Music
Review: Wax Fang – The Astronaut
While you may roll your eyes at the pretense of a concept album about an astronaut emerging from a black hole as a limitless superbeing, it is hard to fault the ambitious scope of this project—two musicians from Louisville, KY scoring these massive, soaring, 10-minute-plus epics with symphonic scores, brawny psych guitar work and droning atmospherics. … read more
Review: William Fitzsimmons – Lions
Musically minimal and delicate, juxtaposed with dense lyrics, William Fitzsimmons manages to create an album that is both contemplative and intense without being dull or impenetrable. It is clean without being overproduced, emotional without being cliché and is personal while still being relatable. … read more
Review: Winkie – One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts
Winkie’s inclination toward the melodic structure buried beneath the fuzz is what places them alongside their already established peers. Was mbv too full of love for your horizontal head? Eat at Winkie’s! … read more
Review: Wolves in the Throne Room – BBC Session 2011...
Ethereal as their studio recordings are, the BBC Session provides a different and equally as compelling experience. “Prayer of Transformation” is a slow and whispered black metal trek on Celestial Lineage, but in the live studio setting it shares a kinship with the patience-testing doom of Bell Witch and Samothrace. … read more
Local Review: Twilight Transmissions – Shadowland
Beyond the visual aesthetics, this album fares quite well. It’s a well-textured series of electronic soundscapes and beats that would not sound out of place accompanying a modern horror film, game, or a walk through a haunted hospital.
… read more
Local Review: Simian Greed – Self-Titled
The album opens with the bass-heavy “Epic,” a song that took a moment to grow on me. What I initially took to be butt-rock vocals were in fact Lee Ving–styled yells and croons. “Different Circles” has the same aspects of Ving-meets-Danzig vocals. … read more
Local Review: Rotten Musicians – Rotten Musicians Turn Into Escaped...
Almost every short two-minute track starts with an intro about newly morphed zoo animals that vaguely reminds me of Deltron 3030, followed by simple loops, synth sounds and a super catchy hook in “MaMMals.”
… read more
Local Review: The Pillar – Songs From The Hollow
Packed full of moody, bluesy, folksy rock n’ roll, The Pillar’s debut album, Songs From the Hollow, has its roots firmly planted in American music tradition. … read more
Local Review: Perish Lane – Destroy The Skies
This getup is a strong example of some good alt-thrash-rock in a well-produced and beautifully packaged full length. They write some sweet guitar solos on tracks like “Awaken the Fire” and “Twenty Seven,” but the strongest song on this album, hands down, is “Farewell.” … read more
Local Review: Null – Break The Spell
This stuff was groan-inducing the first time I heard it, strolling through Zuccotti Park a few years back. (I think I have a hand signal to show how much I like it, too.) … read more
Local Review: m.duby – Tha Come UP
A self-described “musical genius and hip-hop aficionado,” m.duby has no lack of confidence as an aspiring artist in a city with a fairly small hip-hop scene—he’s even started his own label. … read more
Local Review: Joshua James – Well, Then, I’ll Go To...
I listened to this album six or seven times before I realized it—30 seconds into the second track, “Broke”—these are all Modest Mouse covers. Jesus, I am slow. But doesn’t that speak to how great Joshua James is?
… read more
