• Battles – La Di Da Di

    September 16, 2015 - By 

    For Battles, it was always going to be downhill after a record like Mirrored; a strangely hypnotic and danceable collection of math rock songs that let the group kick in the door, guns blazing, announcing to the world that Battles were a fully formed and ready to rock. While recording their follow-up, 2010’s Gloss Drop, the group lost their lead singer and were forced to bring in a number of guest vocalists to fill the void as well as dropping vocals from a number of the tracks altogether. This schism of sound didn’t do the album, admittedly very good, many…

  • Somadrone – Oracle

    September 11, 2015 - By 

    Looking back it’s hard to deny that Redneck Manifesto and its members’ various solo exploits stand as some of the more intriguing Irish records of the last decade. Records like I Am Brazil and Friendship have stood the test of time, Richie Egan’s Jape have been putting out some truly excellent music as demonstrated on Ritual and Somadrone’s AKA Neil O’Connor 2013 effort The First Wave was an Eno-inflected classic in waiting. Waiting two years to provide the follow-up, Somadrone has quietly released his latest LP, Oracle, and as to be expected from such stock as this, it’s very bloody good.…

  • Defeater – Abandoned

    September 10, 2015 - By 

    There’s something so intrinsically lovely about really good album artwork. While you shouldn’t be able to judge a record by its cover, it should act as some kind of indication of what you can expect. Abandoned, the latest LP from hardcore punks Defeater, has one of those covers that sets the tone for the album in a rather sublime fashion. It’s this murky, shadowy image of a priest overshadowed by a stained glass representation of a mother and her children. Not only does it capture the record’s more atmospheric and moody elements, but it also provides a neat visual representation…

  • Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie

    September 8, 2015 - By 

    Imagine any indie song from a young Irish rock band today; a conventional, radio friendly track that has something for everybody. Now deconstruct its parts and bend them into elastic. Allow them to stretch and make each movement as tensile as possible to the point of snapping. That’s what Dublin’s Girl Band offer with their debut, Holding Hands with Jamie. This may be their debut album but they’ve had several limited run releases which sold faster than they could be printed. Having played together for a number of years, their spontaneous and primal sets have been well established in the…

  • Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There

    September 8, 2015 - By 

    There’s something inherently calming about Yo La Tengo. They’re a fundamentally solid band, the kind who, at worst, release records that you don’t like rather than outright bad ones. They’re these reliable old workhorses whose every album is going to give you a least one thoroughly pleasant gift. They don’t make records that you eagerly watch the calendar for, but rather ones that provide a humble, unassuming announcement of their presence and let you discover them for yourself. Everything about them is decidedly pleasant, which leads us to their latest LP, Stuff Like That There. Stuff is a cover album…

  • Call Super – Migrant

    September 3, 2015 - By 

    Call Super’s bios on Twitter and Tumblr read “confuse, construct”. It’s important to bear in mind when navigating his ever-growing catalogue — just when one thinks he’s settled on a style or direction, he upends expectations and jumps into something either head-bangingly intense or daringly mellifluous. Following the impeccably layered and textured Suzi Ecto full-length for Houndstooth last year his next release was the two-track Fluenka Mitsu EP for Greek label Nous Disques, the first of which sounded nothing like anything he’d released before. Rolling, rumbling melodies run unchecked for 10 solid minutes on ‘Fluenka’s Shelf’, while thunderous echoes abound overhead…

  • The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness

    September 2, 2015 - By 

    Hailing from Toronto and one of Canada’s hottest talents right now alongside Drake, R&B singer The Weeknd drops his newest record Beauty Behind The Madness. With a number of hit singles before the release, something huge is expected from vocalist Abel Tesfaye for his sophomore album. The lyrical content of previous work often contained stories of sex, drugs and drink, and although there are a few songs with strong such references, the lyrical theme has been diluted on the record, and involves more of a sombre tone of hurt and relationships. Abel expresses the stories with a soulful voice that…

  • Explosive Decoy Humans – Transient

    August 20, 2015 - By 

    Transient is the first EP from unashamedly nerdy tech-metallers Explosive Decoy Humans, dispersed across three continents yet unencumbered by the oceanic expanses. Featuring members of Cyclamen, Subterranean Fishermen, and Dead on Both Shoulders, the qualifications of EDH are without question, and Transient arrives not a moment too soon for this creative contingent. The sonorous, sometimes somnolent croonings of vocalist Lindsay Templeton evoke Orchid-era Mikael Akerfeldt amidst a whirlwind of seething meters. A field recording of a lagoon punctuates the opener’s onslaught, grounding it in an evocative, intimate serenity. True to its name, ‘Chaos’ flits and flutters, its flight enigmatically sating the attention,…

  • Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss

    August 19, 2015 - By 

    Treacle-thick tones and monolithic riffing set the tone immediately for Chelsea Wolfe’s latest excursion, Abyss. Long a much-fancied purveyor of doomy, layered heaviness, the record’s title is apt to say the least. ‘Carrion Flowers’ trudges along, industrial tinges emerging here and there in clatterslap percussion as Wolfe’s sultry voice blushes the whole thing with a beautiful fatalism, her range equally as enviable as her depth and strength as an artist. The mechanics of the record maintain consistency throughout, alternating between gentle, damned balladry, and guttural sludge in the likes of ‘Iron Moon’. ‘Dragged Out’s’ looping, keening highnotes invest a detached,…

  • Cruising – Cruising

    August 14, 2015 - By 

    Sometimes a band name can elucidate the direction in which its songs will travel.  Cruising are a case in point, named after a book/film delving into the dark underworld of a serial killer who picks up homosexual men from the New York S&M scene to murder.  EP cover emblazoned with a black leather biker jacket, band name studded across the shoulders, and PVC leather hat a la Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes, worn in promo photos runs with the theme. There’s more than a whisper of iconic female rockers like Joan Jett, Siouxsie Sioux and Poly Styrene.  Understandably so, given that…