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Rancid

Honor Is All We Know
Epitaph (2014)

For years I was the biggest Rancid fan. The first record I didn’t buy on its release date was B-Sides & C-Sides, and that’s because I already had the songs. I was an unapologetic completest. As the post-2000 records have been coming, I became an apologetic completest. I bought the double album version of Let the Dominoes Fall and spun … Read more

Video/DVD Review

Various Artists

Clockwork Orange County: The Rise of West Coast Punk Rock
MVD Visual (2014)

Detailing the history of southern California punk of the late 1970s and early ‘80s and in particular, the scene that revolved around the legendary Cuckoo’s Nest club which hosted live music shows, the 2012 documentary Clockwork Orange County: The Rise of West Coast Punk Rock! (which earlier had been released under the title of We Were Feared) covers a fascinating … Read more

Pharaoh

Negative Everything
A389 (2014)

Pharaoh’s debut full-length, Negative Everything, is an absolutely crushing release. The New Jersey three-piece play a blend of doom, sludge, hardcore, and crust that is generally slow, sometimes fast, never predictable, and always heavy. The record’s opening track, “Recease,” starts with a slow, chugging, unaccompanied guitar and effectively sets the pace for the record. Pharaoh has no need for frills, … Read more

Weeping Rat

Tar
Handmade Birds (2015)

Tar has been an insane surprise for me. Even though the album was released back in December, I did not notice Weeping Rat until Handmade Birds announced that they were going to release the album on vinyl with an additional five bonus tracks! Weeping Rat comes from Australia, and even though when you first hear their music you will probably … Read more

Foxygen

...And Starpower
Jagjaguwar (2014)

Since the first time I heard the dewy-eyed lyric, “I caught you sipping milkshakes in the parlor of the hotel,” I’ve been somewhat smitten with the psychedelic princes behind Foxygen’s screwball absurdum: moody-broody Jonathan Rado and Kevin Barnes incarnate, Sam France. Following the release of their hugely successful breakout album, 21st Century Ambassadors, it seems Rado and France decidedly opened … Read more

Foo Fighters

Sonic Highways
RCA (2014)

With their newest release, Sonic Highways, we aptly find Foo Fighters at an apparent crossroads and no longer content to write and record music in a traditional fashion. Sonic Highways is an album conceived and written as a companion piece to the HBO series of the same name, and directed by Dave Grohl himself. The concept of the show? Go … Read more

The Brokedowns

Life Is a Breeze
Red Scare (2014)

The Brokedowns have come a long way. That’s not to say they were torchbearers of suckitude earlier, but early reviews of the band were festivals of namedropping and comparisons to various Midwestern-tinged punk groups. On Life Is A Breeze, those RIYL days of yore can go straight into the Springfield tire fire: The Brokedowns have their own sound and it’s … Read more

The Dead Milkmen

Pretty Music for Pretty People
Quid Ergo (2014)

The Dead Milkmen were always an idea band. A band who sparkled or fizzled depending on that idea, with some songs brilliant and others that made you dream they’d invent a music format where you could skip to the next song with the simple push of a button. Some things change, others don’t.Pretty Music for Pretty People is the Dead … Read more

200 Words Or Less

DRLNG

Icarus EP
Silber (2014)

The tight and bright 2014 Icarus EP marks the debut of the indie pop quartet that originally recorded as Plumerai under their new name of DRLNG. Despite the group’s billing in some press materials as a shoegaze-inspired project, I noticed much more inspiration coming from the world of cheerful French pop music of the ‘60s, particularly in the almost birdlike … Read more

Hiss Tracts

Shortwave Nights
Constellation (2014)

It’s not so surprising that 2014’s Shortwave Nights, the debut album from Canadian duo Hiss Tracts, sounds similar not only to Godspeed You! Black Emperor music of the late ‘90s but also the two Set Fire to Flames albums: band member David Bryant collaborated on both those aforementioned groups while fellow Tracts member Kevin Doria made a name for himself … Read more

Bad Kisser

Bate Kush
Independent (2014)

Bate Kush, the second short release from a side-project of drone and ambient musician Foie Gras known as Bad Kisser, presents the listener with a conundrum. The EP has eight extremely noisy and lo-fi tracks, only two of which last more than ninety seconds. Honestly, the brevity of the songs here isn’t really an issue nor is the very rough … Read more

Various Artists

Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones/Witxes - Split
Denovali (2014)

When it comes to minimalistic ambient and dark jazz it does not get much better than these. Two great acts from France coexist within this split album. The Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones can be considered a legendary act, with a résumé of high quality albums such as their debut, Parole De Navare and their sophomore release Metamanoir. Witxes … Read more

Eureka California

Crunch
HHBTM Records (2014)

When I hear the phrase “indie rock,” I think of about 4-5 things: Pavement, The Pixies, maybe Weezer, glasses, skinny guys, and bizarre instrumentation or time signatures. Some of that (queue the ‘90s references there) is due to my age, as the former part of that description is a bit more rock oriented than the latter. That former part of … Read more

The Murder City Devils

The White Ghost Has Blood on Its Hands Again
Independent (2014)

Reunited bands have a tendency to disappoint. Maybe their hearts aren’t in it the second time around, maybe they’ve changed as artists and individuals, or maybe the expectations of a rabid fanbase are impossible to meet.Whatever the case, let’s put aside our memories of In Name and Blood, their last studio full-length which came out 14 years ago, and focus … Read more

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