Skin Like Iron
Amalgamation II
Free Cake (2008)
Amalgamation II compiles together the three self-released cassette recordings from Skin Like Iron. These recordings were originally released separate from each other beginning last year; they were ultimately brought together in a limited edition cassette box set before the good people at Free Cake Records saw fit to offer them up in CD format. The first nine tracks are culled … Read more
Skin Like Iron
Skin Like Iron
Independent (2008)
I can't help but wonder what the music world would be like without experimentation. Sure, the first to try something different is often shunned, but their willingness to try something different is what makes them so great. While perhaps not a genre-defining move, the direction that Skin Like Iron have taken with their music is one breath of fresh air … Read more
Skullflower
IIIrd Gatekeeper (Reissue)
Crucial Blast (2008)
Skullflower is the long running project of Matthew Bower, but in its initial incarnation the band did have other members and was a bit more "rock oriented" than the cacophonous oppression of sound and noise that Skullflower is today with Bower as the (pretty much) sole member and driving force. IIIrd Gatekeeper is a re-release of the extremely difficult to … Read more
Slap the Culture
Slap the Culture
Cock Suck (2008)
Fast pissed off old school hardcore from Japan. Sounds straight from the American Hardcore soundtrack with a better production. It's speedy, furious, and somewhat entertaining. For some reason this is what I expect when I hear people talking about Japanese hardcore. This stems from the fact the only two Japanese hardcore bands I've heard (That was before Michael sent me … Read more
Sleepies
Join the Shark
Doom Song (2008)
Cranky, off kilter rock from this Brooklyn power trio. Best lyrics on this EP (I guess it is an EP; it's seven songs clocking in at under sixteen minutes) are "Body cast but you ain't speaking / Drunk and grinding on your gun / That's how you ruined Surfer Rosa" (from "You're Still An Owl.)" Best song title - "Napolean … Read more
Sleepingdog
Polar Life
Gizeh (2008)
It's a rare delight when music completely unknown to you pops out of thin air to become one of your favorite releases of the year. Not that I intend to give away the ending of this review or anything. Like most music of genuine quality, the sound of Polar Life is a tricky one to define easily. The lead is … Read more
Slingshot Dakota
Their Dreams are Dead, but Ours is the Golden Ghost
Independent (2008)
A few years ago I went to one of those parties that a lot of us have attended. There was plenty of PBR flowing and occupants had their fair share of scarves on. Yes, it was a hipster party and I was miserable. The girls there were all too young for me to bother hitting on and all the guys … Read more
Smartbomb
Chaos and Lawlessness
Think Fast! (2008)
Members of No Trigger and Shock Nagasaki playing melodic hardcore in the vein of Kid Dynamite, Descendents, and 7 Seconds? Sign me the hell up! Heck, it really doesn't matter what bands these guys also play in when you write songs like these. Chaos and Lawlessness is Smartbomb's debut EP, an eight-song effort that tracks in at just over twelve … Read more
Smartbomb
Diamond Heist
Think Fast! (2008)
Smartbomb return with their debut full-length, Diamond Heist, following the quite promising debut EP Chaos and Lawlessness. The band's first long-player is packed with more of what we heard on the EP, fast-paced punk with a melodic twist. Diamond Heist kicks off with "Barely Legal." First and foremost, you are met with a fury of searing guitars of Billy Bean … Read more
Smoke & Mirrors
Flash Thunder
Independent (2008)
Erie hardcore. Ninety-nine out of a hundred of you instantly thought of either Brother's Keeper or xDisciplex AD. While these two groups have since fallen by the wayside, there is still life in the ol' Lake Effect scene. Groups like Jesus Wept, War of Ages, Hank Jones, and Taste the Steel have all made names for themselves and their city … Read more
Smoking Popes
Stay Down
Appeal (2008)
Can't say that I was too familiar with this band's music. But after seeing them at a recent intimate club show, I walked away convinced. A break-up of many years has done nothing to dull their songwriting chops. This record is brimming with catchy songs right from the first note. "Welcome to Janesville" kicks things off with a power pop … Read more
Son Lux
At War with Walls and Mazes
Anticon (2008)
Son Lux is the working project of one man, Ryan Lott, a multi-talented musician and artist. At War with Walls and Mazes is his debut full-length and over the course of it he dabbles in various worlds of experimental music. At War with Walls and Mazes can be described in simplest forms as experimental as throughout the album, Lott pursues … Read more
Sourvein
Ghetto Angel
This Dark Reign (2008)
It must be difficult for bands in the sludge metal game stand out from one another. Everyone's got the same huge amps. Everyone's got the same monster guitar tone. Everyone's on the same drugs, the burnouts from which have left everyone too fatigued to play anything faster than mid-tempo. Everyone has that oddly-conceived but still widely popular shrieking that makes … Read more
Speaky
Mashcore Volume 2
Independent (2008)
Over this past summer, file-sharing fiends around the world rallied behind the leak of the new Girl Talk album. Everyone felt pretty suave for getting such a hyped item before its release date, although many were confused at how different the new album sounded. Unfortunately, soon after that they all found out that this leak wasn't Girl Talk at all, … Read more
Spitfire
Cult Fiction
Goodfellow (2008)
For some god-awful reason I have a soft spot for what this band does, and the mystifying aspect of it all is that Spitfire are surely not great musicians nor are they particularly gifted songwriters. The one element of this group, particularly their post reunion album (2006's Self Help and this one, Cult Fiction, that attracts my ears is the … Read more
Springhouse
From Now to OK
IPR (2008)
This is the third release from these Brooklyn shoe gaze popsters. Twelve songs full of rich textures and somber moods that took ten years to complete. Thankfully it's not a bloated opus like that other release, something about democracy? Which took even longer to come out. Solid arrangements, swirling harmonies, and just a plain old fashioned emphasis on making the … Read more
Star Fucking Hipsters
Until We're Dead
Fat Wreck Chords (2008)
Let's face it: a lot of punk rock comes across through the singer's voice, and that voice often isn't pretty: Johnny Rotten's snottiness, Tim Armstrong's slurs, Jello Biafra's warble. When it comes to the Star Fucking Hipsters' Sturgeon (Choking Victim, Leftover Crack), his voice is easily identifiable and his work brings associations of shock appeal and overhanded lefty politics. Star … Read more
Static Radio (NJ)
An Evening of Bad Decisions...
Black Numbers (2008)
Here's another band that's right up my alley. I know.. I love fellow SPB writer Zach and how he pigeonholes himself with review after review of singer-songwriter types that used be in punk rock type bands - and those bands usually have beards. Nice well groomed beards of awe and lore. I have a beard. One time I was sitting … Read more
