Aurganic - Deviations Album Review
“Aurganic” are two long-time friends based in Toronto/ New York who originally started in local punk rock bands together. The duos taste changed with the years, they now boast an alternative/ electronic mix using an exciting blend of synths, keys, guitars, bass, and vocals engineered through masterful programming. With a touch of an alternative rock feeling, fans of “Incubus” and “Muse” will see the guys’ new album "Deviations" released on September 24th, 2013 mixed into their favourite playlist.
Iceage - You're Nothing Review
Danish four-piece Iceage combine Wire-esque post-punk with the looseness of noise rock and the detached angst of hardcore, managing to avoid the banality of the latter genre with a kind of implied futility in their ferocity and a total lack of macho posturing.
Yo La Tengo - Fade Review
Yo La Tengo's thirteenth LP is permeated with startling confidence and clarity, unpretentious in its accessibility and masterful in the art of understatement.
Opening track 'Ohm' is a bright, dreamlike anthem that gradually layers simple, subtly evolving elements which amount to a psychedelic crescendo in slow-motion. 'Cornelia and Jane', another standout, sees Georgia Hubley's gentle falsetto vocals drift over guitar melodies reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie's Translantacism. It's all very soothing, like a day at Centre Parcs without the extortion.
New Rising Media Christmas Gift Guide: Music
The standard music recommended in Christmas gift guides across the globe can get rather dire. A selection of albums from the most commercialised of "talent," which quickly loses all musical value in a storm of stereotypical song structure and torrenting. With that in mind, we've counted down the Top 25 albums of this year, all of which will make a great present in both physical or downloaded form.
Crystal Castles: (III) Review
With (III), Crystal Castles entirely abandon the quirky, screechy, bleepy approach that characterized their debut, instead opting to push the darker, softer sound introduced on the second half of their sophomore album.
Deftones - Koi No Yokan Review
With Koi No Yokan, Deftones refine their fusion of the ethereal and the visceral that has remained consistently effective since their inception, whilst continuing to transcend the boundaries of the reductive and frankly insulting 'nu-metal' label so often applied to them.
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy Review
Like BMSR's previous efforts this is a hazy, sedative affair which leaves you feeling like you've received an injection of pure fruit matter.
The tracks have names like 'Dreamsicle Bomb', 'Psychic Love Bomb' and 'Hairspray Heart', and I can't be sure whether this is satirical or not. BMSR are a band I enjoy in short bursts, which is especially relevant here as this album's accessibility renders it repetitive.
Flatbush Zombies - D.R.U.G.S Review
Flatbush Zombies' debut mixtape is saved from its trite horrorcore lyricism and occasional awkward flows by an unpretentious attitude and excellent production comprised of slick, memorable synth hooks and eclectic samples.
Death Grips - NO LOVE DEEP WEB Review
Well isn't this a nice surprise? Death Grips leaked their second album of the year online for free on Sunday (at midnight, no less) after their label Epic Records wouldn't set a release date until next year. As if this wasn't punk rock enough, there's the fact that the album cover is a photo of an erection. Since MC Ride's existence is essentially an affront to the established order of the universe, I'd bet that it's his.
Cat Power - Sun Review
Chan Marshall's 9th studio release is characterised by a newfound comfort with her own neuroses and the introduction of what sound like default Ableton Live synthesizers. 'Cherokee' starts the album off strongly with a desolate yet soulful piano melody and contrasting vocal registers, but this level of quality isn't totally maintained throughout. Despite some of the opener's more melancholic lines, such as 'Never knew pain like this, everything die', the majority of the album feels happy, albeit in a vague, detached, introspective sort of way. As this is the only kind of happiness I'm comfortable with, I can relate.
David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant Review
'Love This Giant' is, for the most part, even more than you could have expected from a collaboration between artists as accomplished and peculiar as these. Due to the centrality of the brass band its tone never strays too far from the whimsical and jubilant, although it does frequently reintroduce the ethereal elements from St. Vincent's last album 'Strange Mercy', which serve as a great counterpoint.
NOFX - Self-Entitled Review
NOFX are one of those rare bands with whom more of the same is never a bad thing. Although this release eschews some of the more pop orientated elements of 2009's 'Coaster', pretty much everything you've come to expect from them is present here: Mell Yells, El Hefe's copious use of the wah pedal, acerbic lyricism and that stupidly quick bass drum pattern that Erik "Smelly" Sandin always uses.
Flobots - The Circle In The Square Review
This progressive blend of hip hop and groove-fusion hits somewhere between the two marks set by their previous efforts: debut album 'Fight With Tools' and 2010's 'Survival Story.' A hybrid between the popular-ism of the initial and the distinctive nature of the latter. The result is something that both works and doesn't at the same time.
Heyward Howkins - Hale & Hearty Review
Think of an finely tuned mix of City and Colour, The Cure, Bon Iver and Nick Drake. Add some very Sgt. Pepper-esque vocal mixing, and combine all of this with minimal song textures. That is essentially what Philadelphia's own Heyward Howkins has created, and the wistfullness and simplicity shown is downright hypnotic from start to finish.
Athura - A Hand In Death's Design Review
Raw and powerful, yet orchestrated and structured. A contradiction of musical textures, which has been brought before us by Plymouth 6-piece Metal act Athura. Bringing an untamed anger, while feeling meticulous in their utilisations of groove, complex harmonics and powerful melody.
Architects - Daybreaker Review
Completely remove any misguided pre-conceptions that this takes them back to their days of Hollow Crown. The melodic ferocity has very much returned; but with subtle hints towards the rather polarising The Here and Now and a sense of maturity in song construction, you have is a wildly different and, at times, melodically beautiful album to experience.
The Black Keys - El Camino Review
The American blues duo hit us with their seventh studio album in the end of 2011, and they hit us hard. From the moment you press play a feistiness is unleashed, with the well known 'Lonely Boy', until the final tracks, like 'Nova Baby' you just wish you could sing a long live to, when you just can't help but press repeat.
The Maccabees - Given To The Wild Review
Third time lucky? Or do bad things really come in threes?
The Maccabees have only recently come into my preferred bands just before their third album release, 'Given To The Wild', and before this album my opinion of them was a very indie sound: twangy guitars, fast drum beats, unique voice, the usual.