Czarface & MF DOOM - "Super What?" | Album Review
Postponed due to the pandemic, these songs were recorded in April 2020 before anyone could have known of its importance in DOOM’s catalogue. This isn’t some mish-mash of left-over verses stitched together in a cash grab, this is one of the last things he got to work on. It’s good, light-hearted fun between friends.
Omeed & The Natural Scene - "Pickled Dawn" | Album Review
Beyond the skyline, across the galaxy, a fermented sun sets on Omeed & The Natural Scene's Pickled Dawn. An album of abstract and cataclysmic beauty, looming heavily on the horizon, one need only reflect on themselves before entering. Forests, flora, fauna, songs of rock and stone, oceanic wonder - humans.
Tape Deck Mountain - "True Deceiver" | Album Review
Hideous Sun Demon - "Development Hell" | Album Review
Birthday Ass - "Head of the Household" | Album Review
Head of the Household ultimately feels like a feast of free jazz horns, no wave spunk and stylish semantics. Much like a Michelin-starred chef, Carlberg leads a brigade of highly skilled artists down their superbly sequenced path to perfection. The resulting product feels just as indebted to tradition as it is to Carlberg’s vision.
Algae Dust & Hennen - "Algae Dust // Hennen" | Album Review
This split from Algae Dust and Hennen, otherwise known as Alison Setili (Frankie Valet) and Hannah Rainey (Shady Bug), respectively, shows off a different side from both of these St. Louis artists. The songs are full of haunting and sprightly bedroom pop that will find wide appeal from its two rather distinct offerings and stylistic differences.
Sharkula x Mukqs - "Take Caution On The Beach" | Album Review
Sharkula connects again with Max Allison’s ever-glitched Mukqs moniker for Take Caution On The Beach, the most lurid and fruitful Sharkula collaboration yet. Wharton’s meandering verses wallow and wedge into Allison’s rhythmic nooks and cornerless crannies, the fluid beats mirroring the MC’s signature, hot-off-the-cuff delivery.
Monobody - "Comma" | Album Review
Claire Rousay - "A Softer Focus" | Album Review
Partnering with American Dreams, Rousay’s latest, a softer focus, is a subtle new leaf. All the usual elements of her previous recordings are still here, albeit with greater spaciousness; Rousay’s partnership with a handful of chamber collaborators are a key element in that, imparting her songs their own dusk-tinged shadows.
Sour Widows - "Crossing Over" | Album Review
On Sour Widows’ second LP, Crossing Over, there is a departure from the alt pop-infused sound of their debut, instead deriving their power from a place of sheer tenderness and meditation. Despite being recorded remotely due to the pandemic, the Bay Area trio has managed to create a harmonious and expansive atmosphere.
Squid - "Bright Green Field" | Album Review
McKinley Dixon - "For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her" | Album Review
Civic - "Future Forecast" | Album Review
Colonial Wound - "Degradation" | Album Review
Deadguy is still fertile ground to excavate for modern metalcore bands. Take one listen to Colonial Wound’s first release Untitled. The vocals are similar but are still modern, adding a much needed update to this style of the genre. Degradation only ups the ante, bringing in more of a noise rock influence, not too dissimilar to Exhalants or Unsane.
Kneeling In Piss - "Types of Cults" | Album Review
Pinpointing our modern hell in a few brief punk songs, Kneeling In Piss gives us more. Types of Cults is their fourth release and their third EP from a series of recordings made over the last year. Signature to the band’s sound is finding that right piece of music and playing it until it’s all used up, with a “concrete lack of skill.”
Maxshh - "Feedback & PB" | Album Review
Crafted intermittently over the course of five years, Feedback & PB is a dense and complex work, flowing dizzyingly from hook to hook, interspersed with noise, found-recording style interludes, and madcap arpeggiating synths. The hooks may be sweet or sour, but they change fast and are always complex and vivid.
Special Interest - "The Passion Of" | Album Review
New Orleans art punks Special Interest dropped their second album The Passion Of at a time when many needed a soundtrack to their suddenly very dystopian lives. In June 2020, there was civil unrest peaking around the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police -- in the midst of a pandemic.
Olivia's World - " Tuff 2B Tender" | Album Review
Tunic - "Exhaling" | Album Review
Fury, alienation and anxiety are key emotions in the punk and post-hardcore canon. For Tunic, those feelings are not just essential, they drive them. On Exhaling, they deliver a massive set of 23 songs injected with visceral themes. David Schellenberg roars and snarls lyrics of coping with stress and the vexed duality of oneself.