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Chokecherry

The Future Was a Long Time Ago
Independent (2015)

Expect adjectives. Adjectives and hyphens. For, you see, Chokecherry are a punk band that doesn’t play punk songs. I guess folk-punk is the subgenre tag du jour, but that term steers in the wrong direction in many ways. As does country-punk, though it’s far more apt. Chokecherry play country songs run through a DIY punk filter, influenced by a lifestyle … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Cape Noire

Ad Nauseam EP
Independent (2014)

It's a blank, black slate. There is little information, and everything about Cape Noire is ambiguous. Live pictures are, fittingly, of a woman in a black cape, her face shielded from the glare of the lights. As far as anyone knows, in the absence of a back story, Cape Noire have appeared out of nowhere. Their Ad Nauseam EP is … Read more

Mastery

VALIS
Flenser (2015)

The origin of Mastery, the one man black metal project of Ephemeral Domignostika, is traced back in 2005. Through the years, Mastery have released five demos, a compilation of which is found in Barbaric Usurpation of the Hypereonic Black Metal Throne, and a couple of splits with Palace of Worms and Skullflower. So it has taken the act quite a … Read more

Viet Cong

Viet Cong
Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar (2015)

Canadian art rock band Women disbanded in 2012, and ex-members Matthew Flegel and Michael Wallace formed Viet Cong almost immediately afterwards. They released an EP, Cassette, in 2013, but this is the first LP we’ve seen from the band. The elephant-sized question in the room is: Is this album really a Viet Cong debut, or is it just another Women … Read more

Pyramids

A Northern Meadow
Profound Lore (2015)

Back in 2008, Pyramids were setting off with the release of their self-titled debut album. Blending together the different elements of shoe gaze, post-rock, black metal, dark ambient, drone and experimental their first album was nothing less than fascinating. Following the release of the album a variety of artists and bands, including James Plotkin, Colin Marston and Blut Aus Nord, … Read more

Jesse LeBourdais

Long Winter
My Fingers! My Brain! Records (2015)

Long Winter is the third proper full length from former Cambridge frontman Jesse LeBourdais and seems to be his fullest musical realization to date. While his previous solo releases have been folk-oriented acoustic endeavours,Long Winter utilizes a full band for the entire recording. The instrumentals on the album give it depth and dynamism without taking away from the rawness and … Read more

Father John Misty

I Love You, Honeybear
Sub Pop (2015)

I saw Father John Misty in concert about two years ago. Josh Tillman sauntered onto stage in an all-white suit—wild and mustachioed—advertising the caricature of a drug-addled, disillusioned troubadour that he had created for himself. He lit a cigarette almost immediately and somehow, in the carcinogenic chokehold, sang in a way that sent shudders through every vertebrate in Terminal 5. … Read more

The Dwarves

Gentleman Blag
Fat Wreck Chords (2015)

I know what you’re thinking? Why has it already been five months without a new Dwarves release? Never fear, the long-running goodtime smutlovers are back, this time with a 4-song EP on Fat Wreck Chords. Gentleman Blag pulls its title track from their latest, The Dwarves Invented Rock & Roll, as the band is prone to putting out already released … Read more

Filter Distortion

Transition
Independent (2015)

Yet another group that, like Trust, CHVRCHES, or any of the artists featured on the Neonautics compilation, is mining the world of ‘80s synth rock in search of inspiration, British four-piece Filter Distortion seem like an alternate version of Perturbator with vocals, replicating the vintage electro sound very accurately. Driven by bouncing synthesizer lines and punchy rhythms, the group’s songs … Read more

Black Rivers

Self Titled
Ignition Records (2015)

For the last few years any musical output with brothers Jez and Andy Williams at the helm has sounded otherworldly, like it's trying to capture some impossible-to-comprehend expanse that stretches beyond the atmosphere. As two-thirds of Mancunian outfit Doves, there was ready admittance between all three band members that when they were working on tracklists for their albums they would … Read more

Implodes

Reverser
Gilead Media (2015)

Implodes from Chicago is a very interesting act. Their debut album Black Earth which came out in 2011 was an unbelievable blend of noise, post rock and kraut rock which showed the band balancing all these different elements to find their unique sound. A couple of years afterwards this insane company was putting out their sophomore release, Recurring Dream, digging … Read more

Raised Fist

From the North
Epitaph (2015)

From The North is Raised Fist’s first release since 2009’s Veil of Ignorance, and is a continuation of the style and sound honed on that album. Veil of Ignorance was a ridiculously catchy album, and a repetitive guilty pleasure for this reviewer. The reason I could not fully get behind Veil of Ignorance, despite not being able to stop listening … Read more

The Mohrs

Kings of Nowhere
Light Organ Records (2015)

Before developing into a full-fledged band, The Mohrs started out as a writing project between lead singer Jackie Mohr and Canadian Rock legend Hawksley Workman. Mohr’s former outfit Living in Red caught the music industry’s attention after being featured on the CBC’s competition/reality television show Cover Me Canada, and while many aspiring musicians have lived and died on a TV … Read more

The Capitalist Kids

At A Loss
Toxic Pop (2014)

The sound comparisons are undeniable when it comes to talking about The Capitalist Kids and their affinity for 1980s-era Lookout Records pop-punk. But the Austin, TX band does have a key difference to be noted. For every saccharine love song, there is a counterpunch of social commentary—not mixed within that same sappy song, but in one of the follow-ups. For … Read more

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