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Svalbard

It's Hard To Have Hope
Translation Loss (2018)

Some bands need a couple of albums to find their sound, their niche if you like. Other bands seem to have stumbled upon their sound from their very first rehearsal. Their career is not defined by a grand steps from album to album, but rather by refining their craft on each album. Small changes to better their music a little … Read more

Kaada

Closing Statements
Mirakel (2018)

Whimsical/ˈhwɪm·zɪ·kəl, ˈwɪm-/adjectiveUnusual and alluring. Using imagination in a playful manner.This is admittedly, not a word that would typically be used to describe an album written around final moments before death, but somehow, in the hands of John Erik Kaada, it becomes more apropos with each listen. Closing Statements is about those final words, breaths and thoughts but remarkably eschews the … Read more

Exitmusic

The Recognitions
Felte Records (2018)

What gathered my eyes about Exitmusic’s newest album The Recognitions was not any previous knowledge about the group, but a shared name of a favorite book by William Gaddis. Gaddis’s book borrows heavily from religious text, poetry, opera; even the name borrows from the Clementine Recognitions: a religiously gnostic narrative featuring the Apostle Peter told through one Clement.In the Clementine … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Marriage Material

Making the Worry Worth It
Dirt Cult (2018)

I like this Making the Worry Worth It record. That should be all a review needs, right? I say that in part because this 9-minute EP is all over the place, style-wise. Marriage Material is a new group with members of Summer Vacation, Spokenest, Pinned in Place, and God Equals Genocide. It has some similarities to those bands, but each … Read more

Father Murphy

Rising: A Requiem for Father Murphy
Avant! Records (2018)

The mysterious figure of Father Murphy appeared as a spectre in the early '00s. Formed by, as the band claims, its children Freddie Murphy and Chiara Lee, the Italy based band has created a mystique around their musical investigations. Through the years, the figure of Father Murphy has remained elusive. Through the different records and EPs various facades have been … Read more

Miracle

The Strife of Love in a Dream
Relapse (2018)

Shake off the trenchant hold Depeche Mode has on dark sounding synth pop and Miracle opens up like a blooming flower. Sure David Gahan delivers more punch in his voice, and sure there’s a lack of Martin Gore's vibrato chilled melodies— aside from genre conventions monolithically constructed by Depeche Mode, Miracle is a more serious, mystical and cinematic variation of … Read more

The Breeders

All Nerve
4AD (2018)

When the Deal sisters re-assembled the lineup from their seminal Last Splash album for a 20th anniversary tour in 2014, they didn’t know how it was going to go. But, the tour went off without a hitch and any ill-will that seemed to exist between the Deals, drummer Jim MacPerson and bassist Josephine Wiggs appeared to dissipate into the ether. … Read more

Kitten Forever

Semi-Permanent
Independent (2018)

Kitten Forever are staples of the Twin Cities DIY scene. They also tour nationally and have received a good share of recognition for their unique merger of party punk and vitriol. Overall, the three-piece plays fuzzy, stripped down ragers that alternate between screaming frustration and bopping good times. Semi-Permanent is their fourth full-length and the general tone over the 11-song … Read more

Lotus

The Road To Calvary
Shield Recordings/Assault Records (2017)

Deep inside Belgium lies Lotus, the Powerbar of Antwerp hardcore. In early December Lotus released their particular blend of pessimistic optimism, paradoxically digestible yet equally unsettling. Steering modern hardcore trends away from cheap nihilism, The Road to Calvary bites down a vicious chunk of hardcore spirit that raises my pulse, burning the excess fat that clogs my record shelf.Within Lotus’s … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Neighborhood Brats

Night Shift EP
Taken By Surprise (2018)

It was such a disappointment to see Neighborhood Brats go on hiatus in 2015. I really enjoyed all their output to that point (a couple of EP’s and one full length). Luckily for me the band see the error of their ways and decided to start anew. With a new drummer and bass-player that is. That has not influenced the … Read more

Cheap Tissue

Cheap Tissue
Lolipop Records (2018)

LA’s Cheap Tissue bill themselves as rough around the edges garage punk, namedropping melodic yet understated groups like Radioactivity. While the general sound isn’t too far off the mark, the band’s take on high energy garage-fueled punk is more brash and spit-shined, showing more in common with acts like The Hives and New York Dolls. There’s more flash and posturing … Read more

High Priests

Spinning
Triple Eye Industries (2018)

When I first saw High Priests 3 or 4 years ago, I would have labeled them as stoner punk. While their press photos certainly still hit on that imagery, I’m not so sure that Spinning matches that descriptor in any sense. As for additional semi-relevant background info, the band has some recognizable faces from the punk scene: members and ex-members … Read more

Madensuyu

Current
Unday Records (2018)

I’ll start with a request for the reader: think about genres and how difficult it truly is to define music. It’s hard to hold in your head. Take metal for example. It is obvious that Black Sabbath is metal and so is Isis, despite how different they are. It isn’t as obvious how one turned into the other gradually. The … Read more

Jack White

Boarding House Reach
Third Man (2018)

Jack White has always been his own man. With The White Stripes, he cultivated a strong persona - turning blues guitar on its side and reworking what would normally be tired rehashed riffs and making them into something new and shiny for impressionable young ears.His first two solo albums, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto continued this tradition, giving the millennials a fresh … Read more

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