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Caithlin de Marrais

My Magic City
End Up (2008)

I will never forget the first time that I heard Caithlin de Marrais' voice; the opening lines of "Rise" off of Rainer Maria's Look Now Look Again reach out from speakers with a naked vulnerability that imbues each word with its own spark and each line with a lifetime of experience. Caithlin's mostly disembodied (save for the times I have … Read more

Fiancé

Please, Ambitious, Please
Independent (2008)

Denver-based quartet Fiancé has put forth a pretty catchy follow-up to 2007's, The Girl From the Ivory Coast. With 2008's Please, Ambitious, Please, Patrick Maguire (vocals, piano), Michael James (guitar), Tyler Reschke (bass) and Chris Sturniolo (drums) have produced a compelling little offering. The instrumentation is beautiful and quirky, and ultimately provides a satisfying listen. At times the lyrics are … Read more

Japanther

Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt
Menlo Park (2008)

In the city of Brooklyn, New York's hippest borough, the pretensions of musicians trying to create songs that are both avant garde and widely accessible (a clear paradox) makes for a stifling scene. Lofts and warehouse spaces across the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick are filling with passive young professionals being bludgeoned with art. While every incarnation of noise, folk, … Read more

Black Flame

Imperivm
Forces of Satan/Regain (2008)

Black Flame is an Italian black metal trio that holds the distinction of being one of the first bands signed to Forces of Satan Records, a label created by Gorgoroth founder and guitarist Infernus. Now, the future of Gorgoroth may be uncertain, at least until there's a ruling on who owns the rights to the name, but the future and … Read more

The Dalloways

Dirty Money and Filthy Love
Bird in a Box (2008)

Sold; I'll take two, please. From start to finish, this five-track EP from California's The Dalloways is a gem. Dirty Money and Filthy Love, with its dry easy wit and lush pop sensibilities, is delightful in all the right ways. From the outset, it's instantly reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian, and vocalist/lyricist Gerhard Enns delivers breathy pop vocals that seem … Read more

The Pink Spiders

Sweat it Out
Mean Buzz (2008)

This might be the first band I've reviewed that I've also loaded gear for. I worked a show a couple years back when The Pink Spiders were opening for Kill Hannah, and helped load their stuff in. So I have a strange complex with them. It's like I'm their servant, their underling. And I don't like it. What I have … Read more

Killing Kings

...The One You Feed the Most
Independent (2008)

Killing Kings 2007 release Delusions of Grandeur was an under appreciated gem of 90's inspired hardcore. It was equally as destructive as it was thought provoking. The album was a combination of bruising metallic hardcore and searing metal that often had me dreaming of dance-floor incited frenzy sing-alongs. The album's social and political lyrical themes only added further fuel to … Read more

Crystal Antlers

Crystal Antlers
Touch & Go (2008)

1. This is soundtrack music. I couldn't hear it at all until I took a drive through the hills, windows down at night, blaring this EP to stay awake until I got home. I put it on because all I could hear in it was THE KIND OF SHIT TO WHICH YOU CANNOT FALL SLEEP. Which I more or less … Read more

Virgins

Miscarriage
Kiss of Death (2008)

Orlando's Virgins play hook orientated, chorus heavy punk with scratchy throat vocals. The three-piece formed from the ashes of New Mexican Disaster Squad and their sound is a logical development. While the band has clear roots in early hardcore, they maintain an approach that's easier on the palate with a stronger focus on catchiness instead of sheer ferocity. "Another's Gun" … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Dirt Mall

Got the Goat by the Horns
Daykamp (2008)

Raw, grimy in your face rock from these Bostonians. The guitar is mixed high, which is a good thing for these tunes. Most of these songs are under the four minute mark. Except for "The Demons & the Damned" which clocks in at a whopping nine plus minutes. I can definitely relate to "Medicate (Today)." But song number seven is … Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Oswald Effect

Love & Sabotage
Independent (2008)

This looked promising when it first showed up in the mail. But as some wise person once said, looks can be deceiving. This Seattle four-piece certainly have their chops together, but the styles presented here are such a mish mash that it's hard to swallow. Musically they are rocking enough, but vocally I just couldn't get into them. The singer … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Coffins / XXX Maniak

The Cracks of Doom
Creeping Vine (2008)

To offend me takes special talent, talent that knows no boundaries to how far the one can push idea of indecency. People who believe there is nothing sacred, no subject matter too taboo that they cannot molest it. These people play in the XXX Maniak. The cover art alone on this made me ashamed to have the CD in my … Read more

Above this Fire

Last Ones
Forest City (2008)

It's been over three years since Above this Fire released their debut full-length, In Perspective. Since that recording the band has grown immensely as songwriters, something that is evident when you listen to the two albums back to back. The band's growth and evolution since their initial recordings is something that helps put in perspective - pardon the pun - … Read more

Maps of Norway

Die Off Songbird
Guilt Ridden Pop (2008)

It's refreshing to hear bands showing their influences without becoming a fiftieth-wave hybrid, a la The ePoxies. Maps of Norway obviously love 1980's new-wave. However, they don't set out to make a copy of that, they fuse the sound into their own artistic development, and Guilt Ridden Pop's release Die Off Songbird is the end result. The record starts off … Read more

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