This esoteric New Haven, CT art-rock duo consists of guitarist/keyboardist Paul Belbusti, also of prolific psych-folk outfit Mercy Choir, and drummer Michael Kiefer, of weighty sludge-rockers Myty Konkeror. However, Rivener sounds nothing like their other bands.
Whatever is an album that is rough around the edges, but perhaps that’s the point and it’s all the better for it.
Our aggressively dystopian present has collided with Tune-Yards, temporarily sapping them of their comedy. However, wit stays safely intact on their latest, and they’ve traded in their jesting aptitude for a beefed up dance engine, destined to get every last woke one of us on the floor.
After the demise of Throbbing Gristle in 1981, frontman Genesis P-Orridge formed Psychic TV with former bandmate Peter Christopherson as an audio/visual enterprise building on the mindset of their former group.
“He pens lovely compositions drenched with emotion. Carey’s easy, almost laid back approach speaks of confidence and clarity of vision. He was trained in jazz and it lends itself to the skillful presentation on this release”
Political electronic pioneers Meat Beat Manifesto, led by lone remaining founding member Jack Dangers, continues evolving their ever-morphing sound with a nod to ’90s darkness on their first album in seven years.
Wolf In The Fold, in fantastic, explosive pulsations, hearkens back to the rawer, unbridled history of the Wild West—a history which is in many ways fabricated, and in doing so the band’s music adds to this mythologizing.
“Whatever you’re expecting with this fine new release from Melbourne band The Citradels, it’s not one size fits all psychedelia. They manage to mash up a wide variety of styles, ranging from the paisley vibes of “Believe and Receive” to the stellar, Beach-Boys infused “Dawn Chorus”, with its gorgeous harmonies and gentle melodic warmth.”
Michael Shepard appears to be staying in his electro-pop phase with the release of Relive. It is a crisp, modern album with a steady flow of mid to slow tempo synth-driven/ effects songs. Let’s hope they take this effort on the road as it would be great to hear these in a live setting side by side with the bands earlier rock anthems.
si,irene is really fantastic at blending both arty angularity and indie pop melodicism, and this commitment to confronting preconceived musical ideas is at the forefront of their existence as a group.
By 1975, sex-funk queen Betty Davis had assembled her own band, about half of which were family, and poised to conquer the music industry with her tightest, heaviest album to date and debut for Island Records.
Listening to this New Haven, CT piano-fronted trio’s debut album, it’s hard to fathom that their powerful-piped lead singer Laini Marenick had never sung in front of anyone until her wedding three years ago.
for(e)go is an important first introduction from a musician with an original and compellingly fresh perspective.
“I listen to this release and wonder how they summon such creative talents on all their work, fine, crystalline pop with a gentle dream pop cadence and hints of psych pop. It’s like they channeled Lloyd Cole’s entire catalogue and mashed it up with the best of Flying Nun and Postcard era music.”
“ this seemingly obscure band has been venerated by a generation and more, and the album has been reissued multiple times”
On Wexico, The Midwesterns offer ten enjoyable rockabilly/ alt-country tunes. Songs of love lost, hope and advice are sure to be sing-along anthems coming to local (and hopefully further) honky-tonks across the nation in the new year.
In reality, If You’re So Smart is actually much closer to art pop disguised with distortion than anything else, ultimately creating an experience that only reveals and intensifies with closer listening.
True Dimension is a must-listen for anyone who loves Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but most importantly it only heightens the anticipation for the inevitability of a full-length from Seneko.
Like a tape-recorded diary set to surreal, spooky sound collages, Berkeley, CA avant-garde artist Dominic Francisco’s second LP makes us feel like we’re prying into someone’s most private, painful emotions.
“This music is always striking, profound, and intensely emotional. It is difficult to write emotive instrumental music, but here, we have ethereal, supremely beautiful tone poems that paint multi-hued pictures in the listener’s mind.”
The Wichita Flag earns much more than it sets out to achieve, and across its felicitous 15-minute runtime, Les Easterby crafts a clever riposte in the face of blindly homogenized moralism.
The first of Wichita wunderkind Les Easterby’s Black Friday EPs stems from his longstanding World Palestine outfit. It features his wonderfully typical subtle poetry and guitar-centric, asymmetrically divine compositions.
Solipsis is one of Negativehate’s greatest releases yet, and represents a coalescence of everything they have stood for over their long existence.
Oculus is at once disturbing, unsettling, and the tension at times is unbearable; but it is most importantly a work of art that will stay with the listener long after it is over.
“The music twinkles, sparkles, and hints of anger and anxiety peek through the pretty melodies and well-executed harmonies. Don’t let its beauty fool you; Halliwell has plenty to say on the current political situation.”
For Dwyer and company’s 20th release (and Castle Face’s 100th title overall), they’ve changed the instrumental environs and even tweaked the project name to better resemble their humble beginnings.
Hailing from Crete, residing in Athens, Greece, female/male bass/drums duo Hand & Leg offer a perplexing full-length that weaves post-punk, goth and noise rock into a unified vision.
Kobe, Japan’s Gutara Kyo explode with an impressive blast of early ’80s-style hardcore, reminding us that there’s more to the Land of the Rising Sun than noise.
Stephen Wilkinson’s latest outing as Bibio is over an hour’s worth of ambient music that is sometimes somber, other times uplifting, and always sans-vocals.
Resist is a bold and brave conception that is expertly executed, and it will undoubtedly stand as one of the modern era’s first major political artistic works.
Distant Echoes & Close Encounters will undoubtedly be remembered as a great leap forward for Aurganic, a band unafraid to step outside of their own comfort zone.
Four recently discovered archival recordings of furniture designer/sculptor Harry Bertoia join a fascinating documentary short made while the artist was still alive for an essential deluxe release.
It’s highly probably Universe in Bloom will win over a lot of new fans for The Great Escape, because the band’s spirit and this album’s charm is ultimately irresistible.
You may never hear the last part of this record of charming lullabies, because you will be asleep before you get there.
Regardless of whether it will prove to be a transitory record or the end of one individual chapter in the band’s history, Relevant Noise will stand as the testament of Night Herons truly coming into their own.
A Sequence of Waves is no doubt a challenging listen that one can’t simply put on in the background, but it is a work of art that rewards the open-minded listener with close, repeated examinations.
Between blowing minds with Zs albums, sax god Sam Hillmer devotes time to his solo noise/drone project Diamond Terrifier.
By mid-1970, singer/producer/songwriter Lee Hazlewood had broken up with his girlfriend and his label LHI Industries was floundering.
Rad Owl has released their debut EP, Alladin’s Castle. The bad news is there are only three songs but the good news is all are solid post-hardcore/ punk gems.
The Empire of Deception builds significantly on Westward’s debut album, and sets them up to be the latest torchbearers of the power trio tradition.
Needle Paw fulfills any Hiatus Kaiyote fan’s dream of hearing an MTV Unplugged set from the foursome’s mastermind, accompanied by an autobiographical music diary.
The tortured self-searching gloom Deradoorian applies to this collection of meditative pieces prove too unsettling to be filed under “easy listening.”
For eleven years, Michigan’s Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble has received deserved accolades for their interpretations of Steve Reich and Terry Riley.
Live at Lazybones captures something revelatory about Cullen, and it’s that as good as his studio albums may be, it’s very likely the best way to experience his music is live on stage.
The five guitar-laden pop-rockers on Gulfstream are emotionally potent while still connecting at the gut level, offering a promising start for a series of releases that extends into 2018.
“It isn’t exactly easy to pin a label on them, and maybe that’s the point. I suppose to start, it’s fair to say that they’re a psych influenced group. It’s the light and airy type, with dulcet harmonies and charming melodies winding around your ears. At other times, the group inhabits a similar art rock space to Radiohead.”
With the Amulet, Circa Survive offer fans a slightly softer [even] more atmospheric take on their unique mash up of alternative / post-hardcore/ emo/ prog rock hybrid. It is difficult to pick a favorite, as listening to this over the past month, each day brings a different top track, most likely tied to the listeners current mood or cycle of the moon.
New Orleans funk originators The Meters never saw mainstream success but are continually revered for their unique contributions to the genre.
In celebration of what would have been his sixty-seventh birthday, a third volume of Patrick Cowley’s unreleased electronic compositions pairs his famed gay porn soundtracks with demos for his seminal 1982 album Mind Warp (Megatone), plus a few archival recordings, into what is probably his most coherent posthumous collection to date.
