Let’s Go To The Black Hole Party

When you hear the name Thousand Foot Whale Claw, what comes to mind? Maybe some historical anthropological find? A lost Troma release from the late 80s? Maybe some mythical deep sea creature with razored digits to grab its prey? Well you’d be wrong on all accounts, but I’d give you an ‘A’ for effort. Actually, […]

Language : Plymouth EP

For those not in-the-know, singer and guitarist Omar Afzaal of the New York-based post-punk band Language is a Fort Wayne native, born and bred. He’s been a part of some of the most creative and progressive bands to come out of Fort Wayne in the last 15 years until he moved to the Big Apple […]

Phantom vs Fire : Swim

I’ve been sitting here trying to wrap my brain around the beautiful and mysterious Swim by Phantom vs Fire for a few days now. I’m still struggling to put into words what’s going on here. While it could sit comfortably in the imagined soundtracks genre, I think to label it as such would be doing […]

Dr. Dog : Critical Equation

I can remember driving 5 hours one way to Louisville, Kentucky to see Wilco at Slugger Field back in late summer of 2007. My wife and I were deep into Jeff Tweedy’s world at that point. I’d lost count of all the times we’d seen the Chicago band by then, but what was one more […]

Growing Up In The Dark Peaks : A Conversation With Simon Pott

When you step into the musical world of Simon Pott’s Isvisible Isinvisible, there’s a sense of wonder and mystery. It’s a wheezing, pulsating universe of buzzing circuits, synthetic rhythms, mechanical drones and vague nods to science fiction. Pott orchestrates these analog musical narratives mostly thru modular synthesizers(and seemingly lots of patience and trial and error, […]

Hutch

I’ll still catch myself checking old conversations and emails between my friend Mark and I. They weren’t as often as I wished they’d been, but what we had were insightful, funny, and I looked forward to them as if they were conversations with a long lost brother. Mark was six years older than me, the […]

I’m Sorry Mrs. Jackson(I Am For Real)

Didn’t we all have that friend in childhood that stayed in childhood? You know, it was usually a kid that lived next door or maybe two houses down from you. He wasn’t going to be a lifetime friend but was good for summer shenanigans; birthday parties, occasional sleepovers that involved movie rentals, frozen pizzas, and […]

“Just another mature, grownup hardcore kid” : A Conversation With Alone In The Woods’ Jon Dobyns

If you were lucky enough, you were able to grab a copy of Burning Witches Records’ Record Store Day release Communion a couple Saturdays ago. If not, maybe you snagged a copy online while the getting was good. Still no dice? Well shame on you. If I was a betting man(I’m not), I’d say Communion […]

Landing : Bells In New Towns

Connecticut’s Landing are a band that seem to evolve and reshape with every new album. On their 2015 El Paraiso Records debut Third Sight it was a slightly psychedelic, slightly ambient affair with hints of delicate dream pop thrown in for good measure. But the velveteen hushes on that great album were just a fraction […]

Speedy Ortiz : Twerp Verse

I’m not sure I’m smart enough to truly ever get into Speedy Ortiz. I mean, I listen to the Sadie Dupuis-fronted band and I hear really intelligently put together indie pop rock. The guitars are jangly, jagged, and possess angular riffing you’d hear in early Pavement, Archers of Loaf, and Sleater-Kinney. The songs are put […]