Recent reviews

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)

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 only the core messages but investigates and contextualises their objectives. Doing that, Eliot Borenstein not only chronicles the milestones of their oeuvre but also sheds light on the realities behind the global hype that ensued.While the book is centred around Pussy Riot, it raises wider reaching questions about societal phenomena and how protest has evolved over the last couple of decades, both in terms of the reasons but also the deliberate staging of it. An interesting question that is shed light on is how protests changes if the protagonists become pop stars themselves and if celebrity status dilutes the agenda and reasons for why they started their actions in the first place. Given the aforementioned, the book should be interesting for anyone remotely interested in subcultures, art movements, politics, the dance with taboos and the interplay of it all.The takeaway … 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 … 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, … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read more

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One from the archives

Neal Eles

As Night Sinks
Independent (2006)

Neal Eles sounds like Jose Gonzales. It's that simple. Maybe Jose Gonzales sounds like Neal Eles, or maybe they both sound like someone else? Who knows? It's that gentle singer-songwriter formula all played on pianos and acoustic guitars with some melancholic vocals. Neal Eles chooses to beef up the archetype with drums and increased timbres, however, and even has a few upbeat, almost contented, numbers spliced through As Night Sinks. But at heart, it's the same basic thing. Opener and title track, "As Night Sinks" could easily find a home on Gonzales' Veneer album, such is the apparent, striking similarity in vocal styling. It's through the much more bubbly "I Go Underground" that a more distinctive sound comes to the fore, with heavy drum beats and an added charm from … Read more

More album reviews

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

Almøst Human

XS2XTC
Fastball Music (2019)

As most of you non-essential workers I have been working from home for what seems like forever now. What I see as one of the positive sides is that I get to decide what music to listen to (for those moments I am not in an online meeting that is). No discussions about what radio station to tune into. I … Read more

Pallbearer

Forgotten Days
Nuclear Blast (2020)

Pallbearer’s evolution from their early days as a dark, funeral doom leaning band into a prog-embracing emotive force is well documented in their back catalogue and as Forgotten Days expands the horizons of their sound, Pallbearer open up their hearts for all the world to see. This record is vulnerable and honest in its humanity and much like their previous … Read more

The Cavemen

Euthanise Me
Slovenly (2020)

The Cavemen are a garage band from New Zealand with a ton of releases to their name. You know the style: it’s abrasive, it’s risqué, and full o’ swagger. But it’s also catchy, highly energetic and upbeat -- perversely positive, if you will.This 4-song EP runs at about 10 minutes (to be generous) and delivers a wallop. Fittingly titled Euthanise … Read more

Dave Hause

Patty EP
Independent (2020)

I reviewed Hause’s Paddy EP before this. The two came out the same day and, as name implies, somewhat work together. The concept for each is similar: highlighting the work of some of his favorite songwriters, albeit from different directions.I’m also coming at the Patty EP from a new perspective. With Paddy I was well versed in Dillinger Four. This … Read more

Silent Era

Rotate the Mirror
Nervous Intent Records (2020)

What did I know about Silent Era coming into this review?Nothing.So I’m speaking based on first impressions and a lot of repeated listens instead of preconceived ideas from a previous release or live show. My general description of Rotate the Mirror is that the band plays driving DIY punk. It has influences from the genre’s origins in the ‘70s-early ‘80s … Read more

Uniform

Shame
Sacred Bones (2020)

Uniform’s music is aggressive; it’s harsh, noisy, power electronics with smatterings of industrial, metallic hardcore and rumbling chords and overseeing it all is Michael Berdan’s voice – a voice that has lived through more than most can ever imagine and one that underpins their fourth full-length, Shame, as its narrator.Shame is the study of the in between, the moments that … Read more

Dave Hause

Paddy EP
Independent (2020)

There’s a lot to unpack in this new Dave Hause EP, released in conjunction with the Patty EP. While there’s a lot in these five songs, it’s also somewhat on the surface: Hause has released two new covers EP paying tribute to songwriters he admires. Paddy contains five songs written by Patrick Costello aka Paddy of Dillinger Four. To paraphrase, … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Partial Traces

Can’t Come Down / Nights I Dream
Independent (2020)

This synth punk group hails from the headwaters of the Mississippi River. A mighty mass of water that connects Minnesota to Louisiana and sings all the way south. Water seemingly makes music as it flows and this super group (FFO: The Soviettes, Dear Landlord) is actively tapping into that source. Raw emotive vocals give me chills on the first spin. … Read more

Aidan Baker

An Instance of Rising/Liminoid
Gizeh (2020)

Aidan Baker’s experience as a musician encompasses solo work, collaborations, bands, remixes writing books of poetry, and with this release, composing pieces to be performed by orchestras. His career is defined by experimentation and a willingness to explore new and diverse avenues for his sounds and while he may be best known for his work with Nadja, he is also … Read more

Kid You Not

Thanks, I Hate It
Deep Elm Records/Bypolar Records (2020)

I was tempted to start this review with a “for fans of” reference, but that’s both lazy and mean. Kid You Not aren’t reinventing the punk rock wheel here but, c’mon -- if you’re listening to punk that’s not what you should expect in the first place. It’s a derivative style that’s more about energy, emotion and community than art.Based … Read more

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