Depending on where you are in the world, Happy Mar10 Day (woohoo!) or Happy 311 Day.
Thanks very much to those participating in the 2022 application cycle, submitting new genre tag proposals, and providing feedback on site changes you’d like to see implemented.
Some of your proposals (e.g., “what if we had a nice shiny fire engine”) are unfortunately not in the budget (and this will come to bite us when the servers finally go out in a blaze of glory), but others were well-received when passed along to the one person who can make magic happen.
This entry will start with 2022 promotions, followed by a discussion of the community’s submissions for proposed genre tags (along with confirming that new genres will be added at a date TBD; current projections are late Q2), and then concluding with reviewing some of the consistent themes in your feature proposals.
My sincere thanks once more to all users for their participation in the community survey.
Part I: New Hires
First: congrats are in order to dmathias52, JesperL, Kompys2000, and Sunnyvale as the newest staff contingent, and a welcome to fogza and normaloctagon as new contributors, along with a “Welcome back!” to anat as well as ian b, who exercised their right to a grace application. Any former writer who stepped away because work/school/IRL responsibilities took precedence but would like to…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 11, 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: March 11, 2022 –
Alex Cameron: Oxy Music
Genre:Indie-Pop/Rock
Label: Secretly Canadian
Angelmaker: Sanctum
Genre: Death Metal/Metalcore
Label: Angelmaker
Blazemth: The Return Of Lucifer
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Xtreem Music
Bodega (US-NY): Broken Equipment
Genre: Indie-Rock/Punk
Label: What’s Your Rupture?
The Boo Radleys: Keep on with Falling
Genre: Britpop/Shoegaze
Label: Boostr
Bryan Adams: So Happy It Hurts
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: BMG
Cailleach Calling: Dreams Of Fragmentation
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Debemur Morti P
Chemicide: Common Sense
Genre: Thrash
Label: PRC Music
Cryptivore: Celestial Extinction
Genre: Death Metal/Grind
Label: Bitter Loss
The Districts: Great American Painting
Genre: Indie-Rock/Folk Punk
Label: Fat Possum
Drug Church: Hygiene
Genre: Punk/Post-Hardcore
Label: Pure Noise
I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Brett Tharp (Gameofmetal) about blending black metal with spaghetti western, Dark Watcher’s 2 EPs, collaborating with Allelic, and more.
Give us the story behind Dark Watcher. How and when did the project start? What obstacles were encountered? At what point did you know it was definitely something you wanted to pursue?
Dark Watcher came about sometime around the beginning of 2019. I was living in Arkansas and going to college. Music had been on the wayside for a while, it had been difficult to continue practicing regularly within a schedule that busy and my creative focus had been turning towards writing in recent years, still doing some reviews and testing the waters on a few short stories. As silly as it sounds, the renewed interest in music coincided with the release of the game Red Dead Redemption 2, which had a really fantastic and often unorthodox score. I think one day I…
Welcome to sputnikmusic’s (first ever?) roundtable interview, featuring the contributors! The goal is to create an opportunity to illuminate some of the current contributing team, like how it goes with the staffers in the ongoing Staff Wars series: questions and answers in a cozy interview. But there is a twist: we ask and answer the questions by all of us! We hope you’ll enjoy it.
List of participants (alphabetical order): dedex, dmathias52, Evok, garas, JesperL, Kompys2000, Koris, linguist2011, neekafat, Sunnyvale, tyman128, YoYoMancuso
[Because this roundtable spanned several months, some responses have been edited for clarity.]
Question 1, via garas: Who the hell are you, and what is your spirit animal?
garas: I’m the resident grumpy Hungarian who doesn’t care about just riffs and ambiance (or cats and craft beers) — I’d say it’s the perfect match to my biologist career. It’s darker than you think! [Carpathian Forest starts playing in the background] Also, my spirit animal would be:
garas’ face every morning
dedex: I’m a Franco-Belgian idiot who likes way too many genres to properly focus on one. I’m a data analyst, so I spend my days looking at stuff and listening to music — dope! My spirit animal is France’s national emblem: the rooster (also called ‘the cock’), ’cause it’s the only animal that can sing with both feet deep in…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 4th of 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: March 4th, 2022 –
As I May: Karu
Genre: Metalcore Label: Uprising
Band of Horses: Things Are Great
Genre: Folk Label: BMG
Belmont: Aftermath
Genre: Pop Punk Label: Pure Noise
Crowbar: Zero and Below
Genre: Sludge Label: MNRK Heavy
Daigo Hanada: Satori
Genre: Ambient Label: Moderna
The Defaced: Charlatans
Genre: Death Metal Label: ViciSolum Productions
Deserted Fear: Doomsday
Genre: Death Metal Label: Century Media
Dolly Parton: Run, Rose, Run
Genre: Country Label: Butterfly
Fueled By Fire: Past...Present...No Future Pt. 2 [EP]
I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Dewinged about how his band O’Summer Vacation formed and what touring is like right now, all before receiving some very important nuggets of De-wisdom.
Tell us a little bit about how o’summer vacation formed. Is there a story behind the band name? When did you join the group, and what sparked your interest in making noise/math punk?
o’summer vacation goes way back to that time in 2009 when our band’s dear leader mikiiiiii didn’t have money for a guitar, so he bought a cheap bass instead and started jamming with a couple of friends. He was a big fan of the Touch and Go label bands and early 00s math rock by then. For some reason, probably just laziness, the band never got a guitar player, so they started playing gigs as a trio of bass, drums and vocals. I’ve heard the…
“Why doesn’t it get better with time?”, a forlorn Regina Spektor asks God. The two are sitting down at a bar across from a corner deli, beers in hand. You might not have taken God for the drinking type, but it was actually his idea. After encountering her while she was walking home one night, he suggests that the two grab a beer and relax a bit. That’s about where God’s portion of the dialogue ends, however; he strikes up this fun idea, and then leaves Regina alone with her thoughts. “Let the ones who want it bad get all the things that make them better”, she wishes. Then, as if talking to a wall: “Let the ones who don’t care feel a thrill.” You can sense the desperation in her voice growing with each verse. On the other side of the table, an expressionless face stares onward, refusing to respond. “And I just want to ride, but this whole world — it makes me carsick” Regina continues, at this point probably aware that God has completely tuned her out. “I’m becoming all alone again…stay” she pleads. As the camera pans out, Spektor indeed finds herself completely alone again. By the end of the song, the dialogue is reversed: this time it’s Spektor seeking God out, asking him to join her for a beer while singing “It’s awful late…I know you’re here.” No response is given, and he never shows.…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 25th of 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: February 25th, 2022 –
Abraham: Débris De Mondes Perdus
Genre: Post Metal, Progressive, Sludge Label: Pelagic Records
Allegaeon: Damnum
Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Metal Blade Records
Avril Lavigne: Love Sux
Genre: Pop Punk Label: Warner
Bad Omens: The Death of Peace of Mind
Genre: Rock, Metalcore Label: Sumerian Records
BAMBARA: Love on My Mind
Genre: Alternative, Pop, Noise Label: WHARF CAT RECORDS
Basia Bulat: The Garden
Genre: Alternative, Folk Label: Secret City Records Inc
Blood Incantation: Timewave Zero
Genre: Ambient (This Release) Label: Century Media
I caught up with Scott Krasman to discuss his ambient project Kannatama, and his debut LP “Hell Debris”.
You’ve been involved in a number of projects, from Dropped Flyer (Trip Hop) and Consumer Death Proposal (Hardcore/Thrash) now to Kannatama (Ambient). What is it like moving between genres with such widely varying aesthetics, and what ultimately led you to your most current project, Kannatama? Do you see one genre as more “you”, are you still searching for your preferred style, or are you just a musician who enjoys dabbling in as many musical landscapes as possible?
I’ve been officially making music since 2011, when Dropped Flyer grew from the influences of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. Those EPs were largely created using Audacity and some simple reversing/editing techniques – looking back now, a lot of it comes off as unpolished but ambitious. Some of the tracks on Lowlife are a glimpse into what Kannatama eventually became, especially the opening…
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Big Thief are a nu-hipster indie band from Brooklyn. They make mostly folk musics that many people enjoy but no-one really gets. If you get it, you’re out: house rules. As part of the Big Thief tradition of doing oblique things with tangential glimmers of Meaning that deepen more mystique than they open windows, the band have released a twenty-track single album entitled Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. Everyone including you is already talking about it. Everyone has wildly different song rankings and all of them are fucking wrong.
We at KILL or KEEP HQ wondered whether there was something #deeper to explore, and so we assembled with a big question mark. We are ianb, JesperL, johnnyoftheWell, Pheromone and Sinternet. We hope you have fun.
Rules
Every song must either be KILLed or KEEPed.
If a contestant fails to KILL at least four songs, they will themselves be KILLed!
Special rule: Who Is The Big Thief?
If a contestant KILLs a song, they must accuse a celebrity of being the big thief.
If they KEEP a song, they are the big thief. They must reveal what they stole, and from whom.
First Impressions
Ian: so is this an album i can commit mass larceny to or no? because i set fire to 17 orphanages in the rural American south in preparation for…
Earlier this week and much of last week I had the opportunity to do something I’ve not done before (yay!). I reviewed Skin Tension’s latest…um, full length, which has a pretty daunting runtime of twenty-seven hours. You can read the review here. On the back of that I caught up with half of the duo responsible, (which naturally got me the whole lineup) to chat about the new album, the band’s influences and what’s next.
Hi guys, thanks for putting up with me this weird and wonderful afternoon, or is it a balmy breakfast time in Nashville?
Josh: Totally, kind of chilly here.
Cool. Cool. More to the point…who are you and what are your roles in Skin Tension?
Josh: I’m Josh Byrd, I play drums Edward: I’m Edward Longo, I do guitar, vox, and keys. Josh: Sometimes all three at once, no joke
Right. To the elephant in the room then. Or something just as big. Why an album with a runtime of 27 hours?
Josh: It’s a bit of a long story, fitting I guess.
We’ve got the time.
I bought a cheap mixer in September of 2020 to try out some no-input mixing and solo noise stuff, just for fun. I started recording it as an archival sort of thing at first, and after one month, I had about 30 hours of noise recorded. Around this…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 18th of 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: February 18th, 2022 –
And So I Watch You From Afar: Jettison
Genre: Post Rock Label: Velocity records
Annihilator: Metal II
Genre: Thrash Metal Label: earMUSIC
Beach House: Once Twice Melody
Genre: Dream Pop Label: Bella Union
Big K.R.I.T.: Digital Roses Don’t Die
Genre: Hip Hop Label: Multi Alumni / BMG
The Birthday Massacre: Fascination
Genre: Alt Rock / Goth Label: Metropolis
Bloodywood: Rakshak
Genre: Rap metal / Folk Label: Self released
The Body & OAA: Enemy of Love
Genre: Devotional Label: Thrill Jockey
Broods: Space Island
Genre: Indie Pop Label: Island Records
Buñuel: Killers Like Us
Genre: Post Punk / Avant Garde Label: Profound Lore
I caught up with Parthan Shiv (SitarHero) about what makes good prog, Top Gun, and the impact of COVID-19.
Telescopium is a pretty interesting band name. Before I researched it and discovered that it is the name for a constellation, I thought it had something to do with telescopes (insert facepalm emoji). How did you come up with that name, and does it mean anything to you beyond providing a sweet moniker for your music?
Ha! We like to joke about how we can tell a whole lot about someone from what they take away from the name; whether it’s the “telescope” part (insert nerdy emoji), or the “opium” part (insert stoner emoji), or whether it’s just confusion at a bloody silly moniker that’s hard to spell and even harder to remember (confusion emoji?).
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.
Hide your kimonos and prepare your most shrewd takes, for today we vie for forum dominance with a veritable king of typed discourse, a reformed metalhead, and a bloody cheeky wee jokester to boot: JohnnyoftheWell!
*quickly dons Joe Pesci voice imitation* Hey cutie. How does it feel, huh? Not so easy on the other side of the Google Doc, is it?
Who gave you this number I must relieve myself immediately hello.
Staff Wars is your baby yes and a chance to get to know your fellow co-conspirators and staff writers, but are there any particular colleagues you’d fear would turn this interview back on its maker? Why?
I wouldn’t call this my baby! I was all for anyone else on Staff stepping in, similarly to what we’re seeing with Sowing’s freshly founded singles blog series. Needless to say, no-one (apart from you!) wanted to, and here we are.
If you mean having the interview declined outright, then I had a hunch that Rowan would step further into the Mr. Robot brief and get camera-shy. This technically proved half-correct; he passed it up due to Covid last I asked, but…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 11th of 2022. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: February 11th, 2022 –
Alt-J: The Dream
Genre: Indie Rock Label: Atlantic Records
Amorphis: Halo
Genre: Melodic Metal, Doom Label: Atomic Fire
Arð: Take Up My Bones
Genre: Doom Metal Label: Prophecy Productions
Author and Punisher: Krüller
Genre: Electronic, Doom Metal Label: Relapse Records
Beaumont: Cookies
Genre: Lo-fi Hip Hop, Jazz Label: Vinyl Digital
Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Genre: Alternative Rock Label: 4AD
Cult of Luna: The Long Road North
Genre: Post Metal Label: Metal Blade Records
Dan Andriano & The Bygones: Dear Darkness
Genre: Singer/Songwriter Label: Epitaph Records
Dead American: New Nostalgia
Genre: Rock Label: Velocity Records
The Delines: The Sea Drift
Genre: Country, Soul, Rock Label: Decor Records
Eddie Vedder: Earthling
Genre: Rock Label: Republic
Empath: Visitor
Genre: Croc Rock Label: Fat Possum Records
Fort Romeau: Beings of Light
Genre: Ambient, Electronica Label: Ghostly International
