Archive for the Indie Rock Category
Papa M “A Broke Moon Rises” (Drag City)
That chill in your spine makes total sense. PAPA M is back in the room, and like the animal you are, you sense it before you actually know he’s there. As the light from the broke moon floods in, you feel that you’ll survive—even if you’ll never be the same…. […]
Roy Montgomery “Suffuse” (Grapefruit)
Despite praise and acclaim throughout his career, Roy Montgomery hates his singing. From his point of view, it’s done out of necessity, when he doesn’t have anyone else around to substitute. Roughly one quarter of Montgomery’s epic multi-album 2016 release R M H Q had his singing, and those are […]
Oh Sees “Smote Reverser” (Castle Face)
Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy album of head-destroying psych-epics to grok and rock out to. Notice the fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of Memory Of A Cut Off Head-alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas, while the Paul Quattrone / Dan Rincon drum-corps polyrhythmic […]
Swans “Soundtracks For the Blind” (Young God)
Swans Soundtracks for the Blind, their last studio album released in 1996 prior to their 2010 reformation, will be released for the first time on vinyl by Young God Records on July 20th 2018. Much requested by Swans fans, the vinyl package will consist of four LPs in jackets enclosed […]
Primo “Amici” (Upset the Rhythm)
LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Edition of 500. Amici is the debut album Melbourne, Australia trio Primo, featuring members of Shifters and Terry. Primo is Vio (Shifters), Xanthe (Terry) and Suzanne (film expert), on bass, drums, guitar, and vocals. Their songs sound like the places you go when you’re working […]
John Maus “Love Is Real” (Ribbon Music)
Longtime underground music figure and recent Ariel Pink associate puts a bizarre and creepy spin on synth-pop wherein the tragic collides with the ridiculous in the most garish way possible.
John Maus “Songs” (Ribbon Music)
Kicking off with the prosaically titled ‘Opening’, Maus plunges us into a grandstanding bout of church organ that climbs and climbs… Before wrapping itself up with the minimum of fuss. From here, ‘Time To Die’ introduces us to that signature vocal style that has an Ian Curtis bruise atop it’s […]
John Maus “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” (Ribbon Music)
John Maus lives in his birthplace of Austin, Minnesota. Whilst working towards his PhD in Political Science, he also composes music that taps into melancholic fantasy and affirms that we are all truly alive. Questing synthesizers, tensely strung bass lines and chasing drum machines providing the perfect backdrop for John’s […]
Ty Segall & White Fence “Joy” (Drag City)
Blonde and brunette. Dog and cat. Lemon and onion. Friend and foam. The change has been made! You can scratch your seven-year itch freely now: TY SEGALL and WHITE FENCE are become one again, regrooving what we once called Hair into what is now Joy. Hair grew out of a […]
Crooked Fingers “Red Devil Dawn” (Merge)
Love songs abound on 2003’s Red Devil Dawn, but most of the love is dead or dying or at least dirty. That makes sense: Just a few years after his split with indie stalwarts ARCHERS OF LOAF, ERIC BACHMANN had forcefully forged a new identity and sound with CROOKED FINGERS, […]
Lavender Flu “Mow The Glass” (In The Red)
The new Lavender Flu album Mow The Glass was recorded in the living room of a small house on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. One can hear it in the music: the Oregon coast, the dream life of an Axolotl, the open sound of a band playing to an […]
Peter Hook and The Light “Power Corruption and Lies” (Plastic Head)
The band also features Hook’s son Jack Bates (bass), as well as David Potts (Guitar), Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook’s previous groups. This excellent recording from Dublin in 2013 comprises the album Power, Corruption and Lies […]
Peter Hook and The Light “Unknown Pleasures – Live in Leeds” (Plastic Head)
The band also features Hook’s son Jack Bates (bass), as well as David Potts (Guitar), Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook’s previous groups. This excellent recording from Leeds Cockpit in 2012 comprises Unknown Pleasures in its entirety […]
Swervedriver “Raise” (Music On Vinyl)
The Oxford based alternative rock band Swervedriver continued to develop themselves by implementing different music into their alternative rock and shoegaze sound. Their first album Raise can be categorized as an album with a heavy sound, but also some melodic parts.
Jim James “Uniform Distortion” (ATO)
he album was produced by Jim James and Kevin Ratterman at Louisville, KY’s La La Land, with Ratterman also serving as recording engineer. All songs were written by James, who is backed on the album by bassist Seth Kauffman (Floating Action) and longtime touring drummer Dave Givan, with backing vocals […]
Eric’s Trip “Purple Blue” (Sub Pop)
Purple Blue is Eric’s Trip’s third album, and it was originally released in 1996. It has been out of print on vinyl since its original, 1996 pressing.This 2018 repressing is on a Dark Purple Marble color vinyl.
Eric’s Trip “Forever Again” (Sub Pop)
Eric’s Trip was a Canadian indie rock band hailing from Moncton, New Brunswick. The band formed in 1990 when musicians Rick White and Christopher Thompson of The Forest joined Julie Doiron and Ed Vaughan (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet of Purple Knight). White described their sound as “sappy […]
Melody’s Echo Chamber “Bon Voyage” (Fat Possum)
The long-awaited sophomore project including the single “Breathe In, Breathe Out”. Bon Voyage is a collaborative record between Prochet and Dungen’s Reine Fiske and The Amazing’s Fredrik Swahn with Melody sculpting and producing the sessions as well as encouraging the players around her to experiment, often with instruments that might […]
Gang Gang Dance “Kazuashita” (4AD)
Kazuashita – the first record by Gang Gang Dance since the acclaimed Eye Contact in 2011 – is an intoxicating mix of shoegaze and electronic ambience, all held together by Lizzi Bougatsos and her otherworldly vocal. Bougatsos, alongside founding members Brian DeGraw and Josh Diamond, formed the group as an improvisational outfit in the […]
Snail Mail “Lush” (Matador)
Snail Mail’s full-length debut album, Lush is released on Matador Records. It’s a debut for the record books — a refreshing marvel of songwriting and technical composition, that’s both cohesive and explosive — Her voice rises and falls with electricity throughout, spinning with bold excitement and new beginnings at every […]
Gruff Rhys “Babelsberg” (Rough Trade)
Babelsberg is the fifth album by Gruff Rhys, his first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s classic Candylion. The album features orchestral scores by Swansea based composer Stephen McNeff and the incredible work of the 72 piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The result is Gruff’s best record to date […]
Rock*a*teens “Sixth House” (Merge)
Born in Cabbagetown, Georgia, the ROCK*A*TEENS carved their signature echo-wrapped, wounded-heart music on the edges of the Atlanta music scene more than 20 years ago. Led by songwriter and lead singer/guitarist CHRISTOPHER LOPEZ, the band released a handful of reverb-drenched singles and full-lengths on the independent Daemon and Merge labels […]
Yamantaka /Sonic Titan “Dirt” (Paper Bag)
There’s a whole world contained within Yamantaka // Sonic Titan. They’re a Noh-Wave prog collective, a black-and-white (and sometimes red) theatre company, an operatic psych cult, and the speculative prophets of humanity’s impending doom. Above it all, though, they’re a thunderous rock band, and on their third album, DIRT, they’re […]
Liz Phair “Whitechocolatespaceegg” (Capitol)
Unlike her previous two albums, which dealt heavily with themes of sex and relationships, Whitechocolatespaceegg focused more on motherhood and family, as Phair had recently gotten married and given birth to a son.