STRANGE BOUTIQUE THE COLLECTION 1988-1994 Metropolis Faith and the Muse is certainly a fine band with their ethereal rock and theatricality, but I’ve always felt that Monica Richards’ best work was locked in a secret capsule called Strange Boutique. The sound isn’t all that far removed from Faith and the Muse; I always felt like
Stained Imperanon Nuclear Blast Stained is the debut from Finland’s Imperanon. With an average age of 20, and considering this album is their debut, you’d expect to hear metal with training wheels, but that’s not the case—not even close. This is ten tracks of highly-technical music that will make you sit up and listen from
Skinlab Nerve Damage Century Media As a thank-you to their fans and to mark 10 years as a band, Skinlab are releasing Nerve Damage. What started out originally as an EP of unreleased songs soon turned into a full album of unreleased material, which ultimately morphed into the double album Nerve Damage. This two-disc set
Slayer DVD Still Reigning American Slayer has been putting out records for 21 years now. In that time they’ve released eight studio albums of original music, including a little gem named Reign In Blood (1986). I’m sure in the last 18 years they’ve tried to put Reign In Blood to bed, but that’s a monster
SOUL KHULA FT. MISS IDENTITY “FIRE” (NNY/Groove Junkies mixes) Undo/Gossip After their success with “Saturday Night,” the South African artist Soul Khula produces another follow-up hit, Fire. In a soulful laid-back house style, this number is a perfect track for the beginning of your club night. On the NNY side, this rough-and-tough remix is peak
It’s epic in a small box theater, but not exactly made for big booming stadiums. … read more
Coming into this album, I had my doubts. “Blood Speaks” felt like a period anthem, with the lyrics, “Your blood is speaking, and mine is speaking,” set to a marching beat with a droney, chanting voice fit for a haunted church performance. Yeah, the sheddings of my uterine lining are speaking, too, and I’m still crampy. … read more
Repeated, perturbing consonant sounds on “Winning Vibes” are the lightest drawbacks on Skiggy Rapz’s latest, Satellites. High-production hip hop often feels like an endless game of lyrical Boggle, where few combinations are possible––Skiggy Rapz is no exception. … read more
Virtual one-man band and Johannesburg native Jean-Philip Grobler’s joyous, self-titled EP is something of a small marvel. Following a relatively simple formula of classic beats, infectious melody and a positive vibe presently missing on most radio these days, he has crafted a group of six tracks that are both pleasant and refreshingly memorable. … read more
In the supposedly genre-less world we live in, being pigeonholed into a nascent musical genre is probably the biggest challenge a 20-something Brooklynite will ever face. Enter Small Black. … read more
No songs on this EP, put out by Craig Hartley and Eli Friedmann, sound like they belong on the same album together. … read more
The debut album promises a big and bright future for this Chicago-based band. Blending elements from several different subgenres, including power and melodic death metal, this is an album full of blood and fire and battle (which I now dub “warrior metal”), free of clean singing, arranged with occasional symphonic and piano elements that really bring out cinematic properties in the sound. … read more
