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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)

Scott Walker

The Drift
4AD (2006)

Scott Walker - to those who know and love his music - is one of those towering figures of American culture that is as much the stuff of legend as an actual person, like Roky Erickson or Thomas Pynchon. Walker spent the late '60s recording four astonishing LPs of lush, overwrought continental melodrama, entitled Scott through Scott 4. These are great records that retain their gorgeousness today, and have shaped the musical landscape in which artists like Nick Cave exist (also Neko Case, recently discovered by hipsters, who covered Walker's song "Duchess" on her first album). Walker was mostly unheard from for the next twenty years, but in 1995 he released Tilt, a bleak monolith of darkness and anguish that had little in common with the ornate ballads he sang in the 1960's. Here we are in 2006 and Walker has released The Drift, which is just about the most horrifying, nightmarish album I have ever heard in my life. The operative word here is dense. These songs are absolutely clotted with bizarre percussion, rumbling sound effects, and shrieks of squalling dissonance. Soaring over this rattling, mechanical landscape of terror is Walker's instantly recognizable croon; only now he doesn't really … Read more

Angel Eyes

Something to Do with Death
Underground Communiqué (2005)

There's not a whole lot you can say about Angel Eyes that hasn't already been said about Isis. If Isis … Read more

Slumlords

On the Stremph!
Lockin Out (2006)

The members of Baltimore based Slumlords have been around the proverbial block a few times and know their niche. On … Read more

Dance Floor Justice

Breaking the Silence
Double or Nothing (2006)

There are three things that make me like this band. One, they have a ton of Star Wars references in … Read more

The Zutons

Tired of Hanging Around
Deltasonic (2006)

When a friend of mine first introduced me to The Zutons back in early 2004 I was not hugely impressed. … Read more

Bombshell

To Hell with Motives
Indianola (2006)

It's never really a good sign when the first thing that pops into my head when I listen to To … Read more

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One from the archives

Alien Nosejob

HC2
Iron Lung (2021)

It seems that Jake Robertson spent a lot of the past year playing with himself. But haven’t we all? Bad jokes aside, the one-man band put out multiple full-lengths in 2020 and now a new 6-song EP too. Overall, the project is diverse, falling generally within the punk umbrella but different influences scattered as Robertson feels like it. But this EP is honed in on a particular style. As the name implies, HC2 is mostly hardcore that follows the footsteps of HC a couple years back, and Once Again the Past Becomes the Present, released late last year. At 8-minutes long this sucker flies by fast. And while calling it hardcore ditches the hyphenated subgenre scribble of influences, there’s still a lot to say about this. Sounding like being dropped … Read more

More album reviews

Madlib

Beat Konducta Vol. 1-2: Movie Scenes
Stones Throw (2006)

Before we can even dive into this review we must address the issue of the cataloging this style of music. When I first got into the genre I was told it was called "trip-hop." To me this sent the message that I wasn't allowed to experience it unless I was on some mind-altering substance. Next I heard it referred to … Read more

Future Primitive

Expression Sessions
Independent (2006)

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck! Fuck! No, I'm not quoting Ceremony, but instead referring to the blistering pain in my pinky toe. What could have caused my toe to go numb and bleed all over my trusty vans shoes? I blame Future Primitive, and their debut release Expression Sessions. Hailing from the traffic jammed freeways of Southern California, Future … Read more

Oxbow

Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic & Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow
Hydra Head (2006)

When I reviewed The Very Best of Men's Recovery Project recently, I thought that there couldn't be a band less suited for a "greatest hits" release. Obviously, I had forgotten about Oxbow. To put it simply, Oxbow is one of the most intense and challenging bands in America today. Oxbow sounds like an uneasy mix of the delta blues at … Read more

The Draft

In a Million Pieces
Epitaph (2006)

What happens when you are part of an established, kind of well-known (definitely well-known in all manner of independent music circles) band and one of your fellow members decides to take a break? Well, in this case, you start a "new" band and immediately begin writing an album. This is exactly what The Draft is…Hot Water Music minus Chuck Ragan … Read more

Russian Circles

Enter
Flameshovel (2006)

Hearing a new band for the very first time can be an awesome experience - it can also be horrible, but that is not the case here. I had never heard of Russian Circles prior to seeing their name listed as an opener for a semi-recent Isis tour. Being curious as to what they sounded like, I scoured the Internet … Read more

Capital

Signal Corps
Iron Pier (2006)

Finally, Tom Corrigan has come back to his roots and fronts Long Island hardcore unit, Capital. I'm sure the name Tom Corrigan isn't the most recognizable name in hardcore but he used to sing in the criminally underrated Long Island outfit, Silent Majority. I don't think there was anyone this side of Ohio more excited than me when I heard … Read more

Thom Yorke

The Eraser
XL Recordings (2006)

I'm pretty sure Thom Yorke needs no introduction. As part of "that" band Radiohead he has helped make some the most beautiful, challenging and plain odd music of the last decade. So when it was announced that he had decided to release an album all by himself (he won't call it a solo project) it seemed like a bolt out … Read more

Baby Teeth

For The Heathers
Lujo (2006)

Baby Teeth made For The Heathers on a dare, with each of the three members of the band working in isolation from home. Sequestered with only imagination as a barrier, the dramatic differences between each member's effort is both a shock and a pleasant surprise to the listener that can only be understood as separate entities with only the name … Read more

From a Second Story Window

Delenda
Metal Blade (2006)

Though never officially diagnosed, I am almost certain that I suffer from some form of Attention Deficit Disorder. Apparently, only 4 to 6 percent of all Americans actually have ADD. This estimate seems remarkably low considering the ever-decreasing attention spans of many modern hardcore/metal bands. From a Second Story Window are a technically adept quintet that sporadically weave various elements … Read more

Bury Your Dead

Beauty and the Breakdown
Victory (2006)

Somehow I don't think it's a coincidence that this album is called Beauty and the Breakdown as the album is basically one long breakdown. Just when you thought moshcore couldn't get any more boring, Bury Your Dead thought it was necessary to deliver another all-too-predictable dose of rehashed Hatebreed-esque anthems. This album is basically a continuation of Cover Your Tracks, … Read more

Ignite

Our Darkest Days
Abacus (2006)

It's been six years since Ignite's last full-length, A Place Called Home, so one might expect their return to be a bit rocky, it having been so long. It turns out that it's anything but rocky. Our Darkest Days is quite possibly Ignite's best work to date, and depending on your tastes, you may or may not agree. Vocalist Zoli … Read more

Two Gallants

What the Toll Tells
Saddle Creek (2006)

One of my greatest passions in life is stories. I love stories. I love to be told stories, I love to tell stories, I love to interpret, dwell on, ponder, elaborate upon, discuss, and enjoy stories. I love books because they tell amazing stories. I love movies because they tell a great story, even beneath some of the cheese and … Read more

Les Savy Fav

3/5 (Reissue)
French Kiss (2006)

The shakedown: In 1997, a five-piece post-punk rock outfit based out of Brooklyn released ten songs on an album titled 3/5. The album title is more relevant to the band today then it was when they first released it. Back then the band had five out of five of the original line-up. Today, only three out of the five members … Read more

Man Man

Six Demon Bag
Ace Fu (2006)

Man Man is the most original band out right now. There, I said it, and I stand by it. No other band today plays the brand of music Man Man plays. I mulled the question around in my head a lot about the possible genre Man Man might fall under, and I was forced to level it down to gypsy … Read more

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