Authors: Ryan Michael Painter
Review: Cyness – Loony Planet/Industreality CD
Cyness Loony Planet/Industreality CD Sound Pollution I haven’t been into grindcore since the glory days of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth and Assuck. I guess I got sick of the constant barrage of noise in my old age and started listening to much catchier music in the way of 80s hardcore punk. Now that 80s-style
Review: Communiqué – Poison Arrows
COMMUNIQUE POISON ARROWS Lookout Had Duran Duran grown up listening to themselves and pop punk rather than the glam appeal of Bowie, T-Rex or Roxy Music and stole their image from a less fashionable Interpol over David Sylvian they would have looked and sounded like Communiqué. Well you might also have to add a bit
Review: Cold Cave – You & Me & Infinity
Cold Cave = Suicide + Diary of Dreams … read more
Review: Clinic – Winchester Cathedral
CLINIC WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL Domino The men dressed in scrubs return with more evidence of exactly why they are one of the cast of Radiohead’s favorite bands (sometimes it is hard to tell who exactly is influencing who) and how it’s just about time everyone else took notice. In many ways, Clinic are the older, more
Review: Combichrist – Everybody Hates You
Combichrist Everybody Hates You Metropolis In the last year, Combichrist has released some of the best music to cross my desk in a long time. It’s lighthearted, evil, sexy, danceable and delicious. Fifteen years ago, I felt the same way about Nitzer Ebb; it got in the veins and you were hooked. “This s*it
Review: Codeseven – Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds
Codeseven Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds Equal Vision Apparently Codeseven were once a screamcore band whose high watermark was a cover of “Boys of Summer.” One day they got older, heard Radiohead and traded in their metal for something more mother-friendly. They of course lost nearly the entirety of their original fanbase. I can only imagine the wonderful
Review: Charmparticles – Sit Down For Staying
CHARMPARTICLES SIT DOWN FOR STAYING Childstar Sit Down for Staying is supposed to be an updated variation on the shoegazer theme. It is full of guitars taken from Ride records, blue prints from Slowdive and given a touch of warmth that reminds me of current popsters The Stars. It does however lack the delicate balance
Review: Blow Up Hollywood – Fake
BLOW UP HOLLYWOOD FAKE www.blowuphollywood.com I never cared for the band Live. It wasn’t so much the music as the band itself. They always came off as pretentious and never achieved the sense of artistic creativity they seemed to think they had achieved. Blow Up Hollywood sound a lot like Live, only they’ve got the
Review: Black Tape For a Blue Girl – Halo Star
BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL HALO STAR Projekt Often regarded as innovators in the ethereal/darkwave genre, Black Tape For A Blue Girl return with an album that is dominated by male vocals rather than the angelic female approach that has been found on the majority of their recent releases. It is, however, not a
Review: Billy Idol – Devil’s Playground
Billy Idol Devil’s Playground Sanctuary Having placed himself in a self-imposed exile, the majority of the last decade was decidedly Idol-less. Billy was off losing himself in cyberpunk culture (rather prophetic, considering The Matrix was far from view) and the excesses that defined him as one of the 80s most reckless superstars. Then there was