Brian Shultz
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 i
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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 sai
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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, Manchest
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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 respectively best-k
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
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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. Th
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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 ac
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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 Bott...
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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 gre
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Menzingers are modern kings of heartfelt nostalgic punk
The Menzingers
After The Party
FILE UNDER: Nostalgic, romantic and melodic punk
After The Party
THE MENZINGERS
2/3 // Epitaph
****
ROCKS LIKE: The Gaslight Anthem, the Lawrence Arms, Against Me!
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Not much, honestly—besides the Menzingers further cementing themselves as modern kings of heartfelt and nostalgic melodic punk, with that signature splash of alternative rock accessibilit
Dave Hause is sharpening his veteran punk chops into rousing and often smoothly melodic fare
Dave Hause
Bury Me In Philly
FILE UNDER: Biting and bright singer-songwriter fare
ROCKS LIKE: Frank Turner, Brian Fallon, Ryan Adams
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Bury Me In Philly doesn’t really overhaul the former Loved Ones frontman’s M.O., but it showcases a wise and occ
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From Indian Lakes’ fourth LP is patient and reflective while retaining their livelier leanings
From Indian Lakes
Everything Feels Better Now
Indie Pop Exploration
ROCKS LIKE: Polyenso, Radiohead, Mutemath
WHAT’S DIFFERENT: From Indian Lakes have softly shapeshifted from their emo-indebted beginnings to an electronic-tinged, subdued powerhouse that’s occasionally otherworldly and harder to classify. Their four
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Silver Snakes’ new album ‘Saboteur’ possesses sense of rage, power and mystery (review)
Silver Snakes
Saboteur
Silver Snakes have progressed along an increasingly heavy trajectory since their debut album, and Saboteur completes the evolution with refreshing creativity. The quartet pull from turn-of-the-century alt-rock, industrial ("Charmer"), stoner (“Dresden”), electronic (“Devotion”), post-metal and sludge styles to ambitious and surprisingly cohesive effect. The end res
10 essential songs by bands who broke up (or announced a hiatus) in 2015
(MOSTLY SELECTED) BY: Brian Shultz
Each year, multiple groups of musicians who banded together and managed to find creative fulfillment with one another decide to go their separate ways. It's inevitable, but it often leaves their fans feeling like they’ve been punched in the gut. Ther...
Dustin Kensrue’s ‘Carry The Fire’ is “a robust and decidedly enjoyable affair” (review)
Dustin Kensrue
Carry The Fire
Dustin Kensrue’s solo material has progressed similarly to that of another sensitive bearded man originally from a heavy band: City & Colour’s Dallas Green. Kensrue’s debut, 2007’s Please Come Home was acoustic-based, while his 2013 worship album, The Water And The Blood, probably had committed atheists singing along as it implemented full-band sounds (“Suffering
Success’ ‘Radio Recovery’ is a satisfactory rendering of a style long gone out of vogue (review)
Success
Radio Recovery
Success are sort of refreshing simply for playing a strain of jubilant, up-tempo pop-punk that’s heavily in the vein of Less Than Jake circa Hello Rockview and Borders & Boundaries, minus the horns (especially on cuts like “Believe In” and “Mr. Know It All”). That’s beca
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“The main goal is to not suck and to not ruin our legacy”— Vinnie Caruana on the Movielife’s reunion
THE MOVIELIFE have traveled a long road to come back, fully formed and motivated for a flurry of activity. After their 2003 breakup, frontman VINNIE CARUANA played the 2008 Bamboozle in New Jersey with members of Set Your Goals backing him. There was also a pair of shows the actual band reunited to play in 2011: one at that year's installment of the Bamboozle, and a purported "final" app
Lame-O Records fight cerebral palsy with new Spraynard track (exclusive)
Roughly a dozen releases into its lifespan, Philadelphia's Lame-O Records have officially launched a charitable project in the long-storied spirit of punk giving back. Their new compilation, Strength In Weakness, continues in the tradition of Sub City Records' Take Action! tours
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The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave
The Twilight Sad
Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave
The Twilight Sad have been plugging away for more than a decade, amassing a sizable catalog that's progressed from the sort of autumnal, patient anguish practiced by their Scottish contemporaries Frightened Rabbit, forth towards darker, drawn-out and noise-ratcheted shoegazey catharsis, and then to black-decked, electronic-smoked p
Somos/Sorority Noise – Split EP
Somos/Sorority Noise
Split EP
Both bands on this split EP released full-lengths earlier this year, and while one regresses ever-so-slightly from their album and the other improves, they may not meet in the middle anytime soon.
Somos start it with a pair of tracks that may not be quite as good as the material from their Temple Of Plenty LP earlier this year, but are nonetheless solid and a continui