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Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

The Loved Ones

The Loved Ones
Jade Tree (2005)

Memories of listening to Lifetime and hanging out with the crew every day of the week, skating, partying, or what have you, will always be there for me. It was undoubtedly some of the best times of my life. So when I heard about The Loved Ones and their comparisons to Lifetime, I was very intrigued. I hadn't had such a band in my life in some time, so how could I not give them a shot, considering the same label that put out those great Lifetime records was telling me to do so. So with that, I put in The Loved Ones new self titled EP with open arms and ears. It's true that the Loved Ones have some of the more infectious hooks around right now. Right out of the starting gate, "100K" kicks you in the ass with a guitar hook that is simple but strong enough to carry a whole tune on its back. And that's exactly what it ends up doing. It's just under three minutes and runs the gamut of good song writing in that time. There is no reason in my mind why this couldn't be a huge radio single this summer. Not … Read more

Bright Eyes

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Saddle Creek (2005)

The morning is generally associated with hope and rebirth. Leave it up to sad-eyed pessimist Conor Oberst to reverse this … Read more

LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem
DFA (2005)

I have too much love for James Murphy, the man behind LCD Soundsystem. This guy sits atop a throne of … Read more

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Worlds Apart
Interscope (2005)

Vocalist Conrad Keely poses a question on the album's title track; "What's the future of Rock-n-Roll?" A rhetorical question? Perhaps, … Read more

The Fiery Furnaces

Blueberry Boat
Sanctuary (2004)

Music as true art begs to be delved deeper into. Controversially classic albums such as Daydream Nation, Zen Arcade, and … Read more

Let it Die

Stick to Your Guns
Spook City (2004)

The city of Detroit has a bad reputation on the streets of, well, the entire United States. It's known as … Read more

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One from the archives

Up For Nothing

Escape Route
It's Alive (2022)

While Up For Nothing has apparently been around since 2002, this is my first exposure. It’s interesting to learn about a band after listening on repeat, as I had the impression they were young ‘uns. They should take that as a compliment. Rather than sounding jaded, it sounds vibrant. Up For Nothing is a punk band from Brooklyn. The style is familiar: melodic punk with whoa-oh choruses. Early thoughts had me putting it somewhere in a Banner Pilot meets Bouncing Souls realm, but it was missing something. Those connections are more subtle, while there was a tip-of-my-finger more obvious comparison I couldn’t place. On about my tenth listen, I had that aha! moment: there is a similarity to Plow United. Even though the songs are pop in structure, there is … Read more

More album reviews

The Arcade Fire

Funeral
Merge (2004)

Hating to love something is a complicated and frustrating emotion. When it comes to music, I prefer one of the following: to love an album unconditionally and make it a part of my life, despise it with a scorching passion, or just entirely forget about it altogether. Conflicting emotions and any sort of middle ground or grey area regarding an … Read more

We Versus The Shark

Ruin Everything!
Hello Sir (2005)

Sharks are awesome. They have big teeth, they've been around since the dinosaurs, and they'll eat anything. Sharks are awesome. We Versus The Shark are pretty cool, too. Their music is razor-sharp and jagged, not unlike shark teeth. But they haven't been around quite as long, it seems. Ruin Everything! is their debut effort. (Pfft. Mick Jagger rocked out with … Read more

Kaada & Patton

Romances
Ipecac (2004)

By now everyone is familiar with "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," that fun movie trivia game that is ever-so-often used as a conversation stimulator. Well I plan to create a variation of the game for the music industry, "Six Degrees of Mike Patton." Why? Simple, Patton has ties with notable artists in nearly every genre of music: metal, hip hop, … Read more

Instilled

Unfinished Business
State of Mind (2004)

The city of Atlanta is known for its output of southern fried rap and hip hop MC's like Outkast, Ludacris, and Jermaine Dupri. But there is more to the city than just inane rhymes and crunk beats. Not unlike hip hop in the 80's, Instilled are ready to break out of the shadow of modern music and take the world … Read more

Food For Animals

Scavengers
Muckamuck (2004)

*Sound of Scavengers being slipped into a CD player* "Holy crap! What am I listening to?" "Is this Vast Aire fronting Wolf Eyes?" "Is this the sound of my imminent doom via an aural assault so intense my face is about to explode?" "Holy crap! What am I listening to?" All valiant guesses, friend of friends, but let me give … Read more

Legs Up / My War

Split
State of Mind (2004)

Split releases are a breed that can be difficult to review. Do I review each band's portion separately, or do I give the entire release one score? It's a tough call, but I think you have to treat each split album differently. This time around, mostly for Legs Up sake, I am going to review these two bands apart from … Read more

With Resistance / Twenty Inch Burial

Split
State of Mind (2004)

Though both bands play their own variations of metalcore, this split release is an unlikely partnering. While With Resistance hail from New Jersey, Twenty Inch Burial call Portugal home. Despite being separated by the entire Atlantic Ocean, these two compliment each other well. Each band contributes three songs to this split from State of Mind Recordings. With Resistance kicks things … Read more

Hoods vs. Freya

Split
Victory (2004)

East coast and west coast heavyweights collide on this split release from two under the radar acts in today's metal/hardcore scene. Hoods and Freya attempt to set themselves apart from the dullness that is plaguing the hardcore and underground metal scenes. Sacramento's Hoods has been striving for recognition for the past seven years; the majority of that time has been … Read more

On Fire

This Time it is Forever
Magic Bullet (2004)

With the crumbling of The Burning Paris, a void was left that needed to be filled. The Burning Paris' farewell of And By December You'll Know Where You're Heart Truly Lies was the masterpiece that everyone ignored. Only four songs, one being a Smiths' cover that managed to one up the original, the album was gut wrenching and utterly soothing … Read more

Multiple Authors

Life Long Tragedy

Destined for Anything
This Blessing, This Curse (2005)

When was the last time you left your car running while going inside your house to get a jacket from your room because it began raining? And while you were in your room you noticed a CD you thoroughly enjoyed? You began playing the CD and realized the next day that your car blew up and everything inside it was … Read more

Multiple Authors

Life Long Tragedy

Destined for Anything
This Blessing, This Curse (2005)

The way the underground music scene, namely hardcore, functions is vastly different from the days before the existence of the Internet. Gone are the days of having to attend shows to purchase records, shirts, and other merchandise. We now have online distros and record labels that exist only in theory. Gone are the days in which music was spread by … Read more

Hope of the States

The Lost Riots
Sony (2004)

On The Lost Riots, Hope of the States debuts with tragedy on their shoulders. In midst of recording the album, founding guitarist James Lawrence was found dead in the studio as a result of an apparent suicide. Do not, however, write this album off as merely pieces of suicide notes because of some lamenting lyrics like "I carry sadness on … Read more

Isis

Oceanic Remixes Volume IV
Robotic Empire (2004)

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 … Read more

Sonic Youth

Sonic Nurse
Geffen (2004)

Since June, I've been laboring over how to start off a review of Sonic Nurse. Now, it's December, and all I've come up with is a cliche about how I don't know what to say. Really, the only thing I can think to say is that Sonic Nurse is great. It's not flawless, but it is great. Style goes a … Read more

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)