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Supercrush

Lifted b/w Melt Into You (Drift Away)
Grave Mistake (2014)

Surpercrush is the newish Vancouver, British Columbia-based band from Mark Palm, a dude most known for playing in a long ancestry of punk/HC and metal bands and as being the primary songwriter for San Francisco, CA’s bliss-pop snorefest Modern Charms. Hey Mark, Bob Mould called and he wants his Sugar back. No, seriously, this is alright. I mean I fucking … Read more

Nadja and Uochi Toki

Cystema Solari
Corpoc (2014)

Despite the fact that Canadian/German drone group Nadja has a long history of collaborating with various artists from around the globe, their 2014 collaboration with Italian hip hop duo Uochi Toki may be one of the partnerships that seems the most unlikely. I first became aware of Nadja back in 2009 with the release of Pyramids with Nadja, a lush, … Read more

Joyce Manor

Never Hungover Again
Epitaph (2014)

This one took a while to stand out, which I didn’t expect given the accolades Joyce Manor has been ringing up with their three releases. Never Hungover Again is my first listen to the band and I can’t say I understand the hype. While they do their style well, it doesn’t jump ahead of the pack, with the predominant power … Read more

Billy The Kid

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Xtra Mile (2014)

This is the first time I saw Billy the Kid: It's Mid-July and the air conditioner at Toronto Lee's Palace is broken. The show is sold -out and I'm leaning on the stage with the capacity crowd behind me. We're sweaty and dehydrated. The air is getting hard to breathe, but nobody's complaining. Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls are … Read more

Ex Friends

Rules for Making Up Words
Paper + Plastick (2014)

Ex Friends are a group of Philly area punks, recognized from their work in other bands. The band features Joel Tannenbaum (Plow United), JP Flexner (flyer artist), Audrey Crash, and Jayme Guokas. On their debut full-length, Rules for Making Up Words, they don’t let those previous associations get in the way, though; they embrace them. The project sounds like the … Read more

The Great Old Ones

Tekeli-Li
Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions (2014)

The incredible nature of The Great Old Ones majestic, sweeping and downright epic black metal was devastatingly apparent on their debut Al Azif - a record that saw them take flight into the musical world and in turn become one of the most talked about bands of 2012. The French quintet are an unassuming group though, and while they were … Read more

DJ Shadow

The Liquid Amber EP
Liquid Amber (2014)

Universally regarded as one of the most important figures in the world of instrumental hip hop and turntablism after having gained massive recognition for 1995’s Entroducing....., DJ Shadow (a.k.a. Josh Davis) seems in recent years to have been operating more in the, well, shadows of an electronic music scene that’s increasingly been focused on the newest and shiniest acts. Released … Read more

Padkarosda

Szabadulásom Művészete
Wake Up And Live (2014)

Padkarosda is a three piece punk band from Hungary. Szabadulásom Művészete (translated as Art Of My Liberation) is their second full-length release. Recorded in Budapest in June of 2013, Oakland, CA-based Wake Up And Live Records picked it up for US release this year. It comes on cassette with a pro-printed foldout J-card, complete with song lyrics, band photo, and … Read more

Christos Fanaras

Impermanence
Adaadat (2014)

It’s difficult to find a decent single-track LP these days. A classic is Sleep’s Dopesmoker (disregarding the album’s live bonus material). The title track is a 63 minute-long sludgy opus about Jesus getting stoned in the desert. It’s definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, too. Another brilliant one-track album is The Great Barrier Reefer by Bongripper, a … Read more

Video/DVD Review

Circle Jerks

My Career As A Jerk
MVD Visual (2012)

I must admit, before I sat down to watch this I wasn't exactly excited to listen to Circle Jerks vocalist Keith Morris talk about punk rock for the millionth time. Morris, like Jack Grisham (TSOL), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), and to some extent Duane Peters (US Bombs) seems to be a constant presence running throughout any number of the ubiquitous … Read more

The Hold Steady

Teeth Dreams
Washington Square (2014)

The Hold Steady has been on quite a ride. They went from “New York bar band” to critical and indie darlings to, now, wavering somewhere on the edge of the public consciousness without really breaking into new circles. In other words, they seem to have found their fan base and stuck with it. Separation Sunday was a favorite record of … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Glue

Glue EP
Katorga Works/Video Disease (2014)

With an extremely downbeat and aggressive sound, Austin, Texas four-piece band Glue follows up their noisy and vulgar 2012 demo with a 2014 self-titled 7” that picks up right where the demo left off. The first of four tracks featured here is the brief “Enemy,” which operates at a moderate pace and includes a sort of diabolical, horror movie chord … Read more

Earth Girls

Wrong Side of History
Grave Mistake (2014)

Wrong Side of History is the debut 7” by Chicago upstarts Earth Girls. This piece of weighty green wax (via Grave Mistake in the United States) was recorded during the same session as their sold-out limited run demo cassette from earlier this year. Earth Girls are headed up by Liz Panella of Libyans and Broken Prayer on guitar and vocals. … Read more

Astpai

Burden Calls
Jump Start (2014)

I’m not sure what this says about me, but I like Astpai’s Burden Calls just fine but it takes until they pull a sample from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original) to hit that next level. It has little to nothing to do with the actual songs, but somehow it shifts the tone and the energy just picks up at … Read more

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