Left & Right - "Pivot Foot" | Album Review
Julia Brown - "An Abundance of Strawberries" | Album Review
Sam Ray is the bedroom-pop powerhouse behind Julia Brown. The project formed in 2013 with the release of To Be Close To You- a light-hearted indie pop album full of lo-fi love songs. With An Abundance… Julia Brown returns, taking on a much darker tone and hitting on sadder elements of love including loss, heartbreak, desire and dread.
PJ Harvey - "The Hope Six Demolition Project" | Album Review
PJ Harvey is a subversive and uncompromising artist that rewards a deep immersion in her music. Her output generally defies easy categorization and straightforward subject matter. The Hope Six Demolition Project isn’t any different, although this time I’ve been struggling with the effectiveness of her observational presentation.
Suuns - "Hold/Still" | Album Review
This experimental art-rock crew has built a solid following over the last six years with incredibly haunting tunes that range in style from the brooding, mobile squall of 2010’s debut Zeroes QC to the cold, bodily grooves of 2013’s Images du Futur, all the while incorporating the breathy, alarming moments of early 2000s Radiohead into an eerie palette of psychedelia, krautrock, and oddly driving rhythms. But only “Leyla,” from last year’s collaborative album with Jerusalem in My Heart, points towards the sparseness of Suuns’ newest LP, Hold/Still.
Valley Slander - "How Animal" | Album Review
Valley Slander’s debut release How Animal is a brief and excellently crafted slice of modern no-wave influenced punk music with a distinct southern vibe. Valley Slander hail from Harrisonburg, Virginia; a small college-town located deep in the valleys surrounding the Shenandoah Mountain Range. Their downbeat, mid-paced, scorching brand of punk is equal parts doomed hardcore and southern sway that harvests inspiration from the rotten end of southern life.
Guerilla Toss - "Eraser Stargazer" | Album Review
Greys - "Outer Heaven" | Album Review
Outer Heaven sees Greys' ambitious vision fully realized. Longtime friend and producer Mike Rocha helped the band, who co-produced it, bring it to life. Where some of their previous efforts carried more obvious influences, the band weaves more disparate inspirations into a sonic world all their own that is both immediate and ambiguously serene.
Doug Tuttle - "It Calls On Me" | Album Review
SUPERTEEN - "Isn't A Person" | Album Review
The entire album flows fluidly and lucidly, transitioning smoothly from heavier moments of driving washed out post-punk to bright and jangly indie folk. The guitar and bass tones are situated expertly throughout the album to have just the right amount of ambiguity and just the right amount of clear expression.
Mothers - "When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired" | Album Review
Death Index - "Death Index" | Album Review
The international duo recorded their debut self-titled LP between the three cities of Berlin, Tampa Bay, and Palermo. Despite such a scattered-seeming recording process their effort comes out with surprising clarity and cohesion. Death Index is packed with well written and produced fusions of goth, post-punk, metal, and noise-rock.
Parquet Courts - "Human Performance" | Album Review
Human Performance is a fitting title. Not because the band feels the need to affirm some archaic rockist idea of authenticity and distance themselves from popular electronic music, but simply because they've allowed themselves to fully expose their own flaws and insecurities instead of hiding them under the guise of devil-may-care nonchalance.
Mogwai - "Atomic" | Album Review
Celebration Guns - "The Me That Used To Be" | Album Review
Rob Crow's Gloomy Place - "You're Doomed. Be Nice." | Album Review
Crow himself looks great. Fit and lean it’s clear that the break was beneficial. You can also hear it in the music. He might even be having fun. The album is full of that patented Crow “prog pop” sound. Baritone guitar and bass heavy melodies, heavy lyrics sung in a sing-song way, and riffs and grooves a plenty.
So Pitted - "Neo" | Album Review
Frankie Cosmos - "Next Thing" | Album Review
Next Thing should be listened to with close attention. While the catchy hooks and upbeat rhythms may soundtrack a summer drive to the beach, I find the record best suits a solitary listening experience. Just like rewarding poetry, the songs on Next Thing play like a candid conversation between writer and reader.
