Review / 200 Words Or Less
Stella Research Committee
A Proposed Method for Determining Sanding Fitness

Independent (2021) T

Stella Research Committee – A Proposed Method for Determining Sanding Fitness cover artwork
Stella Research Committee – A Proposed Method for Determining Sanding Fitness — Independent, 2021

Labels like Amphetamine Reptile and Skin Graft Records and the “now wave” and noise rock avalanche they launched has served as an immense source of inspiration for a myriad of bands.

Listening to Stella Research Committee’s fifth LP, they do not only seem to be overly familiar with the output of the aforementioned label rosters, but have channelled those influences into their own brand of refreshingly chaotic, seemingly improvised noise rock, infused with rockabilly, synthesizer and electronic sounds, surf rock and the nuances that made bands like Sonic Youth appealing.

Killdozer, Dazzling Killmen, Suicide, Flying Luttenbachers and Scratch Acid come to mind with their more straight forward songs, while Dick Dale would have been proud of how the trio manages to effortlessly weave in spring reverb and rapid alternate picking characteristics.

Deliberately messy in their approach and with a nuanced, hypnotic nod to textured yet minimalist kraut rock, Stella Research Committee deviate from tried and teste and carve their own path of musical strangeness.

A primal noise assault that deconstructs, condenses sounds to their very essence that manages the keep up the tension of its delivery and listeners on their toes over the duration of the full length by forcefully meandering and trampling from crescendo to crescendo.

7.0 / 10T • July 20, 2021

Stella Research Committee – A Proposed Method for Determining Sanding Fitness cover artwork
Stella Research Committee – A Proposed Method for Determining Sanding Fitness — Independent, 2021

Recently-posted album reviews

Physicalist

Self Titled
Dirt Cult (2026)

F.Y.P is one of the rare bands that I'd say nobody sounds like -- but in the past two months I've caught myself making that comparison twice. First while listening to the new Dumpies LP (spoiler alert: they cover F.Y.P on that same record) and now as I listen to the Physicalist debut EP. The interesting thing here isn't the … Read more

Dylan Thomas

Todo se desvanece
Burnt Toast Vinyl (2026)

When bands spend months slowly piecing together an album with cheap gear, limited time, and apparently an alarming amount of terrible beer, it’s kind of romantic. Not romantic in the polished indie film sense. More romantic in the sense that you can actually hear people chasing a feeling before life pulls them in different directions. That tension sits at the … Read more

Adam Steiner

Darker with the Dawn: Nick Cave's Songs of Love and Death
Rowman & Littlefield (2023)

Adam Steiner doesn’t just break the earth with a spade with this book; he actually digs deep into the fertile soil to enter the cobwebbed crypt. He approaches the catalogue like a forensic scientist examining the maggots on a corpse—meticulously analyzing the rot and the details of decay to chart exactly how long the body has been decomposing. He gets … Read more