Fennec’s newest EP, This Place Was Once a Palace, connotes either a deeply personal loss, or a perception of the current state of house music (or, it could be both). The multifaceted house producer bridges the sounds of old-school Chicago with relatable, yet minimalistic, venting. “Consumes You” is an allusion to frenetic dance music coupled with a sense of being pulled elsewhere, out of body. The tone of the bass lines is gorgeous, and the unfocused compositional approach complements the dizzied headspace. –Tristan Jones
With the first full week of the Sputnikmusic Staff’s “Track of the Day” feature in the books, I thought it would be a cool idea to, as often as possible, put together a small 5-track EP consisting of the staff selections from that week. It’s kind of a “here’s what you missed” opportunity for those of you who don’t religiously follow the blog updates (although you should!) as well as a gift to our readers and userbase (take it or leave it, we won’t be offended!)
Without further ado, I present to you the very first Sputnik EP playlist spanning the week of 3/7/16 to 3/11/16. The tracklist can be found below, followed by the Spotify playlist. Thank you to all who contributed, commented, and/or read last week!
Lucius’ music plays like a never-ending sugar high. They’re always upbeat, creating catchy and captivating songs that make you want to get up and move. Their debut Wildewoman showcased their main strengths: the talented vocals of Berklee-educated singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, and the insane vocal harmonies that they can make together. Even considering how successful that album was within indie-pop circles, “Born Again Teen” obliterates any conceivable expectations with its sky-high chorus and dance-worthy beat. It’s the lead single for their freshly released LP Good Grief, and with good reason: it captures the energy and youthful bliss of the record like no other individual track could. It won’t change your life or anything, but I dare you not to tap your feet, sway in your chair, or even get up and dance like a complete idiot.
When School of Seven Bells’ (and ex-Secret Machines guitarist) Benjamin Curtis died in late 2013 from T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, at the shake-your-fists-at-the-sky age of only 35, it seemed like 2012’s Ghostory would be that band’s swan song (not to mention the heartbreaking cover of Joey Ramone’s “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up Again)” that the pair released prior to Curtis’ death). A triumphant summation of their sound at the time, it was a compelling enough ending to a story that seemed short far too many chapters. But then it wasn’t. Alejandra Deheza, the other half of the band, announced what would be the couple’s fourth and probably final LP only a few months ago, and it was released at the tail end of February.
It’s not easy encapsulating all the feelings associated with the loss of someone so intimate, and SVIIB really never sets out to do that – recorded in a flurry of activity during the Ghostory tour, before Curtis was diagnosed, it’s a life-affirming and vibrant record. Perhaps even more so than Ghostory, it’s the perfect synthesis of their sound: a wave of sound that reaches to the sky, massive shoegazy riffs, Deheza’s crystalline vocals sliding effortlessly over the top. It’s Deheza’s lyrics that give the record its crushing, if optimistic, subtext. A memorial to Curtis, it’s a travelogue…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 11, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
3 Doors Down – Us and the Night (Republic Records)
Accuser – The Forlorn Divide (Metal Blade Records)
Anger as Art – Ad Mortem Festinates (Old School Metal Records)
Aniqatia – Luminous (Nefarious Industries)
Arcana 13 – Danza Macabra (Aural Music)
Aurora – All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend (Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC)
Bent Shapes – Wolves of Want (Slumberland Records)
Blood Youth – Closure [EP] (Rude Records) Brian Fallon – Painkillers (Island Records)— Jom
Cabal – Purge (Prime Collective)
Cardiknox – Portrait (Warner Bros. Records Inc.)
Criminal – Fear Itself (Metal Blade Records)
Desert Mountain Tribe – Either That or the Moon (Metropolis Records)
Drawing Circles – Sinister Shores (Eat The Beat Music)
Emmy the Great – Second Love (Bella Union)
Ephemera – Little Green Cars (Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC)
Gadget – The Great Destroyer (Relapse Records Inc.)
Glint – Inverter (Votiv Publishing LLC)
Heck – Instructions (NPAG Industries Ltd)
Holy Wave – Freaks of Nurture (Reverberation Appreciation) The Humble – Act Accordingly [EP] (The Humble)— Irving Tan
Jeff Buckley – You and I (Columbia Records)
Jukebox The Ghost – Thump Sessions [EP] (Yep Roc Records) Killswitch Engage – Incarnate (Roadrunner Records)
KVB – … Of Desire (Metropolis Records)
Laura J Martin – On…
As you’ve likely noticed, we’re trying to spice things up a bit in the staff blog lately with a handful of our writers submitting track-of-the-day blurbs detailing a song of their choosing. It’s been entertaining to see the various tastes and styles in these write-ups thus far, but these things can only gain so much traction without you: the reader. In an attempt to keep things from growing stale around these parts, we’re going to be giving our readers a blast-from-the-past each week highlighting an older, nostalgic track we feel deserves more recognition. Without further ado, here is our first entry of “THROWBACK Thursday!”
With a new album on the horizon for Metal Church, it’s not a bad time to take a trip down memory lane to see where they were over 30 years ago. Back in 1984, they released their highly influential debut, fusing the slickly produced thrash sound of Metallica with piercing screams reminiscent of Mercyful Fate’s very own King Diamond. The blending of these key factors allowed Metal Church to stand out as different in the thrash scene of the ‘80s, carving their own special niche as well as gaining a massive cult following. Just about any track from their debut could make a convincing case for Metal Church’s stature in metal circles, but few paint a picture of the band’s trademark sound quite like…
Everyone has a set of bands or musicians that they hold dearly for some reason or another. Oftentimes, it’s not even an artist that you listen to anymore. Time placed a wedge between whatever it was that connected you so directly to their message and the place that you currently reside in life. It’s like losing touch with an old friend; you never actually stopped caring about the person, it’s just that life has led you in separate directions and it no longer makes sense to spend more than the occasional holiday catching up with them. For all intents and purposes, your friendships become ones of convenience. But just like those time-tested relationships, there’s this unspoken understanding that anytime or anywhere, you’ll be able to return to that album/song/artist and everything will return to being exactly like it was before. It’s a comfort that very few bands have been able to bestow upon me: Brand New, Yellowcard, and others do come to the forefront of my memory first – but then there’s Jimmy Eat World – the band that I too often tuck away, saying to myself, “I’ll give Clarity another listen once I’m finished with the new Sufjan.” Well, I’m here now to say thank you to a band that I probably haven’t listened to nearly as much as I’ve always wanted to.
We’ve all experienced that crystallizing moment when you hear an artist’s message and everything seems to click – it’s almost as if that…
Baltimore’s own Baklavaa preach the Unwounded doctrine of chaotic post-hardcore and jagged, panicky omens. “Tampered With”, a highlight from their latest effort, Dane On, is titled well. Vocalist Ted Ciafardini channels feelings of desperation and psychosis, in the midst of catchy and erratic instrumentation. It resembles someone who’s gone through hell and high water to establish a grip on their sense of being, only for someone to pry open their cranium like a computer access panel and sadistically fuck around with things a bit. —Tristan Jones
“Loveland” caught me completely off-guard. At a glance, Wall of Death sounds like a modern day meshing of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic prowess with Coldplay’s pedestrian execution. That synopsis is fairly accurate across the vast majority of the band’s freshly minted LP Loveland – it’s an admirable, but not groundbreaking, effort in modern psychedelic rock that is still totally enjoyable. However, the self-titled track is in a league of its own. Sprawling across a mysteriously uplifting atmosphere, the song twists and tumbles through shimmering electronic soundscapes that are grounded in exceptionally executed guitar work and drumming. The midsection is a thing of beauty – sprightly bouncing along to gorgeous keyboards and synths that almost have an old school prog-rock feel to them. The way that “Loveland” flows from one idea to another is breathtaking, and it makes for quite the sparkling early-2016 gem…one that may even be worth stowing away for those best-of-2016 playlists.
It’s a little cliche at this point to begin a review of a track on the Monstercat label with a general broad-brush description of the label – wildly hit-or-miss music (stemming, of course, from the fact that they release at least three original tracks a week), obscenely devoted fanbase which formulates one of the most impressive YouTube hiveminds around, yadda yadda yadda. To understand how Karma Fields’ newest LP, New Age | Dark Age, is one of the most interesting releases the label has put out in a very long time, though, it’s worth characterizing its reception within the confines of the label’s usual fans. “Stickup,” one of the album’s pre-release singles, was released on YouTube to one of the highest dislike-like ratios on any video from the label. Similar ratios exist for other songs from the album – the excellent “Greatness” (featuring the inimitable Talib Kweli on vocals) has about 1 dislike to every 10 likes as well. Suffice it to say, then, that Karma Fields is dividing the label’s core fanbase.
All this is to say that Karma Fields, in deviating from what many people involved in the community find comfortable, is actually doing really interesting things with their music. The currently-anonymous artist, at best, has dropped some of the most fun tuneless, staticky electro bangers around, picking…
The irony that I’d given up on ever hearing anything new from a band named “So Long Forgotten” is not lost on me. The band’s last full-length release was issued in 2009 – nearly 7 years ago. Now, nearly 3 years after launching a kickstarter to fund their latest efforts, there will finally be a new So Long Forgotten EP in April of this year.
And from the sounds of “Marahute” – the album’s first single – I’m quite excited for it. The song shows the post-rock meets post-hardcore band maturing their songwriting to a new boiling point that builds on the emotional and introspective sounds and thoughts of their debut. But while Beneath Our Noble Heads was unabashedly Christian in its philosophy, “Marahute” is intriguingly full of doubt, openly questioning the existence and purpose of a literal Hell and negative implications on those we love.
What else can I say? There’s plenty of driving melodies and tasty grooves here and I’m simply a sucker for sincere, well-delivered emotion painted with a hard-edged post-rock sound. It’s really just damn good to hear So Long Forgotten back at it again.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 4, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. In addition, you may notice more “track of the day” posts on this site, a feature that we hope to maintain with some level of consistency in the future. If you have a track you would like to see covered, let us know in the comments below.
Atrament – Eternal Downfall (Argento Records)
Baklava – Dane On (Grimoire Records)
The Big Pink – Empire Underground (B3SCI Records)
Big Ups – Before a Million Universes (Exploding In Sound Records)
Casket Robbery – Evolution of Evil (Mortal Music) Circle of Dust – Circle of Dust [Remastered] (FiXT) — Trey Spencer
Coppersky – If We’re Losing Everything (Uncle M Music)
The Coral – Distance Inbetween (Ignition Records Ltd)
Cub Sport – This Is Our Vice (Nettwek Productions Ltd)
Dead Procession – Rituais e Mantras do Medo (Labyrinth Productions)
Dead Stars – Bright Colors (Weird Tree Records)
Esperanza Spalding – Emily’s D+Evolution (Concord Music Group Inc)
Face to Face – Protection (Fat Wreck Cords)
Gadget – The Great Destroyer (Relapse Records Inc)
Guerilla Toss – Eraser Stargazer (DFA LLC)
Heel – The Parts We Save (No Label)
Hero The Band – Bleach (Nova Love Records) Inverloch – Distance Collapsed (Relapse Records…
It’s the year 2016, and everyone knows of M83. With their breakthrough record having come in 2008 with Saturdays=Youth, it has seemingly been nothing but constant ascension for this bunch, culminating in the massive double record Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. For the first time since 2011, we’re faced with an upcoming full-length album from the indie/electronic stars entitled Junk. Even though the album art is the stuff nightmares are made of, the lead single off the LP, “Do It, Try It”, is confirmation that Junk will be anything but. Exploding with sonic energy, the track bubbles with upbeat pianos/keyboards, soars atop massive synths, and features one of the most irresistible hooks of the year so far. Sure it’s weird, and it’s not the same M83 that gave us chills on “Wait”, but it’s fun – and a welcome change even if it ends up being a one time indulgence. For a band that seems limitless in their capabilities, why not splash a little color on the walls?
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 26, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Anthrax – For All Kings (Megaforce Records) — Trey Spencer
Anvil – Anvil Is Anvil(Steamhammer)
Black Cobra – Imperium Simulacra(Season of Mist)
Bombus – Repeat Until Death(Century Media Records Ltd)
Bonnie Raitt – Dig In Deep (Redwing Records)
Centerfold – MOTHXR (Washington Square Music)
Colours – Ivory (Victory Records)
Conny Ochs – Future Fables (Exile On Mainstream Records)
Death Index – Death Index (Deathwish Inc)
Deathless Legacy – The Gathering (Scarlet Records)
Devotion – Words and Crystals (Pavement Entertainment)
Divine Realm – Tectum Argenti (Divine Realm)
DMA’s – Hill’s End (Mom + Pop)
Droids Attack – Sci-Fi or Die (Riff Reaper Records)
Entombed A.D. – Dead Dawn (Versity Rights)
Folteraar – Vertellingen van een donkere eeuw (Iron Bonehead Productions)
Frokedal – Hold on Dreamer (Propeller Recordings)
From Ashes to New – Day One (Better Noise Records) Fuzzy Vox – No Landing Plan (Self-Released) — Raul Stanciu
Ghost Horizon – Astral Possession (Ghost Horizon)
Greenleaf – Rise Above The Meadow (Napalm Records Handels GmbH)
Headspace – All That You Fear is Gone (Inside Out Music)
High Priest of Saturn – Son of Earth and Sky (Svart Records)
Holy Esque – At Hope’s Ravine (Beyond The Frequency)
Hopelezz – Sent to Destroy (Sonicscars Records)
IDestroy – Vanity Loves Me (IDestroy) …
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 19, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. Speaking of which, we would like to welcome our newest staff members and contributors on board! If you have not already heard, JohnnyOnTheSpot, Atari, and Jacquibim have joined our staff writing team, while TalonsOfFire, TheSpirit, GameOfMetal, DoofusWainwright, and Beachdude are settling into their new found roles as contributing reviewers. Congratulations on a job well done and we’re looking forward to what you will bring to the site in the future!
We also encourage all of our readers to check out last week’s interview between We Lost The Sea’s Matt Harvey and our very own Magnus Altkula. It’s a superbly executed piece, both by Magnus and by Matt. Without further ado, though, here is this week’s lineup:
Adept – Sleepless (Napalm Records)
After the Burial – Dig Deep (Sumerian Records)
Animal Collective – Painting With (Domino Recording Co) Antigone and Francois X – We Move As One (Dement3d) — Tristan Jones
Bentcousin – Bentcousin (Team Love Records)
Choir of Young Believers – Grasque (Ghostly International) Deep Sea Diver – Secrets (High Beam) — Irving Tan Delain – Lunar Prelude (Napalm Records) — Trey Spencer
Dinamo Azari – Estranged…
