lyric. The song is deeply heartfelt and unflinchingly honest as Chappell recalls the kind of specific, intimate details of a love that got away. All of the memories still linger, almost as if she is haunted by them. After performing the song live for the past year, I'm so happy the studio version of it is finally out! "Ice In My OJ" by Hayley Williams Earlier this month Hayley Williams surprise released a seventeen standalone singles, which she later compiled into an official album titled Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party . It's already a very strong contender for my favorite album of the year so far, I'm continuously discovering new aspects of it that I love each time I listen to it. "Ice In My OJ" was one of my initial f...