Label: self-released (distributed by Fontana North/Universal) Released: April 28, 2009 Terms like lo-fi and DIY have become quite commonplace these days. Unfortunately, these terms are often applied to music that could also be described as contrived or just rotten. The Weather Station is certainly the epitome of both of those common terms, but not of the descriptions which often destroy… Read more »
Label: Jump Start Records Released: February 16, 2009 Hardcore has struggled on and off for years with the concept of melody. When bands in late 70s and early 80s first decided to abandon traditional songwriting and simply go for broke at near light speed, a lot was lost despite the opening of a new avenue. Over time, bands began to… Read more »
Label: Lujo Records Released: April 14, 2009 It’s not unusual to hear a new record and think, “Here’s a band to keep an eye on. This is really good, but the next one could be amazing.” What is unusual is for that potential to actually pan out. Considering the frequency of this scenario, there is surely a lot of ground… Read more »
Label: Magnetic Air Released: January 20, 2009 I didn’t pay close attention to Exciter back in the 80s, but looking back, I’ve wondered why they weren’t considered at least in that second tier of speedmetal bands with the likes of Overkill, Testament, etc. They were early adopters of that happy marriage between speed and heaviness…and yet they’re so often forgotten…. Read more »
Label: Glory Glory Released: March 2, 2009 Guns on the Roof have spent the last two years playing with the likes of Rancid, the Misfits, Stiff Little Fingers, UK Subs, the Briggs and others, all bands that mix their punk rock sneers with unbeatable hooks. Their touring company along with the band from who they lifted their moniker have all… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: February 3, 2009 Everything Burns kicks off as a fairly typical post-emo mainstream rock album. There are bits of alt rock and emo tidied up in a nice, easily digestible package and yet…there’s something else, something deeper going on with this record. Underneath what seems at first to be a solid, but uneventful set of songs, there’s… Read more »
Label: Teenage Heart Records Released: August 11, 2008 Perhaps nowhere did the earliest marriages of punk and metal produce better material than in Boston. The early 80s found the likes of Gang Green and the FUs infusing their street punk with more than just a hint of metal. A lot of this was forgotten later in the decade as thrash… Read more »
Label: BNS Sessions Released: February 24, 2009 Story problem: If King Crimson and ELP were together heading south at 75 mph, Art of Noise was heading north at 102 mph and Hawkwind was heading west at, well the speed of the Silver Machine, what would you call the force where they met? Answer: Fun Machine. If that isn’t enough in… Read more »
Label: VH1 Classic Records Released: March 3, 2009 Probably the biggest trap into which a live album can fall is that of sounding too much like a studio album. After all, if it sounds pretty much like the studio cuts with crowd noise in between, what’s the point? A live album should inject different energies or arrangements into the songs… Read more »
Label: Alaska Records/No Breaks Released: July 2008 If one word could describe this 7″, it would be visceral. Nothing seems calculated or planned. Benard blasts through two songs of dissonance, frantic rhythms and pure passion in just under five and a half minutes. In that short time, they leave everything out there, their hearts on their post-hardcore sleeves. Saying that… Read more »