By now Iglooghost has solidified himself as one of the most talented producers, being able to take the most frantic drums of Aphex Twin’s and molding it into something that’s altogether his own. Within the splashes of melody lines, one can hear influences of bubblegum bass, rap breakdowns, fluttering ambient passages, and at times even twinkly math rock arpeggios. All of these are on full display on Clear Tamei, yet he’s taken it a step further within the overall atmosphere of this EP; Iglooghost wants to become a world-builder. Instantly, you’re immersed into this alien land, filled with many characters speaking gibberish while metallic clangs of synths and samples elongate across the ground — much like blowing up a balloon, only to have it pop and burst into nonstop explosions of robotic sound effects. At times this world seems like it’s underwater, like an unimaginable Atlantis filled with multicolored sea life. Other times, it seems as if you’re in some jungle as birds chirp by your ears gracefully among the gorgeous chaos happening before your eyes. It’s meant to be confusing only in the sense that everything you are hearing and experiencing is completely and totally new, making it one of the most successful EPs for immersing you into foreign, dreamed up lands. While it’s…
The location: an unnamed New Zealand city, a suburb which I will grant anonymity. A long-disused industrial warehouse, fallen into dilapidation, on the corner of a noisy major thoroughfare and a street which exclusively houses those kind of depots, tin expanses stowing wares no-one wants or needs, strange buildings which for whatever reason require constant power-tool sounds to screech from them. Some entrepreneur repurposed the place as a café without doing much to clean up, assuming perhaps that ghosts are less frightening when visible. The tables were arranged outside under a concrete awning with a prime view of the main road, which ran less than ten metres away. The place was invariably packed; people crowded the tables, sipping their coffees, viewing the traffic and maelstrom of cars they would rejoin in a matter of minutes, a constant drone of labour audible though impossible to echolocate.
It’s less that it was an oasis and more a signifier that there was no reprieve. The proximity to garish brutalist architecture and the transportational march of progress, people stifling in their cars, getting one place to the next, became a fixture. People were watching regurgitated, endlessly and recursively perpetuated versions of themselves: the ultimate postmodern experience. Not so much voyeurism as exhibitionism right? I remember going there once, drinking what I imagine the Allied forces in WWII…
Horrendous’ ascension from rabid Swede-worshiping youngsters to trailblazing veterans has been one of the most compelling arcs to witness in all of death metal history. The way these four Philly natives have progressed over the last six years has been nothing short of awe-inspiring, and their latest offering, Idol, stands a monolith of modern death metal, an album by which all others should be measured. It will make you believe in the magic of metal again; bursting with youthful exuberance and a brash sense of adventure, yet maintaining a vice grip on classic death metal songwriting. Idol has the feeling of exploring the unknown while simultaneously holding true to the tenets of the genre. What really sells the album though is the apparent ease Horrendous manage to weave together these disparities. Whether in the epic “Golgothan Tongues”, which sees a transcendent combination of melody and groove, or “Devotion (Blood For Ink)”, which marries the group’s most progressive and guttural intentions, there isn’t a moment on Idol where Horrendous feel like they aren’t in total control of their forward-thinking death metal assault. Pushing the boundaries has become so inherent to what they do that each song finds new ways to express their ambitious craft. It’s this aptitude that has elevated them to the status of extreme metal gods, and why in 2018 the whole of the underground has bent a knee…
God gave Noah the rainbow sign…no more water, is the H-Bomb next time?
There’s stark contrast in the implications carried by the phrase, “the end of the world.” For those with a religious upbringing, it likely conjures images of plague, famine, and horsemen wreaking unfathomable devastation. To others, they might imagine World War III – cyber warfare shutting down power grids, industry, and commerce, while increasingly desperate leaders launch nuclear missiles at each other from outer space. mewithoutYou’s end-times scenario is a little of both, and their song ‘Rainbow Signs’ entails all of the intensity and destruction that could come if/when a Biblical and secular apocalypse were to cross paths.
What makes ‘Rainbow Signs’ so effective isn’t its eccentric storytelling, it’s the personal anecdotes. Aaron Weiss makes God seem like he has a twisted, sarcastic humor (in the above quote, it’s a reference to God’s promise to Noah that he would never again destroy the Earth with a flood — but he never said anything about nuclear bombs). He also cracks wise about his hairline, comparing it to Napoleon’s receding hairline late in life after his exile to St. Helena, in what also happens to be the first/only time that the mostly Christian band drops the F-bomb on its listeners. In the middle of the song Weiss prays in both Arabic and Hebrew. He even ends the song by recounting an inside joke that only he and his deceased father ever shared. There’s so much humanity and personality injected into what lesser…
Despite how fantastic of a sales pitch it is, I can’t help but feel like I’m doing Panoptic Horror a disservice by describing it as “Hell Awaits era Slayer meets crust punk.” That feeling mostly comes down to the fact that, although they’re not trying to hide their influences, they’re definitely their own thing. The killer LP is a primo slab of ripping thrash with a death metal tinge, all the while borrowing the production, punk ethos and overdrive technique from a band like Sacrilege or Anti-Cimex. No matter who or what you hear in it, it’s the kind of sinister shit that conjures images of grotesque demons, airborne bricks, broken bones and/or searing flesh in the mind of the listener.
In other words, if Hell had a mosh pit, this would be the soundtrack. –Bloon
As the decade draws to a close, 2018 has proven to be one of the more interesting years from it. Looking at the metal genre as a collective, this year has seen an internal struggle with artistic innovation and corporate, algorithmic songwriting; futilely homogeneous and insipid mainstream metal releases versus the heavy lifting and sometimes groundbreaking works from the underground scenes – of which there has been a good handful…
I feel somewhat reticent talking about Yung Lean, let alone his latest, Poison Ivy. Whatever I write drips with ignorance, despite my love for the 22-minute project; and in some sense, that’s unavoidable. An air of mystique has always seemed to surround the Swedish rapper – as though those uninitiated were being poked at, and even the most meaningful of lyrics were being delivered with a grin and a wink. That might be the point, though: Jonatan Leandoer’s mainstream success seems neither obvious nor miraculous. Likewise, the “point” is one unattainable. Or rather, an “understanding” is useless – condescending and maybe even a little counter-intuitive. Yung Lean makes music – and that music is good – and Poison Ivy is good – and whatever meaning there is to be gleaned is meaning to be gleaned from the music itself. From the dark and distorted overtones of the mixtape’s more obvious, hook-driven choruses, and the incoherence of its central figure. I think cultural aesthetic is helpful in hooking one into a scene and its artists; but often – as is the case with Poison Ivy – the music itself speaks volumes. And Poison Ivy speaks in tongues. –BlushfulHippocrene
So, anyone got a spare 30 minutes to listen to a pop track? I know, it’s easy to approach songs that lengthy with trepidation; usually they’re either a bloated mess, annoyingly repetitive, or worse yet – they do that pointless “hidden track” thing where they put 18 minutes of silence between two average-length tracks. Thankfully, “Impossible Soul” is none of those things, and instead of viewing it as the final song from Stevens’ 2010 blockbuster TheAge of Adz, I beg you to imagine that it is an album in and of itself. After all, it’s more of a collection of movements than it is one drawn out song idea, with different concepts bleeding into each other effortlessly.
There’s a lot of inspiring messages floating around within the confines of “Impossible Soul”, but instead of rattling off all my favorite passages it would be more prudent to look at how the song evolves within itself. It begins as this somber/electronic/dehumanized ballad, and gradually adds layers of warmth. By the second “movement”, you can hear more audacious synthesizers zipping through space in the background, while Sufjan self-harmonizes to make it sound like he’s no longer in isolation. Eventually, the song erupts into this celebratory dance — with a full crowd harmoniously chanting a series of choruses (“it’s a miracle..do you wanna dance” / “we can do much more together” / “it’s not so impossible”) that all brim with equal optimism. Someone on Sputnik once said that The Age…
The weight of 2019 is bearing down on us. As the final stop in a 10 year waiting period – which started waaay back when the staff punctuated their 2000-2009 list with a Jane Doe victory – there’s an awful lot to think about this year. A lot of 2019 will be spent reflecting, looking back on the last 3,650 days of music and beginning the impossible task of identifying what stood out as the very best. Frankly, it’s a fool’s errand to even try. That of course, is where I come in. Even though I will continue to evaluate my top 100 albums separately – and eventually submit that list when it comes time to vote – this particular blog series will aim to spotlight my favorite songs. That’s right, a whole decade of sowingcore at your fingertips. I’m excited too. For this series, I will incrementally add what I deem to be classic/essential songs to my spotify playlist [below] until there’s a list of only my very favorite songs from 2010-2019. Please note that these installments are not ranked, but rather a compilation.
This first entry might come as a slight surprise. Many associate “The Battle of Hampton Roads” with the very best that Titus Andronicus’ 2010 landmark record The Monitor has to offer, but I’ve always been partial to “A More Perfect Union.” There’s a tremendous sense of political urgency that emanates from it, even though it’s not…
ITEM, a Cleveland-based indie rock group, came into my life as a surprise discovery by a friend. I was immediately entranced by the sleepy absurdity of Sad Light, which ends up juxtaposing heavily with its most poignant moments — tales of environmental destruction and emotional dysfunction meeting with non-sequiturs and childlike playfulness. I spoke to Dylan Glover, the band’s vocalist and synth player, about the themes and basis of Sad Light, his take on composition, and the importance of humour in ITEM’s music.
This transcript has been condensed and edited.
It seems like there is a lot of absurdity, humour, and medical references in the lyrics. How did you come to settle on these particular themes for Sad Light?
I’m wondering how to even begin answering that, because one thing begets another thing begets another thing. How it began — I’m trying to think what the first song I wrote was on the record. Lyrically, I want to say it was “Horse Pill”, which is inherently medical — it is related to pharmaceutical drugs and my problem with them — so that opened the floodgates for the rest of the album to have a medicinal, medical theme; there’s a lot of mention of medical environments, hospitals. It was because that laid the groundwork for all of those themes that it just kept expanding on those basic ideas. And absurdist humour is just me coming out in full form — I feel like if I didn’t respect…
Frances Quinlan is a rare breed. Few vocalists can turn a melody in as many directions, alternating between raspy falsetto and out-of-breath shouts in a way that sounds both melodically pleasing and emotionally poignant. But we already knew that about Quinlan, thanks to 2012’s Get Disowned and 2015’s even bigger Painted Shut; this year’s masterpiece only augments her growing legend. Bark Your Head Off, Dog remains loyal to Frances’ most endearing quirks, yet expands Hop Along’s elastic bounds with more complex and refined instrumentation, elaborate texturing, and its cleanest, most inviting production to date. It’s basically – gasp! – a pop album.
Genre categorization is of little consequence with an artist like Hop Along, though, because Quinlan & co. have established themselves as one of those outfits that are always on their way to another sound. Sure, Dog reduces the volume a tad, but it retains a certain jaggedness; this acrobatic ability to bounce between musical ideas with fleeting commitment while remaining totally unified as an album. The deft balance between eclectically adrift sound-searching and tight, focused execution of every point along that path is an artform in and of itself. Quinlan weaves between raw, piano-underscored belters such as “Not Abel” and acoustically-driven, self-harmonizing classic rockers like “Look of Love”. Every song possesses its own tiny reserve of magic…
There are seemingly as many highlights on Queen of Time as there are years Amorphis have been active, but these iconic Finns should be cheered for augmenting their folk and progressive leanings while adhering to their trademark blueprint. Founding bassist Olli-Pekka Laine has rejoined the band (it hasn’t been since 1994’s Tales from the Thousand Lakes where the four founding members played together!), which is as welcome a sight as noting that producer and so-called ‘brother in spirit’ Jens Bogren and longtime collaborator Pekka Kainulainen have returned to the fold as well.
Bogren’s steady hand cannot be understated on Queen of Time, as the record’s choral and orchestral infusions are far more pronounced this time around — especially in “Heart of the Giant” and “Grain of Sand” — which would run the risk of overpowering Santeri Kallio’s perpetually-memorable keyboards if not for Bogren’s watchful eye. Queen of Time‘s production is masterful and most certainly not ‘brickwalled to death’ (an affliction that is unfortunately becoming ubiquitous in the genre of late). The resplendent “Amongst Stars” (featuring the delightful Anneke van Giersbergen, whose soaring vocals are a gorgeous complement to Tomi Joutsen’s) is the true headliner and should have closed the album, although the Ensiferum-like “Message in the Amber”, assurgent “Wrong Direction”, bonus cut “Brother and Sister”, and astonishing opener “The Bee” definitively showcase…
It’s probably been since 2006’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me since I’ve heard a band this accurately summarize a total loss of hope and innocence. The overarching theme damns both politics and society, deeming both “fucked” as guitar chords slash away at listeners’ optimism for the better part of forty-five minutes. Tim Kasher laments the abuse of power and financial wealth (“The one percent live in high rises, they block out the sun”), a self-prioritizing civilization (“Society has got a heinous case of crabs, everybody’s got an itch to scratch”), and endless blame (“Rampant politicizing, this constant finger wagging”) – occasionally wrapping it all up into plainly stated disgust, as he does on “Ghost Writer” when he resigns his outlook to a bleak “This world has never felt less inviting to me.” The culmination of this miserable album is a seven minute all-damning epic, in which Kasher lists a series of things that used to give him hope, then swats down each one with a reason why it is corrupted. Vitriola is a shattering and sadly all-too-truthful narrative. –Sowing
Here’s a list of major new releases for the month of December (2018). Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. As the year draws to a close the number of noteworthy releases tends to shrink, but do not despair – we have a number of exciting features on the way! This will include, but is not limited to: Staff Top 50 Albums of 2018, Users Top 50 Albums of 2018, and individual staff year-end lists. And of course, we will return stronger than ever with our weekly release calendar in January 2019. From the staff here at Sputnikmusic, we wish all of you a wonderful and safe holiday season!
– List of Releases: December 7, 2018 –
AFI: The Missing Man
Genre: Alt-Rock/Punk
Label: Rise
Brett Young: Ticket To L.A.
Genre: Pop Country
Label: BMX
Canon: Home
Genre: Rap
Label: Reflection Music Group / EMPIRE
Coldplay: Live In Buenos Aires / Live In São Paulo
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: Parlophone UK
Gotthard: Defrosted 2
Genre: Hard Rock
Label: Nuclear Blast
Hammock: Universalis
Genre: Ambient/Post-Rock
Label: Hammock Music
Jason Becker: Triumphant Hearts
Genre: Heavy Metal/Classical
Label: Music Theories
Welcome back to the greatest show on the internet!
The SMA’s have returned!
Duh – Sowing’s Music Awards? It’s cute that you pretended to forget – it’s only the biggest name in sputnik user profile, end-of-year, blog-based award shows. It’s kind of a big deal.
So anyway, after a one year absence, the SMA’s are back in full force to rock your world. Forget the Grammy’s – they’re a joke. Teen Choice Awards? God help us. This is where you want to look for the best music of 2018: A place where only exceptional music earns the spotlight, and only the very best wins (Well, unless it’s one of the worst of the year categories – a brand new feature! But I won’t give anything else away.)
There’s a plethora of fun categories this year, but no award is more coveted than the seriously cool shit AOTY trophy [pictured below]. Low Roar, Sufjan Stevens, and Yellowcard (lol) have all come away with it before, and last year it would have been Manchester Orchestra. In the meanwhile, we’ve seen distinguished nominees such as Radiohead, The Antlers, and Fleet Foxes walk away empty-handed. It just goes to show that I don’t give a shit, and this is my show.
I’m still accepting offers to host the show. Judio (remember him? wasn’t he a contributor or something?) still has permanent dibs, but seeing as…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 30, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 30, 2018 –
The 1975: A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Genre: Indie-Pop/Alt-Rock
Label: Polydor
Alessia Cara: The Pains of Growing
Genre: Pop/R&B
Label: Equal Vision Records
Bryan Ferry: Bitter-Sweet
Genre: Pop
Label: BMG
Clean Bandit: What Is Love?
Genre: Pop/Electronic
Label: Atlantic
Daniel Romano: Finally Free
Genre: Folk/Country
Label: New West
Jeff Tweedy: WARM
Genre: Folk/Americana/Indie-Rock
Label: dBpm
![Live In Buenos Aires [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wAcQGL3OL._SS500.jpg)
![Heart to Mouth [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41G6XqwL8SL._SS500.jpg)
![A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31Ncg-T41kL._SS500.jpg)
![What Is Love? (Deluxe) [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51xjKVPpeNL._SS500.jpg)
![Afterlife [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61gw8ttMCZL._SS500.jpg)
