Year: 2013
Review: Cults – Static
Her high-toned vocals complement the sparkly ’50s-style guitar tunes they lay on, though on tracks like “Always Forever,” they remind me of an excited girl talking to a dog (“Hi, puppy!”). … read more
Review: Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones – Quatorze Pièces...
Quatorze Pièces de Menace starts with near perfect treatise explaining a term like “dark jazz” to the masses. This 20-plus minute opus tracks a slow-build progression from dark ambience to slow industrial clang, to Birth of the Cool–era Miles Davis cool jazz, to swells of post-rock guitars and swathes of noise. … read more
Review: Dave Hause – Devour
The Loved One’s current and Paint It Black’s former guitarist has also been putting out solo material since his stint performing on the PIB 2009 revival tour. It’s obvious that Hause knows how to create a large scope with his songs since each of them are emotional epics that tell Americana-type stories. … read more
Review: Cymbals – The Age of Fracture
Care was taken with each track on the Cymbals’ progressive new album. From start to finish, Jack Cleverly’s (singer/guitarist) thought process can be felt in this non-concept-like album. … read more
Review: Continents – Idle Hands
Continents = The Plot In You + The Ghost Inside … read more
Review: Crime and the City Solution – American Twilight
Critics’ darlings who never quite made the mainstream grade back in the early 1990s, Crime are back with their first release in 20-plus years. … read more
Review: Como Asesinar A Felipes – Comenzara de Nuevo
Comenzara de Nuevo, or Begin Again, is the mind-blowing US debut of progressive Chilean hybrid Como Asesinar A Felipes. Combining elements of hip hop and jazz with an underlying Latin-American flair, this album is full of complex layers and a strong message of change. … read more
Review: Cough/windhand
Split releases of any type can be risky, considering a good chunk of the time before the split is even created, either artist hasn’t heard the others’ tunes going into the work. I’m not sure how this release came into fruition, but the one almost 20-minute tune from Cough and two tunes equally the same playtime come from Windhand. … read more
Review: Cuckoo Chaos
This is one of the best demos and rarities compilations that I have heard. Usually rarities albums are choppy and inconsistent, with each song being recorded at a different time, and there are usually some pretty shitty songs. This feels like a cohesive album with a central theme, but that isn’t to say there aren’t slight variances. … read more
Review: Corduroi – Jangala
Listening to this album, I felt like I was high on some sort of Shangri-La vacation, with peach trees in blossom, waterfalls glistening and magical gardens to explore. … read more
Review: Corespondents – Land of the Low People
Now I don’t want to come across as turning my nose up at this record, but Land of the Low People just goes too far. It seems to be experimental for experiment’s sake—make this Utah boy just don’t get it, but each of these 15 instrumentals has very little to latch on to. Jazz and country elements sound great when they’re played, but then they are bent into something unrecognizable (or, in most cases, enjoyable). The strange fact is that I can tell it took a lot of talent create this record, I just can’t imagine anybody electing to let this thing play for longer than 10 minutes or so. … read more
Review: Crystal Stilts – Nature Noir
Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts are a tough band to pin down. At various times, they’ve used post-punk, psychedelic garage rock and indie pop jangle, often in the same song. … read more
