Music
Review: Challenger – Back to Bellevue
Challenger Back to Bellevue Self-Released Street: 05.27 Challenger = Washed Out + Small Black + BrothertigerFrom now on, I’m just going to call everything I hear like this the Brooklyn ’80s nostalgic shoegaze/effectronic revival. I’m sure everyone knows exactly what that sounds like and, honestly, I could put 15 bands that sound exactly like this
Review: Benjamin Finger – The Bet
Benjamin Finger The Bet Watery Starve Press Street: 06.01 Benjamin Finger = Steve Reich + Biosphere Starting the album off with “Faintheadedness,” Finger establishes a dark, ambient theme early with eerie, fairy-like vocals and a spacious simplicity delivered through a shy piano melody. The Bet stays pretty minimal throughout, expanding nominally on phrases that lead
Review: Guided By Voices – Cool Planet
Guided By Voices Cool Planet GBV Inc. Street: 05.13 Guided By Voices = Big Star + Syd Barrett – Roger Waters For those uninitiated into the ‘cult of Bob’ Pollard and GBV the best advice might be ‘give it time.’ These ideosyncratic sound worlds, like classic rock from another dimension, can take a while to
Review: The Ghost Wolves – Man, Woman, Beast
The Ghost Wolves Man, Woman, Beast Plowboy Records Street: 05.27 The Ghost Wolves = Highasakite + Blood Orange + The White Stripes Punk infused blues/rock has never sounded sexier than it has on The Ghost Wolves first full length album, Man, Woman, Beast. The Austin TX based duo first started wandering around the mainstream back
Review: Fucked Up – Year of the Dragon
Fucked Up Year of the Dragon Tank Crimes Street: 4.21.14 Fucked Up = Fucked Up Grandiosity, punk’s vilest anathema, has practically been Fucked Up’s lifeblood, separating them from their contemps and facilitating one viable single after another. Year of the Dragon marks the sixth in their 12-single Zodiac series, and their most ambitious music since
Review: Dub Thompson – 9 Songs
Dub Thompson 9 Songs Dead Oceans Street: 6.10 Dub Thompson = Pere Ubu + The Outsiders Dub Thompson are a teenage duo with a somewhat bland name and a sound that ranges between the bands listed above or, as in “No Time,” a group like Trail of Dead bastardizing an English Beat cover. 9 Songs
Review: Yesway – Self-Titled
With an intimate, cozy and airy feel, Yesway ends up feeling a journey through the clouds among angels playing harps and harmonizing among saints. … read more
Review: Wovenhand – Refractory Obdurate
American gothic David Eugene Edwards plied the indie folk rock of his group 16 Horsepower like a rough-hewn locomotive in a world of diesel-powered grungemobiles. … read more
Review: Workman Song – Lamb EP
Workman Song is the cooler version of Alex Ebert from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Workman Song establish a cool, distant electric sound—one that leaves you wondering if you’re tapping your foot to the folk-beat or the hypnotizing echo of Sean McMahon’s voice. … read more
Review: Brian Jonestown Massacre – Revelation
Brian Jonestown Massacre Revelation A Records Street: 05.20 Brian Jonestown Massacre = The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” + Sonic Youth After close to 30 years of playing together, BJM has become ubiquitous with psych rock– although they’ve never been afraid to dabble in other genres, such as punk, shoegaze, folk and blues.
Review: Worthy – Disbehave
As someone who has more recently jumped from the EDM bandwagon to the world of deep house, this album was instantly added to my growing playlist of funky jamz for any occasion. … read more
Review: White Reaper – Self-Titled
If 2010s punk has a cohesive sound, I’d say White Reaper sums it up. In this six-song, 16-minute debut EP, the Louisville, Ky., trio plays poppy garage rock like the best of their forbearers, but with more punk muscle. … read more
