Ted Leo and his Pharmacists are sweeping the nation's rock and roll scene. People first began to take real notice of Mr. Leo with the release of his second LP, The Tyranny of Distance, however a few may remember Leo from his days with Citizens Arrest and Chisel. With a growing fanbase and critical acclaim to fuel their creative DeLorean, … Read more
Their first record for Matador; their first record featuring new bassist Marty Key: The Brutalist Bricks is a record of firsts. It's the band's second shortest record, however (2004's Shake the Sheets is a couple of minutes briefer, at 39:52), and a departure from the drawn-out, exploratory songs of 2007's Living With the Living.Opener 'The Mighty Sparrow' is classic Leo, … Read more
There is a tendency, I think, to label any loud band, any loud female band, as Riot Grrrl. Reducing a band to a genre they’re not and plugging your ears while they show you why they’re not that genre is damaging- both to the band in question and to the Riot Grrrl genre. That’s how you get New York Post … Read more
I never learned German in high school, but Teenage Bottlerocket must have because their latest 7’’ is a nod to the punk side of the German language. It's been nearly a year and this is still the most currently release from Teenage Bottlerocket. People didn’t seem to expect much from it, and still don’t, unless you’re one of those middle-aged … Read more
I’ve been hearing about the new wave of pop-punk for a while—how bands like Menzingers and Teenage Bottlerocket are reshaping the genre, building off predecessors like The Ramones, Screeching Weasel, The Queers, etc. while bringing something new to the table. It’s personally taken me a while to get around to checking them out myself, but with the release of Freak … Read more
Many have commented about loving the idea behind Teenage Bottlerocket's all-covers record Stealing The Covers, and even though cover albums usually have everyone sending the puke emoji as a review, I have to agree with the majority on this one. Bottlerocket aren’t a parody band and they aren’t as disillusioned as people think; this record was a super clever idea … Read more
I really wanted to like They Came From the Shadows. I did. And to an extent, I do. There are some very catchy pop-punk songs on this album. But this will definitely not be seen as one of the stronger Teenage Bottlerocket albums in the future. Opening the album is "Skate or Die," which brought me high hopes for this … Read more
Bark Like a Dog by Screeching Weasel was the first punk rock album that I ever fell in love with, which means (in theory) that any album that reminds of Bark Like a Dog will serve me as a romantic rehashing of why I fell in love punk rock. This means that by the absurd logic I just put forth … Read more
Canadian sisterly duo Tegan and Sara Quin seem to think they’re fools in relationships. Just look at some of their song titles—“Fool to Cry,” “I Was A Fool,” etc. Something they’re not fools about? Making synth pop perfection on their latest full-length album, Heartthrob, their first since 2009’s Sainthood which was a huge commercial success for them. After an album … Read more
What is it about Canada? You know, Due South, The Arcade Fire, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Dan Aykroyd, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Terrance & Philip. Perhaps it's merely been a case of overwhelming ignorance, but lately it seems that all of the best things in the world originated in this faraway place. Last summer whilst sitting in a friend's bedroom … Read more
Another excellent release coming through the House of Mythology label, Teleplasmite is the brainchild of an unholy alliance between Mark O. Pillington, musician known from his work in Urthona and author publishing interesting countercultural and cryptic literature through Strange Attractor, and Michael J. York, expert in wind instruments and member/collaborator of the Guapo, Cyclobe, The Stargazer's Assistant and of course, … Read more
Doom-death is not a crowded field, but it is one that can feel difficult to innovate in. There are only so many ways you can bolt doom elements on to death metal at all. A band can slow down the tempo, add more distortion, maybe toss in a few more blues riffs, but after they may find themselves be carving … Read more
Yeah, I can get behind this. Speedy, straightforward hardcore punk with some youth crew influences and breakdowns. Sound like your thing? If so, I'd recommend peeping Ten 33's Nightmare on Grace St. or at least add them on Myspace or something. With eleven songs in just over 20 minutes, the record has no real flaws. Hell, it doesn't have time … Read more
Appleton, WI’s Tenement are a busy beast. The two-plus-piece band (featuring numerous guest musicians) released Napalm Dream in 2011, which I gave a heavy Replacements recommendation on. December 2011 saw the band already unleashing another record, this time the collection Blind Wink, available on varied formats from the likes of Cowabunga (LP), Hang Up (CD), and Dead Broke (cassette). With … Read more
Wow, this isn’t at all what I was expecting. With a one word name and the title Napalm Dream, I had images of guttural-voice hardcore and power stomps instead of Replacements’-schooled Midwest punk. Sure, I’d seen the name a lot in various Wisconsin-related shows over the past couple of years, but for some reason I associated the band with a … Read more
A master of dark ambient, Christopher Walton became first known through his time as one-half of Endvra. The duo released a series of excellent albums, with The Great God Pan standing out, infusing neo-classical perspectives and tribal rhythms into their dark ambient core. Since the end of Endvra, Walton has focused on his solo project TenHornedBeast, which takes a dystopian … Read more
Wow, just wow is about the best that I can come up with to describe Ten Horned Moses Descended The Mountain from Tenhornedbeast (yes all one word and possibly erroneously capitalized), the solo project of one, Christopher Walton; and, to be completely truthful, that wow might not actually describe this massive album in an accurate enough manner because every time … Read more
Hailing from Australia, Skye Klein’s project Terminal Sound System is set on an interesting path. The merging of doom, post rock, and jazz with the diverse fields of electronica and heavy dub has yielded some very promising results. The music of Terminal Sound System is quite difficult to pinpoint due to the above reason but what is quite intriguing with … Read more
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