Recent reviews

Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

Killington Fall

Keep Your Eyes To The Sea
Independent (2011)

I've reached the point where most post-rock albums start to sound the same. While I won't say I'm completely blasé, unless a band is pulling something out of left field, it's really difficult for a band to stand out. Alas, that is where British rockers Killington Fall find themselves with their 2011 release Keep Your Eyes to the Sea.Don't get me wrong; it's by no measure a bad release. It just has the habit of being extremely predictable. All of the songs, while good, succumb to mere permutations of common post-rock writing tricks that you can hear in every brand from Explosions in the Sky to Mogwai. While that's not a bad thing in of itself, Killington Fall aren't doing themselves any favours by bringing nothing new to the table to stand out.Once you get past that issue, the music is nonetheless enjoyable. The opening track, "Ghost Rockets" (which is available for free download) is definitely the strongest of the bunch. The melodies are incredibly sweet without ever allowing themselves to be bogged down in the vast dynamic shifts, and, while relatively straightforward, it stands out as being the most memorable of the bunch.That song segues directly into the second … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Various Artists

Drainland / Enabler - Split EP
Halo of Flies (2012)

Splits are, in general, a simultaneously good and bad thing. For each split that flows and feels strong through out … Read more

Enabler

Year One
Creator-Destructor (2011)

Enabler play a style of hardcore that takes clear influence from crust and metal (ala His Hero Is Gone). Over … Read more

OSI

Fire Make Thunder
Metal Blade (2012)

OSI are extremely tough to nail down, and that's not just because they seem to have ins with every major … Read more

War

At War For Youth
Sacred Bones (2012)

Debut 7”, At War for Youth (the band has also released a split cassette) seems totally off-putting. It’s brash, terribly … Read more

John K. Samson

Provincial
Anti (2012)

It’s already been four plus years since the last Weakerthans record. If I weren’t aging quickly myself, that would feel … Read more

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One from the archives

Arsonist

Eat Shit
Independent (2007)

Eat Shit is just over five minutes of some of the most angry music I have heard in a long time. Although I didn't expect myself to say this for a long long time, this demo is so angry that it is refreshing. Arsonist is a genuinely pissed off band with something to say, along the lines of classics like Dropdead and Siege. What this band is not, however, is "pissed off" in the way that a crybaby metalcore band supposedly is, when in reality they are just worried that their size 0 women's jeans are making them look fat. Anyway, back on topic. Arsonist, while being as righteously pissed as any mile-a-minute powerviolence band, also has a healthy dose of d-beat influence. In the true hardcore tradition, all five … Read more

More album reviews

Fat Shadow

Foot Of Love
Houseplant (2011)

It's hard to categorize female-fronted, Fat Shadow. They blend a mix of indie-rock with late 60s-psychedelia, while bleeding over into punk-rock as well. They do a pretty fine job of it, no doubt. The band's debut full length, Foot of Love, is bringing back a sound and tweaking it into something quite satisfying.The first half of the album is new … Read more

The Book Of Knots

Garden Of Fainting Stars
Ipecac (2011)

The Book Of Knots are an anomaly in music. They are a super group of sorts entailing members of many different groups (Including Skeleton Key, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Shiner, Battle of Mice, Sparklehorse, Elvis Costello, Unsane, Pere Ubu, Frank Black, They Might Be Giants) and using members of a number of guests including one Blixa Bargled (of Nick Cave And … Read more

Toh Kay

Streetlight Lullabies
Pentimento Music (2011)

I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews about this record, and based on the feedback received, I think it’s a really underrated album. Is it perfect? No, but it’s very rare to find a completely flawless album. Is it worth listening to? Of course, this is Tomas Kalnoky we’re talking about here. If you haven’t heard by now Streetlight Lullabies … Read more

Digital Leather

Modern Problems
FDH (2012)

It’s been three years since Shawn Foree’s one man synth-punk project Digital Leather released the critically acclaimed album Warm Brother. In that time he’s seen the untimely passing of his friend-turned-manager Jay Reatard, and—after one-off stints on Goner and Fat Possum—has returned to the smaller label he was with before that, FDH. The latest outing, Modern Problems, was recorded to … Read more

Bleaklow

The Sunless Country
Independent (2011)

Though a lot of post-anything music can, using a single theme, reach past the 10 minute mark without necessarily becoming repetitive or stale, there is still a point where too much is too much. You can only listen to embellishment and variation on one theme for so long before you start to go mad and beg for some variety. I'll … Read more

Bubonic Bear

Fleshworld
Sloth Tapes (2011)

Over several very under the radar releases (EPs, splits, half lengths, etc.), the dynamic duo that makes up Bubonic Bear unleash Fleshworld on a mostly unsuspecting audience that (despite lots of touring and tons of shows) still have yet to experience the crushing doom-y noise-y sludge that has become this group’s trademark for audience destruction (I always thought of the … Read more

Signals Midwest

Latitudes & Longitudes
Tiny Engines (2011)

Placing the band Signals Midwest into a genre is a difficult task; their latest release Longitudes and Latitudes is a beautiful mesh of melodic interludes, upbeat pop punk and gritty punk rock. Having this many influences in your work can often lead to great things being lost in translation and the overall result being muddled. However, you can fully appreciate … Read more

After

Edges Of The World
Independent (2012)

When I heard California's After described to me with phrases like "Soundgarden meets Rush" and "progressive pop", I knew I had to give them a try. Any band willing to reach back and recapture some of the classic rock sound that you just can't hear today definitely gets my interest, and I gave this EP a listen as soon as … Read more

The Shins

Port Of Morrow
Aural Apothecary (2012)

Spring has arrived. The sun pours through the sky. Pollen blankets the surroundings. The streets suddenly become more occupied. Much has happened in the world since last spring. Even more has occurred in the five years passed since we were last offered a new album from The Shins, a band whose spring-like sound sonically reflects the seasonal transference.In the world … Read more

Junius

Reports from the Threshold of Death
Prosthetic (2011)

I will say this: Junius' newest album Reports from the Threshold of Death is certainly a unique release. But that's really the totality of positive things I have to say about it. Believe me, I really want to like this album. And, to their credit, Junius certainly do a lot of things that entice my interest. But here's the issue: … Read more

The Men

Open Your Heart
Sacred Bones (2012)

This could be the album that shoots The Men into music lovers’ hearts or it could be a slow burner that floats in the whereabouts of obscurity. The hope is for the latter. Open Your Heart is a musical mash of various genres, all neatly performed by a loose-sounding band that’s mastered the art of rocking out. There are punk … 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

Remnants

Suspension
Tycho Magnetic Anomalies (2011)

Brooklyn based drone purveyors Remnants four track cassette Suspension is a curious little release, building on a foundation of fuzzy electronic notes, and deep unnerving tones. Lead track "Ornamentals" is a tad unsettling in it's minimalism. The quiet buzz of white noise sitting just behind dissonant strikes slowly build in sound level, washing over the touches of an almost bell-like … Read more

Senmuth

Bar-Do Thos-Grol
Independent (2012)

After writing ethnic music for over half a decade at this point (over the span of one hundred and forty-three individual studio albums), it's no surprise that Russian musician/history buff/general crazy man Senmuth has gotten rather good at it. Bar-Do Thos-Grol, his most recent foray into dark ambient music, shows off just how proficient he's become at it. The album … Read more

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