Issues: Issue 302 - February 2014
Review: Painted Palms – Forever
Painted Palms’ debut EP, Canopy, saw its release in 2011 and was later discovered by of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes. After gaining momentum from touring with them and STRFKR, Painted Palms has released a stellar LP, which sounds as vintage as it does modern. … read more
Review: Noir – Darkly Near
This release is packed with archaic, simplistic synthesized sounds reminiscent of the ’80s. The remaining dark tracks provoke the cobweb-clearing dance movement, which is a bit too “goth” for me. I do know that those who are truly black at heart will love it. … read more
Review: Natural Child – Dancin’ With Wolves
Is this the Return of the Grievous Angel? Not quite. While the broad strokes of Cosmic American Music are present here, Natural Child come well short of Gram Parson’s territory, instead sounding like the fat trimmed off Exile on Main St. being gargled by Tom Petty. … read more
Review: Morgan Delt – Self-titled
Though this album might call to mind Morgan Delt’s contemporaries like Ty Segall and Tim Presley—perhaps even their collaborative effort, Hair—there is something much more methodical taking place on this record. … read more
Review: Malthusian – MMXIII
With members from Altar of Plagues and Mourning Beloveth, the band’s already got a great doom-type pedigree, but MMXIII is more of a batch of death and black metal with tints of the rotten kind of doom. … read more
Review: Mad Choice – Safety Net
The main reason to listen to this album over and over again would be for the opening track, “Swallowing A Shotgun”—combining elements of California skate punk and post-hardcore made for some heavy, mosh-inducing music. … read more
Review: Marram – Sun Choir
Let me just tell you, first, how much work was put into this album. Sun Choir features the children of the Light of Love Children’s Home, along with 10 other artists, including Owen Pallett of Arcade Fire and Scottish folk singer Margaret Bennett. … read more
Review: Matt Pond PA – The Lives Inside the Lines...
While a good chunk of Matt Pond PA’s repertoire can be a bit melancholic, The Lives maintains the more catchy and upbeat side of their work (aside from the song “Human Beings,“ which came across as a drawl). … read more
Review: Lie In Ruins – Towards Divine Death
Hail Satan, hail death, indeed. This album is the band’s second full-length since they were resurrected from the heyday of early ‘90s death metal to bring back what is a decidedly old-school sound to the genre. It’s longer on both song and album length than most death metal works, which seemed to give the whole thing a more cohesive feeling. … read more
Review: Lanterns on the Lake – Until the Colours Run
Combining slow, angsty melodies topped with breathy, echoed vocals, laced with political undertones allows LOTL to express that beauty can be found in even the most dire of situations. Self-proclaimed “pastoral pop” artists, LOTL create just what they claim to be: textbook pastorals mixed with instrumentation that assists the listener in becoming fully lost in the experience. … read more