No one song on the record sounds much like the others, and as her role in the ensemble shifts from song to song, Rosali's voice and vantage point shifts, too. Rather than being an inconsistency, this is a unique, characteristic strength of Rosali's artistry. With Bite Down, she becomes multitudinous.
Super Snōōper toughens up the band’s sound. The recording lends depth and metallic sharpness for maximum wallop; Blair Tramel’s voice is brought more to the front of the mix, and gains range and power. With this more straightforward sonic palette, an array of Snōōper’s best material holds up: taut, funny, and ribboned.
On the first leg of touring behind her new full-length Manzanita, Shana Cleveland and her band played the Mercury Lounge and Sultan Room on April 21st and 22nd, with support from MAITA. In the live transmuting of its studio sound, Manzanita’s fractal sensations were ingeniously amplified—bursting into exciting new dimensions, cosmic and otherwise.
The mingling of June McDoom’s distinct voices, as they blend with and overtake each other, is enjoyably discombobulating. It sets the tone for a daring and lovely debut EP that doesn’t just bounce between polarities, but actually unfixes them. This isn’t an acoustic, stripped-down-and-turtlenecked kind of debut.
DIY/riot grrrl veterans Christina Billotte, Kathi Wilcox, and Steve Dore—released The Casual Dots in 2004, apparently with little press or self-promotion, but still establishing a fan base through blog-era word-of-mouth. After an 18-year hiatus, last month the band re-released their debut at the same time as their surprise second full-length, Sanguine Truth.
Paternoster’s reputation as a virtuoso guitarist, forged through innumerable scorching sets with Screaming Females, was surely sustained with beautifully intricate, bold solos. It was also a departure from the particular intensity of the Females—venturing into new compositional terrain with a dreamier sound.
