Reviews

Jule Vera Waiting On The Sun FILE UNDER: BADASS COUNTRY MEETS LOVELORN ROCK ROCKS LIKE: We Are The In Crowd, Set It Off, Against The Current WHAT’S DIFFERENT: The debut album gloves have come off: Jule Vera are ready to take some risks. For something this diverse, there’s still cohesion on Waiting On The Sun, […]

Algiers The Underside of Power FILE UNDER: Nonstop diversa-pop brilliance ROCKS LIKE: The Pop Group, the Veldt, TV On The Radio WHAT'S DIFFERENT: This Atlanta-based act’s 2015 debut, which gave us the sound of a soulful ghost in the post-punk machine, was rightfully called a stunner. And its deft interpolations of everything from dub to […]

Broadside Paradise FILE UNDER: FEEL GOOD POP-PUNK ROCKS LIKE: Hit The Lights, Yellowcard, State Champs WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Broadside packed up and moved their entire lives from Richmond, Virginia, to Los Angeles, funneling that change of scenery feeling into another record with producer Kyle Black (Paramore, New Found Glory, Comeback Kid). Paradise takes a sandblaster to […]

Ride Weather Diaries FILE UNDER: A working shoegaze reunion ROCKS LIKE: Title Fight, Nothing, Beach House WHAT’S DIFFERENT: For their first new album in over two decades, this U.K. quartet don’t dare to try and replicate past glories. Just as their 2015 reunion tour proved, they’re approaching the “dream pop” sound they helped cultivate in […]

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 […]

Rise Against Wolves FILE UNDER: Revolution Rock ROCKS LIKE: Anti-Flag, Alkaline Trio, Green Day Donald Trump wasn’t president when Rise Against started writing their eighth album Wolves, but they were in the studio when he was elected. While the band have always kicked against the pricks, having biggest prick of all sitting in the Oval […]

Volumes Different Animals FILE UNDER: Melodic Aggro-Core ROCKS LIKE: Issues, Dangerkids, Periphery WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Gone are the lulling atmospheric instrumentals that defined Volumes for the first half of their career. Instead, the band have branched into more hip-hop-inspired rockcore, due largely to the addition of clean vocalist Myke Terry. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Different Animals […]

Mutoid Man War Moans FILE UNDER: METAL UP YOUR ASS ROCKS LIKE: Iron Maiden, Kyuss, Testament WHAT’S DIFFERENT: There’s no room for weak links in a power trio, and Mutoid Man—guitarist/singer Stephen Brodsky, drummer Ben Koller (Converge, All Pigs Must Die) and bassist Nick Cageao—are as mighty as trios come. Unabashed, unironic and unapologetic in […]

’68 Two Parts Viper FILE UNDER: Unbridled and unconcerned ROCKS LIKE: Blues Explosion, Nirvana, Jack White WHAT’S NEW: ’68 frontman Josh Scogin got wilder, weirder and (in places) pensive. If ’68’s debut In Humor And Sadness was all about scorched amp and pedal abuse, Two Parts Viper broadens the vision with weird micro-moments of cut […]

Eighteen Visions XVIII FILE UNDER: FASHIONCORE REVIVAL ROCKS LIKE: Code Orange, Every Time I Die, Throwdown WHAT'S DIFFERENT: That depends on where you look. On XVIII, Eighteen Visions revisit the “old stuff,” early '00s Orange County metalcore cheekily dubbed “fashioncore.” Those primitive, sketchy recordings receive a total makeover for 2017. Lead guitarist Keith Barney is […]

Whips The Ride ROCKS LIKE: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Dead Weather, Whore Paint WHAT’S DIFFERENT: It’s the second record of dirty rock ’n’ roll from the Milwaukee outfit starring vocalist Ashley Smith (Red Knife Lottery), drummer Andy Mrotek (The Academy Is…), bassist Tyler Chicorel (Call Me Lightning) and guitarist Christian Hansen (Hot Coffin). WHY YOU […]

Backwards Dancer Backwards Dancer FILE UNDER: Surging post-rock ROCKS LIKE: The Weakerthans, Brand New, Death Cab For Cutie WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The self-titled debut from Worcester, Massachusetts-based Backwards Dancer—a quartet fronted by ex-Hotelier guitarist/vocalist Zack Shaw—specializes in clawing, claustrophobic post-rock with snarling guitars, throat-searing vocals and a snarling backbone. “The Radio” and “Airy” conjure the kind of scabrous grunge-punk […]

Double Dare Okay, you’ve heard about Waterparks by this point. You know they were signed to Equal Vision based on a well-placed sample in EVR’s email. You know they acquired the Maddens as mentors soon after. You definitely know the true menace they are in interviews—whether they’re armed with onions or bridal veils. So let’s […]

Bad Suns Disappear Here After a thunderous two years following the release of their first EP, Transpose, and their debut, Language & Perspective, Bad Suns’ newest effort, Disappear Here, aims to quell all concerns of a sophomore slump in the form of their most dynamic and introspective work yet.  This is no easy feat: Having […]

Itch The Deep End If you can make it through The Deep End from front to back without cracking a smile, you may well be dead inside. Though echoes of the King Blues—the politically conscious U.K. ska-folk-punkers who vocalist Itch fronted for eight years—are present, at heart this is a big, shiny, smart and uplifting pop […]

twenty | one | pilots Vessel This review originally ran in AP 295. The major-label debut by twenty | one | pilots traipses across electro-pop, hip-hop and classic pop music—and that’s just the first song. In the first two minutes of “Ode To Sleep,” the Columbus, Ohio, duo set the listener up with some eerie […]

Free Energy Love Sign This review originally appeared in AP 295. The term “party rock” has been ruined by LMFAO, who sure as shit never get played at our parties and definitely do not rock. Free Energy, on the other hand, might as well be the house band for any backyard get-together you’re looking to […]

Pentimento Pentimento This review originally ran in AP 293. The rough-around-the-edges sound of Pentimento’s previous efforts (2011’s Wrecked EP and March’s split with Young English) is decidedly more polished on their self-titled full-length debut, but the passion and spirit remain. Pentimento continue to blur the lines between punk and hardcore (“For Winter,” “The Wind”) and […]

Do The Struggle I haven’t been able to put my fingers on documentation, but I’m pretty sure Franz Nicolay is the flamboyant, younger brother of the Mountain Goats’ CEO John Darnielle. Both are notable for their erudite rhymes and narrative vocal style, generally told from a reflective distance as opposed to emotional, knee-deep-in-it confessional. But […]

Becoming The Archetype I Am The fifth album by Georgia-spawned Christian metalcore quintet Becoming The Archetype features absolutely zero founding members, and only one member who was in the band on their debut album. Does this matter? Not really; new frontman Chris McCane has a thick-necked bellow every bit the equal of his predecessor, Jason […]