Month: June 2013
Review: Bleeding Rainbow – Yeah Right
Doubling their ranks and replacing “reading” with “bleeding” in their moniker means these Philadelphians become even more annoyingly aligned with Shields, Butcher and the other anglo-forefathers of pop-inflected sneaker gazing. … read more
Review: Blood Ceremony – The Eldritch Dark
While many listeners may expect to hear the overdriven Black Sabbath worship of Living With The Ancients, Blood Ceremony take a clear step toward their folk influences on The Eldritch Dark. … read more
Review: Bonobo – The North Borders
Strange and inconsistent effects and backbeats on this album suck you into a lucid dreamscape of seemingly impenetrable auditory hallucinations … read more
Review: Binary – Amber EP
Deeply layered and grungy post-goth indie-rock, this five-track EP is like a postcard from a downgraded northern town in England, postmarked 1989. … read more
Review: Blank Realm – Go Easy
Judging by the opening bass line of the first track (“Acting Strange”), I thought Blank Realm was a Swedish hardcore band. … read more
Review: Bill Ryder-Jones – A Bad Wind Blows In My...
After leaving the band The Coral, singer-songwriter Bill Ryder-Jones’ new solo album shows that he probably made a good move. … read more
Review: Big Eyes – Almost Famous
Apparently a Seattle band by way of New York, Big Eyes comes to bat with some serious rock pedigree. Made out of a fairly traditional three-piece, Big Eyes doesn’t do much to experiment with the formula, but they’ve got a solid sound that doesn’t wear out their welcome. More on the garage rock end of the spectrum, their one secret weapon comes in the form of their female vocalist, the husky-voiced and charismatic Kate Eldridge. … read more
Review: Be’Lakor – Of Breath and Bone
With the Gothenburg Swedish melodic death metal scene a shadow of what it once was, melodic death metal’s torch is being held by band outside the Swedish Circle, such as Be’Lakor from Australia. … read more
Review: Barren Womb/Remote – Self-Titled Split
You can’t help but foil bands whenever you’re faced with a split. There is no better band between the two—the only victor in this split is the audience. … read more
Review: Austra – Olympia
2011’s Feel It Break was essentially Katie Stelmanis’ bedroom project. For their second album, Stelmanis was inspired by touring with Austra and created Olympia in a studio setting with her bandmates. … read more