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The Dwarves

Gentleman Blag
Fat Wreck Chords (2015)

I know what you’re thinking? Why has it already been five months without a new Dwarves release? Never fear, the long-running goodtime smutlovers are back, this time with a 4-song EP on Fat Wreck Chords. Gentleman Blag pulls its title track from their latest, The Dwarves Invented Rock & Roll, as the band is prone to putting out already released … Read more

Filter Distortion

Transition
Independent (2015)

Yet another group that, like Trust, CHVRCHES, or any of the artists featured on the Neonautics compilation, is mining the world of ‘80s synth rock in search of inspiration, British four-piece Filter Distortion seem like an alternate version of Perturbator with vocals, replicating the vintage electro sound very accurately. Driven by bouncing synthesizer lines and punchy rhythms, the group’s songs … Read more

Black Rivers

Self Titled
Ignition Records (2015)

For the last few years any musical output with brothers Jez and Andy Williams at the helm has sounded otherworldly, like it's trying to capture some impossible-to-comprehend expanse that stretches beyond the atmosphere. As two-thirds of Mancunian outfit Doves, there was ready admittance between all three band members that when they were working on tracklists for their albums they would … Read more

Implodes

Reverser
Gilead Media (2015)

Implodes from Chicago is a very interesting act. Their debut album Black Earth which came out in 2011 was an unbelievable blend of noise, post rock and kraut rock which showed the band balancing all these different elements to find their unique sound. A couple of years afterwards this insane company was putting out their sophomore release, Recurring Dream, digging … Read more

Raised Fist

From the North
Epitaph (2015)

From The North is Raised Fist’s first release since 2009’s Veil of Ignorance, and is a continuation of the style and sound honed on that album. Veil of Ignorance was a ridiculously catchy album, and a repetitive guilty pleasure for this reviewer. The reason I could not fully get behind Veil of Ignorance, despite not being able to stop listening … Read more

The Mohrs

Kings of Nowhere
Light Organ Records (2015)

Before developing into a full-fledged band, The Mohrs started out as a writing project between lead singer Jackie Mohr and Canadian Rock legend Hawksley Workman. Mohr’s former outfit Living in Red caught the music industry’s attention after being featured on the CBC’s competition/reality television show Cover Me Canada, and while many aspiring musicians have lived and died on a TV … Read more

The Capitalist Kids

At A Loss
Toxic Pop (2014)

The sound comparisons are undeniable when it comes to talking about The Capitalist Kids and their affinity for 1980s-era Lookout Records pop-punk. But the Austin, TX band does have a key difference to be noted. For every saccharine love song, there is a counterpunch of social commentary—not mixed within that same sappy song, but in one of the follow-ups. For … Read more

Primitive Man

Home Is Where The Hatred Is
Relapse (2015)

When listening to the debut album of Primitive Man, Scorn, back in 2013, one thing became perfectly clear about them: they are fucking serious about their music. The blackened sludge band from Denver does not exhibit the signs of their friendlier counterparts within the subgenre. Their dystopic vision back in their independent first release was overwhelming and all-consuming, and it … Read more

Humans

Noontide
Hybridity Music (2015)

The duo that make up Vancouver-based synth poppers Humans met by chance while engaged in artistic endeavours outside of music. Robbie Slade is a former forest fire fighter who met visual artist and film maker Peter Ricq when he was helping a friend put on an art show, and in 2009 they began creating the electronic sound of Humans. With … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Post Pink

Too Pooped to Pip
Independent (2015)

Sounding like the result of glue-huffing fourteen-year-olds being let loose in a recording studio, Too Pooped to Pip, the 2015 demo from Baltimore, Maryland’s Post Pink, contains some of the most crude and snotty punk rock I’ve heard in quite some time. It may be surprising then that three of the group’s four members are female: listening to the singer … Read more

Various Artists

GC Records 15 Year Anniversary Comp: A Snapshot of the 2014 Las Vegas Music Scene
GC Records (2014)

GC Records 15 Year Anniversary Comp: A Snapshot of the 2014 Las Vegas Music Scene is two things: it’s homage to 15 years of success at GC Records and it’s a time capsule of a local music scene. Does it succeed on both ends? From a non-Vegas resident, it seems so. There is a variety of music included, largely in … Read more

Boduf Songs

Stench Of Exist
Flenser (2015)

Started as the acoustic project of musician Mat Sweet, Boduf Songs have been transforming throughout the years. The debut self-titled album of the band featured interesting acoustic compositions, recorded with minimal equipment in Sweet’s own room back in 2004, but soon enough bloomed into a darker, experimental act. Such tendencies were revealed in Lion Devours the Sun as the music … Read more

Gang Of Four

What Happens Next
Metropolis (2015)

I haven’t listened to Gang of Four in a long time, and I tend to stick to the classic Entertainment!, released in 1979, when I do. That’s not to talk about the band’s changes in 30 years, but to introduce that I’m not well versed on recent output. Obviously the band has changed since the early days, the most significant … Read more

Murder By Death

Big Dark Love
Bloodshot (2015)

Making a career in the arts is hard. The job description lands somewhere between self-expression and entertainment and there isn’t a sure fire way to know whether or not what you’re creating is going to be profitable until well after all the art is done and out in the world for public consumption. Complicating things further is the fact that … Read more

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