Merry-Go-Round Magazine

06/09/2024

Now that fall is here, it's time we do a check in on every game announced at the various non-E3 conferences this past summer. Senior Games Writer Steven Porfiri looks back with quick hits from Day of the Devs, Ubisoft Forward, the PC Gaming Showcase, and more!

From Summer Game Fest to Ubisoft Forward, Day of the Devs to Developer Direct, we recap every single game announced during a non-E3 summer!

27/08/2024

Freak-folk project Cereus Bright recently released their latest album ANYTHING (out now via Nettwerk). Tyler Anthony sat down with writer Dom Lepore to discuss creative ruts, finding ways to keep engaged with music after making it for so long, and more!

Tyler Anthony, the chief force behind freak-folk project Cereus Bright, discusses the new album ANYTHING, and how to crawl out of a creative rut.

26/08/2024

There are too many ALIEN'y elements within ALIEN: ROMULUS for it to be truly bad, yet what does it actually achieve that a third in a Ridley PROMETHEUS trilogy couldn't have more interestingly? Weyland-Yuta—er, Disney, keep serving up slop for the trough.

ALIEN: ROMULUS ends up feeling like the rehashed regurgitated product of Disney oversight, gruel served begrudgingly to peasants.

23/08/2024

20 years ago tomorrow, Drive-By Truckers released THE DIRTY SOUTH, a towering country album that remains one of the best of the 2000s. A remarkable display of songwriting, it finds Jason Isbell, Mike Cooley, and Patterson Hood at the peak of their powers.

20 years later, Drive-By Truckers' THE DIRTY SOUTH remains a remarkable display of songwriting, a fusion of multiple artists working at the peak of their powers.

22/08/2024

STAY GOLDEN is an album about finding support systems and enduring beyond hardships, about rejecting nihilism and pulling ourselves out of self-pity. Combat's journey mirrors our own, with Holden Wolf standing in for each of us in the struggle to thrive.

Combat's latest, STAY GOLDEN, is an album fittingly built for these times, transporting us to a better place.

20/08/2024

Jack Probst is dusting off some LPs and exploring how music becomes etched into our own stories. Eventually, all of our memories get marked down and tossed in The Bargain Bin. This month: the first time smoking w**d, the allure of mid-20s wisdom, and Mazzy Star's SO TONIGHT THAT I MIGHT SEE!

The first time smoking w**d. The allure of mid-20s wisdom as a teen. Mazzy Star's SO TONIGHT THAT I MIGHT SEE. It's a tale from the bargain bin.

19/08/2024

On Thursday, Gray Dens will make their live debut at Permanent Records for our ninth anniversary. Ahead of that, we're thrilled to premiere their whimsically misty single “UFO," a must for fans of blog-core indie rock like Here We Go Magic and Lower Dens!

The premiere of the new single "UFO" from Orange Country indie rock trio Gray Dens, out wide on August 20th!

18/08/2024

Today is Merry-Go-Round Magazine’s Ninth Anniversary! It’s crazy to have been doing anything for nine years, especially when the thing you’re doing is carrying out some harebrained scheme concocted in a sweaty Santa Ana apartment in 2015 to publish pop culture opinions online.

On Thursday we’ll be having a show at Permanent Records Roadhouse that fittingly features bands that a few longtime writers and contributors are now in, which is a fun full circle moment for us to be able to support artists who themselves have been supporting us for years.

We’ve only been able to continue doing what we do for nearly a decade because of the financial support we see from readers; we’d be remiss if we didn’t use this opportunity to plug our Patreon, which has plenty of exciting goodies and perks you can dig into in the comments section below. Consider donating or becoming a Patron today!

From those who have been rocking with us since the Crossfader days to those who just followed us recently, thank you for reading. On behalf of ownership, our editors, and our longtime writers, we appreciate every click, like, share, and donation we see. Cheers to a beautiful nine years!

07/08/2024

Will Wiesenfeld (Baths) recently dipped his toes in the film world, doing the music for Big Boys, available now on VOD. We sat down with Wiesenfeld to discuss the medium of film scoring, the connection to his album SUNSET MOUNTAIN, and more!

Will Wiesenfeld (Baths, Geotic) details the process of writing his first feature film score for Corey Sherman's BIG BOYS.

06/08/2024

Electronic duo 23 Bees focus on shifty breakbeats with transcendent industrial ambience, a modern Meat Beat Manifesto exploring varied dance microgenres. We're thrilled to premiere their two latest singles, "Smokepath" and "Vex," which you can hear now!

Los Angeles electronic duo 23 Bees are earnestly developing an identity. Chris Cubbison and John Warlick have been collaborating musically for over 15 years, and on their latest project they’re only just beginning to explore how a wide arrangement of textures and microgenres can neatly fuse togeth...

31/07/2024

CRYPTID illustrates the risk of having a highly interconnected game built on both secrets and honesty, as any lie can ruin the experience far too easily. Fragile games are capable of high-highs and low-lows, but the highs of CRYPTID are not worth the risk.

CRYPTID illustrates the risk of having a highly interconnected game built on both secrets and honesty, as any lie can ruin the experience far too easily.

30/07/2024

With a theatrical rerelease this summer, as well as Kani's new 2k restoration arriving to Blu-ray, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s BEIJING WATERMELON is having a moment. But today is as good a day as any to revisit his hazy, meditative film HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND!

Nobuhiko Obayashi's HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is a series of disembodied vignettes, the memories eroded by time.

23/07/2024

Jessica Boudreaux's remarkable debut, THE FASTER I RUN, chronicles the complex emotions she experienced during and after her battle with cancer. She sat down with us to discuss that period of her life that led to the album being written, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, growing up with religion in the South, and more!

Jessica Boudreaux discusses her debut album, THE FASTER I RUN, and the battle with cancer and the aftermath that led to its inception.

22/07/2024

The addictive BALATRO has no issues standing next to titans of the roguelike deck builder genre like SLAY THE SPIRE or MONSTER TRAIN. Building the game around the rules of poker though, it highlights intensely the thin line between gambling and gaming.

LocalThunk's BALATRO is as addictive a game as they come, but given the unique twist on poker it also makes the connection between roguelike deckbuilders and gambling clearer than ever.

17/07/2024

Over the last two years, writer Lillian Weber has been watching Ekko Astral's rise to prominence in real time, documenting the D.C. punks from afar one gig at a time. Every speech given, riff played, and mosh pit started feels like ammo for a better future.

Writer Lillian Weber profiles D.C. punks Ekko Astral from afar, watching them rise to the current moment across multiple shows in 2023 and 2024.

10/07/2024

Readers have come to know that Chris Coplan loves him some punk music. Check out The Dredge, our syndication of his newsletter where he reviews everything from the genre! This month features writing on Eaten By Snakes, OLYMPIC DETH, and Church Girls!

Chris Copland is trolling the punk rock deep, finding the gems from the briny depths of the internet, including Eaten By Snakes, OLYMPIC DETH, and Church Girls. Welcome to Dredge.

02/07/2024

As a gaming mechanic, take-that cards can feel tacked on, an addition that can feel incongruous with the rest of the game. With THE VALE OF ETERNITY, take-thats feel integrated in a myriad of ways—not something to be tolerated, but rather celebrated.

Most take-that cards feel tacked on, but with THE VALE OF ETERNITY these cards are not something to be tolerated, but rather celebrated.

29/06/2024

Jack Probst is dusting off some LPs and exploring how music becomes forever etched into our own stories. Eventually, all of our memories get marked down and tossed in The Bargain Bin. This month: H. Jon Benjamin. Found family. The Comas' CONDUCTOR.

H. Jon Benjamin. Playing Xbox 360 high. Reconnecting with found family. The Comas' CONDUCTOR. It's a tale from the bargain bin.

25/06/2024

Today, Share release the second single off of their upcoming album HAVE ONE (out 8/9 via Forged Artifacts). "It Spins" is an appropriately dizzying noise rock cut that delightfully descends further inward with each passing moment. Give it a listen today!

We’ve made our love of Bay Area alt-country group Half Stack well known—here’s a now five year old Bandcamp Pick on their excellent debut QUITTING TIME, but they’ve been reliably churning out psychy desert rock and twangy, glammy folk tunes as recently as 2023’s formidable album SITTING PR...

24/06/2024

Twenty years ago, Apichatpong Weerasethakul explored q***r desires in a reimagined Thai landscape with TROPICAL MALADY. In retrospect, his optimism is enviable considering all that has happened (or not happened) over the last two decades.

Nothing has substantially changed in the last 20 years, and thus Apichatpong Weerasethakul's TROPICAL MALADY remains a touching and hauntological experience.

13/06/2024

PURE GLUTTONY is a brooding, kinetic, and consequential collision of high wire industrial art rock and impassioned, existential ballads. Jackson Katz walks us through every creative decision on his latest album as Brutus VIII, out now via Danger Collective Records!

Jackson Katz walks us through every creative decision on his latest album as Brutus VIII, PURE GLUTTONY.

12/06/2024

In August, we'll somehow be hitting nine years of publishing! In celebration of that fact, we figured it'd be fun to throw another show in Los Angeles! Join us for our ninth anniversary at Permanent Records Roadhouse on August 22nd for a lineup featuring Conelicker, Gray Dens, and Famous Friend! Tickets and information can be found in the comments!

11/06/2024

When IN A VIOLENT NATURE is committed to the much lauded POV aesthetic, it’s a ton of fun. When it abandons it, we’re just watching a cheap, low-budget slasher film talk down to us. It's a mixed bag with one of the best horror kills in recent memory.

Chris Nash’s buzzy POV slasher IN A VIOLENT NATURE comes up short in baffling ways, but it also has one scene that will give fans of the genre what they want.

04/06/2024

Last week, Ethan Beck and the Charlie Browns released their debut album DUCK HOLLOW, a sticky collection of coming-of-age power pop songs. We sat down with Ethan to discuss the Lemonheads and Car Seat Headrest, the nature of writing through characters, and of course PEANUTS!

Ethan Beck talks through his debut album with the Charlie Browns, DUCK HOLLOW, the influence of Fountains of Wayne and the Lemonheads, and

31/05/2024

the goalie's anxiety at the penalty kick's sophomore album THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY AND THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK is, as the name would imply, a breathtaking emotional journey. We profiled the band and discuss the Homer connection, harp playing, and more!

Philadelphia chamber pop emo act The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick discuss their own relation to Homer, songwriting, and the harp!

29/05/2024

Jack Probst is dusting off some LPs and exploring how music becomes etched into our own stories. Eventually, all of our memories get marked down and tossed in The Bargain Bin. This month: Senior year blues, entering the workforce, and of Montreal’s SATANIC PANIC IN THE ATTIC.

Senior year blues. The job market. of Montreal’s SATANIC PANIC IN THE ATTIC. It's a tale from the bargain bin.

21/05/2024

The boisterous punk rap of Los Angeles-based Paraguayan artist Kurupi is not to be slept on. The debut album NO ESPERES is out May 31, and we sat down with them to discuss the new single "Patterns," sci-fi influences, and finding communities through music.

Los Angeles producer and artist Kurupi walks us through their debut album NO ESPERES, a colorful record where influences come from everywhere.

14/05/2024

So, you've realized Israel is a fascist military state conducting an apartheid genocide... here are 15 films to understand what's happening, ranging from Rashid Masharawi's CURFEW to Costa-Gavras's Z to, sure, Verhoeven's STARSHIP TROOPERS. Check out the list today!

So, you've realized Israel is a fascist military state conducting an apartheid genocide... Here are 15 films to understand what's happening!

03/05/2024

Happy Bandcamp Friday! In lieu of a traditional Bandcamp Picks, we've compiled five recently released compilations where proceeds go towards various Palestinian relief efforts, each worthy of your money. Read about all five today, and free Palestine!

It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, this week highlighting a number of compilations and releases whose funds go directly to organizations and charities who are currently helping people in Gaza. We will try and update this list periodically as time goes on with other charity compilations on Palest...

02/05/2024

While BOYS STATE presented chilling games of political maneuvering, GIRLS STATE offers a narrative of resilience—the former a horror story, the latter a love story. It offers a mixed bag of both despair and admiration for the tenacity of these young women.

While BOYS STATE presented a chilling game of political maneuvering, GIRLS STATE offers a narrative of resilience— one a horror story, the other a love story.