MarsKid just kinda popped in my head. I thought something like UranusBoy might be a bit sketchy  –MarsKid, 7/23/2017

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  This week’s winner was MarsKid, who reviewed Bloodclot’s “Up In Arms”.  Without further ado, please read on below as I sat down with him to discuss everything from zakalwe to Linkin Park.

I’ll start you off with an easy one: Would you rather spend the rest of your life as Ed Sheeran’s sound-checker (and you’re forced to be present to the end of every concert as well), or a stage dancer for Meghan Trainor?

Oh shit, this gets deeper than I thought.

I feel like being a stage dancer would honestly be a pretty nice gig. Get to shake it off in front of big crowds. Bitches like the male dancers. Having to stick to Ed Sheeran like glue would probably be like having to babysit Futures for a lifetime, so I’ll definitely pass.

Maybe I could teach him math operations though, that’d be fun.

Dancer takes the cake tho

Sound logic that I honestly can’t argue with.  But let’s step back from those two hells for one second to talk about you.  It’s…

An interview for the ages.

He needs no introduction. But here’s the quick and dirty: Anthony Fantano, aka TheNeedleDrop, is one of the most prevalent music resources on the net. He has nearly a million YouTube followers. He’s been blogging for a decade, and vlogging for roughly eight years. Fantano has an impressive output, and uploads videos at a voracious pace. He’s a busy man. I reached out to him for a few words.

—————–

Tristan: Kicking off with the burning question: did Sam Hyde ever get around to beating up your dad?

Anthony: Nah, he pussed out. Sam is a lotta bark, but not a lotta bite. He’s a big softy beyond his abrasive, disorienting outer shell. His odd behavior is more like a test to see who is truly with the shit. It’s like he’s testing you for a fight club that exists in his mind. It’s all as a means to weed out the normies who can’t take his bullshit, and entertain himself by attempting to take the piss out of any situation he finds himself in. It’s all harmless fun for him. However, I wouldn’t wanna be there to witness the moment Lena Dunham makes him feel like he’s in physical danger.

That being said, there are ideological views Sam holds that I vehemently disagree with, but I personally don’t see that as a reason to trash or silence his artistic endeavors. There have been much bigger scumbags to climb up…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week’s winner was user ScuroFantasma for reviewing Usurpress – The Regal Tribe (here)

…

Foreword

Hailing from Long Island, NY, The Republic of Wolves are a five-piece rock band with an aggressive edge and boundless creativity. They’ve earned something of a cult following in the darker alt-rock scene, with their earliest releases drawing influence from acts such as Brand New and Glassjaw. They’ve set themselves further apart with each subsequent release though, the most recent being 2013’s No Matter How Narrow. To date they have dropped two studio albums and several extended plays/compilations, and everything they’ve done so far has been met with unanimous praise from fans and critics alike. I was fortunate enough to sit down (figuratively) with each member of The Republic of Wolves recently and discuss everything from 2009’s “Daisy demos” to their latest single and upcoming third LP. The interview answers were written in Mason Maggio’s (lead singer/guitarist) voice, but the entire band provided input with regards to content. So without further ado, I present to you Spuntikmusic’s first and very rewarding interview with this talented group of young musicians.

Stream “Northern Orthodox” from the band’s upcoming third LP.

You guys recently unveiled your latest single, a fiery rock piece entitled “Northern Orthodox.” Following the more upbeat and pop-oriented style of No Matter How Narrow, can you tell us what prompted such a noticeable shift back to the band’s heavier roots?

When we worked on No Matter How Narrow, we were…

For those unfamiliar, Piero Scaruffi is a well-known (and, to some extent, notorious) figure in online music journalism. He runs an eponymous website/database, scaruffi.com, and his opinions regularly stir up controversy among musicians, music labels, and fans. His infamous Beatles article is still routinely copypasta’d (read: here) and gained him a spike in popularity amidst the music community for being a well-argued (albeit often argued against) analysis of their career, and a contrarian stance to the music community in  general.

But, beyond that, his database is expansive, covering 7000+ artists, as well as commentary on politics, science, travel, cinema, technology, and multiple lengthy essays pertaining to the histories of music genres.

Scaruffi is a significant figure for me because, back in, about, 2006, I was just getting interested in music journalism, and stumbled upon him via discussions on listology.com, where he is/was regarded pretty highly by users, many of whom would make “favourite album lists” that more or less copied his choices. Of any singular person, his opinions did more to influence my developing interest in music, and, in some indirect way, probably inspired me to start reviewing. I recently contacted him and he agreed to answer a handful of questions.

Tristan: To what extent is musical history important in analyzing music? Can a reviewer cover a genre alien to him/her and deliver a worthwhile think piece? This is a relatively general question, but feel free to go on whatever tangent you’d like.

Piero: If you are “analyzing” music, then…

Greetings fellow users!  As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session.  It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, Mort. won with his review for Crystal Castles’ newest, Amnesty (I) (read: here)

Excerpt: “Overall though “Amnesty (I)” is mostly devoid of warmth. It’s also weirdly industrial in its execution at points, the drums packing more weight and the synth more intense, yet at the same time lacking the robotic feel a lot of industrial has. It might be cold and harsh but it still feels very human. It’s a good example of how Crystal Castles can nail down the darkly serious style they were so obviously attempting on “(III)” without sacrificing momentum and the ecstatic energy they’re known for. It may not be a total curveball in the band’s discography, but it is the most cohesive and focused Crystal Castles have ever sounded which is saying something for such a scatterbrained band.”

I had the… dubious honour of sitting down with Dean (aka Mort.) and asking the tough questions.

Tristan: I sent you some pics earlier. What’d you think? Yay / nay?

Mort.: what pics man??

Next question. This is totally off the record btw: thoughts on SowingSeason? I think he’s doing a pretty bang-up job eh.

He is although I’m pretty confused as…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, the winner of this titanic battle was none other than Archelirion aka. AaronIsCrunchy aka. Aaron Chidwick. He was chosen for his neat little review of Gatecreeper’s new album, Sonoran Deprivation – do check it out, if it’s not too much trouble.

Arch’s file photo – might be outdated.

Jac: Alright, I’m terrible at breaking the ice so I’m just gonna jump straight into it. You’re the first non-Aussie to win this review competition in about 5 weeks. How does it feel to have finally dethroned us

Arch: Didn’t realise there were so many Australians on Sput to be honest, let alone writers! Feels good though, gotta return some kinda title to Britain.

Anyways, tell us about the man behind the Archelirion moniker (also, is it pronounced “Arch” or “Arc”?); who is Aaron Chidwick and what makes him tick?

It’s kinda ‘Arc’ as the ‘ch’ is similar to that in ‘loch’. I could tell you the IPA for it, but that’d be pretty fucking lame. But anyway, I’m a 21 year old history student currently living in Portsmouth, UK. I have an unhealthy interest in language, enjoy shit telly and love…

Greetings fellow users!  As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session.  It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  In the first week of the competition’s history, Gameofmetal won with his review of Equilibrium’s album Armageddon, which you can read here.  I’ll start the next week’s competition tomorrow via the lists section of this site, so feel free to check out the selected albums and participate if so desired.   But for now, let me introduce you to Brett Tharp, better known as Gameofmetal – a Sputnik contributing reviewer and winner of the review competition’s debut.

Authentic photo of Brett Tharp rocking out to Metallica’s ‘One’

Sowing: I’ll just get straight to the point – what’s your favorite The Bunny The Bear song?

Gameofmetal: Wow, getting right to the big questions aren’t we? I like “The Seeds We Sow” actually. Has a catchy hook even if there’s not that much more to it.

Cool, figured I’d throw you a curveball to start.  So how did you come up with the username Gameofmetal?

Well I’m generally terrible with usernames, so I just combined my two favorite things at the time, Game of Thrones and Heavy Metal. It’s a little lame, but I’ve gone by it so long now that it’d…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  This week’s winner was cryptologous, who reviewed Norma Jean’s Polar Similar.

cryptologous is more badass than you, period.

Sowing: So you’re Australian.  Elaborate. 

cryptologous: Aye matey. I was born and raised in the UK, but have spent a good deal of my teenage-to-adult years living in this brown Southern Land. As for Aussie activities, I am a big fan of the art of barbecue. I attend a good deal of gigs here, but that aside, introversion and crappy puns are my main deal. That is probably more my English side showing than anything, but ya know, barbecues. Aussie Aussie Aussie.

I love barbecues.  Do you guys grill weird shit because it’s Australia?  You know, like Koala toes or something?  Or is it your typical American fare like burgers and dogs?

Well, probably the weirdest commodity commercially available for the avid barbecue fan (or any Australian male) would be kangaroo meat. That being said, a couple years back during a road trip, I stopped off at a camping site. Some bloke rocked up in his truck and headed straight for the barbecues with a lizard he had run over during his travels. Gave us…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, Sputnik mainstay Michael Snoxall won a hard-fought user review challenge with his coverage of Eternal Champion’s The Armor of Ire (here).

Foreword by Tristan Jones:

When I was in Boy Scouts as a young buck, I remember an explanation of the Scouts’ custom of shaking with the left hand, as opposed to the right. It was meant to be a sign of trust, lowering your shield in order to greet your fellow warrior. That’s a pretty good analogy of Sputnik ex-staff Eli K. (Xenophanes) and user Michael Snoxall (OvDeath) dropping their guards, allowing an exchange of deep-rooted personal musings as brethren. Honoured, I acted as the mediator, and the instigation between myself and Eli went something along these lines:

(Dramatization)
Tristan: Hey Eli would u like to do an interview for this week’s review challenge? it’ll be a real wing dinger

Eli: tbh you couldn’t pay me enough. which, incidentally, would be zero anyway.

Tristan: *at this point I typed something about likening Eli to Leonidas from the film “300” due to his rather striking beard but then I caught onto Eli’s aloof demeanour and decided against that, so I hit the DELETE button…

Last Saturday, on the 23rd of April, I got to sit down with Robert (drums) and Adrian (guitar) from the Polish sludge/stoner metal band Sunnata, ahead of their gig at Tallinn’s rockclub Rockstar’s, which in a way was ironic, because rockstars are exactly the kind of people who the guys in Sunnata don’t relate to. Being the down to earth dudes who don’t feel like they’re above anyone, even on stage, they happily answered any and all questions that I had, even if they reiterated that they were way too sober for some of the more philosophical things I threw at them. Tallinn was one of the stops on Sunnata’s road while promoting their brand new album Zorya, which came out on April 11th – a record that the band calls 100% Sunnata. What does that exactly mean? Well, that you must hear for yourself, but Robert and Adrian did give a comprehensive look into the workings of the band, while letting me peel behind their personalities as well. At the end of the interview, you’ll notice Adrian kind of disappearing from the conversation. It’s okay, nothing happened to him, and he didn’t quit on me either, he just had to go and dispense the typical problem that comes along when you enjoy a few bottles of beer. Mind over body is something that we all should strive for, but when your body reminds you that you need to take a massive leak, you just have to…

Talking with Mechina’s Joe Tiberi is always entertaining, because not only are interviews with him basically late night brodowns, but there are no time constraints, no PR people or next interviewers interfering. Time is never of utmost importance with Joe, which is suitable for a guy whose band is still woving together a colossal space epic that is nowhere near completion, and also ironic because the guys in Mechina seem to run into time-related freakouts year after year due to Tiberi’s self-set, merciless schedule, where he will release an album on the first of January, with a lengthy single bridging the wait in summertime. When we had talked for about three hours with Joe, and I had just declared that I had asked all the questions I had written down for the interview (and more), he said that hey, he’s got another 15 minutes before he has to go anywhere, so naturally we talked on for about another 45 about both important stuff (for how long could Mechina really go on for, or how, being a sound engineer, Joe has worked with hip-hop artists, about which not many people knew of) and thoroughly unimportant stuff (my aspiring lyric-writing, for example, or how robots could be a viable alternative to pets). So how did 2015 turn out for the Chicago-based space lore weavers? Where did Mechina go to and where do they plan to go to? Read on to find out.

First of all, I…

There are a lot of different preferences and approaches when it comes to interviews, both when conducting the interview and when putting it all on paper. My approach is all about letting the artist speak their mind, and in as much detail as they wish. That’s also why my interviews tend to be on the long side, because I like to include as much original content as possible. And these long interviews, man are they fun to conduct (and a bitch to transcribe!). During the course of one, you can really connect with the person on the other side of the screen/phone, if that is your goal, and once you do, you get some really cool insights about a lot more than just the music, and that has always excited me personally – to learn more about the actual people behind the music that I like, because I can conceptualize the music itself on my own. Matt Harvey, the guitarist for Australian instrumental band We Lost The Sea, provided me exactly that. Not everything that Matt said here is of absolutely essential value when it comes to the band We Lost The Sea and their craft, and I’d wager he would agree with that statement, seeing as how we start out by discussing his memories of Tallinn and come full circle in the end as I get interested in the Australian party culture (note: it turns out that the most stereotypical Australian things according to the locals…

Can we start again, go back to what it meant back then? The intentions have never been lost, but in the case of Bane, we can’t go back. Instead, there are a few select chances left for both Europeans and North Americans to see the legendary Boston hardcore outfit, who will be drawing a line under their illustrious career in 2016. They did want to go out on their own terms though, and to capitalize on the chemistry and joy they felt onstage, nothing short of a global farewell tour wasn’t going to cut it. I caught the group on their Tallinn date and was assured in person, not through words but through presence, that this is a band who still wants to do what they’ve done for the past 20 years, and that the decision to hang up the mic wasn’t something that came overly easy. In fact, after this interview, I’m still not convinced that Bane actually want to quit, but all things must come to a close eventually, I guess. As Aaron Bedard, the vocalist for Bane and my interviewee, has always said, hardcore is a young man’s game. But what about a young soul in an old(er) body? I’ll just let Aaron explain everything.

This is your goodbye tour to Europe and it’s the first time you’ve come to Estonia, so I’d like to say a big thank you to you for finding the time to come over here. With…