February 28, 2007

Chin Up Chin Up This Harness Can’t Ride Anything [4/5] Chin Up Chin Up have been through a lot for a band that’s technically only in musical kindergarten. Formed in 2001, the band had to overcome the tragic loss of original bassist Chris Saathoff to a hit-and-run driver just before releasing their 2004 debut, We...

The Horrors The Horrors [4/5] Horrors frontman Faris Badwan is agitated about something, and he’s taking it out on anyone within hearing distance. These scrappy rockers from Southend, England are spreading their brand of spooky garage-pop with the quickness of the plague, and this five-song EP is fair warning of what kind of bedlam America...

Alec Empire Futurist [2/5] Remember how Alec Empire and his Digital Hardcore mafia were going to revolutionize punk rock in the ’90s? Of course you don’t-and, now that Empire (vocals, guitars, bass, drums) and co-conspirator Nic Endo (synthesized other stuff) have returned with a drastically slimmer version of their trademark sound, it’s likely you’d spot...

DJ Krush Stepping Stones: The Self-Remixed Best [5/5] Leave it to DJ Krush to completely reinvent the concept of a greatest-hits record. The Japanese turntable whizz (and pioneer of “trip-hop”) has been on the cutting edge for almost 20 years, so instead of merely rehashing his best work for this compilation, he decided to completely...

The DFA The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two [4/5] The DFA production team-James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy-ironically defy their Death From Above moniker by providing life from below to others’ tracks. The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two is the second such disc this year from the duo, and it provides yet more polyrhythmic enhancement that is the...

Mercy Killers Bloodlove [4/5] Craig “Craig-Leg” Fairbaugh is a monster guitarist that has a resume that includes street punks the Forgotten, as well as stints in service to the Rancid mafia (Transplants, the Bastards), as well as Plus 44. On Bloodlove, Fairbaugh, drummer Colin Berill and bassist Sam Soto deliver a set of charging tracks...

I Am Ghost Lovers’ Requiem [2/5] I Am Ghost’s full-length debut for Epitaph follows in the footsteps of their 2004 EP. Which is a politically correct way of saying Lover’s Requiem might as well be a bunch of b-sides from My Chemical Romance’s debut album. Singer Steven Juliano’s howling vocals sound so much like Gerard...

Senses Fail Still Searching [5/5] Senses Fail’s 2004 full-length debut, Let It Enfold You, did little to distinguish the New Jersey-based outfit from the gazillion other post-hardcore/screamo acts flooding the scene at the time. Despite their obvious proficiency, the band came off as little more than a poor man’s Taking Back Sunday, with big metal...

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Love Their Country [4/5] Since 1995, we’ve known what to expect from these guys: driving pop-punk renditions of well-known songs, compiled by theme and densely packed with sarcasm and humor. And though it’s unlikely that a Me First record could ever be considered groundbreaking or brilliant, that’s okay. They’re...