Tag: review
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Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards – s/t LP (reissue)
Those who remember that time period when all those Southern California punk bands who broke through in the early nineties got huge (like the Offspring, Green Day, NOFX and Rancid) remember what a big deal it was when Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards released their first album in 2001. Granted, they were not the first…
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Empress – Reminiscence
I told you Elder’s got a posse! A West Coast gig from our new stoner rock saviours inspired this here Vancouver trio to start kicking out their own respective jams, which has resulted in their five-song debut EP, Reminiscence. There’s two distinct types of tunes on Reminiscence—three sub-four-minute tracks, and then a pair of eight-plus…
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Against the Grain – Cheated Death
Detroit Rock City road warriors Against the Grain are back with their fourth full-length album, and they’ll surely be coming to your town to help you party it down in the very near future. But in the meantime, we’ve got these 12 tracks of Motor City speed rock to tide us over, 40 minutes at…
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BOOK REVIEW: Aleister Crowley in America
Written by Tobias Churton Published by Inner Tradition Inner Traditions published a marvellously eclectic selection of books that make the reader think about the world in a different way. Aleister Crowley was one of the 20th century’s great thinkers. He saw the world in a very new fashion. Often misunderstood, Crowley’s life and work deserves…
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Dan Rico – Flesh & Bone b/w Gold Volvo (7-inch single)
On first play through Dan Rico‘s “Flesh & Bone” 7-inch single, many listeners will likely be struck and dazzled by what they hear. They’ll be excited by the tone and tenor of both “Flesh & Bone” and its B-side, “Gold Volvo,” because both tracks sound tightly and classically composed, in the finest tradition of the…
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Beldam – Pasung
For all the sludge metal oozing outta Vancouver, you don’t really hear much of that stuff from its sister city. The bands I know from Seattle lean more toward the Neurosis style of heavy progressive metal. But these recently relocated Virginia transplants bring a whole bunch of that southern-fried piss ‘n vinegar to the Pacific…
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Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Run, Stop & Drop (The Needle) EP
It’s not common for a jazz album which was made in a recording studio to really reach out and grab a listener’s attention. Let’s be honest here; jazz was originally music which was born onstage and developed there with the help of gifted players who spent hours crafting it, grooming it, refining it and making…
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Genocide Pact – Order of Torment
Well what can I say, I had never heard of the Death Metal act Genocide Pact prior to the fine folks at Relapse Records sending me this gem of an album, and I’m super stoked they did. Order of Torment is due out on February 2nd on the aforementioned Relapse Records and it is a…
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Stuyedeyed / Birds – split 7-inch
It’s always kind of incredible how great a gamble a split 7-inch single release can be for the artists involved. Over the years, lots of bands have made great ones, yes, but there have been an equal or greater number of weak or soft efforts which feel lopsided because either one band or one song…
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Black Moth – Anatomical Venus
Often reviews of an album consist of ‘this sounds like band x’, the singer sounds like ‘singer y’, and ‘this album sounds like album z’. But this is not the case with Black Moth: they are special; they sound like Black Moth, no one else. This in itself is a mighty achievement.Their song-writing and performances are…