699 total search results — Page 17 of 35
Birthday Suits – Adult Party: Spin the Bottle
Review — June 8, 2015
Birthday Suits always surprise me on record. Live, it’s fierce and reckless; sweaty mayhem and cathartic rock ‘n’ roll. On record, it’s more calculated, with the vocals coming stronger in place of the guitar/drum overload that powers the live show.The Minneapolis two-piece play something in the vein of garage …
Red Dons & TV Smith – A Vote For the Unknown
Review — June 15, 2015
Red Dons are a band I’ve meant to check out for some time. As a reviewer, perhaps I’m supposed to go check out the whole back catalog, but I often find it equally useful to approach a band tabula rasa, as that gives a better view of where this specific …
Underground Railroad To Candyland – The People Are Home
Review — June 22, 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 …
The Splits – II
Review — July 13, 2015
I really like Dirtnap Records, but they can’t all be winners. The Splits start off II with a really positive vibe in “Rotten Me,” with a powerful and familiar rock ‘n’ rollin’ base behind music that’s emphatic and emotional. I really like the enunciation by singer Helena throughout this song. …
Great Cynics – I Feel Weird
Review — July 27, 2015
Naming a record I Feel Weird is a statement about the psyche of Great Cynics, and an applicable one at that (for the band, not necessarily the members). The band’s third record, it wavers between melodic pop punk with digressions into exploratory indie-alt rock. What that means in real English …
Boilerman – Boilerman
Review — August 17, 2015
It took me 8 minutes to listen, so it should 8 minutes to write it too. Or, something. Really that’s just a bad Futurama reference so I can “cleverly” say that this is a short EP with 5 songs total. The song names are on this EP are “I,” “II,” …
Radioactivity – Silent Kill
Review — August 31, 2015
These guys know how to start off a record, with the rapid fire “Battered” pummeling with riffage for the first minute and then Jeff Burke’s familiar vocals chime in and the record transitions to melodic and punky pop songs—and not the kind of pop that’s usually attached to that word. …
Tit – Tit
Review — September 28, 2015
So I’m a fan of The Hussy. People who read this site have (hopefully) picked up on that. Well, TIT is a two piece with Bobby Hussy and Shawn Foree of the more popular (but previously unheard by me) Digital Leather. Let’s just say that their 12” is …
Bangers – Bird
Review — October 5, 2015
Bird is the Bangers record I wanted in 2013. Crazy Fucking Dreams is a good record, it was just a little less direct than I wanted from the band, being a little more on the introspective and drawn out (in punk terms) side of things than an aggressive and, er, …
Worriers – Imaginary Life
Review — October 19, 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 …
The Blind Shake – Fly Right EP
Review — November 2, 2015
The Blind Shake have honed their sound over the years, always identifiable yet always moving it forward and with a keen difference between records. It’s pretty impressive considering they write 2-3 minute stomp-garage tracks with a big emphasis on beat and hook—a style where repetition and sameness run rampant.Where …
Night Birds – Mutiny at Muscle Beach
Review — November 23, 2015
It’s getting tough to find new things to say about Night Birds. They’re as great as ever with third LP Mutiny at Muscle Beach, it’s just that the sound hasn’t changed all that dramatically from day one. Album #3 is supposed to be when they go all avant on …
Basement Benders – Lydiad
Review — November 30, 2015
Side projects aren’t supposed to invite other band comparisons, they’re supposed to separate, to show artisticrange. Who are we kidding here? Basement Benders is a punk project out of members of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Hidden Spots, Future Virgins, and Black Rainbow—DIY bands who …
Loud Boyz – Tough Love, Hard Feelings
Review — December 22, 2015
Before I get started I’m going to dish out a rare complement. Loud Boyz have a good, fitting name. Even the record title, Tough Love, Hard Feelings is apt of their sound: rough, distant, yet with a clear emotional connection. Sure, the record cover is…let’s say odd, and I kind …
Tymon Dogg – Made Of Light
Review — January 4, 2016
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, …
The Hussy – Galore
Review — February 1, 2016
Why have children when I can just listen to my music and watch the bands change and grow instead? First they learned to stumble, then to walk, and finally to slow dance. Er, I dunno. This metaphor fell apart before it even hit the page.What didn’t fall apart are …
Shadow in the Cracks – Shadow in the Cracks
Review — February 29, 2016
What does it mean when a three-piece band has a spin-off two-piece? While the premonition is that drama is afoot for member number three, that’s probably overthinking it. At least in the case of Shadow in the Cracks, a side project of The Blind Shake where brothers Blaha split off …
Various Artists – Radon/Worthwhile Way - split 7"
Review — March 14, 2016
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 …
Various Artists – Crab Legs/Not Half Bad - Dorks/Nerds
Review — March 28, 2016
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 …
