Issues: Issue 301 - January 2014
Local Review: Anthropology – Anthology
This type of Midwestern math-pop made by and for music eggheads often goes unexplored by musicians shoehorned into bands who don’t have the same penchant for shredding in some perversely weird time signature or really appreciate near–blast beat double kick drum or two-handed tapping in a pop format. … read more
Local Review: A Lily Gray – Waiting Room
Polished, local alt-rock group A Lily Gray returns with another teaser of an EP that will get you salivating for a full album from this quintet. … read more
Review: Gary Numan – Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)
Numan’s latest album, Splinter (Songs For A Broken Mind), the 19th full-length released under his own name, has expanded his exploration of heavy industrial pop music, the sound he’s embraced since the early ’90s. … 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Dot Wiggin Band – Ready! Get! Go!
Without this kind of stuff by the original outsider band, you wonder if someone like Daniel Johnston would’ve been possible, and it’s fitting that this is on the label of Jello Biafra, who discovered Wesley Willis. … read more
Review: Dethklok – Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem
Listen up for cameos by Jack Black, Malcom McDowell, George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, and Mark Hamill. This isn’t a death metal album, but if you have enough humor to enjoy the show, the album is worth it. It’s extremely well written, and epic as all hell. … read more