There’s no middle ground here. Bands with names like Dianacrawls that describe their music as funkviolence are guaranteed to either be terrible or totally balls-out terrific. It takes about a millisecond of the Montreal quartet’s debut to decide they are five-star blast of modern screamo for fans of Portrayal of Guilt, early Rolo Tomassi, and latter-day global panic. Tres bien.
Read more‘Green and Gray’ is great. So great. Maybe Pile’s best album to date. So in a way it pains me to report that it’s unlikely to alter their long-held status of The Most Underrated Band Ever. The Boston outfit are something of an acquired taste, see, and their seventh album pretty much picks up where their sixth left off- tight, […]
Read moreI don’t know man. I feel seen here. The fourth album from the very UK-based USA Nails is about the human hamster wheel. My human hamster wheel. This is 12 tracks in 25 minutes, raging at the relentless monotony of commute, clock in, clock out, check social media, sleep and start again. ‘Smile’ is fuzzed-out noise-rock fury, ‘Creative Industries’ turns the refrain […]
Read moreCrash of Rhinos were a great band with a bad name and maybe, just maybe (although probably definitely not) that’s why they split up back in 2014. Now, three of the Rhinos have emerged as Holding Patterns, playing rip-roaring, distinctly old-school emo for fans of Piebald, Braid, and Bear Vs Shark. Most importantly though, they’ve nailed it with that name. […]
Read moreSpotlights know magic. Before now, Chino Moreno, Mike Patton, and, yes, even Moderate Rock have all fallen under the spell of husband and wife doomgazers, Sarah and Mario Quintero. Their debut album seemed to come out of nowhere, emerging from a cloud of smoke to celebrity endorsement and rave reviews, and their second record, the stunning Seismic, not only managed […]
Read moreThis shouldn’t work. The second record by Lazybones Flame Kids methodically ticks every post-rock box before the opening track is through. Slow marching drums, a languid, looping guitar line, and the requisite rapturous crescendo are all put in their right place. But as ‘Beyond’ barrels forward, the excellently-named Sardinian four-piece behind it bend and break and bolt new things on […]
Read moreA quiet month in terms of our usual mixtape content but what April lacked in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality- including two sides of Stephen Brodsky, the return of Sainthood Reps, and some staggering UK post-rock. I hope you find something to love. DRONEFLOWER- Space Ghost I CAVE IN- All Illusion SPOTLIGHTS– The Age of Decay […]
Read moreThe world isn’t tilting off its axis, carbon monoxide is at safe levels, and it’s not vertigo. The actual cause of that queasy lurch you’re feeling is ‘Leg’, the debut album by Beige Palace. From the opening droning tones of ‘Mum, Tell Him’ (which is such a good title) to the final ramshackle stomp of ‘Dinner Practice’ the Leeds outfit […]
Read moreSome bands take time to develop, taking years to craft their best work, while others seem to arrive fully-formed and armed with everything they need to succeed. Leeds-based outfit Mairu formed a little over a year ago and fall firmly into the latter camp. Their debut, ‘Sacred Dissonance’, is dark and dynamic post-metal and doom for fans of Cult of […]
Read moreOutlander have been teasing greatness for a while now. Although the Birmingham slow-rock four-piece have made that as difficult as possible to discover by naming their band the same as a bunch of bands before them, each successive release since their formation in 2013 has been better than the one before it. Out this month, their debut full-length ‘The Valium […]
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