Evening Standards
World’s End
Lets Pretend (2019)
It’s a dramatic understatement to say that music has changed since I first discovered DIY in the 1990s. But in many ways, one of the first things I discovered about real people making music, is that contacting a label you like usually leads to good things. While you can sample music online nowadays and there are ample bot-driven “recommended if you like” autoplay options, I still find that many of the new bands I discover in 2019 are discovered simply by checking out the catalog of a reliable label.That’s what tuned me to Evening Standards, and their second release, World’s End. I honestly don’t know much more about the band than what I learned putting together SPB’s premiere of “Forever.” That’s somewhat intentional because I think the best way to review a record is talk about the music instead of reading what other people have said.In many ways this record is about dealing with and overcoming adversity, be it a death of a loved, a failed relationship or something else. It’s about pain, but it’s alternately peppy and positive, looking forward instead of looking back in sorrow. It’s really defined by its harmonies, especially the dual vocal harmonies that bring … Read more
Black Dots
Everything Has Gotta Change
Snappy Little Numbers / La Escalera Records (2019)
Some albums just hit you right away. I was vaguely aware of Black Dots – some friends saw them at … Read more
Aaron Rice
Neverfade/For Dusk
Elizabeth Label (2019)
Aaron Rice deftly wades through the debris of a break-up on his debut solo LP Neverfade/For Dusk, where his songs … Read more
Vånna Inget
Utopi
Gaphals Records (2019)
Vånna Inget is a band I almost forgot about. That’s what six year of absence can do. Things have not … Read more
We Never Learned To Live
The Sleepwalk Transmissions
Holy Roar Records (2019)
With the music world transferring more and more to a digital world I sometimes feel that the artwork that acompanies … Read more
The Dead Cvlt
The Cataclyst
PRSPCT Records (2019)
Rotterdam, Netherlands-based supergroup The Dead Cult has release their debut EP The Cataclyst on PRSPCT records. This looks to be … Read more
