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The Wonder Years

Won't Be Pathetic Forever
No Sleep (2008)

The Wonder Years return with a brand new 7", their follow-up to last year's Get Stoked on it!. The record features four new tracks that are exclusive to this release. The 7" starts off with a building intro before the band gets busy with "Solo & Chewy: Holdin' it Down." Like their previous effort, we are treated to a mixture … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Pegasuses-XL

The Antiphon
Ernest Jenning (2008)

It's almost a little sad when drugs influence a lot of what musicians do (The Mars Volta?). It is equally sad and almost doubly disappointing when musicians ruin their reputations with shallow releases. Pegasuses XL is Make Dale (Disband), Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark), Joel Hatstat (Cinemechanica) and the renowned Jeff Rosenstock (Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Bomb The Music … Read more

The Breeders

Mountain Battles
4AD (2008)

I have a huge crush on Kim Deal. There, I said it. Fuck you, don't judge me. You probably rubbed one out to Vanessa Hudgens last night, you sick fuck. Kim's more woman than you could ever hope to get, pervy. That's right, the real Deal sisters are back and they're ready to lo-fi rock your socks off with their … Read more

Verdunkeln

Einblick in dem Qualenfall
Ván (2007)

Black metal is one of the last bastions of progression and experimentation in the metal community. Fifteen years ago that statement would have been laughable, but with the first couple generations of purists either incarcerated, dead, or at least moving on to other musical interests, a new generation has been left to carry the torch. This wave of bands is … Read more

Girl Talk

Feed the Animals
Illegal Art (2008)

Girl Talk is Gregg Gillis, a DJ from Pittsburgh that has been praised up to the leader of the mash-up sub-genre. For those who don't know, mash-up is when a DJ layers multiple tracks from different songs on top of each other to create new tracks. This is usually supplemented with new beats and various DJ effects. It makes more … Read more

The National Rifle

Wage Life
Independent (2008)

What if Elvis Costello was still churning out upbeat, poppy numbers like his early work? What if you took away some of the crackle and rough edges, and replaced them with pristine production and a lot of "whoa-oh-oh's"? What if, to spice things up, you threw in a dash of socialist rhetoric, a pinch of hand-held percussion, and a sprinkle … Read more

Until the End

From the Beginning...Until the End
Eulogy (2008)

Whenever I think of Until the End, I think of the time I crammed five finals into a twenty-four-hour period so I could take a road trip down to Gainesville Fest. The kids there went absolutely bat shit for them - head walking and jumping off each other, huge pile-ons, and, of course, devastating mosh. Sure, it sounds like a … Read more

Boxcar Satan & Ghostwriter

Hobo Nouveau
East of the West/Dogfingers (2008)

I'll admit - I have a bit of a problem with modern blues. For me, blues, real blues ended in the 1940's with the likes of Robert Johnson and Hudie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. When you're a black man in the deep south, you best believe you're gonna have the blues. Nowadays, what the fuck are you bitching for? Boxcar Satan … Read more

The Offspring

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Columbia (2008)

With an album title that sounds like the most recent Foo Fighters record, a song called "Fix You" (I thought Coldplay had already professed that particular desire), and a collection of tracks that sound like they want to be Green Day, My Chemical Romance or The Offspring circa 1994, The Offspring have become imitators and glory-day seekers, shapeshifting and morphing … Read more

Amebix

No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings
Alternative Tentacles (2008)

So the early Amebix releases are finally becoming more widely available (even though they have been on the bootleg circuit for quite a long while) which is excellent because some of the bootlegs of them are pretty nigh unlistenable, and considering that these releases are some of the best material that Amebix offers, finally seeing the light of day can … Read more

The Hold Steady

Stay Positive
Vagrant (2008)

Stay Positive, the fourth album finds the Brooklyn by way of Minneapolis The Hold Steady trying to further their scope as musicians and lyricists while also tackling a greater challenge: aging gracefully. While there are stumbling points to the album, the band holds steady. It's these falters though that may cause a rift in the unified scene that vocalist Craig … Read more

Secret Chiefs 3

Xaphan: Book of Angels Vol. 9
Tzadik (2008)

John Zorn is well on the way to becoming the most prolific artist in music history. Through recordings from Painkiller, Naked City, Masada, and untold other projects, the man is associated either through composing music for or performing on an average of over ten albums per year. For those unfamiliar, his Masada project was arguably his most well known and … Read more

Fuck Buttons

Street Horrrsing
ATP (2008)

When I was eleven my mother asked me if the family should remodel our basement, converting it into a living room and bedrooms for both my sister and me. Heading into middle school, a time when children begin to blossom socially, I thought this was a great idea. The freedoms were readily apparent. I began taking interest in the local … Read more

Atavist

II: Ruined
Profound Lore (2008)

Minimalistic drone/doom is a hit-or-miss kind of genre. When you are relying on only one or two riffs to carry an entire song, the results can be either bone-chilling or yawn-inducing. With their second full-length, Atavist, hailing from Manchester, England, has once again proven it can achieve the former. Atavist's brand of tortured, bowel-loosening doom is not for the faint … Read more

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