“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billie Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here. Mental Makes Music That Sounds Like Mental Mental’s career has been fascinating to follow. I found their music pretty much just like most other people in the grander “pandemic era” of Internet music – through our Discord/Twitter/Whatever communities. In 2020, Mental was an artist that I knew had a bright future ahead of them, and was someone I had so much faith in due to their organic approach to songwriting, styling, and behavior overall. Their attitude towards music is unlike anyone else’s; they are light, simple, and down to Earth. They’re just Mental… and you know what I’m talking about if you’ve heard the music and/or talked to them as a friend. Friend… I don’t think there’s single word that best describes everything Mental is about than that. Even if you don’t know them personally, Mental is a friend. Their music is friendly, and their artistic nature revolves around friendship. I’ve observed this throughout their lengthy career now, but that’s not what makes it so fascinating like I expressed before. What makes it that way is just how much they’ve worked to make …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here. On Sidia… and Dolly’s Midas Touch I’d like to introduce everyone to the world’s best A&R. You’ve probably never heard her name before, just hear me out. It’s d0llywood1. Yes, this obscure, unheard-of A&R doesn’t work for a major label, nor is she even working in this little thing called the “music industry” whatsoever. She’s actually just like all of you out there – an admirer of modern underground music; a proponent of the future; a real music listener, if you will. Many of your favorite artists working today were originally discovered by her, and just because you’ve never heard her name before, doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate her for this very fact alone. In all seriousness, Dolly is not just the best damn rapper and all-around performer for her age. She’s truly the best A&R who’s not really an A&R. From Lei, to Kyenn, to pretty much everyone in SillyTeam who wasn’t popping before the collective started, she’s co-signed some of the most talented acts in the grander Internet music landscape before practically anyone else did before. Much like being a “Paul …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here. I Don’t Have The Stamina For This Blogging Shit Billy Bugara Hi. I’m back, and this time I brought my friends. So… I feel like this column could use a lot less Me every once in a while. I don’t treat blogging like a sport; I barely even blog at all. But even still, I know damn well that blogging isn’t really where I strive compared to others, and that’s okay! I have to write research papers every day… we are simply not the same. In all seriousness, I do want to explain what’s going on here before we jump into things. I am a person of platforming, a platforming person, if you will (it is my job for SoundCloud, after all). I just really enjoy turning the spotlight towards those who deserve it most. Most of the time – all of the time, really – I’m featuring musicians. But what about turning this spotlight towards other people who like to… spotlight musicians as well? Is this really ever done? Not often! Can it be done? Should it be done? Yes and yes! …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here. Sorry I was too busy this past month and I forgot to ask someone to guest write for the column. Go read this really good essay on Yeat by the bestie Mano Sundaresan over at No Bells to make up for it. Bells & Whistles, Vol. 8: Yeat is everywhere and nowhere chase t: “These Bones is Weary” I was had… I was played. I admit it. After the launch of my new “Web Tempo” playlist for SoundCloud last month, I felt so overjoyed watching all of the kind and celebratory responses come through from everyone. It was a good day on Twitter – those DO NOT happen frequently, believe it or not. But like a cough drop in a pile of sweet candy, I noticed this one measly “negative” response. I put that in quotes because… I mean it wasn’t the meanest thing someone has said to me in response to my curation. I get tons of worse things said about me every day (thanks!!!!!!). This response in particular, however, simply went as follows: “snubbed.”  I saw this and …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here.  ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yung lean tik tok Okay so, usually (usually) I try and stay out of discourse like this. I did write a pretty lengthy piece nearly a year ago now on the topic of “gatekeeping” for Gum’s Halcyon.txt zine – which should be out sometime soon believe it or not. It sums up my thoughts about the matter pretty abstractly, but I wanted the article to highlight why gatekeeping occurs in the first place, which circumstances its occurrences are valid in, and most centrally here, the ways we can navigate around it. I’m only bringing this up now to say that… honestly… that’s as O P I N I O N A T E D as you’re gonna see me get for a while. And that was a year ago, even; I’ve become even more jaded towards the idea of participating in these types of discussions in any public sphere since then.  That being said, when it comes to the most formative artist of my life, I feel like I HAVE to say something. I recently tweeted out a response to the crowd …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here.  Please Let Me Explain  Hi. It’s been quite a minute, huh? Whether you realized it or not, I haven’t published this column since the summer of 2021. That’s a long-ass time; it’s even longer if we’re talking in terms of the Internet. 6 months ago feels more like 6 years ago when you really break it down. So… yeah. It’s been a MINUTE. But I have excuses, I promise. Besides my chaotic school life, my work for other places, and everything else I was doing last time I wrote for Lyrical, I kinda picked up something new within that time period. It’s not as simple as just being something new, though – it was something of astronomical proportions. It’s actually not that serious, I don’t know why I’m going on about it like that. Basically, I co-founded a Sick and Cool label called deadAir with my bff Jesse, and it’s been taking up all the extra time I was originally dedicating to this weekly column. Nonetheless, I feel it’s only right that, after discovering some semblance of balance in my …

“Get Refreshed” is a column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here.  Cover by Bernard Vernon Full Playlist (2021) Dirty Bird: Dirty Bird Dirty Bird is dance music’s preeminent academic. They make a living out of educating others on the craft they know so well, all the while farthing that very craft to new, unfounded places. Just like any professor and/or researcher in academia, they’ve earned their place by showing a simultaneous understanding of this craft’s contextual history and a beyond-adequate usage of it through action and practice.  If Dirty Bird is dance’s professor at large, then their recent self-titled offering is their full-length curriculum. Even the most astute dance music heads learn quite a lot when listening to the discography of this Eldia Records standout; this project essentially serves as the one-stop hub for their endless library of electronic knowledge — and all the careful consideration of culture that comes with it. If you walk away from an album like this and fail to recognize just how tightly Dirty Bird grasps the nuances of their musical environment, then you either didn’t listen to the album at all, or you’re being purposefully dismissive …

“Get Refreshed” is a weekly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here.  Cover by Bernard Vernon Full Playlist (2021) Vision4k: “Lullabies, From a Ghoul” Vision4k spent 2020 in the deepest, darkest doldrums one could imagine. Anyone who experienced their long-awaited album R at the very end of that year would say the same; it was an intoxicating journey through the most ominous spaces of one’s psyche — a pure and utter bone-chilling alternative rock showcase. Not a single ray of light shone over any one of those tracks, as though Vision themself wouldn’t dare to let them in.  “Lullabies, From a Ghoul” – their first transitional release after R – could’ve laid dormant in those same doldrums like a castaway still wallowing in the pains described on that album. Instead, this EP sees Vision finally opening the blinds and letting some light in.  Don’t get it twisted, the project is still far grimmer than the average alt-rock spectacle. But the 6 tracks we have here display the sweetest take on the sinister one could ask for. Though tracks like the opening “Silver & Strained” and “Swan Song of the Buried” chug along …