May 23, 2000 / Force Tracks 10 (November 14, 2017) The city can be a great place sometimes. Back in my review for Apologies to the Queen Mary I mentioned my love of the aesthetic of the big city right in the dead of winter; the mere presence of falling snow always tends to add a somewhat … Continue reading Luomo – Vocalcity →

April 17, 2017 / Disruptor 0.0 (October 13, 2017) Scene: at the LOCAL LIQUOR STORE. Evening.      Me: *looking through six-packs of various PRETENTIOUSLY-NAMED IPAs for the one with the highest alcohol content*      [STORE RADIO is playing random top 40 hits]      Me: *continues looking, moving onto the second shelf, making … Continue reading The Chainsmokers – Memories… Do Not Open →

September 29, 2017 / Domino 8.0 (October 12, 2017) The opening track on Protomartyr's 2015 opus The Agent Intellect is a song called The Devil in His Youth. The devil that we're talking about here, however, isn't any religious figure, isn't even some power-hungry, malicious danger to society, but is simply a random suburban teenager; one who … Continue reading Protomartyr – Relatives in Descent →

September 4, 2012 / Bathetic 9.0 (October 8, 2017) After last year's absolutely fantastic My Woman had gone through its initial only-listening-to-this phase with me, I took some quick time off to listen to all three of Angel Olsen's studio albums back-to-back. Wasn't a huge deal; three albums of an average length of around forty-five minutes, nothing … Continue reading Angel Olsen – Half Way Home →

September 8, 2017 / Polyvinyls 8.7 (September 19, 2017) Most buzz bands have an unfortunate tendency to burn out shortly after their hyped debut finally sees the light, either from a big letdown or a sophomore slump begotten by even higher expectations. It's happened many times in the past and will unfortunately happen many times … Continue reading Alvvays – Antisocialites →

July 28, 2017 / Columbia 2.0 (July 28, 2017)  I've told people before, not terribly often, but enough, that, through my eyes, some of the most absolutely remarkable albums, even if they're not the most astounding thing you've ever heard, are the ones that leave you with important questions after you've listened to them, questions … Continue reading Arcade Fire – Everything Now →

June 16, 2017 / Nonesuch 9.5 (June 16, 2017) Life is one tough bitch of a road to travel on. It seems that, until you retire, if you're lucky enough to have such a concept in your future, everything's just a constant series of twists and turns that takes you far away, and then before … Continue reading Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up →

June 2, 2017 / Infectious 7.2 (June 11, 2017) Indie's most fiercely polarizing band. That's what alt-J are. Ever since their forming, they have managed to divide opinions both critically and commercially, and attract the confused interest of the music community as a whole through the massive and vicious divide that they're in the center … Continue reading alt-J – Relaxer →

January 21, 2003 / K 9.3 (May 25, 2017) And so this is where it all ends. The end of The Microphones, and soon the start of something new. Two years after 2001's masterpiece The Glow Pt. 2, the band released their final musical statement which would soon become the namesake of Elverum's next project, turning … Continue reading The Microphones – Mount Eerie →

September 25, 2001 / K 9.7 (May 24, 2017) The Microphones were never a political band. Phil Elverum has rarely, if ever, talked for long about politics nowadays, and back at the turn of the century the situation was the same. While people were still fuming over the election of George W. Bush and punk … Continue reading The Microphones – The Glow Pt. 2 →