LISTEN: The High Violets – Heroes and Halos (Saint Marie)
Through my job, I’ve seen more gourmet cakes in six months than in my 25 years of admiring cakes. The real luxury in these confections usually isn’t the cake itself, but the two-inch glove of gummy fondant frosting, often curled into pink ribbons atop the solid white base. Now, most guests just can’t handle that […]
SOTD #720 – Jeff Runnings
Come to think of it, “dreampop” is a horrible tag. Rarely anything that the indie world perceives as “pop” is ever popular, and then the stuff we perceive as “dreamy” rarely lulls us into any dream-like state of bliss. Mired in the existential angst of post-punk, “dreampop” done right leads us further into ourselves, to […]
DMA’s – Hills End (I Oh You)
Sigh. Sometimes I do wonder. Here we are, 2016. A rallying cry for black power and girl power stole the show at the Super Bowl. Strong women front bands and speak their minds (case in point – our last album review, our last SOTD). An ace LP from Brood Ma echoes the dystopian reality of […]
TEEN – Love Yes (Carpark)
Transformation’s a tricky business. How do you move forward without sacrificing that essential charm or genius that propelled you to the limelight in the first place? Prog rock bands like Genesis and the Moody Blues traded in their mysticism for cultural cache, and crumpled into commoners with synths. Tame Impala followed their example, and traded […]
Witching Waves – Crystal Café (HHBTM / Soft Power)
You feel misplaced too, don’t you? Some place was promised for us, for the talents that our teachers adored. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We shouldn’t be the ones stranded in apartments, stuck in the towns we hate, doing the work that no one with dignity would do. Well, then. You can just lie there […]
SOTD #717 – Ratbath
My brother Ben and I, we used to be like crossed fingers. I didn’t need any other friends on the playground, because I could always just hang out with him after school. We told stories together, played word games and card games and our modified version of Rock-Paper-Scissors. In the mornings, we’d just lie on […]
You Beauty – Illywhacka (Bedroom Suck)
As someone who broadcasts opinions (not for a living, tho), I worry when a band strikes my fancy and I can’t explain why. By all accounts, You Beauty shouldn’t charm me as they do – they’re the usual four-man rock band outfit from Sydney, albeit with slick new wave haircuts and humming basslines and banshee […]
SOTD #716 – Animal Daydream
Well, here we are again. Another year, another lush EP for running through cornfields barefoot, another suggestion that Gothenburg might float on a cloud high and away from the tumultuous river of now. I’m not about to renounce any of my thoughts on how music needs to keep moving forward, that musicians need to challenge […]
SOTD #714 – Dendera Bloodbath
Photo courtesy of Immersive Atlanta. In the great kingdom of Atlanta, way up north toward the mountains, there lies a village within the foothills. No families or clans call this hamlet home, for the grass is eternally charred, and the barren trees glow faintly at night, and voices chirp and chatter where no humans or […]
SOTD #713 – Halfsour
Say you’ve gone out to see a gig in a new town. You’ve arrived early, as is your custom, but already people are crowding the couches and milling in bunches. You don’t know any of these people. Your legs lock as you stand at the threshold, scanning for somewhere unobtrusive to sit. Twenty minutes crawl […]
