Omni Wield Post-Punk Precision on ‘Souvenir’
Souvenir finds Omni continuing to carve out a distinct identity (with an exacto knife) and shining among the glut of post-punk revivalist bands.
Alison Ross
Clockwise Cat publisher and editor, Alison Ross, uses Zen-Surrealism as her guiding aesthetic. Alison has been a featured poet at Surreal Poetics. In addition, she has published reviews and editorials in various publications, including Fear of Monkeys and PopMatters. Links to her work (poetry, polemics and reviews) can be found at: www.symmetryofbirds.blogspot.com.
Gothic Tribes: The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst Explores Pop Music’s Dark Artists
Tolhurst’s goth music history intimately details the mercurial movement, interweaving personal memories and descriptions of the “architects of darkness”.
‘Between Two Worlds’ Traverses Class Issues with Privileged Ease
Between Two Worlds critiques third-party storytelling as working-class exploitation.
Protomartyr Showcase Subtle Expansion of Their Shadowy Sound
In Formal Growth in the Desert, Protomartyr have subtly evolved their sound into something not as claustrophobically volatile as previous efforts.
The Cure’s ‘Wild Mood Swings’ Indulges the Glories of Genre-Jumping
The Cure’s ebulliently eclectic masterpiece ‘Wild Mood Swings’ is misguidedly maligned. What is more tantalizing than music that exalts eclecticism to such stupefying heights?
Post-Punk Tree of Life: Twin Tribes and Black Swan Lane Sustain the Genre
Post-punk bands Twin Tribes and Black Swan Lane hail from the sunny climes of the southwestern and southeastern US, and yet sonically mirror the late ’70s/early ’80s post-punk from the rain-sodden UK.
Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen Martin Subverts Verse to Infect the Senses
Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen Martin’s words snake their way into one’s consciousness and viciously bite at the tragic absurdity of American racism.
The Cure’s Genre-Defining and Genre-Defying ‘Faith’ 40 Years On
The Cure’s Faith–released 40 years ago this April–comes from a haunted, solipsistic place and it seduces you into its tormented world.
Martyrs and Murderers and Post-Punk Dialogues Between Dublin and Detroit
Dublin's the Murder Capital and Detroit's Protomartyr both delve into murky existential lyrical terrain as riotous riffs reverberate and drums pound militantly, infusing the atmosphere with ominous sonic shadows.
Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Sings ‘Every Day We Get More Illegal’
Every Day We Get More Illegal, seems to foretell a diatribe vibe, but threaded throughout Herrera's verse is the musicality--the calming, invigorating melodies that remind us, ever so sweetly, if insistently: Latino lives are beloved.
Bright Eyes’ ‘Down in the Weeds’ Is a Return to Form and a Statement of Hope
Bright Eyes may not technically be emo, but they are transcendently expressive, beatifically melancholic. Down in the Weeds is just the statement of grounding that we need as a respite from the churning chaos around us.
The Cure’s ‘Seaside’ Cure for Sheltering at Home
In these times of pandemic turmoil and outright trauma, what better match does the tempestuous human soul have than the sea? And what better lyricist than the Cure's Robert Smith, who twins the wrath (or sadness) of the sea with similar human emotions?