The Right Here
Northern Town
Rum Bar Records (2021)
Northern Town is a fitting title for this album. It feels like winter: cold, lonely, and daunting. It’s the third record from The Right Here, based in Minneapolis, MN, one of the northernmost cities in the continental US. The band play alt-country with punk undertones. The songs are a little more expansive than your standard punk thang, with more lament, … Read more
The Riot Before
Fists Buried in Pockets
Say-10 (2008)
The Riot Before hail from Richmond but look and sound like a Gainesville band. Musically, I'd lump them in with American Steel and old Against Me!. There is a folk undertone, but the music is electric guitar-fueled punk rock with strong, emotive vocals. The band quickly establishes their sound with the titular track "Fists Buried in Pockets," a minimalist song … Read more
The Riot Before
Rebellion
Paper + Plastick (2010)
Early releases from The Riot Before have had an undeniable feeling that the band was primarily Brett Adams’ project. Although they have a handful of releases under their belt, the band just formed in 2006, and Rebellion shows them still growing beyond Adams’ dominant shouts and the sonic contrasts that define his songwriting. On their latest release there is a … Read more
The Rise
Reclamation Process
Law of Inertia (2004)
Someone call the RIAA because I stole an album. That's right, I downloaded the entire Reclamation Process album using a downloading program that shall rename nameless. So how long before I can expect a knock at my door from men in black? Who cares? Let them knock. Why am I being so bold about illegally downloading music? Perhaps it is … Read more
The River Bends
And Flows into the Sea
Tooth & Nail (2004)
Denison Witmer-say the name with me- Den-i-son Wit-mer. We are doing this exercise for two reasons, because a) his name is kinda hard to pronounce and b) I don't want you to forget it. Now I suppose you want to know who this guy is and what does he have to do with The River Bends? Well, please allow me … Read more
The Riverboat Gamblers
Smash/Grab EP
Paper + Plastick (2011)
When The Riverboat Gamblers released their last full length, Underneath the Owl, many fans were put off by the cleaner production and poppier approach. Their newest EP, Smash/Grab, was a return to the raw sound and more aggressive song writing, but offers something different by blending in a bit of Garage-Rock.The first of the 4-song EP is arguably the weakest … Read more
The Riverboat Gamblers
The Wolf You Feed
Volcom (2012)
The Riverboat Gamblers are an established band. So much so that it surprised me to see that The Wolf You Feed is just their fifth full-length, following last year’s Smash/Grab EP. With that history, they’ve jumped styles and labels, going unfettered rock to slick anthems, and successfully straddling the lines between punk, hard rock, and garage. The Wolf You Feed … Read more
The Roots
Undun
Def Jam (2011)
I’m conflicted when it comes to “conscious rap.” On the one hand, I hate the label and attempt and creating a subgenre for hip-hop that doesn’t adhere to the conventions of mainstream rap. To me, it’s still rap and it makes little sense to marginalize those artists who seem to more highly value originality over the fast-food punchlines which dominate … Read more
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Plays Prog Rock Classics
Cleopatra (2015)
At a point in the late '90s and early-to-mid 2000s, it seemed like every major artist had at least one tribute album out there. Invariably produced by one cheap-jack record label or another, these albums highlighted a dozen or so no-name musicians playing through (and quite possibly butchering) various well-known songs and were often framed around a particular type of … 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
The Ruins of Beverast
Rain Upon the Impure
Ván (2007)
This is the only album I've ever heard that sounds like it should have been wrapped in a shroud. Relentlessly bleak and resoundingly brilliant, this project of Nagelfar (no, the other one*) drummer Alexander Von Meilenwald is the best ambient black metal album to come around since .well, since the project's last album, Unlock the Shrine, with a couple of … Read more
The Rutabega
Shiny Destination
Triple Eye Industries (2015)
After a 2013 full length album that marked the band’s first full-length as a self-described “Carp Rock Power Duo,” a title which I can in no way explain yet love nonetheless, South Bend, Indiana’s The Rutabega is back with Shiny Destination, a 7” vinyl release that presents two very different sides of the group’s sound. With its playfully chaotic feel, … Read more
The Sainte Catherines
Dancing for Decadence
Fat Wreck Chords (2006)
D-Beat hardcore is becoming a quite liked genre even outside of the shower-once-a-month hardcore cretins. Hell even one those little pukes in From First to Last was recently seen in a Tragedy shirt in a promo photo for their latest album entitled I Killed my Girlfriend with my Spiky $500 Dollar Haircut and then Pouted about it. D-Beat hardcore, for … Read more
The Sands
Hotel & Casino
Houseplant (2014)
Say what you will about the old “don’t judge a book by its cover” metaphor, but it’s got some credence in the music world too. The Sands’ Hotel & Casino is a case in point. The black vinyl sleeve may have suggested something darker, but the simplicity and attention to precision that marks the cover is befitting of the record … Read more
The Sass Dragons
New Kids On The Bong
Johans Face (2010)
It would be hard to take the Sass Dragons seriously, were it not for the quality of their recorded material. On stage, the fuck-all Chicago band comes across as a snotty, obnoxious, and somewhat sloppy band with more than a hint of frontman posturing. Of course, when reviewing a record called New Kids on the Bong, maybe one shouldn’t be … Read more
The Sawtooth Grin
Cuddlemonster
Dead By 1918 (2004)
Imagine being woken up to find yourself being eaten by hundreds of rats and a few flesh eating bacteria. At first you would be very confused by the situation, but after a few seconds of thought and insight, you'd realize how much you love it. Now, imagine a band by the name of The Sawtooth Grin that is that experience, … Read more
The Sawtooth Grin
Cuddlemonster
Dead By 1918 (2004)
The only thing that kept repeating in my head the entire time I listened to this record was "Wow, the Locust certainly do this whole 'chaos' thing a lot better." And that's my opinion of the whole thing, really. It's a big mess of high-pitched (we're talking exceedingly high-pitched) vocals and drums pushed all the way to the front. The … Read more
The Sawtooth Grin
Cuddlemonster
Dead By 1918 (2004)
The Sawtooth Grin are quite the listen. From the first track, you are thrown into a whirlwind of grind, fronted with a singer that has, quite possibly, the most annoying scream in the world. That scream though is like that one guy you meet and you really don't like him at first. Then you go out one night, he gives … Read more
