Heavy Heavy Low Low
Heavy Heavy Low Low Turtle Nipple And The Toxic Shock [2.5/5]
Where Heavy Heavy Low Low’s 2006 album, Everything’s Watched, Everyone’s Watching, was an ADD-addled spazz-metal faceplant, Turtle Nipple And The Toxic Shock finds the California quintet fixating on a single object-namely, SST Records’ back catalog. When they’re not aping Black Flag’s bent, electrocuted riffage,...
Ceremony
Ceremony Still Nothing Moves You [4/5]
Ceremony’s face-ripping, antisocial hardcore traditionally hasn’t left much room for experimentation, so when the band promised a Pink Floyd influence on album No. 2, it seemed like a lark. Indeed, Still Nothing Moves You finds Ceremony’s core violence unwavering (the atheist rampage “He-God-Has Favored Our Undertakings” sounds like Tragedy...
Blake Schwarzenbach plays short acoustic set
Blake Schwarzenbach’s recent reading in Brooklyn actually ended up including a short acoustic set.
Schwarzenbach seemed to play a few original numbers, though at least one song, "My First Time," is one by his new band, the Thorns Of Life.
You can watch the set for about the first 7:30 of the following...
The Acacia Strain
The Acacia Strain Continent [4/5]
For metal fans who have become jaded to stylized violence, the Acacia Strain’s latest album delivers a brutal jolt. Continent contains no poetic descriptions of carnage nor gorgeous guitar harmonies; nothing but blunt, ugly language (“I want the world to have my rape baby/So when it’s born I can strangle...
A Static Lullaby
A Static Lullaby Rattlesnake! [3.5/5]
A Static Lullaby must have been consistently rocking the Every Time I Die discography ever since their self-titled album was released in 2006, but that doesn’t mean they’re merely rehashing a tried-and-occasionally-true formula. Rattlesnake! is easily ASL’s heaviest, fastest and least melodramatic record to date, bolting forth with rolling riffs,...
Wintersleep
Wintersleep Welcome To The Night Sky [4/5]
Three albums deep into a career already celebrated throughout their home country of Canada, Wintersleep have finally shaken the remnants of a sound that had them commonly described as Canada’s answer to Pearl Jam. The members of Wintersleep have some history in Canada’s post-punk scene, an influence they...
Ninja Gun
Ninja Gun Restless Rubes [4/5]
It looks like 2008 has been a pretty good year for punk bands that aren’t afraid of aping some classic radio rock. While most Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty-referencing is done by guys with gruff, manly voices, Ninja Gun’s backward-looking tunes are unexpectedly naked and clean-sounding, and all the better...
Lovedrug
Lovedrug The Sucker Punch Show [3/5]
Lovedrug has mostly flown just below the radar since the release of their 2004 debut Pretend You’re Alive, winning over only those with the patience to digest the subtle craftsmanship of frontman Michael Shepard’s intuitive rock songs. Although the introspective, emotive numbers that compose their third disc, The Sucker...
Los Campesinos
Los Campesinos We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed [3/5]
When Los Campesinos! are on, they are one of the most exciting indie-pop bands in the world. Their clever songs are reminiscent of the Rentals and Pavement but replace the ambivalent attitude with youthful exuberance, complete with multiple keyboards, glockenspiels and violins. Unfortunately, We Are Beautiful,...