Poeina Suddarth’s vocal range is insane. Her sharp-yet-sweet voice travels everywhere from upbeat skit-skat jazz on “Natural Disaster,” all the way to relaxed grass-plains country sounds on “Gasoline” and “White Mr. Beauty.” … read more
Where Crawling up the Stairs doesn’t confront immediately with a sense of deep self-loathing, it seethes. Pure X is disarming in the way Nate Grace and Jesse Jenkin’s songs belie their distressed core by being quite pretty and non-confrontational. … read more
Lord have mercy, that Paolo Girardi artwork! That’s it, I could stop the review here. … read more
Critics have called Potty Mouth a riot grrrl band, which is dumb, or called them pop punk or post punk, which is inaccurate and ambiguous, or said they sound like ‘90s New England indie rock, which is a little more clear, but still vague. … read more
While “Knifelike” starts out with pop-infused rock similar to The National, End-dances mixes those elements with strange, seductive drumming and chanting that gives off a creepy, satanic folk type of energy. … read more
The deceptive opening guitar chord of Imps of Perversion hints at another surf album, with its thin echo lingering as a tribal beat backs the chord’s decay. The crunchy bass, synchronized with simple double-time picking on the guitar, cuts in and knocks the surf sound off its board within seconds. … read more
PORCHES. have a sound that includes a little folk, a little rock, ample keys and a touch of soul. … read more
Most often compared to 90s-era Smashing Pumpkins, except without Billy Corgan’s godawful nasally whine, Pink Frost are thick and noisy and energetic and also noisy. … read more
Opening with a 45-second intro declaring Piñata Protest “los mas chingones de la musica norteña punk,” El Valiente certainly delivers on that description. … read more
If an all-instrumental band uses the adjective legendary in cahoots with its description shortly before touting Grateful Dead as an influence, it’s almost guaranteed to sandbag any actual listening experience. Fortunately, Plankton Wat wined and dined my initial shallowness away before the third track. … read more
Polvo was math-y before there was math rock, but the angular equations of their guitar riffs and drum rhythms seemed like some secret calculus, more subtle and organic then their successors. … read more
Musicianship this tight is rarely used to make street punk music, but alas, here we are. Poor Lily aren’t exactly a street punk band, but the general snottiness of the record certainly follows that lead, and mixes this vibe with equal doses of ’80s hardcore and ’90s post-rock. … read more
