It seems to be the bi-weekly Release Radar Review, due to the playlist alternating between hot fire and hot garbage. I didn't do a review last week because I was pissed Avril Lavigne wasn't on it. Lots of heavy-hitters this week, as well as some relatively forgettable tracks. Let's get into it.

Songs that didn't need to explicitly feature Travis Barker - 1

Chad Kroeger impersonations - 1

Songs that absolutely no one could have thought had a good hook when they sent them out - 2

Dark Days (feat. Jeris Johnson) - Point North, Jeris Johnson - I love Point North. It’s tough when you write the best pop-punk song ever in your first season as a band, but this vibe is sick. Is Jeris Johnson a Chad Kroeger pseudonym? 

hair out - Stand Atlantic - I really like Stand Atlantic. This doesn’t sound like much of a sound evolution so I’m interested to see if they can hold my attention for two albums without changing much. I think they can. 

Talking To Ourselves - Rise Against, IDLES - …wut. 

Upon Their Cross - Vio-Lence - this song benefits from its placement on the playlist. A breath of fresh air from the first note after the industrial dirge of the previous track. 

The Canary (Instrumental) - Protest The Hero - no vocals doesn’t do it for me. 

Count on me - DaBaby, YoungBoy Never Broke Again - good, not great. 

Drunk Dial - Sueco - SCREAMING ALONG WITH THIS FROM THE FIRST SECOND. Pretty sure we’ve got my fav Andrew Goldstein on the production team on this one. 

Neighborhood Superstar - DaBaby, YoungBoy Never Broke Again - better than the first song. How tf did they get two songs on my release radar?! 

ay! (with Lil Wayne) - Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Wayne - this track doesn’t miss. Remember when Lil Wayne toured with blink and it didn’t really work? Seems like it was just ahead of its time. 

Country Girl - Belmont - holy fuck I hate this. It's like an infinitely shittier take on the Uptown Girl concept.

The Mob - YNW Melly, Trippie Redd, YNW BSlime - I see we’re into the heavy 808 part of our Friday. 

Paint Chipping - Mg Lil Bubba, Money Man - we are definitely into the heavy 808 part of our Friday. 

Lost - Charlotte Sands - rhyming a hook with “hey hey hey” is not an acceptable level of writing, and this is coming from a guy who is a fan of using the exact same word twice to fill out a rhyme. 

G Lock -Digga D, Moneybagg Yo - amazing title but I don’t really like the voice 

Straight To It (feat. Fivio Foreign) - King Von, Fivio Foreign - hard beat, hard voice. Love it. 

Payback (feat. Icona Pop) - Cheat Codes, Icona Pop - whoa, big pop vibes outta nowhere. I back it. 

Timber - Bugus, Russ - skip-beat, more like skip song, amirite? Just kidding. But not really. 

Vroom - from GRAN TURISMO 7 - The FaNaTiX, Iris Elba, Lil Tjay, DaVido, Koffee,. - dudes…”vroom” can’t be the hook in your song. It can’t. Don’t release this. Think better next time. 

Money Man (feat. Killa) - Pop Smoke, Killa - bad concept, good hook. 

Hate Me (feat. Travis Barker) - Caspr, Travis Barker - this kid needs to open his teeth when he sings. Mumble-city. Funny how Travis seems to throw his name on the stuff that wouldn't pop on its own and doesn't explicitly add it to the stuff that is inherently amazing.

Trampoline (feat. Missy Elliott, BIA and.) David Guetta, Afrojack, Missy Elliott, BIA, DOE.. - formulaic, done well. 

Alguien en mi barrio - Kogollada Crew, CaliKush, TITUS, SG 95 Music - not giving me an English title, not giving you a listen 

Fcked Up Teeth - Damien Styles - play this in the car with your parents.

This is honestly as far into the radar as I got this week.

We back. It was a pretty uneventful week on the 'ol RR. Let's dig right into it.

Love's Train - Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic - I love Silk Sonic. I really hope they keep this going. 

This Day - Ignite - 19-year-old me is stoked. 

Crip Drip - Cmix Version - E Skinny Loc, Snoop Dogg, CripMac - That kinda grimy beat that I love. Maybe one verse too long. 

break my heart - E Edd Ward, Travis Barker, jxdn - Unfortunately didn’t even make it to jxdn’s part. Skip. 

Lobby Boyz Anthem - E Lobby Boyz, Jim Jones, Maino, Lyrivelli - Big vibes of that Marino album I like, but modern. 

Summon The Demon - Charger - I really thought I was going to like this band more than I do. Constantly cringing through every track. 

COLD BLOOD - HEALTH, Lamb of God - Too sludgy for my mood rn. BUT THEN IT HIT!!! Ugh but then it dropped. Skip at 2 minutes 

Drag Queen - E Hennessy, Logic - What. A. Vibe. Saved. 

Bitch I Care - Kiesza - Man she’s got a great voice. Not the greatest song tho. 

What I Lack - Belmont - Are these guys good or cheesy? Seems 50/50. 

Elon Musk (feat. Gunna) - DDG, Gunna - Censored version and a dumb hook. Love the beat tho. 

Storm Clouds - Magnolia Park, guardin - Sounds like something I SHOULD like. 

Make Believe - Memphis May Fire - Generic octane song. Not bad. Their fans probably dig the slow mosh on this track. 

Ya Bih - Yo Gotti, Moneybagg Yo - Would have been good if I didn’t get served the pg-13 edit. 

GOOD FOR HER - MOTHICA, emlyn - I think this song will hit better with more context than just being in my release radar. 

ABCDEFU - Fame on Fire - How does it feel to be the second shitty band to cover this song this month? Feel like you should have had your finger on the pulse of new releases a little more? Feel like you should have taken the L and just not released this? I will go out of my way to never listen to this band ever again. ABCDEFuck these guys. 

Real - Russ - It was kind of a vibe. Alternated between saving it and instantly forgetting it. 

FUCKED OVER - 93FEETOFSMOKE, phem, Tosh the Drummer - Don’t let anyone tell you not to clip the 808. Ever. 

Nail Tech - Jack Harlow - Got saved within the first 30 seconds. 

Heat Waves - Our Last Night - Laugh-out-loud-bad cover 

Time Gon Tell - YSN Fab - Big bounce back song for the RR. Big vibe. 

Swing & A Miss - Oliver Tree - Lost me at the 90s record scratch. Come. On. 

Drunk in Love - Yung Pinch - Forgettable, because I have forgotten about it two songs later. 

pity party (hyperpunk remix) - Stand Atlantic - The remix no one asked for. 

Apocalypse Porn - A Wilhelm Scream - Their fans will stroke off to it. 

Empty Bottles - Live - Bryce Vine - This one is for the superfans. I have no idea who this is. 

Physical Form - Remastered 2021 - Freestyle Fellowship - 4 weeks in a row, hey? 

2H00 - YoungBoy Never Broke Again - Definitely listened to this album when it dropped and this is reminding me to listen again. 

Dead on the Fence - Comeback Kid - Like a literal million songs uploaded every day and I get the same album 4 weeks in a row.

This radar has some of my fav artists, then a bunch of other stuff. Be sure to read Ozone's post because it looks like we have a lot of common stuff this week.

Radar Repeats - 3

Songs about sloppy toppy - 2

Songs with too many primary artists - like all of them

26 - Lauv - I LOVE LAUV SO MUCH. One of my absolute favs. What a great way to kick off my Friday!

Jeepers Creepers - Nathan James, LiL Lotus - Starts off a theme of going from really nicely produced pop/trap songs to guitar music. at 1:08 the lyrics got too stupid to not skip.

Tampa Bay - Ike Breeze, Snoop Dogg - It feels like I get every shitty feature the Doggfather does on my RR. This time he throws down a nice first verse, and the song has a smooth beat and good production.

Inflame the Light - Head Smashed, Sum 41, Bad Religion - Low-rent Alkaline Trio, in a bad way.

FLY HIGH - K DARK, Forus - Skip. Not sure this is in English.

Lush Rimbaugh - Thoreau Remix - Senses Fail, Thoreau - The Senses Fail remix no one asked for. Hey man, I got the free Waves lo-fi plugin last month too, we get it.

Loser - Sueco - THE HEADLINER SONG OF THE WEEK! Fuck I love Sueco. Potential to be this year's Tickets To My Downfall.

BOOK IT - DaBaby - DaBaby don't miss.

Loved You A Little - The Maine, Taking Back Sunday, Charlotte Sands - Low-rent Alkaline Trio, in a slightly less bad way. Could have benefitted from an additional primary artist on the track.

Push It - NLE Choppa, Young Thug - Two basketball references in the first three bars, I'm down.

Memory - Cheat Codes, Space Primates, GASHI - Good song to play in the background while you shotgun beers on snapchat.

Fallin - Lil Tecca - My solo artist name is gonna be Grown-Ass Shawn, to offset all these lil-someones. I like the autotune on the vocals.

CASUALTY - MOTHICA - I'm not sure that's the chord progression I'd personally build a song around, but they're on my release radar and I'm not on theirs, so maybe I should take notes.

Plastic Heart - Fame on Fire - More trap, less metalcore. For the record, I like both, but the trap parts were better than the metalcore parts. Very octane chorus.

USED2KNOW - Dro Kenji - Pleasantly listenable.

My Fantasy - Freestyle Fellowship - see last week's post.

In Between - Comeback Kid - Better than last week's song, but as a rule, I do not like Radar Repeats. 

I'll Give You The Stars - Magnolia Park, fats'e, TITUS - We really ran the gamut of artist name capitalizations on this track. This song is softer than room-temperature butter in a Florida house with no AC.

Proud - Paper Route EMPIRE, Key Glock - Hate it when I get a clean version on my release radar. Spotify should let artists submit a clean and an explicit version to release radar since users can already toggle off explicit content.

Hustling & Scamming - Money Man, Jason Warhouse, 20$tacks - Somebody told him in life he has choices. Listened to it the first time, skipped it fast when writing the review.

Leg Day - Knox, John Harvie - High school virgins are gonna fucking love this song.

Message In A Bottle - Taylor Swift, Fat Max Gsus - Just add this guy to the production team. Love it. Another Radar Repeat.

Knowledge is a Weapon - The 7/777 PROJECT, Public Enemy, Antlive - If it doesn't start in English I'm skipping it.

mop - Gunna, Young Thug - These are some...questionable lyrics.

The American Dream - Memphis May Fire - Low-rent Ice Nine Kills.

Too Hot - NLE Choppa, Moneybagg yo - Not skipping, not saving.

Thorn - Underoath - One time ever, Underoath came on and I was like "this rocks!" This was not this time.

Start Up - Jonathan & Friends, Loote, emma love - lol @ the primary artist being "& Friends" then having two more primary artists. Enjoyable song.

Motorola Era - AZ, 2 Chainz - 40 year old virgin reference in the first bar is a pretty tough look. Dope beat but let's let someone else get on it.

Welcome to my Release Radar Review for the week of January 21, 2022. There was a significant amount of regional content, with Nicolas Rage, Bring On The Storm, and Wolfrik making appearances. Some absolute misses should have never been on my radar (why does it keep trying to force country music on me?), and some pretty decent tracks. First the stats, then the reviews!

Added To Library: 1

Hide This Song: 4

Hidden On Arrival: 0

Skipped: 4

Face The Fire - Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead Part 45,342

Passenger - Kiesza - I love her voice. She'd be so rich if she were performing in the '80s. Also, what's the deal with this 80s revival thing happening? I think I'm here for it.

Slapp - TSC et al. - Holy fuck @ these lyrics. Skip.

Sunshine Men - Freestyle Fellowship - This is much more like it. This is the content I want. Please recommend more like this in the comments. Added to library.

thought it was - iann dior - Love it. I want to steal iann dior's vocal chain. MGK's voice is undeniable even if his verse is kind of whatever.

Collect Your Things And Run - Hot Water Music - The production sounded so bad after the previous song. Instant skip.

Message In A Bottle - Taylor Swift - Her voice is SO MUCH BETTER on pop songs than on folk music. I'd be all about another full pop album from her.

Hanging Out With All The Wrong People - Billy Talent - Knew it was Billy Talent from the first guitar note, which was a good thing. The hook is so bad. Gave the bridge a chance to save it, ended up skipping.

Easy - The Game - "I don't negotiate with therapists" what a fucking line.

Decompose - Bring On The Storm - The big homies, some of my best friends. FFO: every bottle of tequila in the bar, tattoos, pro baseball.

Highway 67 - Corb Lund - Hide This Song before listening.

HIT - DaBaby - The 808 hits so hard right off the start, and I love DaBaby.

All In - Chris Janson - Hide This Song after hearing one second.

Fuck Society - SK8, Sueco - I'm a huge Sueco fan and Sueco doesn't miss. Being that this was a feature, woof. What a miss.

Robot Writes A Love Song - PUP - I forget listening to this song. I'm not too fond of this band.

I might - iann dior - Second best iann dior song on the release radar.

Re-entry - A Day To Remember - Is this how this band sounds? I noticed when Mark Hoppus came in on the track. Right, I was thinking of Bring Me The Horizon. This makes more sense now.

Crazy One More Time - Kip Moore - If I could block an entire genre from being on my algorithmic playlists I would. 

Naked Grape - Nicolas Rage - Pretty major key song, in the music theory sense, from these guys.

The Black Mare - Wolfrik - Not for me.

Lick - Shenseea - Quick and easy skip.

Flossin' - Internet Money - The production on this track is so sick.

Lonely - Love Regenerator - Generic pop-EDM. Don't hate it.

Pop Music - 2 Chainz - Exactly what I expected, in a good way.

Trouble With A Heartbreak - Jason Aldean - Hide This Song before listening. 

Fuck Daniel - DJ MC Kevin - wtf is happening here?

Parasitic - Belmont - Wow, that's an aggressive kick drum. I love the ambient trap first verse part.

Remember - Russ - Super lofi R&B vibes. Love it. 

Meet Joe Black - Nas - Straight fire. Always.

Church Boots - Thomas Rhett - Hide This Song before listening.