Urgula : Frequency Wars

Techno music has a certain freedom to it that allows the music to zone out, expand, and elaborate on a single rhythm for as long as it needs. It works some kind of sonic voodoo on the listener, putting us in a state of suspended animation. I’ve grown to appreciate the genre over the years, […]

Jonas Munk : Minimum Resistance

Jonas Munk likes working in subtle sonic textures. When not in Causa Sui as guitarist extraordinaire, Munk works more like a painter than musician in the studio. His solo work, along with his records with Billow Observatory, Ulrich Schnauss, and Nicklas Sorensen, are marked by a decidedly more nuanced approach. Going with the painter scenario, […]

Shady Nasty : Bad Posture

Sydney, Australia’s Shady Nasty are noisy as hell and that’s a very good thing. For a three-piece they sound more like a small army of shrieking phantoms soundtracked by war drums and tortured six strings. Singer/guitarist Kevin Stathis condemns and seethes more than he sings. His jagged riffs are matched only by his jagged vocals. […]

Fragile X : Late 03 : Hylozoic

The Glasgow electronic wizard J Gorecki, musically known as Fragile X, is all about moving us. Taking us on a journey thru his music. Many of us walk the path of mundanity in our daily lives; clocking in and clocking out, paying bills, cleaning up, and even talking about the same things and never deviating […]

Tennis : Swimmer

The pop duo Tennis, which consists of couple Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, have always had a knack for pristine pop sounds. From breezy sunburnt pop of their debut Cape Dory to more 70s singer/songwriter fare of Young & Old to the more synth/dream pop fare of Yours Conditionally, the main thru line in the […]

Tame Impala : The Slow Rush

It feels like Kevin Parker has finally found the perfect balance between the scrappy psych rock Tame Impala and the more nuanced, pop-inflected Tame Impala we’ve been hearing since 2015s Currents. Parker has never made it a secret that he had much loftier goals than just making his debut Innerspeaker over and over again. Even […]

Wild Nothing : Laughing Gas

One of the great pleasures in life for me is to drop into a Jack Tatum(aka Wild Nothing) album and just get lost in his 80s-tinged dream pop. I dropped in with 2012s Nocturne and have been a major fan of Wild Nothing ever since. Tatum is all about the hook and the grandeur of […]

Kanaan : Odense Sessions

Norwegian three piece Kanaan showed up at the end of 2018 with the intense and forward-thinking Windborne. Combining elements of post-rock, Krautrock, and even art rock, these three young musicians made a fine addition to the El Paraiso Records roster. Their music swayed from melancholy doom to breezy and ethereal soundscapes, giving their sound a […]

Cemetery Gates : Blood Brothers Original Soundtrack

Are you familiar at all with Grief Thief Records? No? Well let me tell you you’re missing out. Grief Thief is home base for musicians Gene Priest and Derek Jones, the duo that make up the electronic band Cemetery Gates. Cemetery Gates is a project filled with 80s electronic vibes(Depeche Mode, OMD, NIN) as well […]

Field Lines Cartographer : The Ferric Landscape

Mark Burford’s work as Field Lines Cartographer feels more like digging for fossils or mapping out new galaxies than just sitting and listening to an album. He creates a vast and strange musical landscape that is somewhere between meditative bliss and a frightening science fiction discovery. Songs slowly spread over time frames that cover from […]