In an effort to coalesce the reviews site with our sister site’s forums, feel free to drop in and introduce yourselves here! Your password for the reviews site will be the same as it is for the forums. Hat-tip to Black Ink for being the catalyst to try things out… until we continue to segregate ourselves, that is!
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 11, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
A reminder to all that voting submissions are still being accepted for the Users’ end of year feature. If you wish to have your say, head on over to the submission thread, and submit your entries. The votes will close at midnight on December the 14th.
Big Awesome – Birdfeeder (Baby Moon Records)
Big Boi – Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors (Def Jam)
Boys Like Girls – Crazy World (Columbia)
Breach – You Won’t Find Love Again: Remixes (Naked Lunch)
Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox (Atlantic)
Catacombs – Exodus (Innamind Recordings)
Circle Of Contempt – Entwine The Threads (Sumerian Records)
Dusky – Calling Me (School Records)
The Game – Jesus Piece (Geffen Records)
Green Day – Tre! (Reprise)
Jamestown Story – Show Me Tomorrow (Jamestown Story)
Lento – Anxiety Despair Languish (Denovali Records)
Loving The Lie – Someone Wants You (Dead) (Loving The Lie)
Masta Killa – Selling My Soul (Ingrooves)
Maztek & Masheen –…
It’s been a wonderful year and I don’t know how to even talk about it in a way that isn’t neurotically structured around lists. Here are my informal reasons behind my favourite things. Merry Christmas!
Albums
25
Zammuto
Another wonderful tongue-in-cheek cut and paste job by the wonderful Books craftsman. Zammuto is jollily demented, electronic music never short of fun and never over-stretching its ideas. Nick Zammuto has always had a knack for modulating the outreaches into something we can all get down to, and from this outing that almost feels like the point of his new project.
24
The Welcome Wagon
Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
Direct songs from Christian to God, but it’s not like the word can’t translate.
23
Bill Fay
Life Is People
What’s so satisfying about listening to Fay’s album is how it doesn’t dispel the mythic rock history surrounding it. His first solo record in forty years, after being chewed out by an industry that took its liberty to take up every musician and then dump them, is a spectacle of sorts, something of a comeback overwrought with the emotion of being able to make music again. It fully deserves the story that comes with it, although really what’s best…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 4, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
A reminder to all that we are now accepting votes for the upcoming Users’ best of 2012 feature. Head on over to the submission thread and brush up on the rules before posting your submissions.
Affiance – The Campaign (Bullet Tooth)
After Me, The Flood – Still Searching (Famined Records)
Anex – Phobic (Dubstep For Deep Heads)
Brandon Michael Williams and Seth Andrew Hecox – All Folked Up (Brandon Michael Williams and Seth Andrew Hecox)
Demon & DCult – Frostbite/Sliver (Macabre Unit)
Dream Boat – Eclipsing (Cloud Recordings)
El Perro Del Mar – Pale Fire (The Control Group) Hinder – Welcome To The Freakshow
Jacob Morris – Moths (Cloud Recordings)
Jimmy Edgar – Majenta (Hotflush Recordings)
Kahn – Dread/Late Night Blues (Deep Medi Muzik)
Ke$ha – Warrior (RCA)
Look, I’m Burning – Angels With Filthy Souls (Look, I’m Burning)
LX One – Losing Control/On My Own (Wheel & Deal Records)
Memory Tapes – Grace/Confusion (Carpark Records)
Olly Murs – Right Place, Right Time (Columbia)
Paloma Faith – Fall To Grace (Epic)
Raime – Quarter Turns Over A Living Line (Blackest Ever Black)
Reaching Every Mountain – Small Step For Man (Reaching Every Mountain) Scott Walker – Bish, Bosch (4AD Records)
Shackleton – Music For The Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs (Woe To Septic…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 27, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Also, a note to all: the voting for the Users’ end of year feature will be opening up on the 1st of December. The majority of the userbase will already be familiar with the rules of voting and what is expected of them, but for all the newly-minted additions to the site there will be a news post on the day to remind you all, so keep this in the back of your minds.
Adler – Back From The Dead (New Ocean Media) Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire (RCA)
American Heritage – Sedentary (Translation Loss)
Artifas – Enemy Inside (Artifas)
Bears Among Men – Restored (Bears Among Men)
Big Dipper – Big Dipper Crashes On The Platinum Planet (Almost Ready Records)
Biome – Shaman (On The Edge)
Breathless – Green To Blue (Shellshock)
Calibre – Rennaisance (Footprints Music)
Caramel Carmela – Skinny Jeans, Fat Bass (Caramel Carmela)
Destruction – Spiritual Genocide (Nuclear Blast International)
Dro Carey – N.R. (Templar Sound)
Enei – Machines (Critical Recordings)
Example – The Evolution Of Man (Ministry Of Sound UK)
Fairbanks – Eat This Record (Urban Scandal Records)
Guy Andrews & Untold – Resistivity/Under (Hemlock Recordings)
Hanzel und Gretyl – Born To Be Heiled (Metropolis Recordings)
Hotel Of The Laughing Tree – Mammoth Skin – Part 1 (Hotel Of The…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the weeks of November 13 and November 20 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Also, a quick notice to all the Contributing Reviewers: the resurrected Contributors Thread is once again open for business. For all the recently promoted, feel free to browse the first post and get familiar with the idea of the thread. A reminder to all though – the thread is designed for the contribs only; any user wishing to make a review request should still post here.
11.13.2012
Aaron Lewis – The Road (Blaster Records)
Access Denied – Touch Of Evil (Pitch Black Records)
Army Of Freshmen – Happy To Be Alive (Arkive Records)
The Babies – Our House On The Hill (Woodsist)
Bambi Lee Savage – Darkness Overshadowed (Bambi Lee Savage)
Brian Eno – Lux (Warp Records)
Christina Aguilera – Lotus (RCA)
Clinic – Free Reign (Domino)
Coldplay – Live 2012 [CD/DVD] (Parlophone) Deftones – Koi No Yokan (Reprise) – Eli Kleman
Donny & Current Value – The Reading (Barcode Recordings)
Fake Blood – Cells ([PIAS] America) Front Line Assembly – Airmech (Metropolis Records) Green Day – iDos! (Reprise) – Joseph Viney
Guided By Voices – The Bears For Lunch (Guided By Voices)
Holly Herndon – Movement (Rvng Intl)
How To Destroy Angels – An Omen (Columbia)
Inertia – Universal Blood (Metropolis Records)
Issues – Black Diamonds (Rise…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 06, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Aerosmith – Music From Another Dimension (Columbia)
All That Remains – A War You Cannot Win (Razor & Tie Recordings)
Anaal Nathrakh – Vanitas (Candlelight/Lumberjack)
Andy Stott – Luxury Problems (Modern Love)
Anstam – Stones And Woods (Monkeytown Records)
ASC – Lost Sync – Part 2 (Samurai Red Seal)
Autumn Owls – Between Buildings, Toward The Sea (Epitonic)
DaVinci – The MOEna Lisa (SWTBRDS)
Dionne Warwick – Now (Blue Horizon Venture)
Doro – Raise Your Fist (Nuclear Blast US)
The Epilogues – Cinematics (Red General)
Geoff Tate – Kings & Thieves (Inside Out US)
Graveyard – Lights Out (Nuclear Blast US)
Isis – Temporal (Ipecac Recordings)
Kylie Minogue – The Abbey Road Sessions (Parlophone)
Lindstrom – Smalhans (Smalltown Supersound)
Ne-Yo – R.E.D. (Motown/PGD)
Pangaea – Release (Hessle Audio)
Paragon – Force of Destruction (Napalm Records)
Prince Rama – Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World (Paw Tracks)
Public Enemy – Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp (Eastlink)
Public Enemy – The Evil Empire Of Everything (King Midas)
Rage Nucleaire – Unrelenting Fucking Hatred (Season Of Mist)
Saigon – The Greatest Story Never Told Chapter 2: Bread and Circuses (Suburban Noize Recordings)
The Seeking – Yours Forever (Provident)
Sigha – Scene Couple/Brood (Hotflush Recordings)
Skalmold – Born Loka (Napalm Records)
Slingshot Dakota – Dark…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 23, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Alexa Borden – Rule The World (Borden Records) …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Lost Songs – Rudy Klapper (Superball Music)
Andy Burrows – Company (Play It Again, Sam)
Anita Baker – Only Forever (Blue Note Records/EMI)
Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man (Capitol)
Bayside – Covers (Vol. 1) (Gumshoe Records)
Behold The Arctopus – Horrorscension (Red General Catalog)
Being As An Ocean – Dear G-d (Invogue Records)
Billy Ray Cyrus – Change My Mind (Blue Cadillac Music)
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy (Rad Cult)
Breach & Midland – 101/Somewhere (Naked Naked)
Bridgit Mendler – Hello My Name Is.. (Hollywood Records)
Clan Of Xymox – Kindred Spirits (Metropolis Records)
Colbie Caillat – Christmas In The Sand (Universal Republic)
Current Value – Quantum Physics (Barcode Recordings)
Current Value & Bryan Fury – Posthuman/Get Blood (Smackdown Recordings)
Darling Farah – Body: Remixed (Civil)
Diamond Rings – Free Dimensional (Astralwerks)
Dom & Roland – Strobe/Goliath (Dom & Roland Productions)
Fontanelle – Vitamin F (Southern Lord)
Further Seems Forever – Penny Black (Rise Records)
Gary Clark Jr. – Blak And Blu (Warner Bros.)
Germ – Loss (AIS)
A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance (Season Of Mist)
Main Attrakionz – Bossalinis & Fooliyones (Red General Catalog)
Man In A Crowd – Don’t Paint…
Sputnik Music is dedicated to bringing you the best new music. Part of our endeavor includes this very blog, our “Infinite Playlist” – a user-submitted database consisting of quarterly, up-to-date tracks from your favorite artists (and hopefully a few ones you’ve never heard of before). Below you will find a list of songs from the third quarter of 2012. Each song is (if possible) accompanied by a download link, access to the artist’s home page, and a review of his/her latest album.
Sputnik’s Infinite Playlist is, as the title suggests, an ongoing project. You can contribute to future publications of Sputnik’s Infinite Playlist by submitting a song title, artist name, release date, and 5-10 sentence blurb to sowingsputnik@gmail.com.
All prior sections of the Infinite Playlist can be found below:
If you have any additional questions, drop me a message in my shoutbox. Q4 submissions will range from October to December, so feel free to send something in at your leisure. Not a user? No problem. You can register with the site here.
And as always, I would like to take a moment to recognize this issue’s contributors for their time and effort. Please give a round of applause for this quarter’s writers:
Amia Venera Landscape’s 2010 release, The Long Procession, was one of the surprise releases of that year. It probably could have even been near the top of our year-end lists if not for its mid-December release date. Its mixture of post metal, post hardcore, math metal, and ambience was expertly done (with some room for improvement, of course) and still generates discussion nearly two years later. The song that hit most people the hardest was the opening track, ‘Empire’, and this is the video for that song. Prepare to have your face melted… or something 😉
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NOTE: In other news, the band has just announced through their Facebook page that they’re going to be releasing more music this winter:
Hi everyone, after several months of almost silence, it’s time to see where we stand!
During this period we’ve been working on a lot of brand new music. The composition process took different directions, in terms of sounds and respective approaches, and it led us to create something around eighty songs of very different genres.
All this material will be recorded along the next three years, and the first of these releases is supposed to be out this Winter. According to this we won’t be going to play any live show for a while.
In the meanwhile, check out our previously unreleased video for the song ‘Empire’, taken from our first album ‘The Long Procession’.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 16, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Anberlin – Vital (Universal Republic) – SowingSeason
BATS – The Sleep Of Reason (Richter Collective)
Ben Gibbard – Former Lives (Barsuk)
Biome – The Prayer (Dubstep For Deep Heads)
Boys Noize – Out Of The Black (Ingrooves)
Brandy – Two Eleven (RCA)
Connor Maynard – Contrast (Capitol)
Consequence & ASC – Noisy Spirits In This Soul/Snow Wolf (Samurai Red Seal)
Creative Adult – Dead Air (Broke Hater)
Daphni – JIAOLONG (Merge Records)
DaVinci – The MOEna Lisa (SWTBRDS)
Dethklok – Metalocalypse: Dethklok Dethalbum III (William Street)
Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos (Reprise)
Dynfari – Sem Skugginn (Code 666)
Earlimart – System Preferences (The Shipp Records)
A Fine Frenzy – Pines (Virgin Records) Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation) – Eli Kleman
The HAARP Machine – Disclosure (100% Womon)
The Herbaliser – There Were Seven (Redeye)
The Infamous String Dusters – Sky-High (High Country Recordings)
In Fear And Faith – In Fear And Faith (Rise Records)
Jamey Johnson – Livin’ For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran (Mercury Nashville) Jason Aldean – Night Train (Broken Bow)
Jason Lytle – Dept. Of Disappearance (Anti Records)
Kem – What Christmas Means (Xenon)
Kendrick Lemar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city (Aftermath)
K’Naan – Country, God Or The Girl (Octone)
Martha Wainwright – Come…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 09, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
The Acacia Strain – Death Is The Only Mortal (Rise Records) A.C. Newman – Shut Down The Streets (Matador Records) – Rudy Klapper
All Time Low – Don’t Panic (Hopeless Records)
Alphabet Backwards – Little Victories (Highline Records)
August Burns Red – Sleddin’ Hill: A Holiday Album (Solid State Records)
Barbara Streisand – Release Me (Columbia) Between The Buried And Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence (Metal Blade)
The Birthday Massacre – Hide And Seek (Metropolis Records) Blut Aus Nord – 777 – Cosmosophy (Season Of Mist)
Break & Survival – Stano/Going Over (Dispatch)
Caustic – The Man Who Couldn’t Stop (Metropolis Records)
Chrome Canyon – Elemental Themes (Stone Throw) Coheed & Cambria – The Afterman: Ascension (Xenon)
Cold Showers – Love And Regret (Dais Records) Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph) – SowingSeason
The Cringe – Hiding In Plain Sight (Listen Records)
Disclosure – The Face: Remixes (Greco Roman)
Electric Six – Absolute Pleasure (Metropolis Records)
Ellie Goulding – Halcyon (Interscope Records)
Freelance Whales – Diluvia (Mom & Pop Music)
Hostage Calm – Please Remain Calm (Red General Catalog)
Indigo – Neveah (On The Edge)
Inhale Exhale – Movement (Red Cord Records)
Italians Do It Better (VA) – After Dark 2 (Italians Do It…
Proving that an impressively played festival set can pay future dividends, yours truly dug deep into his hip pocket to see Yellowcard after they had made quite the positive impression during their 40 minute set last year. Considering that previous to that Australian performance, the Floridian quintet shared headlining duties with Sum 41, then it was safe to say that us Aussies had been craving a full Yellowcard headline set for quite some time… And the rather intimate setting of The Hi-Fi Bar in central Melbourne was the perfect venue for the first of two sold-out shows.
First up for the night were local pop-rockers For Our Hero. Having never heard a single song by these youngsters before this night, I actually came away rather impressed. Sure, it was pretty safe stuff without any real distinguishing point… But in their spot of warming up an audience who were predominantly waiting to hear a band such as Yellowcard, then For Our Hero achieved their objective. They sounded clear, crisp & catchy with just enough variety to get by. If they can grow into their own sound as they gain experience, then this could be a band with a bright future.
Continuing the “hero” theme, Australia’s 2nd favourite pop-punk outfit Heroes For Hire were up next. I’m actually a fan of their recorded output thus far in their career. Again, they don’t do anything that hasn’t been done by superior overseas bands, but they do so in a catchy…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 02, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
The Amity Affliction – Chasing Ghosts (Roadrunner Records)
AxeWound – Vultures (The End Records)
Balmorhea – Stranger (Western Vinyl)
Beth Orton – Sugaring Season (Anti Records)
Black Sun Empire – From The Shadows (Black Sun Empire)
Blake Shelton – Cheers, It’s Christmas (Warner Bros)
California Wives – Art History (Vagrant Records)
The Casket Lottery and Touche Amore – Split (No Sleep Records)
Cher Lloyd – Sticks & Stones (Epic)
Chris Rene – I’m Right Here (Epic)
Dark Dark Dark – Who Needs Who (Supply And Demand)
Diana Krall – Glad Rag Doll (Verve)
Distance – Troubles/Rugged (Get Darker)
Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes (Warp Records)
Frank Turner – Last Minutes And Lost Evenings [CD/DVD] (Epitaph)
Hammock – Departure Songs (Hammock Music)
Heart – Fanatic (Legacy)
Iris Dement – Sing The Delta (Flariella Records)
Jackie Evancho – Songs From The Silver Screen (Columbia)
Kromestar & Jay5ive – Knowledge (Deep Medi Muzik)
Marillion – Sounds That Can’t Be Made (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
Matt & Kim – Lightning (Fader Label)
Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream (RCA) Moon Duo – Circles (Sacred Bones)
The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth (Merge Records)
Muse – The 2nd Law (Warner Bros) Papa Roach – The Connection (Eleven Seven Music)
The Piano Guys – The Piano Guys (Sony Masterworks)
Randomer – We…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 25, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Angie Stone – Rich Girl (Saguaro Road Records) As I Lay Dying – Awakened (Metal Blade)
The Bad Plus – Made Possible (Entertainment One Music)
Bettye LaVette – Thankful N’ Thoughtful (ANTI Records)
Bullet – Full Pull (Nuclear Blast America)
Caspian – Waking Season (Triple Crown)
Chris Cohen – Overgrown Path (Captured Tracks)
Collapse Under The Empire – Fragments Of A Prayer (Finaltune)
Danny! – Payback (Okayplayer Records)
Deadmau5 – >album title goes here< (Ultra Records)
Deception Of A Ghost – Life Right Now (Bullet Tooth)
DJ Shadow – Reconstructed: The Best Of (Hip-O)
Dragonette – Bodyparts (Dragonette Inc.)
Dum Dum Girls – End Of Daze (Sub Pop)
Efterklang – Piramida (4AD Records) Green Day – iUno! (Reprise)
Handguns – Angst (Pure Noise)
In Dying Arms – Boundaries (Razor & Tie)
Jason Collett – Reckon (Arts & Crafts)
John Hiatt – Mystic Pinball (New West Records)
Levek – Look A Little Closer (Lefse Records)
John Frusciante – PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone (101 Distribution)
Ludovico Technique – Some Things Are Beyond Therapy (Metropolis Records)
Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album – Part 1 (Atlantic)
Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber (Fat Possum Records)
Michael McDermott – Hit Me Back (Rock Ridge Music)
Monuments – Gnosis (Century Media)
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 18, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Aimee Mann – Charmer (SuperEgo Records)
All The Right Moves – When Your Compass Breaks (All The Right Moves)
Alt-J – An Awesome Wave (Atlantic)
ASC – Lost Sync – Part 1 (Samurai Red Seal)
Band Of Horses – Mirage Rock (Columbia)
Becoming the Archetype – I Am (Solid State Records)
Ben Folds Five – The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind Out (Sony)
Big & Rich – Hillbilly Jedi (Warner Bros.)
Breakbot – By Your Side (Ed Banger/Because Music)
Brother Ali – Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color (Rhymesayers)
The Burning Of Rome – With Us (Surfdog)
Carly Rae Jespen – Kiss (Interscope Records)
Corin Tucker Band – Kill My Blues (Kill Rock Stars)
Data – Visualizations Vol. 3 (Horizons Music) The Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud (HevyDevy) – Irving Tan Zhi Mian
Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On Sky (Jagjaguwar)
Dwight Yoakam – 3 Pears (Warner Bros.)
Earlimart – System Preferences [Digital Release] (The Ship)
Easton Corbin – All Over The Road (Mercury Nashville)
Eddie Izzard – Live at Madison Square Garden (Largo/Epitaph)
Fourplay – Espirit De Four (Heads Up)
The Gaslamp Killer – Breakthrough (Brainfeeder)
GOOD Music – Cruel Summer (Island/Def-Jam)
The Goodnight – Keep Control (The Goodnight)
Go Radio – Close The Distance (Fearless Records)
Grizzly Bear – Shields (Warp Records) …
