As anticipation continues to build for The Hotelier’s follow up to 2014’s wildly successful Home, Like NoPlace Is There, many are left scratching their heads with the release of their latest single ‘Piano Player.’ Admittedly, the song isn’t the cathartic release many fans were hoping for, but maybe it doesn’t have to be. After all, their last album was focused on loss, whereas Goodness has been revealed as an album about love. Once this vast difference in themes is considered, the subtle and content sound of ‘Piano Player’ starts to make more sense. It’s a more restrained track for The Hotelier, but the extra room they’re given to breath results in one hell of an ear-worm upon repeated listens. The song reveals itself to you slowly – starting with a lulling vocal performance by Christian Holden before kicking into gear with his trademark nasally pipes, and eventually ending with a gratifying payoff. Despite the subdued nature of the song, everything feels synced together in a fuzzy sort of way, from the steady pace of the guitars and drums to the repetitious, yet mesmerizing chorus. It’s not a track that will hit you in the gut from the get-go, but spend some time with it and soon you’ll revel in its reflective lyrics and pleasant familiarity.
Only time will tell how ‘Piano Player’ connects to the complete package of Goodness, but if the track…
Flotsam and Jetsam have faster more epic albums (Doomsday for the Deceiver), thrashier albums (No Place For Disgrace), more adventurous albums (The Cold), and even more commercial albums (Drift). None of them hold a candle to Cuatro. When Cuatro was released in 1992, it seemed like Flotsam and Jetsam were finally going to hit the big leagues. Cuatro featured the band’s best sound, best songwriting and was (and still is) their most consistent release. It was also the album that finally attracted Mtv and radio attention. That attention started on the radio with the song ‘Never to Reveal’. ‘Never to Reveal’ was an excellent blend of the band’s new streamlined sound combined with a bit of the energy and heaviness of their past, and it received frequent plays on metal radio. A subsequent video for ‘Wading Through the Darkness’ put the band front-and-center on Mtv, and things seemed to finally be going well for the band.
Things have never really gone well for Flotsam and Jetsam, though. For every step forward, there’s at least the same amount of steps back (if not more). Everyone knows what happened in the early nineties, and Flotsam’s attempt to capitalize on their newfound attention with Drift ended with them splitting from their label and landing back at Metal Blade where they made a series of decent albums before finally releasing The Cold — which stands as one of their best releases. Which led…
For three long years, Zealotry has teased us. It was said the arrival of a frostbitten behemoth was imminent and that The Charnel Expanse was merely a portal for something far more malevolent, but somewhere along the way, a shadow of doubt was cast. Like unfulfilled prophesies, deadlines began to pass with barely a word to sate our hesitations. But we were wrong to doubt, so very wrong. The Last Witness has finally beckoned, set to leave nothing in its wake undefiled. If “Yliaster” is to be seen as a statement, it means we’re to be treated to a beast that, while cut from the same cloth as its ancestor, operates on a different wavelength. The Charnel Expanse was like a realm-traversing phantom that revelled in bending reality for its own amusement, but The Last Witness appears be less impish and more deliberate in going about its callous deeds. “Yliaster” is very serpentine in terms of composition, slithering between dimensional walls as guttural murmurings effervesce and guitar licks writhe and twist like tentacles. It’s a concoction that is slightly more contemplative than what we’ve come to expect, but make no mistake, it’s just as evil.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 25, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
American Head Charge – Tango Umbrella (Napalm Records)
Amon Amarth – Jomsviking (Mwtal Blade Records)
Asking Alexandria – The Black (Sumerian Records)
Beastmaker – Lusus Naturae (Rise Above Records)
Birdy – Beautiful Lies (Jasmine Van Den Bogaerde)
Bloodsweat – Plague Vendor (Epitaph)
Caliban – Gravity (Century Media Records Ltd)
Cameron AG – Way Back Home (Independent)
Cobalt – Slow Forever (Profound Lore)
Demonstealer – This Burden is Mine (Demonstealer Records)
The Joy Formidable – Hitch (C’mon Let’s Drift)
Hammerfight – Profound and Profane. (Napalm Records)
Irkallian Oracle – Apollyon (Nuclear War Now Productions)
Lelkem – All Four Seasons in One Day (Panta R&E)
Like Rats – II (Southern Lord Records)
Lontalius – I’ll Forget 17 (Partisan Records)
Marathonmann – Mein Leben gehort Dir (Century Media Records Ltd)
Metalchurch – XI (Rat Pak Records)
Museyroom – Pearly Whites (Grind Select)
Necronomicon – Advent of The Human God (Season of Mist)
Night Moves – Pennied Days (Domino Recording Co Ltd)
NilExistence – Existence in Revelation (Independent)
O’Brother – Endless Light (Triple Crown Records)
Phazm – Scornful of Icons (Osmose Productions)
Plague Vendor – BLOODSWEAT (Epitaph)
Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Leaves (Radical Face)
Ragnarok –…
Remember in 2006 when My Chemical Romance launched the single/video “Welcome To The Black Parade”, and it was so wildly over-the-top that, on some levels anyway, it actually worked? Or way back to 1967 when The Beatles had done pretty much the same thing with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band except it actually did work? Well subtlety be damned, here’s your folk installment. “Spirits”, The Strumbellas’ lead single to Hope, seems to have it all: a huge chorus with a melody that sticks, harmonized crowd chants, clashing cymbals, a tender bridge heavy on the piano, and even some subtle brass. Maybe we didn’t ask the band to parade through the streets while performing, but that’s where the element of grandiosity – for as often as it feels out of place in music – almost seems fitting here. As The Strumbellas sing out proudly “But something inside has changed, and maybe we don’t wanna stay the same” and “I don’t want a never-ending life, I just want to be alive while I’m here”, there’s this sense that they’re speaking to a larger purpose worthy of such demonstrative celebration. Subtlety may be lacking all around, but I can promise you that even if you only listen once, it won’t the the last time it plays through your head.
I’m a little late on the draw with Fracture’s excellent Hype Tracks EP (out in February on Exit Records), but I’ve been absolutely obsessed with Charlie Fieber’s brand of hip-hop-inflected jungle since I discovered it a few years back. Hype Tracks continues down that road – some straight drum & bass (“Black Pearl”), some footwork (“Acid Claps”) – but by far the best tune on the four-tracker is the opener, “Makin’ Hype Tracks.” It’s a glorious bit of dubby jungle, organ and spectral horns adding pounds of swagger to a stomping half-time intro before an infusion of chunky bass and raw breaks take center stage. The song teeters between a swung hip-hop feel and a more staid jungle backbone, organ and vocal snippets colliding with half-time snares and cleanly on-beat cymbal splashes, and the effect is not unlike the adjective in the song’s title. One of the most genuinely fun tunes released this year on Exit (though their other release this year, a Zed Bias EP, is also phenomenal), “Makin’ Hype Tracks” is exactly why Fracture’s become one of the most popular names in drum & bass over the past few years, and it’s great to see his decade-plus of hard work become recognized.
Another week in the books, and another set of 5 songs added to the track-of-the-day vault. This week’s EP highlights the gleeful ‘Born Again Teen’, the mysterious dance vibes of ‘Consumes You’, the hypnotizing ‘Running With The Wolves’, our throwback to Alanis Morissette’s heyday via ‘Mary Jane’, and the quirky, ever so odd ‘Old Man Skies.’ Our second ever weekly compilation can be streamed via Spotify below, and each blog post can be revisited by clicking on the song/artist name.
Chicagoland art/math rock quartet Oshwa are finally coming around to their sophomore album I We You Me, with a yet unspecified 2016 release and I’m here to present you with a track that should get you excited for it.
“Quirky” is probably the word that first comes to my mind when describing “Old Man Skies,” with Alicia Walter’s vocal delivery gleefully bearing the flag for that designation. Walter’s voice is a little jazzy, a little smoky, and with an uncommon high end that borders on a yodel, it’s a quirk that complements the playfully shifting tempo of the track in a way that beautifully ties its menagerie of jazz, pop, math, and indie influences together. She ebbs with the mellow lows, bursts and blooms with the rising bridges, and shines over the powerful chorus in a way that illuminates the song in a sea of similar content.
Though “similar” isn’t exactly how I’d describe the instrumental side of Oshwa or “Old Man Skies.” Others have described the track as sounding as though it was written forward and performed backward. It’s part of the allure and, again, quirk of the track that it has a bit of a backmasked sound to it, with Alicia’s forward-facing vocals keeping the listener on “play” even when the instrumentals are shouting “rewind.” There’s a lot of emphasis on complex harmony to be found amid the…
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a ’90s Christmas, and I could feel the excitement surge through me as I dug through my stocking and yanked out my very first CD: Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill. It wasn’t long before this excitement was put on hold, however. My parents were a bit overprotective, and as soon as they caught wind of the sexual references and language glittered throughout the album, my new gift vanished before my very eyes like a magic trick.
Jagged Little Pill became a forbidden fruit of sorts to me. Not only was it the first CD I ever laid my hands on, but my parents’ objections only further piqued my interest in the breakthrough album. I found myself sneaking over to my friend’s house to get my Alanis fix, and was always left wanting more. My obsession eventually waned, but to this day Jagged Little Pill remains a nostalgic and satisfying treat.
Fast forward twenty years later, and I’m able to revisit my old favorite with fresh eyes. What I’ve uncovered is both familiar, yet somehow hazy. Perhaps it’s because my younger self would skip over the less instantly gratifying tracks, but several songs on Jagged Little Pill stand out as if I’m hearing them for the very first time. Many of the hits on the album feel designed for radio play, with Morissette’s…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 18, 2016. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Alice on the roof – Higher (Label & Labet)
Boris and Merzbow – Gensho (Relapse Records Inc.)
Brett – Mode (Cascine)
Causa Sui – Return To Sky (El Paraiso)
Cilver – Not the End of the World (Entertainment One U.S.)
Circus Maximus – Havoc (Frontiers Records)
Daddy – Let Me Get What I Want (We Are Daddy, LLC)
Deathkings – All that is Beautiful (Independent)
Defecto – Excluded (Elevation)
The Drones – Feelin Kinda Free (Tropical Fuck Storm Records)
Éohum – Ealdfaeder (Mycelium Networks)
Forks – II (Forks)
Glitterbust – Glitterbust (Burger Records)
Gloria Morti – Kuebiko (Willowtip Records)
Gwen Stefani – This Is What the Truth Feels Like (Interscope Records)
Heiress – Made Wrong (The Mylene Sheath)
Highrider – Armageddon Rock (The Sign)
Iggy Pop/Josh Homme – Post Pop Depression (Loma Vista Recordings)
The Last Vegas – Eat Me (AFM Recordings)
Light Up The Sky – Nightlife (Rise Records)
Killerpilze – High (Nordpolrecords)
K-X-P – III Part 2 (Svart Records)
Liima – II (2016 4AD)
Lords of Black – II (Frontiers Records)
Primal Scream – Chaosmosis (SCRM Ltd)
North – Light The Way (Prosthetic Records)
Rapheumetas Well – The Exile (Test Your Metal)
Red Eleven – Collect Your Scars (Lifeforce Records)
Rexy – Running Out of Time (Lucky Number Music Limited)
Sacrilegium – Anima Lucifera (Pagan Records)
Sam…
RIYL: Bat For Lashes, Marissa Nadler and Alexa Borden.
Let’s get this out of the way first: AURORA’s music comes with a glowing endorsement from Katy Perry, but don’t let that stop you from checking this out. There’s something strange about a lot of the music that comes from Norway. No matter the style, the artists just seem to have their own strange approach; Aurora Aksnes is no different. At nineteen years old she is well on her way towards creating her own unique style. This style is a mixture of electronic elements and indie pop that often has a very dark undercurrent. There are upbeat pop tracks such as ‘Conqueror‘ as well as darker tracks such as ‘Murder (5,4,3,2,1)‘ which is about assisted suicide — and is a video that is well worth watching. The song posted here is called ‘Running with the Wolves‘ and is probably more representative of the album’s sound overall. It has a slight indie pop sound, electronic elements, and it is as quirky as it is catchy. The song is taken from the album All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend and was released on March 11 through Glassnote.
Fennec’s newest EP, This Place Was Once a Palace, connotes either a deeply personal loss, or a perception of the current state of house music (or, it could be both). The multifaceted house producer bridges the sounds of old-school Chicago with relatable, yet minimalistic, venting. “Consumes You” is an allusion to frenetic dance music coupled with a sense of being pulled elsewhere, out of body. The tone of the bass lines is gorgeous, and the unfocused compositional approach complements the dizzied headspace. –Tristan Jones
With the first full week of the Sputnikmusic Staff’s “Track of the Day” feature in the books, I thought it would be a cool idea to, as often as possible, put together a small 5-track EP consisting of the staff selections from that week. It’s kind of a “here’s what you missed” opportunity for those of you who don’t religiously follow the blog updates (although you should!) as well as a gift to our readers and userbase (take it or leave it, we won’t be offended!)
Without further ado, I present to you the very first Sputnik EP playlist spanning the week of 3/7/16 to 3/11/16. The tracklist can be found below, followed by the Spotify playlist. Thank you to all who contributed, commented, and/or read last week!
Lucius’ music plays like a never-ending sugar high. They’re always upbeat, creating catchy and captivating songs that make you want to get up and move. Their debut Wildewoman showcased their main strengths: the talented vocals of Berklee-educated singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, and the insane vocal harmonies that they can make together. Even considering how successful that album was within indie-pop circles, “Born Again Teen” obliterates any conceivable expectations with its sky-high chorus and dance-worthy beat. It’s the lead single for their freshly released LP Good Grief, and with good reason: it captures the energy and youthful bliss of the record like no other individual track could. It won’t change your life or anything, but I dare you not to tap your feet, sway in your chair, or even get up and dance like a complete idiot.
When School of Seven Bells’ (and ex-Secret Machines guitarist) Benjamin Curtis died in late 2013 from T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, at the shake-your-fists-at-the-sky age of only 35, it seemed like 2012’s Ghostory would be that band’s swan song (not to mention the heartbreaking cover of Joey Ramone’s “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up Again)” that the pair released prior to Curtis’ death). A triumphant summation of their sound at the time, it was a compelling enough ending to a story that seemed short far too many chapters. But then it wasn’t. Alejandra Deheza, the other half of the band, announced what would be the couple’s fourth and probably final LP only a few months ago, and it was released at the tail end of February.
It’s not easy encapsulating all the feelings associated with the loss of someone so intimate, and SVIIB really never sets out to do that – recorded in a flurry of activity during the Ghostory tour, before Curtis was diagnosed, it’s a life-affirming and vibrant record. Perhaps even more so than Ghostory, it’s the perfect synthesis of their sound: a wave of sound that reaches to the sky, massive shoegazy riffs, Deheza’s crystalline vocals sliding effortlessly over the top. It’s Deheza’s lyrics that give the record its crushing, if optimistic, subtext. A memorial to Curtis, it’s a travelogue…
