Narrowing down an entire decade’s worth of music to two or three songs was a tough call, but I can’t think of a more appropriate top pick than this. On the face of it, Saishuu Koen (Last Performance) is a case study of the most beautiful, raw facets of indie folk, spinning a bitter snapshot of dejection into a stunning outpouring of frustration, heartbreak and loneliness. I used to think it would be impossible to recreate this song’s magic beyond the original version, but hearing the almost-as-good rock revamp on Seiko’s Pink Tokarev side project gave me bad ideas and it’s since become the only Japanese song I can cover by heart. Putting aside her incredible songwriting talent, one of the things about Oomori Seiko that has always spoken to me is her knack for turning her distinctly imperfect voice into a dazzling force of personality. Her lyrics and performance are presented in a way that foregrounds her own weaknesses, with a fierceness and boldness that a long way to explaining why her exemplary discography has stolen the show this decade.
The Knife – “Full of Fire”
Finding a worthy runner-up for Saishuu Koen was a tough call. A lot of songs might have held the slot, but I gave myself a load of silly criteria: it shouldn’t be Japanese, it shouldn’t be overrepresented across the rest…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 15, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 15, 2019 –
Abigail Williams: Walk Beyond The Dark
Genre: Black Metal/Ambient
Label: Blood Music
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: TWO
Genre: Ambient/Minimal/Electronic
Label: Noton
I was lucky enough to get in touch with Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga, the creative minds behind Have a Nice Life. Approximately 10 years ago, Dan and Tim quietly released what would become one of Sputnikmusic’s most continuously-praised albums, Deathconsciousness. Regardless of whether that distinction is worth much of a shit, the high praise extends towards many corners of the internet (and beyond, as they’ve recently upped their live show appearances). Initially, the album went mostly unnoticed; it’s through attrition (constant exposure at the hands of devout fans) that Have a Nice Life has garnered much-deserved recognition. Their early work was emblematic of many tireless bedroom producers: low-budget, impassioned, and resourceful. They toyed with aspects of shoegaze, black metal, drone, noise, post-rock, and so on, developing a sound that harkened back to the 80s, but was collectively unique, and emotionally situated in present-day sentiments. Moreover, there is a unique approachability when it comes to Dan and Tim that lends to a reciprocal fan community.
Their newest album is entitled “Sea of Worry”, and we talked about it a bit.
Tristan: I don’t know how deep the allegorical component of Sea of Worry’s title is meant to run, but can you elaborate on the name choice a bit? The promo blurb seems to only scratch the surface. Like, without spilling too many beans, is “Sea of Worry” meant to reference uncertainty about the world in a way that feels more pressing than the themes of nihilism in previous work?…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 8, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 8, 2019 –
Bask: Bask III
Genre: Psychedelic/Jam Rock/Stoner Rock
Label: Season of Mist
Bishop Briggs: CHAMPION
Genre: Indie-Pop/Alt-Rock/Gothic
Label: Island Records
Esoteric: A Pyrrhic Existence
Genre: Doom/Death Metal
Label: Season of Mist
FKA twigs: Magdalene
Genre: R&B/Electronic/Trip-Hop
Label: Young Turks
Girl Ray: Girl
Genre: Indie-Pop
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Have a Nice Life: Sea of Worry
Genre: Shoegaze/Post-Punk/Industrial
Label: The Flenser
Jason Derulo: 2Sides
Genre: R&B/Pop/Hip-Hop
Label: Beluga Heights Records/Warner Records
Je Suis France: Back To The Basics Of Love
Genre: Indie-Rock
Label: Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Kele: 2042
Genre: Electronic/House
Label: Kola
Land Of Kush: Sand Enigma
Genre: Psychedelic/Experimental/Jazz
Label: Constellation
Low Roar: ross.
Genre: Indie-Folk/Post-Rock/Dream-Pop
Label: Tonequake Records
Moor Mother: Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes
Genre: Hip-Hop/Experimental/Industrial
Label: Don Giovanni Records
Tuesday November 2nd, 1993. This day marks the release of Frank Zappa’s magnum opus – his terminal triumph. I use the word ‘terminal’ delicately here, given the context of which this very album is surrounded by, but for a man of Zappa’s stature, to have him feel like he’d accomplished something that he’d been striving towards his entire life, that should be more than enough to verify the weighty importance of The Yellow Shark: Frank Zappa’s final album. The sheer scale of Zappa’s works goes beyond even the measures of calling it intimidating. His discography alone is an intricate, sprawling, idiosyncratic maze that becomes a colossal nightmare just to work out where to start. Sitting on a massive 62 albums (over one hundred plus if you include the posthumous releases made from archived material), this is a man that explored every walk and style of music available; deconstructing these boxed and linear categories into esoteric compositions that are as perverted and humorous as they are challenging. Starting out in The Mothers of Invention, a psychedelic rock band from the 60s, he soon ventured out into the unknown reaches of sonic creativity on his own, and quickly began his mission to challenge everything popular music stood for. But for anyone who has done a little bit of research on the man, they will know that for all the good he did in the realms of rock music, his propensity…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 1, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 1, 2019 –
A Winged Victory for the Sullen: The Undivided Five
Genre: Ambient/Classical
Label: Ninja Tune
Anavae: 45
Genre: Alternative Rock/Electronic
Label: A Wolf At Your Door
Angel Witch: Angel of Light
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Metal Blade
Cannabis Corpse: Nug So Vile
Genre: Death Metal/Grind
Label: Season of Mist
Cold War Kids: New Age Norms 1
Genre: Indie-Rock/Pop
Label: Cwktwo Corp.
Counterparts: Nothing Left To Love
Genre: Metalcore/Hardcore/Emo
Label: Pure Noise
Cradle of Filth: Cruelty and the Beast (Re-Mistressed)
Genre: Black Metal/Gothic/Death Metal
Label: SIN/MFN
Eskimo Callboy: Rehab
Genre: Metalcore/Electronic/Post-Hardcore
Label: Century Media
Gang Starr: One of the Best Yet
Genre: Hip-Hop/Jazz
Label: Gang Starr Enterprises LLC
Half Moon Run: A Blemish In The Great Light
Genre: Folk/Indie-Rock
Label: Glassnote
Highly Suspect: MCID
Genre: Alternative Rock/Stoner Rock
Label: 300 Entertainment
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 25, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 25, 2019 –
Airbourne: Boneshaker
Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Spinefarm
Welcome to the final segment of Sputnikmusic’s Album of the Month – the September 2019 edition. For anyone that missed out and didn’t participate in this thing, every month I’ll be dropping a list where you vote on what you consider to be the best album from that said month. After the votes are in and we have our winner, I’ll be reaching out to the voters to see if they want to give a small blurb on why it’s the month’s best LP. September’s vote was a little late to the party, but going forward I’ll be doing these lists in the first week of every month (typically a Wednesday or Thursday), so keep your eyes peeled and your votes ready!
Getting to the topic at hand here, as voted by you, September’s vote was in almost universal agreement. Cult of Luna’s seventh album, A Dawn to Fear, has been praised and regarded as not only September’s strongest release, but a serious contender for 2019’s Album of the Year. Only time will tell… With that, I’ll pass you over to Robert Garland (Nocte), where he’ll dish out his words of wisdom on why it crushed the competition.
SEPTEMBER 2019 AOTM: Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear
“A Dawn To Fear isn’t an album full of comforts, relying on a core of pragmatic, yet highly transferable theology. There’s a complexity that’s both thoughtful and profound…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 18, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 18, 2019 –
Ali Barter: Hello, I’m Doing My Best
Genre: Indie/Alternative Rock
Label: Inertia Music
The Almost: Fear Caller
Genre: Pop-Punk/Alternative Rock
Label: Fearless
Alter Bridge: Walk The Sky
Genre: Hard Rock/Metal
Label: Napalm
Battles: Juice B Crypts
Genre: Math Rock/Electronic
Label: Warp
Caroline Polachek: Pang
Genre: Indie-Pop
Label: Columbia
Clipping: There Existed An Addiction To Blood
Genre: Hip-Hop/Industrial
Label: Sub Pop
Dave Monks: On A Wave
Genre: Indie/Alternative Rock
Label: Dine Alone Music Inc.
Dream State: Primrose Path
Genre: Alternative Rock/Post Hardcore
Label: UNFD
I feel a certain sort of pride in knowing that the country I came from produced an artist like Nick Cave. It’s a feeling invariably mixed in with a kind of disappointment towards a lot, though far from all, of the music we’ve produced otherwise, and borderline bewilderment at how a country composed (as Australia is) 95% of quiet rural towns where nothing ever happens and there’s nothing to do produced an artist like this. An artist who somehow drew together like-minded art students like himself to bang out some of the craziest post-punk ever put to record with The Birthday Party; an artist who adapted like a chameleon to the bluesier, folksier talents of Blixa Bargeld, Thomas Wydler and the dearly missed Conway Savage in the 90s to create stunning albums that many justifiably consider his greatest work; an artist who can give us the wounded, desperate baroque love songs of No More Shall We Part in the same decade he hammered out some dirty garage rock with Grinderman and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!. In short, sometimes I wonder if Nick Cave was a total fluke.
If so, I’m happy to number one of the greatest living songwriters as my country’s lucky dice roll; it’s a distinction I’d award not just for the sheer breadth and consistency of his back catalogue, but because of Cave’s peerless ability to conjure an entire world with his words. Cave’s worlds aren’t a dark mirror reflection of our society or any cliche like that.…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 11, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 11, 2019 –
808 State: Transmission Suite
Genre: House/Techno/Electronic
Label: 808 State
Babymetal: Metal Galaxy
Genre: Pop/Metal
Label: Cooking VInyl
BATS: Alter Nature
Genre: Post-Hardcore/Math Rock
Label: Great Old Ones
Bent Knee: You Know What They Mean
Genre: Progressive Rock
Label: InsideOutMusic
Big Thief: Two Hands
Genre: Indie-Rock/Folk
Label: 4AD
It’s that wonderful time of year when we all try to figure out hilarious, and sometimes flat-out evil, ways to make each other cower in fear while having premature heart attacks. Yes, Halloween – which, let’s face it, spans all of October – is upon us, and with it comes the first Spooknik Soundtrack installment in what will hopefully become an annual series. Thirty users got together and shared their creepiest songs, which has been compiled and organized for your own personal horror.
I listened to this and can vouch that it’s quite terrifying, so if you don’t think you can stomach it, just click the “back” button at the top left corner of your browser. But if you think that you have what it takes, then dive right into the below playlist and let us know what you think!
It’s been said time and time again, but Melt-Banana are as unique as bands come. Now well into the third decade of their career, Yako (vocals) and Agata (guitar) are still writing and touring their brand of light-speed noise rock with rare, enduring levels of excitement and proficiency. Now on the verge of a 15-date UK tour (the band’s eleventh on British shores), the pair found time to fill us in at Sputnik on their past experiences in the UK, their hopes for this tour, and a few hints about their elusive upcoming record…
JohnnyoftheWell/Sputnikmusic: Hello! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat! Is this a busy time for Melt-Banana? Do you have much to do to prepare for your upcoming tour?
Agata: Hello. I think we are quite busy! Besides preparing for the UK tour, we are also working on new songs for our next album.
Yako: Hello. We constantly play shows in Japan when we are not on tour — like once or twice a month.
For anyone unfamiliar with you, would you mind explaining the essence of Melt-Banana?
A: If I need to explain our music to my parents’ friends, I say we play rock music, but a little bit faster, along with using noise sounds.
Y: Yes, we usually say we are a rock band basically. It is quite difficult to explain ‘sounds’. Maybe it is simple to say ‘fast loud rock with female vocals and effected, unique guitar, music like…
For once, it’s truly pertinent for me to state where a band are from rather than it being a formality — Seizures, metalcore band from Dana Point, California, have created an album which encapsulates a complex relationship between band and hometown, as well as their past and present. If you’ve heard The Sanity Universal, then you hardly need any introduction to the band; it definitively establishes Seizures’ dizzyingly detailed and dense songwriting, characteristics which the newly released Reverie of the Revolving Diamond embodies and expands on. I spoke with guitarist Albert Navarro on the creation of Reverie of the Revolving Diamond; here, he describes the (intriguing) compositional process and his influences, and also provides insight into the themes and stories illustrated within the album.
Claire: It’s immediately apparent that Reverie of the Revolving Diamond is a different beast from your last full-length album, The Sanity Universal — the former is more condensed and arguably more focused, with the introduction of a jazzy dynamic that I see has been aptly tagged as surfcore. What were your main motivations for this particular shift in sound, and what sort of experiences have shaped the creation of Reverie… in comparison to those informing The Sanity Universal? Furthermore, would you consider the split with Arms a precursor to this significant change?
Albert: TSU started off as a batch of songs, some newer and some way older than others. It wasn’t until the recording of it that we realized how much spontaneous experimentation was happening. Nathan (my brother, guitarist)…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 4, 2019. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: October 4, 2019 –
Angel Olsen: All Mirrors
Genre: Folk/Indie-Rock
Label: Jagjaguwar
The Avett Brothers: Closer Than Together
Genre: Americana/Folk/Bluegrass
Label: Republic
![Our Pathetic Age [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81vust5OETL._SS500_.jpg)
![CHAMPION [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71txiTI6uSL._SS500_.jpg)
![Rehab (Bonus Tracks Version) [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81GeE3Th4zL._SS500_.jpg)
![One Of The Best Yet [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71IcF1Xg7HL._SS500_.jpg)
![MCID [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71qfIPf13AL._SS500_.jpg)
![Boneshaker [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/9113CV5UhSL._SS500_.jpg)
![[USA]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/9106UvxdNaL._SS500_.jpg)
![Odditties Sodomies Vol. 2 [LP]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61vkJVOat6L._SX522_.jpg)
![Balance [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61gnAMj9S+L._SS500_.jpg)
![Cry [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1W4f7qXdiL._SS500_.jpg)
![Fear Caller [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81cxgQRX03L._SS500_.jpg)
![PANG [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81wkb1LJuML._SS500_.jpg)
![There Existed an Addiction to Blood [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71H8kkBTCFL._SS500_.jpg)
![Primrose Path [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81lUYlJarJL._SS500_.jpg)
…
![Get Fixed [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/718sujCkSDL._SS500_.jpg)
![A Pill for Loneliness [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81cl9rkRwbL._SS500_.jpg)
![Easter is Cancelled (Deluxe) [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81soZCUg4IL._SS500_.jpg)
![White Noise / White Lines [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Yu+UwQD1L._SS500_.jpg)
