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
Their fifth album in the last ten years, The Hands That Thieve is a catchy and encouraging sign that ska has gas left in the tank. Like with all ska reviews, if you’re not a fan, just quit reading right now and kindly fuck off, we don’t care. … read more
Simpleton historians cling to the idea that “hair metal” met its final death-blow the second “Teen Spirit” debuted on MTV, but they’d really only be half right. … read more
I don’t like posthumous releases, mostly because they tend to break my heart. … read more
The sophomore album from U.K. band Spectrals is a step up from their 2011 debut record, Bad Penny, as their sound seems more confident and polished. … read more
