Staff’s Q2 Playlist 2021

By Sowing Tuesday July 6, 2021

Sputnikmusic Staff’s Q2 Playlist 2021

Welcome to the second installment of our 2021 quarterly playlist/mixtape! 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.

To view the historical content of these playlists, visit the bottom of this page.

Tracklist:

AFI – Dulcería

AFI continue to delve deeper into a more sophisticated sound three decades into their career and ‘Dulcería’ is the most suave moment on Bodies. I dare to say the groovy bass lines and silky guitars echo Roxy Music and Davey’s smooth croons are impressive and very catchy. The result is such a beautiful and elegant tune. — insomniac15

Altarage – Magno Evento

Succumb sees the dissonant Basque collective broaden its spectrum by reconciling experimentalism and orthodoxy. Besides being one of its discordant highlights, the charismatic ‘Magno Evento’ stands as one of the best tracks the band has ever recorded. — TheNotrap

Bala – Hoy No

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Sputnikmusic Album of the Month: June 2021

By DrGonzo1937 Tuesday July 6, 2021

12 Comments

Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

Given that the album offers little in the way of questions — by serving up the same indie-lite standards: trite lyrics, helium vocals and nothing new whatsoever — Blue Weekend still packs a punch where it counts, because the songs themselves still ‘mean’ something to this listener. The rhythm on “Delicious Things”, the throwaway pop of “Play the Greatest Hits”, and the build up and soaring crescendos on “The Last Man on Earth”; they all converge to create an album that offers up more than it ever intended to, and in doing so, means so much more in the process. – zakalwe

Weekly Releases 7.9.2021

By Dewinged Monday July 5, 2021

24 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 9th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: July 9, 2021 –

DZ Deathrays: Positive Rising, Pt. 2

Genre: Alt rock
Label: I OH YOU

The Flatlanders: Treasure of Love

Genre: Country
Label: Rack’Em Records

Futility: Anhedonic

Genre: Death metal / Doom
Label: Metalworkx

The Goon Sax: Mirror II

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Matador Records

Graduating Life: II

Genre: Emo
Label: Pure Noise Records

Half Waif: Mythopoetics

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Anti-Records

Hardline: Heart, Mind and Soul

Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Frontiers Records

Iceberg Theory & August Fanon: Horned Monk

Genre: Hip Hop / Left field
Label: Self-Released

IDK: USEE4YOURSELF

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Warner

Inhaler: It Won’t Always Be Like This

Genre: Indie rock
Label: Polydor

Kambrium: Synthetic Era

Genre: Death metal
Label: Reaper

L.A. Guns: Cocked & Loaded Live

Genre: Hard rock
Label: Frontiers Records

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Weekly Releases 7.2.2021

By Nocte Tuesday June 29, 2021

38 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 2nd, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: July 2nd, 2021 –

Agrypnie: Metamorphosis

Genre: Post Black Metal
Label: AOP Records

Anthropophagus Depravity: Apocalypto

Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Comatose Music

At The Gates: The Nightmare Of Being

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Century Media

Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth: Utopian Ashes

Genre: Alt Rock
Label: Third Man Records

Born Of Osiris: Angel Or Alien

Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Metalcore
Label: Sumerian Records

Bizarrekult: Vi Overlevde

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

Burning Darkness: Dödens Makt

Genre: Blackened Thrash
Label: Non Serviam Records

Cub Scout Bowling Pins: Clang Clang Ho!

Genre: Alt Rock/Experimental
Label: Guided By Voices

Desperate Journalist: Maximum Sorrow!

Genre: Indie Pop/Goth
Label: Fierce Panda

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter: The Divine Horsemen

Genre: Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

Drawn And Quartered: Congregation Pestilence

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Krucyator Productions

Enshine: Transcending Fire [EP]

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Naturmacht Productions

Felled: The Intimate Earth

Genre: Black Metal/Folk
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Godhead…

Weekly Releases 6.25.2021

By Nocte Tuesday June 22, 2021

39 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 25th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 25, 2021 –

Amenra: De Doorn

Genre: Post Metal/Sludge
Label: Relapse Records

Beartooth: Below

Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Red Bull Records

Buckcherry: Hellbound

Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Earache

Celtian: Sendas De Leyenda

Genre: Folk Metal
Label: Maldito Records

Cerebral Rot: Excretion of Mortality

Genre: Death Metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin

Dark Vision: Ianos

Genre: Black Metal/Death Metal
Label: Cult of Parthenope

Darkthrone: Eternal Hails

Genre: Old School Black Metal/Death Metal/Satan Rock
Label: Peaceville Records

De Arma – Strayed In Shadows

Genre: Post Metal/Gothic
Label: TrollMusic

Doja Cat: Planet Her

Genre: Rap
Label: RCA Records

$fractal universe$
Fractal Universe: The Impassable Horizon

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records

Hiatus Kaiyote: Mood Valiant

Genre: RnB/Soul
Label: Brainfeeder Record

Hiss Golden Messenger: Quietly Blowing It

Genre: Americana/Folk
Label: Merge Records

Jack Savoretti: Europiano

Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Label: Popnable

Island: Yesterday Park

Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: Discrepancy Records

John Grant: Boy From Michigan

Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: Bella…

Sputnikmusic Album of the Month: May 2021

By DrGonzo1937 Wednesday June 16, 2021

9 Comments

iosonouncane – IRA

Up-and-coming Brits Black Midi and uber-revered Sweet Trip both release an album. The “Album of the Month” section was all set to celebrate either of these indie juggernauts. No chance that hundred minutes long Italian album snatches the trophy.

And yet it did. Despite deserving all jabs thrown at its overreliance on certain metal and/or folk genres, Sputnikmusic still allows itself to embrace some detours from its well-established flagship genres, the latest deviation coming from IOSONOUNCANE – Italian for “IAMADOGGO”, and stage name of Jacopo Incani. After eight minutes of relative calm split between the first two tracks, “ashes” allows tension to rise to never let it decrease: from then on, mad and reflective moments take turns to instigate a mood always content to frighten the shit out of you, whether your tripes are tightened because of an eerie tribalistic passage or because post-industrial razors cut through your guts (RIP Kentaro Miura). Fortunately, IRA never crosses the Rubycon of ugliness, even in its most unnerving moments; rather evoking how extreme beauty can be. This attitude to offer the most bizarre art possible also shows itself in the lyrics, a hotchpotch of Italian, English, Spanish, and French, without any sense of continuation; “rising el rajul oublié” being an authentic-and-absolutely-not-modified excerpt of the album.

IRA is the ultimate testimony of the richness of the current musical catalog. Sure, fodder albums will still be thrown at us, bands will continue…

Weekly Releases 6.18.2021

By Nocte Wednesday June 16, 2021

29 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 18th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 18, 2021 –

Alustrium: A Monument To Silence

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Unique Leader Records

Ambar Lucid: Get Lost in the Music

Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Label: 300 Entertainment

Angélique Kidjo: Mother Nature

Genre: World
Label: Universal Music

Bossk: Migration

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Deathwish Records

Fear Factory: Aggression Continuum

Genre: Industrial Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

Gary Kemp: INSOLO

Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Label: Sony

Decayed: Old Ghosts And Primeval Demons

Genre: Lusitanian Music
Label: Black Metal

Eye Of Purgatory: The Lighthouse

Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Hacktivist: Hyperdialect

Genre: Nu-Metal/Rapcore
Label: UNFD

Heavy Temple: Lupi Amoris

Genre: Stoner Rock/Doom
Label: Magnetic Eye Records

Helloween: Helloween

Genre: Power Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

Kings Of Convenience: Peace Or Love

Genre: Folk Pop
Label: EMI

Korgonthurus: XX [EP]

Genre: Black/Death Metal
Label: Woodcut Records

Max Bloom: Pedestrian

Genre: Alt Rock/Indie Pop
Label: Independent

MNDR: Hell To Be You Baby

Genre: Electronica
Label: Wondersound Records

Mykki Blanco: Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Transgressive Records

Pharaoh: The Powers That Be

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Cruz Del Sur Music

Rory Feek: The Gentle Man

Genre: Country
Label: Gaither Music

Seth Sentry: Super Cool Tree House

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Island Records/Universal Music

Styx: Crash of the Crown

Genre: Rock
Label: Universal Music

Timo Tolkki’s Avalon: The Enigma Birth

Genre: Power Metal
Label: Frontiers Music

The Day Of The Beast: Indisputably Carnivorous

Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Prosthetic Records

Thy Kingdom Will Burn: Thy Kingdom Will Burn

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Scarlet Records

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Weekly Releases 6.11.2021

By Dewinged Wednesday June 9, 2021

38 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 11th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 11, 2021 –

AFI: Bodies

Genre: Alt rock
Label: Rise Records

Azure Ray: Remedy

Genre: Indie folk
Label: Flower Moon Records

Cold Cave: Fate In Seven Lessons

Genre: Darkwave
Label: Heartworm Press

Crypta: Echoes of the Soul

Genre: Death metal
Label: Napalm Records

Danny Elfman: Big Mess

Genre: Alternative
Label: Anti-Records

Dean Blunt: Black Metal 2

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Rough Trade

Distant: Aeons of Oblivion

Genre: Deathcore
Label: Unique Leader

Dornenreich: Du Wilde Liebe Sei

Genre: Black metal
Label: Prophecy Productions

Eremit: Bearer of Many Names

Genre: Sludge / Doom metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Garbage: No Gods No Masters

Genre: Alt rock
Label: BMG UK / Infectious Music

Ganeral Surgery: Lay Down And Be Counted [EP]

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Independent

Go Ahead…

Weekly Releases 6.4.2021

By Nocte Wednesday June 2, 2021

30 Comments

logo Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 4th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 4, 2021 –

Atreyu: Baptize

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Spinefarm

Ancient Wisdom: A Celebration In Honor Of Death

Genre: Black metal/Doom
Label: AvantGarde

Billy Gibbons: Hardware

Genre: Rock
Label: Concord Records

Boss Keloid: Family The Smiling Thrush

Genre: Heavy Rock
Label: Ripple Music

Crowded House: Dreamers Are Waiting

Genre: Rock
Label: BMG

Code: Flyblown Prince

Genre: Black Metal/Progressive
Label: Dark Essence

Desaster: Churches Without Saints

Genre: Blackened Thrash
Label: Metal Blade

Easy Life: Life’s A Beach

Genre: Pop
Label: Island Records

Flotsam And Jetsam – Blood In The Water

Genre: Metal
Label: AFM

Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Dead Oceans

King Buffalo: The Burden Of Restlessness

Genre: Rock
Label: Stickman Records

Liz Phair: Soberish

Genre: Pop Rock
Label: Chrysalis

Raheem DeVaughn: Lovesick

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Mello Music Group

Red Fang: Arrows

Genre: Stoner Rock
Label: Relapse Records

Rhapsody Of Fire: I’ll Be Your Hero [EP]

Genre: Power Metal
Label: AFM Records

Rise Against: Nowhere Generation

Genre: Punk
Label: Loma Vista

Rostam: Changephobia

Genre: Indie Pop/Alternative
Label: Matsor Projects

Seputus: Phantom Indigo

Genre: Technical Death Metal
Label: Willowtip

Sojourner: Perennial [EP]

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Sordide: Les Idées Blanches

Genre: Experimental Black Metal
Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions

Wolf Alice: Blue Weekend

Genre: Alt Rock
Label: Dirty Hit

Van Canto: The Power Of Eight

Genre: Acapella Metal/Power Metal
Label: Napalm Records

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Weekly Releases 5.28.2021

By Dewinged Tuesday May 25, 2021

37 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 28th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 28, 2021 –

Alastor: Onwards and Downwards

Genre: Stoner Doom
Label: RidingEasy Records

Alluvial: Sarcoma

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Bachelor: Doomin’ Sun

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Lucky Number

Black Midi: Cavalcade

Genre: Post Punk
Label: Rough Trade Records

Bloodbound: Creatures of the Dark Realm

Genre: Power Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Brodka: Brut

Genre: Electro-Pop
Label: PIAS Recordings

Burning Witches: The Witch of the North

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

The Datsuns: Eye To Eye

Genre: Garage rock / Stoner rock
Label: Hellsquad

DMX: Exodus [Posthumous release]

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Def Jam

The Flight Of Sleipnir: Eventide

Genre: Black metal
Label: Eisenwald

Ghastly: Mercurial Passages

Genre: Black metal / Death metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin

…

Weekly Releases 5.21.2021

By Nocte Wednesday May 19, 2021

38 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 21st, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 21, 2021 –

Acausal Intrusion: Nulitas

Genre: Avant Garde Death Metal

Label: I, Voidhanger

An Autumn For Crippled Children: As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes

Genre: Post Metal, Shoegaze, Black Metal

Label: Prosthetic Records

Amorphis: Live At Helsinki Ice Hall

Genre: Progressive Metal

Label: Nuclear Blast

Borgne: Temps Morts

Genre: Avant Garde Black Metal

Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions

Blake Shelton: Body Language

Genre: Country

Label: Warner Music

CHAI: Wink

Genre: Punk Pop

Label: Sub Pop

Colleen: The Tunnel And The Clearing

Genre: Electronic

Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Counting Crows: Butter Miracle Suite One

Genre: Rock

Label: BMG

Dayglow: Harmony House

Genre: Indie Rock

Label: Very Nice Records

Esoctrilihum: Dy’th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath

Genre: Black Metal/Cthulhu

Label: I, Voidhanger

Fly Pan Am: Frontera

Genre: Noise

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Weekly Releases 5.14.2021

By Dewinged Wednesday May 12, 2021

19 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 14th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 14, 2021 –

Bala: Maleza

Genre: Stoner / Punk
Label: Century Media

The Black Keys: Delta Kream

Genre: Indie rock
Label: Warner

Cadaveric Incubator: Nightmare Necropolis

Genre: Death Metal / Grindcore
Label: Hells Headbangers

Cake Pop: Cake Pop 2

Genre: See above
Label: Mad Decent

Caliban: Zeitgeister [EP]

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Century Media

Canvas Solaris: Chromosphere

Genre: Instrumental / Progressive metal
Label: Tribunal Records

The Chills: Scatterbrain

Genre: Indie rock / Dream pop
Label: Fire Records

Current Joys: Voyager

Genre: Singer Songwriter / New wave
Label: Secretly Canadian

Damien Jurado: The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania

Genre: Singer Songwriter / Americana
Label: Maraqopa Records

Djevel: Tanker Som Rir Natten

Genre: Black metal
Label: Aftermath

Dødsferd: Skotos [EP]

Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

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KILL or KEEP: E•MO•TION (Sides A and B)

By JohnnyoftheWell Tuesday May 11, 2021

54 Comments

KILL or KEEP Vol.3

Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion

Welcome back once again to KILL or KEEP, where we take a classic album that everyone knows but not everyone loves, and run it through a set of users with conflicting takes. They will jam the album for public entertainment and post their hot takes for all to see.

Except this time it is different.

It is time for change. It is time for an album that, perhaps, everyone does love. The last two installments in the series were directed at bloated capital–penis-shaped–M Masterpieces by men with huge egos and poor evaluations of the limitations of their talents.

This must be the opposite.

We will examine a female songwriter whose attention is entirely occupied with relatable subject matter, whose songwriting models is excessive in its leanness, whose sound has been diluted to the perfect vanilla average by wave upon wave of unseen collaborators. We turn now to true greatness. It is time for Carly Rey Jepsen.

Carly Rae Jepsen

Some would say that it is always time for Carly Rae Jepsen; we respectfully counter that now is the time for specifically KILLing and KEEPing her lauded sugaropus Emotion, by which we mean both Side A and Side B. That’s 20 tracks: primo K/K territory (but no bonus tracks because we don’t have that time)!

We have read…

Sputnikmusic Album of the Month: April 2021

By DrGonzo1937 Monday May 10, 2021

12 Comments

Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God

The Million Masks of God came at the perfect time. Overall, the record’s musicianship is as tight as ever, Andy Hull is at his most ambitious, and the overall songwriting is possibly the best it’s ever been in a Manchester Orchestra album. However, it’s the album’s themes – the feeling of grief and guilt, emotional and spiritual crises, the moment where you lose a loved one – that make this album so great. Just about everyone can relate to this album in some way. I’m not saying that hypothetically of course; just about all of us here has had to deal with some horrible experience over the course of a year, including me. 2020 was a fucking horrendous year, it was depressing, traumatic, and incredibly scary. Yet at the same time, The Million Masks of God isn’t an album that reflects on those horrible experiences, it doesn’t toy with or exploit your emotions in that way. If anything, it’s more of an acceptance to what happened – that in spite of all the shit that we’ve gone through, it’ll all be okay. It’s hopeful, optimistic, and at times, happy, and right now, I think all of us could use a bit of that in our lives. We’ve been stuck at home, grieved and cried for far too long. It’s unsure when all of it will end, but it will at some point, and…

Weekly Releases 5.07.2021

By Nocte Tuesday May 4, 2021

31 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 7th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.