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The Sensibles

A Bunch Of Animals
Rijapov (2013)

The opening track to The Sensibles’s first full-length album is entitled “Happy,” which may be the most self-descriptive name I’ve seen in ages. I was hooked immediately—not just from the first song, but from the first few exuberant drum beats. The Italian pop punk/punk rock band is still relatively fresh on the scene, having only released one 4 track EP … Read more

fragment.

Temporary Enlightenment
OPN (2013)

Immediately strikingly to the heart with the opening notes of “Cast Out” as if awakening people from sleep with this as an early morning clarion call, Fragment. effectively kicks off Temporary Enlightenment (the fourth proper full length album from this one man project) and launches what is arguably the best batch of music from this project; the overall sound on … Read more

Old Funeral

Our Condolences (1988-1992)
Soulseller (2013)

The history of Black Metal has been told ad infinitum. We know that groups like Venom, Posessed, Mercyful Fate and Sarcofago planted the seeds that stretched like a dark vine across Europe and taking hold in Norway. By now, we all know the story of groups like Darkthrone and Mayhem, but lesser known is the story of Old Funeral.The band … Read more

Audacity

Butter Knife
Suicide Squeeze (2013)

It didn’t take long for Mellow Cruisers to appeal. Butter Knives, the follow-up from California’s Audacity, though, seems to be more of a grower.A band quick-summed-up as power-pop (though that description lacks), the new record seems to miss that one-two punch, earworm aspect. Instead, the songs are a bit more complex, less predictable, and more varied from starter “Couldn’t Hold … Read more

Xiu Xiu

Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Polyvinyl (2014)

Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoo shoo”) is a critically-acclaimed, Los Angeles-based, avant-garde duo. It’s comprised of founder James Stewart and Angela Seo, a member since 2009.Their melancholy, Bowie Low-esque sound can be heard in the music of contemporaries like Majical Cloudz and Grimes.Angel Guts: Red Classroom, Xiu Xiu’s latest release from Polyvinyl Records, makes up for Nina, their horrid, cringeworthy Nina … Read more

Moistboyz

V
Neverman Records (2013)

Moistboyz aren’t a particularly active group. The band, based around the duo of vocalist Guy Heller and multi-instrumentalist Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween), has only released five items in about twenty years. V is the third full-length in that bunch and, while the artists have aged, it’s clear they haven’t matured.The band plays an eclectic hard rock, with Heller’s sing-shout … Read more

Sunn 0)))

La Reh 012
Southern Lord (2014)

Long and arduous journeys can at times be a right of passage or ritual of progression or even metaphors for life in general, and the idea that this release marks my listening to SunnO))) for a mind-blowing almost 15 years (I bought The Grimm Robe demo from Aaron Turner at the Hydra Head table when day 1 of Hellfest 2000 … Read more

Various Artists

I Need You Bad
Polyvinyl (2013)

  Due to its liberal usage around ye olden music-critiquing biz, “garage rock” is one of those dicey descriptors that, should you choose to follow it, can lead you down a multitude of avenues. It can walk you knowingly into a crotch punching at the hands of the Candy Snatchers, leave you pleasantly surprised and smiling thanks to the likes of … Read more

200 Words Or Less

La+ch and Dustbuster

Hunter
Independent (2014)

It’s safe to say that everyone’s already getting a head start on choosing the song that will be most played this summer. Over the past few months, La+ch and Dustbuster of the band Coleman Hell have become increasingly popular on Soundcloud for their remixes of songs by artists like Katy Perry and Rihanna. But this time around, the duo has … Read more

Indian

From All Purity
Relapse (2014)

There's a song on Indian's From All Purity titled "Directional" and given the Chicago-based band's implementation of new ideas such as fuzzed out guitars and meat cleaver sludged riffs, it'd be easy to make a joke about the group going in new directions. However, the phrase "new direction" implies a sort of willingness. From All Purity, the group's fifth full-length … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Much Worse

Macrocosm is a Wash
Forward Records (2013)

Following a couple of excellent 7”s, the confusingly-titled Macrocosm is a Wash is the first full-length LP from this Minneapolis foursome. Spun from the same Mecca-like breeding ground as Wild Child, Total Trash, Varix, and countless others, Much Worse play a non-stop, angry, and poignant style of hardcore punk. While there is an air of reckless abandon in their approach, … Read more

The Dwarves

Younger & Even Better Looking
Recess (2013)

Age makes fools of us all. First it was In Utero releasing all of my hard-found rarities on a single disc, and now comes The Dwarves Are Younger & Even Better Looking a new double-gatefold LP package that combines the group’s 1997 record Young & Good Looking (record one) with Blag Dahlia’s solo EP, some b-sides from the era, and … Read more

Tomorrow We Sail

For Those Who Caught The Sun In Flight
Gizeh (2014)

Tomorrow We Sail is the perfect title for a band that seemed to have taken me on a journey. From the moment I turned on song one, “The Well & the Tide” I felt like I had been swept on an adventurous trek through mountain and sea. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in places I’d have seen on … Read more

Les Yeux De La Tête

Mosca Violenta
Head Records (2013)

Jazz metal three-piece Les Yeux De La Tête’s (translation: The Eyes Of The Head) second full-length release, Mosca Violenta, is a vicious 11-song steamroller of sludgy riffs, raucous drum patterns, and avant-garde saxophone lines. For a guitarless, sparse album, MV is surprisingly theatrical and fascinating.The trio’s doom jazz masterpiece opens with the demonic ska song “Fubar.” “Soutane Of Swing” is … Read more

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