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Needles//Pins

Needles//Pins
Dirt Cult (2021)

Needles//Pins have all the familiar elements of pop-structured punk. Yet, at the same time, it’s hard to distill their sound to a single scene or subgenre. It’s melodic; it’s gruff; it’s sing-along. But it’s not really angry, fist-in-the-air cynicism. There’s an uplifting vibe underneath the coarse offering that soars instead of cycles. Off the top of my head, there are … Read more

Monte Penumbra

As Blades in the Firmament
End All Life (2021)

Monte Penumbra’s obscure origin dates back to 2013. The project of one W.uR suddenly appeared in the underground black metal scene with a debut full-length in Heirloom of Sullen Fall. Released at the time through Deamon Worship Productions, a label with an excellent pedigree of extreme metal having released music from the likes of Devouring Star and Wormlust, Heirloom of … Read more

thisquietarmy X Away

The Singularity, Phase I
P572 (2020)

Imagine a highway, stripped of all life and containing their minute particles, each one full of information and colour, sound and breath. Imagine the highway reaching to the sky, its steps as notes and stretches of sound as the straights. thisquietarmy have created such an image in their collaboration with Voivoid’s Michel “Away” Langevin, their rhythms bringing soul and a … Read more

Senyawa

Alkisah
Phantom Limb (2021)

Indonesian duo Senyawa are experimentalists of the highest order on Alkisah, a record the dives head-first into the strange and unusual through improvisation with homemade instruments from Wukir Suryadi and a voice that ranges from the manic to the beautiful from Rully Shabara. Senyawa link the traditional to the modern as Alkisah progresses through structures that are formed as if … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Electric Chair

Social Capital
Iron Lung (2021)

This is short, fast, loud; brutal, punishing stuff. Ripping straight into it with “Bastard,” the first verse is spit-shouted in a way that, to normal people who don’t listen to this kind of thing all the time, will literally sound like he’s saying “blah blah blah, fuck shit.” It’s damn fast, and damn angry.But speed and intense drumming isn’t enough … Read more

Neighborhood Brats

Confines of Life
Dirt Cult (2021)

Neighborhood Brats play punk as you’d expect it to sound – regardless of year or era. It’s angry, aggressive and timeless. A review doesn’t require hyphens and subcategories. But while they’re easy to pin into a genre, they remain full of surprises, which is exceedingly rare. For every political lyric, fist punch in the air and shout-along moment, there’s a … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Van Dammes

Finally There EP
Rockstar Records (2021)

Finlands Van Dammes release their fifth EP with Finally There. This time it is kind of special. This EP celebrates the first time Finlands football team can join the European Championship. Congratulations with that achievement, Finland!I really do hope your team will fare better than Van Dammes on this EP. The three garage punk tracks lack ideas and hooks. I … Read more

Cluttered

Accidents EP
Bloated Kat Records (2021)

I’ve listened to a lot of Future Girls, Modern Cynics, and Weekend Dads the past couple of years. What does that have to do with Cluttered? Well, they share a key songwriting voice in Matty Grace, for starters. But Cluttered is a new band and a new direction, albeit more of a variation than a reinvention. Cluttered is Grace (vocals/guitar/bass), … Read more

Tomahawk

Tonic Immobility
Ipecac (2021)

It would be nice if art could exist in a vacuum. I’m certain that a person finding Tomahawk randomly on YouTube or Spotify or whatever would have far different opinions than somebody who has known of Mike Patton since Faith No More’s The Real Thing blew up, which is probably like fifty albums ago in the Patton discography. Personally, Tomahawk … Read more

Raging Nathans

Waste My Heart
Rad Girlfriend Records (2021)

It’s the pop-punk conundrum. Raging Nathans are a distinct band -- yet they aren’t. On first listen their sound is familiar. Take Lookout Records and Ramones-inspired sing-alongs, add skatepunk urgency, put it in a blender and set to crush. It’s not an even mix of all the ingredients, rather familiar fragments with a lot of unique twists and turns when … Read more

Shevils

Miracle Of The Sun
Independent (2021)

Once upon a time I picked an album to review based on its cover art. It was an album by a Norwegian band called Shevils. That artwork was completely bonkers with Cthulhu dressed as a cowboy riding a manta ray and much, much more. This was back in 2013. I liked that album so much it made my yearlist. In … Read more

Yuko Araki

End of Trilogy
Room40 (2021)

Sonic playground, or finding beauty in the cracks. It feels that this is an appropriate title for Yuko Araki’s new opus, End of Trilogy. But again, this is to be expected from an artist that has been so curious throughout their musical endeavours. From starting out as a pianist to becoming obsessed with the energy and weight of metal and … Read more

Satanic Planet

Satanic Planet
Three One G (2021)

Justin Pearson has a lot of irons in the hellfire. If he isn’t playing with any number of his musical projects - The Locust, Dead Cross, Planet B, Retox and others, he’s tirelessly working behind the scenes as founder of Three One G, an aggressively independent record label dedicated to bringing bands to the masses that would otherwise have fallen … Read more

Early Riser

Vocations
A-F (2021)

I was really into a few folk-bands for a while. But while I enjoy the lo-fi and personable tones, I find a lot of the vocals to be hit/miss. Which, to be honest, is in tune with my feelings on folk too. It’s a genre where voice matters a lot. Some work for me; some don’t. I like Defiance, Ohio … Read more

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