Gorgeous - "Sapsucker" | Album Review
Gorgeous is certainly one of the most interesting acts in the scene, a two-piece who has begun to twist the basic principles of math and indie rock, pulling the threads all the way until the seams reach their absolute limit. On a first listen of Sapsucker, what you’re most struck by is most likely the duality of angular guitar and crisp drums.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Florry - "The Holey Bible"
Some bands just sound like they are up for a good time. Florry are one of those bands. Led by frontperson Francie Medosch, Florry continue to let loose with a rootsy folk/country blend and some truly incisive and often times devastating lyricism on the Philadelphia based band's second full length, The Holey Bible.
Powerplant- "Grass" | Album Review
Across their various efforts, including the awesome Stump Soup, Powerplant seem to shift sonically with an anxious and unknowable energy. That may be, as Grass demonstrates, because they feel time endlessly ticking away and the only way to make it matter is to embrace one’s whims in a battle against this ceaseless march toward obsolescence.
Chat Pile & Nerver - "Brothers In Christ" | Album Review
Something arises from hell, attempting to crawl its way into heaven – only to find that the god is just as terrifying. Nerver and Chat Pile are bonded by blood on their 2023 split EP, Brothers in Christ. Hailing from Missouri and Oklahoma, among the plains it’s impossible to ignore titanic billboards that scream “HELL IS REAL”.
Guided By Voices - "Welshpool Frillies" | Album Review
Guided By Voices has had a very busy forty years, though their thirty-seven albums only prove that you can have quantity without wavering quality. Welshpool Frillies arrived almost exactly six months to the day after their last album, La La Land, after a prolific run of eight albums in the last three years.
Silver Car Crash - "Shattered Shine" | Album Review
Shattered Shine finds the group at an existential crossroads — on a personal level, the quartet is at the end of their early twenties, grappling with a heightened sense of self-awareness and chasing their dreams. Meanwhile, at a macro level, they’re witnesses to climate destruction, societal collapse, and the ever-present sense of impending doom.
One's A Crowd - "Fictorian Era//Bedroom Pomp" | Album Review
Wireheads - "Potentially Venus" | Album Review
After going through the motions of writing songs as normal for various other projects, Wireheads bandleader, Dom Trimboli realized that the songs he was now writing were going to be Wireheads songs. It was time to get the band back together. Potentially Venus picks up where Wireheads left off while remaining its own thing sonically.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Silicone Prairie - "Vol. II"
The sense of freedom that reigns supreme on Vol. II is immediately apparent. It’s that exploration (along with Ian Teeple’s songwriting) that make up the heart of the record. He’s content to choogle along in a warped and weird world of progressive bedroom pop, distorted post-punk, glam-tinged power-pop, alien dream-pop, and lo-fi psych.
Boris & Uniform - "Bright New Disease" | Album Review
The Alchemist - "Flying High" | Album Review
Navy Blue - "Ways of Knowing" | Album Review
Now a fresh signee at Def Jam, Sage Elsesser’s dropped his major-label debut Ways of Knowing, a clear-eyed distillation of his effortless, heady lyricism and deep emotional intelligence. His lyrical trademarks are his introspection, emotional storytelling, and focus on personal transformation grounded in the lessons and trauma of family life.
Being Dead - "When Horses Would Run" | Album Review
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Snōōper - "Super Snōōper"
Super Snōōper toughens up the band’s sound. The recording lends depth and metallic sharpness for maximum wallop; Blair Tramel’s voice is brought more to the front of the mix, and gains range and power. With this more straightforward sonic palette, an array of Snōōper’s best material holds up: taut, funny, and ribboned.
Cor De Lux - "Media" | Album Review
Al Green - "Call Me (50th Anniversary)" | Album Review
In honor of its 50th anniversary, Call Me has now been reissued in all its power and glory. The record itself is as vital as ever, as is Green — 77 years old and still singing, still touring, and still every bit himself. But to listen to Call Me today is to pick up a call from a young man at the height of his powers.
Slay Tracks, 1977-2021: Recent Archival Releases from Wire, Stereolab, and Iceage
It is perhaps most interesting to think about the release of archival recordings as a self-conscious act of disruption and messing with the legacies of the band at hand – a moment of unsettlement, even self-immolation, rather than artistic affirmation. Shining a light on neglected cul-de-sacs and past desire, they can project competing, even opposing, interests and expectations. These latter thoughts apply to the albums under review by Wire, Stereolab, and Iceage, though they are not alone.
Rong + The Cost Ov Living - "Rong // The Cost Ov Living" | Album Review
Mutual Aid Records is a Massachusetts-based DIY label that is dedicated to highlighting hidden gems in niche and alternative music, much of these artists being based in the Northeastern US as well. One of the more recent releases is a wildly experimental split between Rong and The Cost ov Living, who are currently active in the MA scene.
