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Reviews by Loren

699 total search results — Page 27 of 35

Dikembe – Muck

Review — January 11, 2021

Gainesville, FL’s Dikembe have been playing around the scene for quite a few years but I’ve never actually checked out their recorded material. I saw them back at Pre-Fest 6 and enjoyed it live but their brand of emo isn’t really my bag. It’s the kind of music that I …

Debt Neglector – Bad Faith EP

Review — January 18, 2021

Debt Neglector put this new digital EP into the world in late 2020, in part to help raise funds for Fair Fight before the Georgia runoff elections. It has five songs, ending on an Elvis Costello cover.That intro is relevant because the songs on Bad Faith are highly political …

Real Numbers – Brighter Then EP

Review — January 18, 2021

Last year took a toll on many, many people. It was rough. It was angry. It was painful. And most art reflected that.Sometimes it’s necessary to take a deep breath, relax, and think about that feeling when the sun shines through the clouds. And that’s what Real Numbers sound …

The Kinks – Part 1. Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround (Deluxe 2CD)

Review — January 25, 2021

Where do I being on reviewing a deluxe edition of a record that’s 50 years old? I’ll start by saying I’m never going to call a deluxe edition perfect -- because a lot of the records getting that treatment were damn near perfect to begin with. There’s definitely a place …

Fox Face – End Of Man

Review — February 1, 2021

It seems fitting that one of the first 2021 releases I’m reviewing is called End Of Man. A look at the news shows a world in crisis and, for deeper meaning, the common parlance is shifting away from gender specific language. So maybe Fox Face is saying men ruined …

Lucero – When You Found Me

Review — February 9, 2021

Lucero describe their music as “rock and soul,” which has evolved from countrified punk to horn-driven rock to balladry and a whole lot more. It’s a fitting and evolving term. Through it all one thing always shines through, which is the personal and heartfelt emotion that defines their songwriting. When …

Daydream – Mystic Operative

Review — February 15, 2021

It’s refreshing when a band is hard to describe. As a review writer it’s certainly a challenge but sometimes it feels a little too easy to slap a hyphenated label on a record to describe the sound. Daydream’s second album, Mystic Operative, isn’t reinventing rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s …

Stiff Richards – State Of Mind

Review — February 22, 2021

I’m doing my damnedest not to judge this book by its cover, because Stiff Richards is far and away the worst band name I’ve heard in some time.With that out of the way, they say punk is an angry genre. Sometimes that’s in the lyrics, sometimes the shouting, sometimes …

City of Industry – False Flowers

Review — March 1, 2021

City of Industry is a hardcore band with their toes in a lot of corners of the scene. False Flowers is the third full-length from the Seattle band and the press sheet says it’s for fans of artists as diverse as “Ceremony, Dystopia, His Hero Is Gone …

Mikey Erg – Mikey Erg

Review — March 1, 2021

Mikey Erg deserves an honorary degree from somebody. The projects he fronts all have a healing, therapeutic quality, which is something we all need as the calendar flips.Billed as a “return to punk” after doing solo singer-with-a-guitar thing, the self-titled record is a statement that begins with its Clash …

Various Artists – Raging Nathans/Reaganomics - Midwest Duress

Review — March 8, 2021

2020 was a rough year -- so rough that I somehow stumbled across two different EPs from last year that end with songs about removing people’s faces. With that noted, I’m certainly curious what abstract and gory trends 2021 will bring…Anyway, Midwest Duress features Raging Nathans (Ohio) and Reaganomics …

Nopes – Djörk

Review — March 8, 2021

Nopes play that brand of melodic noise rock that pummels its listener in the face. It’s aggressive and abrasive, with big riffs, lots of feedback and barked vocals. The aggression sets the tone, but the nuance underneath the noise is what sets it apart from influences like The Jesus Lizard …

Weekend Dads – Future Hangs

Review — March 16, 2021

Sometimes it all comes together, even when you weren’t trying.I picked up this EP for review based, more or less, on its label – It’s Alive – which has released a lot of enjoyable records over the years. Then I thought, you know, this voice sounds like Future Girls …

Safety – Greetings From the Sunshine State

Review — March 23, 2021

Safety are far from a new band, but they’re new me. Heck, Greetings From the Sunshine State even sounds like a debut album title. Anyway, the band has been kicking since the early 2000s – which actually explains a few of the sonic comparisons I’ll make in this review of …

Groupie – Ephemeral

Review — March 30, 2021

This is music for a cloudy day. Titled Ephemeral, Groupie’s debut full-length is moody and fleeting and, to me, delivers a dream-like quality at its best moments.The songs are driven by a rhythmic staccato approach that has a hushed, sing-song quality and occasionally mixes it up with a call-and-response …

Charlie Continental – Be Much Better

Review — March 30, 2021

I dunno. Maybe reviewing a flexi is a weird idea as it’s a standalone thing. I still don’t get them: They wear out really fast; they’re vulnerable to damage and they don’t sound very good. They’re a novelty item and, in an era with fewer physical releases, somehow the most …

Slant – 1집

Review — April 5, 2021

The pandemic has taken its toll on everyone. Even though I’ve stayed healthy, it’s stressful and that inevitably seeps into daily life. One interesting takeaway is that I think I appreciate hardcore more in 2020-21 than I have in the past decade. It’s a good time to be screaming from …

Street Eaters – Simple Distractions EP

Review — April 12, 2021

The info surrounding this EP talks about how Street Eaters have changed. The band formed roughly a decade ago, so there’s always going to be evolution and whatnot -- and there is even a new shape to the band on Simple Distractions, as they’ve officially become a three-piece. Still, …

Come Closer – Pretty Garbage

Review — April 19, 2021

J. Wang has played in a lot of bands: Dan Padilla, Tiltwheel, Altaira, and Shallow Cuts, to name a few. In other words, he’s an active musician and when his other bands broke up, or went on hiatus, or live too far away – throw in …

The Mimes – Plastic Pompeii

Review — April 26, 2021

After all the bedroom pop to come out of quarantine, we finally have a band doing something new that sounds like a real record, not an experiment. The Mimes features Maura Weaver, John Hoffman, and Megan Schroer, who played together in Boys long ago, and more recently in separate projects …