Music
▼ National Reviews
Review: I Break Horses – Chiaroscuro
Although it feels like I’ve heard this album a hundred times before, performed by different artists throughout the years, I Break Horses deliver a skillful synth-pop performance of epic proportions. … read more
Review: Green Velvet – Unshakable
This album is ahead of its time, and I’ve got a feeling that these tracks are going to be snaking their way into the club for at least the next decade, which, to be honest, is close to 100 years in the EDM culture. It is pure, unapologetic insanity—it’s THAT fucking good. … read more
Review: Gap Dream – Shine Your Light
Psychedelic music tends to be bent on creating a feeling rather than giving a message. Nothing says the music needs to be either, but on Shine Your Light, Gap Dream provides the latter. They’ve traded in a previously raw and dark sound for synthesized guitars and an often-seductive vibe from front man Gabe Fulvimar, whose message is simple: “Love is not allowed to those that run.” … read more
Review: Evan Ønly – No Matter What EP
In his debut solo EP, Evan Brody takes an old sound and makes it new again. Most of No Matter What could easily be mistaken for classic ’80s music, which, as far as this writer is concerned, the world needs more of. … read more
Review: Eraas – Initiation
Initiation, Eraas’ second full-length album full of trip hop beats, kraut rock tempos and ethereal vocal samples, is remarkably hermetic and cohesive. Like Chelsea Wolfe, Eraas infuse their vocals with haunting echoes to create a kind of ominous atmosphere, especially on the sinister tracks such as “Old Magic” and “Above.” … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Light That Comes, Light That Goes
My first thought upon hearing the familiar “if you need help, please hang up and try again…” recording in Light That Comes, Light That Goes’ opening track, “If You Need Help,” was that it may be a bit too ubiquitous of a sample to be effective in another context. … read more
Review: Ensemble Economique – Interval Signals
Interval Signals, one of two recordings from Brian Pyle’s Ensemble Economique solo project released in December, is a 40-minute pastiche of field recordings, radio sounds, and as the album’s title implies—interval signals. … read more
Review: The Devil Makes Three – I’m a Stranger Here
Few bands can capture the imagination like Devil Makes Three. They invoke deep-woods medicine shows, jumping blues juke joints and midnight hootenannies by moonlight. … read more
Review: COUM Transmissions – Home Aged and The 18 Month...
P-Orridge’s career has been an ever-unfolding experiment in the evolution and control of personal identity, and Home Aged and other COUM recordings are a fascinating look at the early, embryonic phase of P-Orridge’s artistic genesis. … read more
Review: Celeste – Animale(s)
Listening to Animale(s) is not enjoyable. It’s a tough, thick, oppressive listen, sung in French, with few moments of respite from what sounds like 100 guitar tracks crunching over relentless drumming. … read more