Author Archive
By staff
Tuesday January 15, 2013
This is the start of a new series wherein I (and hopefully other staff!) will be drawing your attention to those who plow away at the furrow in our individual localities.
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Alpha Male Tea Party may compare themselves to “Elton John and sausages.” Their guitarist may possess a predilection towards dressing like a hyper-extended form of James Harries whilst on stage. Sure, their bassist may even don a pair of Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic goggles and dress up like Hulk Hogan when the time is right.
Don’t let any of this fool you. Alpha Male Tea Party are very much the real fucking deal. They combine the scope, intensity and talent of groups like Battles, Oceansize and Blakfish with the dress-sense and mad-cap divinations of Devo. For a genre and scene that can wallow in pretension, AMTP stand out with their surrealist mores; humourous song titles, unsubtle dress sense and a nod to weirder sides of life.
Having previously secured support slots with groups of the calibre of And So I Watch You From Afar, Adebisi Shank and Goonies Never Say Die, the trio have already laid waste to a number of venues in the North West of England and beyond. They also work closely in conjunction with Liverpool-based EDiLS Records, one of the fastest growing labels in the city. In spite of such a sparkling CV, the trio are still looking to broaden horizons; both their own and the audiences’.…
By staff
Monday January 14, 2013
10. Holy Esque – Holy Esque
 [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
Being touted as the best new band your country has to offer is obviously a hell of a compliment, but for many such accolades can quickly become burdensome. Spare a thought then for the four members of Holy Esque, who along with carrying the hopes of a nation as distinguished as Scotland were having those proclamations thrown at them before they’d released a single recording – a metaphorical musical pressure cooker if ever there was one. It was quite a statement then that the Glaswegians not only matched but eclipsed expectations on this debut EP; a four track tour de force which bore the hallmarks of an outfit well equipped to make an impact in the indie world. Sure, a taste for big riffs, distortion pedals and off-kilter vocals is hardly revelatory, but these songs possessed the poise, swagger and assurance of a group who’d already become masters of their craft, with the propulsive energy of ‘Rose’ and the skyscraping ‘Prophet of Privilege’ in particular sounding virtually stadium-ready. It’ll probably take a few more releases to craft their own distinct identity, but as a means of announcing oneself, Holy Esque takes some beating. – AliW 1993.
Stream ‘Rose’ here.
9. Vales – Clarity
 [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
In their debut EP,…
By staff
Monday January 14, 2013
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of January 15, 2013. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
If you haven’t had the chance yet, feel free to check out the staff’s Best of 2012 feature. You can view it right here.
Antimatter – Fear Of A Unique Identity (Prophecy Productions)
A$AP Rocky – LongLiveA$AP (RCA) – Sobhi Youssef
Christopher Owens – Lysandre (Fat Posssum Records)
Criminal Hygiene – CRMNL HYGNE (Small Smile Records)
Erin McKeown – Manifestra (TVP Records)
Half Hearted Hero – Whatever (Animal Style Records)
Holopaw – Academy Songs, Vol.1 (Misra Records)
Jamie Woolford – A Framed Life In Charming Light (Get Well Records)
Lights & Motion – Reanimation (Deep Elm Records)
Midnight Spin – Don’t Let Me Sleep (Midnight Spin)
Mystical Weapons – Mystical Weapons (Chimera Music)
Owel – Owel (Owel)
Pantha Du Prince and The Bell Laboratory – Elements Of Light (Rough Trade US)
The Plot In You – Could You Watch Your Children Burn (Rise Records)
Rescuer – With Time Comes The Comfort (Rise Records)
Sean Lennon – Alter Egos (Chimera Music)
Seth Glier – Things I Should Let You Know (Mpress Records)
Teena Beautiful (UMe)
Yo La Tengo – Fade Out (Matador Records)
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Album Streams:
Christopher Owens – Lysandre
Criminal Hygiene – CRMNL HYGNE
Erin McKeown – Manifestra
Holopaw – Academy Songs, Vol. 1
Midnight Spin – Don’t Let Me Sleep
Pantha Du Prince and…
By staff
Thursday January 10, 2013
The evergreen jazz merchant-cum-voodoo warrior Dr. John is probably the type of person who you could file neatly under ‘Seen It All’. It was perhaps a surprise, even with his long track record, that 2012’s Locked Down LP was as free, easy and palatable as it came to be. Written, recorded and produced heavily in conjunction with Black Keys’ mainman Dan Auerbach, the album is one that sees the 72 year old doctor grab a new lease of life with both hands.
Tracks such as “Revolution” and the record’s eponymous effort show a certain fire; understandable for a New Orleans native who will have looked on in horror as his hometown was almost swept away. However, it’s “Ice Age” that stands out the most. A subtle sense of anger and exasperation pour out of the Dr’s mouth, taking aim at those who like “smoking crack and final blunts” and who “ain’t got a cent”; those who fiddle as Rome burns. Maybe it’s a missive against the parts of New Orleans that have been slow to recover. Perhaps it’s a rant against the wider world. It doesn’t matter, as such themes are very pertinent wherever you are. That’s the saddest thing of all, but if anyone can ease you into the gloom with a message and rhythm, then it’s this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgcsWaOuCcA
By staff
Tuesday January 8, 2013
The end of an old year and the start of a new one is perfect for musohacks to fill up space in their dog-eared magazines and laggy websites. December sees retrospectives that tend to be useless insofar as it’s stuff you and they already know. Come the new year, come a new way to fleece your audience; the BBC’s Sound of <year> collection is heavily plagiarised as writer’s pokerface us and say “Hey, we knew about this lot all along!”
What seperates Sputnik Music from the other sites is the technology available to us. For reasons best left unknown, all staff now have access to a computer that pings emails from the future. One future staff member (name not revealed so as to prevent paradox) decided to reveal the big talking points on a year ahead for us, but one already forgotten for them:
- Captain Beefheart returns from the grave! Not content with being dead, the man also known as Don Van Vliet found out the other side just wasn’t as cool as he thought it would be. His return was heralded as one of the most shocking of all time, and his move onto the lucrative after-dinner speech circuit propelled him right into the heart of public affairs. It wasn’t to last, however. After attempting to strangle Barack Obama at a $10,000 a head White House dinner, the Captain caught fire and quickly combusted in the Oval Office. His last words? “Ah feel like battery
…
By staff
Monday January 7, 2013
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of January 8, 2013. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
If you haven’t had the chance yet, feel free to check out the staff’s Best of 2012 feature. You can view it right here.
Black Veil Brides – Wretched And Divine: The Story Of The Wild Ones (Universal Republic) – John Hanson
Broadcast – Berberian Sound Studio (Warp Records)
Chris Tomlin – Burning Lights (Six Step Records/Sparrow Records)
Conor Maynard – Contrast (EMI)
Download – Furnace Re: Dux (Metropolis Records)
Dropkick Murphys – Signed And Sealed In Blood (Born & Bred Records) – Jom
Gameday Regulars – Nobody Likes A Quitter (Veggie Co. Records)
Hollywood Undead – Notes From The Underground (A&M Octone)
Less Than Jake – Greetings & Salutations (Fat Wreck Chords/101 Distribution)
My Chemical Roamnce – Conventional Weapons #4 (Reprise)
Never Shout Never – Indigo (All The Best)
Nolwenn Leroy – Nolwenn (Decca)
The Ongoing Concept – Saloon (The Ongoing Concept)
Overcome – No Reserves. No Retreats. No Regrets. (Facedown Records)
Sinking Ship Symphony – Sinking Ship Symphony (Globe Garage)
Skinny Molly – Haywire Riot (RUF Records)
Snuff – 5-4-3-2-1-Perhaps! (Fat Wreck Chords)
Solange – True (Terrible Records)
Thorcraft Cobra – Count It In (Redeye)
Twenty One Pilots – Vessel (Fueled By Ramen)
Vomito Negro – Fall Of An Empire (Metropolis Records)
Wooden Wand – Blood Oaths Of The New Blues…
By staff
Monday December 24, 2012
Right off the bat I’ll announce that I didn’t get as much of a kick out of 2012, especially when I put it up for comparison next to 2011. Whereas I had trouble putting together a coherent and definite Top 30 last year, this year a decent amount of 3.5s sneaked into my Top 25 (#17-#24) and, heck, even a 3.0 somehow made it (at #25! Unbelievable travesty!). It’s also worth noting that the quality of the Top 10 was only significantly bolstered within the last three weeks or so, when I simply freaked out at how my playlist was starting to look and started massively consuming the stuff which was appearing on the Staff’s Best Of lists (I have the best writing colleagues in the world).
That being said, I don’t think the low mean score of the final Top 25 is necessarily a reflection of the lack of quality of the music that I listened to this year, but rather a direct consequence of the fact that in a finite amount of listening time granted to me (made even smaller by my full-time employment with an oil and gas company), I chose to actively pursue albums and genres which I had never focused on in the years prior. Heavier music took on a priority, for instance (those of you who know my musical inclinations will note that /m isn’t a term generally associated with yours truly), as did hip hop (/h?!??) and…
By staff
Monday December 17, 2012
In an effort to coalesce the reviews site with our sister site’s forums, feel free to drop in and introduce yourselves here! Your password for the reviews site will be the same as it is for the forums. Hat-tip to Black Ink for being the catalyst to try things out… until we continue to segregate ourselves, that is!
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 11, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
This will be the last weekly new releases post for the year, but will return on the 8th of January 2013. Happy holidays everyone!
Angels & Airwaves – Stomping The Phantom Brake Pedal (To The Stars Records)
Blink 182 – Dogs Eating Dogs (Blink 182)
Blue Stahli – Antisleep Vol.3 (FiXT)
Burial – Truant/Rough Sleeper (Hyperdub)
Capture The Crown – ‘Til Death (Sumerian)
Chief Keef – Finally Rich (Interscope Records)
City Lights – Acoustic (Invogue Records)
The-Dream – Terius Nash:1977 (Def Jam)
Genetix – Installation/Natural State (Artikal Music)
Hybris – Occult/Agent (Subtitles Music)
Jenni Rivera – La Misma Gran Senora (Fonovisa Inc)
Kasra – Surface VIP/So Real (Critical Recordings)
Mistabishi – Skum (Noh Music)
PRPLX – Fabric Of Space (Tempo Recordings)
Spktrm – Android Dreams (Project 51)
T.I. – Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head (Atlantic)
Tiga – Non Stop (Pias America)
Time & Distance – ON (Time & Distance)
Watch This Burn – My…
By staff
Thursday December 13, 2012
For the average, carefree Sputniker (age averaging as low as 14, the beginnings of facial hair sprouting on their pasty chins, a copy of F#A# (infinity) tucked securely under their arms, and the cover of Converge’s Jane Doe plastered somewhere on their body) the forums have always appeared as something of a mystery; a completely separate side of the site, populated by unfamiliar names and avatars, a strange yet very deep sense of community, and also home to the avant-garde masterpiece that is/was Grumblecunt.
But in all honesty the inverse is also true, and these two distinctly different aspects of the site have lived and evolved separately, begrudgingly aware of each others existence, but with both sides only sporadically encountering the border-jumping antics of immigrants looking to defect to the other side. While both sides are certainly guilty for this rift, this article, primarily directed at the review site userbase, has been designed to not simply try and coax you away from the familiarity of such distinct luminaries like SonicthePlumber and the Hemingway-like prose of a reviewer like SkeletorisSatan (last known photo of the two below), but to simply sell you on the idea of the forums.
What do the forums offer for you? Well, essentially the freedom to talk about anything. For example, feeling a little lonely and in need of a little visual stimulation? Then join Respecs in the attractive girls thread. Video games and movies? They got that as well. Sports, Politics? Sorted. For years…
By staff
Wednesday December 12, 2012
I won’t begin to say that I listened to all that 2012 had to offer in the metal department. Given the genre’s ever-increasing popularity, listening to every demo, split, EP, LP, or live album would have taken more time than the year itself had to offer us. It’s tough to say I would even want to listen to it all, especially since I honestly thought that 2012 could have used a few heavy-hitters that never materialized. Expectations can be a bitch, so when I go into a year with high hopes I set myself up for failure. It’s good, then, that I entered 2012 with a bit of trepidation, not sure what was going to be a success or what was going to flop.
I’m sure that if I had made a comprehensive list of all of the albums I was going to listen to this year and wrote what I thought each would turn out like, the answers would be almost the polar opposite of how it all ended up being. Who, honestly, would have thought that Katatonia would release their best album since Brave Murder Day? Why did Time I not suck immensely? Did I really just put a Mount Eerie album on my top of 2012 list? These are strange questions for strange times, especially in the veritable cage I lock myself in by being a metal fan.
…
By staff
Tuesday December 11, 2012
In an effort to coalesce the reviews site with our sister site’s forums, feel free to drop in and introduce yourselves here! Your password for the reviews site will be the same as it is for the forums. Hat-tip to Black Ink for being the catalyst to try things out… until we continue to segregate ourselves, that is!
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 11, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
A reminder to all that voting submissions are still being accepted for the Users’ end of year feature. If you wish to have your say, head on over to the submission thread, and submit your entries. The votes will close at midnight on December the 14th.
Big Awesome – Birdfeeder (Baby Moon Records)
Big Boi – Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors (Def Jam)
Boys Like Girls – Crazy World (Columbia)
Breach – You Won’t Find Love Again: Remixes (Naked Lunch)
Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox (Atlantic)
Catacombs – Exodus (Innamind Recordings)
Circle Of Contempt – Entwine The Threads (Sumerian Records)
Dusky – Calling Me (School Records)
The Game – Jesus Piece (Geffen Records)
Green Day – Tre! (Reprise)
Jamestown Story – Show Me Tomorrow (Jamestown Story)
Lento – Anxiety Despair Languish (Denovali Records)
Loving The Lie – Someone Wants You (Dead) (Loving The Lie)
Masta Killa – Selling My Soul (Ingrooves)
Maztek & Masheen –…
By staff
Thursday December 6, 2012
It’s been a wonderful year and I don’t know how to even talk about it in a way that isn’t neurotically structured around lists. Here are my informal reasons behind my favourite things. Merry Christmas!
Albums
25
Zammuto
Another wonderful tongue-in-cheek cut and paste job by the wonderful Books craftsman. Zammuto is jollily demented, electronic music never short of fun and never over-stretching its ideas. Nick Zammuto has always had a knack for modulating the outreaches into something we can all get down to, and from this outing that almost feels like the point of his new project.
24
The Welcome Wagon
Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
Direct songs from Christian to God, but it’s not like the word can’t translate.
23
Bill Fay
Life Is People
What’s so satisfying about listening to Fay’s album is how it doesn’t dispel the mythic rock history surrounding it. His first solo record in forty years, after being chewed out by an industry that took its liberty to take up every musician and then dump them, is a spectacle of sorts, something of a comeback overwrought with the emotion of being able to make music again. It fully deserves the story that comes with it, although really what’s best…
By staff
Monday December 3, 2012
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 4, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
A reminder to all that we are now accepting votes for the upcoming Users’ best of 2012 feature. Head on over to the submission thread and brush up on the rules before posting your submissions.
Affiance – The Campaign (Bullet Tooth)
After Me, The Flood – Still Searching (Famined Records)
Anex – Phobic (Dubstep For Deep Heads)
Brandon Michael Williams and Seth Andrew Hecox – All Folked Up (Brandon Michael Williams and Seth Andrew Hecox)
Demon & DCult – Frostbite/Sliver (Macabre Unit)
Dream Boat – Eclipsing (Cloud Recordings)
El Perro Del Mar – Pale Fire (The Control Group)
Hinder – Welcome To The Freakshow
Jacob Morris – Moths (Cloud Recordings)
Jimmy Edgar – Majenta (Hotflush Recordings)
Kahn – Dread/Late Night Blues (Deep Medi Muzik)
Ke$ha – Warrior (RCA)
Look, I’m Burning – Angels With Filthy Souls (Look, I’m Burning)
LX One – Losing Control/On My Own (Wheel & Deal Records)
Memory Tapes – Grace/Confusion (Carpark Records)
Olly Murs – Right Place, Right Time (Columbia)
Paloma Faith – Fall To Grace (Epic)
Raime – Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (Blackest Ever Black)
Reaching Every Mountain – Small Step For Man (Reaching Every Mountain)
Scott Walker – Bish, Bosch (4AD Records)
Shackleton – Music For The Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs (Woe To Septic…
By staff
Monday November 26, 2012
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 27, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Also, a note to all: the voting for the Users’ end of year feature will be opening up on the 1st of December. The majority of the userbase will already be familiar with the rules of voting and what is expected of them, but for all the newly-minted additions to the site there will be a news post on the day to remind you all, so keep this in the back of your minds.
Adler – Back From The Dead (New Ocean Media)
Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire (RCA)
American Heritage – Sedentary (Translation Loss)
Artifas – Enemy Inside (Artifas)
Bears Among Men – Restored (Bears Among Men)
Big Dipper – Big Dipper Crashes On The Platinum Planet (Almost Ready Records)
Biome – Shaman (On The Edge)
Breathless – Green To Blue (Shellshock)
Calibre – Rennaisance (Footprints Music)
Caramel Carmela – Skinny Jeans, Fat Bass (Caramel Carmela)
Destruction – Spiritual Genocide (Nuclear Blast International)
Dro Carey – N.R. (Templar Sound)
Enei – Machines (Critical Recordings)
Example – The Evolution Of Man (Ministry Of Sound UK)
Fairbanks – Eat This Record (Urban Scandal Records)
Guy Andrews & Untold – Resistivity/Under (Hemlock Recordings)
Hanzel und Gretyl – Born To Be Heiled (Metropolis Recordings)
Hotel Of The Laughing Tree – Mammoth Skin – Part 1 (Hotel Of The…
By staff
Friday November 23, 2012
Here’s a list of major new releases for the weeks of November 13 and November 20 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Also, a quick notice to all the Contributing Reviewers: the resurrected Contributors Thread is once again open for business. For all the recently promoted, feel free to browse the first post and get familiar with the idea of the thread. A reminder to all though – the thread is designed for the contribs only; any user wishing to make a review request should still post here.
11.13.2012
Aaron Lewis – The Road (Blaster Records)
Access Denied – Touch Of Evil (Pitch Black Records)
Army Of Freshmen – Happy To Be Alive (Arkive Records)
The Babies – Our House On The Hill (Woodsist)
Bambi Lee Savage – Darkness Overshadowed (Bambi Lee Savage)
Brian Eno – Lux (Warp Records)
Christina Aguilera – Lotus (RCA)
Clinic – Free Reign (Domino)
Coldplay – Live 2012 [CD/DVD] (Parlophone)
Deftones – Koi No Yokan (Reprise) – Eli Kleman
Donny & Current Value – The Reading (Barcode Recordings)
Fake Blood – Cells ([PIAS] America)
Front Line Assembly – Airmech (Metropolis Records)
Green Day – iDos! (Reprise) – Joseph Viney
Guided By Voices – The Bears For Lunch (Guided By Voices)
Holly Herndon – Movement (Rvng Intl)
How To Destroy Angels – An Omen (Columbia)
Inertia – Universal Blood (Metropolis Records)
Issues – Black Diamonds (Rise…
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