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By Nocte
Thursday April 20, 2023
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 21st, 2023. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: April 21st, 2023 –

Alfa Mist: Variables
Genre: Jazz / Hip-Hop
Label: Anti-

As Everything Unfolds: Ultraviolet
Genre: Alt Metal / Post Hardcore
Label: Long Branch Records

Astral Sleep: We Are Already Living in the End of Times
Genre: Doom / Death / Psychedelic
Label: Saarni Records

Atavistia: Cosmic Warfare
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Blood Blast Distro

Bella White: Among Other Things
Genre: Bluegrass / Country
Label: Rounder

Bell Witch: Future Shadow Part 1
Genre: Funeral Doom / Death
Label: Profound Lore Records

Blood Star: First Sighting
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records

Brand of Sacrifice: Between Death and Dreams
Genre: Deathcore / Metalcore
Label: Unique Leader Records

Dawn of Ouroboros: Velvet Incandescence
Genre: Black Metal / Post Metal /Progressive
Label: Prosthetic Records

Decipher: Arcane Paths to Resurrection
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

The Eating Cave: The Miscalculation
Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Deathcore
Label: Independent Release

Enter Shikari: A Kiss
…
Tags: electronic, indie pop, Metal, New Releases, Sputnik Music, SputnikMusic
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By Nocte
Tuesday April 18, 2023
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Oh. Hi, and welcome back to yet another installment of “Staffers’ gone Wild!” or um…vague instructions on how to review music. In setting aside your schedule of busy Sputnikmusic comment posting and left click debauchery to get to the nitty gritty of “how to review music”, hacks, roms and workarounds we hope you still enjoy this little left-hand turn from visiting Tool threads. In this segment we’ll be cross checking different staffers’ approaches to putting words together. Maybe you’re a budding reviewer, on the cusp of greatness, searching for that piece of the puzzle lost on the floor or maybe your mum just logged you on to the household’s singular trusty laptop and you don’t know what to do with your fifteen-minute screen allowance before the older sibling demands the computer for…research? Either way, you’ve come to the right place!
I’ll do away with the small talk (or will I?) but you guys all know the power puff diddle of Sputnikmusic. The site’s Mr. Nice Guy. The El Primo himself, pimp-daddy Dewinged!
First off. Who are you and how did you get here?
That depends. In this version of the multiverse I’m the worldwide famous reviewer Dewingus Magnificus, well known for writing embarrassing 5/5 reviews for several hair metal albums, but what really brought me here was the scent of blood in the air. Also Mongi’s review of Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas’ “Mariner”.
Are you really a pimp?
I’ll admit I’ve pimped a couple of dwarves in the past…
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By Nocte
Tuesday April 11, 2023
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Good morning and thank you for um…setting aside your schedule of busy Sputnikmusic comment posting (we all know you’re just wasting time on your loo break) and left click debauchery to get to the nitty gritty of “how to review music”, hacks, roms and workarounds. In this segment we’ll be cross checking different staffers’ approaches to putting words together. Maybe you’re a budding reviewer, on the cusp of greatness, searching for that piece of the puzzle lost on the floor or maybe your mum just logged you on to the household’s singular trusty laptop and you don’t know what to do with your fifteen minute screen allowance before the older sibling demands the computer for…research? In short, thank you for coming to the right place!
Today (or sometime this week more likely) Ben stumbled into the wrong room. The door locked behind him (oh no!) and now he’s stuck to a chair until a rescuer appears at an undisclosed time. You guys can tell creative writing isn’t a strength of mine right? Um…
First off. Who are you and how did you get here? Are you asleep?

Zzz.
In your own words, how does one review a piece of music?
Tl;dr: No idea lol.
Engaging brain … erm … ig there are two uncircumventable goals: (a) engage reader and (b) express self.
Importantly, (a) > (b): the audience must, necessarily, come first. Everything else is secondary. If, as a result of your words, you have convinced someone to listen to…

Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 14th, 2023. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: April 14, 2023 –

1782: Clamor Luciferi
Genre: Doom
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds

Abraham Alexander: SEA/SONS
Genre: Singer Songwriter / Soul
Label: Dualtone Music Group

Atreyu: The Hope Of A Spark [EP]
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Spinefarm

Baustelle: Elvis
Genre: Indie Rock
Label: BMG

Black Orchid Empire: Tempus Veritas
Genre: Alt Rock
Label: Season of Mist

Chat Pile and Nerver: Brothers in Christ [SPLIT]
Genre: Industrial / Hardcore / Noise Rock / Sludge
Label: Reptilian

Chief Keef: Almighty So 2
Genre: Hip hop
Label: 43B

Death & Legacy: D4rk Prophecies
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Art Gates

Dodheimsgard: Black Medium Current
Genre: Black Metal / Death Metal
Label: Peaceville

Domestic Terminal: The Flooded Basement [EP]
Genre: Midwest Emo / Alternative Rock
Label: Self released

Eloise: Drunk on a Flight
Genre: Indie Pop
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By staff
Monday April 10, 2023
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[Part I] // [Part II]
They say you were something in those formative years…
For many, our love of music begins with the influence of our family and friends. I can remember my mom blasting Hendrix so loud the windows shook and I could feel it through the stool I was sitting on. Or hunched by the kitchen window watching the spread of milky coldness on the glass while my father cooked with Paul Simon singing “Mother and Child Reunion”. Still later, I would remember my brother buying Bon Jovi patches for his denim jacket.
There does come a time when something we hear goes beyond our inheritance. When I consciously chose an artist that no-one else championed, it changed what music did for me — it became an expression of my personality. Musical taste, to me anyway, is sometimes an instinctual compass that unlocks a part of who we are. These are some stories about those moments, as told by our contributor team. –fog
Red Hot Chili Peppers
My first real love in life was skateboarding. From the age of 7 upward, it was all I would do with my time. I’d take my horrible factory-made deck out into the school carpark down the road from my house and spend hours on end trying to slappy curbs and ollie manhole covers. Eventually, when I’d skinned my knees enough or twisted my ankle so badly I…

Darren Hayes @SEC Armadillo, Glasgow 31/3/23
For anyone who read my recent review on Hayes’ latest album, Homosexual, which was released at the end of last year, you’ll know that I didn’t pull any punches. Homosexual is so bad, it’s very likely to be one of my most reviled albums of the decade. The thing is, Hayes’ fifth album being bad isn’t that big an issue, right? He’s been out of the game for eleven years and writes a pretentious, out of touch synthpop stinker, it’s unfortunate but you just don’t have to listen to it again, no big deal. That is until you realise you’re going to see one of his shows. Of course, at the time I bought tickets to see his show, I didn’t even know he was making a new album. Considering how long he’s been out of the game, the tour being proposed, it seemed pretty obvious it was going to be a greatest hits celebration, and since I’d never seen him live and adored most of his recorded output, it seemed like a no brainer. Homosexual’s poor quality was set to threaten that assumption however; what went from elated excitement at the prospect of hearing these classic bangers live, turned into apprehension with the knowledge his abominable 2022 release was going to be smeared all over the setlist.
As it happens, Homosexual was present on the night but there were so many other glaring issues from the performance it diminished this…
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By Sowing
Tuesday April 4, 2023
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 7th, 2023. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: April 7, 2023 –

Asystole: Siren To Blight
Genre: Death Metal
Label: I, Voidhanger Records

Covet: Catharsis
Genre: Math/Progressive Rock
Label: Triple Crown

Daniel Caesar: Never Enough
Genre: R&B/Soul
Label: Hollace Inc.

Daughter: Stereo Mind Game
Genre: Indie-Rock/Dream Pop
Label: Glassnote Entertainment Group

Ellie Goulding: Higher Than Heaven
Genre: Indie Pop/Electronic
Label: Universal Music

Fire-Toolz: I am upset because I see something that is not there.
Genre: Experimental/Electronic
Label: Fire-Toolz

Frenzal Rhomb: The Cup Of Pestilence
Genre: Hardcore/Punk
Label: Frenzal Rhomb

HMLTD: The Worm
Genre: Post-Punk/Electronic
Label: Lucky Number Music

ISON: Stars & Embers
Genre: Ambient/Drone/Shoegaze
Label: Avantgarde Music

Linkin Park: Meteora 20th Anniversary Edition
Genre: Nu-Metal/Rock
Label: Warner Records

Mudhoney: Plastic Eternity
Genre: Grunge/Punk/Alt-Rock
Label: Sub Pop

NF: Hope
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label: NF Real…
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By Nocte
Tuesday April 4, 2023
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You’re here! No, I mean you actually came. Someone please lock the door so you guys can’t get out. In this segment we’ll be cross checking different staffers’ approaches to putting words together. Maybe you’re a budding reviewer, on the cusp of greatness, searching for that piece of the puzzle lost on the floor or maybe your mum just logged you on to the household’s singular trusty laptop and you don’t know what to do with your fifteen-minute screen allowance before the older sibling demands the computer for…research? Either way, you’ve come to the right place!
Welcome to Part. 2 of an undisclosed number of mini interviews in this segment.
Today (or sometime this week more likely) we have Tyler White a.k.a. Tyman128. I lack basic witty comments here and enough back-story to dangle lazy liners and joyful familiarity. I shall fix that this year – consider that a late New Year’s resolution.
First off. Who are you and how did you get here?
Yo, what’s up! I am Tyler, better known on this God forsaken website as tyman420 (I don’t know, some people sorta started adding that to my name and I have zero clue why). I showed up – lemme check, hold up – well… my join date now says January 1970, but I’m pretty sure it was early March 2018 and my first review was June 2018. I still don’t fully know why I even joined this site, pretty sure I just found a random review…
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By Sowing
Saturday April 1, 2023
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2023 :: Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4
Sputnikmusic Staff’s Q1 Playlist 2023
Welcome to the first installment for our 2023 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, any new artists you may have discovered here, or let us know what we missed!
Tracklist:

Acid Arab – “Habaytak”
٣ (Trois)
Acid Arab continue to infuse techno with Arabian music to great effect, with “Habaytak” offering a more aggressive groove sprinkled with catchy vocals and hypnotic keyboard leads. It might seem like an absurd mix at first, but the song (and the entire album) becomes addictive. –Raul Stanciu

Algiers – “A Good Man”
Shook
I like Algiers when they let loose and let that bit of Bad Brains take over. This is where this band shines. Their latest record Shook is an impressive display of experimental post punk — sometimes hard to follow, sometimes hard to let go — but it’s in short bursts like “A Good Man” where this band really proves there’s a wildfire still burning inside of them. –Dewinged

Asian Glow & sonhos tomam conta – “hangthemall” …
Hello and welcome to the future of Sputnik’s recently rebooted, charm offending, hernia cleansing, fool hunting, wokeshopping mania avenue for the brave and brainless. Staff Wars is back! This is where we stick members of the Staff team against the wall and interview them within an inch of their lives. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you’d never had the courage to approach before surpass your wildest expectations.
Today’s subject is an adorable young bean of Good Sput Stock, so fresh-faced that I originally misremembered the number of years he has been on Staff by a factor of 0.5 (this has been edited and I have been shamed). His penmanship is pointy, his reverence is zany and his charm is a gosh darned weapon. Please welcome: AsleepintheBack!

AsleepintheBack hi. What day/time is it and how is your day?
I am somewhere in France on a Wednesday evening after a most adequate day thanking you I hope you are swell.
What are you jamming at this moment?
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Here Be Dragons (thank you MoM).
Hmm. Let’s break some ice: what can humans learn from birds?
How to fall with style (penguins exempted).
Love penguins. Which problematic historical figure do you find most attractive?
I’d bang Stalin tbh (he can Soviet my Union, wink wink etc.).
Yikes hot, great! Now, the question on everyone’s lips: why are you named after an Elbow album?
God knows lol. My dad likes Elbow. I like my dad. There was probably some further reasoning between those two…
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By Nocte
Thursday March 30, 2023
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Is it evening yet? Or is the morning? Um…setting aside your schedule of busy Sputnikmusic comment posting and left click debauchery to get to the nitty gritty of “how to review music”, hacks, roms and workarounds. In this segment we’ll be cross checking different staffers’ approaches to putting words together. Maybe you’re a budding reviewer, on the cusp of greatness (how ’bout that?), searching for that piece of the puzzle lost on the floor or maybe your mum just logged you on to the household’s singular trusty laptop and you don’t know what to do with your fifteen-minute screen allowance before the older sibling demands the computer for…research? Either way, you’ve come to the right place!
Welcome to Part. 1! Today (or sometime this week more likely) we have…Jesper!!
First off. Who are you and how did you get here?
Hi! I’m Jesper and I probably got here in like 2015 while trying to find a review for Knuckle Puck or Brand New or something. Pop punk being part of your origin story is rarely a good sign.

How many reviews do you have on this site? No, disregard that. How many reviews are you truly proud of? Now you can circle back. How many reviews do you have?
Eh, out of my 155 reviews I might be truly proud of a few of them. I honestly don’t know because I never/rarely reread my own reviews after they’re up (mostly because I’ll have proofread them like 24 times…
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By Willie
Wednesday March 29, 2023
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 31st, 2023. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: March 31st, 2023 –

Ad Infinitum: Chapter III: Downfall
Genre: Metal / Symphonic Metal
Label: Napalm

Boygenius: The Record
Genre: Indie Folk / Indie Rock
Label: Interscope Records

Bury Tomorrow: The Seventh Son
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Music For Nations

Chloe: In Pieces
Genre: Singer / Songwriter
Label: Columbia

The Classic Crime: Grim Age
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: Tooth & Nail Records

Damien Jurado: Sometimes You Hurt The Ones You Hate
Genre: Indie Folk / Psychedelic
Label: Maraqopa Records

Deerhoof: Miracle-Level
Genre: Noise Rock / Indie
Label: Joyful Noise Recordings

The Hold Steady: The Price of Progress
Genre: Indie Rock
Label: Positive Jams

Jael: Midlife
Genre: Pop
Label: Zealand Records

Jodye Reign: I Fell in Luv
Genre: R&B
Label: Servcorp

Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn
Genre: Jazz
Label: AKP Recordings

London Brew: London Brew
Genre: Jazz Fusion
Label: Downtown Records

Lordi: Screem Writers Guild
Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Atomic Fire

…
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By staff
Monday March 27, 2023
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[Part I] // [Part II]
They say you were something in those formative years…
For many, our love of music begins with the influence of our family and friends. I can remember my mom blasting Hendrix so loud the windows shook and I could feel it through the stool I was sitting on. Or hunched by the kitchen window watching the spread of milky coldness on the glass while my father cooked with Paul Simon singing “Mother and Child Reunion”. Still later, I would remember my brother buying Bon Jovi patches for his denim jacket.
There does come a time when something we hear goes beyond our inheritance. When I consciously chose an artist that no-one else championed, it changed what music did for me — it became an expression of my personality. Musical taste, to me anyway, is sometimes an instinctual compass that unlocks a part of who we are. These are some stories about those moments, as told by our contributor team. –fog
U2
It’s 2005. 2006? The exact year doesn’t matter. I’m 9, maybe 10 years old, and clearly don’t know much about how the world works, but I harbor an unquenchable need — as the oldest child in my family, as the son of a teacher and a preacher, as someone with all the love and support you could ask for, Maslow’s first three needs safely met — to present…

jonatan leandoer96-Sugar World
Sugar World, Yung Lean’s new album released under his jonatan leandoer96 moniker, might be the sweetest he’s sounded. Not vocally, mind you–his crooning is as tuneless as ever–but he’s as charming and earnest as he looks on the cover. Sugar World is primarily a collection of ballads adorned with lush pop-rock instrumentation, and it’s a new direction for Lean, even under this name. His versatility is impressive, and this new album demonstrates that he isn’t afraid in the slightest of experimenting or branching out into new territory.
The music backing Yung Lean is glossy and easy-going, providing a wonderful juxtaposition with Yung Lean’s aforementioned vocal performance. Critics have decried his vocals as unpalatable throughout his career, so there’s nothing really new here on that front; yet others, whether they be long-time fans or curious newcomers, will appreciate the romance and quirkiness in his voice. Lyrically, nearly every song touches on affection and intimacy in some form, and it’s hard not to find Lean delightful and alluring as he sings about blue feelings, amusement parks, and remote-controlled love. In fact, this may be his strongest set of lyrics to date. It may be nothing extraordinary, but the combination of melancholy, wistful instrumentals and lovesick rhymes is evergreen. With the added layer of Yung Lean’s monotone vocal delivery, there’s a number of competing and compelling dimensions here that make repeated listens rewarding.
Perhaps no song exemplifies this better than “Rivers of Another Town,” a piano-backed jaunt that wouldn’t…

Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 24th, 2023. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: March 24, 2023 –

Acid King: Beyond Vision
Genre: Stoner Doom
Label: Blues Funeral

August Burns Red: Death Below
Genre: Metalcore
Label: SharpTone

Autumn Tears: Guardian Of The Pale
Genre: Darkwave / Neoclassical
Label: The Circle Music

Babymetal: The Other One
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Babymetal

Caroline Rose: The Art of Forgetting
Genre: Indie Pop
Label: New West University

Cruachan: The Living And The Dead
Genre: Folk Metal
Label: Despotz

Dawn Ray’d: To Know The Light
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Prosthetic

Depeche Mode: Memento Mori
Genre: New Wave / Synthpop
Label: Columbia

Eden Weint Im Grab: Apokalypse Galore
Genre: Gothic Metal
Label: Einheit Produktionen

Ellie Goulding: Higher Than Heaven
Genre: EDM
Label: Polydor

Excalion: Once Upon A Time
Genre: Power Metal
Label: Scarlet

Fall…
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