Category: Reviews

  • Neighborhood Brats – Confines Of Life LP

    Neighborhood Brats – Confines Of Life LP

    Neighborhood Brats Confines Of Life (LP) (Dirt Cult Records) I confess that I spent most of my first play through Confines Of Life, Neighborhood Brats’ third full-length album (and my first exposure to the band), just trying to figure out where to start with it. Somehow, it just wasn’t easy to effectively catch or contain…

  • NEEDLES//PINS – s/t LP

    NEEDLES//PINS – s/t LP

    NEEDLES//PINS s/t LP (Dirt Cult Records) There is something particularly special about self-titled albums – the unspoken rule is that, when a band puts its name on an album like that, it is intended to exemplify just exactly who that group is at its core. A self-titled album is a statement of a band’s personality…

  • Round Eye – Culture Shock Treatment LP

    Round Eye – Culture Shock Treatment LP

    Round Eye Culture Shock Treatment LP (Sudden Death Records) It may have taken a while for the band to finally get all the paperwork signed and all of their distribution ducks in a row (technically, Culture Shock Treatment was completed in 2020 and Paper + Plastick Records released it digitally late last year – but…

  • Blood Lemon – s/t LP

    Blood Lemon – s/t LP

    Blood Lemon s/t LP (Blood Lemon) The beauty of great music – I mean truly great and timeless music – is that while listeners will feel as though they can easily pick out aspects of what they’re hearing and place it among other excellent or classic works, they’ll also breathlessly enthuse about how original that…

  • Tom Odell – Monsters LP

    Tom Odell – Monsters LP

    Tom Odell Monsters LP (Columbia/Sony Music) When it comes to Tom Odell’s fourth album, Monsters, it’s very likely that listeners will find themselves wondering if context does indeed inform musical creation, to a degree. The reason for that is simple: as soon as stylus a sinks into the A-side of Monsters and “Numb” opens it,…

  • The Wallflowers – Exit Wounds LP

    The Wallflowers – Exit Wounds LP

    The Wallflowers Exit Wounds LP (New West Records) Who wouldn’t love to be Jakob Dylan? Since first appearing with The Wallflowers in 1992, Dylan has kept a “when I feel like it” mentality about his schedule of new releases (seven albums in twenty years – with nearly decade-long breaks along the way – is the…

  • HRH Goth Fest, Day 2, Leeds, UK

    HRH Goth Fest, Day 2, Leeds, UK

    It was exciting news when the announcements were made back in 2019 for a brand new addition of HRH Festivals – HRH Goth. Little did we know at that time, that we would have to wait so long for it to actually take place. HRH Goth Fest 2021 was held on the 11th and 12th…

  • HRH Sleaze Fest IV, Sheffield, UK

    HRH Sleaze Fest IV, Sheffield, UK

    Next year’s 5th edition of HRH Sleaze has added even more glam with artists like Michael Monroe, Hardcore Superstar, Pretty Boy Floyd, Crazy Lixx and many others. Info and tickets available here:

  • The Bobby Lees – Skin Suit LP

    The Bobby Lees – Skin Suit LP

    The Bobby Lees Skin Suit LP (Alive Records) It gets said a lot, but it’s only in the moment when one actually hears the right sound at the right moment that they realize just how powerful it can be. It’s only in the right moment, for example, that a sound can make a listener’s blood…

  • Teke::Teke – Shirushi LP

    Teke::Teke – Shirushi LP

    Teke Teke Shirushi LP (Killrockstars) Without question, Teke::Teke is a creature completely in its own quadrant of the pop diaspora. Does that mean that everything about their new album, Shirushi, stands completely separate from everything else in pop? Certainly not – there’s no question that it’s possible to pick out sounds and ideas which could…