25 total search results — Page 1 of 2
M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
Review — December 15, 2004
Listening stations in major music stores really suck. There's always some dolt who doesn't know how to use it ("SCAN HERE" is never in his or her vocabulary), or someone's playing mind-numbingly awful music with the volume at 11 so that everyone in the store can hear the decline of …
AFI – AFI
Review — December 18, 2004
Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but I've always found the careers of both AFI and the Flaming Lips to be rather similar in numerous respects. Both started off as bands long before their time of popularity and mainstream attention, both have a rabid (as well as strongly …
The Arcade Fire – Funeral
Review — January 31, 2005
Hating to love something is a complicated and frustrating emotion. When it comes to music, I prefer one of the following: to love an album unconditionally and make it a part of my life, despise it with a scorching passion, or just entirely forget about it altogether. Conflicting emotions and …
The Fiery Furnaces – Blueberry Boat
Review — February 7, 2005
Music as true art begs to be delved deeper into. Controversially classic albums such as Daydream Nation, Zen Arcade, and Kid A warrant very little before much time and myriad repeat listens. On first hearing, albums such as the aforementioned often appear completely impenetrable, inaccessible, and, in some …
Sugar Eater – American Idle
Review — February 22, 2005
Remember when "pop-punk" wasn't a dirty word or condescending insult to a band's integrity? Remember when it meant simple, memorable songs combining infectious hooks with raw energy? Remember when it referred to bands like the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, the Descendents, and Husker Du? Remember when it had nothing to do …
Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney – Superwolf
Review — March 13, 2005
What an album cover! It's the kind that would fit perfectly with the whole music sounding like album cover mantra that makes for a great last resort when you can't really come up with a good description of the music within on your own. With enough embellishing, it can work …
Iron and Wine – Woman King
Review — March 26, 2005
Judging an artist based on another's artistic merit is an unfair and pretty bogus way of looking at music, but whenever I listen to Iron & Wine (and/or almost any other artist that could be considered part of this whole "neo-folk" mini-movement), I honestly can't help but think: "This is …
The Fiery Furnaces – EP
Review — May 23, 2005
A 10-song, 40-minute EP? Talk about cocky! After releasing their 80-minute beast of an album, Blueberry Boat, to my (and a handful of other cultists') absolute euphoria in 2004, what would be a perfectly suitable song amount and running time for a full-length LP for virtually any other band …
Autolux – Future Perfect
Review — June 1, 2005
Are My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and perhaps Fugazi cool with you? Do you have an incurable fondness for spacey, fuzzed-out guitar rock? Do you suffer from chronic jock itch or something equally unpleasant? If so, you should indubitably investigate Autolux's Future Perfect pronto. There's no denying that the album …
Throwdown – Vendetta
Review — June 5, 2005
Haymaker is one of the worst albums, hardcore or otherwise, I've ever heard. We're talking 'makes-Hatebreed-look-like-Converge' bad here. I honestly cannot fathom a duller, more cliched, and more mentally aggravating record ever coming out of any music scene (with the possible exception of post-rock). It was a harrowing, monstrous disappointment …
Meshuggah – Catch Thirty Three
Review — June 21, 2005
There are lots of ways that one can view the genre of metal and any of its countless sub-genres - a soundtrack to your miserable life, a vicarious escape from the mundane, the optimum means of combating (or embracing) anger - all are possibilities, but not many will admit to …
Life in Your Way – Ignite and Rebuild
Review — June 30, 2005
Oh jeez, another one of these bands. You know the kind - screamo/emo band who wants anything but to be labeled as such. They come up with alternate and sometimes startlingly inaccurate descriptors such as "melodic hardcore" or "emotion rock," or they take the easy way out and spout off …
Architecture in Helsinki – In Case We Die
Review — July 10, 2005
Prog-pop: the new dancepunk/freakfolk/fleeting indie scene trend? Unlikely, but I suppose possible if enough bands found themselves with exceptional amounts of time and instruments on their hands. Blueberry Boat, The Fiery Furnaces' prog-pop behemoth, made quite a splash in '04, much to the unfiltered joy of some, myself included, …
The Red Chord – Clients
Review — July 22, 2005
Since the release of 2002's Fused Together In Revolving Doors, The Red Chord has slowly but surely become one of the most popular and respected bands throughout the hardcore/metal scene. Fusing together an amalgam of various styles of heavy music, the band's sound refuses to be typecast into any …
Modern Life Is War – Witness
Review — July 27, 2005
There are undoubtedly many of those who claim that hardcore is a dull, stagnant genre in serious need of a quick, timely death. It's easy to see from where they draw their argument, because hardcore is a hugely popular genre that has simply refused to evolve for far too long. …
Ten 33 – Nightmare on Grace St.
Review — August 16, 2005
Yeah, I can get behind this. Speedy, straightforward hardcore punk with some youth crew influences and breakdowns. Sound like your thing? If so, I'd recommend peeping Ten 33's Nightmare on Grace St. or at least add them on Myspace or something. With eleven songs in just over 20 minutes, the …
Sugar Eater – Nine Songs
Review — August 28, 2005
There's obviously a fine line between the hyper-clich' badge of 'the next big thing' and the less fortunate one of 'what should be the next big thing.' In discussing this, it's easy to get very cynical very quickly. But at the end of the day, isn't it really the music …
The Farewell Reason – Demo
Review — September 26, 2005
I'm going to start this one by saying that, with very few exceptions, I fuckin' hate metalcore. Has a genre ever spawned so many worthless, generic, formulaic, and uninspired bands? It's seriously riding pop-punk's ass right about now. Now, I don't always mind my hardcore with heavy metallic leanings; I …
Project X – Straight Edge Revenge (Reissue)
Review — November 14, 2005
"I'm as straight as the line that you sniff up your nose / I'm as hard as the booze that you swill down your throat / I'm as bad as the shit you breathe into your lungs / And I'll fuck you up as fast as the pill on your …
