Contributions
Citizen are more creative and expansive than ever on ‘As You Please'
Citizen As You Please ROCKS LIKE: Brand New, Balance And Composure, Smashing Pumpkins WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Citizen have made for one of the scene’s most interesting and evolutionary acts, shifting from passable pop punk to hazy emo and then to jarring noise rock in the vein of Brand New’s Daisy. While the BN influence and similarly […]
Circa Survive tone down their wilder prog-rock side in ‘The Amulet’
Circa Survive The Amulet ROCKS LIKE: Dredg, Engine Down, Cave In WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Circa Survive are now six albums deep into a truly unique sound they’ve cultivated all themselves. By and large, they remain true to that sound on The Amulet, so not much is different here. That said, they’ve toned down their wilder prog-rock […]
Manchester Orchestra raise the bar with 'A Black Mile To The Surface'
Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile To The Surface FILE UNDER: Wondrous, widescreen rock ROCKS LIKE: Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Band Of Horses WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Where to start? A Black Mile To The Surface sounds more like the logical follow-up to 2011’s complex Simple Math than it does 2014’s nonetheless great, grungy Cope. Here, Manchester […]
Color Film's 'Living Arrangements' a kaleidoscopic new-wave debut
Color Film Living Arrangements FILE UNDER: Neo new wave from familiar faces ROCKS LIKE: Duran Duran, Heaven 17, Yazoo WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The debut album from this kaleidoscopic new-wave project featuring Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo and ex-Men, Women & Children bassist Richard Penzone (both in the somewhat comparable Head Automatica) certainly has its differences from the pair’s […]
Tigers Jaw's 'spin' picks up slack from departing members
Tigers Jaw spin FILE UNDER: Emo rock done right ROCKS LIKE: Saves The Day, the Get Up Kids, Lemuria WHAT'S DIFFERENT: While Tigers Jaw’s lineup was overhauled in 2013, it was essentially business as usual on that year’s Charmer, with three departing members appearing on the recording. On spin, it’s all Ben Walsh and Brianna […]
Cayetana show musical and personal growth in 'New Kind Of Normal'
Cayetana New Kind Of Normal FILE UNDER: Introspective indie-punk ROCKS LIKE: Liz Phair, P.S. Eliot, forgetters WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Cayetana refine their scrappy, poppy garage punk so immensely on their sophomore LP, they might even need recategorization. They were always adept at that sound, trembling vocals and all, but here they sound tighter, more focused, even […]
Have Mercy mature in darker, moodier 'Make The Best Of It'
Have Mercy Make The Best Of It FILE UNDER: Alt-rock emo ROCKS LIKE: Jimmy Eat World, the Early November, I Am The Avalanche WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Have Mercy’s growth seems subtle at first glance on their third full-length, but further listening exposes the maturation and darker shades of their melodic, emo-leaning alt-rock. Their aching, observant lyrics […]
The Smith Street Band stay firm in punk footholds while appealing to a wider audience
The Smith Street Band More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me FILE UNDER: Modern melodic punk ROCKS LIKE: Against Me!, Billy Bragg, the Flatliners WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Not much, honestly, but it doesn’t matter. Though they’ve rubbed shoulders with rambling, modern emo wordsmiths (cf. the Front Bottoms, Modern Baseball), the Smith Street Band ride […]
Western Addiction prove they've aged well with first LP in over a decade
Western Addiction Tremulous FILE UNDER: Hardcore punk ROCKS LIKE: New Mexican Disaster Squad, Black Flag, Only Crime WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Bay Area hardcore punkers Western Addiction haven’t actually changed much since their 2005 full-length debut, Cognicide, but they’ve aged gracefully. There is a greater variety of tempos than usual, plus subtle musical differences, from the Descendents-esque […]