Author Archive
By staff
Wednesday September 17, 2014
Timisoara-based Methadone Skies are definitely onto something special with “Mirra,” the song that kicks off their upcoming album, Eclectic Electric. From the ground up the track shows how much the outfit have evolved musically from their debut full-length: the main motif is acutely filtered through various modes, being augmented with Turkish saz and mandola. This expanded instrumentation lends the composition an oriental flair that channels the free-flowing spiritualism of Om. The mood constantly switches from idyllic to sinister in a kaleidoscopic fashion, yet the song never loses its sharp focus, exemplifying instrumental psychedelic rock at its best.
Methadone Skies on facebook
By staff
Monday September 15, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 16th, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Amogh Symphony – Vectorscan (Amogh Music Library)
Anjou – Anjou (Kranky)
Antropomorphia – Rites Ov Perversion (Metal Blade)
Black Moth – Condemned To Hope (New Heavy Sounds)
Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain (Metal Blade) – Trey Spencer
Chris Brown – X (RCA)
The Contortionist – Language (Entertainment One Music) – Jacob R.
Engineers – Always Returning (Kscope)
Generationals – Alix (Polyvinyl Records)
Hands Like Houses – Re-Imagine (Rise Records)
Hostage Calm – Die On Stage (Run For Cover Records)
Isabel Rose – Trouble In Paradise (Jubilee Recordings)
James – La Petite Mort (BMG Rights Management)
Jesse Winchester – A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble (Appleseed Records)
The Juan MacLean – In A Dream (DFA Records)
Lia Ices – Ices (Jagjaguwar)
Lowell – We Loved Her Dearly (Arts & Crafts)
The Madden Brothers – Greetings From California (Capitol)
Malpractice – Turning Tides (Sensory Records)
Mia Doi Todd – Floresta (City Zen Records)
Mike Doughty – Stellar Motel (MRI)
The Mojo Gurus – Who Asked Ya? (Red River Entertainment)
Moonface – City Wrecker (Jagjaguwar)
Motionless In White – Reincarnate (Fearless Records)
My Brightest Diamond – This Is My Hand (Asthmatic Kitty)
Myrkur – Myrkur (Relapse)
Noctem – Exilium (Prosthetic)
Obey The Brave – Salvation (Epitaph)
Paolo Nutini – Caustic Love (Atlantic)
The Pineapple Thief –…
By staff
Wednesday September 10, 2014
September 6, 2014: “Never” is my favorite track of the year. If anything comes along and dethrones it, I will be more than positively surprised. In a paradoxical manner, I often can’t pinpoint why a certain song or an album resonates with me the way it does. That’s because as a person, I’m more adept at feeling and experiencing than sharing my exact thoughts in a coherent piece of writing. I know what I like, but can’t necessarily explain why every time. In conversing, I’m more often than not a stream of consciousness type of talker – something that I find hard to translate over into writing. I know exactly why I like “Never” though: it speaks to me about as much as it speaks of me, and that is a lot.
“Never” is barefaced as much as it is multifaceted. Structurally, both instrumentally and rapping-wise, it is a relatively straightforward track. Inversely, its message can be interpreted in many ways. To take it in the context of the full album it originates from, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, it’s part of a narrative, part of a story. I like to be self-centered with the track though – I like taking it out of context, pulling it apart from the rest of the record, because while I enjoy &TYSYC very much as a full-length offering, no other song on the album digs as deep as “Never” does when I forget what The Roots might have wanted…
By staff
Monday September 8, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 9th, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
American Hi-Fi – Blood & Lemonade (Rude Records)
Avi Buffalo – At Best Cuckold (Sub Pop)
Ballet School – The Dew Lasts An Hour (Bella Union)
Banks – Goddess (Harvest) – Deviant
Better Than Ezra – All Together Now (The End Records)
Billy Childs – Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks)
Cries Of The Captive – Imperialist (Imminence Records)
David Bazan & The Passenger String Quartet – David Bazan & The Passenger String Quartet (self-released)
Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World (Warner Bros.)
Delta Spirit – Into The Wide (Dualtone Music Group)
Digitalife – Nemesis (Imminence Records)
Duologue – Never Get Lost (Wild Game Records)
Esben And The Witch – A New Nature (Nostromo Records)
Flowers – Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do (Kanine Records)
Greensky Bluegrass – If Sorrows Swim (Big Blue Zoo)
Gob – Apt. 13 (New Damage Records)
Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness Of Dancers (Merge Records)
In Flames – Siren Charms (Sin UK) – Kyle Ward
Interpol – El Pintor (Matador Records)
Jhene Aiko – Souled Out (Def Jam)
Justin Townes Earle – Single Mothers (Vagrant Records)
Karen O – Crush Songs (Kobalt)
KMFDM – We Are KMFDM: Live 30th Anniversary (Metropolis Records)
The Kooks – Listen (Astralwerks)
Lecrae –…
By staff
Monday September 1, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 2nd, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Blonde Redhead – Barragán (Asawa Kuru LLC)
Christopher Willits – Opening (Ghostly International)
The Color Morale – Hold On Pain Ends (Fearless Records)
Code Orange – I Am King (Deathwish Inc.)
Counting Crows – Somewhere Under Wonderland (Capitol)
Coves – Soft Friday (Nettwerk Records)
Dark Fortress – Venereal Dawn (Century Media)
Darkspace – Darkspace III I (Avantgarde Music)
Earth – Primitive & Deadly (Southern Lord)
Grey Gordon – Forget I Brought It Up (No Sleep Records)
Half Japanese – Overjoyed (Joyful Noise Records)
HammerFall – (r)Evolution (Nuclear Blast)
The Haunted – Exit Wounds (Century Media)
James Taylor – The Letter (AAO Music)
Jeezy – Seen It All: The Autobiography (Def Jam)
Johnny Winter – Step Back (Megaforce)
Killjoy Club – Reindeer Games (Psychopathic)
Lily Taylor – The Ride (Pour Le Corps)
Machinae Supremacy – Phantom Shadow (Spinefarm)
Mark Lanegan Band – No Bells On Sunday (Heavenly Recordings)
Maroon 5 – V (Interscope)
Maybeshewill – Fair Youth (Superball Music)
Melodime – Where The Sinners & The Saints Collide (Rock Ridge Music)
Nick & Knight – Nick & Knight (BMG Rights Management)
Solstafir – Otta (Season Of Mist)
The/DAS – Freezer (Sinnbus)
TOPS – Picture You Staring (Arbutus Records)
The Vines – Wicked Nature (+180 Records)
Wolf – Devil Seed (Century Media)
YOB – Clearing The Path To Ascend…
By staff
Monday August 25, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 26, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Basement Jaxx – Junto (PIAS Amercia)
Battle Trance – Palace Of Wind (Naxos Of America, Inc.)
Brad Paisley – Moonshine In The Trunk (Sony Nashville/Arista)
The Bug – Angels & Devils (Ninja Tune) – Will Robinson
Cassie Ramone – The Time Has Come (Loglady Records)
Claude Speed – My Skeleton (LuckyMe)
Cold Specks – Neuroplasticity (Mute)
Cymbals Eat Guitars – LOSE (Barsuk)
Dry The River – Alarms In The Heart (PIAS America)
Elephant Stone – The Three Poisons (Caroline/Universal)
Frnkiero And The Cellabration – Stomachaches (Ingrooves)
Gemma Ray – Milk For Your Motors (Bronzerat Records)
In The Valley Below – The Belt (Capitol Records)
Merchandise – After The End (4AD)
Mono/Poly – Golden Skies (Brainfeeder)
Music Blues – Things Haven’t Gone Well (Thrill Jockey)
New Medicine – Breaking The Model (Imagen Records)
The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers (Matador Records)
Opeth – Pale Communion (Roadrunner Records)
O-Town – Lines & Circles (All About The Melody)
The Rentals – Lost In Alphaville (Polyvinyl Records)
Robyn Hitchcock – The Man Upstairs (Yep Roc Records)
Rustie – Green Language (Warp Records) – Will Robinson
Tinnarose – Tinnarose (Nine Mile Records)
Ty Segall – Manipulator (Drag City)
The Young – Chrome Cactus (Matador Records)
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Album Streams:
Basement Jaxx – Junto
The Bug – Angels & Devils…
By staff
Monday August 18, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 19, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Accept – Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast US)
Ace Frehley – Space Invader (Entertainment One Music)
Ariana Grande – My Everything (Universal Republic)
Avenged Sevenfold – Waking The Fallen: Resurrected (Hopeless Records)
Bahamas – Bahamas Is Afie (Universal Republic)
Beach Day – Native Echoes (Kanine Records)
Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker (ATO Records)
Better Than Ezra – Surprise (Liaison Records)
Bishop Allen – Lights Out (Dead Oceans)
Buddy – Last Call For The Quiet Life (Stove Punchin’ Records)
Chase Rice – Ignite The Night (Dack Janiels Records)
Colton Dixon – Anchor (Sparrow Records/Universal)
Counterpunch – Bruises (Cyber Tracks)
Darkness Divided – Written In Blood (Victory Records)
Dirty Loops – Loopified (Verve)
Dr. John – Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit Of Satch (Concord)
Dragonforce – Maximum Overload (Metal Blade)
Egypt Central – Murder In The French Quarter (Fat Lady Music)
Electric Würms – Musik, Die Shwer Zu Twerk (Warner Bros.)
Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) – You Will Eventually Be Forgotten (Topshelf Records) – Eli
Fat White Family – Champagne Holocaust (Fat Possum Records)
Gretchen Wilson – Snapshot (Redneck Records)
He Is Legend – Heavy Fruit (Tragic Hero Records)
Imogen Heap – Sparks (RCA)
Jason Feathers – De Oro (Totally Gross National Product)
Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas – Secret Evil (Instant Records)
JJ – V (Secretly Canadian)
J…
By staff
Wednesday August 13, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 12, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Adebisi Shank – This Is The Third Album of A Band Called Adebisi Shank (Sargent House)
Adult Jazz – Gist Is (Spare Thought)
Brian Setzer – Rockabilly Riot! All Original (Surfdog)
Caleb Johnson – Testify (Interscope Records)
Dilated Peoples – Directors Of Photography (Rhymesayers)
FaltyDL – In The Wild (Ninja Tune)
FKA Twigs – LP1 (XL Recordings)
The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt (Island) – Jom
Grey Lands – Songs By Other People (Paper Bag Records)
Hilltop Hoods – Walking Under Stars (Golden Era Records)
Karma To Burn – Arch Stanton (Deepdive Records/Faba Records)
Kris Allen – Horizons (+180 Records)
Letting Up Despite Great Faults – Neon (Letting Up Despite Great Faults)
Lucero – Live From Atlanta (Liberty & Lament Records)
Marcel Dettmann – Fabric 77 (Fabric Worldwide)
Pixie Lott – Pixie Lott (Interscope Records)
Porter Robinson – Worlds (Astralwerks/Universal)
Sinéad O’Connor – I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss (Nettwerk Records)
Soja – Amid The Noise & Haste (ATO Records)
Tank – Stronger (Atlantic)
Twista – Dark Horse (Get Money Gang Entertainment/Universal)
The Underachievers – The Cellar Door: Terminus Ut Exordium (RPM MSC Distribution)
Upon A Burning Body – The World Is My Enemy Now (Sumerian Records)
Watsky – All You Can Do (Steel Wool Records)
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Album Streams:
Adult Jazz – Gist Is
FaltyDL – Into…
By staff
Tuesday August 12, 2014
 Dog Fashion Disco may have one of the wackiest names in music business, but their multifaceted style shouldn’t get discredited because of that. The sextet’s new offering, released 8 years after the seminal Adultery, epitomizes exactly what made their music unique in the first place. Sturdy metal-centered arrangements are augmented by jazzy woodwind instruments and spooky keys taken straight from a horror movie. The allure of the record lies in how effectively these divergent influences are combined. Even though Sweet Nothings is certainly a helluva lot of fun to listen to, there’s insidious darkness loitering beneath the surfaces here, implicit regardless of whether the sextet are rolling at full tilt or holding back. Here’s a brief interview with the group’s singer, Todd Smith.
Sweet Nothings is a worthy follow-up to your amazing 2006’s release Adultery. What motivated you to come back as Dog Fashion Disco?
We are all good friends and we have a great time creating and performing together so we figured, why not?
Although Dog Fashion Disco broke up in 2007, you continued creating music with such groups as Polkadot Cadaver, El Creepo and Knives Out. Did your work under these monikers influence your creative process for Sweet Nothings in any way?
No, those other projects have a vibe and feel that’s all their own in my opinion. When writing the new album we just wanted to give people a diverse and fun album to rock out to.
Adultery was a concept album unlike Sweet Nothings…
By staff
Sunday August 10, 2014
The following is something I wrote up a few months ago while trying to consolidate my thoughts on what to tell more-novice writers when they ask “But why can’t I write about every track?” Keep in mind this shows me trying to speak for Sputnik as a whole, but is also my personal opinion, so feel free to chime in as well as discussing my own reasons. Enjoy.
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Track-by-track reviews are frowned upon on Sputnikmusic. Why? Because, at best, the site tries to be “professional.” And, obviously, there are different definitions on what makes a review that way, but the one generally agreed-upon rule is that explicitly track-by-track reviews don’t look good, especially beside full paragraph-by-paragraph album analyses. There are a number of explanations for this, and I’ll include a few here. First, track-by-track reviews typically have really, really short paragraphs. Which can be fine, but in almost all types of critical writing paragraphs should have at least a few sentences. We all probably learned this in elementary school: intro sentence, three body sentences, concluding sentence. And that’s probably the bare minimum, and usually even that’s not enough – typically, my paragraphs are about 8-12 sentences, which I think is a pretty good length as it’s beefy but not threateningly long. To reiterate: track-by-track reviews lead to too-short paragraphs, which really doesn’t look well-written and complete.
Second, track-by-track reviews are almost always incredibly disjointed. A review should have some sort of coherent structure (and no, brief intro…
By staff
Monday August 4, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 5, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Alestorm – Sunset On The Golden Age (Napalm Records)
Andreas Varady – Andreas Varady (Verve)
Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old (Dead Oceans)
Belphegor – Conjuring The Dead (Nuclear Blast US)
Ben Miller Band – Any Way, Shape Or Form (New West Records)
Chrome – Feel It Like A Scientist (King Of Spades)
Darkest Hour – Darkest Hour (Sumerian Records)
David Kilgour & The Heavy Eights – End Times Undone (Merge Records)
EDJ – EDJ (Easy Sound Recording Company)
Eluveitie – Origins (Nuclear Blast US)
Entombed A.D. – Back To The Front (Century Media)
Godsmack – 1000hp (Universal Republic)
The Interrupters – The Interrupters (Hellcat Records)
KIX – Rock Your Face Off (Loud & Proud Records)
Land Observations – The Grand Tour (Mute)
Mozart’s Sister – Being (Asthmatic Kitty)
The Murder City Devils – The White Ghost Has Blood On Its Hands Again (The Murder City Devils)
Nachtmystium – World We Left Behind (Century Media)
Naomi Punk – Television Man (Captured Tracks)
Rosebuds – Sand + Silence (Western Vinyl) – SowingSeason
Skid Row – Rise Of The Damnation Army (MRI)
Spider Bags – Frozen Letter (Merge Records)
Spoon – They Want My Soul (Loma Vista/Republic) – Rudy K
Sunny Sweeney – Provoked (Thirty Tigers)
Tuatara – Underworld (Sunyata Records)
…
By staff
Monday July 28, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 29, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Adelitas Way – Stuck (CMG)
Beck – Song Reader (Capitol)
Dark Lotus – Mud Water Air & Blood (InGrooves)
Eric Clapton & Friends – The Breeze (An Appreciation Of JJ Cale) (Bushbranch/Surfdog)
Hooray For Earth – Racy (Dovecote)
Hyperdub – Hyperdub 10.2 (Hyperdub)
Jenny Lewis – The Voyager (Warner Bros.)
Jungle – Jungle (XL)
Marc Broussard – A Life Worth Living (Vanguard)
New God – Firework (Yellow K Records)
No Lands – Negative Space (Naxos Of America, Inc.)
Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty (Sub Pop)
Stardeath & White Dwarf’s – Wastoid (Federal Prism)
Theory of a Deadman – Savages (Roadrunner Records)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Hypnotic Eye (Warner Bros.)
To Rococo Rot – Instrument (City Slang)
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Album Streams:
Hooray For Earth – Racy
Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty
Theory Of A Deadman – Savages
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Hypnotic Eye
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SputnikMusic’s Most Played Artists of the Week (according to Last.FM):
Staff :
1. United Nations
2. OutKast
3. Alvvays
4. Kanye West
5. Spoon
6. RX Bandits
7. Manic Street Preachers
8. Daft Punk
9. Shabazz Palaces
10. Future Islands
Contributors:
1. Opeth
2. Porcupine Tree
3. Anberlin
4. Radiohead
5. Weezer
6. Mastodon
By staff
Monday July 21, 2014
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 22, 2014. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
5 Seconds Of Summer – 5 Seconds Of Summer (Capitol Records)
Alvvays – Alvvays (Polyvinyl Records)
Anberlin – Lowborn (Tooth & Nail Records) – SowingSeason
The Black Angels – Clear Lake Forest (Blue Horizon)
Colony House – When I Was Younger (Descendant Records)
Common – Nobody Smiling (Def Jam)
Crown The Empire – The Resistance: Rise Of The Runaways (Rise Records)
Fozzy – Do You Wanna Start A War? (Century Media)
Freeman – Freeman (Partisan Records)
Got A Girl – I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now (Bulk Recordings)
Jesse McCartney – In Technicolor (InGrooves)
Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again (Epitaph)
La Roux – Trouble In Paradise (Interscope Records)
Logistics – Polyphony (Hospital Records)
Monomyth – Saturnalia Regalia! (Mint Records)
Mustered Courage – Powerlines (Travianna Records)
One Finger Riot – The Sea (Post Planetary)
The Phantom Band – Strange Friend (Chemikal Underground)
PS I Love You – For Those Who Stay (Paper Bag Records)
RX Bandits – Gemini, Her Majesty (InGrooves)
Tilts – Cuatro Hombres (Robotic Empire)
White Fence – For The Recently Found Innocent (Drag City)
Xander Smith – Outside (Music Fix)
Yes – Heaven & Earth (Frontiers Records)
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Album Streams:
Alvvays – Alvvays
Common – Nobody Smiling
Fozzy – Do You Wanna Start A War
Got A…
By staff
Wednesday July 16, 2014
I remember a time long, long, long ago, when James Murphy proclaimed “New York, I love you but you’re bringing me down.” Oh, if only he knew what was truly coming when he uttered those words. The same ironic desire for downtrodden credibility and celebrity chic that defined Murphy’s aesthetic several years ago, has manifested into an even more cliched centralization of east coast cool that has quickly swallowed what your parents vaguely remember as the achingly blue collar borough of Brooklyn. Thanks to Catey Shaw and her poisonously saccharine “song of the summer” attempt, “Brooklyn Girls”, those of you who have never had the opportunity to experience New York City’s new school C.H.U.D.s can now see the siege that has befallen this once great city.
Catey Shaw – Brooklyn Girls
By staff
Tuesday July 15, 2014
The band members: Lynn Gunn, Alex Babinski, and Brian MacDonald
I like to believe that thanks in some part to the small but dedicated PVRIS fanbase here on Sputnikmusic, the young post-hardcore band’s music has gained serious traction in the alternative music world and signed to Rise Records as a direct result. Obviously, the chances of the four or five people who still actively comment on my gushing (if somewhat incompetent) review of their debut self-titled EP as a significant cause of label A&R picking up on the electric energy of the group’s distorted guitar wails and penchant for catchy songwriting is pretty slim. That being said, the band deserves credit where credit is due, and their focused live energy translates well to recording. When their inevitable first full-length comes out (soon, hopefully!), it promises to be a good’un. We got the chance to have a quick chat with lead singer Lynn Gunn following the band’s Warped Tour set in Mansfield, MA about the upcoming release, new musical directions, and performing through a medium like Warped.
We’re here with Lynn of the now eminently Google-able PVRIS with a V, as opposed to the original, eminently un-google-able Paris with an A. How are you doing?
I’m good! How are you?
I’m good, thanks! Tiring day, but, you know…
(laughs) I feel that.
Your album has been looming on the horizon for…
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