Modern Rituals - "This Is The History" | Album Review
The use of dynamics on This Is The History make it seem like a more deliberate and comprehensive album than their past releases. Vocals swell in and out of screams and quiet croons, while the guitars bring a sense of controlled chaos. The bass and drums keep a heavy pulse that often erupts into pulverizing bursts.
Toner - "Silk Road" | Album Review
Silk Road, the band’s third LP, sees Toner far more polished than ever before. While a refinement in sound is expected after five separate records, the most striking thing about their songwriting this time around is not just its maturity but the amount of variety the band manages to pack into Silk Road’s brisk twenty minute runtime.
Radical Dads - "Don't Wanna Go" | Post-Trash Premiere
Paved Mountain is the bi-coastal band’s fourth album, due out on June 23rd via Uninhabitable Mansions (Annie Hart, Sat. Nite Duets, Pursesnatchers), and picks up their subtle glory, shining a light on their muscular brand of indie rock and introspective songwriting, with more than a few new tricks up their sleeve.
Amyl and the Sniffers - "Live at The Croxton" | Album Review
Led by one of the greatest lead singers of the past few years, they’ve built up a ferocious reputation for their live shows, ensuring this EP should become a defining companion piece to their recordings. Live at The Croxton flashes by in under ten minutes but not before the dynamism and raucousness of their energy is translated to the listener.
Moth - "Ritual" | Post-Trash Premiere
Melenas - "Dias Raros" | Album Review
Melenas hail from Pamplona, Spain, a city known more for the running of the bulls than its music scene. After multiple releases on local labels, they have signed with US based label Trouble in Mind to release Dias Raros. If there is any justice, the band has created an album that should put their local scene on the map.
Mo Dotti - "Blurring" EP | Post-Trash Premiere
L.A.’s Mo Dotti are a genuine shoegaze band, their sound reflective of the genre’s glory days. They have studied the classics, from songwriting to production. They’ve spent the past three years refining their approach, constructing and layering guitars with dreamy perfection, and everything falls right into place on their first EP, Blurring.
Parsnip - "Adding Up" | Album Review
If last year’s debut LP delivered an anthology of twee-punk fairy tales, Parsnip’s new EP represents a burgeoning adolescence for the band as they test out new tones and take on larger themes. On Adding Up, the quartet buoys a scrappiness and more robust sound while still glimpsing the joy of their previous work.
Options - "Faster" (Remix) | Post-Trash Premiere
In an unprecedented move, Chicago’s Options are sharing a remix of their song “Faster” before we’ve heard “Faster” in its original form. Its full of intrigue and mystery. While the source material is set to arrive on the latest Options album, Wind’s Gonna Blow, due out May 22nd, the remix is here and ready.
Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (May 11th - May 17th)
Stuck - "Change Is Bad" | Album Review
If change is bad, Stuck makes the best of it. The record, front to back, is solid. It’s as dense as it is brief - the band wastes zero time plunging to exceptional depths in both arrangement and lyricism. Stuck’s debut contains the kind of post-punk precision and detail begging for repeated listens. Nothing’s overthought, but it’s all thought out.
Pleaser - "Are You Listening To Me?" | Post-Trash Premiere
New York’s Pleaser is the duo of Carrie Furniss (ex-Birthing Hips) and Travis Hagan (halfsour), but knowing their previous work doesn’t really paint the picture that is their latest band. The pair go for a decidedly more electronic sound with Pleaser, a band that seemingly finds the pair influenced primarily by dating based reality shows.
Ordinary Reaper - "No Plans" | Album Review
Locate S,1 - "Personalia" | Album Review
Peel Dream Magazine - "Agitprop Alterna" | Album Review
This is esoteric and cerebral rock. The use of Agitprop (political propaganda, especially in art or literature) in the album’s title defines this as highbrow music, clearly, but Peel Dream Magazine’s quality ensures its never pretentious or fawning. It’s clear that Stevens thinks consciously and acutely about the meaning of his music.
Gaytheist - "How Long Have I Been On Fire?" | Album Review
Isobel Campbell - "There Is No Other..." | Album Review
Isobel Campbell emerges solo after a quiet fourteen years. Her latest album, There Is No Other… presents a bit of contemporary seriousness without overshadowing her familiar, dreamy sound. There Is No Other is different from anything we’ve already heard from Campbell. On this album emerges her new persona: a soft-spoken activist.
