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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)

Soul She Said

As Templar Nites
Dim Mak (2006)

Putting their best foot forward from the off, Soul She Said's debut record opens with what is easily its strongest track, "Sunken City." Strongly influenced by My Bloody Valentine, early Primal Scream and probably a whole host of hallucinogens, it's the prefect balance to the Icarus Line's dark back alley, class A take on The Stooges. Soul She Said is in fact effectively the jam band side project of Joe Cardamone and Don Devore of the more famous Icarus Line. Recorded in the height of summer '05 in Australia and New Zealand, As Templar Nites, is fairly well removed from what the two men are more commonly known for. This is almost a dance record. "Floor on the Floor" is build around some The Rapture style throwback guitars but is unfortunately peppered with a few too many asinine dance commands that only James Brown and perhaps Dance Dance Revolution can get away with. "Riverboat" is a more drawn back, psychedelic offering before "Tastefaker", "Cause, I Can't Find a Place in Hell" and "Rub the Sleep Out" aim to get hips gyrating once again. The album ends with the more sedate stoner jam, "Oct 21", which reinforces the summer feel of … Read more

Yakuza

Samsara
Prosthetic (2006)

Chicago's Yakuza, despite two previous albums and a deal with Century Media, have not received much attention for their brand … Read more

Attitude

We All Go Down Together
1917 (2006)

Any band that has a song called "Gets **** Started" and has not one or two, but three pictures of … Read more

Landmine Marathon

Wounded
Level Plane (2006)

All the musically discontent who seek great screamo bands and other various awesome musical projects, surrender your soul to the … Read more

Landmine Marathon

Wounded
Level Plane (2006)

I'm from Arizona and I can attest that our local music scene sucks. There are occasionally a few decent bands … Read more

The Raconteurs

Broken Boy Soldiers
XL Recordings (2006)

A raconteur is defined as "one who tells stories and anecdotes with skill." A skillful storyteller draws in his audience … Read more

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One from the archives

Public Speaking

An Apple Lodged In My Back
Whited Sepulchre (2023)

It is always difficult to balance between creativity and immediacy. For Jason Anthony Harris, and his project Public Speaking, this is a much-welcomed challenge. Indeed, Harris’ new work An Apple Lodged In My Back does not shy away from its pop sensibilities. As “Swollen Feet” comes in, the soulful and intimate approach usually produced by mainstream artists comes through. It is catchy and easygoing, but soon enough everything gets inverted. The jazz injections become prominent, slowly navigating through laid-back motifs, as with “Sleepwalking” or reaching for frantic crescendos. In the same breath, Harris lays out a backdrop of organ music, creating a mesmerizing scenery. Without missing a beat, the record then turns to volatile paths, embracing an IDM mindset, upsetting the straight progression. This appreciation of the pop immediacy, but … Read more

More album reviews

Mass Movement of the Moth / The Catalyst

Two Thousand And Six Six Six
The Perpetual Motion Machine/Electric Human Project (2006)

Released by two stellar labels, Perpetual Motion Machine and Electric Human Project, Two Thousand and Six Six Six is a split between two up and coming Virginian bands, Northern Virginia's Mass Movement of the Moth and Richmond's The Catalyst. Two Thousand and Six Six Six is a very collective effort, with the bands switching from song to song instead of … Read more

My Dad Vs. Yours

After Winter Must Come Spring
Independent (2006)

I don't know when it happened, although I think it might have been around the time the movie Friday Night Lights came out and word got out that Explosions in the Sky was doing the soundtrack. That may have been the point but I'm not really sure. Anyways, at one time or another post-rock got popular. Now, after kids everywhere … Read more

Graf Orlock

Destination Time Yesterday
Level Plane (2006)

The connection between abrasive, warp speed music and film samples isn't new - for a whole wave of turn of the century hardcore bands, the familiar samples punctuating minute long tantrums were usually the most memorable part of the entire enterprise. But Graf Orlock takes this connection to an entirely new level. Named after the vampiric villain in Nosferatu, Graf … Read more

Scanners

Violence is Golden
Dim Mak (2006)

You, faithful SPB readers as I, listen and tend to prefer music that can best be described as "heavy". This is quite possibly the music you exclusively listen to. Perhaps you put on The Locust and Gorgoroth when you want to get pumped and juiced and rocked and whatever proactive analogy you can think of and then, when you're done, … Read more

Rhymefest

Blue Collar
J Records (2006)

Honestly, Blue Collar could have been one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. A few months ago, when he first caught my attention, around two-dozen Rhymefest songs were already circulating the Internet. More than half of these are undeniably some of the best mainstream hip-hop tracks in recent history. Rhymefest, who is already a Grammy winner as co-writer … Read more

Muse

Black Holes and Revelations
Warner Bros. (2006)

If you asked me six years ago to name a band that at this time would seem about to take over the world I really don't think Muse would have even been in my top 50 choices. Then they had just released the very Radiohead sounding Showbiz and seemed almost destined to spend their career being compared to the Oxford … Read more

Starkweather

Croatoan
Candlelight (2006)

The enigmatic metal behemoth that is Starkweather has been erratically dropping musical bombs sporadically for well over a decade. An uncompromising band of musicians that set out to artistically satisfy their own predilections rather than satisfy any kind of musical "market", Starkweather has been lauded in the underground metal and hardcore community for quite a long time. They have been … Read more

Outbreak

Failure
Bridge Nine (2006)

The first time I saw Outbreak was at the "last" Suicide File show at the ICC Church in Boston during the baseball playoffs of '03. I had no clue whom Outbreak was except the fact that they were from Maine of all places and the kids went absolutely ape shit for them. After that show they were quickly signed to … Read more

Weekend Nachos

Torture
Tooth Decay (2006)

Remember that kid in middle and high school you pushed around, called him a fag, and turned his great day to shit? Well, that kid rests in me. And that kid rests singer John Caution, and that kid means more to me than your insults ever will. The torturous years of withholding rage are now released and pressed on analog … Read more

Witch

Witch
Tee Pee (2006)

If you've seen An Inconvenient Truth, the summer's biggest blockbuster hit, you know shit is hitting the fan. Carbon dioxide is seeping out from every industrial pore and the long-term effects of this are outright frightening. In terms of the short term, Al Gore put a major emphasis on an increase of heavy music. Not that Black Sabbath was ever … Read more

Zao

The Fear is What Keeps Us Here
Ferret (2006)

The Fear is What Keeps Us Here is the umpteenth full-length from this chaotic and erratic off and on metalcore act. The fact that they are still producing albums boggles my mind. I have always considered this band to be a guilty pleasure (in part anyway). That last album The Funeral of God was an awful example of what they … Read more

Set Your Goals

Mutiny!
Eulogy (2006)

The debut full-length from Set Your Goals has been one of the most anticipated releases for myself and countless others for the year of 2006. It's been a long time coming since they first popped up on the hardcore/punk scene two years ago, though it seems like it has been so much longer. Well after a patient wait, which saw … Read more

The Drama Summer

Make a Move
Eulogy (2006)

For me, The Drama Summer was always one of those bands that I heard the name of every few months, but never sat down and listened to. In the oversaturated genre that is melodic rock, a band must really stand out to get heard and receive respect. Upon listening to The Drama Summer's debut EP on Eulogy Recordings, I can … Read more

United States

Divorce Songs
Iron Pier (2006)

United States are back, following up their Fuck It Tapes cassette release with an pseudo-urgent catcall of angular and somewhat disjointed full-length tunes on an album entitled Divorce Songs. The band is from Brooklyn and these songs, according to the one sheet, are about "surviving the city, struggling in the city and learning in the city." The lyrical content definitely … Read more

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

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