Issues: Issue 306 - June 2014
Review: Sonic Avenues – Mistakes
Sonic Avenues blasts out with a garage power pop twist that complements the legacy left by The Exploding Hearts rather nicely—they do an excellent job with poppy yet twisted, snotty distorted vocals that are coupled with a raw, ’77-influenced punk sound. … read more
Review: Saxon – St. George’s Day Sacrifice – Live in...
Saxon = Accept + Judas Priest … read more
Review: Secret Smoker – Terminal Architecture
Proudly declaring themselves as the torchbearers of “passionate ’emo’… before the shopping malls got a hold of the genre,” Secret Smoker know exactly what they’re going for and they firmly hit that bullseye. … read more
Review: Septicflesh – Titan
Septicflesh had a hard task to make something greater than their last record, The Great Mass. Titan is a more than appropriate title for the epically epic damned ninth album from the Greek metal masters. … read more
Review: R.M. Hendrix – Urban Turks Country Jerks
No, this isn’t an LDS-themed Jimi Hendrix cover band, though if you’re a Utah native, that probably doesn’t sound too odd. What we’ve got here is a mixed bag of indie rock, shoegaze and … gulp … psychedelia that casts a wide arc from nostalgia days to here and now. … read more
Review: Rachel Taylor Brown – Falimy
I think I can label this album as singer-songwriter, alt-chick rock music with a piano and sometimes other instruments, but perhaps I’m dismissing this as something that it’s not. … read more
Review: Polar Bear Club – Death Chorus
While initial damage-control over the album focused on the less-harsh style Jimmy Stadt now uses due to throat wear after the last few albums, it’s not the vocal delivery that leaves this album weak and wilting. … read more
Review: Polock – Rising Up
It’s June, ladies and gentlemen, and that means summer indie pop releases. Returning after their debut album, Getting Down From Trees, is Polock, the quintet from Valencia, Spain. … read more
Review: Popstrangers – Fortuna
Compared to their first album, Antipodes, Popstrangers are really living up to the “Pop” in their name. I want to stress that I said, “compared to.” … read more
Review: Odonis Odonis – Hard Boiled Soft Boiled
Hard Boiled Soft Boiled is the second album from this Toronto-based band Odonis Odonis. It’s fitting that this self-described “industrial surf-gaze” group has more to their double name than any singular sound—HBSB is two-sided and explores noise-pop from two different approaches. … read more