Music
▼ National Reviews
Review: Moira Scar – Scarred For Life
Moira Scar is an Oakland, Cal., trio fond of wordplay—”De/Monster/A-Tiff” is the title of the opening track on Scarred for Life. That first track is a good guide for the direction the album will be taking. It starts ugly, and stays that way. … read more
Review: Lower Plenty – Hard Rubbish
The Aussie quartet Lower Plenty seem to muster up some characteristically American blues tones in Hard Rubbish. Recorded solely on eight-track reel-to-reel tape, the album has a very raw but warming feel, despite its overwhelming melancholia. … read more
Review: Legs – Pass the Ringo
Pass the Ringo sounds like vintage British Invasion rock put through a broken tape deck in a car with all the speakers blown. Using lo-fi techniques can add grunge and soul elements to an album, but Legs create a fuzzy washout of their music, making any distinct instruments difficult to pick out. … read more
Review: InFiction – When I’m With You
I think naming their EP New Original Dance was a pretty bold move by InFiction. There really isn’t too much of anything that is original on this track list. I have this theory that once you’ve heard one or two electronic dance/trance/trip/techno/whateverthefuckyouwanttocallit songs, then you have basically heard them all. … read more
Review: Glow Marrow – Braver Days
Glow Marrow’s passion is their signature element. Where most indie synth rock bands produce songs that lean towards dance numbers or darker tracks Glow Marrow’s sound is simply just uplifting. … read more
Review: Eksi Ekso – Archfiend
Shitty bands love buzzwords, like art-pop and hyper-sexualized; these guys have nothing but buzzwords. I feel like the lead singer was in a Hoobastank tribute band, and this is his attempt to stay relevant. I honestly can’t tell if it is satire. … read more
Review: Deathfix – Self-Titled
Let’s face it—no one’s favorite member of Fugazi is Brendan Canty. Hell, even the guy’s mother probably prefers Guy Picciotto. Yet here we are with the self-titled release by Canty’s glam band, Deathfix. And glam is the correct description, even if the music tends to deal with weightier subject matter than anything Slade ever put out. … read more
Review: Dead Ending – DE II
This second EP by Dead Ending pairs Aritcles of Faith’s Vic Bondi’s grinding voice with an all-star cast of punk musicians. The end result is a furious, aggressive and lightning-quick batch of songs that straddle the line between 80s hardcore and modern punk. … read more
Review: Davey Suicide – Self-Titled
I don’t know when the metal kids started making industrial music, or when the rivets started headbanging. Maybe it was always so, but I swear, when I was in school, the twain never met except to fight. That is no more, and there’s no better proof than on this eponymous album: 14 tracks of nuclear metal crossed with industrial distortion and quite a few bad words, oh my! … read more
Review: Crime and the City Solution – American Twilight
Critics’ darlings who never quite made the mainstream grade back in the early 1990s, Crime are back with their first release in 20-plus years. … read more