Causa Sui : Vibraciones Doradas

When I think of Denmark’s Causa Sui I think of vast open spaces. I think of widescreen grooves and vacuum tubes a-glow with the orange of humming fuzz. This four-piece have made it their mission to not be pigeonholed by any one genre or mindset. They explore the dark corners of Sabbath-ian dirges to the […]

Carlton Melton : Hidden Lights

Whenever you drop the needle on a Carlton Melton album you can almost always expect to be taken on a journey. Their albums are these sonic doorways into alternate realities that are sometimes serene and sometimes gritty. The musical world of Carlton Melton is an often gauzy trip into hazy synths, swaths of guitar, and […]

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile : Lotta Sea Lice

Maybe you were like me(or maybe you weren’t) that when you heard Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile were making a collaborative album together it just seemed like the perfect match. There’s a care-free quality about both of them that a coming together of these two seemed like the right thing. The essential thing, even. I’ve […]

Tangerine Dream : Quantum Gate

It’s not very often that a band can continue on after the heart of that band passes on. There’s just something that goes when the center of a musical universe supernovas into the next existential plane. It seemed that when Edgar Froese passed on in early 2015 his constant musical project for the last 45 […]

“What The Hell Did I Just Buy?” : Adventures In Vinyl

As a vinyl guy, it’s my duty to make things hard on myself. I am quite aware that there are these things called “digital downloads”, where you can receive music right through your computer and put those albums onto a digital listening device. This allows the listener to have hundreds or thousands of albums inside […]

John Carpenter : Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998

I believe we’ve entered the John Carpenter renaissance. Five years ago the man was on the bitter end of a film career that had seen better days. To those in the know the man was and is a filmmaking icon. His subtle nuances, patient tension building, exquisite camera work, and of course his film scoring […]

Mogwai : Every Country’s Sun

I had a rough first start with Mogwai. My initial introduction to Mogwai was the Curiosa Festival back in 2004. I thought I was going to be decimated in the spot I stood in the pavilion of the World Music Theater by the sheer volume that emanated from the stage. It was a kind of […]

Primus : The Desaturating Seven

When Primus put out their musical tribute to the Gene Wilder classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the aptly-titled Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Orchestra back in 2014, everything about the Bay area prog/funk/freak trio seemed to make perfect sense. Les Claypool, the elastic bass genius and singer for the band has […]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor : Luciferian Towers

It’s always been difficult for me to describe the listening experience involved with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Talking about their records as merely collections of songs doesn’t work. Each album is more like a visceral experience. A complex stream of emotions and feelings that come over you. Joy, menace, confusion, resilience, contentment, and chaos are […]

Protomartyr : Relatives In Descent

The Motor City’s Protomartyr sound like modern harbingers of doom. Singer Joe Casey takes the podium front and center like a prophet telling us the secrets of our demise as a society in riddles, suggestions, and proclamations. Guitarist Greg Ahee blends melodic moments with outright blasts of contempt, while bassist Scott Davidson and drummer Alex […]