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Blessed

II (LP)
Coin Toss Records (2017)

It’s only been four months since I was struggling to determine what Blessed was doing on their first EP. I have come back to that record often. After four months it intrigues me as much as it did when I first heard it. Truth be told: I don’t have many records that can keep my attention that long. You can … Read more

Book Review

Cosey Fanni Tutti

Art Sex Music
Faber & Faber (2017)

Art Sex Music is more than a memoir. It is Cosey’s way of setting the record straight and clear up misconceptions about her and her roles in the creative projects she was a protagonist and often sidelined in. Cosey’s story is one of individuality, challenges, breaking down self-imposed and outer barriers, social norms and creating your own life, while dealing … Read more

Caves

Always Why
Specialist Subject Records / Dead Broke (2017)

Generally speaking, I’ve spent a lot of time the past half-decade (or maybe decade) listening to two subsets of DIY punk: gruff melodic three-chord arrangements, and pop-punk with soaring melodic layers. I won’t say I limit myself to that by a long shot, but it’s sort of what I gravitate toward. Caves are a UK band that fall somewhere on … Read more

Harvestman

Music For Megaliths
Neurot Recordings (2017)

Harvestman is Steve Von Till's musical bridge. Through his main band, Neurosis, he explores the experimental side of heavy music, while with his solo project, under his own name, he regresses back to the folk origin. Harvestman connects the two, firmly standing on folk ground, but also with an adventurous mindset, wondering into more diverse areas. Historically, Harvestman presented a … Read more

The Jesus And Mary Chain

Damage and Joy
ADA Records (2017)

Ever since The Jesus and Mary Chain came on the scene in the Mid-80’s with their tapestry of sound Psychocandy, and onto their 90’s fame recording with Hope Sandoval, the band has always reminded me of a couple of stoned uncles. You know, the ones your mom doesn’t think to highly of, but they are the coolest thing around because … Read more

MakeWar

Developing A Theory of Integrity
Red Scare Industries (2016)

One of the reasons I gravitate toward the pop-end of the punk spectrum is because it lacks pretention. The structures are straightforward and honest, often predictable to such a fault that it’s become cliché. That’s why an album like Developing A Theory of Integrity is so refreshing. The overall sound is gruff pop-punk with a verse-chorus-verse foundation and a lot … Read more

The Necks

Unfold
Ideologic Organ (2017)

There is always this feeling of being amid a quiet storm when one experiences an album by The Necks. The experimental jazz band from Australia has proven record after record how their long form compositions can invoke serenity and chaos at the same time. This free flowing quality by which the trio can unravel its music, highlights an eccentric craftsmanship, … Read more

TenHornedBeast

Death Has No Companion
Cold Spring (2017)

A master of dark ambient, Christopher Walton became first known through his time as one-half of Endvra. The duo released a series of excellent albums, with The Great God Pan standing out, infusing neo-classical perspectives and tribal rhythms into their dark ambient core. Since the end of Endvra, Walton has focused on his solo project TenHornedBeast, which takes a dystopian … Read more

The Dopamines

Tales of Interest
Rad Girlfriend Records (2017)

It’s been a while since Ohio’s The Dopamines released a new record –2012 by the looks of things, and I honestly missed that one, so my most recent reference is 2010’s Expect the Worst. I know they’ve become parents or grown up or something along those lines, leading to more time between records. Does that also bleed into their music … Read more

The Sword

Greetings From...
Razor & Tie (2017)

The Sword produce a very special kind of metal. It’s the kind of metal that hits hard as fuck, but with tremendous songwriting that brings with it the sludge from the underbelly of a Texas oil field. The Sword seem to toe that sweet spot between mindnumbing, scraping, smack with an open palm, head shot guitar and sweet 70s rock … Read more

Wear Your Wounds

WYW
Deathwish Inc. (2017)

Is the world filled with melancholy and sadness that gives way to brief moments of euphoric happiness or joy that carries people from peak to peak, or is that just those of us not blessed with “cheer-y” dispositions nor the ability to feign an air of contentedness or ease? Some people drown themselves in mood altering substances in the hopes … Read more

STNNNG

Veterans of Pleasure
Modern Radio (2017)

STNNNG have slowed down their output but it doesn’t seem that age is catching up to them. If anything, their anger seems more pronounced than ever. Pronounced “The Stunning,” the band plays aggressive and confrontational rock that punches, kicks and occasionally claws at the listener, with guitar barbs, drum-fronted jabs and bass-driven tumbling. It’s chaotically and meandering, yet artfully crafted … Read more

Teleplasmite

Frequency Is The New Ecstasy
House of Mythology (2017)

Another excellent release coming through the House of Mythology label, Teleplasmite is the brainchild of an unholy alliance between Mark O. Pillington, musician known from his work in Urthona and author publishing interesting countercultural and cryptic literature through Strange Attractor, and Michael J. York, expert in wind instruments and member/collaborator of the Guapo, Cyclobe, The Stargazer's Assistant and of course, … Read more

Frenzal Rhomb

Hi-Vis High-Tea
Fat Wreck Chords (2017)

It would be easy for the uninitiated to dismiss Frenzal Rhomb and throw them into the bucket of playful pop-punk epigones from Australia. While their sound does incorporate the key ingredients of what makes the likes of The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX and Blink 182 appealing and palatable, all of which they have toured with, it is the mélange of … Read more

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