Timeshares
Already Dead
Side One Dummy (2015)
This isn’t what I expected—there’s way more country punk twang than when I caught a short pre-Fest show from Timeshares last year. On Already Dead, the band takes that familiar Fest beard punk thing and mix it up. Using a core of gruff pop punk, they’ve tuned the guitars more clearly and chosen licks over chord progressions for their bridges, … Read more
Titus Andronicus
The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Merge (2015)
Titus Andronicus (+@, as they shorten it) is a punk outfit led by Patrick Stickles, an obvious obsessive who has spent the last three +@ albums cramming barrages of references to Pieter Bruegel, Cheers, Nietzsche, and obscure New Jersey baseball teams into angry punk songs. +@’s most-talked-about work is their second album The Monitor, a grandiose, Civil-War-themed account of what’s … Read more
Treasure Fleet
The Sun Machine
Recess (2015)
You can’t have your middle finger in the air all the time. As such, Isaac Thotz (The Arrivals) has stepped away from his punk-leaning project to explore spacey 1960’s inspired psychedelia with The Treasure Fleet. The band also includes members of Smoking Popes, The Lawrence Arms, and Sass Dragons and was produced by Preston Bryant of Andrew Jackson Jihad, so … Read more
Tymon Dogg
Made Of Light
Thin Man Music (2015)
Sometimes you follow a musician for years, only to learn something that should have stood out at the start. Today’s lesson is Tymon Dogg, related subject: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros and The Clash. Apparently Dogg has played frequently with The Mescaleros and been a songwriting partner to Strummer, even appearing on The Clash’s “Lose My Skin” (Sandanista!).With many namedrops, … Read more
Underground Railroad To Candyland
The People Are Home
Recess (2015)
I wasn’t sure what to make of Underground Railroad to Candyland when I first saw them. They were a very new band, but the style was off-kilter and different than what I expected of a Todd Congelliere (Toys That Kill,F.Y.P) band. But along the way it’s clicked, both for me and the band. Where they first seemed slogany and weird, … Read more
Vaaska
Todos Contra Todos
Beach Impediment (2015)
I've been meaning to check out this Austin, TX-based band for quite some time now (they’ve been active since 2009) but for whatever reason I’ve never gotten around to it. So much punk, so little time I guess. They have released a string of EPs and splits up until this point, but this record is their first official LP. It … Read more
Various Artists
Crab Legs/Not Half Bad - Dorks/Nerds
Ocelot Records (2015)
Spanning the country’s geography north and south, this split from Fargo, ND’s Crab Legs and Fort Worth, TX’s Not Half Bad is a snippet of the varied sounds of the current DIY pop-punk scene and everything that unifies yet separates bands within it. Crab Legs play a coarse shout it out style that’s gruff yet melodic while partners in vinyl … Read more
Various Artists
Post Teens / Rose Cross - split 7"
Dead Tank (2015)
Nice little split 7” here from Dead Tank that I’ve admittedly been sitting on way too long. Technically this is a 2014 release, although I don’t think it started hitting the shops until 2015. Rose Cross is really awesome. One of my favorite discoveries of this past year. They’ve been around for a while but I wasn’t acquainted with them … Read more
Various Artists
Radon/Worthwhile Way - split 7"
No Idea/Eager Beaver (2015)
Radon has never really done a lot for me. The melodies are nice but it really never strikes a chord one way or the other. In “Headaches and Bullshit,” it’s 2:29 of their traditional sound, melodic and emotional, delivered via Dave Rohm’s Greg Attonito-styled (Bouncing Souls) vocals over melodic hardcore with an emphasis on the melodic. It does feature a … Read more
Various Artists
Soaked in Bleach
MVD Visual (2015)
On March 31,1994, singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, frontman for Nirvana and heralded as the spokesman for a generation, escaped from a drug treatment facility in Los Angeles. Eight days later, as rumors of Nirvana’s breakup spread after it was announced the band had pulled out of that year’s Lollapalooza Music Festival, Cobain was found dead in the greenhouse beside … Read more
Viet Cong
Viet Cong
Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar (2015)
Canadian art rock band Women disbanded in 2012, and ex-members Matthew Flegel and Michael Wallace formed Viet Cong almost immediately afterwards. They released an EP, Cassette, in 2013, but this is the first LP we’ve seen from the band. The elephant-sized question in the room is: Is this album really a Viet Cong debut, or is it just another Women … Read more
Wall Of Water
Promo 2015
Independent (2015)
The deliciously gloomy album art on Wall of Water's two-track Promo 2015 features what seems to be a long-abandoned roller coaster rotting away in the elements, an image that seems to jive with the downbeat but arresting style of music played by band members Cullen Toner (multi-instrumentalist and vocalist) and Shawn Eldridge (drummer). Keyboard adds to the occasionally almost theatrical … Read more
Warhorse
As Heaven Turns To Ash...
Southern Lord (2015)
As much as I like the “what if?” scenarios, at the same time I hate them. It is always nice to theorize about what could have happened if x has taken place instead of y. In the case of Warhorse that is a big “what if?” and at the same time an unavoidable one. The band from Massachusetts started off … Read more
Weeping Rat
Tar
Handmade Birds (2015)
Tar has been an insane surprise for me. Even though the album was released back in December, I did not notice Weeping Rat until Handmade Birds announced that they were going to release the album on vinyl with an additional five bonus tracks! Weeping Rat comes from Australia, and even though when you first hear their music you will probably … Read more
Western Settings
Yes It Is
La Escalera (2015)
When listening to a band you’ve never heard of, it’s a lot easier to make all those “sounds like” comments. Whether that’s why I think Western Settings sounds so much like some familiar favorites, or if that’s because they really do, well, that’s maybe beside the point anyway. It’s punk rock, man. There’s supposed to be a touch of derivation … Read more
Worriers
Imaginary Life
Don Giovanni (2015)
I’ve reviewed a lot of records now from Lauren Denitzio’s bands. First, The Measure [SA], and then Cruel Optimist, her current band’s first release. Over those records the sound hasn’t changed so much as it’s grown. The songs are now fuller and deeper. With Worriers specifically, though still in a relatively small sample size, the songs also seem less chorus … Read more
Wrekmeister Harmonies
Night of Your Ascension
Thrill Jockey (2015)
The musical collective led by J.R. Robinson has always been inventive when it came to the subjects of their sonic explorations. You've Always Meant So Much to Me was written to accompany a film that Robinson shot in various areas, including Detroit, the desert of Joshua Tree and the forests of Tasmania. The collaborators in this album helped greatly bring … Read more
Zombi
Shape Shift
Relapse (2015)
Since their founding almost a decade and a half ago, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania duo Zombi (made up of bassist Steve Moore and drummer A.E. Paterra, both of whom contribute synthesizer sound) have positioned themselves among the best contemporary groups inspired by the world of vintage horror soundtracks. Following a string of releases from 2002 through 2011 that found the band utilizing … Read more
