Youngblood Brass Band
Youngblood Brass Band Is That A Riot? [4/5] A theory: MIA Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de La Rocha has relocated to Wisconsin, where he’s posing as Youngblood Brass Band frontman-producer-beat maestro D.H. Skogen. Like Rage unplugged, Youngblood make a rap racket that has little to do with rock, and everything to do with...
Wolf Eyes With John Wiese
Wolf Eyes With John Wiese Equinox [3/5] A union of 21st century noise merchants Wolf Eyes and former Man Is The Bastard CEO John Wiese isn’t going to sound like any collaboration you’re used to hearing-outside the walls of a slaughterhouse, that is. The first track on Equinox (44:31) works only as a test of...
Subtitle
Subtitle Terrain To Roam [2/5] Giovanni Marks may have grown up in Compton, but you certainly wouldn’t guess that from listening to his records. As Subtitle, he’s spent his rap career avoiding clichés, choosing to hang on the outskirts of the genre. And while that’s always a commendable task, Terrain To Roam isn’t going to...
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Fat Jon & Styrofoam The Same Channel [4/5] It’s official: European electronic white boys are the new Kanye West, the perfect collaboration for “progressive” rappers looking to hip-hop on circuit boards and surf the digital waters far from the jagged commercial reefs of whistles and whispers. From Cincinnati via Berlin, this particular Marvel team-up is...
Dmonstrations
Dmonstrations Night Trrors. Shock! [3/5] The underground is teeming with over-caffeinated units trafficking in prickly, tangled guitar figures, but only a handful have a mania that truly inspires levitation. Night Trrors. Shock!, the second disc by Bay Area-based Dmonstrations, comes off as more hovercraft than B-1 bomber. Shock! sports mutant boogie (“Voyeur”) and some slightly...
Various Artists
Various Artists Our Impact Will Be Felt: A Tribute To Sick Of It All [3/5] Tribute albums are notoriously hit or miss, and typically dedicated to artists who no longer exist. Thankfully, Our Impact Will Be Felt is neither of these things. Instead, this collection of reverent covers honor an institution that is still very...
Sunno))) & Boris
Sunno))) & Boris Altar [4/5] Though previous collaborations between the two have occurred only as internet April Fool’s jokes, America’s masters of the glacial drone, Sunn0))), have teamed with Bois-Japan’s masters of the glacial drone that also rocks, for a one-off that’s sure to stimulate the endorphins of drone addicts worldwide. But Boris’ monstrous rhythmic...
Stand Before The Firing Squad
Stand Before The Firing Squad Noise Machine [4/5] There are two extended moments of near calm on Stand Before The Firing Squad’s debut album, Noise Machine, but based on sequencing, they should probably be regarded as the calm before the storm (opener “Light ’Em Up And Knock ’Em Back (We’re SBTFS)”) and the eye of...
Shook Ones
Shook Ones Facetious Folly Feat [4/5] Yes, we know: Shook Ones sound like Kid Dynamite. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get down to the meat of the matter. Shook Ones’ second full-length, Facetious Folly Feat, improves on the previous album’s foundation and lets the band spread their wings a bit....