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 […]

METZ : Strange Peace

I will admit that I have a bit of a dude crush on the Canadian rock band METZ. There’s just something about their intense brand of noise rock/post-punk gumbo that gets me in the gut. It’s a kind of rush that comes with a special sort of experience. Maybe like jumping out of a plane, […]

Beaches : Second of Spring

The music of Melbourne, Australia’s Beaches is a collection of hazy, psych-heavy guitar pop. They build walls of noise for us to work our way through. What we hear when we find ourselves in the midst of their noisy, gauzy, guitar sonics is a catchy rock and roll hook. This five piece rock and roll […]

LCD Soundsystem : American Dream

There’s always been something about James Murphy that I’ve been drawn to. Ever since I bought LCD Soundsystem’s Sound Of Silver on a whim back in 2007 I’ve been enamored with the guy. Maybe because he’s close to my age. Maybe because he’s a middle-aged guy acting like a middle-aged guy. He’s not posturing the dude-isms […]

The War on Drugs : A Deeper Understanding

I don’t think a songwriter has excited me more about the future of music in the last few years more than The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel. It’s ironic, too, given that his music feels more like looking back into the past than forward into some unknown future. I guess I’ve been known to wallow […]

Auburn Lull : Hypha

If you’re not paying attention you may just miss the existential beauty that engulfs the music of Auburn Lull. There’s a gauzy drift that permeates from this Lansing, Michigan-based dream pop band and the music they create. Ever since their 1999 debut Alone I Admire there was always this feeling that the band had some […]

Queens of the Stone Age : Villains

I’m not the biggest QOTSA fan in the room. There are others that their love and admiration for Josh Homme and crew far outweigh my own. I really didn’t come around to them till Lullabies To Paralyze. Even the massive Songs for the Deaf wasn’t enough to peak my interest in the desert rock monoliths. […]

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile’s “Over Everything”

When I first heard Courtney Barnett I had this feeling that she was this musical soulmate to Kurt Vile(true story.) She had this easy(not lazy) way of telling a story in songs. And the songs were these punchy rock and roll tunes that were elevated somehow from the usual melee of garage rock schlock. She […]

They Came From Rue Morgue : The Musical

So there I was minding my own business perusing the interwebs and the social medias when I see a post from Christopher Ashley, aka Slasher Film Festival Strategy, about a new compilation he is part of. It’s a track called “Faithless and Forever Empty” and its on a compilation called They Came From Rue Morgue. […]