The Jesus Lizard - "Rack" | Album Review
Rack continues the trend of four-letter titles. While it may seem like a small detail, the consistency is a pleasure, and if Rack is anything, it’s consistent. In a blazing 36 minutes, the band never lets up, delivering song after song of pummeling riffs, thumping bass, pounding drums, and manic vocals.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Pom Poko - "Champion"
Champion is a record you'll want to listen to over and over. It’s packed with infectious sing-songy vocals, jagged instrumentals, and warm vibes. Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit has described it as the album where Pom Poko has matured. New life experiences, such as parenthood, shape Champion into the magical experience that it is.
Guided By Voices - "Same Place The Fly Got Smashed" (Reissue) | Album Review
It was 33 years ago that Robert Pollard recorded what was almost the last Guided by Voices album, Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, which would have been a complete travesty to music. Now you can go to your favorite local record store and buy a new reissue of this album via Scat Records, the first label that truly believed in Bob and co.
The Umbrellas - "Fairweather Friend" | Album Review
Baked & The Zells - "Queensburgh: A Baked & Zells Split" | Album Review
It is a sign of mutual respect and adoration to make something together as one package to grace listeners with. Queensburgh by Baked and The Zells is the latest addition to the DIY canon of splits. Two of independent rock's heaviest hitters have delivered a special split that anyone will be able to appreciate.
Sprain - "The Lamb As Effigy or Three Hundred and Fifty XOXOXOS for a Spark Union With My Darling Divine" | Album Review
Wireheads - "Potentially Venus" | Album Review
After going through the motions of writing songs as normal for various other projects, Wireheads bandleader, Dom Trimboli realized that the songs he was now writing were going to be Wireheads songs. It was time to get the band back together. Potentially Venus picks up where Wireheads left off while remaining its own thing sonically.
En Attendant Ana - "Principia" | Album Review
Arbor Labor Union - "Yonder" | Album Review
Full Of Hell - "Aurora Leaking From An Open Wound" | Album Review
Full of Hell is back if only for a brief moment, six minutes and 44 seconds to be exact, with what was a tour-exclusive EP, Aurora Leaking from an Open Wound. For what this release lacks in length, it more than makes up for it with intensity, noise, and riffs, an excellent addition to Full of Hell’s catalog of death metal-influenced grindcore.
Disco Doom - "Mt. Surreal" | Album Review
Mt. Surreal acts as an amalgamation of their previous work while journeying into something completely new. It’s an album of ambitious instrumentals and even more ambitious ideas. An album that wastes no space and never falters in its attempts to be what it’s trying to be, the best Disco Doom album yet.
Viagra Boys - "Cave World" | Album Review
It is everything you could want a Viagra Boys album to sound like. The thing about Cave World is that it probably won’t convince anyone to change their beliefs, but it’s not trying to. What it does do is point out how absurd some of these things are. It does this perfectly and on top of that it lets the listener have a great time while it does this.
Thank - "Thoughtless Cruelty" | Album Review
After having all of their loose material gathered on Thankology, we finally get Leeds’ best noise rock band Thank’s debut album, Thoughtless Cruelty. This is a record that is meant to be played as loud as possible, an album that is filled with clever lyrics, a clear nihilistic view of the world, and pounding instrumentals.
Yard Act - "The Overload" | Album Review
When our last great hope is good music then we should look to bands like Yard Act for it. The Overload proves itself as something important by acknowledging its unimportance. Yard Act doesn’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s refreshing to hear an album that doesn’t think it’s the most important thing in the world.
La Luz - "La Luz" | Album Review
On their self-titled album, La Luz show us why they are one the best bands surf and psychedelic rock have to offer. Produced by Adrian Younge, La Luz proves that there are still plenty of places to explore in this type of music. The way they allow you to drift in and out of such fuzzy, dreamy, and mesmerizing music is astounding.
Full of Hell - "Garden of Burning Apparitions" | Album Review
The unrelenting force that is Full of Hell has returned with their latest album, Garden of Burning Apparitions, showing why they are the biggest band in grindcore right now. In only twenty minutes, the band packs idea after idea without letting up for a single second. The riffs, the vocals, the percussion, everything is as intense as ever.
Upper Wilds - "Venus" | Album Review
Buffet Lunch - "The Power of Rocks" | Album Review
The Power of Rocks shows a band that is willing to create whatever they want regardless of whatever is popular. All the pop sensibilities are there, and they are there in spades, but the band decides to take these sensibilities to create music with a bounce in their step, and it infects the listener to have the same sort of bounce.
The Notwist - "Vertigo Days" | Album Review
After six years without an album, German 'indietronica' band The Notwist return with Vertigo Days, their best effort since Neon Golden. Allowing their influences of krautrock bands such as Can or indie pop groups such as Stereolab to shine through, the band is able to make something very special here.