Joyer - "Perfect Gray" | Album Review
JOHN - "Nocturnal Manoeuvres" | Album Review
Take two men named John, a drum kit and a guitar and you’ve got the makings of a powerful, noisy new record, Nocturnal Manoeuvres. The eponymous JOHN hail from the UK and have channeled a brooding and primal sound on their third full-length album. Like the title suggests, the vibe is dark throughout the album’s ten tracks.
Screensaver - "Expressions of Interest" | Album Review
Alexalone - "Alexaloneworld" | Album Review
Vanishing Twin - "Ookii Gekkou" | Album Review
The band claims many influences from the 1960s and 70s, such as Alice Coltrane and Art Ensemble of Chicago, and most listeners can detect echoes of Stereolab and Broadcast. However much Vanishing Twin honors the past, Ookii Gekkou swirls these genres into something else ever-changing, as we would hope music in the future would.
Mo Troper - "Dilettante" | Album Review
Everything about Troper’s style is designed to deceive and confound; it’s difficult to take what he sings about at face value but, in all honesty, that’s where the fun lies. Consider that he named his latest album Dilettante, a word which means, “A person with an amateur interest in the arts without real knowledge.”
Cheekface - "Emphatically Mo' (B-sides)" | Album Review
The four songs come from the Emphatically No writing sessions, culled when the band wanted to create a good flow for the full-length. There might not be anything as mesmerizing as ‘“Listen to Your Heart.” “No.”’ but that’s not to say there’s no charm to be found in the B-sides; charm is something that comes to Cheekface effortlessly.
Matt Robidoux - "At Dust" | Album Review
Gustaf - "Audio Drag For Ego Slobs" | Album Review
While Audio Drag is not a perfect distillation of their live act, Gustaf’s debut is still great fun as the band leans on its storytelling ability to explore the various anxieties, desires, and fears of the titular "ego slob." Lydia Gammill gladly makes herself the joke, inhabiting a narcissistic narrator that is both self-absorbed and needy.
Pom Poko - "Cheater" | Album Review
Styrofoam Winos - "Styrofoam Winos" | Album Review
Styrofoam Winos is a shimmering quilt of folk, rock, post-punk, soul, pop, and country, stitched together by three incredibly strong and worth-listening-to Nashville singer-songwriters: Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant, and Joe Kenkel. These are incredibly versatile, never in danger of sounding bland, never at risk of repeating themselves.
Toner - "White Buffalo Roam" | Album Review
Mike Etten - "Love Wash" | Album Review
Angel Olsen - "Aisles" | Album Review
The Aisles EP finds Olsen journeying away from her usual songwriting and into the world of covers. Specifically, it features covers of songs from the 1980s: everyone’s favorite mullet and big sleeve decade. Everything from the songs chosen to cover art—which features Olsen sporting a mullet and bright blue eyeshadow—oozes 80s nostalgia.
Motorists - "Surrounded" | Album Review
Cochonne - "Emergency" | Album Review
Sumac - "Two Beasts" | Album Review
Luggage - "Happiness" | Album Review
Happiness’ approach to “the slow” has been touted as a “90s Chicago throwback,” which is not too far off in terms of general description of their approach to sludgy slowness. The trio stretch their perpetual sonic muscles, remapping an indie lineage that feels further drawn out of frame. Every track becomes its own little sonic nugget.
Full of Hell - "Garden of Burning Apparitions" | Album Review
The unrelenting force that is Full of Hell has returned with their latest album, Garden of Burning Apparitions, showing why they are the biggest band in grindcore right now. In only twenty minutes, the band packs idea after idea without letting up for a single second. The riffs, the vocals, the percussion, everything is as intense as ever.