Spillings is a minimalist reconfiguration undertaken by two artists whose careers have been about genre deconstruction. The paths of Mathieu Ball and Liam Andrews have been running on parallel tracks, but both have been aiming for a similar endpoint. That is to strip down the heavy, experimental rock form, while at the same time retaining its destabilizing core. With Big | Brave, Ball has been reconfiguring the drone/doom space through no wave aesthetics, while Andrews, with My Disco, has been dissolving math rock into a minimalist mesh, reaching a pinnacle with the altered industrial experiment of Environment. With Andrews joining Big | Brave, first as a live musician, now as a full-time member, it feels like the duo have had a lot of ideas brewing. In their self-titled debut, the two continue their shared fascination with reshaping genre paradigms. And as is the case with most of their individual works, many of the components are familiar. The detached industrial sense is detectable, but its precision has been overtaken by a newfound volatility. The post-punk momentum is at work, but it has been drained of its colourful tonality and bravado. The foundation of Spillings is set on crumbling ground. It is … Read more
Pure Intentions is a hard hitting punk band first emerging in the Chicago scene in 2020. Since its formation by … Read more
Ok full disclosure, I sung backups on (allegedly) three of these songs and one song is a cover (albeit a … Read more
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Some might say that hardcore has gone soft. Those that feel this way have a distorted view of the genre. Hardcore is as explosive and assertive as it has been since its very inception. Florida hardcore outfit Know the Score is a prime example of this. With their debut release, All Guts, No Glory, the band serves up eleven tracks of aggressive no frills hardcore. Know the Score delivers in-your-face hardcore that never lets up from start to finish. The band pushes through 30 second cuts like 'Ex-members of I Don't Give a Fuck' and 'Due Respect,' which are dominated by punishing drums and blistering riffs. On the other hand the tracks 'Safety in Numbers' and 'Phased Out' cross beyond the minute mark with an excellent combination of old school … Read more
Heather The Jerk is a project from Madison, WI musician Heather Sawyer -- a scrappy punk band with garage and pop influences running rampant through the peppy, raw sound. This 4-song EP is called Very Motorcycle, released about a year after the Not Very Motorcycle tape. I have no idea what the phrase means, yet it sets a distinct mood. … Read more
If you were lucky enough to catch Toys That Kill live last year, you were maybe treated to a set that included classic F.Y.P bangers like “Come Home Smelly” and “Jerkoff”. I made the trip down to Seattle to see them with Off With Their Heads specifically for this reason and was in no way disappointed. I had somehow managed … Read more
Split LPs can be a gamble, but Talk Trash With lands squarely like a swift kick to those tender testicles dancing in the steel-toe-boot category — ten tracks of loud, unpolished punk mayhem that feel tailor-made for sticky floors, smoky blue air (ahh, remember those years?), piss puddles for those who can’t miss a note, and the smell of a … Read more
Citric Dummies might be the band I saw live the most often in 2025, yet I put off a thorough review of their latest LP until the calendar turned to 2026. Anyway, Split With Turnstile, besides having a great title, continues the band's garage-punk sound that draws from a deep array of influences from eggpunk to '80s hardcore while mostly … Read more
Breakup records usually announce themselves with a band. There is betrayal, shouting, and doors slamming shut. Finis Amoris Est, the new EP from UK post-hardcore outfit Pageant Mum, takes a different route. It’s a record about what happens after the blowup, when the noise dies down and you’re left alone with the quieter, harder questions. Across these four tracks, the … Read more
Pat Todd is a roots rock and roll incarnate — a relentless road dog, grinding it out night after night with his hot-as-buckshot band, The Rankoutsiders. His shows are raw, electric, and lived-in, a testament to decades on the road. With a career spanning over forty years, Todd has earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working men in the … Read more
If you like your pop melodies wrapped in fuzz, your shoegaze grounded in real songwriting, and your records best experienced front-to-back on a quiet night, Dewey’s debut is absolutely worth your time. There’s something disarmingly unpretentious about Summer On A Curb. Dewey don’t arrive with a manifesto, a scene-policing attitude, or a sense of calculated cool. Instead, this Parisian quartet … Read more
There’s a certain kind of band that makes sense immediately once you see them live. Place Position is one of those bands. Before Went Silent ever landed on my speakers, I caught them at a show I played in Dayton, and they were the kind of band that quietly steals the night. There were no theatrics, no posturing, just total … Read more
Hailing and wailing from Soweto, South Africa, rising from the ashes After The Storm comes pounding like a fierce berg wind. Don’t let this trigger your ancraophobia; they are only here (hear) to rip your sagging, middle-aged flesh from your living corpsicle sonically. Ah, Daddy—yes, Son—tell us about a time when punk was raw, dangerous, and would generally stomp your … Read more
There’s a certain honesty that only comes from bands who’ve spent years playing to half-filled rooms, basements with bad wiring, and bars where the PA is optional. ANTI BODY, the new LP from Brooklyn emo punks Awful Din, sounds like it was built in those spaces. Not as a gimmick, but as lived experience. This is a record that feels … Read more
As I review Mariachi El Bronx's latest album, IV I'm not going to pretend I'm well-versed in the deep cultural tradition that inspired The Bronx to adopt this project well outside of their fiery hardcore "main project." Instead, I'll grade it on "do I like it" merits. And I definitely dig the rhythmic and festival Latinx flavors. If you're familiar … Read more
There’s a fine line between dark rock that feels theatrical and dark rock that feels transportive. On Death Knocks, Hoaxed land firmly in the latter. This is an album that doesn’t just flirt with atmosphere but commits to it fully, wrapping heavy riffs, melodic hooks, and occult-tinged drama into something that feels natural and not staged. Three years in the … Read more
There's a time to be cerebral and there's a time to tell it like it is. Carnivorous Flower lives by the latter. Their debut has 10 songs: 18 minutes in total. Each of the songs is catchy as heck and you can pretty much singalong on your first listen. It's "simple" punk with peppy energy and a lot of heart. … Read more
Richmond, VA has always had a way of bending punk into something sharper and stranger, and Sub/Shop feels like a direct product of that tradition. Their EP democatessen isn’t a debut in the wide-eyed sense but a statement from musicians who’ve already spent years inside heavy, confrontational music and are now choosing precision over spectacle. Across six tracks, Sub/Shop delivers … Read more
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