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King Khan & the Shrines

Idle No More
Merge (2013)

In King Khan & the Shrines, King Khan goes big band. Not in the jazz sense, but in a horn-laden variety a la Memphis rock with some James Brown thrown in for good measure. It’s leg-kicking, camelwalkin’ rock with horns that fill out the sound over a funky groove.While the energetic frontman has a knack for rock ’n’ roll, especially … Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Instigation

No Way Out EP
Independent (2014)

I feel like there are a million punk records named No Way Out, but I don’t really care because it’s one of those commonalities that makes punk music, well, punk. And staying within the vein of reiteration, there’s only so many ways to say that a band isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel; so I’ll just stick with that old … Read more

Full Of Hell

Rudiments Of Mutilation
A389 (2013)

While hardcore and the like have always valued the use of noise rarely has it ever been used in a combination of hardcore as a genre as well as the idea of noise as a genre unto itself. Noise as a genre is a very tough to pin down aesthetic in and of itself, just as hard would be to … Read more

Vaura

The Missing
Profound Lore (2013)

Comprised by members of great acts such as Kayo Dot, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts and While Heaven Wept, Vaura find themselves in a strange territory. Somewhere between post-punk, darkwave and black metal, they unleash their second full-length, entitled The Missing. And just about a year after their debut album, Selenelion. The title track is introducing the band in the most suitable manner. … Read more

Mind Spiders

Inhumanistic
Dirtnap (2013)

Maybe Minnesota is just a long way from Texas, but it seems that Mind Spiders are more of a studio band, releasing a record a year but only hitting my town once in the past three. Or maybe it’s just the 1000 miles in between. That’s really neither here nor there, though, as far as talking about the sound delivered … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Bazooka

Self Titled
Slovenly (2013)

Bazooka hail from Greece and their tumultuous current situation has left its mark on the sound of this band. Lo-fi, double drumming, weirdo psych-outs – it all adds up to an assured debut that buzzes with early 90s garage vibes and 70s punk as well as a nice line in indie melody. “Ravening Trip” sounds like it could have come … Read more

Tim Hecker

Virgins
Independent (2013)

Canadian sound artist Tim Hecker is no stranger to the more esoteric side of electronic composition. Continued experimentation with increasingly nuanced ambient soundscapes under said moniker for six full-length releases, as well as countless side appearances, has inevitably led to the creation of something undeniably unique. With the release of Virgins- now Hecker's seventh effort - the bohemian Montreal resident … Read more

Cloud

Comfort Songs
Audio Antihero (2013)

Cloud’s Comfort Songs is a collection of downbeat, gloomy works that create an atmosphere of utter desolation while somehow lifting the emotional aspect of the pieces beyond total sadness. There are lovely little hints of hope hidden in the depths of these songs and the young man behind it all, Tyler Taormina has, at heart, blurred the lines between sadness … Read more

Direct Hit!

Brainless God
Red Scare (2013)

Direct Hit! get filed in the Midwest pop-punk scene and, while they deviate throughout the course of Brainless God, that’s definitely a fair starting point. While there are some harder influences at play, the band’s core is in that school of Dear Landlord and The Dopamines. It’s melodic, catchy, and peppy. There’s some Screeching Weasel in there, but it’s more … Read more

Mark McCabe

A Good Way to Bury Bad News
Cats? Aye! Records (2014)

On one end of an (unscientific) scale of popular male singer-songwriters sits Ed Sheeran, perched comfortably at the top of the charts while still maintaining an air of authenticity, and at the other end is pop supremo Bruno Mars, master craftsman of insuppressible earworms. Somewhere between these two sits Mark McCabe's brand of insular emoting, not quite hooky enough to … Read more

The Ruins of Beverast

Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum – Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris)
Ván (2013)

On first listen of The Ruins of Beverast new record Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum – Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris) you pretty much fall in love. On repeated listens however, you find much to dislike about it. It’s too long, there’s too much happening, there’s too much weird stuff going on. While weirdo black … Read more

Krang

Broken Waves
Profane Existence (2013)

In what amounts as no surprise whatsoever, the Profane Existence Single Series just keeps on delivering the goods.Broken Waves is the sixth P.E.S.S. release now and comes via Midwestern eardrum assassins Krang.A few years ago I saw these guys at a sports bar in Wisconsin. At the start of their set the singer spewed something undecipherable about “ancient religions,” then … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Various Artists

Brokedowns / Vacation Bible School split
It's Alive (2013)

Taking Side A on the Elgin, IL focused 7” are The Brokedowns, who last released Species Bender in 2010. After a slew of splits in their career and a few full-lengths, they’ve really settled into a distinct style. It’s punk with a verse-chorus-verse kind of structure at its core, but one that they take loosely, preferring to eschew the bridge … Read more

Sutekh Hexen

Monument Of Decay
Black Horizons / Belaten / Merzbild (2013)

This is the type of release that you might find yourself anxiously waiting for if, one, you are a hopeless nerd for the band (in which case I am) or, two, you find elaborate and unique packaging to be completely in your wheelhouse (double check for me); so Monument Of Decay from Sutekh Hexen is a perfect confluence of these … Read more

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