Fist City
It's 1983 Grow Up!
Black Tent Press (2012)
Alberta-based four-piece Fist City continue to make a name for themselves with the genre-blending It’s 1983 Grow Up!, their second full-length record. The album marks the band’s first release since being signed to Black Tent Press and is reflective of their signature sound while presenting more cohesively as a whole than their previous effort (2010’s Hunting You). Producer Paul Lawton … Read more
FKA Twigs
LP1
Young Turks (2014)
Tahliah Barnett, who looks something of an art-school alien, first descended into the tellurian realm as a Grimes incarnate: girl with space-cadet aesthetics turned one-woman powerhouse. twig’s status as Robert Pattinson’s new beau, her paint-smeared, caricatured album cover, and inclination for the grotesque have a way of garnering the important questions. Who is she? Is the breadth of her facial … Read more
Flagpolers
Arse Ways EP
Self Released (2014)
Sometimes the RIYL doesn’t lie. When Vancouver punks Flagpolers list Tiltwheel as an influence, it comes across clearly on the four song EP Arse Ways. The songs are built in that Davey Tiltwheel guitar style and then the lyrics are pelted atop in a gruff and staggering delivery. It’s rough hewn, coarse, and alternately beautiful—a fitting tribute to the aforementioned … Read more
Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
Bella Union (2011)
Three years in the making since their praised-to-the-heavens self-titled debut, Helplessness Blues is a masterpiece of a sophomore offering, consisting of everything that made Fleet Foxes a standout record for its generation - let alone year - and at the same time expanding upon the band's signature sound.Frontman Robin Pecknold's painstaking adherence to songwriting during production of Helplessness Blues has … Read more
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Sub Pop (2008)
When a friend sent me a YouTube link for some live Flight of the Conchords footage a couple of years ago, I was very skeptical. "I don't like comedy music!" I screeched, flapping my arms up and down. Which I don't. It's very rarely as funny as it believes itself to be, which is always made worse when it inexplicably … Read more
Flobots
Fight with Tools
Independent (2007)
Every era has seen the chocolate/peanut butter combination of music and activism mixed together to create the tasty sensation of protest music. Long derided as "hippie shit" by those too lazy to listen, the protest song has been a ubiquitous form spanning the last century. Okay, maybe not the eighties, but every other decade has more than had its share. … Read more
Flobots
No Enemies
Independent (2017)
pro·testnounˈprōˌtest/A complaint, objection, or display of unwillingness usually to an idea or a course of action.It's been 5 long years since Flobots released their 2012 effort Circle in the Square. Normally that wouldn't be such a long stretch of time, but given all that's happened within that time frame, it seems like eons since Brer Rabbit, Jonny 5 and Kenny … Read more
Flobots
Survival Story
Universal (2010)
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours. - César Estrada Chávez Matter relates to all things. Matter is defined as "something … Read more
Flobots
The Circle In The Square
Shanachie Entertainment (2012)
“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.” – A. Philip Randolph“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.” - Gil Scott-HeronA strong foundation was laid with Flobots’ debut album Fight With Tools, and continued on with sophomore effort … Read more
Florence and the Machine
Lungs
Island (2009)
In a U.K. pop scene increasingly dominated by uncertain female electro-pop princesses or paltry imitations of Rihanna or Beyonce, it's refreshing and exciting to see the dominance of a genuinely interesting and invigorating talent. Twenty-three year old Florence Welch and her four accomplices - The Machine - present us a gift wrapped collection of thirteen buoyant, ethereal and enormous songs. … Read more
Flores y Fuego
Altar
Pirates Press (2023)
Originally released in 2021 by the band (digitally), Pirates Press just released Altar on vinyl. It’s the debut album by Flores y Fuego, a hardcore band from Mexico and it feels both fresh, yet familiar, with big riffs, tangible anger, and a cathartic call to come together. You know: classic hardcore. The sound is big and powerful, but the lyrics … Read more
Florida Men
Florida Men
Morning Wood Records (2022)
Oh Florida Man, you strange and magnificent creature of legends. Or at least it seems to be something unreal, reading what he did. Who comes up with stuff like that? And now three of these Florida Men united in one band. Nothing good can come from that! Perhaps you can’t help yourself and you read some of the crazy things … Read more
Flotilla
Disaster Poetry
Independent (2006)
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
Flotsam and Jetsam
No Place For Disgrace 2014
Metal Blade (2014)
I can remember very clearly when I first heard of Flotsam and Jetsam. As a young hesher growing up outside of Vancouver, Canada in 1986, some bands were on my radar and some were not. Flotsam and Jetsam were the latter. Until the end of that year, when I heard that their bassist, a certain Mr. Jason Newsted had left … Read more
Flying Colors
Self Titles
Mascot (2012)
It's no secret that I have a love/hate relationship with former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. After leaving what was probably the best drumming gig one could ask for, he's been embarking on several different projects at once, trying to find some direction for his talents. Generally speaking, his new endeavours have been...less than satisfactory--I have written about my vitriol … Read more
Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
Warp (2010)
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into orbit. In 1969 Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins became the first human beings to walk on the surface of the Moon. About half a century later, it has become evident that these remarkable feats of human innovation and imagination still affect our culture today. Steven Ellison’s (a.k.a. Flying … Read more
Foetus
Love
Birdman (2005)
Fire extinguishing foam, cortisone and physostigmine. All highly relevant in today's society and all created by one man, a man you've never heard of. Clint Ruin, Baby Zizanie, Manorexia, Steroid Maximus, Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Foetus Inc., The Foetus All-Nude Review and all derivations of Foetus' music are also the creations of another man you've probably never heard of,. … Read more
Foetus
Soak
Ectopic Ents (2014)
When you hear the term "industrial" in regards to music from the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein or Ministry, Foetus (a.k.a. Jim Thirlwell) is who you have to thank. Making cacophonies of the highest order since the early eighties, Thirlwell's music in all its incarnations has become more and more visual. Visual, that is, in the sense of the … Read more
