Review: Stress Dolls – Forward

The latest offering from the pop rock band called Stress Dolls, the solo moniker of Chelsea O’Donnell, is a solid slab of guitar-driven rock with a steady heartbeat towards self-discovery. The EP, entitled Forward, was co-produced by O’Donnell and Marc Hunt, and features an eclectic mix of heartfelt songs. The record opens with “Alone,” a track about the complexities of relationships and when you just need a moment to breathe from the weight of the world. Chelsea sings, “Whenever I’m alone I get this feeling, it’s happening once again / I’m at half a glass without you, drowning in a whirlpool on the shallow end / But whenever you’re around I am a fever, a hot flush in your face / The vermin in your garden, overgrown yet trying to pick up the pace / So I’d rather be alone,” and her lower vocal delivery offers an interesting take on the pop rock genre. The opener features some well-placed synths in the background and adds to the overall texture of the song.

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Review: Oso Oso – Sore Thumb

Just when you think the days of surprise album releases are over, Oso Oso comes through in the clutch to deliver to their fourth studio album called Sore Thumb. This collection of 13 cohesive songs flows brilliantly from start to finish, and features a variety of tempos, feelings, and emotions throughout the record. The band is just coming off of their most successful (both commercially and critically) album to date in 2019’s Basking in the Glow, and had a lot of positive momentum going in their favor leading up to this album cycle. However Jade Lilitri, the only permanent member of the band, experienced a heartbreaking loss around this time last year when his touring guitarist Tavish Maloney passed away tragically at the age of 24. Lilitri does his best to honor his late contributor with one of this year’s best emo records, and one of this year’s best artistic statements to date.

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Lil Durk Tops the Charts

Lil Durk has the number one album in the country:

Lil Durk scores his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart (dated March 26) as 7220 debuts in the top slot. The rapper previously topped the list with The Voice of the Heroes, a collaborative set with Lil Baby, for one week in 2021.

7220 launches with 120,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 17, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data – Lil Durk’s best week for a non-collaborative project. 7220 was released on March 11 via Alamo Records.