Music
Review: Evan Ønly – No Matter What EP
In his debut solo EP, Evan Brody takes an old sound and makes it new again. Most of No Matter What could easily be mistaken for classic ’80s music, which, as far as this writer is concerned, the world needs more of. … read more
Review: Eraas – Initiation
Initiation, Eraas’ second full-length album full of trip hop beats, kraut rock tempos and ethereal vocal samples, is remarkably hermetic and cohesive. Like Chelsea Wolfe, Eraas infuse their vocals with haunting echoes to create a kind of ominous atmosphere, especially on the sinister tracks such as “Old Magic” and “Above.” … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Light That Comes, Light That Goes
My first thought upon hearing the familiar “if you need help, please hang up and try again…” recording in Light That Comes, Light That Goes’ opening track, “If You Need Help,” was that it may be a bit too ubiquitous of a sample to be effective in another context. … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Interval Signals
Interval Signals, one of two recordings from Brian Pyle’s Ensemble Economique solo project released in December, is a 40-minute pastiche of field recordings, radio sounds, and as the album’s title implies—interval signals. … read more
Review: The Devil Makes Three – I’m a Stranger Here
Few bands can capture the imagination like Devil Makes Three. They invoke deep-woods medicine shows, jumping blues juke joints and midnight hootenannies by moonlight. … read more
Review: COUM Transmissions – Home Aged and The 18 Month...
P-Orridge’s career has been an ever-unfolding experiment in the evolution and control of personal identity, and Home Aged and other COUM recordings are a fascinating look at the early, embryonic phase of P-Orridge’s artistic genesis. … read more
Review: Celeste – Animale(s)
Listening to Animale(s) is not enjoyable. It’s a tough, thick, oppressive listen, sung in French, with few moments of respite from what sounds like 100 guitar tracks crunching over relentless drumming. … read more
Review: CAVE – Threace
CAVE hits all the stops on their interstellar cruise, from bruising motorik groove, to loose-limbed jazz, punchy horn sections, ’70s Latin psychedelia and full-bodied aural guitar assaults. … read more
Review: Candy Warpop – Transdecadence
Candy Warpop is sugary-sweet, pop punk goodness, with a delicious and flexible female vocal and a musical sensibility that suggests a variety of top-notch influences. … read more
Review: Boys Noize – Fabriclive 72
The album starts off with up-tempo electro-house beats that would be all too fitting for a day club environment, then eases into deeper house and heavier bass that forces the target audience to visualize being in an underground, laser-fueled rave. … read more
Review: Bipolaroid – Twin Language
I haven’t heard an album with this same perfection of vintage sound in a long time. Songs such as “Tonight We Paint the Town Our Favorite Colour” and “Efflorescent Adolescent” (plus basically every other song on the album) sound like they could be missing tracks from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. … read more
Review: Bill Callahan – Dream River
These songs are the kind of dreamlike reveries that can lull you into a drifting state that can carry you into dangerous territory, if that danger is sometimes just impending, around the corner. … read more
