Month: December 2013
Local Review: Andrew Goldring – Forgotten Harvest EP
A lot of this album has the casual buzz that was prominent in the early ’90s, though Goldring uses it wisely, favoring more refined production and carefully composed layers instead of the loud, experimental noise you might find in earlier alternative acts (looking at you, Sonic Youth). … read more
Local Review – Max Pain and The Groovies – Self-Titled
Max Pain and the Groovies certainly have an affinity for the Texas psych scene, and this EP sounds more focused than anything I’ve heard from them before. … read more
Local Review: A Lily Gray – Waiting Room
Polished, local alt-rock group A Lily Gray returns with another teaser of an EP that will get you salivating for a full album from this quintet. … read more
Review: George Glass – Welcome Home
There’s a smoothness about this straight-ahead pop stuff that some lo-fi aficionados might distrust, but put that down to their living in L.A. In that town full of phoniness, George Glass (who isn’t a person, BTW, just the band name) somehow seems genuine. … read more
Review: Gary Numan – Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)
Numan’s latest album, Splinter (Songs For A Broken Mind), the 19th full-length released under his own name, has expanded his exploration of heavy industrial pop music, the sound he’s embraced since the early ’90s. … read more
Review: Fuzz – Self-Titled
It is definitely closer to early conventional heavy metal than any of the previous releases—you’re going to hear a ton of people compare it to Black Sabbath. … read more
Review: Gap Dream – Shine Your Light
Psychedelic music tends to be bent on creating a feeling rather than giving a message. Nothing says the music needs to be either, but on Shine Your Light, Gap Dream provides the latter. They’ve traded in a previously raw and dark sound for synthesized guitars and an often-seductive vibe from front man Gabe Fulvimar, whose message is simple: “Love is not allowed to those that run.” … read more
Review: Espectrostatic – Self-Titled
Garage rock impresario Alex Cuervo (Hex Dispensers, Feast of Snakes) has faithfully captured the intensity and driving repetition of classic horror movie soundtracks on his newest synth project, Espectrostatic. … read more
Review: Eternal North – Children Ov the Cold
This Idahoan group makes me ponder the possibilities if In Flames and Children of Bodom hadn’t “moderned up” their sound. It kind of makes a guy feel like it’s the early ’90s and so many Scandinavian groups hadn’t become shadows of themselves. … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Interval Signals
Interval Signals, one of two recordings from Brian Pyle’s Ensemble Economique solo project released in December, is a 40-minute pastiche of field recordings, radio sounds, and as the album’s title implies—interval signals. … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Light That Comes, Light That Goes
My first thought upon hearing the familiar “if you need help, please hang up and try again…” recording in Light That Comes, Light That Goes’ opening track, “If You Need Help,” was that it may be a bit too ubiquitous of a sample to be effective in another context. … read more
Review: Eraas – Initiation
Initiation, Eraas’ second full-length album full of trip hop beats, kraut rock tempos and ethereal vocal samples, is remarkably hermetic and cohesive. Like Chelsea Wolfe, Eraas infuse their vocals with haunting echoes to create a kind of ominous atmosphere, especially on the sinister tracks such as “Old Magic” and “Above.” … read more
