Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Earshot were key players in spearheading the American alt-rock movement, releasing massive hits like “Get Away”, “Not Afraid” and “Wait” respectively, with their influence and success getting them significant radio airplay, as well as being featured on a number of video games including Madden ’05, MX vs. ATV Unleashed, and Project Gotham Racing 2. However, despite all the success of 2002’s Letting Go and 2004’s Two, the band would go through several line-up changes and their momentum would gradually wane, not releasing their third LP, The Silver Lining, until 2008. After this, the band would recede into the shadows for over a decade, releasing only a 4-track EP in 2015 and a couple of singles during Covid. Thankfully, all of that is about to change: with a brand-new line-up that includes ex-Breaking Benjamin guitarist, Aaron Fink, Earshot are set to make a massive comeback in 2025 with their first new album in 17 years. The band’s first single “Where Were You?” recently dropped to a strong reception from fans, and the band are currently in the throes of planning their next moves. I recently caught up with the band’s founding member and frontman, Wil Martin, who candidly discusses the band’s history, its tribulations, and the bright future that lies ahead of them, so I hope you enjoy it. (Please note: the transcript from this interview was edited and some of the wording changed for a more concise reading experience. For the definitive version of this…
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Greetings sputnikers and welcome to your weekly reminder that there are people out there with the audacity to release new albums despite music peaking with Jane Doe in 2001. I know, kinda cringe. Big hitters this week include a load of metal bands I vaguely recognise and the second half of that Bon Iver project that dropped last year, plus the new Ken Carson album that will definitely release on time. For sure. No doubt in my mind. Oh and Wu-Tang apparently, although the chances of that being real give Bigfoot some competition. Anywho, as usual let us know what you are hyping and why we all should definitely check the new Neptunian Maximalism album – those genre tags look tasty. Feel free to sample a few of these releases in the playlist below. ‘Til next week! – List of Releases: April 11th, 2025 –
AIR & Vegyn – Blue Moon Safari
Akutagawa – 鱗光
Annisokay – Abyss Pt. II
The Birthday Massacre – Pathway
Blood Abscission – I I
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE
It’s incredible how the most groundbreaking movements can be started from the smallest sparks. Take, for instance, a young guitar player who lost his fingertips in an accident at a sheet metal factory. Despite being told he would never play again, he found a way, melting down plastic bottles to create homemade thimbles, and tuning down his guitar to make the strings easier to hold down. I’m sure you can guess where this is going: that guitarist was none other than Tony Iommi, and that one accident would inevitably lead to the birth of a whole new genre of rock music: heavy metal. Welcome to The Look Back (title still somewhat in progress), a look at the classic albums of old through modern ears. This is a little project I’m embarking on to see how albums that are held up as classics in their genres fare in the modern day, when so much has built on their foundations, all through the ears of a Gen Z kid who listened to plenty of these newer albums before checking out the classics. And for the inaugural installment, I felt it was only right to look at the album that indirectly inspired so many of Sputnik’s favorite albums, the progenitor of heavy metal, Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album. WHY IS THIS A CLASSIC? I mean… do I really even have to ask this? While other bands such as Led Zeppelin are sometimes… What’s up everyone! Welcome to my first interview that I’ve done for Sputnik, and hopefully the first of many. This week, I was able to sit down on a Zoom call with Jackal Twins to discuss their debut record, Cuzco. These guy were absolutely amazing to talk with, they all had great senses of humor, and they all genuinely love the work they have done with Jackal Twins. If you haven’t listened to their debut album yet, or this is the first time you’ve heard their name, let me give you a quick introduction. Jackal Twins is a three-piece band based out of the New England area, with Ben Trussell on drums and vocals, Mike Palumbo on guitars and vocals, and Dante Lamusta on bass. Their Bandcamp profile describes their music as “psychedelic noisy tunes for the hopeless romantic.” Good luck trying to pin a particular genre down, though. They tend to focus on the mathcore side of their music, and lean into the aggressive style. However, there are numerous genre influences that shine throughout, with a great balance of heaviness with melodic songwriting. But I’m not here to explain the band myself. No, I’m here to let you guys hear from the band themselves. Please, enjoy this interview with the Jackal Twins! You can either read the interview, listen to the recording, or follow along with both.
NOTE: The transcript below was edited for brevity. Some of the wording has been changed or…
Welcome to my first time doing the weekly releases! Feel free to give my performance a rating on a scale from 1 to 10, comment every single release not here that I didn’t even know existed, and let everyone know what you’re jamming to this week. As always, feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors, be sure to skim the release playlist for any songs that catch your eye, and have a great week! – List of Releases: March 21st, 2025 –
Arch Enemy – Blood Dynasty
The Darkness – Dreams on Toast
Deafheaven – Lonely People with Power
Dean Wareham – That’s the Price of Loving Me
Destroyer – Dan’s Boogie
Decrepisy – Deific Mourning
Envy of None – Stygian Wavz
girlpuppy – Sweetness
Great Grandpa – Patience, Moonbeam
Invent Animate x Silent Planet – Bloom in Heaven
Lil Durk – Deep Thoughts
Saya Gray – SAYA SAYA wasn’t the album I was expecting from Saya Gray. Given the direction of her QWERTY EPs, it seemed like she was diving deeper into the fragmented songwriting approach of 19 Masters—instead, she took a different route. Sonically, SAYA still plays in the same blurry space between r&b, pop, electronic, and folk, but where her past work felt like a chaotic patchwork of ideas, this album has a clear throughline. The genre-hopping, effortless melodies, eccentric vocal yips—it’s all still there, but every twist and turn feels deliberate. Tracks like “PUDDLE (OF ME)” and “H.B.W.” showcase her ability to turn eccentric vocal patterns and unconventional structures into something that fits seamlessly within more traditional frameworks, while lead single “SHELL (OF A MAN)” offers a calmer, more streamlined indie/pop sound without compromising the emotional depth of her songwriting. There are only 9 proper songs on this album, but they all work to form a cohesive sound that balances the quirky with the accessible. And sure, one could make the argument that in so doing, Gray loses a bit of the unbridled creativity that her previous stream-of-consciousness approach to songwriting afforded, but it’s hard not to be impressed by her ability to channel all her creative chaos into something so deliberate and guided. In hindsight, SAYA seems like the logical evolution of Gray’s sound; it takes fewer risks than its predecessors, sure, but as a result, it refines her vision into something more focused and palatable. -Gyromania
For any Sputnik regulars that have interacted with me in the thirteen years I’ve been on this site, you may already know that I play the bass and have done for nearly twenty years. So with that context in mind, for no reason at all, I woke up this morning and decided I wanted to pick out a bunch of tracks I think have awesome basslines. The criteria for the chosen ten songs on this list is rather arbitrary, but essentially the main purpose is to highlight some subtle (and not-so-subtle) basslines that aren’t immediate if you’re not a bass player yourself, maybe prompting you to listen to these songs and hearing the magic unfold within them from that perspective. Maybe you’ll even listen to them and never again be able to look at them the same way. After all, that is the beauty of the bass guitar – an instrument that has been treated rather thanklessly throughout history, but is nevertheless an essential ingredient needed to make a good song even better. With that, I hope you enjoy the playlist I’ve created and my thoughts on these fantastic songs. Jennifer Paige
Let me tell you, as a guy riding hard in his 30s, basslines in pop tracks tend to have some of the best grooves you’ll ever hear. Of course, when you’re an impressionable teenage contrarian, or a knuckle-dragger in your early 20s like I was, looking for edgy NU-metal angst, putting-the-world-to-rights… Previous Diagnoses: Paradise Lost|Primus|Faith No More|Paramore|HEALTH|Dir En Grey|Mc Ren|Black Light Burns|Shellac|Nickelback|Daft Punk|Nathanael Larochette|My Epic|Earshot|
Band/Artist: Earshot Origins: Los Angeles, California Founded: 1999 Members: Current Members: Wil Martin – vocals (1999–2010, 2014–present) Andy Stafford – guitar (2020–present) John Novak – bass (2020–present) Mike Sylvia – drums (2020–present) Aaron Fink – guitar (2020–present) Previous Members: Guy Couturier – bass (1999–2000) Johnny Sprague – bass (2000–2005) Billy Blair – bass (2005–2009) “Rooster” – bass (2009–2010) Scott Kohler – guitar (1999–2009) Mike Callahan – guitar (1999–2005) Travis Arnold – guitar (2005–2009) Chris Loveless – guitar (2009–2010) Josh Guinn – guitar (2009–2010) Todd Wyatt – drums (1999–2003) Chas Stumbo – drums (2003–2005) Darren Pfeifer – drums (2005–2010) Studio albums: 3 Active: Yes Welcome, denizens, to the fourteenth edition(!) of A diagnosis from a (faux) Doctor. Today’s examination is going to be a bit of a nostalgia trip, walking back into a liminal period where you crippled the family computer downloading music off Limewire after discovering a choice band you discovered playing a video game. In the case of Earshot, like the vast majority of us, I discovered this LA-based rock unit playing the classic Madden game: Madden…
3, 2, 1, Weeklies! Unless you’re using the DD/MM format, in which case you’ll be delighted to learn that the number 213 is part of Levine’s sequence. You already knew!? We’ll try to make up for the lack of educational value by surprising you with some of the upcoming releases below. Please feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors, let the community know what we’ve missed, brag about your PhD in Mathematics and/or post your jams. – List of Releases: March 21st, 2025 –
Bloodywood – Nu Delhi
Cradle of Filth – The Screaming of the Valkyries
Disarmonia Mundi – The Dormant Stranger
Dissocia – To Lift the Veil
Drudkh – Shadow Play
Embrional – Inherited Tendencies for Self-Destruction
Floodlights – Underneath
Greentea Peng – Tell Dem It’s Sunny
The Horrors – Night Life
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar As someone who was mercilessly ribbed for liking NU-metal at the height of its popularity in the late 90s and early-to-mid 00s, as well as Limp Bizkit themselves being one of the main punching bags for the movement, it’s somewhat bizarre and vindicating to see Limp Bizkit being one of the most revered live metal acts in the industry today. The funny thing is, even with the vitriol for the band at the time, my friends would haughtily dump on the band whilst occasionally letting out a gritted-teeth concession that they hate them, but “Break Stuff” is pretty “fun”. All of this cognitive dissonance and tribal nonsense out of the equation though, Limp Bizkit have always been a very talented band, with an unbelievable set of musicians making memorable songs with gargantuan payoffs, and a charismatic frontman who’s able to bring it all together. It’s this dynamic and chemistry that has, ironically, galvanised their sustainability and relevance for over thirty years, where other “more respected” bands in rock and metal have long since capitulated and fallen into the void of irrelevance. One of the main reasons for Limp Bizkit’s success, outside of their arsenal of classic tracks, is their reputation for putting on incredible live shows. Despite loving their music for almost two-and-a-half decades, I’d never actually seen them perform live, which, getting straight to the point, they didn’t disappoint. One of the most alluring qualities was Fred Durst himself, who was once known for being the infamous, edgy… At this point, I’m honestly not sure why I allow the Callous Daoboys to surprise me. Celebrity Therapist had set up the Georgia-based mathcore group as the true worthy successor to the legendary Dillinger Escape Plan… and the Daoboys did everything in their power to avoid making a straight repeat of that album. Between pushes towards a more mainstream sound with “Waco Jesus” to… well, whatever the hell you want to classify the lead singles from their upcoming album, I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven, as, the Daoboys have been doing their best to drill into our heads that we should expect the unexpected. But this might be their most shocking left turn yet: the Callous Daoboys wrote a straight-up pop song. No, seriously, Lemon lacks pretty much all of the prevailing weirdness that had defined the band’s past work, being driven almost entirely by a simplistic drumbeat and, of all things, clean guitars! Even when the electric guitars do surge to the forefront in the final chorus, it feels less chaotic and far more triumphant, like a natural climax to the song. Nowhere will you find Carson Pace’s signature manic vocals, only a more restrained singing performance that allows him to show off some more emotional rage aside from pissed off. The weirdest part about all of this is that, despite being such a steep departure from anything the Daoboys have done before, “Lemon” just works. The vocals are great, the melodies are catchy, and there still is a smidgen of…
Hello, children. On this silky Pi Day, despite our best efforts, music is not canceled this week. Please feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors and let the community know what’s missing and/or what you’ll be jamming this week. – List of Releases: March 14th, 2025 –
BAMBARA – Birthmarks
Charley Crockett – Lonesome Drifter
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside
cleopatrick – FAKE MOON
clipping. – Dead Channel Sky
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis: Act III: The Father of Make Believe
Courting – Lust for Life, Or: ‘How to Thread the Needle and Come out the Other Side to Tell the Story’
Curren$y & Harry Fraud – Never Catch Us
Dorothy – The Way
Envy of None…
Happy 8th birthday to the Nintendo Switch! Below is a non-exhaustive list of new releases for March 7th. Please feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors, feel a sense of pride and accomplishment letting tens of us know what you think is missing, what your Top 3 Switch games by playtime are, or simply let the community know what the hard jams are this week. – List of Releases: March 7th, 2025 –
Alabaster dePlume – A Blade Because a Blade is Whole
Amber Asylum – Ruby Red
Arny Margret – I Miss You, I Do
Black Foxxes – The Haar
Bob Mould – Here We Go Crazy
The Burning Hell – Ghost Palace
Cryptosis – Celestial Death
Dawn of Ouroboros – Bioluminescence
Destruction – Birth of…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 28th, 2025. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. – List of Releases: February 28th, 2025 –
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Peter Connelly is one of my most revered composers, not only for being involved in some of my all-time favourite games growing up, but because the music he created for those games expanded upon Nathan McCree’s iconic formula for Tomb Raider in a way that made it, arguably, better. By the time Connelly came in to compose the scores for Tomb Raider’s 4-6, the direction taken amped up the sombre sophistication and exotic, Bondian-esque string arrangements to match the darker, more serious tone the series was heading in at the time. So, in light of the release of Tomb Raider IV-VI remaster, which came out a couple weeks ago, I thought it was a good time to catch up with the man responsible for the scores to these classic games. As an established composer, what was your musical upbringing like? It was relatively normal but I was always fascinated by music and musical instruments. My father introduced me to Burt Bacharach at a very early age and I was obsessed with Burt’s music, melodies, his approach to music and his arrangements, so much I remember wishing that, one day, I could also be writing for an orchestra. I’ve not heard a Bacharach song since I was a kid, what a blast from the past. Bacharach’s known for so many catchy classic songs. His compositional style has a rich network of emotions, layered with a lot going on if you dig into a song, but there’s something immediately alluring and easy-going about… |
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