Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Farm Fans have long debated the merits of Dinosaur Jr.'s various lineups but the seminal band have always been the J Mascis show–a deafening, overdriven rhythmic drone and crash-bang drums under the frontman's not-quite-discordant guitar workouts and nasal vocals that float like bong smoke. Farm, the second album from the reformed classic lineup of Mascis, bassist...
Eyedea & Abilities - By The Throat
By The Throat The duo of MC Eyedea and DJ Abilities have always possessed more potential than they've realized, and By The Throat doesn't change that balance. The blame belongs more to Eyedea than Abilities, who fashions a bevy of hot, throbbing tracks keyed to chunky percussive beats with the jazzy tinkle of cymbals balancing the murky...
Golden City - Golden City
Golden City Christie Front Drive remain one of the most underrated bands of the mid-'90s emo explosion, never capturing the same audience as peers the Get Up Kids and Braid, but doubtlessly influencing as many aspiring near-punks before their implosion in the late '90s. CFD braintrust Eric Richter briefly ventured into atmospheric post-rock with Antarctica,...
Living With Lions - Make Your Mark
Make Your Mark Living With Lions' first full-length helps disassociate the comparisons to fellow Canadian melodic-hardcore pop-punks Daggermouth that became common in reviews of the band's Dude Manor EP. Thanks to slick tempo changes and an intermittent spouting of dual vocals, the band make their own mark with their debut LP, despite occasionally holding onto that Lifetime-style hardcore backbone...
Kudrow - Lando
Lando EP One of the problems with contemporary punk is its distinct lack of regionalism. Whereas in its formative years location was nearly as pivotal to a band as it is to real estate, the internet effectively quashed the borders. Bands tend to make the same sounds and sing the same lyrics regardless of their...
The Most Serene Republic - ...And The Ever Expanding Universe
…And The Ever Expanding Universe The Most Serene Republic play it incredibly safe while maintaining their baroque-rock rep on full-length No. 3, …And The Ever Expanding Universe. Arranging pop nuggets with brass and strings as proficiently as labelmates Broken Social Scene and Stars was never a problem for the Ontario septet before, so hiring BSS...
David Thomas Owen IV - Solace My King
Solace My King If you were to guess what a solo album from David Thomas Owen IV (ex-guitarist for Ohio band Lovedrug) would sound like, you might be at a loss. The musician's former band are mainly the vision of their frontman Michael Shepard, so it's nearly impossible to discern what sort of music the...
Poison The Well - The Tropic Rot
The Tropic Rot For the past decade, experimental metalcore pioneers Poison The Well have crafted some of the underground's most sonically adventurous albums only to get continually leapfrogged by their opening acts. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that the band's fifth full-length, The Tropic Rot, is another dose of next-level hardcore that sees the band exploring...
Quieting Syrup - Songs About A Sick Boy
Songs About a Sick Boy One would be justifiably wary of an album that consists entirely of a man's attempt to document more than a decade's worth of illness, addiction and mental breakdown. Such is the story of Stephen Howard's solo debut. Though he's spent time with acts as diverse as Pinebender, Ambulette and Mississippi...