Month: June 2013
Review: Various Artists – Steampunk Experiment: Mechanical Cabaret
Steampunk Experiment: Mechanical Cabaret = S. Maharba x Men In Burka
This album is a beat junky’s playground. As soon as I hear the buzzing bass and tweaked Eastern strings of “Sweet Talk,” I can think of multiple ways to sample the music. … read more
Review: Tormented – Death Awaits
Hey, this is almost like Entombed never flip-flopped on their style. Tormented help the old-school Swedish death metal remain alive along with their own rusted twists and nasty riffs. … read more
Review: Tim & Adam – Self-Titled
Before Tim & Adam, I had never actually listened to either of them. Tim, of The Postmarks and Adam from I Am Stereo came together and created an album that will most likely end up on many a summer mixtapes. … read more
Review: The Knife – Shaking The Habitual
Shaking the Habitual extends beyond the scope of the record—it’s a manifesto for a 21st Century pop culture ontology. … read more
Review: The Uncluded – Hokey Fright
Hip hop meets nursery rhymes with this collab from Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson. … read more
Review: The Runs – Pretty Girls
Pretty Girls needs more “Hey! Ho!”s and “Gabba gabba hey!”s. The lyrics are extruded from a Joey Ramone-‑like perspective, and the vocals of Scott Free have a similar cadence and tone to Joey. … read more
Review: The Chapin Sisters – A Date With the Everly...
What began as a labor of love for the Chapin Sisters has become a terrific installment to their catalogue, and even though the entire record is made up of Everly Brothers tunes, its almost as if the record is a collaboration of the two groups. … read more
Review: The Haxan Cloak – Excavation
Throughout Excavation, Bobby Krlic makes incredible use of his background in sound design. … read more
Review: The Brains – The Monster Within
Psychobilly has an inherent problem in that the genre is a formula. Punk mixed with rockabilly decorated with horror imagery. Now by the time most bands have achieved those three elements they don’t seem to look beyond them, and that’s where the genre has become stagnant. Very few bands have been able to break the mold like The Brains. These Canadian psychos play at break neck speeds, but in some unholy way are still able to keep their songs highly melodic. … read more
Review: The Hussy – Way With Words
The same rushed, distorted drumbeat for the EP’s short entirety might be too much without the simple and upbeat melodies played on a cheap-sounding keyboard or Catatonic Youth–style echoed noises—laser beams maybe? … read more