Review / 200 Words Or Less
Maps & Atlases
Lightlessness is Nothing New

Barsuk (2018) Brendan Hilliard

Maps & Atlases – Lightlessness is Nothing New cover artwork
Maps & Atlases – Lightlessness is Nothing New — Barsuk, 2018

Chicago natives Maps & Atlases first new release in six years shows them down a member and finding that their tightly constructed guitar and rhythm pieces turning up to something a little brighter and buoyant with synths taking more of a larger role in their sound. First single “Fall Apart” sounds just as slick and rubbery as singer/guitarist Dave Davison’s voice, while “Ringing Bell” has a mechanical riff with a punchy rhythm accompaniment that will sound great coming out of a car stereo. It’s an album where Maps & Atlases just *sounds* the biggest they’ve ever been. They’ve always had the chops. All that extra time produced something really great.

Maps & Atlases – Lightlessness is Nothing New cover artwork
Maps & Atlases – Lightlessness is Nothing New — Barsuk, 2018

Recently-posted album reviews

Action/Adventure

Ever After
Pure Noise (2025)

Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more

217

In Your Gaze
Time To Kill (2025)

If you didn’t know, hardcore and punk are alive and thriving in Italy. When I come across bands from there, their scene never ceases to amaze me. Italy gave us Raw Power and Negazione in the ’80s, Slander and Strength Approach in the 2010s. Now 217 picks up that lineage with their own mix of fire and reflection by keeping … Read more

Ugly Stick

Absinthe
Hovercraft Records (2025)

Contrary to what I said on Vh1’s Behind the Music, Tim from Hovercraft is one of my favourite human beings. I suppose in some ways that’s not saying much but Tim plays in one of my favourite bands, I’m a fan of his art and on top of those two things and running a label, his day job is saving … Read more