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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)

Mishka Shubaly

Coward’s Path
In Music We Trust Records (2015)

If Nic Cage from Leaving Las Vegas had cut an album, it might sound something like Mishka Shubaly’s Coward’s Path. Dealing with such upbeat subjects as alcoholism, death, alcohol, loneliness, drugs, failure, and alcohol, these tunes were originally written in 2008 during a particularly out-of-control patch in the author’s life, and it doesn’t take a listener long to realize just how bad things were for Shubaly. Playing out over broke-down country instrumentation, Shubaly’s croaky vocals weave sad sack narratives, hanging over the music like a funereal veil. It’s hard to imagine these sorts of songs sung by anyone with a pleasant voice; that Shubaly’s is so imperfect actually benefits the material, with extremely rough production only adding to the devastating overall effect.A gentle backwoods strum propels opener “Pickup Lines” forward, though the burpy, bass-range vocals ensure that this would have a more specialized audience than the typical mainstream country tune. If the album could be called somewhat predictable in terms of how the songs are constructed and play out, it’s compelling and even frequently amusing in its lyrics and themes. Presumably directed at a lonely female occupying a seat at a dimly lit bar approaching closing time, there’s a playful … Read more

Underground Railroad To Candyland

The People Are Home
Recess (2015)

I wasn’t sure what to make of Underground Railroad to Candyland when I first saw them. They were a very … Read more

Prurient

Frozen Niagara Falls
Profound Lore (2015)

There is not much one can say about Prurient, the project of Dominick Fernow. Throughout the years Prurient have produced … Read more

Red Dons & TV Smith

A Vote For the Unknown
Deranged (2014)

Red Dons are a band I’ve meant to check out for some time. As a reviewer, perhaps I’m supposed to … Read more

Lightning Bolt

Fantasy Empire
Thrill Jockey (2015)

This noise rock duo has been terrifying the music scene for close to two decades now with their unconventional sound … Read more

Multiple Authors

Lightning Bolt

Fantasy Empire
Thrill Jockey (2015)

Though much attention relating to 2015’s Austin Psych Fest (a.k.a. Levitation) was directed towards the reunion of the legendary 13th … Read more

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One from the archives

Tymon Dogg

Made Of Light
Thin Man Music (2015)

Sometimes you follow a musician for years, only to learn something that should have stood out at the start. Today’s lesson is Tymon Dogg, related subject: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros and The Clash. Apparently Dogg has played frequently with The Mescaleros and been a songwriting partner to Strummer, even appearing on The Clash’s “Lose My Skin” (Sandanista!).With many namedrops, it should start and stop there, getting the background out of the way before talking new material. But with Dogg’s Made of Light it carries on. There’s a discernable comparison between Strummer and Dogg. Both favor a dramatic delivery and heavy-handed lyrics that hit a range of emotions from political anger to desolate resignation. It’s heartfelt emotional stuff and it’s heart-on-sleeve authentic. The catch is that Strummer mastered sequencing and … Read more

More album reviews

Blind Idiot God

Before Ever After
Indivisible (2015)

Coming back from an extended break seems to be always tricky, for any band. Back in the late '80s and early '90s, Blind Idiot God were releasing great record after great record. Their refreshing style and no boundaries approach to mixing different genres under their unique kaleidoscope resulted in three excellent albums. The band officially went in hiatus in 1996 … Read more

Priscilla Ford

The Blackout Club
Basement (2015)

Priscilla Ford's debut EP, The Blackout Club, is a raging punk rock'n'roll album. It careens with a controlled abandon, much like the Reno, Nevada murder spree after which the band is named. The band is composed of veteran musicians from a variety of punk rock subgenres, but The Blackout Club is a concise and directed effort. The band appears to … Read more

Birthday Suits

Adult Party: Spin the Bottle
Recess (2015)

Birthday Suits always surprise me on record. Live, it’s fierce and reckless; sweaty mayhem and cathartic rock ‘n’ roll. On record, it’s more calculated, with the vocals coming stronger in place of the guitar/drum overload that powers the live show.The Minneapolis two-piece play something in the vein of garage rock, but with a ballsy and crafty “serious” musicianship that’s as … Read more

Hannahband

Retirement
Art As Catharsis (2015)

Calling it folk-punk isn’t right, but I’m not sure I agree with the post-punk tag slapped on their onesheet either. Hannahband, from Sydney, Australia, have a gritty garage element, making them fall somewhere in between folk-punk minimalism and Murder City Devils coarseness, all while wallowing in lo-fi production that makes the songs even harsher (and more beautiful).Those styles pull together … Read more

Andrew Hock

Crystalline Privative Opulence
Union Finale (2015)

Andrew Hock, of Psalm Zero and, until recently, incredible black metal outfit Castevet, has always seemed a very interesting case, as the two before mentioned bands would let on. And the same interest would be transferred over to the debut album that Hock is putting out under his own name, Crystalline Privative Opulence. With an extended pallet of instruments, including … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Barcelona

Extremo Nihilismo En Barcelona
La Vida Es Un Mus Discos Punk (2015)

Similar to how Sorry State, Vinyl Rites, Lengua Armada, or Katorga Works do here in the US, Hackney, London-based record label La Vida Es Un Mus (subtitled Discos Punk) tend to work with bands that challenge the constraints of traditional hardcore and punk, which in turn sets them apart from the masses. The latest in a long line that includes … Read more

Timeshares

Already Dead
Side One Dummy (2015)

This isn’t what I expected—there’s way more country punk twang than when I caught a short pre-Fest show from Timeshares last year. On Already Dead, the band takes that familiar Fest beard punk thing and mix it up. Using a core of gruff pop punk, they’ve tuned the guitars more clearly and chosen licks over chord progressions for their bridges, … Read more

Minsk

The Crash & The Draw
Relapse (2015)

I was quite surprised when I heard that Minsk were going to release a follow-up full-length to their previous album, With Echoes In The Movement of Stone. Following that album, the band participated in the Hawkwind Triad split alongside US Christmas and Harvestman, before going silent for the next six years. They even officially disbanded in 2011, leaving quite a … Read more

Frog

Kind Of Blah
Audio Antihero (2015)

Frog’s second LP Kind of Blah is one that swings from highs to lows, from poppy pep to slowed down sadness and it encompasses every other emotion within it’s short running time that any of us would know. Opener “All Dogs Go To Heaven” is a guitar led-piece that showcases the duo’s bittersweet indie pop and sets out their intent … Read more

Little Sister

Split Up
Independent (2015)

Little Sister is an East Bay post-punk group with a passionate and well-deserved local following. The trio consists of Monbon and Erica, who both pull double duty on bass, guitar, and vocals, and Nada responsible, according to the album credits, for “drums, perc, beard and sunglasses.” Blues, soul, garage rock, early punk and, unless I’m mistaken, even salsa are among … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Dark Ages

Vapor
Sorry State (2015)

“You have been wasted. You have been taken for a ride.” That line from the title track of the new Dark Ages LP accurately sums up the feeling you get listening to it. Which is to say it’s difficult to compartmentalize exactly what’s going on here. (Not surprisingly there’s a number of bands named Dark Ages. We’re talking about the … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Powernap

Oreosmith EP
Asian Man (2015)

Oreosmith, whatever the hell that title means, is the first release from Powernap and it’s familiar and powerful, leaving curious signs of where the band may develop. The general sound is gruff, mid-tempo punk a la Jawbreaker or The Broadways.The EP is 6 songs long, clocking at 18 minutes and it keeps a defined sound throughout. The mid-tempo numbers like … Read more

Faith No More

Sol Invictus
Reclamation Recordings/Ipecac (2015)

June, 1997.Hanson's Mmmbop was at the top of the charts. Hype was building for James Cameron's soon-to-be-released new film Titanic. Layne Staley and Princess Diana had yet to shuffle off this mortal coil. And Faith No More's Album of the Year hit the shelves - what was to be the last album the band released before calling it quits the … Read more

Arcturus

Arcturian
Prophecy Productions (2015)

The fact that both the new Arcturus and the new Dodheimsgard albums are being released in the same year seems insane for me. On one hand Dodheimsgard had to take eight years in order to put out there latest, magnificent album A Umbra Omega, and just a few months later Arcturus would be releasing Arcturian, their first album in a … Read more

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