There’s some history here. Red Hare feature current and former members of Bluetip, Retisonic, Dag Nasty, Swiz, and Sweetbelly Freakdown among their ranks. If you’re familiar with their past output then Red Hare won’t come as much of a surprise, except maybe to hear how urgent these elder statesmen still sound. The unacquainted should prepare for some fast, furious rock-punk […]
Read moreI guarantee you that the friends and neighbours of the three members of Irk consider the boys in the band to be fine, upstanding citizens. Nice guys. Never bothered anybody. There’s simply no way they can be as nasty and gnarly as they sound coming through their speakers. But, like little old ladies that can’t believe the man next door […]
Read moreThose band names and that cover art tell you almost everything you need to know about this. Almost. For while there’s a strong smell of medicinal herbs drifting off every riff here, there’s no dumb fug or directionless waffle, only stoner rock done just right. Each band does it in a different way too. Dopelord unfurl ominous, thick-riffed doom with […]
Read moreSome records just seem to… emerge. They don’t arrive politely behind a marketing plan or social media agenda, they barrel and thrash into earshot, slithering out of your speakers like they want to chew on your bones. There are no prizes for guessing that Mastiff, with an album named ‘Plague’ featuring songs called ‘Brainbleed’ and ‘Weep’, are the torture artists […]
Read moreThe Yacht Club began life as a solo endeavor of frontman Marcus Gooda but have now bloomed into a full band and it sounds like they were always meant to be this way. The London-based outfit have turned tragedy- the death of a close friend- into triumph with the release of their debut full-length, ‘The Last Words That You Said […]
Read moreThis album is a time warp. Or at least it desperately wants to be. And it takes just five seconds, and one yowl from Dogwater frontman Brendan Maier, to hear where the Chicago outfit are coming from. From mid-tempo maximum-grunge riffs to fuzzy melodies and sluggish solos, ‘Chout’ wants to drag you into 1994. That band name and even the […]
Read moreThis is about as slow a burn as you can get. Touted as post-rock for fans of Cult of Luna and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, there is only slight connective tissue to the genre here. Instead ‘This Earth…’ finds the artists formerly known as Yodok (they gained the III when multi-instrumentalist Kristoffer Lo and drummer Tomas Järmyr invited celebrated ambient […]
Read moreJanuary is traditionally a slow month for new music. People are still getting over the festive bump, the industry is still creaking back into life, it’s as far as you can get from ‘album of the year’ season. But this month there was plenty to pore over. David Bazan revived Pedro the Lion to memorable effect, Stay Nowhere and Earth […]
Read moreIt’s funny that NŪR’s upcoming EP is called ‘Light Emerges’. Because the Israeli outfit deal exclusively in black, choking riffs, dark, acrid doom, and slow-motion sludge so thick that almost nothing can shine through. Excellent aural punishment for fans of Minsk, Neurosis, and Old Man Gloom.
Read morePolish trio Stay Nowhere are fantastic. They play grainy, grungy alt rock but do it with tons of melody and adrenaline, and stand out from the first note. Check out their newest single, the woozy ‘Kill Me’ below, but then I implore you to backtrack and listen to their 2017 self-titled debut in full. ‘Goosebumps’ on there will give you… […]
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