Shrapnel - "Alasitas" | Album Review
Sydney’s Shrapnel has come a long way since 2013. In the intervening eight years, he’s consistently nourished the project with an expanded lineup and on Alasitas, their latest album, there’s now six members throwing everything at it, including a flute, a synth, and clarinet to embellish the trusty guitars, and it gives the record a renewed lush feel.
Hard Nips - "Master Cat" | Album Review
In 2009, four Japanese women met in Brooklyn and decided that they really wanted to start a band. Master Cat is their third album and a remarkably strong one considering none of them were musicians beforehand. It does mean that the songs in Master Cat are raw and real but they carry them all with an underlying intelligence of craft and ambition.
EXEK - "Good Thing They Ripped Up The Carpet" | Album Review
Sinwat - "Sinwat" | Album Review
Slowcore has always been the perfect music for feeling sad. A genre that allows you to ruminate in your emotions and all that is going on. On their self-titled debut, St. Louis band Sinwat shows that this has not changed. What they have created are nine songs that all capture the feeling that the best slowcore has always been able to convey.
Squirrel Flower - "Planet (i)" | Album Review
Planet (i) swiftly follows Squirrel Flower’s debut, and offers an even further improvement in voice, production, and style. The reoccurring lyrical themes, the diverse yet consistently focused sonic palette, and some of the most well written songs in the Squirrel Flower catalogue proves this to be their strongest statement to date.
Sweet Williams - "What's Wrong With You" | Album Review
Sweet Williams occupies a unique space, taking influence from sludge, noise rock and following in the tradition of bands like Unwound and Lungfish. They have found a sweet spot. Though it’s tempting at times to compare them to one band or another, it’s clear that What’s Wrong With You defies any attempts at labelling this band.
Pom Pom Squad - "Death of a Cheerleader" | Album Review
Mia Berrin, with a blistering attitude and personal freedom indebted to self-discovery, establishes herself as a songwriter of raw pathos. The kind where every plucked string is a “fuck you.” The kind where snark and melodrama are cherished tenets of a sound and style. The kind that’s so fundamentally queer, it’s inspiring.
Black Midi - "Cavalcade" | Album Review
Cavalcade has been out for nearly a month now, and we’re all still oozing over how they managed to rip it up and start once more in their own orbit. The change to producer John “Spud” Murphy and significant increase in the size of their backing arrangements did not betray their adherence to any of the critical Speedy Wunderground tenants.
Rose City Band - "Earth Trip" | Album Review
Rosali - "No Medium" | Album Review
Mountain Movers - "World What World" | Album Review
The latest in Mountain Movers’ deepening discography, World What World shows the New Haven, Connecticut band continuing to explore their own beautifully distorted landscape. Crucial to the band’s sound is the live and unrestrained form that each album takes; a performance that’s tastefully edited to fit the LP format.
Can - "Live In Stuttgart 1975" | Album Review
Unlike their main canon, documents of Can’s live performances offer a glimpse of the group pre-edit. They give no sign of a set list - songs pick up gradually, often one musician at a time, and dissipate just as organically. The set is entirely instrumental, as were most of their performances following the departure of vocalist Damo Suzuki.
Century Egg - "Little Piece of Hair" | Album Review
Century Egg know how to write songs that stick like a greasy cowlick in the morning, and their latest EP is a capillaceous pillar of joy-struck guitar rock that refuses to be combed back down. The Halifax quartet’s cross between punk, garage and Mandopop makes for some deliriously exuberant “rock and roll” music.
Part Chimp - "Drool" | Album Review
With Drool, the South London band seems to make the case that their early years were just a lead-up to the earth-shaking post-hardcore they’d produce in their second coming. The looser songs of the past have all but entirely been supplanted by the thunder-heeled, mid-tempo thumpers that always were Part Chimp’s real speciality.
Leisure Sport - "Title Card" | Album Review
Pedazo De Carne Con Ojo - "Dun Dun" | Album Review
Philly’s thriving underground scene has had as much of an impact on Steven Perez’s productions as salsa and merengue. On his latest effort, Dun Dun, he swaps colorful confidence for shy neurosis. Written over the course of 2020’s social upheaval, Pedazo De Carne Con Ojo’s newfound fixation with anxiety feels fitting for our times.
Philary - "Uh-Oh It's Me" | Album Review
Philary's LP Uh-Oh It's Me is a range of emotions, both complex/simple, as well as individually personal/broadly relatable. As such, the compositions reflect in a way that is plethoric, luxuriant, and colorful. Guitars weep and wail, drums thunder and lightning, and unwavering-yet-omnifarious vocals guide the ship across the terra incognita.
Pardoner - "Came Down Different" | Album Review
On their rambunctious and irreverent third LP Came Down Different, San Francisco punks Pardoner bring their noisy sound into focus. Hidden under their layers of feedback and distorted guitars are some damn fine pop songs. This time around, the trio allow the melodies to peak through their signature wall of sound a bit more.
FACS - "Present Tense" | Album Review
Present Tense doesn’t have time for a meet and greet. It opens in media res; percussion bomb blasts, a gristling base, and snaring garage riffs and bloodshot vocals. If you know FACS, then you’re already home. Over the past few years, the Chicago trio’s annual dispatches have seen significant augmentation.