When Fate begins, the full richness of the music, along with the double-time dance beat, doesn’t prepare me for the voice of Alessandro Costantini. It’s not that his voice doesn’t mesh well with the overall sound—it does. It’s perfect for the crunchy bass that sits on the forefront of the album’s mixes, allowing the guitars to create texture or melodic leads reminiscent of Holograms’ synth work. … read more
Review: SQÜRL – EP #2
Coming off a brilliant collaboration with lute revivalist Josef van Wissem, this largely instrumental, sprawling compilation of psychedelic guitar explorations of dissonance and repetition is as good as any Jarmusch film: disconnected, adjacent to popular culture and unmistakably idiosyncratic. … read more
Review: Storm of Light – Nations to Flames
This album takes a completely different direction with its post-metal influences than I was expecting. Instead of the gentle surges and mellow refrains, Nations to Flames takes you by the collar and shakes you again and again with its unrelenting chaos. … read more
Review: Strike to Survive – Yesterday’s News
Drums and guitar high in the mix with jagged vocals buried a little beneath makes for a compelling listen, sort of similar to Drive Like Jehu or maybe even the first Bronx album (check the Refused-via-Stooges riffing on the title track). … read more
Review: Snowmine – Dialects
Sounding a bit like an unsigned 4AD band complete with moody, ethereal backgrounds, lush orchestrations and sometimes-coherent-sometimes-not vocals—the Brooklyn quintet certainly distances itself from its contemporaries by creating everything by hand. … read more
Review: Snowflake – We All Grow Toward The Sea
I guess working with douchebag musicians for a living must be rough since all of the songs have a somber tone. The keyboard and guitar work is beautiful and atmospheric while the percussion is almost industrial. … read more
Review: Snowbird – moon
Snowbird = Seabear + Daughter … read more
Review: Snacs – Swim Tape
Snac’s Swim Tape received heaps of praise in 2013 for sending a chilled-out, sample-based beat pastiche of chillwave-meets-nu soul-meets-droning ragas, deep underwater. Josh Abramovici intends you to listen in one 30-minute sitting, a transporting move through stream-of-conscious beat-making. … read more
Review: Skinny Puppy – The Greater Wrong Of The Right (Remastered)
These dominant industrial figures have always prided themselves on not being “sellouts”—I assure this great achievement was something they thoroughly despised. As with much of their work, the spine is a political point of view, yet there is a profound shift in their creativity and musical expression. … read more
Review: Sleepers Work – No Turn Before the Shoreline
William Flynn’s bold, new ambient EP contains an array of eclectic trinkets that create an incredible collective of sounds. This album is what I think might be good for ambient beginners, thanks to Flynn’s steadily incorporated rhythm. … read more
Review: Slough Feg – Digital Resistance
Mike Scalzi continues to tread the thin line between heavy metal and rock n’ roll with his acrobatic guitar work and unconventional songwriting. The whole production sounds warm and organic, contrasting well with the album’s lyrical themes of technological isolation … read more
Review: Solander – Monochromatic Memories
If Tumblr had a soundtrack, this would be it. Blending semi-wavering vocals à la Conor Oberst, Solander mixes twangy banjos, majestic cellos and outdoorsy lyrics to accompany all those pictures of skinny, naked girls smoking cigarettes, GIFs from Skins and fog-covered pine trees. … read more
