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Mamiffer

The Brilliant Tabernacle
Sige (2019)

Mamiffer was born in a field of darkness, a trajectory between the areas of dark ambient, downtempo and minimal music. The first days of Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner reveled in a drone aesthetic, vividly apparent in their self-titled debut and Mare Decendrii. But then something changed for Mamiffer. Following a series of fantastic collaborations with the likes of Circle, … Read more

Ceremony

In the Spirit World Now
Relapse (2019)

It’s fun to introduce old Ceremony to their new fans and hear comments like, “Wow, that guy must’ve worked out his anger issues”. It’s true that Ross Farrar’s lyrics have recently favored elegant introspection over spiteful threats to fight society with hate-packed fists, or to strangle it, or to curb stomp it, or to watch it burn to the fucking … Read more

Loud Love

Self Titled EP
White Russian Records (2019)

Loud Love is a Belgian five piece that released their debut EP on White Russian Records. Everyone in this record has past experience in other bands and you can hear that. If only because this sounds really tight and professional. Loud Love plays the kind of hardcore that reminds me of the melodic hardcore that Reflections Records released in the … Read more

Alcest

Spiritual Instinct
Nuclear Blast (2019)

Spirituality is one of the more personal topics that an artist can speak about within their music and it’s something that is coloured by experiences and by life as it happens around them. Where many find comfort, some find fear and where some find fear, many find comfort. For Alcest’s Neige (Stéphane Paut), that comfort comes from childhood experiences that … Read more

Foxhall Stacks

The Coming Collapse
Snappy Little Numbers Quality Audio Recordings (2019)

The best part of a super group is hearing talented musicians working in a comfortable space. A diligent review of Foxhall Stacks is obliged to mention Jawbox, Government Issue, Velocity Girl and Minor Threat, with whom this band shares members. I hear similarities to many of these groups because of the unmistakable players participating. The powerpop formula on this record … Read more

Full Sun

Thinkin’ About It
Lets Pretend (2019)

There are certain musical styles where I struggle as a reviewer to offer you my deep thoughts beyond yay or nay. Power-pop is definitely one of those areas, and that’s the label I’d slap on Full Sun. Thinkin’ About It is a 10-song blast of high energy, upbeat jams.Over the course of the record, every band member shines. The bass … Read more

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Ghosteen
Bad Seed LTD. (2019)

There’s nothing more personal than grief. It affects us all in different ways, but the one commonality often tends to be the insular. We retreat into ourselves, finding little comfort in the company of others. It’s selfish, in a way. But it’s also a necessary part of the grieving process.It’s this truism that makes Ghosteen such a remarkable and selfless … Read more

Dark Oz

Alligators
Independent (2018)

A few years removed from 2015's ¡Piratas!, a record I found singularly outstanding, Portland, Oregon band Dark Oz returned with a second EP entitled Alligators. Unsurprisingly given circumstances affecting the Dark Oz project around the time of Piratas' release, namely, the death of drummer Lorien Bourne (a.k.a. Styx) while on tour, Alligators has quite a different sound from that heard … Read more

200 Words Or Less

William DuVall

One Alone
DVL (2019)

In the 13 years that William DuVall has fronted Alice In Chains, sharing vocal duties with Jerry Cantrell he has left an indelible mark on the band’s music making AIC a band to still be reckoned with, even 35 years after their inception. Their newest album Rainier Fog being proof positive of the strength of that legacy.Throughout his career in … Read more

Uma Galera

Viva America
Independent (2019)

Every once in a while I enjoy reviewing something that is out of my comfort zone. Uma Galera is one of those bands. I selected their album for review based on the band photo (just look at them looking happy!) and the first fifteen seconds of “Wai Wai”.Uma Galera plays ska and reggae heavily infused with funk. And that’s where … Read more

Blut Aus Nord

Hallucinogen
Debemur Morti Productions (2019)

Having a twenty-five year long career is an achievement in itself, yet crafting works that can stand as a whole and as a part of each other is another level of talent that many try their hardest to reach, and many fail to achieve. France’s Blut Aus Nord find no problems with reinventing their sound and creating compositions that ring … Read more

Prince Daddy & The Hyena

Cosmic Thrill Seekers
Counter Intuitive Records (2019)

When pop punk and emo reached their commercial peaks in the mid 00’s, many believed the subgenres had lost their edges. Artists like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance were excommunicated by their peers for (allegedly) exploiting the cultures they came from. Under the surface though, young people were finding these major success stories to be entryways to a … Read more

Idle Hands

Mana
Eisenwald (2019)

The metal scene is one that moves in cycles, with sub-genres becoming the flavour of the month before the hot new thing moves in to take over the masses for a short time. Goth rock, however, always seems to stay the course. There’s something about the sounds, the feelings, the time period it evokes, and for those reasons the style … Read more

Petty Larcenists

Stolen Chords and Lifted Riffs
Rad Girlfriend Records (2019)

You’ve heard of no depression music? I’m coining a new term here: depression punk.Opening song “Loud and Ugly” might be a good description of vocalist Jesse Thorson’s approach in general. His songwriting has always been outspoken and focused on personal flaws, pointing to the uglier elements in life. I always referred to the Pretty Boy Thorson bands as essentially country … Read more

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