The Library Is On Fire
Degeneration Elegies
The Abyss, Ltd. (2026)
There’s a certain kind of band that never quite fits the moment they arrive in. Sometimes too jagged for one scene, too melodic for another. The Library Is On Fire were one of those bands in the early 2000s, hovering somewhere between indie-punk urgency and power-pop instinct without fully settling into either. On Degeneration Elegies, their first full-length in over a decade, they return sounding heavier, stranger, and far less interested in fitting anywhere at all. If their earlier work leaned toward nervous energy and sharp hooks, Degeneration Elegies trades that immediacy for something more textured and expansive. The guitars don’t just drive the songs but hang over them, blur into them, creating a dense, gauzy atmosphere that leans closer to shoegaze and grunge than anything resembling their past. “Grungegaze” might be an easy label, but it’s not entirely inaccurate. There are definite vibes of Guided By Voices, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. throughout these tracks. At the center of it all is Steve Five, still writing like someone chasing a melody through distortion rather than building around it. His songwriting remains the album’s anchor, even as the arrangements stretch outward in unexpected directions. Tracks swell, dissolve, and reassemble themselves, … Read more
Nicole Alexis
Mirrors & Smoke
Independent (2026)
There’s a fine line between stripped down music and so stripped back that is sounds empty. On Mirrors and Smoke, … Read more
The Remote Controls
Too Tough
Fail Harmonic Records, Mom’s Basement Records (2025)
There’s a certain kind of punk band that doesn’t overthink things. No reinvention, no genre-bending manifesto, just fast songs, big … Read more
Sahan Jayasuriya
Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen
Feral House (2026)
For those of us who spent the mid-to-late 1980s navigating basement community halls, churches, and loveable, armpit-smelling dive bars, the … Read more
Sewer Urchin
Global Urination
Independent (2025)
There’s a fine line between crossover thrash that feels dangerous and crossover thrash that just feels like a party. Global … Read more
