Sydney Australia’s Sleepmakeswaves have the ability to move from the sublime to sublimely heavy in a half-breath’s time. … read more
Review: SISU – Blood Tears
Blood Tears is bristling with synths and heavy bass riffs, and in between, Vu’s voice creates melodramatic tension. Most of the tracks recall the current ’80s pop revival, but there’s something refreshing about the sleeker production here, especially on the awesome single “Harpoons.” … read more
Review: Skeletonwitch – Serpents Unleashed
Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of Forever Abomination, but in my eyes, the band has transcended their sound on this record—the technically modest solo of “Beneath Dead Leaves,” for example, demonstrates Skeletonwitch’s penchant for song construction rather than stereotypical, dick-swingin’ metal guitar solos. … read more
Review: Spindrift – Ghost of the West
The wide-open spaces of places like Joshua Tree, animal corpses rotting under the blazing sun and the myth of the desert have marked all of their records, but for Ghost of the West, Kirpatrick Thomas wanted something different. He wanted to make an album that didn’t emulate the myth of the West, but embodied the West—what it actually was. … read more
Review: Soviet Soviet – Fate
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
