Thursday, June 30, 2016

Jeff Collins - 2016 - Colors

Jeff Collins is a singer songwriter from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. Colors is his 2016 LP. He also performs with a band under the name Mother Upduff. Expect eclectic, psychedelic americana complete with cello, sax and sitar.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Hesitation Wounds - 2013 - Hesitation Wounds

Hesitation Wounds is a punk rock super group from the USA. Hesitation Wounds is their debut EP. Jeremy Bolm (Touché Amoré) pulled together guitarist Neeraj Kane of The Hope Conspiracy and formerly of The Suicide File and Holy Fever; bassist Stephen LaCour of True Cross and formerly of Trap Them; and Jay Weinberg who had performed with Madball and Against Me!, before joining Slipknot. They wrote these songs on a Sunday and recorded them on a monday. They have finally followed it up with a full length LP, taking their time writing and recording it, Awake For Everything, released by 6131 Records.

Nanette - 2015 - Living Fossils//Low Morale

Nanette is a three piece screamo band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Living Fossils//Low Morale is their debut EP. Be prepared for some mathy, emo post-hardcore.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Aesop Rock & Yo La Tengo - Dorks (live)

Aesop Rock is a producer and rapper based in Portland Oregon, his new LP, The Impossible Kid, is his seventh solo LP. FacebookTwitterOfficial site. This is Aesop's network television debut.

 Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band, they released their fourteenth studio album Stuff Like That There, in 2015. Facebook. Twitter. Official site.

Monday, June 27, 2016

C.C.T.V. - 2015 - C.C.T.V.

C.C.T.V. is a punk rock band from Northwest Indiana. C.C.T.V. is their debut EP. There isn't much information as there doesn't appear to be an official web presence. According to Discogs members also play in: Big Zit, C.C.T.V., Carbonleak, Gun (13), Like Bats, Ooze (7), Pukeoid, Raw Nerve, Scabs (2), Wild Injuns, D-Boys (2), Shitkickers, United Positive Squadron, D.L.I.M.C., Gordon Spicer Band, Guinea Kid, Hardcore Contest, Hot Beef, Liquids (2), Night Fever (4), Public Assault, The Coneheads, The Outs, Voice Of Reason (4), Wasted Effort (2), Z-Turds.



The two best tracks are Anxiety and Paranoia, the latter is a hard driving, riff focused energetic song with squeeling keyboards while the former has a more wiry and danceable riff with the same off kilter, nervous energy. Quiet is perfectly good but nothing spectacular and Mind Control never gets its act together to be more than an oddity.C.C.T.V. play the a very similiar brand of weirdo punk rock to Coneheads. The guitars are high pitched, sounding like they are wound as tight as they can go, the drums and bass pound out a hyper rhythm while the singer floats above melodically.
If you are looking for some weirdo, Devo influenced hyper punk rock C.C.T.V.'s self titled 7" will serve well. Thanks to Cut & Paste for pointing this out.

Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid

Aesop Rock is a rapper & producer based out of Portland, Oregon. The Impossible Kid is his seventh solo LP. Facebook. Twitter. Official site.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

CRVEL - 2016 - Sombras

CRVEL is a noisy, reverb soaked post-punk band from Yucatan, Mexico. Sombras is their new LP. Facebook

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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Deathsticks - BSHC Split EP- 2016

Deathsticks is a self described garage noise rock band from Whitby.
BSHC or Bullshit Hardcore Band is two dudes and a drum machine playing jammy lofi punk rock.

Slægt - 2015 - Beautiful And Damned

Slægt is a four piece blackened metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Beautiful And Damned is their sophomore LP. Beautiful And Damned is consistent from beginning to end regardless of the genre Slægt is playing in. Slægt play a brand of metal mashing together demonic black metal vocals, epic thrash metal riffs and a sense of evil and doom from black metal that combines into a compelling, surprisingly melodic heavy metal. The one exception is the acoustic, instrumental ballad Church Of The Night. It is a downright pretty acoustic song that has no relationship to the metal that surrounds it. The highlight for me is the opening track Move In Chaos, it doesn't feel like it's nearly seven minutes long. The riffs come hard and heavy, the vocalist is in top, demonic form and the whole song coalesces into a nearly out of control blackened thrash whirlwind. If you're looking for some black metal with thrash riffs, Slægt's Beautiful And Damned will serve well.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Lunachicks - Mean What You Say

Marvelous Mark - 2016 - Crushin

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Marvelous Mark - 2016 - Bite Me EP

A City Sorrow Built - 2015 - Ai

A City Sorrow Built is a three piece skramz band from Ubud, Republic of Indonesia. Ai is their debut LP. A City Sorrow Built play a chaotic brand of screamo with an infusion of post-rock. At first these rather disparate genres are slammed together with no subtlety, just transition from noisy skramz into calm, beautiful post-rock. By the time the LP ends these two disparate styles have found a way to coexist, the sum becomes greater than the two parts. When added properly and done well some elements of post-rock can give these post-hardcore songs space to breathe.




What would otherwise be a fast, chaotic attack gets slowed just a touch and melody is allowed to emerge from the noise.  Songs like Duka/CitaPelangimu still hit as hard, powered by a slow burn instead of an explosion. Where the post-rock elements really fail and stick out like a sore thumb is in the slow, overly beautiful and melodic intro and interlude.



Compare the transitions between the first three tracks to the suite of epic screamo towards the end of this LP. Dua Puluh is calm, beautiful post-rock with voices emerging out of the mist, Hati/Salju slams into a post-hardcore explosion and an early highlight before giving way to Suaramu and more beatific, melodic post-rock. On tracks four through seven, Datang/Pergi-Hitam/Putih-Pelangimu and Duka/Cita, A City Sorrow Built focus on combing the post-rock and the screamo elements of their sound and they find the happy medium between the two creating some of the best post-rock inflected screamo I've heard in awhile. If you're looking for a band that can pull of both screamo and post-rock while remembering the essential elements from both, A City Sorrow Built's Ai will serve well.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Touché Amoré - 2016 - Palm Dreams


Suis La Lune & Shirokuma - Split 12" LP

new tracks from Suis La Lune & Shirokuma in advance of their split 12″ LP from Dog Knights Productions

Numbskull Action - 2016 - Action & Reaction

Numbskull Action is a three piece garage punk band from Woking, UK. Action & Reaction is their second LP, a follow up to their 2012 debut All The Action. Numbskull Action play a drunken, fuzzed out brand of garage rock. Songs about getting messed up, bad driving and more drinking. Reminds me a little bit of The Libertines in their more unhinged, punked up moments and also Black Ladies a weirdo, catchy punk rock band fronted (?) by Jaime Paul Lamb. These songs have an excess of drunken punk energy and they have the garage levels of distortion down pat, the only thing they are missing is some well placed gang backing vocals and some woah-oh-oh's. Highlights include Bad Advice (It's Not Nice); It's Alright (If You Wanna Fight); I Don't Know Your Name; A.F.O.T.G.S.; TV Commercial & I Smell Clutch.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Jay Arner - 2016 - Crystal Ball (video)

Accidente - 2016 - Pulso

Accidente is punk band from Madrid Spain. Formed in 2010 Pulso is their third LP, followup to 2014's Amistad Y Rebelión (read my review of said previous LP here). In the two years since the last LP Accidente has improved in nearly every way but especially in terms of songwriting and recording/production. Pulso comes exploding out of the gate with the excellent title track setting a high water mark early on. This LP expands on everything that I loved about Amistad Y Rebelión, high energy, danceable punk rock with a message. Accidente are experts at balancing the need for aggression, speed & energy with melodic vocals and inspirational & political lyrics. Here is where I would list my favourite tracks but when it's basically every song on the LP there's no point.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

The Fabulous Fairies - 2016 - Alrite No!


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Divers - 2016 - Achin' On (Single)

Divers is a punk rock band from Portland Oregan. Achin' On is the follow up to 2015's LP Hello Hello. The b-side is a cover of legendary Portland band Dead Moon.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Amygdala - 2016 - Population Control

Friday, June 03, 2016

Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies

EASTRN▽SUNS - Samsara

Thursday, June 02, 2016

Algae Bloom



Swollen Members - Balance