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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)

Dean Ween Group

The Deaner Record
ATO (2016)

I’ve never met Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, the two-headed songwriting duo of Ween, but I have my own speculation about who contributes what based on their output in other projects. That guess is that Gener does the Pink Floyd styled space-prog-pop while Melchiondo, aka Dean Ween aka Deaner, brings on the grimy and oddball guitar rock.The Deaner Record only reinforces that notion. It’s got a strong similarity to Ween, far more so than Deaner’s side project Moistboyz, which goes after the heavy rock set. Here, it’s a mix of twangy country, goofball rock, and the downright weird. It’s sometimes guitar heavy and more rock oriented, but it will jump back and forth with country, boogie, and all kinds of other influences that tend to take hold for a whole genre-exploring song instead of going the schizophrenic route of throwing all the influences into a single track. As it jumps around stylistically, Dean’s voice keeps it together along with the underlying identity and choppy rock sound at its heart. The lyrics are, well, Deaner. “Gum” is about gum and candy. “Tammy” is about murder and infidelity. “Exercise Man” is about, you got it, a man who exercises excessively.Calling it rock … Read more

Street Sects

End Position
Flenser (2016)

Austin, Texas duo achieve an unholy alliance of industrial music and punk rock in their debut album, End Position. In … Read more

Jenny Hval

Blood Bitch
Sacred Bones (2016)

Jenny Hval has soared into the experimental scene since the release of Viscera, the first album under her own name. … Read more

Myrkur

Mausoleum
Relapse (2016)

The project of Amalie Bruun has stirred quite drastically the black metal scene, since the release of her debut, self-titled, … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Various Artists

Dead Bars/The Tim Version - split 7"
No Idea Records (2016)

A limited edition split of two not-super-active bands that are Fest staples for this writer, this EP from No Idea … Read more

Neurosis

Fires Within Fires
Neurot Recordings (2016)

The experimental and extreme music scenes today would be completely different, probably for the worse, if it was not for … Read more

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One from the archives

Thisquietarmy

Resurgence
Denovali (2012)

Existing purely on the periphery of my personal aural hemisphere due to their touring with and collaborating with several artists and bands that I avidly follow but never getting around to actually listening to their records, Thisquietarmy has eluded my attentions for far too long and Resurgence seemed like the perfect opportunity to check out this prolific artist; but maybe it is because of my assumptions of just who I have associated this act with, I was initially unprepared for but pleasantly surprised by the sounds found on this album. Resurgence certainly has great aspects and qualities that make an album a great listening experience like the thick atmospheres and glorious and lush drones, but what really draws me to this record is the way in which Thisquietarmy seems to … Read more

More album reviews

Low Culture

Places To Hide
Dirtnap (2016)

Screens, (2013) was damn near perfect. So what does Low Culture have in store with their second LP? It’s not disappointment, that’s for sure. Places to Hide continues their run of modern garage-punk that’s run through the melody filter and cleaned up of the fuzz and distortion, letting the elemental energy and punk tempo drive the songs while the vocals … Read more

Vow

Kind Eyes
The Native Sound (2016)

LA has been spoiling us lately: Bleached, Deap Valley and Warpaint are just a few of the bands that have been releasing stellar new material. These bands, like so many other musicians, use the fragments of past relationships as a springboard for putting chords and words on record. They all deliver their seething rebukes with the grittiness and determination necessary … Read more

Alcest

Kodama
Prophecy Productions (2016)

Kodama (loosely translating to “tree spirit” in Japanese) is a record that follows Alcest’s path of spirituality in music, and while Shelter (2014) was a lovely, warm, summery album, in retrospect it may not have been one of the best outings for the French duo. Kodama strips back to the basics of Alcest’s sound and lifts the mind into new … Read more

Bleached

Welcome the Worms
Dead Oceans (2016)

Fuelled by intense introspection and the adopting of a more polished sound, Welcome the Worms marries punk rock sensibilities with the radiant bubblegum pop of Southern California. Produced by Joe Chiccarelli (Morrissey, The Strokes, Minus The Bear), Bleached's second album is radio friendly rock with a serrated edge, channelling the likes of Black Flag alongside The Go-Gos. The album's title … Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Hussy

The Volar EP
Volar Records (2015)

The Hussy keeps changing on me. That’s cool, though. Bands are like babies: they grow and change and…eventually abandon you in the old folks’ home. Er, whatever. The point is that over the Wisconsin duo’s lifetime they’ve shifted from abrasive noisy garage-punk to more melodic but tonally challenging garage-punk, which comes across really well here, where they take those fuzzed … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Thisquietarmy

The New Testament
Discolexique (2016)

thisquietarmy is an experimental project helmed by Eric Quach from Montreal. His catalogue is extensive (you could spend hours on bandcamp) gut each release has a life of its own, and a story to tell. The New Testament is a commentary on the rise of the smartphone as a foundation for life, with the cover art simplifying that idea down … Read more

Wife

Standard Nature
Profound Lore (2016)

WIFE is the solo electronic project of James Kelly, who is probably best known as the mainman of (unfortunately disbanded) insane, post-black metal band Altar of Plagues. WIFE started out with the release of the Stoic EP, an excellent specimen of the experimental electronic path, which Kelly would follow on his debut full-length, What's Between, released through Tri Angle Records. … Read more

Spokenest

Gone, Gone, Gone
Drunken Sailor (2016)

I have a type, and it’s short and fast. I’m partial to it and probably less picky. It fills a need that my constantly fidgeting digits and bottomless coffee mug cannot. Besides, short and fast is just better. Duh.Spokenest are seemingly built on that same concept, playing finger-bleedingly fast guitar and drum in this husband-wife two-piece from California. On Gone, … Read more

Helen Money

Become Zero
Thrill Jockey (2016)

Alison Chesley (aka Helen Money) is mostly known for her excellent collaborations with a myriad of diverse artists, including Bob Mould, Mono, Russian Circles and Agalloch. A classical cellist herself she has become an experimental music savant, releasing great records on her own, with 2013's Arriving Angels standing out, as did her collaborative album with Jarboe. On her newest album, … Read more

Crobot

Welcome To Fat City
Wind-Up (2016)

I have to admit, I chose to review this album with little knowledge of the band, based solely on the strength of their single, “La Mano De Lucifer,” from their debut album, Something Supernatural. “La Mano De Lucifer” is one of my favorite songs of all time. Listening to it is a semi-religious experience for me, and I am uncomfortably … Read more

Mikey Erg

Tentative Decisions
Don Giovanni (2016)

It took all of three seconds into Tentative Decisions, about 10 seconds before his unmistakable voice, to ID the record as being made by Mikey Erg. Drummer/guitarist/vocalist in bands ranging including but definitely not limited to The Ergs!, The Dopamines, Worriers, The Slow Death, and so many more. Erg’s work has long been built on a pop-punk foundation, emotional indecision … Read more

Angel Olsen

My Woman
Jagjaguwar (2016)

Angel Olsen has been very active since the release of her debut cassette Strange Cacti, revealing a very promising work. Her dark indie folk/rock tone had a haunting effect, which peaked with Half Way Home and the excellent Burn Your Fire For No Witness. The delicate folk tones of Olsen were engulfed by a healthy dose of reverb, ample amount … Read more

All Your Sisters

Uncomfortable Skin
Flenser (2016)

Starting out as the solo project of Jordan Morrison, All Your Sisters turned into an intriguing duo with the addition of Mario Armando Ruiz on bass and synths. The band draws influence from mainly from the '80s new wave scene, paying tribute to the post-punk and noise rock styles of the era, but with an industrial edge and an ambient … Read more

Virus

Memento Collider
Karisma Records (2016)

Carl-Michael Eide (or Czarl) is a legendary figure of Norwegian black metal lore, with his emergence in the scene corresponding with some of its most important bands' first releases. He appeared playing drums in the first Satyricon demo, All Evil, and the first couple demos of Ulver, before initiating some projects of his own.Aura Noir and Inferno with their thrash … Read more

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