Bands like Time to Escape are the reason I picked up a record player. It's not so I can score crucial pre-order/fest only vinyl. It's because hardcore bands like Time to Escape just sound that much more raw and frenetic on vinyl than they ever would on CD. Time to Escape is a fast snotty hardcore band from the nation's capital that likes to recall the heydays of early 80's Dischord hardcore. I've heard plenty of bands like Time to Escape in my lifetime and I'm sure I'll hear plenty more. Nevertheless, if it's done well then I tend to give it my stamp of approval. And Time to Escape is a good 80's sounding hardcore band. Read more
Little Lebowski Urban Achievers are a slightly indie and extremely drunk pop-punk band that, when I actually leave the apartment, … Read more
I love The Lotus Eaters. Not many people know the surprisingly laid back side project of Aaron Turner (Isis, Old … Read more
Contrary to popular belief, screamo isn't dead. Granted, it could very well be crippled and unable to be even a … Read more
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Spirit Adrift may have only been a band for five years or so, yet their output has been consistent (Divided by Darkness is their third full length since 2016) and it’s been excellent with it. Founded by Nate Garrett as a solo project before bringing in musicians to perform live and in turn contribute to recordings, Spirit Adrift is the vessel in which Garrett brings about change. His life has not been an easy one and he has been distinctly open and honest about his struggles with addiction – Spirit Adrift is more than a band for him and with Divided by Darkness he is using those pitch black moments to bring some light into a world that is sorely in need of hope. The songs here are steeped in … Read more
Pale Sketches is the second full-length that Jesu has released this year, and it marks an important step for Justin Broadrick. Broadrick started recording new material following the demise of his long running group Godflesh that would become Jesu. Over time he amassed quite a bit of songs and other musical pieces. Earlier this year, he decided to release the … Read more
As unbelievable as it may sound Lifeline is Jesu's fifth (and possibly the sixth if Robotic Empire gets the split with Battle of Mice out before the end of 2007) release of the year and comes right on the heals of the Pale Sketches record. With all of this activity and music released in one year, I have two thoughts: … Read more
Jacob Cooper, the solo man of Bark Bark Bark, is quite an ambitious fellow. Though, I regret to say that his ambitions don't take him that far. Bark Bark Bark is an electronic effort fused together by "synthesizers and keyboards, borrowed musical equipment, and sampled cuts and clicks." Look a little confusing? Well it is. Haunts is Cooper's debut album, … Read more
Taste is a strange thing. You start to form an opinion on something from the first contact with it. Take Flotilla for example - a four piece indie-rock band that includes a classically trained harpist and, according to their press release, "a noted composer of contemporary concert music." Now to be honest, the first thing flashed into my mind was … Read more
After three years of Rob Crow sowing his wild musical oats with namely Goblin Cock and his solo album, he has joined back with Armistead Burwell Smith IV to put out another album under the name Pinback. Autumn of the Seraphs is Pinback's second album for Touch & Go and you can tell right from the first note that the … Read more
Sleep was great. High on Fire is pretty good. But Om consistently impresses me, and seems to gain momentum with every album. Om seems to be getting closer than ever to carving out its own unique corner in the psychedelic genre that I could simply call "zen doom." These days "hypnotic" is a much-overused word in review writing, especially since … Read more
To listen to "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" (which translates into Memories Of Another World) is to experience a world free of pain, darkness, and despair, and to enter a world of beauty and harmony. The scenario that such an album paints is one where pure joy and happiness triumph through the overbearing cascading light, where innocence prevails, and where the … Read more
Rob Gordon once said "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off … Read more
It's a rare commodity to find a record that just seems to get it right. I mean really get it. The kind of disc that echoes your little world, your thoughts and your feelings, back to you in lines that you just wish you had the talent to write yourself. The kind of album that has you walking the long … Read more
"Trail of Flesh," "Sweet Blasphemy," and "Scent of a Dead Whore". Sure, we all know these titles as classic children's books, but did you know that they've been adapted into songs by a group called Sons of Azrael? Yes, that's right - all your favorite bedtime stories set to music on one convenient disc as sung by the cookie monster. … Read more
Last year a band by the name of Cloak/Dagger released a 7" record. That record, Piñata, was easily one of the best slabs of wax I had heard in a long long time. The record was eventually re-released with their original demo following the band's singing to Jade Tree Records. As time elapsed my anticipation for new songs from the … Read more
Cincinnati, Ohio's Make the Difference is two guys, named Justin and Josh, and a rotating cast of friends according to the liner notes. It doesn't tell me what Justin or Josh happen to do in Make the Difference. The liner notes don't even bother to tell me which two of the four gentlemen in the band photo are Justin and … Read more
Okay, let's get this out of the way here and now - The Strokes. I really do not care for them one bit, I find their music to be contrived, the image a little forced, and I just find them really rather boring and uninspired. So you can only imagine what my feelings on Albert Hammond Jr.'s debut solo album … Read more
I would not know the guys from The Fucking Wrath from Adam if they were walking down the street. Maybe that's the point, three working Joes that crank up the volume when not doing their day jobs. The first time I heard of this band was not long before I heard their debut Season of Evil, which is this loud … Read more
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