Crybaby
Drag Me Under
Square of Opposition (2016)
Crybaby are one of those punk bands where you could fill a review with subgenre tags and namedrops and every review would pick a different one to highlight. There’s a lot of stylistic variance, a lot of influence, but it comes together as Crybaby instead of some hyphenated slurry of ‘90s and ’00s bands. Instead, I’ll just say it’s DIY punk. The vocals are scratchier than sing-song, the production is adequate but somewhat muddy, and the harmonies are imperfectly perfect.Crybaby takes some early soaring emo, mixes with pop-punk melody, and some hardcore crunch. In the end it’s melodic punk with a little more heart on its sleeve instead of the whoa-ohs. Matt’s coarse vocals come through atop driving chords that carry the sway of each song. Guitar pushes the songs forward, the lyrics pull, and the rhythm makes the variance in emotion, topic, and melody connect. Drag Me Under is cathartic through and through, more sing along let yourself go than woeful, downtrodden recklessness.It cracks and breaks where others would sulk and smash. The lead guitar in “Imperial Slug” hits with a groovy edge over some basic bass drums in a chantier changeup midway through but, suddenly, when the guitars … Read more
Russian Circles
Guidance
Sargent House (2016)
The constant presence of Russian Circles in the post-rock domain has raised them to a prestigious status, and rightfully so. … Read more
The Bedroom Witch
My Mother Grows Plants With Her Eyes
Independent (2016)
Nobody knows the void like a trans lady does. There is no dark night of the soul that can compare … Read more
Switchblade
Switchblade (2016)
Denovali (2016)
Originally formed back in the late '90s, through the years Switchblade have managed to attain a cult status. Flying a … Read more
