Album Review : Beaches ‘Second Of Spring’
The music of Melbourne, Australia’s Beaches is a collection of hazy, psych-heavy guitar pop. They build walls of noise for us to work our way through. What we hear when we find ourselves in the midst of their noisy, gauzy, guitar sonics is a catchy rock and roll hook. This five piece rock and roll …
Album Review : Metz’ ‘Strange Peace’
I will admit that I have a bit of a dude crush on the Canadian rock band METZ. There’s just something about their intense brand of noise rock/post-punk gumbo that gets me in the gut. It’s a kind of rush that comes with a special sort of experience. Maybe like jumping out of a plane, …
Album Review : Wand’s ‘Plum’
Going into Wand’s Plum I was expecting a bit of the usual Ty Segall-inspired garage noise, much like what was on the three previous records(Ganglion Reef, Golem, 1000 Days.) Playing with both Segall and Mikal Cronin, Hanson does have a little of both hard-wired into his musical DNA. While there are moments where the weirdness …
New Track : Hear Ty Segall’s “Alta”
Photo by Kyle Thomas Okay, so maybe the whole world didn’t come together and thank the resident garage rock God for dropping a new tune. In fact, I think it was an equal split between guffaws with jaws dropping and “Who?” with a side of “Meh.” For those not in the latter camp, this is …
Album Review : Queens of the Stone Age ‘Villains’
I’m not the biggest QOTSA fan in the room. There are others that their love and admiration for Josh Homme and crew far outweigh my own. I really didn’t come around to them till Lullabies To Paralyze. Even the massive Songs for the Deaf wasn’t enough to peak my interest in the desert rock monoliths. …
Album Review : Grizzly Bear’s ‘Painted Ruins’
Grizzly Bear came out of the great “bands with ‘Bear’ in their name” musical gold rush of the early 2000s. Minus The Bear, Bear in Heaven, Bearnaked Ladies(okay, that’s not a real band.) Grizzly Bear always seemed to have loftier goals. From starting out as just a bedroom project of Ed Droste’s to becoming a …
Album Review : Oneohtrix Point Never’s ‘Good Time Soundtrack’
If you told me that Daniel Lopatin was actually from another planet or dimension that wouldn’t surprise me a bit. The music he creates as Oneohtrix Point Never is otherworldly electronic in nature. It’s progressed from drone-y ambient on his debut Betrayed In The Octagon to the more deep space pop ambitions of 2015s Garden …
Album Review : Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Add Violence’ EP
Say what you will about Trent Reznor, but the guy over the last four years has been in constant creative motion. Nine Inch Nails’ 2013 return with Hesitation Marks was met with equal parts cheers and jeers. Cheers for a guy coming out of a 4 year NIN shutdown to a solid return to form. Jeers …
Album Review : Joel Jerome’s ‘Cosmic Bear Jamboree’
Listening to Joel Jerome’s new album you can’t help but get swept up in the guy’s joy for music making. There’s a feeling of a guy getting completely lost in his own little musical world. Jerome is an L.A.-based producer who’s studio has welcomed some of indie rock’s most up-and-coming artists. He’s worked hand-in-hand with …
Album Review : Videodrones’ ‘Nattens Hævn’
Videodrones makes music that grabs you by the jugular and doesn’t let go. It’s dark, brooding electronic music that conjures up late night flicks you’d come across when you were a kid in the witching hour. Vampires, zombies, demons, witches, and the supernatural emanating from your television as a strange, buzzing wave of music accompanied …