Act Surprised is the latest in the lengthy travails of beloved ‘indie’ punk trio Sebadoh, that has seen the band go through countless ups and downs in a myriad of ways. Sebadoh have had quite an eclectic career from the early ‘lo-fi’ albums of fractured folk and collages of noise, to a period of punk blasts and heart on the sleeve songcraft that garnered some acclaim
For a debut album, it’s a doomy fist pump for those who wander and eat berries and work too damn hard just to get nowhere but the place you started. And already with two tours in their mullets, Gilliver is living their days out fixing up a school bus and farming up a dangerous cord of kindling for the next heart-shaker.
Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008 is exactly what you can expect from a band that had recorded in 1987’s Sister and 1988’s Daydream Nation. In fact there are the characteristic evolutions of the noise that make Sonic Youth so lovable. Redundancies of melancholic feedback that tell of humanity in its highest poetic form of poverty and essentiality.
New York City-based Jeanines are a duo comprised of Alicia Jeanine and Jed Smith who, together, make music that is equal parts wistfully nostalgic and strikingly present. Their self-titled, debut album for Slumberland - which follows the release of a few demo tracks, a standalone single and two covers - is a collection of razor sharp, 60s influenced indie pop.
In the midst of the melee of their opening number, “Ouch !,” Pinch Points announce, "Pinch Points are here." Maybe it's the Australian accent, or maybe their tone of voice, but you can't help but feel they're giving you the finger when they say it. That finger does not drop throughout all nine of the songs on their new album, Moving Parts, out on Roolette Records.
Jangly guitars, sharp hi-hats, and the sonic equivalent of that “Oh god, I shouldn’t have had that third cup of coffee” feeling come together flawlessly on Choral Reef’s debut EP. Appropriately titled gotta get to work, the tape energetically confronts the painful reality of what it means to be an artist in a world where your worth is often defined by what you do to make money.
While the record has a great sense of cohesiveness overall, a massive amount of collaboration took place at every stage of the record. Gary Canino is the mastermind behind Dark Tea, but twenty two people worked on the album in total. Among them, eight people had a hand in recording, mixing, producing, and mastering Dark Tea.
Over the course of just sixteen minutes, singer-songwriter Hannah Read strums her way through a series of vignettes that delve thoroughly and unflinchingly into the heart of what it means to feel for another. Each track is brief yet perfectly measured, quiet yet self-assured, delicate yet unyielding.
Spiral Wave Nomads reach a little further, drawing influence from free improvisation, jazz, noise, raga, folk, and ambient music, mapping out a vast galaxy of guitar swirls, bass bellows, and drum storms. Eric Hardiman and Michael Kiefer combine their powers to quilt together a delicious menagerie of tunes.
The singer-songwriter plays his cards with a deep authenticity of authorship and puts his creative soul in dialogue with themes such as death, loneliness, and war. Radcliffe's vision, through the delicate sounds of guitar, cello, and effects created by the eccentric pedals, makes us feel in relation to the earth, to the terrestriality.
Over the course of eleven years and six albums, Keiron Melling, Dave Spurr, and Pete Greenway formed behind Mark E. Smith as the final and longest iteration of The Fall. After Smith’s passing, they recruited Sam Curran for vocal duties and formed Imperial Wax, the name being a nod to the first album they all played on together as The Fall, and have put out their first album Gastwerk Saboteurs.
