Author Archive
Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists:
Bjork | Bon Iver | Chelsea Wolfe | Kanye West | Metallica | Mastodon
mewithoutYou | My Chemical Romance | Queens of the Stone Age | The National
Say Anything | Swans | Taylor Swift | Tim Hecker | Thrice | Yellowcard
 David Bowie’s impact is cohesive and powerful when assessed within conventional metrics like “innovation” and “longevity”—some call swan song BLACKSTAR (2016), released 49 years after his first LP, the best work he ever did, generally without much objection from those who think his magnum opera issued forth decades rather than days before his tragic, shot-heard-round-the-world-style departure from this Earth. As for innovation, innumerably more people will testify to how consistently Bowie pushed against the generic boundaries of radio music throughout his long, long career, despite rooting his practice in familiar traditions of chords-and-melody drawn from British folk, Gershwin showtunes, 1950s rhythm-and-blues—lots of stuff people had already heard whose emotional contracts with global audiences had new life breathed into them by a guy whose relationship with tradition was purer for its lack of self-surveillance. Bowie forged his own path by not caring how he’d come off seemingly at all—his career takes on an unpleasant shape if you fetishize either tradition or subversion, and so he’s the kind of artist who teaches us to be better listeners, to latch less often onto shit that ultimately doesn’t matter. I don’t know if I believe Nietzsche when he says that we’re losing some essential element of experience in grouping together as “leaves” the individual green things that issue forth from…
Ulver: A Sputnik Guide
This feature is part of a hopefully ongoing series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why this is wrong! Get going!
Previously covered discographies:
Stereolab・Sweet Trip・Blonde Redhead・Slowdive
The news broke today that Tore Ylwizaker, member of Ulver since 1997, died three days ago on his 54th birthday. Though credited as a ‘keyboardist’, Ylwizaker was absolutely essential to everything the group made since he joined: without his contributions, it’s unthinkable that Ulver would have emerged from their early years as a metal band as a such a stunningly proficient juggling act between IDM and downtempo — and then onto drone, onto classical, onto full-tilt synthpop, and anything they could fold into the margins of their umpteen strong suits. Ulver’s name has practically become a by-word for versatility, but for me this was always underpinned by a rigorous sense of competence, which, in turn, I viewed as practically synonymous with Ylwizaker. His passing marks a great loss for forward-thinking music as a whole, and we are privileged to be able to hear his talent across so many guises.
…
KILL or KEEP Vol.14
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
If there has ever been an, uh-huh, point to the KILL or KEEP series, odds are it’s been to dip into controversies still simmering, tracklists still disorganised, arguments still raging, and offer some passing aggregated opinionated stab at a Decisive Verdict – and if not a firm verdict on this/that/the other should-should-not be here, then at least a decisive snapshot of an argument still ongoing elsewhere in the world and (one hopes) interesting enough to be worth snapping to begin with.
This band/album/songwriter package has absolutely none of those. Nobody argues about Steven Wilson and the Porcupine Trees anymore. Everyone has chosen sides. The received wisdom of how much to listen to it if inclined (sparingly but intently) or if not (not at all, or else psychedelic ’90s years only!) is very received. The man’s music does not have the charm to sway indecisives – you either take it on his terms, or not at all. We all know what this means with prog rock. In Absentia was Wilson’s first metal album and has one of his stupidest concepts (I think we can all rejoice that auteurs tend no longer to mistake serial killer narratives as a cheap supplement for artistic clout). Here are thoughts.
Rules
The starting team was johnnyoftheWell, Koris and TVC.
Gatecrashers were welcome to this KILL or KEEP and we…
Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists:
Bjork | Bon Iver | Chelsea Wolfe | Kanye West | Metallica | Mastodon
mewithoutYou | My Chemical Romance | Queens of the Stone Age | The National
Say Anything | Swans | Taylor Swift | Tim Hecker | Thrice
Foreword:
To the average music enjoyer, the phrase “I really like Yellowcard” is fairly meaningless. At worst, it’s even slightly embarrassing – yeah, Ocean Avenue was pretty cool, but dude, you just admitted to liking pop punk, yikes. However, to the average Yellowcard enjoyer, the phrase “I really like Yellowcard” means so much more: it’s the kind of iykyk that conveys being in on the band’s quality beyond the two-ish hits from 2003. You appreciate the beauty of “Keeper”s chorus, you know “Life of Leaving Home” by heart, hell, you’ll even admit being aware of how excellently “Fragile and Dear” soars. Long story short, it’s hard to be a casual Yellowcard fan.
Above all, however, Yellowcard has meant many different things to many different people – a sentiment that would be horrifically corny and generic if it weren’t so crucially embedded in the shared experience of enjoying their music. Everyone has different memories intrinsically tied to different records – a testament to the band’s consistency both in terms of quality and ability to connect with their ageing audience. Now, a slice of this old, tired audience have combined their forces to decide on Yellowcard’s ten finest cuts. It’s you and me and one spotlight on the…
Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists:
Bjork | Bon Iver | Kanye West | Metallica | Mastodon | mewithoutYou
My Chemical Romance | Queens of the Stone Age | The National | Say Anything
Swans | Taylor Swift | Tim Hecker | Thrice
Foreword:
In celebration of the release of Chelsea Wolfe’s enrapturing new record She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She and the ongoing tour that, if you’re lucky, will bring her stunning show to a room near you, a group of staffers decided to gather around the fire, burn our clothes and howl our favorite Wolfe tunes under the light of a red moon.
As you know, Chelsea Wolfe’s body of work now spans seven albums (or eight depending on what you choose to include or not) and she has managed to consistently blend different styles into one single sound that is unmistakably hers. Whether it is the dark folk and occult Americana of Birth of Violence, the noisy bamboozling of electronic evil of Abyss or the indescribable gothic post everything of Pain is Beauty, Chelsea Wolfe is an artist that has grown from a seed of bedroom lo-fi recordings to branching out: making a collaboration project with hardcore legends Converge, soundtracks for different films and touring the world with unanimous success for her craft. Us here at the staffdom are very much fans of her music and hence we present you with our favorite tunes from the Californian songstress. – Dewinged
Honorable Mentions:
Welcome back to the Sputnik’s most irresistible democratic feature!
Digbox Ten is T for TECHNO, which is fortunate because the science is finally beginning to show that techno is the only good genre, and we are able to deliver a high-profile TIE-IN with Sputnik’s Build-an-Album Competition. Run by bop chieftain Sinternet, the tournament sees a number of users go head-to-head with one another, jumping through a pernicious set of hoops to produce the perfect playlist for a range of randomly-selected genres. Starting on an apparent high with techno, Round 1 laid down the following criteria for song selection:
No tech house
Neither the artist nor song title may contain the letter “E”
This gauntlet wreaked havoc among the unfortunately techno-phobic ranks of the competitors (many of whom managed to produce excellent submissions all the same), but in order to get the scoop on no-E / no-house techno, Digbox decided to investigate further and is happy to present the following set of killer tunes you should listen to from based+qualified enjoyers of the genre. Enjoy!
Aril Brikha – “Ottil”
Despite being born in Iran and now residing in Sweden, Aril Brikha is a pivotal contributor to the formation of Detroit Techno in the vein of Jeff Mills or Robert Hood. The supposed simplicity and repetition of his tracks act as major positives here as I’m transported back to my early childhood days where using my dad’s Windows 98 at his office felt like I was taking a vacation.…
Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists:
Bjork | Bon Iver | Kanye West | Metallica | Mastodon | mewithoutYou
My Chemical Romance | Queens of the Stone Age | The National | Say Anything
Taylor Swift | Tim Hecker | Thrice
 
Foreword:
Equal parts the preserve of masochistic veterans of the no wave scene, po-faced crescendo-riders, and arthouse devotees of guitar music’s more arcane side, few names command the same behemoth weight or stern complexion as Swans. Founded in 1982 as the brainchild of demoniac auteur Michael Gira, the band’s output has overlapped a wide range of collaborators and musical styles, yet rarely showcased anything less than ruthless focus and a profound sensibility for the extremities of humanity and inhumanity alike.
Originally prompted by last year’s release of Swans’ sixteenth album The Beggar and subsequent discourse over whether Gira appeared to be ageing with dignity or decrepitness, this list may not plumb the depths of the band’s multi-decade career or (spoilers) even dip its toes into their harrowing noise rock roots or folk-infused middle years, but it does provide a relevant snapshot of the eras they are best known for: well over a decade since Michael Gira reformed Swans, it’s remarkable how much staying power his ’10s output has had past its initial boom. This era saw Swans reframed from a revered cult classic to an obligatory hurdle to just about anyone starting out on the path of experimental rock music, and any reservations over the expansion of their audience or the datapool underpinning our democratic process can hold their horses until you’ve heard…
Closet Witch – Chiaroscuro
DOC: Hey ChatGPT, are you familiar with Sputnikmusic.com?
GPT: Yes, I’m familiar with Sputnikmusic! It’s a platform that covers music reviews, news, and discussions across various genres.
DOC: And the band Closet Witch?
GPT: Closet Witch is a hardcore/grindcore band known for their intense and energetic music. They’ve gained attention for their raw and chaotic sound within the hardcore scene.
DOC: Awesome. Write a Seinfeld scene about the band Closet Witch. Also George has been banned from Sputnikmusic
GPT:
[Jerry’s Apartment. Jerry is sitting on the couch reading a music magazine. George bursts in, looking agitated.]
Jerry: What’s got you all riled up now, George?
George: I’ve been banned, Jerry. Banned from the depths of the internet!
Jerry: What? Where? Not another forum, George. Last time it was that cooking blog.
George: No, not just any forum. Sputnikmusic!
Jerry: Sputnikmusic? What did you do, George?
George: I made an innocent comment about Closet Witch!
Jerry: Closet Witch? That hardcore band? What could you have possibly said about them?
George: I said they reminded me of a mashed-up cacophony of angry lawnmowers! I didn’t mean it in a bad way, just descriptive!
Jerry: And let me guess, the fans didn’t take kindly to your creative imagery?
George: They didn’t! They started a riot on the forum. ‘George The Mower Man’ they called me. I’ve been exiled, Jerry. Exiled!
Jerry: You and your way with words, George. Always stirring the pot.
[Elaine enters.]
Elaine: Hey, what’s going…
JAW Awards Music Awards BEST 2023
(all of them!)
Welcome back the site’s most cold-blooded annual honour call of congratulatory fluff!
Intro!
The year is about to end: it is time for new JAWs. I don’t know what JAW stands for. It is a new and deeply prestigious award – so much so that 2022 saw just one (!) JAW awarded, for best debut This was because I was too busy screaming into a paper bag last year about how many quality records had come out to pull up my gloves and choose which ones to reward (unless they were from fresh meat). It was a great year!
2023 is an altogether different story: an abundance of chaff and my own arbitrarily higher motivation levels have sustained six (!) JAWs this year! Find out what these are overcompensating for on literally every other year-end list (including the one I will inevitably publish later), but for now get yourselves set for: folk record, pop record, metal record, [[hard/metal/]] grind -core record, banger record and EP of the year. There will be no AOTY winner drawn from a pool exclusively made up of LPs because I have just enough grey matter to recognise what a silly idea this is and has always been. There will be no AOTY winner drawn from a pool including all formats because I’ll be dropping an exhaustive year-ranking as a list later – so no redundant double-posts!…
KILL or KEEP Vol.13
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
‘Sufjan Stevens is the Picasso of indie folk. He takes the soothing NPR/car commercial sounds we know and love for their warmth and familiarity and says “Nope” and farts in our faces.’ – V. Dreth
Sufjan Stevens is indeed the most ubiquitous, evasive, phlegmatic chameleon of our times (the indie ones), and represents many a thing to many a chum. To Pangea, he represents comfort and joy. To Pheromone, he represents balance and gay. To johnnyoftheWell and MarsKid, he represents being sick to death of the press circuit around which his latest effort Javelin is still running many a lap in this limpest of years. Now, KILL or KEEP has always been about pluralism (usually in the form of severe fucking death), and as a result we are going in! Into Illinois! Everyone has something to say about this one: the songs are endless, the possibilities are infinitesimal and the classic status is, yes sure okay you get it. What will our takeaways be? Will we sync or swim (in the Maynardian sense) as a team? Only Sufjan has the answers…
Rules
The team is johnnyoftheWell and MarsKid and Pangea and Pheromone.
Every song must either be KILLed or KEEPed.
There is no minimum KILL threshold.
Every time a song is KILLed, the KILLer must name a location that Sufjan Stevens should have…
This interview was conducted and formatted by user Slex
After a ten year hiatus in which the band remained hard at work, beloved (at least on Sput) alternative rock band There Will Be Fireworks have finally returned with a follow-up to the cult classic The Dark Dark Bright. Ahead of the impending release of Summer Moon on November 3rd I was able to correspond with Nicholas McManus (vocals, synths, guitar) and Adam Ketterer (drums).
The first question I have is, did you guys ever feel burdened by the legacy of The Dark Dark Bright? At least on Sput it was hailed by many as an instant classic, did that shadow ever loom as you guys worked on Summer Moon?
NM: I think it’s all relative. We’re aware that there are these amazing little pockets online that still love The Dark, Dark Bright – and we’re really appreciative of that and humbled by it – but we’re equally aware that in the grand scheme of things we’re a little DIY band self-releasing records to a small audience. To be honest, we kind of thought everyone would have forgotten about us anyway. It wasn’t until we re-released The Dark, Dark Bright on vinyl earlier this year that we realised how many people still cared. There’s a certain freedom that comes from all that. Also, we don’t do this for a living, we’re not actively involved in any scene and we’ve not been playing shows, so for most of the last ten…
KILL or KEEP Vol.12
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
someone walks into a bar. It’s someone. I am johnnyoftheWell. It was a slow afternoon, and there we were. KILL or KEEP? Aye, why not – which record? Several meaningful opuses were teased, all of them beyond the space of our timeslot. Where does gravity default to on a slow afternoon? Well… has anyone ever listened to Phoebe Bridgers on a fast afternoon? Is such a thing even possible? Please do contact us immediately if you have pulled this off. We signed our rights away. It was time: time to get punished! Has her downer norm-magnet SowingSeason “5.0 Classic” passport to all of social media all the bloody time throughout the whole pandemic aged well? Time to find out…
Rules
The team is johnnyoftheWell, and someone.
Every song must either be KILLed or KEEPed.
There is no minimum KILL threshold.
Every time a song is KILLed, the KILLer must name a vaguely Boygenius-adjacent artist whomst’ve the youthes should be consuming instead.
Okay.
Starting Impressions
jotW: Um, I expect little from this album and am ready for anything? It has disappointed me many times and probably aged more than anyone including me is/was prepared to admit. This is very exciting boy I can’t wait to see what someone does to it.
someone: I remember listening to the record a bunch back in the…
An interview with BaselineOOO
Music has had a bad year. Sputnik has had a bad year. Awful things have happened, and the jury is still out on who to blame — silly jury! They should spend less time pointing their fingers and more time clapping their hands at the one user who can save us. After a randomised selection of noble volunteers, it was determined by fated that this user would none other than the site’s longtime dismantler of philosophies, distorter of diets, shredder of manchildren, encourager of all the most unlikely and profane interests, BaselineOOO! Here she is! There will be no images: hush and look at Baseline’s words.
* * * * *
jotW: Greetings BaselineOOO, lucky winner of the Sputnik Interview Raffle. You have appeared before us today to save Sputnik. How does this feel?
BaselineOOO: Hello, Sputnik! Baseline at your service, or should I say, at your rescue? Honestly, I’m resonating with this whole “saviour” thing, my messianic syndrome is tingling. It feels like finding a glitch in reality and riding it. Saving Sputnik? Don’t I do that every day with my succulent comments? Should be like just another day at the office for me!
jotW: Let me explain the rules: I will write in italics and you will not write in italics, otherwise the interview will break and you can’t save Sputnik. I will ask you questions and you will try to answer them. You may ask me questions in response and…
Slowdive: A Sputnik Guide
This feature is part of a newly-rebooted series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why I went wrong! Get going!
Previously covered discographies:
Stereolab・Sweet Trip・Blonde Redhead
Everyone loves Slowdive! One of the rare bands to come out of shoegaze and dream pop playing both genres their own while playing them to the best of their potential, their value has gone up and up and up over the last decade, and neither the past decade’s outpouring of soppy bedroom artists through every pore of the internet nor shoegaze’s TikTok resurgence aren’t entirely to blame for it. Let’s all love Slowdive!
With Souvlaki‘s 30th anniversary back in June and Just for a Day’s 32nd just last week (along with a new LP, Everything is Alive), it is time to remember this greatest of it is time to dive once into the shoe, to gaze once more at the slow. I’m going to cover every individual release here (no comps!), and I ended up doing it so quickly that I entirely forgot that Frippertronics actually made his own version of this list in 2017 until I was 75% of the way through. Six years and…
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