Recent reviews

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)

Dave Hause

Patty EP
Independent (2020)

I reviewed Hause’s Paddy EP before this. The two came out the same day and, as name implies, somewhat work together. The concept for each is similar: highlighting the work of some of his favorite songwriters, albeit from different directions.I’m also coming at the Patty EP from a new perspective. With Paddy I was well versed in Dillinger Four. This EP covers five tunes penned by Patty Griffin and I’m basically a newb on her catalog. So this isn’t a compare-and-contrast review of a covers record. It’s about how these renditions hit me.This EP is folksy and homespun. It’s personal and intimate. Both EPs focus on slice of life elements to tell the story, but these songs take a decidedly different angle with more poetic imagery and symbolism. It’s also easier to tie them back to the originals (I think) with subtle twang and the personal tone; Hause’s delivery is earnest, but at times you can tell that he’s singing someone else’s words, as in “The Long Ride Home.” The songs feature a working-class vibe, for sure, but instead of us vs. them stories, Patty explores the trials and tribulations that happen from 5-to-9, during those hours at home.Overall this … Read more

Silent Era

Rotate the Mirror
Nervous Intent Records (2020)

What did I know about Silent Era coming into this review?Nothing.So I’m speaking based on first impressions and a lot … Read more

Uniform

Shame
Sacred Bones (2020)

Uniform’s music is aggressive; it’s harsh, noisy, power electronics with smatterings of industrial, metallic hardcore and rumbling chords and overseeing … Read more

Dave Hause

Paddy EP
Independent (2020)

There’s a lot to unpack in this new Dave Hause EP, released in conjunction with the Patty EP. While there’s … Read more

Partial Traces

Can’t Come Down / Nights I Dream
Independent (2020)

This synth punk group hails from the headwaters of the Mississippi River. A mighty mass of water that connects Minnesota … Read more

Aidan Baker

An Instance of Rising/Liminoid
Gizeh (2020)

Aidan Baker’s experience as a musician encompasses solo work, collaborations, bands, remixes writing books of poetry, and with this release, … Read more

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One from the archives

Ash Borer

Ash Borer
Pesanta Urfolk (2011)

YES! So this is without a doubt one of the five black metal releases that I can point to as my answer to the question regarding what black metal records (modern era only as I refuse to get into the nascent progenitors here) I like most because in my black metal dabbling journey, this is one of the better examples of a flooded and often narrow minded kvlt of individuals who live, breath, and consume all things black metal. Ash Borer blow the proverbial doors off of a ton of records this year with an absolutely relentless album, and while it may only be three tracks, this self-titled effort is a heavy as all get out (literally, my vinyl copy is 200 gram super heavyweight vinyl) and packs so much … Read more

More album reviews

Kid You Not

Thanks, I Hate It
Deep Elm Records/Bypolar Records (2020)

I was tempted to start this review with a “for fans of” reference, but that’s both lazy and mean. Kid You Not aren’t reinventing the punk rock wheel here but, c’mon -- if you’re listening to punk that’s not what you should expect in the first place. It’s a derivative style that’s more about energy, emotion and community than art.Based … Read more

Supreme Commander

Tooth and Nail
Basement Records (2019)

Supreme Commander is a prototypical, overtly masculine, DC hardcore quartet. Points for extremely proficient galloping drums, and a Slayer-like metal break on “…Jonestown.” The singer mimics Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty, a 1980s DC hardcore group, past the point of remaining original. I love Dag Nasty’s 1986 album Can I Say as well, so all is soon forgiven. This well … Read more

Ronen Givony

Not for You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense
Bloomsbury Publishing (2020)

Almost three decades after Pearl Jam’s career-changing album Ten catapulted them from an independent act with a knack for channelling their alchemy in fusing their angst and alienation with a love for hard rock of the seventies, British independent music and punk rock to a veritable mainstream act. While some of their contemporaries have famously imploded or their careers taking … Read more

Huraña

Brujas, Cholas e Inventadas
Iron Lung (2020)

Brujas, Cholas e Inventadas is a fast-paced 7” with 7 songs in maybe 10 minutes. It’s concise but probably the right dose for this style of lo-fi punk by Huraña, a four-piece from Chiapas, Mexico.With Spanish lyrics and muddy production, the EP is all heart and energy. It’s fierce without being aggressive. It’s melodic without being singalong. It’s potent without … Read more

Enslaved

Utgard
Nuclear Blast (2020)

Experiencing a band grow and evolve is one of the most rewarding parts of being invested in music and for Enslaved, their fanbase has been given plenty of opportunities to be in awe of just how progressive and inventive the Norwegian's have been since their inception almost thirty years ago. The core of the band - Grutle Kjellson and Ivar … Read more

DFMK

DFMK
La Escalera Records/ A-F Records/Rad Girlfriend Records/Tiny Dragon Music (2020)

DFMK formed 10 years ago but didn’t release their first full-length until now. The band has been active –- with five EPs to their name and many, many live shows and tours –- but no long-players. At 15 tracks, DFMK shows they took this release seriously.I’m happy to say that their self-titled debut delivers. When a band has such an … Read more

Lenny Kravitz

Let Love Rule
Hachette Publishing (2020)

Sometimes one thinks you got what an artist is about, even if his oeuvre only was only on the periphery of your radar, then upon further inspection and stripping away the superficial mainstream appeal, it becomes apparent that there is much more to it than meets the eye, which prompts one to revisit the respective oeuvre. Case in point: Lenny … Read more

Sakevi Yokoyama

Oppressive liberation spirit Volume 1
Beast Arts (2020)

An essay I penned a couple of years ago will help to set the scene to describe the influence Sakevi Yokoyama and G.I.S.M. had on me as a juvenile delinquent.In essence, Sakevi Yokoyama’s artistic creations have always been absolutely brilliant, cryptic, majestic, ahead of its time and transcending the status quo by experimenting with new media and forms of expression. … Read more

Quintron and Miss Pussycat

Goblin Alert
Goner (2020)

Quintron & Miss Pussycat is a project like no other. They call it “Swamp-Tech,” from New Orleans, and it’s dance rock with otherworldly, high energy vibes and puppets. With 16 full-lengths, most of the instrumentation up ‘til now has been on organ and homemade synthesizer.It pretty much has to be heard to be understood, and perhaps seen to reach that … Read more

Mr. Bungle

The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny
Ipecac (2020)

When Mr. Bungle announced their first shows in nearly 20 years last August, fans worldwide rejoiced that their beloved Bungle had finally awoken after laying dormant for almost 20 years.But just like their 3 full-length albums, nothing is ever predictable, and details soon emerged that this would not be the funhouse Mr. Bungle of the self-titled album. Nor would it … Read more

Days N Daze

Show Me The Blueprint
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)

I love it when music takes me to places. In my mind there’s two ways a record can do that. First is the kind that is linked to certain events in my life. Sometimes as simple as a book I read at the time of listening. There are albums that transport me to the fantasy worlds I read about when … Read more

William Elliott Whitmore

I'm With You
Bloodshot (2020)

When William Elliott Whitmore signed to Bloodshot, I thought it was a natural fit. I like Whitmore; I like the label. Win/win. But I also wondered how an artist I think of as more on the folk/bluegrass side fit with a label I think of as Americana/alt-country. Similar, for sure, but not quite there. These are silly semantics to worry … Read more

Felt

Felt 4 U
Rhymesayers (2020)

I’ll admit I haven’t listened to much Atmosphere in recent years. But what I’ve heard of the new stuff, it’s more introspective and chill, as if Slug is content to ride in the passenger seat and look out the window instead of driving the car. It has a little less punch -– which is totally fine -– it’s his art … Read more

Andrew Paley

Scattered Light
Highwires (2020)

"The world's on fire and I don't feel a thing at all." Sung with a breezy nonchalance, Andrew Paley's prescient lyrics on "Caroline", including the admission "I've been raging at headlines", sound like they were written at the exact moment you're hearing them. On his second album Scattered Light, following 2016's Sirens, the Chicago-based musician looks to the future with … 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)