Album Reviews
Album Review: Miss May I – Deathless
In recent years Miss May I have been a band who not only have a firm grasp on their metalcore roots but have branched out into a more sharpened and established straight-up metal sound. Their previous release Rise Of The Lion (2014) didn’t have the same consistency that 2012’s At Heart had and was also …
Album Review: La Luz – Weirdo Shrine
La Luz are a gutsy band. After the release of their debut album, 2013’s It’s Alive, they had a near-fatal high speed accident in their tour van. That’s the kind of event that would leave many at a loss but La Luz soon went back to touring and wowing audiences with their unique live style. …
Album Review: The Chemical Brothers – Born In The Echoes
Bands that produce dance music are rarely known for their longevity. There are no long term benefits, and certainly no pension plan. Dance music trends move on so quickly that the most you can hope for is a few hit singles and maybe even a moderate selling album. Make your money while you can, then …
Album Review: Small Feet – From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean
From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean is the debut album from Stockholm trio Small Feet, aka Simon Stalhamre (vocals/guitar) alongside Jacob Snavely (bass) and drummer Christopher Cantillo. Essentially a vehicle for Stalhamre’s songwriting, it’s been a long time coming as the bands focal figure battled demons, learning English from the TV after …
Review: Lisbon “Life is Good” EP
Lisbon are frank and honest about their release plans. They don’t want to rush out an album and have it not reach its potential and so a series of singles and EPs has been their battleplan thus far. Their latest and most comprehensive is entitled “Life is Good” and references the origin of their band …
Album Review: dreamweapon – ‘dreamweapon’
Photograph by Betânia Liberato ‘dreamweapon’ by dreamweapon draws upon an enviable pedigree. ‘Dreamweapon’ is the title of Spacemen 3’s 1990 live album, which in turn drew it’s inspiration from a 1965 work by Angus MacLise titled, ‘Rites of the Dream Weapon’, one of an extensive series of multimedia productions, which MacLise described as “ritual happenings”. MacLise’s collaborations with experimental luminaries, …
Album Review : Veruca Salt – Ghost Notes
“I want the world, I want the whole world!” Their namesake screamed. And for a while in the mid-90s it felt like they might just take it. It’s impossible to mention Veruca Salt without a nod to Seether; one of the greatest tracks of the 90s. The garage band anthem with the pop-rock lilt. A …
Album Review: Kelpe – The Curved Line
On his fifth album, The Curved line – Kelp, aka London producer Kel McKeown, doesn’t reinvent the electronic wheel, rather just polishes his own version of it a little bit. He’s long been able, as seen through his various releases on labels such as DC Recordings, Black Acre, Fremdtunes, Svetlana and Myor, to produce these …
Album Review: Joe Satriani – Shockwave Supernova
I’ll admit it, I love Joe Satriani. In all seriousness, he was the driving force that pushed me to play guitar as an awkward Midwestern teenager. I’d been playing for two years prior to hearing Joe, but once I heard Surfing With The Alien when I was 14 years old I felt like I’d been rechristened …
Album Review: The Rubs – The Rubs Are Trash
If, after you’ve listened to Hard Enough, the opening track on Chicago Garage Rockers The Rubs (essentially the solo project of a certain Joey Rubbish, in that he sings, writes all the songs and plays all the instruments on the record), then you’re a better person than I. Surrounding himself with Chicago’s finest DIY Garage …