The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival was ill as fuck last year, when I went with some of my close personal bros and saw motherfucking Tyler, the Creator (made me grin but feel old), Brand New (made me grin and feel old, but in a good way, like the movie Boyhood or Timehops from when I was fatter), and Anamanaguchi (made me grin and feel young and turnt), as well as a buncha other artists with average scores in the 3’s or higher in our humble little database. The festival is held in Montreal’s Parc Jean-Drapeau, right on the Saint Lawrence River.
I am going again this year and am pretty stoked. If you’ve been to these kinds of massive festivals before, and I imagine that many of you have, you know that scheduling conflicts come with the territory (and that, no matter what, you will underestimate how long it will take you to make it from one stage to another). Here are a few conflicts that are burning me up inside,so you help me make the call:
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 29, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
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—Featured Release—
Panopticon: Revisions of the Past
Genre: Black Metal/Folk // Label: Nordvis
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– New Releases: July 29, 2016 –
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Amy Kress: Fly
Genre: Electronic/Pop // Label: Secret Music
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Beansidhe: Mont
Genre: Melodic Death Metal // Label: Via Nocturna
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Billy Talent: Afraid of Heights
Genre: Pop Punk/Alt. Rock // Label: The End Records
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The Bouncing Souls: Simplicity
Genre: Punk/Hardcore // Label: Rise Records
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The Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
Genre: Psychedelic/Blues // Label: Silver Arrow Records
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Death Spells: Nothing Above, Nothing Below
Genre: Metalcore/Electronic // Label: Vagrant Records
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 22, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– July 22, 2016 –
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Assignment: Closing the Circle
Genre: Progressive Power Metal // Label: Massacre
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The Birthday Massacre: Imagica (Reissue)
Genre: Industrial/Goth/Alt. Metal // Label: Metropolis Records
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Black Crown Initiate: Selves We Cannot Forgive
Genre: Progressive Death Metal // Label: eOne Music
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 15, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 8, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– July 08, 2016 –
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All Your Sisters: Uncomfortable Skin
Genre: Post Punk // Label: The Flenser
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Aphex Twin: Cheetah
Genre: Electronic // Label: Warp Records
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The Apprehended: At Arms Length
Genre: Metalcore // Label: Imminence Records
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The Avalanches: Wildflower
Genre: Electronic/Pop/Dance // Label: Astralwerks
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Badbadnotgood: IV
Genre: Jazz/Pop // Label: Innovative Leisure
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Biffy Clyro: Ellipsis
Genre: Alternative Rock // Label: Warner Bros.
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Big Business: Command Your Weather
Genre: Hard Rock // Label: Joyful Noise Recordings
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 1, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
C.B. Murdoc: Nonplus Ultrataken fromHere Be Dragons. Released 24 June, 2016.
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I’m not the biggest fan of technical death metal. To me, a large majority of it is style-over-substance; a flurry of notes and chaos with nothing that sticks. C.B. Murdoc is different. Although they could easily be placed into the technical death metal genre, each song has a multitude of riffs and melodies that will stick in your head and make you want to come back. This is particularly amazing because the band definitely engage in a large amount of chaos played at breakneck speeds. In a nutshell, C.B. Murdoc’s sound could be described as a cross between At the Gates, Atheist, and Meshuggah. Their foundation is definitely based on the same high-intensity, raw melodic death metal sound that made Slaughter of the Soul such an instant classic; including the throat-shredding vocal style. This foundation is combined with the technical chaos of Atheist’s Unquestionable Presence, and the quirky rhythmic experimentation and balls-crushing heaviness of Meshuggah’s best material.
This particular track, ‘Nonplus Ultra’, is probably one of my favorites on the album if only because it is one of the more instant songs. It features multiple tempo changes, crushing riffs, atonal dissonance, quirky rhythms, but also just the slightest hint of melody. At the current moment, Here Be Dragons is probably my number 2 album of the year. It is that good. Be sure…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 24, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 17, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– June 17, 2016 –
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A Devil’s Din: Skylight
Genre: Psychedelic Stoner Rock // Label: Self-Released
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Avion Roe: In Separation
Genre: Alternative/Emo // Label: Epitaph Records
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Ayreon: The Theater Equation
Genre: Symphonic Progressive Metal // Label: Inside Out Music
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Beldam: Still the Wretched Linger
Genre: Doom/Sludge // Label: Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
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Big Deal: Say Yes
Genre: Psychedelic Indie Pop // Label: Fat Cat Records
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 10, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– June 10, 2016 –
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Astrakhan: Reward in Purpose
Genre: Doom/Sludge Metal // Label: War on Music
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Bait: Sunburst [EP]
Genre: Blackened Hardcore // Label: WOOAAARGH/Sell Your Soul Records
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 3, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– June 3, 2016 –
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Attalla: Attalla
Genre: Hardcore // Label: Independent
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Beartooth: Aggressive
Genre: Metalcore/Hardcore // Label: Red Bull Records
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Cat’s Eyes: Treasure House
Genre: Indie/Dream-Pop // Label: Cat’s Eyes
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Cauchemar: Chapelle Ardente
Genre: Heavy/Doom Metal // Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
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The Claypool Lennon Delirium: Monolith of Phobos
Genre: Psychedelic Rock // Label: Prawn Song Records & Chimera Music
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 27, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Seven years. That’s how long it has been since Brand New has released a full length LP, and diehard fans are starting to lose patience with the band’s constant game of cat and mouse, teasing us with a single here or there before completely falling off the face of the Earth for another 365 days. It’s been a tiring wait, but it appears as if our collective patience is finally going to be rewarded. According to a Procrastinate! Music Traitors information report, the band is confirmed for a 2016 physical release of some kind, although it does not specify whether the format will be an LP or EP. Speaking from experience with the band, though, they’ve never been very big on extended plays – with the last release of this type coming via 2003’s The Holiday. If I were a betting man, I’d say we can expect to be listening to Brand New’s fifth full-length album before the year draws to an end, and that’s an exciting prospect considering the mythical status that the long awaited LP has garnered.
2015 saw the release of “Mene”, a punchy pop-rock number that harkened back to the days of Your Favorite Weapon and, even more so, Deja Entendu. The directional switch up seemed to catch more than a few of the group’s disciples off guard, which is altogether both surprising and not really surprising at all. The band’s most recent albums, The Devil…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 20, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Ariana Grande seems to be heating up just in time for summer. Everything she’s done leading up to the May 20th release of her third full-length LP, Dangerous Woman, sounds sleeker, bolder, and sexier than anything she has released to this point. It feels like a natural evolution for the pop starlet who has enjoyed vast success early in her career without ever quite breaking into the stratosphere of contemporary pop, or at least not to the ridiculously celebrated extent that icons such as Taylor Swift or Adele have pulled off. To a point, Ariana has thus far demonstrated what it means to define the pop status quo, bringing forth radiowave-riding ear candy that is enjoyable for a hot minute before fading away just as quickly as it arrived. Consistency has also been a point of derision, as we’ve yet to see an album that explores Grande’s vocal arsenal and artistic palette in full depth. It has always consisted of hit singles padded by lighter ballads and the occasional guest rapper thrown in for good measure – once again, not all that dissimilar from what is going on anywhere else in the modern pop scene. But is all of that about to change? From the sound of it, Ariana has as firm of a grip as ever on her musical direction, and she’s about to totally dominate the summer of 2016. Bolstered by “Dangerous Woman”, “Be Alright”, and now “Into You”,…
Seven years. That’s how long it has been since Brand New has released a full length LP, and diehard fans are starting to lose patience with the band’s constant game of cat and mouse, teasing us with a single here or there before completely falling off the face of the Earth for another 365 days. It’s been a tiring wait, but it appears as if our collective patience is finally going to be rewarded. According to a 
