In review: Stereolab, Garbage, Miley Cyrus, Ty Segall
Stereolab—Instant Holograms on Metal Film [2025]
Time has never mattered to Stereolab the way it has to other groups. Playing with the past with an eye towards the future, Stereolab fill their recordings with references, allusions, and puns, perhaps delivered with a wink but never with nostalgia. It's an aesthetic that's adaptable, allowing the band to dabble in different sounds and styles without losing their distinct identity. It also makes the band seem fresh even when they're not drifting into uncharted territory, which they pointedly do not do on Instant Holograms on Metal Films. Acting like the 21st Century is yet to happen, Stereolab deliberately revives their classic period, creating a bright, vibrant album filled with percolating rhythms wrapped in lush textures. Like many good reunion albums—this arrives six years after the band ended a decade-long hiatus but 15 years after the release of Not Music, which rounded up leftovers from 2008's Chemical Chords—Instant Holograms can seem like the past presented in Dutch angles. Certain segments recall Emperor Tomato Ketchup or Dots And Loops, yet the feel of Instant Holograms on Metal Film is different: it's warm and relaxed, not so concerned with exploration as it is with connection. The album's long gestation means that the band has assembled a strong set of material, songs that allow the group to play with textures and melody so they intertwine into one. The reunited band's time on the road has made them limber, locking into hypnotic grooves then detaching so they can float into space. These may be familiar tricks, yet they haven't lost their potency and that's something of minor miracle.
Miley Cyrus—Something Beautiful [2025]
Something Beautiful belongs to a beloved subculture of pop/rock albums: a rock opera with no discernable narrative. If Miley Cyrus wasn't selling her ninth album by explaining how she wanted to make "The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture," adding an accompanying theatrical film to the mix, nobody would be tempted to decode