Narrow Head nearly pull off the perfect heist here. ‘Satisfaction’, the Texas trio’s debut full-length borrows from a bunch of great bands. Ok, so maybe borrows isn’t strong enough. This is a record that sounds like it’s been copied, cut, and pasted right out of the 90s. The hazy, hammering riff of ‘Necrosis’ owes much to prime Deftones, ‘Feels Like […]
Read moreWes Borland will never escape the shadow of Limp Bizkit. But on the basis of everything he’s chosen to do outside of being the guitarist of the biggest nu-metal band in the world, though, he’s not going to stop trying. Borland has explored oddball cartoon-core, stomping industrial, and even being part of Marilyn Manson’s band over the years, all with […]
Read moreThis is brilliant. A heady mix of memorable melodies, hard-driving rhythms, soft focus soundscapes, feedback, thick swirls of darkness and glimmers of light, the second record from North Carolina quartet Jenny Besetzt is everything I want from indie rock. Opener ‘Authorless Speech’ sounds so warm and familiar that you’ll swear you’ve heard it before. It sounds like the best thing […]
Read moreThis isn’t a supergroup. Sure, a bunch of folks know what Jeremy Bolm, Neeraj Kane, Stephen LaCour and Jay Weinberg have done before but way more people would have to fire up a search engine to find out. Hell, the guy who mixed this record, erstwhile Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, is a bigger deal. This isn’t a supergroup and don’t […]
Read moreThrice are back. And it’s difficult not to get overexcited about their return. The Californian quartet boast a back catalogue overflowing with original quality and only seemed to go from strength to strength before they called it a day five years ago, leaving a unique, almost genreless hole that no band got close to filling. They’re different from other groups […]
Read moreThere’s always been a pop group inside Boyfrndz, battling to get free. On the Texas quartet’s third album, it’s closer to the surface than ever. ‘Ghosted’ turns up making a ton of noise but settles into a grungy, melodic groove that will tap on the back of your brain for days, ‘High and Tight’ is The Mars Volta covering The […]
Read moreA stirring, expressive and lush example of modern classical music, the first standalone album from film composer Richard J Birkin is outstanding. The glassy class of the opening movement, the brief but beautiful ‘The Human Voice’, and the hypnotic repeated vocals (the only ones here) of ‘Moonbathing’ are just some of the reasons why this is so immersive from the […]
Read moreThere’s a ghost in the room. It’s the spirit of Yndi Halda’s first album, ‘Enjoy Eternal Bliss’. That record, released almost a decade ago now, arrived to little fanfare but eventually you couldn’t have a conversation about the British post-rock scene without someone mentioning it. It wasn’t perfect but there was something special there, a handmade, experimental, exceptional quality. So […]
Read moreIt all makes sense now. One listen to ‘Audio Noir’ and it becomes clear why Bossk have taken so long to release their debut album. The Kent unit’s first new music for three years, and their first substantial release since their last EP almost a decade ago, is monolithic. It doesn’t feel like it was recorded by regular microphones in […]
Read moreDrama, drama, drama. If you caught any interview with Deftones in the lead up to the release of ‘Gore’ you could be forgiven for thinking this was a record born of conflict, full of songs of frustration and jealousy, played by a band on the edge. It was the light of frontman Chino Moreno versus the dark of guitarist Stephen […]
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