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Dikembe

Muck
Skeletal Lightning (2020)

Gainesville, FL’s Dikembe have been playing around the scene for quite a few years but I’ve never actually checked out their recorded material. I saw them back at Pre-Fest 6 and enjoyed it live but their brand of emo isn’t really my bag. It’s the kind of music that I find really impressive live but rarely moves me when listening … Read more

Too Many Voices

Catch Me if You Can
Division Street Records (2020)

A nice little seven song ep of mid-tempo and introspective punk rock for us dads in our late thirties. These guys seem to have been around for some time but are new acquintance for me. And a pleasant one too, when I want to listen to hardcore with some thought behind it but that isn’t full-blast in-your-face aggression.Don’t get me … Read more

The Lippies

Pop 'n' Lockdown EP
Red Scare Industries (2020)

I have to admit that I’ve heard a few songs by The Lippies in the past, but never sat down with their 2016 debut and absorbed it in any sense. This EP is kind of my introduction beyond a passing song here and there. And I enjoy it, though I doubt it’s the best first taste of the band given … Read more

Pitch & Bark

Two EPs: Nowhere Near Ohio & Father Hoxy
Bernlore Records (2020)

Elegant desert-shoe-gaze-rock from Santa Fe, New Mexico FFO Pigrow, Storming The Beaches With Logos In Hand and Father John Misty. The landscapes and artistry of Santa Fe, New Mexico comes through well on this older “post rock” cassette. The region’s Kokopelli imagery is a reminder to celebrate fertile land and the gift of life. Pitch & Bark seem to lock … Read more

Book Review

Eliot Borenstein

Pussy Riot – Speaking Punk to Power
Bloomsbury Academic (2020)

It would be appropriate to refer to Pussy Riot not only as revolutionary art collective, but a cultural phenomenon that has itself firmly established on international terrain. Having first risen to prominence via their anti-Putin protest performance in a cathedral in Moscow, there have been a myriad of misconceptions about the conglomerate.Speaking Punk to Power’s approach is informed by not … Read more

Night Jobs

The Shape of Bummers To Come
Independent (2020)

The world needs more 5-song EPs. Why? Because this is a record, not a single with a b-side. The Shape of Bummers To Come has a united vibe from start to finish and it gives a real feeling of seeing a band instead of feeling like an appetizer.Sticking with that theme a little bit, and perhaps because I miss live … Read more

Run The Jewels

RTJ4
Jewel Runners / BMG (2020)

It was a surprise to see Run The Jewels’ RTJ4 as Scene Point Blank’s top-billed record for all of 2020, but it demonstrates the widespread scope of its impact on many of our writers, myself included. The hip-hop duo of Killer Mike and El-P operates in their own stratum within mainstream rap, excelling far beyond their original underground roots. It’s … Read more

Fiona Apple

Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Epic (2020)

If there is one artist and one album that doesn't need my judgement of their art for validation (well, okay this applies to all artists), it's Fiona Apple and her new album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters. After 8 years, Apple is back with her most expressive and experimental album yet. "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" isn't just the title, it's the … Read more

Paysage d'Hiver

Im Wald
Kunsthall Produktionen (2020)

Im Wald begins on the slow, crunching footsteps of "Im Winterwald," while howling winds build a canopy of sound, offering a vision of how the succeeding time will unfold. That crackling, blanket of snow motif is one that will be familiar to anyone who has spent many a solitary evening with Paysage d'Hiver's - and it sets the tangible scene … Read more

Houseghost

Houseghost
Rad Girlfriend Records (2020)

2020 is the year of a lot of things -- and a lot of concept records.But not a lot of ghost-themed concept records.Houseghost is an Ohio trio that shares vocals between a sister-brother team. The songs are about, well, having a ghost in the house and all the hijinks that might involve. It’s a theme, but relatively loose and playful. … Read more

SpiritWorld

Pagan Rhythms
Independent (2020)

Remind me to kick myself for sleeping on this album, but in my defense, its description as a combination of hardcore and country presents two genres that don’t exactly have a Venn diagram of overlap. SpiritWorld is the solo project and brainchild of Stu Folsom, whose namesake Las Vegas hardcore band Folsom built the foundation of the LVHC scene in … Read more

Attic Salt

Get Wise
Jump Start (2020)

A big part of why I do this is to discover new music. Attic Salt are a new band to me, and I decided to pick up Get Wise after checking out the first couple singles.The band, based in Springfield, IL, play peppy pop-punk. While that subgenre seems to have a surprising amount of different meanings, this is the crisp, … Read more

Aesop Rock

Spirit World Field Guide
Rhymesayers (2020)

Spirit World Field Guide is Aesop Rock’s first full-length in a few years. He’s been busy in the meantime, working on Malibu Ken and other projects, but Spirit World Field Guide has been a slow-building project. And it’s just that: a project.At 21 tracks in total, this is a psychedelic hip-hop adventure that takes the listener to new lands. It’s … Read more

Nothing

The Great Dismal
Relapse (2020)

It’s strange, how the metal scene embraces certain genres as one of its own, enabling said genre to become “metal adjacent” and enjoy a somewhat wider audience in the long-term. Genres such as synthwave, shoegaze or dreampop, post-punk – all have a solid following from fans of much more extreme music and there’s surely an interesting study within that somewhere, … Read more

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