His flow is clean with simple drumbeats and keys, looped with soulful samples that bump the tracks to an almost gospel status. The “day in a life” approach makes The Blue Collar Recital personal and powerful without being over the top. … read more
This is obviously a work of love. This homage to the late, great soulstress Nina Simone is beautiful and stark. … read more
“I don’t give a shit, your music means nothing! Your actions speak even less,” yells Matt Koenig at the beginning of “Territo(royally) Pissed.” … read more
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
Youth Forgotten have a lot of influences: speed metal, thrash, early-’00s metalcore, gothic rock and crossover. When YF combines two genres in one song, it sounds good, but this was quite rare. … read more
On this most recent Xiu Xiu release, Jamie Stewart has taken a darker, more gothic approach than on other recent albums. Some apt comparisons might be Bauhaus or Siouxsie And The Banshees. … read more
“Shouei” stuck out most for me, evoking the sounds of staring out the window and watching the rain in your cozy setting of choice. The album sways gracefully between the nostalgic sounds, like in “Aleb,” to darker, tormented melodies, such as “Enta Fen, Again” and “La Mouch.” … read more
Opening with noise guitars and heavy beats, Videoing sucker-punch you with this five-song EP in a wave of electro-industrial sound and don’t let you up until the very end. … read more
With a sound perfect for supporting Saves The Day, What Moon Things may have come a little late for me. It’s not that they can’t pull the emo thing off—the songs get stuck in my head with a wave of melancholy like dark, Northwestern cloud cover. … read more
Tim Presley of White Fence is the stoned outlaw of psychedelic folk music. This is his sixth LP, which was recorded in a studio with help from fellow prolific rocker Ty Segall. It’s the first time Presley has completed a solo album outside of his bedroom. … read more
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
Warfuck = Magrudergrind + Wormrot + Insect Warfare … read more
