Authors: Ryan Michael Painter
Review: Le Concorde – EP
LE CONCORDE EP Space Kitty It is always a pleasant surprise when a CD bears a sticker telling of guest artists featured within and you ultimately realize the band sticker is underselling the talent and potential of the band. Sure, the appearance of the Psychedelic Fur’s guitarist, John Ashton, and their saxophone player, Mars Williams,
Review: Lost Sounds – Self-Titled
LOST SOUNDS LOST SOUNDS In the Red Records This album is exactly what electroclash should be defined as: edgy and recklessly punky with a dash of synthpop dropped in for good measure. Lost Sounds sounds like the new Le Tigre release after you’ve pulled out the slick production and replaced it with gargling guitars, smashing
Review: Kite Base – Latent Whispers
Kite Base = How to Destroy Angels + Peter Hook + Squarepusher … read more
Review: Jim Guthrie – Now, More Than Ever
JIM GUTHRIE NOW, MORE THAN EVER Three Gut Jim Guthrie spins out warm and wistful folk that has received so many fantastic reviews I can’t quite figure out why I’m not moved. Lyrically, it doesn’t strike me as anything close to a Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel or Joni Mitchell. Musically, it doesn’t impress me
Review: Kasabian – Self-Titled
Kasabian Self-Titled RCA Kasabian have been a guilty pleasure of mine since hearing the opening of “Club Foot.” Granted, they aren’t completely original. You can pinpoint various points in Manchester’s history of music that pop up in abundance throughout the album, fitting in somewhere post-Happy Mondays and the Charlatan’s happier days with a dash of
Review: Hope Of The States – The Lost Riots
HOPE OF THE STATES THE LOST RIOTS (Epic)AM Musically you aren’t going to find a band out there that capture the epic dimensions that The Verve were perfecting more accurately than Hope of the States. The Lost Riots is a deeply moving political record that serves as a British view of the great American implosion
Review: Impossible Recording Machine – Echo The Moon
IMPOSSIBLE RECORDING MACHINE ECHO THE MOON Positron! Impossible Recording Machine are not electroclash, Radiohead, James Bond, Coldplay or any combination of “post” + (insert whatever retro music term is popular). They do, however, share a bit in common with the aforementioned because Echo the Moon is a surprisingly nice collection of up-tempo electronic drones, candy
Review: Great Lakes Myth Society – Self-Titled
These Great Lakes Myth Society are some strange hybrid of an American The Beautiful South, the bouncy happy sound that seems to roll out of Glasgow these days. … read more
Review: Bitter, Bitter Weeks – Revenge
BITTER, BITTER WEEKS REVENGE My Pal God Philadelphia’s Brian McTear is vying for your attention and with Revenge he has earned it. These are songs that call back to the days when folk musicians were every bit as political and biting as anything punk would spit out. McTear is clearly dissatisfied with the world he
Local Review: The Rose Phantom – Soulless Experiment
The Rose Phantom = Voltaire + Alan Wilder + Prog rock … read more
Local Review: Revideolized – The Moon Driven Dark
Revideolized The Moon Driven Dark Self-Released Street: Feb. 2007 Revideolized = Recoil Hydrology + Progressive Rock Electronic music in its purest form is by nature experimental. It isn’t just about creating a great melody, it’s about manipulating sounds that by right have no place in a musical structure and turning that chaos into a memorable
Local Review: Phono – The Changeover
Phono The Changeover 10 Degree Productions Street: 2006 Phono = NIN + VNV Nation Joe Ashton terrorizes electronic music with a focus bent on rhythm. Were you to spread the parts out, name checking the various influences that are prevalent on The Changeover you’d find just about every industrial/EBM clich, minus Skinny Puppy’s vocoder. Violence,
