Pallbearer
Foundations of Burden
Profound Lore (2014)
When Pallbearer released their debut album, Sorrow and Extinction, I was stunned. No matter how good their 2010 demo was, there was no way you could be prepared for an album of the caliber of Sorrow and Extinction. And of course the expectations for the sophomore album of the doom metal act are now much higher, but they are still … Read more
Pan & Me
Ocean Noise
Denovali (2014)
Christopher Mevel, one of the founding members of the Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones, set up his solo project, Pan & Me, in order to step outside of the jazz based sound of the main band and to explore other sonic domains. Ambient music and drone are the key aspects of Pan & Me and their main focus of … Read more
Panopticon
Roads to the North
Bindrune Records (2014)
Panopticon has been around since 2007, releasing great albums, from their self-titled full-length to the 2012 Kentucky. And it was with Kentucky that the band really made many heads turn. Their folk infused black metal was a breath of fresh air for the scene, with A.Lunn making things more interesting, using unconventional tactics. The only worrying part of all this … Read more
Parquet Courts
Sunbathing Animal
Whats Your Rupture? (2014)
Four years on in a career that’s seen them work on perfecting the brand of quirky 1990s alt rock of bands like the acclaimed Pavement and not-so-fondly-remembered Harvey Danger, Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts return with 2014’s Sunbathing Animal, an album that may be most surprising for the fact that it’s very nearly the equal of the band’s well-received debut, 2012’s Light … Read more
Pears
Go To Prison
Gunner Records (2014)
Naming an album is something of a branding concept. Yes, it’s also artistic, but occasionally those two worlds collide, even if we don’t want to admit it.Go To Prison is fitting for Pears debut. It’s angry and often reflects the tone of a loner lashing (slashing?) out at the system. Then the group choruses come, bringing solidarity to the forefront … Read more
Perfect Pussy
Say Yes To Love
Captured Tracks (2014)
In 2010, it was Wavves. In 2012, it was Japandroids. Now, the vaginal Syracuse outfit Perfect Pussy is Pitchfork.com's newest punk band crush. Yes, this is the same popular indie music site whose 2013 Reader’s Poll allowed Kanye West’s Yeezus to be the Most Underrated and Most Overrated Album Of The Year, and yes, these are also the writers who … Read more
Perturbator
DANGEROUS DAYS
Independent (2014)
If Daft Punk were commissioned to score a cyberpunk horror film of the likes of Hardware, the resulting work may sound something like what Paris musician James “Perturbator” Kent has come up with on 2014’s Dangerous Days, the latest of his four albums. Utilizing vintage synthesizer sound straight out of the Miami Vice era, Perturbator lets loose with aggressive arpeggios … Read more
Pharaoh
Negative Everything
A389 (2014)
Pharaoh’s debut full-length, Negative Everything, is an absolutely crushing release. The New Jersey three-piece play a blend of doom, sludge, hardcore, and crust that is generally slow, sometimes fast, never predictable, and always heavy. The record’s opening track, “Recease,” starts with a slow, chugging, unaccompanied guitar and effectively sets the pace for the record. Pharaoh has no need for frills, … Read more
Pharmakon
Bestial Burden
Sacred Bones (2014)
Just last year Pharmakon was putting out Abandon, tearing our brains apart. Margaret Chardiet (the artist behind Pharmakon) was collecting aspects of industrial, noise and power electronics, filtering all that through her mind and producing one of the most intense listens of (at least) 2013. Now how can you top something like that? Inspiration usually comes from personal experience and … Read more
Pixies
Indie Cindy
Pixies Music (2014)
Indie Cindy is the first new Pixies full-length since 1991 (Trompe le Monde). After the band reunited a few years back for the tour circuit the rumors of new material started to flow, the band continued to tour, and nothing came out. Eventually, shortly after the departure of original bassist Kim Deal (The Breeders), the band put out three EPs … Read more
Planning For Burial
Desideratum
Flenser (2014)
We all have our dark places and those journeys to and through and from those midnight shores in the bleak silence of night can produce some of the most meaningful moments of one’s life whether it be a conversation with a person that you barely know or just sitting with your cat staring into its eyes wondering what its thinking … Read more
Poppy Ackroyd
Feathers
Denovali (2014)
Classically trained musician and collaborator of Hidden Orchestra, Poppy Ackroyd, follows the neoclassical path that started off with her debut album, Escapement. In her first full-length Ackroyd was bringing piano and violin on the spotlight and creating tremendous atmospheric music with her melodic ideas. Her collaboration with visual artist Lumen, who created bespoke films for her live performances, led to … Read more
PS I Love You
For Those Who Stay
Paper Bag (2014)
Coming to prominence in 2011 on the strength of the almost unanimously praised debut LP Meet Me at Muster Station, PS I Love You (made up of guitarist/vocalist Paul Saulnier and drummer Benjamin Nelson) popped up at precisely the right time to take advantage of a music community all too willing to embrace an unconventional indie rock duo. Though the … Read more
Pujol
Kludge
Saddle Creek (2014)
Daniel Pujol is prolific and ever changing. The leader of Pujol continues to release records at a rapid pace, successfully switching up his backing sounds in the process. While early material was a lot more garage in style, the overall tone on Kludge is quirky and rock-based, but it ranges from sauntering slower material (“Spooky Scary”) to minimalist electropop (“Small … Read more
Pussy Cactus
HE'S FAST
Independent (2014)
Connecticut musician Pussy Cactus is more than just another quirky and boisterous noise pop girl. With her new five-track EP entitled He’s Fast, Pussy Cactus shows that she can lyrically be very wise and philosophical.On her glum “I Call My Dick Cheney,” Cactus preaches to the human race that “we are all a baby/ we are all a teenager/ we … Read more
Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Spellcaster II: Death in Space
Pizza Burglar (2014)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat have never been known as a vocal group, but Spellcaster II: Death in Space takes that to a new level, waiting until the fourth song, “Do the Raid” for the first vocal utterings. That’s not a bad thing, but it is a slow start to the duo’s new record. In fact, it’s not until the third … Read more
Rabbit Holes
Rabbit Holes EP
Big Action (2014)
Big Action Records doesn’t pump out a ton of releases and, when they do, they run the geographical gamut. The label is based in St. Paul, MN but releases come from across the country. Still, within that, there’s a well defined style that tends to dominate: pop-tinged, melodic garage rock. The debut from Minnesota’s Rabbit Holes fits well within those … Read more
Rancid
Honor Is All We Know
Epitaph (2014)
For years I was the biggest Rancid fan. The first record I didn’t buy on its release date was B-Sides & C-Sides, and that’s because I already had the songs. I was an unapologetic completest. As the post-2000 records have been coming, I became an apologetic completest. I bought the double album version of Let the Dominoes Fall and spun … Read more
