Oakland's Ghoul are a mysterious bunch, going by pseudonyms, apparently hailing from Creepsylvania (a quick Google map check tells me this isn't actually a real place), and looking like they just stepped off a 70's horror flick set. Sounds crazy. And it kinda is, but what else would you expect from a band with a Kill-bot and members (supposedly) of … Read more
Well, that was a short album. At only thirty-five minutes long, doom/sludge metal group Giant Squid have almost halved the runtime of their previous album, The Ichthyologist, for the release of their third studio album, Cenotes.But what does brevity matter, when the music is top quality? This album is every bit as weighty as the giant squi--er, creatures on the … Read more
I've always been fascinated with oceanography, or anything related to the ocean for that matter. And with the oceans covering nearly three-quarters of our planet, there is a lot to be fascinated with. My quest to learn as much about the history of the sea and everything contained within will likely never be completely fulfilled. But, as I continue in … Read more
For the following reasons I'm a firm believer that every CD collection should contain a few albums that confuse people when they are slipped into rotation. These albums a) give us credibility amongst different groups of people; b) make our knowledge of music superior amongst people within our own groups; and c) gives us chance to experiment with different types … Read more
Post-rock has predictably reached its stage of full saturation, becoming the self-loathing cliché that wasn't hard to see coming. Bands are unfairly and mockingly compared to Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and This Will Destroy You, whose stranglehold over the genre have made them a benchmark for those that follow suit and a constant reminder of the jadedness of the … Read more
Gifts From Enola should be fairly recognizable to anyone into the post rock scene at this point. The Virginia based band have been putting out music and logging road time for the better part of 6 years at this point. The band have worked hard to progress their dynamics-laden post rock sound. So it comes as little surprise that after … Read more
What the fuck? Let's pretend that your name is "Pablo." Pablo is a pretty unusual name. There are other people in the world named Pablo, but they all live in other countries so you don't know any of them. Your life is pretty interesting, because it's pretty hard for a kid named Pablo to turn out normal. But you're okay … Read more
People say that the best works of art are born of intense pain and immense suffering and history proves this out to some extent (without getting into some existential debate with myself over the validity of the statement, it serves the purposes of this little pseudo repartee); now, Giles Corey (both the project and the album) is the tortured work … Read more
Gina Birch is a 67 year-old '70s feminist icon who smashed into 2023 with her loud bass. Originally only knowing of Gina Birch from her fame with The Raincoats experimental post-punkness, I found out that over the last four decades the godmother of punk has saved numerous audio files on her computer of her whispering, singing, and screaming to form … Read more
I admit it: arguably the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures is Euro disco, a genre which found (sometimes quite dubiously-talented) European musicians exaggerating the basic tenets of '70s dance music to the point of near-absurdity. Hard as it is to resist the infectious but undeniably cheesy keyboard lines in many of the genre's songs though, it also would be difficult … Read more
Musically tight and lyrically inventive, Pittsburgh, PA-based, self-proclaimed “slacker rock” group Girl Scout seems to draw inspiration from various indie rock groups of the ‘90s and early 2000s - it doesn’t at all seem a coincidence that the band included a cover of Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair” as the b-side to their first single. Built around Jeremy Zerbe’s vulnerable voice … Read more
Girl Talk is Gregg Gillis, a DJ from Pittsburgh that has been praised up to the leader of the mash-up sub-genre. For those who don't know, mash-up is when a DJ layers multiple tracks from different songs on top of each other to create new tracks. This is usually supplemented with new beats and various DJ effects. It makes more … Read more
In this day and age of "indie" bands selling to kids and having number ones left, right, and center, one could be forgiven for thinking that pop music in the form we saw for most of the mid 90's and early noughties is a thing of the past. Luckily, with this collection of singles Girls Aloud have reminded us of … Read more
There’s the references with friends, right? The inside jokes. The glib comments only your inner circle knows to find funny. A real rocks and dirt moment- sorry, that’s one of mine. There’s another level too. The inside jokes you have with yourself. Sometimes you’re the only one who sees the strange roadside billboard or hears the radio DJ mispronounce a … Read more
Git Some is a band which has been around a bit and actually predates the participation of two of its members (Chuck French and Neil Keener) in the much vaunted group, Planes Mistaken for Stars (even though many will consider this a new band featuring ex-members of said well known group for which they would be wrong). Git Some is … Read more
I have a confession to make. I love local music. I am seriously biased with regards to it and will shamelessly plug it to whoever is unfortunate enough to be around me when the topic crops up. Fortunately for all of you however, I am currently living in Leeds which is a hotbed of genuinely interesting and varied music. There … Read more
Six months later... what can I possibly say about St. Elsewhere that hasn't already been ejaculated from the unnecessarily verbose ink-members of numerous self-indulgent online music critics? Yes, it's the best album of the year; it rests securely in the top-ten for this decade. It has been praised by critics, certified platinum, and can easily be found on the iPods … Read more
Since the arrival of the 80's and the consequent death of the era when there were true funk/soul titans, each passing unit of time discouraged any hope of a similar era ever resurfacing. No offense to R. Kelly and Alicia Keys, but the modern acts would get eaten alive by the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Funkadelic. Plus, I think … Read more
Looking for the SPB logo? You can download it in a range of styles and colours here:
Click anywhere outside this dialog to close it, or press escape.