Some music works as background listening. And that’s fine. But some music refuses to exist anywhere but in the closest foreground. So damn close. The latest album from Bristol doom crew Sonance is firmly in the latter category. Oh, you can try and ignore the opening, ambient movement here but when ‘Manipulation Domination Control’ finally explodes it will stop you […]
Read moreThe constant churn of new music normally slows down around November but this month has seen the release of classic American emo, great British metal, and at least one late, great, album of the year contender- and it feels like there’s still so much more to come. These are my favourite songs this month. I hope you find something to […]
Read moreHowls are apparently not dead yet but there’s no denying they have been very very quiet for almost two years now. If this brilliant double-header does turn out to be the Brighton bunch’s last hurrah then it’s a compelling bang to go out on. ‘Eye to Eye’ and ‘Brick by Brick’ aren’t new songs though, they actually pre-date the band’s […]
Read moreScreamo might be one of the silliest genre names with a definition now distorted beyond all recognition but the original scene’s sound consistently produces some of the most earnest, honest, compelling music. Ruined Families, a four piece from Athens, Greece, are another fine, fiery example. Their 2016 full-length, ‘education’, is brilliantly chaotic at times, furiously focused at others, and essential […]
Read moreThis is a special record. In fact, ‘Death Spells’ isn’t just another record, this is a real work of art. And this is one of those works capable of moving you, transporting you, maybe even changing you. This isn’t just another record, it’s a long hard stare out into the dawn or the dusk or some other time of low […]
Read moreThere’s a chance that Pijn get passed over. The Manchester-based outfit specialise in ambient drones, fraught, repeating noise, and the slowest of slow-burning post-metal. And this, their first full-length is over an hour of musical catharsis made without approval or acceptance in mind. Perhaps you expect nothing less from a paean to grief in all of its forms written by […]
Read moreThis is great. ‘Snuff’, the sophomore album by Lingua Nada, is a kid that can’t sit still, a glitter cannon fired straight into your brain, an audacious, bodacious triumph. While the German band’s debut tried and perhaps mildly succeeded in pulling away from an indie rock template, this thing is just something else. Opener ‘SVRF Party’ starts exactly like its […]
Read moreSure feels like the end of 2018 is screaming up fast huh? Before we truly enter list season and Album of the Year territory though, October was worth stopping and listening out for. From new names to returning legends, from neoclassical gloom to brusing British everythingcore, and three bands with deities in their name, the #moderaterockrecommends playlist features my favourite […]
Read moreThis is a car crash. But, y’know, in a good way. In the way that there’s chaos and confusion in the air- songs seem to twist and sharply turn, jam-session emo to poetic indie rock to something new, as jarring noises cut through silence and sudden quiets fall without warning. In the way that there are pieces bent out of […]
Read moreBig Jesus have somehow passed me by until now and I have no idea how. The Atlanta, Georgia four-piece play fuzzy, buzzy, warm and anthemic, capital-r rock that’s right up my street and, hey, maybe yours. They released one full-length in 2016 and new EP, ‘Not a Dreamer’, is out today. For fans of Torche, Nothing, and My Bloody Valentine. […]
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