Issues: Issue 319 - July 2015
Review: Full Scale Riot – Depopulation
Full Scale Riot Depopulation Riot Records Street: 02.08 Full Scale Riot = Bane + Vision of Disorder + Burn Armed with an old school hardcore sound and an arsenal of politically themed lyrics, these NJHC heavyweights tear it up with this torrential EP. Hailing from New Jersey—home to hardcore giants like Vision and Mouthpiece—FSR discernibly
Review: Falling Stacks – No Wives
Falling Stacks No Wives Battle Worldwide Street: 06.08 Falling Stacks = Mclusky + Burning Airlines + The Mae Shi Post-hardcore is a difficult genre to penetrate for me. The genre dances around the edges, obscuring meaning with angular guitar riffs and vocals that vacillate between lackadaisical mumblings and bursts of energy. These guys from Bristol
Review: EZTV – Calling Out
EZTV Calling Out Captured Tracks Street: 07.10 EZTV = The Only Ones + Twerps + Juan Wauters Sometimes, all one needs is the sweet, simple sensation of tunes that represent the uplifting, positive nature of something smooth and non-controversial. EZTV’s Calling Out has the sensibilities of calm 1960s pop, the soft punch of late-’70s power
Review: Eternal Summers – Gold and Stone
Eternal Summers Gold and Stone Kanine Records Street: 05.26 Eternal Summers = Cold Beat + Black Tambourine Even in their name, Eternal Summers evokes a kind of summertime nostalgia, mixing a subtle punk attitude from classic influences like the Wipers with a ’90s lo-fi sound. Gold and Stone is the fourth full-length release that the
Review: Downtown Boys – Full Communism
Downtown Boys Full Communism Don Giovanni Records Street: 05.02 Downtown Boys = X-Ray Spex + Black Flag Downtown Boys deliver a ferocious display of killer sax and some on-point, no-bullshit punk rock. Through their bilingual Marxist-feminist lyrics, Downtown Boys smash through a genre that is traditionally white and male. They’ve got an infectious energy that
Review: Dustin Lovelis – Dimensions
Dustin Lovelis Dimensions Porch Party Records Street: 05.19 Dustin Lovelis = Lapland + Sam Cohen / Woods Multi-instrumentalist Dustin Lovelis offers the world his solo debut album in the form of Dimensions. It’s an ambitious effort, one that shows Lovelis creating songs out of country and subtle psychedelic elements to create mostly pop songs. Lovelis’
Review: Dog Party – Vol. 4
Dog Party Vol. 4 Asian Man Records Street: 06.16 Dog Party = The Muffs + Baby Shakes The beauty here is the power that Dog Party blasts out behind their poppy simplicity. I mean, what’s not to like in an album that is shrouded in the innocence of punchy, heavy guitar riffs and ’90s-influenced punk
Review: Doomsquad – Pageantry Suite
Doomsquad Pageantry Suite Bella Union Street: 05.25 Doomsquad = Odesza + AWOLNATION + Grizzly Bear What sounds like an updated and less campy version of The B-52s is a Toronto-based, all-sibling group that channels a #vibe à la Yoko Ono. The opening track on the five-song EP begins with a slow, ethereal synth sound before
Review: Cuushe – Night Lines EP
Cuushe Night Lines EP Cascine Street: 04.07 Cuushe = Supreme Cuts + Populous + oOOoOO Shaking off the murky, noisy and wandering tangles of earlier works and slipping into a suit of dark, rhythmic clarity, Kyoto-native Cuushe presents her four-track EP Night Lines. She keeps with her trippy, experimental foundations, but the addition of faster
Review: David Allred – Midstory
David Allred Midstory Oscarson Street: 04.20 David Allred = Peter Broderick + Nick Drake – Efterklang Barely into his twenties, California-born David Allred studied jazz early on, but then his states were expanded and, upon moving to Portland in 2013, his self-released recordings caught the ear of Peter Broderick of the darkwave folk group Efterklang. After