review

Never Young Never Young EP “Synthetic,” “digital” and “futurist” pop up among the adjectives in Never Young’s bio, but the Bay Area quartet’s secret weapon is a fuzzed-out analog peal that’s as indebted to early-’80s noise pop as it is to ’90s post-hardcore. Throughout this eponymous EP, the band sound like they’re ejecting the contents of […]

Have Mercy / Somos Split EP Have Mercy and Somos are two of the best young emo bands, each releasing impressive albums in 2014. So it’s a little disappointing that half the songs on this release are acoustic versions of previously released material. That doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoyable: Have Mercy’s “Two Years” and Somos […]

Torche Restarter After fiddling about with peculiarly doomy indie rock four albums in, Torche have gotten around to completing their mission—making the best damn Rush album ever. The Miami quartet always had the prog side of that equation locked down while demonstrating uncommon focus compared to their noodling peers. What’s been lacking until now though, are the […]

toyGuitar In This Mess No huge surprise toyGuitar features a few members of Swingin' Utters, as this great debut full-length has a ton of that band's energy and punk simplicity, not to mention the familiar treble-heavy production. But the similarities stop there: toyGuitar add tons of fun power-pop elements and no shortage of sun-drenched surf-rock […]

UPDATE: February 4 at 6:01 p.m. EST Fall Out Boy have announced, via BBC Radio One that they will be playing the UK’s Reading and Leads Festivals on August 23 and 25. UPDATE: February 4 at 12:31 a.m. EST Fall Out Boy have just posted the following photo from one of their Chicago radio appearances. […]

Indicator Back with their fourth full-length, Onward To Olympas continue to fly the flag for cookie-cutter metalcore, proving you don’t need so much as one original idea to capture yourself a decent fanbase these days. Indicator is not a bad record; it has its moments and should sate those wanting more of the same from […]

Metz Metz Imagine a parallel universe where Blur’s roaring “Song 2” is the wimpiest thing the band ever created, and you get a sense of the tooth-chipping potential of Toronto art-punk trio METZ. With ten songs slugged out in less than 30 minutes, their self-titled debut packs quick bursts of Alex Edkins’ full-throated howling and […]

Inhale Exhale Movement Mosh. Riff. Judd-judd. Riff. “Melodic” part. Riff. “Melodic” part. Judd-judd. “Melodic” part. Mosh. Über-mosh. “Melodic” part plus screaming. Slightly randomize formula for 10 tracks. Done. Okay. Maybe it’s not that simple. Inhale Exhale are back after a brief hiatus, with Movement, their fourth full-length, an album that will likely feel too familiar […]