Music
Review: Black Knights – Medieval Chamber
Prepare for sounds of electronica with unrelated samples and effects, which are backed with an orchestra and an occasional chorus. Rugged Monk and Crisis spit harmoniously with the beats, hitting you with those West Coast, hard-hitting flows. … read more
Review: Beth Thornley – Septagon
It’ll sucker- punch you in the heart when you least expect it, and that’s powerful. Thornley writes clean songs, simple and to the point with pop-ballad lyrics. The four tracks that make up Septagon may be made-for-TV, but they’re still bona fide. … read more
Review: Behemoth – The Satanist
Fans of Behemoth have waited five years for this album, which is ceremonial, sinister and satisfying as hell. “Blow Your Trumpets, Gabriel” begins the ritual with hypnotic percussion and repetitive riffing, then attacks the entranced listener with Behemoth’s signature breakneck speed, accompanied by a diabolical chorus and trumpets.
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Review: Beck – Morning Phase
Beck, once pop music’s most reliable shape-shifter, now finds himself compelled to rehash his past glories; namely Sea Change. If you ever wanted him to make that record again, your prayers have been answered. … read more
Review: Ass to Mouth – Degenerate
Ass to Mouth take the groove-oriented grind approach, which is nice to have some tight riffs that remain in memory. “Sentenced to Grind” and “Drunk & Stoned” give the goods by way of meat-falling-off-the-bone riffs.
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Review: Apocalyptica – Wagner Reloaded – Live in Leipzig
Whether wallowing in themes cut and pasted from Beethoven, maudlin lullabies (with sampled baby prattle) or the most domesticated of Phrygian exoticism, the album consistently eschews any of the rapturous chromatism Wagner used to drown and annihilate the bourgeois ego. … read more
Review: ANNE – Pulling Chain
While the invisible line that often divides musical subgenres sometimes requires a stretch of the imagination, Portland-based ANNE (aka David Lindell) has completely jumped the shoegazer one it inherited for a decidedly electronic gothy one, on this, their “proper” debut. … read more
Review: Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witnesses
She’s still hanging her voice on vintage Americana hooks—“I feel so lonesome I could cry,” she sings on “Hi-five”—though this is her first release with a backing band, which envelops her fiery warble in warm, complementary tunes. … read more
Review: +/– – Jumping the Tracks
Jumping The Tracks is so painfully “meh” that it makes me pissed off and sleepy. It chaps my ass that the vocals just don’t complement the shimmering guitars and neat sonic framework—we have computers that fix this, people! … read more
March 2014 National Music Reviews
March 2014 National Music Reviews … read more
Review: The Workhouse – The sky still looks the same
Merely taking this 10″ out of the package is the preamble to its overall aura—a grey sleeve accompanied by a matching, grey lyrics booklet that holds a mini-CDR version; the mini book holds industrial/construction photos and drawings accompanying the lyrics. “The sky still looks the same” opens the release with somber, bare post-punk with a poppy smirk. … read more
Review: The Reserves – Made in Tennessee EP
This is blue collar rock n’ roll from the Volunteer State. If nothing else, Made in Tennessee holds the marked distinction of featuring a punk cover of the old folk standard “Oh Shenandoah.” … read more
