Tag: alternative
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Reviews x3: Fractal Cypher, Striker, Jo Quail
Fractal Cypher – Prelude To An Impending Outcome Fans of Dream Theater will find much to enjoy here. Beautifully played progressive metal, and a release that bodes well for their future music. Transcendent! (Mini Album, Self-Release) https://fractalcypher.bandcamp.com/album/prelude-to-an-impending-outcome Striker – Play To Win Striker remind me of the good old days when great bands like Iron Maiden…
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Urge Overkill – Saturation LP (reissue)
Quick history lesson: By 1992, Urge Overkill had already established itself both in the fairly unforgiving Chicago music scene and on the North American college radio circuit with the help of albums like Americruiser and The Supersonic Storybook. Not only that, the band has cut a fairly striking and peerless image; unlike so many other…
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Aaron Lee Tasjan – Karma For Cheap LP
The single greatest problem from which Karma For Cheap (and its auteur, Aaron Lee Tasjan, by extension) suffers is that it’s just too polished and the seams on it are too air-tight. For that reason, it’s difficult for listeners to not meet the music with more than a little bit of suspicion. This is precisely…
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The Flaming Lips – Greatest Hits Volume 1 (LP)
As a general rule, I must confess that Best-Of compilations seldom thrill me. While the odd set does prove to be the rule’s exception (like Nirvana’s black album, the set that Morphine released several years ago, ChangesoneBowie, Hot Rocks and All For Nothing/Nothing For All turned out to all be great sets), most best-of comps…
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Melvins – Pinkus Abortion Technician
The Melvins are to bassists what Spinal Tap is to drummers. After recording with no fewer than six bassists on their last album, fittingly titled Basses Loaded, they’ve now employed two permanent four-stringers on this release—Steven McDonald of Redd Kross, who was part of their last tour, and Jeff Pinkus of Butthole Surfers fame, who…
