Similar to how people said, “Alright, I guess we’re done with the novel now” after James Joyce’s Ulysses, I thought, “Alright, I guess we’re done with the singer-songwriter genre now” after Sun Kil Moon’s Benji, with its overwhelmingly detailed accounts of second cousins’ deaths and watching The Song Remains the Same. When I took a class on Ulysses (God, why did I do that??) the professor said that the best way to read the book is to lock yourself in a room with nothing but Guinness and read for 72 hours straight. Maybe the same could be said about listening to a lot of musicians (especially Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek), but if you’re already sitting in a room drinking Guinness, you might as well listen to Julien Baker. Her depressing debut will keep you company with deeply personal lyrics and moving instrumentation that continue to push the genre.And you’ll probably need something stronger than Guinness, because this album hits, in a way that’s incredible and terrible. I can already see it becoming like Alopecia, an album I adore but try to avoid because it makes me too damn depressed. It might be wrong to compare Baker - a 20-year-old … Read more
Back in early 2014 Elder Giants dropped like a bomb in the midst of the black metal scene. The German … Read more
Forming in Brooklyn in 1995 as a collective based around abstract sound, Pas Musique translates to “Not Music” in French, … Read more
Without doubt, one of my favorite musical discoveries of the past few years has been British singer-songwriter Craig Taylor-Broad. After … Read more
Choose a year to view reviews of albums released in that year.
749 reviews
42 reviews
25 reviews
300 reviews
4865 reviews
19 reviews
There's an untold amount of new bands just waiting to be discovered. Some will be discovered and just as quickly forgotten. Some will be discovered, appreciated for a brief time and then forgotten. The very lucky few will be discovered, loved and will continue to be loved by a few, who will spread the word to a few and, higher power be willing, the few will become many over a long and illustrious career.I have no idea what the future holds for Red Fang, but goddamn, they prick up these tired ears, and I hope they do so for many years to come. Heaven knows the biggest cliche in music reviewing is comparing bands to other bands, but truly, the only way to describe them is taking everything you love … Read more
There appears to be a quite mysterious aura surrounding the existence of PC Worship. The band itself has left a trail of albums and EPs, within just a small margin of time, navigating through the seas of alternative music. It is a really difficult task to give a description of PC Worship's music. On one hand it contains a lot … Read more
How much hatred can be produced within 48 hours? That is how long it took apocalyptic sludge outfit The Body and the main man of black metal sonic force Krieg, Neil Jameson, to record their collaboration. The Body are not new to the field of collaborative albums, which includes works with Braveyoung, Vampillia and Thou. However, there is something much … Read more
Murray/Smith King/Hanneman Tipton/Downing These are just a few of the lead guitar duos from Iron Maiden, Slayer and Judas Priest respectively, that dominated heavy metal music of the 1980s and beyond. Perhaps lesser known, but by no means lesser in all other areas is the guitar duo do Michael Denner and Hank Shermann from Mercyful Fate, the band whose music … Read more
Nice little split 7” here from Dead Tank that I’ve admittedly been sitting on way too long. Technically this is a 2014 release, although I don’t think it started hitting the shops until 2015. Rose Cross is really awesome. One of my favorite discoveries of this past year. They’ve been around for a while but I wasn’t acquainted with them … Read more
Back in 2010, Make Do and Mend were taking over top 10 lists with their debut, End Measured Mile. The band went on to shake things up with, Everything You Ever Loved. They slowed things down and focused on finding the right formula for their songs to burst and bloom. Their newest record, Don't Be Long, takes every chance it … Read more
I can remember very clearly when I first heard of Flotsam and Jetsam. As a young hesher growing up outside of Vancouver, Canada in 1986, some bands were on my radar and some were not. Flotsam and Jetsam were the latter. Until the end of that year, when I heard that their bassist, a certain Mr. Jason Newsted had left … Read more
I admit it: arguably the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures is Euro disco, a genre which found (sometimes quite dubiously-talented) European musicians exaggerating the basic tenets of '70s dance music to the point of near-absurdity. Hard as it is to resist the infectious but undeniably cheesy keyboard lines in many of the genre's songs though, it also would be difficult … Read more
In 2014 Mamiffer, the project of Faith Coloccia, released Statu Nascendi, which was described as a transitional album, leading to the next full-length the band would eventually release. Statu Nascendi definitely felt like an album of change, with Coloccia and collaborator Aaron Turner stepping further into the realms of minimalism and drone. It might still be a while until The … Read more
Side projects aren’t supposed to invite other band comparisons, they’re supposed to separate, to show artisticrange. Who are we kidding here? Basement Benders is a punk project out of members of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Hidden Spots, Future Virgins, and Black Rainbow—DIY bands who live the scene, meaning that being themselves and having fun with friends probably outweighs … Read more
In the time before Pinkish Black there was The Great Tyrant. The latest album of Pinkish Black came out a few days back, establishing them as one of the more interesting experimental acts out there, encompassing psychedelia, post-punk and new wave influences, a blackened perspective and even a doom approach. Their first, self-titled album was released through Handmade Birds, but … Read more
Dilly Dally is a four-piece rock band from Toronto who describes themselves as “#softgrunge” on their Facebook page - I'm not sure how serious it is, but it seems to be relatively accurate (and in a good way, believe it or not!) Their debut Sore gives me two things I’ve been looking for in modern-day rock: (1) more girl rock … Read more
Extinction A.D. rose like hellfire from the rubble of the, now listless, Long Island hardcore outfit This is Hell. In a rare move, the entire musical backing of This is Hell packed up and moved into the world of thrash, leaving the band’s lead vocalist in the dust. The result was Extinction A.D., an immaculate four-piece thrash metal juggernaut. The … Read more
Baldruin, the brainchild of Johannes Schebler, is wondering through the psychic domains of ambient music. Even though the project is relatively new, Schebler has put out a number of releases, various split albums and cassettes. However, Portal is the debut of Baldruin in the vinyl domain, released through Wounded Knife Records. What attracts Baldruin to the ambient domain so much … Read more
It’s getting tough to find new things to say about Night Birds. They’re as great as ever with third LP Mutiny at Muscle Beach, it’s just that the sound hasn’t changed all that dramatically from day one. Album #3 is supposed to be when they go all avant on us.Their career has filled out nicely, with textural differences and a … Read more
Looking for the SPB logo? You can download it in a range of styles and colours here:
Click anywhere outside this dialog to close it, or press escape.