Heavy-hearted in the Midwest since 2011
Damon Baxter and Pete Diggens blew our minds and eardrums back in 2018 with the behemoth that was Deadly Avenger’s I Am Godzilla, You Are Japan. Not a single window or piece of fine china was safe when the beat dropped on that epic piece of beat blastin’ science fiction. The synth riffs were dense and […]
Read More Deadly Avenger : Your God Is Too SmallIf Nicklas Sorensen isn’t melting minds in main gig Papir, then he might be in the studio laying down crystalline guitar tracks with Causa Sui’s Jonas Munk for a solo album. Or, if he’s doing neither of those things Nicklas could very well be holing up in a studio for a day creating improvisational, free-form […]
Read More Improvisation For A Day : Nicklas Sorensen Talks Side Project A2Nate Utesch has quickly been proving himself to be one of the most creative electronic composers working today. The evolution of his band Metavari as a once Midwest post-rock outfit that played stages at SXSW to the one-man studio project seems to have been a seamless one. Though I don’t think anyone pines to be […]
Read More Absurda : Metavari’s Fire Walk With David LynchA long ago friend hipped me to Brad’s first LP Shame in his mom’s basement back in 1993. It was this odd-looking basement, one that was finished but was furnished like it was 1975. Bright orange counter tops and cabinets with a faucet to wash the dishes dirtied at the key parties that probably took […]
Read More RIP Shawn SmithIf you’d told me back in 1991 that the bass player from Anthrax and the bass player from Megadeth would someday form a hard rock band after doing bass clinics together I’d say you were crazy. Just plain crazy, man. But alas, I’d be the one with egg on my face. Frank Bello from Anthrax […]
Read More Altitudes + Attitude : Get It OutI have a soft spot for 80s pop radio. Sure, in 1987 I was the kid sitting on the bus heading to middle school with headphones on and a copy of Anthrax’ State Of Euphoria in my Sony Walkman. But side A would end and before I could flip to side B I could hear […]
Read More Tamaryn : Dreaming The DarkDetroit, Michigan’s prog/synth warriors Voyag3r return on April 26th with their follow-up to 2016s excellent Are You Synthetic? War Mask sees the trio of Steve Greene(synthesizers, piano, saxophone), Greg Mastin(drums and percussion), and Aaron Greene(guitars) heading from sci fi territory to a post-apocalyptic landscape, and from the sound of lead single “The Terror Is Gaining […]
Read More Voyag3r Return With ‘War Mask’; Listen To “The Terror Is Gaining On You”Chris Cohen seems to exist in his very own musical space. It’s a space where the Kinks Village Green Preservation Society coalesces with Johnathan Richman’s I, Johnathan and some wistful memory of a summer afternoon long ago. Cohen played with Deerhoof from 2002 to 2006(some say their best years), as well as a bevy of […]
Read More Chris Cohen : Self-TitledTimothy Showalter started releasing albums as Strand of Oaks back in 2009 with his debut Leave Ruin. The Indiana native(born in Goshen) put out folks-y, acoustic-heavy albums that dealt with personal issues like love, death, infidelity, and the struggle to keep it all together. His sound slowly developed into a more space-y, dreamy style that […]
Read More Strand of Oaks : EraserlandAndrew Bird has had quite the 20+ year run so far. Starting out in the hot jazz/old time-y retro scene with Squirrel Nut Zippers and working his way thru a few albums on his own as Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire. He ended that phase of his career on the excellent The Swimming Hour. From […]
Read More Andrew Bird : My Finest Work Yet