June 12, 2018

Reviews

Big Bite - "Big Bite" | Album Review

June 12, 2018

Reviews

Combining the raw, aggro approach of Wipers with the hyper-elated vivacity of The Replacements, Big Bite adopt a full-throttle punk approach, composed in tangent with scrappy DIY ethics.

June 11, 2018

By: Allison Kridle

Reviews

Forth Wanderers - "Forth Wanderers" | Album Review

June 11, 2018

By: Allison Kridle

Reviews

Forth Wanderers - "Forth Wanderers" | Album Review

Their latest self titled LP flows with upbeat and jangly melodies accompanied by themes of self discovery, relationships, and the need to be loved and seen.

June 8, 2018

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Howlin Rain - "The Alligator Bride" | Album Review

June 8, 2018

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Howlin Rain - "The Alligator Bride" | Album Review

The Alligator Bride is the fifth release of the Ethan Miller led Howlin Rain, and it may be the bands most reigned in and tightened up record, or as reigned in as Howlin Rain can be.

June 7, 2018

by: corey sustarich

Reviews

Pllush - "Stranger To The Pain" | Album Review

June 7, 2018

by: corey sustarich

Reviews

Pllush - "Stranger To The Pain" | Album Review

Pllush has pulled together their best elements, added pop sentiments, and made their best album yet all because of it.

June 6, 2018

by: Dalvin Aboagye

Reviews

Deeper - "Deeper" | Album Review

June 6, 2018

by: Dalvin Aboagye

Reviews

With a consistent sound and a no-frills approach to presentation, the Chicago quartet’s self-titled debut album proves the hard work has finally paid off.

June 5, 2018

by: Katixa Espinoza

Reviews

Poppies - "Good" | Album Review

June 5, 2018

by: Katixa Espinoza

Reviews

Based in the heart of the DIY scene in New York City, Poppies creates a fuller and more buoyant sound while sticking to their DIY roots in their 2017 release–– the Good EP.

June 4, 2018

by: Louis Marrone

Reviews

Thick - "Would You Rather?" | Album Review

June 4, 2018

by: Louis Marrone

Reviews

Thick - "Would You Rather?" | Album Review

Building on the rubble of It’s Always Something… their latest EP, Would You Rather? is an exercise in venting and escaping. It takes the fences and barriers they’re faced with, and obliterates them with an atom-bomb of pure aggression and unprocessed audio.

June 1, 2018

by: Brian Manley

Reviews

The Dreebs - "Forest of a Crew" | Album Review

June 1, 2018

by: Brian Manley

Reviews

The Dreebs - "Forest of a Crew" | Album Review

The Dreebs have achieved a monument that they’ve been scaling for a few years now. The record has the feel of a concept album. They have convinced the listener to trust. It’s a dark but enchanting beat to follow.

May 30, 2018

by: Jonathan Bannister

Reviews

Soft Kill - "Savior" | Album Review

May 30, 2018

by: Jonathan Bannister

Reviews

The musical spectrum that Soft Kill works in, for it to work well it needs to be dramatic. It has to feel like it means something. That the words and music exact a toll in blood, sweat and tears and other cliches. Their new album Savior is all of this.

May 29, 2018

by: Huw Baines

Reviews

Ex-Vöid - "Ex-Vöid" | Album Review

May 29, 2018

by: Huw Baines

Reviews

Ex-Vöid very much exist in the Joanna Gruesome wheelhouse but McArdle and Williams have pared back some of that band’s volatility while upping the straight ahead melodicism. The guitars are heavy on jangle and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them phrases, which often only get a single time to shine.

May 25, 2018

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Lithics - "Mating Surfaces" | Album Review

May 25, 2018

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Lithics - "Mating Surfaces" | Album Review

Mating Surfaces is a record that is filled with tension and walks on the border of full on breakdown that it never really succumbs to until it’s fitting ending. For a record that plays on jittery soundscapes and emotions it can be a quite intense listening experience.

May 24, 2018

by: Huw Baines

Reviews

Jo Passed - "Their Prime" | Album Review

May 24, 2018

by: Huw Baines

Reviews

Jo Passed - "Their Prime" | Album Review

The Canadian band’s music is all about roughing up the edges of songs that would otherwise be outwardly pop. Jo Hirabayashi’s melodies, and there are plenty of them, are delivered in a restrained, almost somnambulant manner that makes the listener work for their sugar rush.

May 24, 2018

by: Stephen Veith

Reviews

Wyoming - "Why Oh Wyoming" | Album Review

May 24, 2018

by: Stephen Veith

Reviews

Wyoming - "Why Oh Wyoming" | Album Review

This young group has an eye for interesting tempos and a handle on time signatures that fill this shorter release with a depth of capable songs. As if the release was made of shredded textiles, patch-worked into a comfortable blanket - clean in some parts, and stained in others, but nonetheless, a whole.

May 23, 2018

by: Patrick Pilch

Reviews

The Sediment Club - "Stucco Thieves" | Album Review

May 23, 2018

by: Patrick Pilch

Reviews

The Sediment Club - "Stucco Thieves" | Album Review

On their latest, Sediment Club perfectly balance the jarring and the inviting. Psychosomatic vocal exercises scorch through conjoined drum and bass—the primary drivers under each track’s supplemental guitar meanderings.

May 22, 2018

by: Ian Feigle

Reviews

The Armed - "Only Love" | Album Review

May 22, 2018

by: Ian Feigle

Reviews

ONLY LOVE is aggressive and violent, but it is also atmospheric, authentic, and tender. Recorded and produced by Converge's Kurt Ballou and with drum performances by Ben Koller, the collective of musicians, performers, and visual artists that make up The Armed have managed to make a dense album drawing from influences across the punk-rock spectrum.

May 21, 2018

by: will johnson

Reviews

SUMAC & Keiji Haino - "American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look At Face On" | Album Review

May 21, 2018

by: will johnson

Reviews

SUMAC & Keiji Haino - "American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look At Face On" | Album Review

American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look At Face On is a psychedelic journey that travels between metal, noise, and back again. It’s a long record (about 66 minutes), so be ready to embark on a trek when you put this album on,

May 21, 2018

by: Jorge Velez

Reviews

A Beacon School - "Cola" | Album Review

May 21, 2018

by: Jorge Velez

Reviews

Every day can be the refreshing, familiar sip of a Cola, an appropriately named record for New York’s A Beacon School’s new record out now on Grind Select; an experience that is altogether new but feels surprisingly familiar.

May 18, 2018

by: Dylan Pennell

Reviews

Iceage - "Beyondless" | Album Review

May 18, 2018

by: Dylan Pennell

Reviews

Over the course of the album the band veers between rock classicism and Western swagger, letting drums gallop, guitars criss, cross, and then clash, all while frontman Ronnenfelt mumbles, spits, and gnashes over the newly streamlined discord.

May 17, 2018

by: Joshua Hoey

Reviews

Trace Mountains - "A Partner To Lean On" | Album Review

May 17, 2018

by: Joshua Hoey

Reviews

Trace Mountains - "A Partner To Lean On" | Album Review

The distinction from earlier efforts is the sense of completeness, the confidence of a final draft as opposed to (also compelling) sketches.

May 16, 2018

by: Scott Hartge

Reviews

Big Ups - "Two Parts Together" | Album Review

May 16, 2018

by: Scott Hartge

Reviews

Big Ups - "Two Parts Together" | Album Review

Two Parts Together, while very much a Big Ups record, sees the band exploring exciting new territories forcing listeners to keep their expectations in check.