True to form, Nick Oliveri’s debut album under the Uncontrollable moniker boasts squealing guitars, pounding rhythms and driving songs – staples of the musician’s long, vibrant career built on Kyuss, The Dwarves, Queens of the Stone Age and Mondo Generator.
Building on the strength of their 2011 eponymous debut, Three Minute Tease, the Pan-European trio of songwriter Anton Barbeau with Soft Boys/Egyptians alums Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, deliver an even better sophomore effort that effectively blends psychedelic pop with glam rock and power pop.
As one of no wave’s original skronksters, Arto Lindsay pushed the guitar to its noisiest extremes with his improvisational trio, DNA, yet, as a solo artist, he recorded beautiful, soulful music informed by the sounds of his Brazilian heritage.
All in all, this is a hard-charging, up-tempo record with only small breaks in its mood (“Candidate” is an example). It’s also worth noting that Marr is gaining confidence as a vocalist.
Pretty Bitchin’ is not only confirmation of Markham’s arrival as a force to be reckoned with as a songwriter/performer but also suggests to be a crucial piece of the puzzle for Markham in the years to come.
The record builds upon the fusion and free of category feel of Sky Bleached, though this time with steeper hills and deeper valleys to tour.
Not unlike the classic New Zealand label, Flying Nun, Bedroom Suck is building its own roads to listeners and creating an incredible catalog in the process.
Electronic R&B artist Joshua Worden is back with his new album Into Fog. Providing 12 new tracks, the Atlanta musician is at the top of his game and better than ever.
The Big Sleep is a musical milieu where pop melodies are ephemeral and last in your grasp for a very short time before escaping forever.
It is all so unexpected, listening to this record. It is neither run of the mill psychedelia or easy listening, and will take a dedicated set of ears to truly appreciate its finer nuances.
Boasting twelve songs in nine minutes, LA’s Girl Tears do punk right with quick blasts of energetic fury.
Comprised of members of Mac DeMarco’s backing band, Montreal-via-Vancouver-based Walter TV finally see a proper release of their oddball first album posted on Bandcamp in 2012.
Having not collaborated on vinyl since 2009’s Concordia Dischord 7”, two stalwarts of the Southern California noise scene, +DOG+ and Actuary, come together once again with a dark noise attack perfect for the burgeoning fall.
Rising from the primordial ooze of prehistory, Bastard Noise return with another textured onslaught of powerful caveman electronics.
The band sounds like an alternate world where Led Zeppelin had long ago reunited, Amy Winehouse was still alive, and both artists were supporting each other in what could only be described as a dream combination
Continuing on their path of sonic destruction, +DOG+ unleash a sneering twenty-seven minute sendoff to all the people that are no longer needed in the ubiquitous collective’s lives.
If this existed when the band’s heroes were at their peaks, it’s possible the EP may not have sounded as magical or unique, but here and now, Cease and Desist is a fresh dose of something we’ve needed for a long time.
After many years immersed in the underground noise scenes in Los Angeles and New York, sound artist and curator of Brooklyn’s Ende Tymes Festival of Noise and Experimental Liberation, Bob Bellerue (Half Normal, Kilt), finally joins the LEM roster with a major slab of high fidelity vinyl comprised of two sides recorded live at Goodbye Blue Monday in Bushwick within the past five years.
Now gaining momentum after the success of their debut album, Cardiff, Wales-based Joanna Gruesome return with three new songs backed by some friends from Brighton, Trust Fund.
Despite being spread throughout three cities across the US (Boston & Leverett, MA and Chicago, IL), Siamese Twins offer an astonishingly excellent dark dream pop debut that nods heavily to the early ’80s while remaining fluidly current.
Delivering her first solo album after years away from music, former Band of Susans and Rhys Chatham guitarist, Karen Haglof, rediscovers her electric guitar with twelve songs heavily rooted in the blues.
Three years after the release of their critically acclaimed third studio album and now based in Maine, alt-country band, O’Death, reconvene with a sparser, brooding live sound to contradict the massive production of their previous effort.
Brooklyn based songwriter/guitarist Steve Gunn releases his second full blown singer-songwriter record entitled Way Out Weather. Released by North Carolina uprisers, Paradise of Bachelors, Way Out Weather delivers on the lone wolf promise made on Gunn’s 2013 release Time Off.
Gratifying and disorienting, like any challenging music should be, the musicality on display giving fucked up wings to the mutant children of punk and no-wave. Sacral Nerves could be the soundtrack to a stabbing… or the best night of your life.
Released in August by Austin, TX label Marmara, All Worries At Once finds Aycock assembling tinges of patterned synths, drone and gamelan into his singular guitar etchings.
The music is memorable and its impact has lasted decades, and that is a testament to the power of this band’s songwriting and playing. Like all such bands, they deserve a much higher profile.
This self-proclaimed “pot punk” band’s debut Home. Run. is a solid slab of indie fuzz pop that is unsophisticated in the best possible way, and eminently listenable to boot.
Forth Worth troubadour Collin Herring steps firmly out of the shadows with his newest LP entitled Some Knives. His first record since 2009’s Ocho finds Matt Pence of Centro-Matic again behind the production wheel for an upbeat albeit melancholy filled affair where stately drums and synths take a front seat.
On his new album, Naked Tunes, Gonzalez sounds a lot like John Cale’s on his newer releases, effortlessly embracing modern sounds and culture adeptly enough while remaining tied to his past.
QVALIA’s debut album, This Is The Color Of My Dreams, ambitiously explores the electronic soundscapes of the 80’s and merges it succinctly with a modern twist.
Ghost Note Manifest is a thick, sonic tapestry of woven guitars and fiery vocals reminiscent of groups like Fugazi and Queens of the Stone Age.
Finally, a long forgotten entry into Rome, Italy’s Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, arguably the first experimental composers collective featuring famed soundtrack composer, Ennio Morricone, on trumpet, sees its first reissue since it was released in 1973.
As one of San Francisco’s first punk bands formed in 1976, Crime garnered a reputation for bombastic live shows, though they only released three 7” singles before their dissolution in 1982.
He is the quieter side of The Clean, always keeping it on the down low with his candlelit music.
I first listened to these guys in the early 80s, when all the great Flying Nun music was drowning us in a veritable flood, making us wonder what was in the water.
After five years of self-releasing tapes and CDs (some of which are on Bandcamp for free), Mega Bog’s Seattle-based bandleader/songwriter Erin Birgy releases her triumphant statement of retro-futurist lounge weirdness.
The world’s fascination with America’s ‘Wild West’ and country music has long been documented, and Australia’s Billy Roberts seems intent on continuing this trend.
Six years into their musical life, Bradford, UK’s The Hobbes Fanclub finally release a debut album that fully delivers on the sound developed on their early CDr and 7” releases.
Massively produced by Martin Bisi (Swans) for maximum effect, Brooklyn’s Cinema Cinema gleefully deliver a punishing third album that attacks at full throttle.
It’s nice to finally get this Austin “slacker rock” group’s second full-length, following 2005’s Brown Orange Black and Gray. As on their 2008 Newfangled EP, it’s the album’s distinctive nature and welcoming vibe that draws you in.
This record was made to be cranked at juke joints, hoedowns and keg parties. It’s the sound of a bar band reaching peak velocity.
Following welcome releases by Jellyfish, Lone Justice, Camper Van Beethoven and Dream Syndicate, the music fans at Omnivore Records now fill a longstanding void by launching its series of reissues by Scott Miller’s late, great psych-pop band Game Theory. First up is an expanded edition of the band’s 1982 debut album.
Releasing their debut eponymous album, Rival Empire, the group lifts bits and bobs from Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac, and Michael Jackson to further their idea of using the sounds of the 80’s to create biting social commentary for today.
Even thru it’s darker and more experimental moments, in which there are many on Remember I was Carbon Dioxide, the group continue to have a conscious point of view that allows for both impulse and heritage to play a part.
This spunky, punky all-female NYC quartet’s third LP bristles with an increased tension and urgency. It also packs a heftier wallop than their previous albums, and the interweaving post-punk guitars benefit from added bite and bile.
It all culminates with “The Golden Age of Bloodshed,” a track that is perhaps the finest in his entire discography.
The opening track, “Far From Over” greets the listener with a wall of sound, awash with reverb and distant, largely indistinguishable sounds lurking in the background that make the song all the more beautiful to the ears.
Having changed their name back to Lunchbox after releasing an album as Bird of California last year on Jigsaw, the Oakland, CA-based duo of Tim Brown and Donna McKean (both members of Hard Left) finally release their third full-length release under their proper moniker.
