While there is an abrasive edge to GN4W’s pretty atom EP, it’s never to this electronic production’s detriment. For as chaotic as a track like “fikuzari arazayun 2” is, there’s also a strange listenability. But for as close as GN4W gets to an interesting sound, pretty atom never quite finds its groove. Interesting, but not very lasting.

---

Art, love, and the things we create together feels like a gentle melody dedicated to the ones close to us. Its glittery electric guitars guide this brief ep through sentimentality and stillness. Artist Muffin Crow shows a type of naive sincerity that would sample an episode of My Little Pony. Tracks like “I love my friends” and “art and passion for you” are simple and effective.

In tandem, music to die horribly to is not as aggressive as it sounds. Though it’s first track is misplaced, the rest of the ep’s body is more of a gothic 8-bit sound, melodramatic in its dread. What effectively sounds like retro boss music, it’s fun, light, and a little spooky.

---

Evdog’s Special and Ordinary takes a light comedy approach to the concept album for a break away from the party. The highly introspective humor finds relatability in forgetting your headphones before a sensory overload or in superficial conversations. But the playfulness of Evdog’s lyricism holds a rough balance between blunt emotionality and funny self-awareness. Even with a knack for chorus construction, the emotionality is unfortunately left bare by the dullness of the mixing. With some more punch behind the production and some tweaking on the transitions, this work could become a little more special.

---

If it starts a bit goofy footed, Nth Terminal’s self-titled debut album shows an artist finding their personality. Nth Terminal finds a playfulness in their beat production that occasionally hits but doesn’t always find substance. Though Nth terminal revs up in tracks like “NEU! 77” and “Indy is a car,” the overall album is missing a few elements to really make it pop. The personality is nearly there but has some more testing to do.

---

If the punk ethos is to play it messy and raw to tap the nerve, the same does not apply for geek rock. Lonely Hospital Days, Lonely Suburban Nights is an uncomfortably emotional channeling of anger, loneliness, and grief into an aesthetically incompatible product. Junk Food Bandit’s overly cartoonish and poorly mixed production layers a blithe sarcasm to dissonant use of genre. On all levels, materially and psychologically, it is unprocessed.

---

There are some interesting ideas in please come back, i miss me, but rarely do they connect to make a cohesive album. Instead, the album feels adrift in a moody ambience that doesn’t nail its atmosphere. If it was more hooked on the broken transmission elements, or if it leaned more into its emo, the album would stick the landing better. But as a whole, it’s decent but not all that memorable.

---

A small and charming work more akin to chiptune than rave, Bostonlondon’s Down to Rave? showcases the artists technical knowledge in creating a full and coherent sound. As a baseline, it gives the artist room to explore and experiment. Solid, but in need of more personality to add that extra flair.

---