The BeggarAlbum by SwansReleased 23 June 2023Experimental RockProduced by Michael GiraRating – 7.5/10 A few new ideas, a few old ideas, the same Swans-tastic result as ever. – It’s difficult to be in the right headspace to discuss Swans, partially due to one’s own psyche seldom levelling up to the despair frequented by frontman Michael […]
O MonolithAlbum by SquidReleased 9 June 2023Post-Punk / Art PunkLabel – WarpRating – 6.5/10 Squid reintroduce themselves as weird boundary-pushers. – I could write another piece of exposition based around the unlikely saturation of soundalike post-punk. However, we have uplifting news: Squid have found the repellent to the tropes of a once trope-less movement, and […]
DogsbodyAlbum by Model/ActrizReleased 24 February 2023Noise Rock / Post-IndustrialLabel – True PantherRating – 8.5/10 Dogsbody is where bleakness and ecstasy embrace. – Dogsbody – debut album by New York no wave/noise group Model/Actriz – is an extreme pileup of temperaments, influenced by dusk and dawn, hope and misery, fear and love. Attempting to find a […]
Submersive BehaviourEP by Tropical Fuck StormReleased 3 February 2023Art Punk / ExperimentalLabel – Joyful NoiseRating – 7/10 In a world of reimagination… – Tropical Fuck Storm are on a parallel universe kick, morphing (mostly) pre-existing material into new states both maniacal and dreamy on EP Submersive Behaviour. The Melbourne psych outfit’s latest emerges from the […]
Heavy RocksAlbum by BorisReleased 12 August 2022Experimental RockLabel – RelapseRating – 7.5/10 Return of the rocks. – In 2002, Japanese experimental rock/drone band Boris released stoner-riffic album Heavy Rocks. The album would be met by a sequel in 2011, before morphing the series into a trilogy via the recently-released third edition, celebrating twenty years of […]
HellfireAlbum by Black MidiReleased 15 July 2022Progressive RockProduced by Marta SalogniRating – 9.5/10 One of the great musical achievements of 2022. – I was going to write a song-ranking article for Black Midi’s Hellfire, but pitting these extreme displays of genius against each other feels unfair. I’ve decided instead to embrace the intricacies of the […]
Shunka RyougenAlbum by Haru NemuriReleased 22 April 2022J-Rock / Art RockLabel – TO3SRating – 7.5/10 Haru Nemuri does it all on Shunka Ryougen. – Look for the soul-searching glitch pop of Souzou Suru to sample the genre augmentations of Haru Nemuri. At the heart of new album Shunka Ryougen, brazen landscapes flicker, no matter how […]
Instrument – Jem Cohen’s documentary based on D.C. post-hardcore outfit Fugazi – is not vital viewing for those unintrigued by the DIY scene or outsider alternative rock at a time when the genre was as mainstream as Bryan Adams. But it is a disorienting snapshot of the band’s politics, candidness, and live shows, that long […]
Fear of the DawnAlbum by Jack WhiteReleased 8 April 2022Experimental Blues RockLabel – Third Man – What differentiates Jack White’s blues rock from the rest of the pack – for instance, bands like Royal Blood or Death From Above 1979 – is the mere fact that he sounds as though he’s ready to combust at […]
CavalcoversEP by Black MidiReleased 22 March 2022Experimental RockLabel – Rough TradeRating – 7/10 Black Midi mutilate a few favourites – yes, in a good way. – On Cavalcovers (a spectacular title), Black Midi cover Taylor Swift’s Love Story in the style of The Killers, King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man in the style of themselves, […]
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