Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 13, 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.
“Burn The Witch” feels like a cut right from the center of Radiohead’s prime – it’s eerie, compelling, and beautiful.
It’s not just any band that can drop a single and immediately earn a shout out from Time Magazine. Radiohead is one of the largest cultural phenomena in modern music. They’re as much generational icons as they are musicians, and much in the same way that music used to be able to shape the world (think civil rights and war protests during the 1960s / early 1970s), this is our very own paranoid bunch of 2000s cynics. That’s why when they release new material to the masses, it’s like a world leader making an important speech. Everyone just sort of listens.
It’s clear that Radiohead has a lot to say on “Burn The Witch.” Frontman Thom Yorke has never been one to state things plainly, as conspiracy theories and prophetic visions have become staples of the band’s lyrical content (If you haven’t researched the parallels between Kid A and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, then I highly recommend a quick google search for a very intriguing – if far fetched – read.) Yorke’s unyielding disillusionment with political/economic greed, consumerist societies, and the exploitation of technology have shown through in spades over the years, and there’s been nary an album to forego some type of political or cultural subtext worth investigating. In the midst of a particularly…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 6, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Alaric – End Of Mirrors (Neurot Recordings)
Aloha – Little Windows Cut Right Through (Polyvinyl Record Co)
ANOHNI – Hopelessness (Secretly Canadian)
Astronauts – End Codes (Lo Recordings)
Belvedere – The Revenge of The Fifth (Belvedere Music)
Beverly – The Blue Swell (Kanine Records)
CardiaC – Sangrar Hasta Lograrlo (Tenacity Music)
Chevalrex – Futurisme (Vietnam)
Chris Cohen – As If Apart (Captured Tracks)
Cole Swindell – You Should Be Here (Warner Music Nashville LLC)
Cyndi Lauper – Detour (Mutzarella Inc)
Death Grips – Bottomless Pit (Harvest Records)
Dead Register – Fiber (AVR Records)
Degtras – Hominidae Resonance (Wood and Stone Productions)
Electronic Frequency – Human Abyss (Electronic Frequency)
Fear Like Us – Succour (Poison City Records)
Ghold – PYR (Ritual Productions)
Glorior Belli – Sundown (The Flock That Welcomes) (Agonia Records)
The Goo Goo Dolls – Boxes (Warner Bros. Records Inc)
Homeboy Sandman – Kindness for Weakness (Stones Throw Records)
The Hypothesis – Origin (Inverse Records)
Imperium – Titanomachy (Ultimate Massacre Productions)
James Blake – The Colour In Anything (Polydor Ltd)
JMSN – It Is. (White Room Records)
Joana Serrat – Cross the Verge (Loose Music) Julianna Barwick – Will (Dead Oceans) — Atari Kaytranada – 99.9% (XL Recordings) — Will Robinson
Keith Urban – Ripcord (Hit Red Records)
Little Scream – Cult Following…
Last Saturday, on the 23rd of April, I got to sit down with Robert (drums) and Adrian (guitar) from the Polish sludge/stoner metal band Sunnata, ahead of their gig at Tallinn’s rockclub Rockstar’s, which in a way was ironic, because rockstars are exactly the kind of people who the guys in Sunnata don’t relate to. Being the down to earth dudes who don’t feel like they’re above anyone, even on stage, they happily answered any and all questions that I had, even if they reiterated that they were way too sober for some of the more philosophical things I threw at them. Tallinn was one of the stops on Sunnata’s road while promoting their brand new album Zorya, which came out on April 11th – a record that the band calls 100% Sunnata. What does that exactly mean? Well, that you must hear for yourself, but Robert and Adrian did give a comprehensive look into the workings of the band, while letting me peel behind their personalities as well. At the end of the interview, you’ll notice Adrian kind of disappearing from the conversation. It’s okay, nothing happened to him, and he didn’t quit on me either, he just had to go and dispense the typical problem that comes along when you enjoy a few bottles of beer. Mind over body is something that we all should strive for, but when your body reminds you that you need to take a massive leak, you just have to…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 29, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Abhomine – Larvae Offal Swine (Hells Headbangers)
A Dead Forest Index – In All That Drifts from Summit Down (Sargent House)
Angarthal – Uranus And Gaia (Steve Angarthal)
Brian Eno – The Ship (Warp)
Britta Phillips – Luck or Magic (Double Feature Records)
The Boxer Rebellion – Ocean by Ocean (Amplify Music)
Darkestrah – Turan (Osmose Productions)
Doomsquad – Total Time (Bella Union)
Drake – Views (Young Money)
dvsn – Sept 5th (Elektra)
Fallujah – Dreamless (Nuclear Blast)
Germ – Escape (Prophecy Productions)
Gersey – What You Kill (Gersey) Haken – Affinity (Century Media Records Ltd) –Thompson D. Gerhart
Imarhan – Imarhan (City Slang)
The Jayhawks – Paging Mr. Proust (Sham)
John Doe – The Westerner (Cool Rock Records)
Kawir – Father Sun Mother Moon (Iron Bonehead Productions)
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (Heavenly)
Konono No. 1 – Konono No.1 Meets Batida (Crammed Discs)
Kyle Craft – Dolls Of Highland (Sub Pop)
Long Distance Calling – Trips (InsideOut Music)
Luca Brasi – If This Is All We’re Going to Be (Poison City Records)
Man Made – TV Broke My Brain (Man Made)
Melt Yourself Down – Last Evenings on Earth (The Leaf Label)
Mindshift – Horizon (Eclipse Records)
Pity Sex – White Hot Moon (Run for Cover Records)
Plants and Animals – Waltzed in…
This will certainly be the last time I post a song that is usually associated with legendary saxophonist and noted punchline Kenny Rogers (who didn’t write it – that would be country-pop songwriter/trivia question Mickey Newbury), but “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” is such a late ’60s anachronism – a sexy, dirty acid-rock ditty that failed miserably in its anti-drug warning by making it sound too damn cool – that I couldn’t ignore its most recent incarnation. Austin blues-rock group White Denim funk up the proceedings here considerably, lathering on a thick coat of sleaze to go with that irresistibly bouncy melody and swooning lyrics. Recorded for the season two soundtrack of FX’s superb Fargo, which was released just last month, it fits that show’s (and the scene it’s expertly placed in) aesthetic smoothly, capturing the cracking facade of a country hollowed out by the toll of the Vietnam War and painted over with a mindless groove and lyrics that convey control starting to slip inexorably away.
It’s well within the wheelhouse for White Denim, who have graduated from their origins as a ramshackle garage rock group with a penchant for face melting live performances to psychedelic rock veterans with a penchant for face melting live performances. Stiff, their seventh, heavily soul-influenced LP, was released earlier this…
Track: “Green Like the G Train, Green Like Sea Foam”
We’re still nearly a month away from the official release of Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties’ Bittersweet, and yet we’ve already received an adrenaline boost with the passionate bookends of the three-song EP. Not unlike the previously released ’67 Cherry Red’, The Wonder Years’ frontman unleashes his inner turmoil over flamboyant horns and subtle folk influences on ‘Green Like the G Train, Green Like Sea Foam.’ It’s a song rich with emotion and imagery as Dan Campbell reveals his more poetic side with a sense of conviction – On a calendar long enough, all my grief starts to decay / Staring off at the skyline over shorebreak, and remembering that this same ocean almost killed me. For a fictional character, Aaron West feels more like a personal outlet for Dan Campbell’s passions, doubts, and struggles. The colorful visuals throughout the latest single hint at much more than lyrical storytelling, feeling more like raw and poignant reflections drawn from real experience. With his delivery as abrasive but refined as ever, Campbell holds nothing back as he brings his lyricism to life with a vibrant energy. Fictional character or not, the latest chapter in Aaron West’s story feels compellingly genuine, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of connection with the song’s vivid and relatable lyrics.
Kevin Morby’s latest solo offering, Singing Saw, has been described as “written simply and realized orchestrally.” This statement makes perfect sense within the context of the album – none of the songs feel overly complex in nature, but the delicate addition of instruments like horns and pianos breathe life into Kevin Morby’s authentic songwriting. A shining example would be the invigorating ‘Dorothy’, which urges you to tap your feet alongside what could perhaps be Morby’s most exuberant performance on the album. Yes, he sounds similar to Bob Dylan at times, but he also harbors enough of his own unique style to stand out as different in the modern folk scene. Behind his somewhat familiar croon, ‘Dorothy’ steadily swells into a bombastic number with heavily layered instrumentation. The song is simply brimming with energy, and one can’t help but feel alive and refreshed by its optimistic mood. Armed with a guitar, a knack for storytelling, and unique orchestral touches, the former Woods bassist seems to be realizing his full potential on Singing Saw, and ‘Dorothy’ stands tall and proud as the peak of his accomplishments.
About the time of the festival where you realize how much quality sleep you haven’t gotten over the past 48 hours, how much carb-loading you’ve done in the name of trudging to that next stage, how badly you calculated your water/hard alcohol balance and consequently will spend the first half of the work week with your office door closed. Reduced to watching the amazing Kamasi Washington and his sprawling backup group under the beer garden tent while grubbing down another order of crab fries – all that gourmet cuisine this year and go fuck right the hell off – was not ideal, but the peak temperatures of the weekend necessitated it. It also made Washington’s loose set even more impressive, crowding turntablists next to saxophonists and drummers and even Washington’s father on flute on the Outdoor Stage with a setlist that seemed like it could go anywhere, and usually did.
I skipped between the Gobi and Mojave tents for the next hour, taking in sets from Tennessee tongue-lasher Meg Myers, who accurately conveyed her man-eating persona live but who’s voice fell a bit flat at times, and Joywave. That latter band, who played to a surprisingly full Mojave (likely on the strength of single “Tongues”’ placement in that cellular commercial), should be a hit, but frontman Daniel Armbruster’s vocals come and go, and his asshole-hipster shtick comes off as more manufactured than genuinely funny in a festival setting. “Destruction” is still a jam, though.
Loaded with artists I wanted to see but cursed by conflicts, Saturday was a bit of a disappointment. The breeze that made Friday such a blessing in disguise (no dust storm!) fell away to a typically scorching April sun in the desert. My first stop was no stage but a hefty order of crab fries lathered in disgustingly pungent/delicious garlic aioli – my one true love and certainly the most consistent item at Coachella. After that came Canadian indie poppers Alvvays, who have somehow avoided the Coachella hype train and were making their festival debut. I had seen Molly Rankin and company multiple times in the past year, and their set was enjoyable but, at this point, sort of workmanlike. In hindsight, checking out a new face – SOPHIE in the Yuma or Strangers You Know at the Mojave was probably the move.
As a respite from the heat and the uncomfortable roiling feeling the crab fries were bringing to my stomach, I headed to the Despacio tent, a new attraction that appeared to be a one-time-only event for Coachella. Despacio is a bit of an oddity at Coachella, although it fits right in with the festival’s aesthetic. Designed by James Murphy and the Dewaele brothers from Soulwax along with audio engineer John Klett, Despacio is billed as the world’s best listening experience, a cutting-edge speaker system specifically suited for spinning vinyl classics. It’s a small tent lit by a series of lights and a quintessentially…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 22, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Aborted – Retrogore (Century Media Records Ltd)
Andy Stott – Too Many Voices (Modern Love)
A$AP Ferg – Always Strive And Prosper (RCA Records)
Beast Wars – The Death Of All Things (Destroy)
Blue October – Home (Up/Down-Brando Records)
BoneHawk – Albino Rhino (Ripple Music)
Carlos Niño – Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening! (Leaving Records)
Doomsday Ceremony – Black Heart (Cogumelo Records)
Dust Bowl Jokies – Dust Bowl Jokies (Rodeostar Records)
Elephant Tree – Elephant Tree (Magnetic Eye Records)
Elessar – Reflections (Elessar UK)
False Gods – Wasteland (Independent)
Te Fall of Troy – OK (Independent)
Ferium – Behind the Black Eyes (Independent)
Framix – Lucky Monkeys (Frakamix Production)
Fruition – Labor Of Love (Randm Records)
Good Tiger – A Head Full of Moonlight (Metal Blade Records)
Greys – Outer Heaven (Carpark)
Guided by Voices – Please Be Honest (GBV Inc)
Ill Wicker – Untamed (The Sign Records)
Knifeworld – Bottled Out of Eden (Century Media Records Ltd)
Legendary Pink Dots – Pages of Aquarius (Metropolis Records)
The Loom – Here In the Deadlights (Crossbill Records)
Matthew and the Atlas – Temple (Communion Group Ltd)
Mean Jeans – Tight New Dimension (Fat Wreck Chords)
Media Solution – The Prelude (Pavement Entertainment Inc)
Messenger – Threnodies (InsideOut Music)
Mortichnia – Heir To Scoria And Ash (Apocalyptic Witchcraft)
Nicolas Godin –…
It was only appropriate that Axl Rose lasted all of one night of Guns N’ Roses’ ballyhooed reunion tour before breaking his foot, resulting in Rose taking a cue from a less fatter veteran in Dave Grohl and performing much of the band’s headlining Saturday set at Coachella in a throne. After all, a solid majority of Coachella 2016 attendees were likely barely able to walk themselves when Axl last performed with this lineup of a formerly great band. Instead, we were treated to Rose bringing out Angus Young (an appropriately shameless tie-in for Rose’s new role as frontman of AC/DC ) and a bloated (rimshot!) setlist that most of the crowd only joined in for the karaoke favorites. That Goldenvoice, the promoters behind Coachella, recently announced plans for a new festival of some of rock’s heaviest (and greyest) hitters was a happy bit of corporate synergy for a festival that has succeeded in mining nostalgia to its further extent.
2016 was a year of disappointing headliners – the joy of seeing LCD Soundsystem again was dampened a bit by them hitting literally every festival on the planet this year, while Guns N’ Roses and Calvin Harris symbolize Coachella’s ruthless pandering to its most profitable audiences at its worst. Lucky, then, that Coachella has improved in most every other facet since I started attending seven years ago. The food is downright gourmet; the security experience is more streamlined, save for the…
I should be less surprised that All Human’s sophomore release has consistently been one of my favorite releases of 2016. Though Teenagers, You Don’t Have to Die! is my first exposure to the brainchild of Adam Fisher (Fear Before, Orbs) and Brian Ferrara (Trophy Scars), I should know by now that anything Adam Fisher has a creative voice in is going to stick with me. The man has one of the cleverest pens in modern music and a gift for slinging words together in the kind of rhyme schemes that should be studied in academic English classes, after all. But he also has a knack for composing and arranging music that just resonates with the same off-beat his lyrics hit. Or maybe the music just has to revolve around that lyrical beat. It beats me, but the point is, it always works.
It’s hard to single out a track on Teenagers to highlight since it’s an album full of high points stitched together with impeccable flow. But if we’re going to start, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
“And So Peter Dances” kicks off with a nice little spoken word bit about how much working sucks, which is particularly enjoyable whilst sitting in your cubicle. The music paints a dark and snowy street corner while Fisher’s lyrics complete the scene by adding in the lonely man freezing on that…
Whereas King Crimson seems to corner the market when it comes to being the pioneers of prog, there was actually a band that King Crimson’s producer, Tony Clark, worked with years before In The Court Of The Crimson King was even conceived. The name of that band? Well, The Moody Blues of course! And it was for no other album than their crowning achievement Days Of Future Passed. The album is famous among casual classic rock fans for the beautiful, eerie hit “Nights In White Satin” – but any prog enthusiast who has investigated the album further knows that it is brilliant from beginning to end. Fully orchestrated and dream-like, it’s almost impossible to select one song worth highlighting.
Although I wholeheartedly recommend giving the entire record a dedicated listen, today’s Throwback Thursday installment will focus on one snippet of what the gorgeous experience entails. “The Morning”, is a single track that exudes the raw beauty of the orchestra fueling Days Of Future Passed‘s creativity. Gliding in on waves of awe-inspiring strings, subtle piano, and magisterial horns, it progresses to a rhythmic and undeniably catchy verse before culminating in a forlorn, wise-sounding chorus: “time seems to stand quite still…in a child’s world it always will.” The way the song weaves between pop sensibility and orchestral ambition is a thing of beauty, and it manages to be all at once familiar, progressive, and aurally stunning.…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 15, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Alkerdeel – Lede (Consouling Sounds)
Ashley Shadow –Ashley Shadow (felte)
Amber Rubarth – Scribbled Folk Symphonies (Chesky Records)
Ash Meteors – Fragment I (Ash Meteors)
Bear Hands – You’ll Pay For This (Spensive Sounds)
Blaqk Audio – Material (Blaqk Audio)
Cate Le Bon – Crab Day (Drag City)
The Coathangers – Nosebleed Weekend (Suicide Squeeze Records)
Crematory – Monument (Steamhammer)
The Decoys – In Our Blood (Unsigned)
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – PersonA (Community Music Group LLC)
Game Over – Crimes Against Reality (Scarlet Records)
Goatess – Purgatory Under New Management (Svart Records)
Graham Nash – This Path Tonight (Blue Castle Records)
Gypsy Chief Goliath – Citizens Of Nowhere (Pitch Black Records)
Hemotoxin – Biological Enslavement (Unspeakable Axe Records)
Hestina – Blossom Talk (Autumn Tone Records)
Holy Dragons – Civilizator (Pitch Black Records)
Howls of Ebb – Cursus Impasse (Voidhanger Records)
Izegrim – The Ferryman’s End (Listenable Records)
J Dilla – The Diary (Pay Jay Productions, Inc)
John Carpenter – Lost Themes II (Sacred Bones Records)
Kevin Morby – Singing Saw (Dead Oceans)
Lita Ford – Time Capsule (Steamhammer)
Murder Made God – Enslaved (Comatose Music)
Nightmen – Fifteen Minutes Of Pain (Lovely Records)
Nucleus – Sentient (Unspeakable Axe Records)
Omophagia – In The Name Of Chaos (Season of Mist)
Otep – Generation Doom (Napalm Records)
Pathways –…
