ROCK formed after MALK’s tweet and Chris Adams’ (Hood/Bracket) reply. The former was in search of a vocalist and the latter obliged. The proposed task: MALK was looking for autotune vocals on a “10 track Elliot Smith/Alex G album.” Adams said ‘done’ and does a proper good job and more on the duo’s excellent self-titled debut.
Reptaliens’ latest release Multiverse is a kaleidoscope, refracting the daily minutiae of lockdown life into a technicolor vision. You may recognize the band’s work from their sci-fi tinged catalog, which explores everything ranging from post-humanism to conspiracy theories to Philip K. Dick’s tales of techno-dystopia
Self-labeled as “a poor man’s jazz” and “working-class krautrock,” Oruã released their third record, Íngreme, on October 29, 2021. The krautrock influence is apparent, but you’ll hear more psychedelic rock than jazz. Regardless of labels, self-applied or otherwise, Íngreme is an eclectic mix of songs.
When our last great hope is good music then we should look to bands like Yard Act for it. The Overload proves itself as something important by acknowledging its unimportance. Yard Act doesn’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s refreshing to hear an album that doesn’t think it’s the most important thing in the world.
Comprised of members of Cloud Nothings, Profligate, The Mind, and more Cleveland rock legends, Fashion Pimps & The Glamazons lunge forward with mutant post-punk, blending no-wave, noise, and more into an alarming yet danceable seven tracks that clock in under twenty total minutes. Each track is infectious, curious, and off-kilter.
Favoring that lo-fi Guide By Voices type approach of recording anywhere you can, from basements to practice spaces, Settle does remix the material professionally (this time around Justin Pizzoferrato, to give it a more polished sound while still retaining that buzz and rush his combination of power pop and punky garage creates.
The songs on Devil Kids— a live album constructed from the audio captured by the four camera mics of a December basement-livestream— are energetic, matured, dare-I-say improved (in the way songs are after sitting with a band for years) versions of studio recordings with the palpable energy of a group that loves playing together.
There’s beauty in the darkness. On Bloodmoon: I — a collaboration from Converge and Chelsea Wolfe, along with Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and Mutoid Man — there is more than enough of both. What started as a live collaboration has resurfaced with eleven tracks plunging you into the cauldron of Converge at their spaciest.
The songs on HOUSE OF CONFUSION benefit from Benton’s workmanlike approach. Each tune sounds so effortlessly poignant that one assumes the album was written in a single afternoon, sitting on a riverbank in golden sunshine, guitar in hand. But any good craftsperson knows, it takes a ton of effort to appear effortless.
Fifteen years after their seminal album release and subsequent break-up, Failure has recorded one of their strongest efforts yet. Wild Type Droid is shorter (clocking in at 40 minutes over ten tracks), more direct (gone are the ambient segues from previous albums), and heavier (lots of baritone guitar and Fender Bass VI).
Sloppy Jane has been evolving for years and is the brainchild of singer/composer Haley Dahl, who created the group when she was fifteen. This latest release along with the previous album seem like companion pieces, but where Willow took an Iggy Pop influenced proto-punk style, Madison is more grandiose.
Leaving None But Small Birds is representative of the past-present-future; a jewel in the circular crown of time. Big|Brave & The Body converge on their power expression, hunting the monumental grounds, rendezvousing at a location both comfortably familiar and wildly obscure: ancestral foundations known deep in one’s bones.
Throughout the album you get a reflective, melancholy feeling, ranging from warmth to sadness within moments. “Pouring Rain’ just might be the giveaway here, but that feeling permeates the album, making that song and tracks like “Never Play It Cool” or “There Must Be Some Problem Here” things of pure beauty.
The musician’s sixth solo album is deeply personal and has only further resonated since initial binge. The record is drawn from just below the tip of the iceberg, Nina Ryser’s unabated creativity breaching the surface with childlike curiosity and expression, a sign of an artist truly in touch with their craft.
Battle Ave are back and so is their obvious love for the music of the nineties, the good stuff that came up during that decade, that is. That good stuff usually came from independent alternative bands - intricate guitar arrangements, subtle arrangements and as much melody coming through the vocals as possible.
