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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)

Mamiffer

Statu Nascendi
Sige (2014)

Even though Mamiffer started off as a studio project of Faith Coloccia, throughout the years it has blossomed into something much more. The atmospheric experimental band of the former mastermind behind Everlovely Lightningheart, and Aaron Turner (also of Old Man Gloom and previously of ISIS) released a couple of full-lengths and a number of splits and collaborations with other amazing acts such as Merzbow, House of Low Culture,Pyramids, Locrian and Circle. Now with Statu Nascendi it feels like Mamiffer is further evolving, leaving behind their metal background and steering towards more experimental paths.What really fascinates me about Statu Nascendi though is its ambiance. There is something that I find quite soothing about how they explore the space and its soundscapes. The earth seems to be shifting and moving around you when “Caelestis Partus” is introduced, but the band somehow manages to retain a soothing sense of strange calm, making good use of a field recording in the very start of the track. There is a similar contrast in the closing track of the album, “Flower In the Field,” which I find dark and uplifting at the same time. Now that is something quite unique and extraordinary, and it is retained … Read more

Sunn O))) and Scott Walker

Soused
4AD (2014)

The moment I heard Scott Walker would be collaborating for a full album with Sunn O))), I assumed I was … Read more

FKA Twigs

LP1
Young Turks (2014)

Tahliah Barnett, who looks something of an art-school alien, first descended into the tellurian realm as a Grimes incarnate: girl … Read more

Modest Midget

Crysis
Multi-Polar Music (2014)

Following the group’s ambitious 2010 debut The Great Prophecy of a Small Man, Dutch group Modest Midget returns with 2014’s … Read more

Ourlives

Den Of Lions
Spartan Records (2014)

Somewhere among the snowy and otherworldly environs of Reykjavik, Jón Björn Árnason and Leifur Kristinsson created Ourlives. They've been together … Read more

The Tim Version

Ordinary Life
No Idea Records (2014)

The Tim Version’s set at Fest 12 was slower. The songs were drawn out—still loud, and angry—but they were a … Read more

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One from the archives

Restorations

LP2
Side One Dummy (2013)

Is classic rock punk now a genre? I don’t have a whole lot of background with Restorations, other than catching half a set at Fest 11 last year. The energy in the room was powerful and vocalist Jon Loudon had a distinct and memorable voice, of the raspy variety. What I get in LP2, my first recorded introduction to the band, comes as a surprise. The more punk atmosphere of the live set really doesn’t permeate this record, which is a lumbering, meticulous beast of a rock album. It may not have the solos and flair of so-called classic rock (the genre), but it has the ambition and huge ascetic that the style is known for. The tone of the record is one “where nobody knows your name,” to pull … Read more

More album reviews

Burial Hex

The Hierophant
Handmade Birds (2014)

Burial Hex, the project of multi-instrumentalist Clay Ruby has put out a plethora of releases, with their excellent debut, self-titled album and Book of Delusions really standing out. Now with his latest release, Ruby takes the project even further in terms of how dark his sound can get and how interestingly his music has evolved. Ruby is a great molder … Read more

Nazoranai

The Most Painful Times Happens Only Once Has It Arrived Today?
Editions Mego (2014)

The guys participating in Nazoranai, do not really need much of an introduction. Stephen O’Malley of drone doom overlords Sunn O))), Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi (who acts as the drummer in this case) and the maestro himself, Keiji Haino, collaborate to bring a terrorizing album of experimental free rock fury and improvisation. The free rock form of Nazoranai give a … Read more

Schammasch

Contradiction
Prosthetic (2014)

Existence is a series of challenges – ones that force you to adapt, to change and to create sides of yourself that you show to the world, ones that are more appealing and accepted, ones that help you feel more at ease and able to cope with the journey we call life. Those ideas are at the heart of Contradiction, … Read more

Dream Police

Hypnotized
Sacred Bones (2014)

The Men has been one of the great acts of the past decade (at least.) The Brooklyn based group has been able to put together indie rock, punk, noise and post hardcore into a sick mix, incorporating along the ways elements of psychedelia, country music, surf rock and Americana. What is even more impressive is that this band has been … Read more

Noises We Make When No One Is Around

the black box contained nothing but our deaths
Independent (2014)

Recorded under the name of the noises we make when no one is around (a name that aside from being wordy, seems quite appropriate), the music of Briton Craig Taylor-Broad reminds me not just slightly of the depressing folk-like music of American project Giles Corey. Though I could point out that Taylor-Broad’s material is rather downbeat however, I’d be more … Read more

The Copyrights

Report
Red Scare (2014)

I like most of my music to have a pop bent. Yes, I like it rough around the edges and only mildly repetitive, which often rules out some of the biggest names that fall under ye olde “pop-punk” flag. Ramonescore, for the most part, just doesn’t motivate me like the actual Ramones did.But every now and again, a truly poppy … Read more

Nothing

Guilty Of Everything
Relapse (2014)

it would be perfectly simple to couple Nothing into the wave of modern shoegaze and close the book. They carry certain trademarks that point towards them owing their guitar sound and then some to Slowdive. This would show an immense degree of short sightedness. While it is clear what band their pedal board choices could be attributed to Nothing have … Read more

Anatomy Of Habit

Ciphers + Axioms
Relapse (2014)

Put together great musicians from diverse backgrounds and you are bound to get something special. That is what happens with Anatomy of Habit and their debut album. With an impressing line up which includes guitarist Will Lindsay of Indian, drummer John McEntire of Tortoise, percussionist Theo Katsaounis of Joan of Arc, bassist Kenny Rasmussen (previously of Radar Eyes) and of … Read more

Terrence Hunnam

Via Negativa
Utech (2014)

Via Negativa marks the first solo album for Terrence Hunnam, visual artist and member of the incredible Locrian. The connection that Locrian have with ambient music is quite apparent in their music and that is the aspect that Hunnam is exploring in his solo attempt. Even though Via Negativa is not in the same style Locrian’s landmark albums Return to … Read more

Light Bearer

Silver Tongue
Halo of Flies (2013)

The hyper literate lads of Light Bearer have always kept a level of consistency within their records. whether through the content lyrically , or musically the band have always been nothing but themselves. So here the band return with their second official LP and delving deeper into stretched out structures. While the band have never written "short" songs on this … Read more

Neighborhood Brats

Recovery
Deranged (2014)

Reading Scene Point Blank can pay off. A year or so ago we streamed No Sun No Tan, which was the first I’d heard of LA’s Neighborhood Brats.And I dug it.September sees the release of Recovery, the band’s first proper LP, released on Deranged. It gets things off with the direct “Year of the Brat,” a song indicative of what … Read more

Svarta Stugan

Aspects of Our Future Selves
Independent (2014)

With their 2014 album Aspects of Our Future Selves, Swedish three piece Svarta Stugan (translated as “Black Cottage”) has come up with their third EP release in as many years. One might have thought given the post-rock labeling that this band would make the type of intricate and melodic, typically instrumental music that groups likeMogwai have perfected over the years, … Read more

Shallow Cuts

Storm Watch
No Idea Records (2014)

Shallow Cuts are a group of friends. Oh, they’re a group of musicians too. Some people call that a band. They’re a three piece, with members of Dan Padilla, Madison Bloodbath, and Dear Landlord/The Gateway District.Oftentimes saying a band features members of XYZ isn’t the greatest descriptor, more caught in comparison than in what the side project is doing. In … Read more

Keith Emerson and Greg Lake

Live at Manticore Hall
Manticore Records (2014)

After forming in 1970, the members of progressive rock group Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (i.e. keyboardist extraordinaire Keith Emerson, guitarist/bassist/vocalist Greg Lake, and drummer Carl Palmer, all highly experienced and extremely technically proficient players) crafted some incredibly influential music and perhaps were the only popular music group that performed classical music and classically-influenced pieces as part of their normal repertoire. … Read more

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