Sometimes when you think of a town you think of a certain sound. Philadelphia is not one of those cities for me, as the bands I know from the area vary a lot in style. Yes, there is the Dan Yemin tree (Lifetime / Kid Dynamite / Paint It Black) but there are also poppy bands and emo bands and everything in between and outside of those boxes too. Bitter Branches happens to include Yemin (on bass/vocals), plus Tim Singer (Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye) on vocals, Jeff Tirabassi (Walleye) on drums, and Matt Ryan (Cavalry) and Kevin Sommerville (Lighten Up!) on guitar. Since it's nigh-impossible to avoid namedropping when the musicians have been in this many bands, I'd argue that Bitter Branches sounds the most like Deadguy, though it has its pockets of pretty much every band mentioned already. I might distill it down even further to say it's like a manic depressive the Jesus Lizard, with winding guitar, pulsing rhythms, bellowed and brutal vocals, and a balance between cynicism and feral anger. I have to thrown in a Chat Pile comparison as well. The recurring element of all of these ingredients is harsh, blunt and heavy music that I … Read more
If rock ’n’ roll ever had a smoky, beer-soaked, throbbing heartbeat, it lives in Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs’ … Read more
There’s a particular tension that makes alternative rock compelling. I love the emotional push and pull between softness and eruption. … Read more
I'm not sure what's happening to me in middle age. I used to find samples clever and a nice change-of-pace … Read more
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The time has finally come. Originally scheduled for a release in November, printing and pressing delays pushed the album's release back to January. Fortunately we were able to pass the time with a new Isis full-length, Panopticon. But now, the fourth and final volume of the remixes and reinterpretations of Isis' titanic effort Oceanic is available for us to bear witness to. Just as Oceanic did, this final installment begins with the track "The Beginning of the End." Aaron Funk, who is also known as Venetian Snares, tweaks the track in a very unique manner. He has stripped the song of nearly all guitars, revealing the talent of bassist Jeff Caxide, which oftentimes is overlooked. Funk makes Caxide's bass playing the central element to his version of the song, but … Read more
Pure Intentions is a hard hitting punk band first emerging in the Chicago scene in 2020. Since its formation by Joe Asshole and Tommy Volume, they have since added Judson Jones in 2024 to become its current standing trio. During that time, these guys have spread their gritty sound by touring the United States while gaining a strong following along … Read more
There are few bands in extreme metal who understand their own lane as well as Exhumed. For nearly three decades, Matt Harvey and company have made gore feel theatrical, technicality feel fun, and deathgrind feel almost celebratory. Red Asphalt doesn’t rewrite that formula but weaponizes it, straps it into the driver’s seat, and floors the accelerator straight into oncoming traffic. … Read more
Ok full disclosure, I sung backups on (allegedly) three of these songs and one song is a cover (albeit a stretch lol) of a song I co-wrote. What can I say tho? I was a fan of The Dumpies from the get go, before we all became very close friends and constant tour mates! Dub music diehards might be a … Read more
There’s a specific kind of punk record that doesn’t try to inspire you, doesn’t bother offering solutions, and doesn’t pretend things are going to work out in the end. Nobody’s Going To Heaven is firmly planted in that tradition. Elway returns sounding less interested in rallying cries and more invested in documenting collapse as it happens. They cover every collapse … 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
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