Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 4th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 4, 2022 –
Anna Of The North: Crazy Life
Genre: Indie Pop Label: PIAS Recordings
Big Joanie: Back Home
Genre: Post Punk Label: Kill Rock Stars
Black Anvil: Regenesis
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal Label: Season of Mist
The Blue Stones: Pretty Monster
Genre: Indie Rock Label: MNRK Heavy
Born Without Bones: Dancer
Genre: Alt Rock / Emo Label: Pure Noise
Brkn Love: Black Box
Genre: Alt Rock Label: Spinefarm
Cavetown: Worm Food
Genre: Indie Pop / lo-fi Label: Warner
Coco Jones: What I Didn’t Tell You [EP]
Genre: Hip Hop / Soul Label: Def Jam
Daniel Avery: Ultra Truth
Genre: Techno Label: Phantasy Sound
Dayseeker: Dark Sun
Genre: Experimental indie Rock / r&b / Alternative Label: Spinefarm
Welcome to the final SputStaff Top 10 of 2022! For this installment, our staff decided to dive into Bjork’s extensive discography and select her ten best songs. We felt it was a good time to reflect given the recent release of Fossorra — so if you’re new to Bjork, this might be the perfect place to catch up! Below are five honorable mentions who narrowly missed the cut, followed by the official list itself. Don’t miss out on the Spotify playlist near the end of this article either, where you can jam our selections all in one easy-to-access place. So without further ado, please continue below and enjoy!
It’s with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Brandon Scott (aka TheSpirit), a longstanding member of the Sputnik community who lost his battle with addiction. Brandon was a member of Sputnik for over thirteen years, over which time he wrote frequently as a site Contributor and made an indelible mark on the site with his kindness, wit and unquellable positivity. He wrote prolifically across the internet for a variety of platforms, significantly InvisibleOranges, and was a talented musician involved in active creative projects. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family. If you are able to, please consider contributing to his funeral expenses here.
We have compiled a short list of testimonials below; please feel free to share any of your own in the comments (or contact us via sowingsputnik@gmail.com if you would like to be included in this piece):
***
Though we were never close, I remember Brandon from my earliest days on Sputnik, and of all the people I’ve come across online, he was easily one of the best-humoured, affable and, no matter the scenario, room-brightening. The longer I spent on Sputnik, the more amazed I became at the way he maintained a cheerful spirit, brought the best out of everyone around him, faced personal hardships with vast openness and optimism, respected mutual differences, never took himself overly seriously, and yet – perhaps above all – did what he loved with total dedication without losing his heart to it. I know
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 28th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
As part of a new tradition, Sputnik will be putting together seasonal playlists to celebrate some of our favorite holidays/times of year. The first installment in this series is for the spookiest/eeriest tunes of 2022, just in time for Halloween! It’s a pretty eclectic mix, featuring everything from hip-hop to doom metal, so hopefully there’ll be something for everyone (even though I know that the lone Muse track will be the one that everyone jams relentlessly). This playlist was compiled by both users and staff utilizing only songs from 2022, which admittedly limits the output but also ensures that while listening, you can feel like you’re on the cutting edge of creepy music — a hallow-hipster, if you will. So to all of our readership, enjoy this round of fresh tunes on us. Have a scary but safe Halloween!
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 21st, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 21, 2022 –
a-ha: True North
Genre: Pop Label: Swinglong Ltd.
Archers of Loaf: Reason In Decline
Genre: Indie Rock Label: Merge
Architects: The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit
Genre: Metalcore Label: Epitaph
Arctic Monkeys: The Car
Genre: Indie Rock Label: Domino Recording Company
Avantasia: A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society
Genre: Power Metal Label: Nuclear Blast
A Wake in Providence: Eternity
Genre: Deathcore Label: Unique Leader
Black Math Horseman: Black Math Horseman [EP]
Genre: Doom Label: Profound Lore
Black Royal: Earthbound
Genre: Sludge / Death Metal Label: M-Theory
Brutus: Unison Life
Genre: Post Hardcore Label: Sargent House
Cabal: Magno Interitus
Genre: Death Metal / Deathcore Label: Nuclear Blast
Carly Rae Jepsen: The Loneliest Time
Genre: Singer Songwriter / r&b / Pop Label: Interscope
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: Pigments
Genre: EDM /…
Welcome back to the Digbox for a three-in-one collaborative special!
The Digbox has been undug for rather a long time, but we are back once more with a sexy square container and a voluptuous square NUMBER – give it up for it up for number nine, folks (it might be square, but boy I wish it were single…)
Nine is very much key here: nine collaborators, nine digs. Usually one intrepid digger will command full Digbox autonomy, but this time we have many paws scooping from many angles. To streamline this somewhat, we are going to tackle today’s excavation from three distinct angles: Food, Dogs and God.
Please leave a comment specifying:
a) which of these themes is your favourite and
a) which Digbox contributor is the most attractive.
Let’s go!
[“Digbox” – reimagined by SandwichBubble, 2021]
Foodbox
Deepchord – “Alfama”
As I write this, I’m wiggling on my desk chair. Yes, moving and grooving, foot-tapping, and thinking about how even the most punny could possibly construct a food metaphor from “Alfama,” a driving, yet soothing dub techno tune by Rod Modell, aka DeepChord. Without lyrics to extract perceptible wordplay, the listener is left only with minimalist dance music structure and, of course, their own thoughts. “Would I dance to this?” “Would I eat food to this?” “How far is Alfama from the nearest KFC/Taco Bell?” Questions are…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 14th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors and let us know what else you’re looking forward to hearing this week.
Any mistakes in genre/label identification can be blamed on Jom’s illiteracy and/or bad Googling.
– List of Releases: October 14, 2022 –
The 1975 – Being Funny in a Foreign Language Genre: Art Pop / Pop Rock Label: Dirty Hit, Polydor
Alter Bridge – Pawns & Kings Genre: Alternative Metal / Hard Rock Label: Napalm
Bill Callahan – YTI⅃AƎЯ Genre: Americana / Singer-Songwriter Label: Drag City
Birds in Row – Gris Klein Genre: Post-Hardcore / Screamo Label: Red Creek
Boston Manor – Datura Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Hardcore Label: SharpTone
Brian Eno – FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE Genre: Ambient Pop Label: UMC
Daeva – Through Sheer Will and Black Magic… Genre: Black Metal / Thrash Metal Label: 20 Buck Spin
Field Medic – Grow Your Hair Long If You’re Wanting to See Something That You Can Change Genre: Indie Folk / Singer-Songwriter Label: Run for Cover
We’ve arrived at our ninth installment of this wonderful little series, which happens to land on a group that has recently (and amicably) disbanded. mewithoutYou developed a cult following early in their career with A to B: Life and Catch For Us The Foxes before 2006’s Brother, Sister turned them into key players in the indie-rock/post-hardcore scenes. As the band pushed into the latter years of their career, they delivered some of their strongest material with the apocalyptic Pale Horses and the emotionally unhinged [Untitled] LP. Throughout their existence, they always delivered music that meant something. Frontman Aaron Weiss wielded his pen masterfully for two decades, in the process curating a world that often felt like it blurred the line between the playfully imaginary and sobering reality. In a way celebrating the life of this poetic and emotive vessel, the staff here at Sputnikmusic have created a list of the ten best mewithoutYou songs. We hope you enjoy.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 7th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 7, 2022 –
A.A. Williams: As The Moon Rests
Genre: Singer Songwriter / Doom / Post Rock Label: Bella Union
Aenaon: Mnemosyne
Genre: Black Metal Label: Agonia
Alvvays: Blue Rev
Genre: Indie Pop Label: Polyvinyl
Armed For Apocalypse: Ritual Violence
Genre: Sludge Label: Candlelight
Avantdale Bowling Club: Trees
Genre: Hip Hop Label: Years Gone By
The Bobby Lees: Bellevue
Genre: Punk / Garage Rock Label: Ipecac
Bonny Light Horseman: Rolling Golden Holy
Genre: Americana Label: 37d03d
Borealis: Illusions
Genre: Progressive Metal Label: AFM
Broken Bells: Into the Blue
Genre: Indie Rock Label: Awal
Bush: The Art Of Survival
Genre: Alt Rock Label: BMG
Charlotte Wessels: Tales From Six Feet Under Vol II
Welcome to our third installment for our 2022 quarterly playlist! Feel free to jam the playlist below while reading what our writers had to say about each selection. Tell us what your favorites are in the comments, as well as any new artists you may have discovered here — or, alternatively, tell us what we missed! Thanks for reading/listening.
Tracklist:
The 1975 – “I’m in Love with You” Being Funny in a Foreign Language
I’m historically mixed on the results whenever The 1975 go straight at their default, somewhat-played ’80s pop throwback sound. For every instant classic like “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” there are a handful of overbaked, cloying cuts which end up with titles like “She’s American” and “She Way Out”. Thankfully, the genuinely adorable “I’m In Love With You” leans towards the quality of the former; an irresistible groove underpins a hook that I’d describe as repetitive if it wasn’t so lovable. “I’m In Love With You” is so cutesy you may feel your strings being yanked, especially watching the too-twee video with Matty Healy doing silent slapstick and a Phoebe Bridgers cameo — but if I’m gonna have good vibes force-fed to me, it may as well be via a…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 30th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: September 30, 2022 –
Acausal Intrusion: Seeping Evocation
Genre: Black Metal / Death Metal Label: I, Voidhanger
Acephalix: Theothantology
Genre: Black Metal / Doom / Death Metal Label: 20 Buck Spin
Alice Cooper: Live From The Astroturf
Genre: Hard Rock Label: Good Records
Autopsy: Morbidity Triumphant
Genre: Death Metal Label: Peaceville
The Bad Plus: The Bad Plus
Genre: Jazz Label: Edition Records
The Big Pink: The Love That’s Ours
Genre: Indie Pop / Shoegaze Label: Project Melody
Björk: Fossora
Genre: Electronic / Experimental Label: One Little Indian
Yesterday, I went back and read both staff reviews for The National’s I Am Easy To Find (one by klap and one by Rowan). Impressively, they’re both among the classic pieces on Sputnikmusic.com in my book (even if that lovable mess of an album in no way deserves any rating over a 4.0), combining this site’s trademark tolerance of loving fanboyism with genuine insight, not to mention being a bunch of beautiful words strung together in beautiful ways. In this case, both writeups isolate and explore The National’s tendency to ponder the idea of distance (whether physical or emotional): in klap’s words the album is “another release about distances and quiet tragedies”, in Rowan’s estimation the band’s always has been obsessed with “distance, the lack of it, and the ways people are transformed by those extremes”. In short, I think these claims are essentially right, and all the more impressive because I’d never thought to put the band’s music in that context, even having jammed the band’s songs thousands of times by the 2019 release of I Am Easy To Find.
There was a reason I went down this particular rabbit hole, and (spoiler alert), it wasn’t because of an overwhelming nostalgia for the Sputnik of three years ago. Fast forward a few hours, and my wife and I were at the new Boston concert venue Roadrunner for The National’s concert, standing on the mezzanine, amidst the punks and cannonballers. I’ve been pretty much enthralled by the band for a…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 23rd, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: September 23, 2022 –
5 Seconds of Summer – 5sos5 Genre: Pop Label: BMG
Alex G – God Save the Animals Genre: Indie Folk Label: Domino
With the release of their fifth full-length instalment, one thing about Conan is abundantly clear: It exists as a powerhouse of doom metal that embodies a distinct stubbornness. A stubbornness almost equalling the unstoppable forces of geology which created our very existence. Evidence of Immortality exhibits the staunch refusal of Conan to let the quality of their music slip below the commendable standard fans have come to expect. Containing monumental, crushing doom riffs, faster, more bellicose sludge passages and a desperate sense of mounting tension, this album can be considered somewhat a summary of the material comprising the preceding four albums all neatly packaged into an incredibly satisfying 50 minutes of apocalyptic doom metal bliss. Get comfortable and whack that volume up!
Immediately, the humongous opener “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots” fast-forwards a simulation of the formation of Pangaea (a supercontinent which began to break up again roughly 200 million years ago at the start of the Jurassic period to form the arrangement of continents we know today). The robust sound dominating the album is impressive for a three-piece and atmospherically speaking, the sense of foreboding projected is nothing short of remarkable. The listener is transported to a medieval and geological war zone where all hope for survival rapidly evaporates. It’s just a question of whether you will succumb to a horrific wound from Jon Davis’ battle axe or if you’ll be swallowed whole by the…