MINNESOTA SOUND REVIEWS - 5/28/2025
Reviews by: Alexandra Haynes, Writer @xalexonlinex
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @PlaylistTC
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Dorbor Wulu "Greet Him"
Dorbor Wulu’s April 2024 single, “Greet Him,” features distinct percussive creaks that awesomely sound like a gurio is holding down the rhythm section. This track is a contemporary blend of classic instrumentation and strongly produced trap beats that flavor Wulu’s sound; it serves to fabulously align his soft-voiced, thoughtful rap and strings-heavy leaning with the project’s post-Soundcloud, autotune-tweaked bones. This one is for fans of Metro Boomin’s production style and spiritual rap sensibilities.
Yung Gravy “SUPA GOOD!!!”
Our very own Yung Gravy brings his typical flirtatious flow to another heavy-lifting sample on “SUPA GOOD!!!,” released in January 2025. Proudly featuring James Brown’s exclamative hook from “I Got You” (1964,) Gravy flips the explicit, soul-soaked funk (complete with its leading melody) into something family friendly for prominent feature on the PG Dog Man film (2025.) It still drips with Gravy’s style - playful, low vocals laid over a bed of trap/contemporary hip-hop production which shimmy over the RnB baseboards laid down by Brown.
Giant's Knife "Beyond the Reach of Comets"
“Beyond the Reach of Comets,” a Giant’s Knife single released in May 2025, is smooth progressive metal with impressive instrumentation and a sufficiently rowdy first half to pull in all of your energy and attention. This composition is beastly, the natural time changes and feisty dives into guttural vocals washing over the listener in resistance-free waves - the band takes you right where they want you to be, and fast. You’ll lose track of time on this nearly six minute journey, and you’ll be glad that you did. When clean vocals do take their turn on this song, they’re a heroic respite and always accompanied by rising action riffs that make the switch-up truly cinematic. Luckily, an album of similar epics is in the works, which will feature this very track. The album is called At The End of All Things and set to release on June 6th.
Kazaizen "Real Life"
“Real Life” is a synth-soaked acid trip, mixed carefully to oscillate in your ear and create so much spacious distortion. With woozy reverb and fuzz blanketing the entire track, shifting occasionally to sharpen or further blur the sonic focus, it feels as though the song is trailing fluorescent echoes behind itself. Kazaizen’s ability to capture the elevated and surreal surround sound quality of psychedelic music recipience is an absolute treat. This song is otherworldly, with hazy vocals to match its just-out-of-reach, meltaway vibes. It was released in April 2025 and made a new fan out of me. According to Kazaizen, this is the first single from an upcoming album, titled Sky Fish Fly.
Ice Climber “He Deserved Less”
While “He Deserved Less” first dropped in 2023, we get a fantastic remaster of the song here in 2025 for Ice Climber’s eponymous album (Ice Climber, January.) We are very fortunate for this gift! This song has never sounded better, where all of its parts are only noisy when the band wants them to be. The jazziness at play, combined with the ever punk-rock vocals and solid playing from the band, makes for a multi-layered, pleasantly full-bodied track, where no sonic space is safe from being tangled up in their hypnotic, violent tale — a tale which exorcises trauma through a righteous, and personally co-signed, revenge story.
Owen McGreevy "A Fool Would Say"
McGreevy’s “A Fool Would Say” released on the Caterpillar EP in April 2025. It has a tantalizing bassline and subtle, insanely groovy riffs that play off of each other to create a creeping, rolling melody. McGreevy’s vocals here are incredibly soft, almost a mumble, a waking whisper over the sleeping lover they are obsessing over. Diving into the poeticism of sharing your life with another, McGreevy wonders about the status of requited feelings and sneaks around to “leave, before [they] wake.”
