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
Review: Spirits and the Melchizedek Children – So Happy, It’s Sad
So Happy is comprised of deep washes of neo-psychedelic, reverbed-out guitars, spectral folk of a doomed American West and the deep ebb and flow of droning guitars sacred enough to divine gold. … read more
Review: Sleepy Sun – Maui Tears
Maui Tears is the band’s finest work yet. It’s a perfection of everything good from Fever and Spine Hits. The record opens with “The Lane”—an angelic little ditty featuring guitars that soar through the clouds and rip through the ether in search of a realm of permanent shapes. … read more
Review: Southern Culture on the Skids – Dig This
For years, Southern Culture on the Skids have been one of those Americana bands that are such a well-built hotrod of a band that, when it comes to any of the genres that they tackle, they can naturally shift from country to surf to R&B and every bit sounds as authentic as it is original. … read more
Review: Spiritual Rez – Apocalypse Whenever
This fourth album, and first album not self-produced, is a huge step for this seven-piece Boston reggae/ska/progressive rock band. … read more
Review: Stefan Jaworzyn – Drained of Connotation
If you consider yourself a noise aficionado, then chances are that you know who Stefan Jaworzyn is. Being a once-prominent member in the ’80s UK experimental underground (with contributions in Ascension and Skullflower) before dropping off the grid, Drained of Connotation is Jaworzyn’s official proclamation of rising from his hiatus to resume his atonal passion. … read more
Review: St. Vincent – Self-Titled
Annie Clark sure knows how to make a statement. In releasing “Digital Witness” as a response to a world that is growing obsessively consumed by technology, Clark simultaneously addresses her own technological dependence in the form of electronica mixed under a funky horn section. … read more
Review: Stagnant Pools – Geist
I could probably fill most of the shoegaze reviews I write with half-hearted comparisons to Slowdive and be done with ’em. That’s what I thought here, at first, with the opening song “You Whir,” but a different narrative unfolded upon subsequent listenings. … read more
Review: Sonic Avenues – Mistakes
Sonic Avenues blasts out with a garage power pop twist that complements the legacy left by The Exploding Hearts rather nicely—they do an excellent job with poppy yet twisted, snotty distorted vocals that are coupled with a raw, ’77-influenced punk sound. … read more
Review: Saxon – St. George’s Day Sacrifice – Live in Manchester
Saxon = Accept + Judas Priest … read more
