These two lines bookend the discography of mewithoutYou. One screamed out in anguish, in a voice furious at the world and itself, already resigned to a darker fate; one sung peacefully, almost with acceptance, as if the 16 years inbetween were just a pitstop on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. What a stop it was, though: crafty foxes and existential elephants, porcupines with threatening auras and spiders on leaves, apocalyptic prophecies and silly little fables. I could write for days and not begin to sift the multitudes mewithoutYou contained – truly, if any band has ever had cause to lay claim to being more than just the members it was comprised of, this was the one. Perhaps if I stick to their final night, I may find the words before the world ends.
mewithoutYou played their last show on August 20th 2022, and it’s hard to ask for a better setlist with which to say goodbye. Having burned through the big fan favourites on night one, the second night of the farewell tour was almost wall-to-wall deep cuts that would never get airtime within the confines of a normal tour. From their early rippers, receiving one final acknowledgement (god did “Bullet to Binary” go off though) to mid-career deep cuts that rank as some of the band’s best (“Nine Stories”, “The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate” and the bizarrely overlooked “Bethlehem, WV”) to a…
It’s been eight years since I first interviewed Bent Sæther, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian act Motorpsycho. I remember being obsessed with rusbank.net their then-new album, Behind the Sun and wanting to find out more about the music, the band, their mindset and what not. Luckily, he answered many of my curiosities and shed some light upon their creative process as well. Since 2014, the group has been just as prolific as before, releasing a string of excellent albums that have become some of my favorites in their discography. Earlier this year, Ancient Astronauts was announced without much detail around it, so I reached out to Bent for another interview and I am happy he found the time to offer some updates on their latest records, including this brand new sonic journey out on August 19.
You entered this, let’s say in a broad term, progressive rock phase with 2010’s Heavy Metal Fruit. How do you feel Motorpsycho’s direction shifted since then, or if it’s easier, in the past 5 years, since we first listened to The Tower?
Oh, we’ve been called everything under the sun since always, but the ‘prog’ one was always there. I think we might even have called ourselves that way back in the earliest of days since it was so unhip in 1989!
While I like the idea of progressiveness in music, this labeling in reality just makes it…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 19th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 19, 2022 –
Au Suisse: Au Suisse
Genre: Electronic / Synthpop Label: City Slang
Cass McCombs: Heartmind
Genre: Singer Songwriter / Alternative Label: Anti-Records
The Chats: Get Fucked
Genre: Punk Label: Bargain Bin
Conan: Evidence of Immortality
Genre: Doom / Sludge Label: Napalm
Dawnwalker: House of Sand
Genre: Post Metal / Folk / Experimental Label: Self released
Demi Lovato: HOLY FVCK
Genre: Pop Rock Label: Island
Doldrey: Celestial Deconstruction
Genre: Crust Punk / Death Metal Label: Pulverised
Ferum: Asunder / Erode
Genre: Black Metal / Doom Label: Avantgarde Music
Five Finger Death Punch: Afterlife
Genre: Alt Metal Label: Better Noise Music
Hammer King: Kingdemonium
Genre: Power Metal Label: Napalm
Heilung: Drif
Genre: Neofolk / Nordic Folk Label: Season of Mist
On Thursday 8/11/22, the day after my mom’s 63rd birthday (and 11 days before my 27th (and 9 days before my sister’s 31st)), I flew from JFK to Seattle, arriving at about 8 p.m., to attend a three-day music festival called Day In Day Out. My brother lives in Seattle as a PhD student at the University of Washington, and I stayed with him, sleeping on the couch in his cabinlike one-bedroom apartment that is its own tiny building in which he and his girlfriend live for $1350 a month. I went back from Seattle to NYC on Monday, arriving at JFK at 10:30 p.m. I saw 14 bands that weekend, and missed Turnstile (whose Glow On I really don’t like), Julie (whose EP I really like), and Japanese Breakfast (which is a goddamn crying shame—don’t ask). Armed with the handy Pentax K1000 that my first girlfriend gave me for my 18th birthday, I ended up interviewing five of the artists—a member of the band I call my favorite ever, a favorite rapper of mine, and three artists I frankly didn’t know until seeing their name on the poster. (I didn’t know who The Kerrys were until the day before the first day of the festival, when they functionally replaced the COVID-troubled Soccer Mommy.)
For what it’s worth, barring the dreamlike All Tomorrow’s Parties New York festival that unfolded at Kutsher’s Hotel (?) in goddamn Monticello, NY around the turn of the 2010s, Day In Day Out was probably the…
The best music appeals to us emotionally, which leads to future feelings of nostalgia. I’m not going to pretend that every album I’ve enjoyed has had this effect; Kid A, while indisputably and objectively better than any Yellowcard album, provides me no rose-tinted glimpses of the past even though I consider it to be one of the most groundbreaking records to come out in my lifetime. Perhaps that’s because it’s an inherently cold record, or maybe it’s because I was barely in middle school when it dropped. Musical nostalgia at its very best requires a precise blend of intangibles; where you are in your life, what kind of music you’re listening to, what happens to get released at that exact moment, and whether or not you encounter it. The stars must align perfectly. For me, only a few albums have struck such a chord – and among those, Yellowcard’s Southern Air tops them all.
As Southern Air turns ten years old today, I’m amazed by its ability to instantly transport me back to the most turbulent, yet amazing, year of my life. 2012 began as no picnic: my heart was left in shambles by a girlfriend who moved out of state with a fiance she never told me she had; my “career” had stalled at a dangerous and low-paying entry level position; my roommate and I were gradually drifting apart; my…
Regardless of your political stance on treating boys like sluts, daine’s ability to fit the lyrics “treat that boy like a slut” into the first second of ‘boythots’ is highly impressive. Moreover, it signals a gratifying shift in the Filipino-Australian artist’s style: where her previous output largely mimicked Lil Peep-isms by combining trap beats with spaced out twinkly riffs, this brand new single is much more energetic and immediate. Trading melodrama for drama, daine finds a newfound sense of life in wonderful lines like “Steppin’ in the club in my vegan Uggs / Slappin’ all these hoes in my Prada puff” and her crystal clear goal of, yes, treating a boy like a slut. It’s ambitious yet firmly embedded within reality; aware of limitations and more than willing to face them.
While it’s a highly delicate exercise in vulgarity and meditation, ‘boythots’ also manages to be highly self aware. It’s snappy; it knows precisely what it’s doing. Clocking in at just over two minutes, the song delivers its message without overstaying its welcome or dragging at any point. Its framework comprises an addictively pulsating beat and enough ethereal qualities to feel like a natural progression from daine’s past output; nothing more, nothing less. While ‘boythots’ might last as long as its subject matter, it manages to feel much more satisfying and complete.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 12th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 12, 2022 –
A-Z: A-Z
Genre: Progressive Metal Label: Metal Blade
Acid Blade: Power Dive
Genre: Heavy Metal Label: Jawbreaker
Arch Enemy: Deceivers
Genre: Melodeath Label: Trooper Entertainment
Aronius: Irkalla
Genre: Death Metal Label: The Artisan Era
Boris: Heavy Rocks
Genre: This time? Who knows… Label: Relapse
Carrion Vael: Abhorrent Obsessions
Genre: Tech Death Label: Unique Leader
Collective Soul: Vibrating
Genre: Rock Label: Fuzze-Flex
Danger Mouse and Black Thought: *Cheat Codes
Genre: Hip Hop / Electronic Label: BMG
Goo Goo Dolls: Chaos In Bloom
Genre: Alt Rock Label: Warner
The Halo Effect: Days of the Lost
Genre: Melodeath Label: Nuclear Blast
Hell Fire: Reckoning
Genre: Heavy Metal / Speed Metal Label: RidingEasy
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 5th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 5, 2022 –
Abaddon Incarnate: The Wretched Sermon
Genre: Death Metal / Grindcore Label: Transcending Obscurity
Amon Amarth: The Great Heathen Army
Genre: Heavy Metal / Melodic Death Metal Label: Metal Blade
Coscradh: Nahanagan Stadial
Genre: Death Metal Label: Invictus Productions
Early Moods: Early Moods
Genre: Doom / Stoner Label: RidingEasy
Ether Coven: The Relationship Between The Hammer and the Nail
Genre: Doom / Post Metal Label: Good Fight
The Flatliners: New Ruin
Genre: Punk Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Goldfinger: Never Look Back (Deluxe)
Genre: Punk Rock / Ska Label: Big Noise Music Group
Grigorien: Magtens Evangelium
Genre: Black Metal Label: Signal Rex
H.E.A.T.: Force Majeure
Genre: Hard Rock Label: Ear Music
In Hearts Wake: Green Is The New Black (Soundtrack)
During the early ‘10s I went through a phase of listening to a lot of tech-metal, but there was one band in particular that really apprehended my intrigue. That band was Cyclamen, masterminded by one man, Hayato Imanishi. What impressed me back then and even more to this day, is that he lives his life on pushing boundaries for both himself and the music he makes; for a guy that can shred on the guitar with ferocious virtuosity, it’s somewhat refreshing to hear him humbly talk about always improving. Between 2010 and 2015, Cyclamen became a driving force in the scene, with extensive touring and steadfast recorded output – all managed solely by Hayato while he organised events for bands like Dillinger Escape Plan in Japan. However, after Amida’s release in 2018, things got steadily quieter. This year Hayato announced that he was going to sell the ownership of all his works, including the much-revered Cyclamen tracks that have been released over the years.
After reading the post with a small amount of shock, I reached out for an interview, not just to get a better understanding of why he was selling the rights to his labours, but just on where the band is at this point, and where Hayato intends to go artistically moving forward. After kindly accepting, I caught up with him while he was back in Japan helping his sister, to talk about the music industry’s business model, getting a buzz from complete…
Greetings, and welcome back to Sputnik’s semi-famous “SputStaff Top 10” series, in which – and get this – our site’s staff members pick their favorite 10 somethings! In this case, we had Mastodon in our crosshairs, a natural progression from June’s feature on Taylor Swift. If you are brave enough for infallible truths, then dare to proceed below to witness the top 10 Mastodon songs of all time — but be sure to also stop by the honorable mentions section to see what barely missed the cut! If you’re new to Mastodon and are just looking to get your feet wet, you might scroll all the way to the bottom of this feature to locate our Spotify playlist, where you can find the ten best Mastodon tracks all in one place for your convenient consumption. Hold onto your hats, here we go!
Of all the bands I love, Artificial Brain is the one that has taken me the longest to wrap my head around. As someone who prefers the more freewheeling skronkfests of avant-garde death metal, Artificial Brain’s steadier, more nuanced approach to the genre was lost on me. Yet it always felt like I was missing something obvious with the band, like a lost puzzle piece smothered between couch cushions. When premier single “Celestial Cyst” dropped, I had an epiphany: Artificial Brain are playing at a scale far beyond human comprehension. The band’s music feels like depicting galactic warfare, but there’s no glory found in the destruction. Its view is a top-down perspective, where fiery explosions appear as minor blips, and all that’s left to do is pray for the loss of life both corporeal and mechanical.
Examining their album covers gives clues to how their world building manifests sonically. Labyrinth Constellation’s grimy robotic skirmish on floating rocks is a perfect representation of Artificial Brain’s hectic yet laser-focused songwriting; it’s as fully realized a debut as you can find. Infrared Horizon depicts the aftermath with a robot cradling the decapitated friend of the same model, foreshadowing the black metal influence creeping forward. For their newest record, depicted with a rusted spider mech covered in moss, the production has gotten a lot murkier and muddier than previous outings. While it might not have the same frayed electrical…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 29th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
All discussion prompts submitted by the user nightbringer.
So far this year, we have implemented a handful of new, different ideas of our website’s staff blog — while some have predictably flamed out, others have endured and seem primed for a bright future. About four months ago, I surveyed our collective userbase for additional concepts, and this latest one came to us from nightbringer, who suggested all seven of the below discussion topics. We organized a small committee of writers (granitenotebook, JesperL, JohnnyoftheWell, and myself) to answer as we saw fit. In this first installment of what will hopefully be many, we observe the nature of music critique: from “what makes a classic” to how album art influences our perception of the music we hear. If you have questions you’d like to submit for future Sputnik Roundtable installments, please submit them here. Thanks, and we hope you enjoy the article!
(1) What are music reviews for?
Sowing: A music review is really just a persuasive argument. Yes, we critique the art based upon its objective merits as well as its subjective implications, but there’s a reason we don’t merely assign it a number and move on. The objective is to sell that opinion to the consumer and convince them that your take is the correct one. Why else would someone be reading – or thanks to YouTube – watching a music review? Outside…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 22nd, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: July 22, 2022 –
Anthony Green and The High and Driving Band: boom.done
Genre: Indie Folk Label: Born Losers
Beach Bunny: Emotional Creature
Genre: Indie Pop Label: Mom+Pop
Ben Harper: Bloodline Manteinance
Genre: Soul / Blues Label: Chrysalis
Domestic Terminal: All The Stories Left To Tell
Genre: Indie Rock / Emo Label: Dishonest
Elysia: Numinous
Genre: Black Metal Label: Self released
Em Beihold: Egg in the Backseat [EP]
Genre: Singer Songwriter Label: Moon Projects
Gabbie Hanna: Trauma Queen
Genre: Singer Songwriter / Alternative Label: Self released
Hatriot: The Vale Of Shadows
Genre: Thrash Metal Label: Massacre
Imperial Triumphant: Spirit of Ecstasy
Genre: Death Metal / Jazz / Avant Garde / Black Metal Label: Century Media
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 15th, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: July 15, 2022 –
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: XI: Bleed Here Now
Genre: Alt Rock Label: Dine Alone
Antigama: Whiteout
Genre: Grindcore Label: Selfmadegod
Ashenspire: Hostile Architecture
Genre: Black Metal / Progressive Metal Label: Aural Music
Beabadoobee: Beatopia
Genre: Indie Pop / Singer Songwriter Label: Dirty Hit
Belief: Belief
Genre: Electronic Label: Lex
Behold! The Monolith: From The Fathomless Deep
Genre: Doom / Sludge Label: Ripple
Birth: Born
Genre: Progressive Rock Label: Bad Omen
Black Midi: Hellfire
Genre: Noise Rock / Post Punk / Progressive Rock Label: Rough Trade
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