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My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' and the Un-Invention of Cock Rock
My Bloody Valentine's Loveless stands as an album of (at least) equal importance to Nirvana's Nevermind. A great deal of its importance is how it offers a gender-bending sonic style that severed the entrenched connections between the electric guitar and masculine phallic power.
17 Jun 2020
Music
Wares Have Indie Rock Intensity But Need More Hooks on 'Survival'
Canadian indie rockers Wares offer up their first LP for a label. Survival demonstrates that combining indie rock and synthpop can be pretty difficult to get right.
16 Jun 2020
Music
Savages' Jehnny Beth Creates One of the Most Compelling Albums of 2020 with 'To Love Is to Live'
Jehnny Beth's (Savages) solo debut To Love Is to Live feels like a really good book. Each track gives you a deeper dive into a complex and multifaceted, destructive character.
12 Jun 2020
Music
Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo Share Lockdown, Shelter in Place, Protest Gems
One of the pleasures of human culture is that, as a combined stream of millions of individuals' efforts in this current moment, and millions of people's inputs across time stretching back thousands of years, no single person will ever have seen or heard it all.
11 Jun 2020
Music
Steve Albini: A Biographical Collage
Everyone's favorite noise rock curmudgeon, Steve Albini sounds off as he prepares to release an eerie score to a horror film.
10 Jun 2020
Music
Yes, Melkbelly's 'PITH' Is Pithy and Expressive
Melkbelly's PITH wondrously pivots between noise-rock abandon and the warmness of lo-fi pop.
12 May 2020
Music
Punk Rock's Flat Worms Evoke the 2010s in 'Antarctica'
Los Angeles punk rockers, Flat Worms succeed in transforming the urgency to escape into a musical experience on Antarctica.
14 Apr 2020
Music
Protomartyr - "Processed by the Boys" (Singles Going Steady)
Protomartyr's "Processed By the Boys" is a gripping spin on reality as we know it, and here, the revolution is being televised.
03 Apr 2020
Music
New Brain Trajectory: An Interview With Lee Ranaldo and Raül Refree
Two guitarists, Lee Ranaldo and Raül Refree make an album largely absent of guitar playing and enter into a bold new phase of their careers. "We want to take this wherever we can and be free of genre restraints," says Lee Ranaldo.
03 Apr 2020
Music
Mike Patton and Anthony Pateras' tētēma Don't Hit the Mark on 'Necroscape'
tētēma's Necroscape has some highlights and some interesting ambiance, but ultimately it's a catalog of misses for Mike Patton and Anthony Pateras.
03 Apr 2020
Music
Human Impact Hit Home with a Seismic First Album From a Veteran Lineup
On their self-titled debut, Human Impact provide a soundtrack for this dislocated moment where both humanity and nature are crying out for relief.
02 Apr 2020
Music
Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, Swans Alums Are Human Impact and They're Mad As Hell
Imagine an orgy scored by rusty industrial equipment blasting New York City noise-rock, something like Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, or Swans in their wicked primes. That's the noise-rock supergroup, Human Impact.
12 Mar 2020
Music
Lee Ranaldo and Raül Refree Create an Eerily Experimental Sound with 'Names of North End Women'
The fruitful collaboration between these two unique musicians continues on an album that is dark but surprisingly melodic.
21 Feb 2020
Music
Brooding Goth Meets Post-Punk on Bambara's 'Stray'
On Stray, Bambara peel the curtain back further on their reality. Haunting and deeply evocative words are sewn into a dark tapestry of atmospheric, brooding goth meets post-punk on an album that lingers like the rough outline of an aging scar.
13 Feb 2020
Music
Art and Politics Go Hand in Hand on Algiers' 'There Is No Year'
Algiers are what would result if Verso Books turned into an art rock band. This is a very good thing.
30 Jan 2020
Music
OOIOO Blast Out of Lengthy Hiatus with Brash and Beautifully Unpredictable 'nijimusi'
Revered experimental Japanese noise/punk/jazz band, OOIOO are back with a typically intense and brilliant new album, nijimusi.
17 Jan 2020
Music
Noise Rock's Buildings Urge You to "Sit With It" (premiere)
Minneapolis noise rock band, Buildings return with a new album and a new cut that speaks to the frustrations we face every day. Buildings make boredom sound (almost) fun on "Sit With It".
13 Nov 2019
Music
Sunn O))) Revisit the World of 'Life Metal' with 'Pyroclasts'
The companion piece to Sunn O)))'s masterful Life Metal completes the most organic and minimal chapter in the drone masters' journey.
08 Nov 2019
Music
Going Off the Rails But Knowing Where to Land: ESSi and the Art of Noise Rock
After more than three years together, Brooklyn duo ESSi finally released their first full-length album. PopMatters caught up with them before a show to discuss their effects-laden punk sound, New York's vibrant DIY music scene, and how Craigslist saved them more than once.
24 Oct 2019
Music
MetalMatters: October 2019 - What's That Noise?
October is dominated by heavyweight returns from noise rock pioneers Swans and Lightning Bolt, while also filled with the black metal bleakness of Blut Aus Nord and the Great Old Ones, while Vastum continue 20 Buck Spin's death metal master class streak.
22 Oct 2019
Music
Lightning Bolt Are Back and As Loud as Ever on 'Sonic Citadel'
Lightning Bolt's Sonic Citadel is both punishingly noisy and, at times, surprisingly tuneful. People who are on Lightning Bolt's exceedingly loud, improvisational vibe will find plenty to like here.
07 Oct 2019
Music
'Hand It Over' Is Dinosaur Jr.'s Magnum Opus -- Too Bad It Was Too Late
The last in Cherry Red Records' four Dinosaur Jr. album reissue series, Hand It Over, makes a clear case for the appraisal of an album that deserved far more than it received.
27 Sep 2019
Music
Dinosaur Jr.'s 'Without a Sound Deserves' - and Gets - a Fresh Listen with Cherry Red's Reissue
Dinosaur Jr.'s last chance to bite at the apple of fame came in late 1994 with their album, Without a Sound. This expanded edition from Cherry Red Records makes the case for hearing it free of the baggage of that alt rock era.
26 Sep 2019
Music
Dinosaur Jr.'s Reissued 'Where You Been' Is a Rough-Cut Diamond
One of alternative rock's key statements arrived in 1993 with Where Have you Been. It receives the definitive treatment from Cherry Red Records in the second of a four album reissue series encompassing all of Dinosaur Jr.'s major label releases.
25 Sep 2019
Music
Dinosaur Jr.'s Reissued 'Green Mind' Is the Sound of a Singular Talent
A long-overdue reissue of Dinosaur Jr.'s Green Mind from Cherry Red Records wraps a superb album in top-notch outtakes, scorching live renditions, liner notes worth the price of admission, and great artwork.
24 Sep 2019
Music
Fox Medicine Find Magic in "Comfort Pony" (premiere)
Portland duo Fox Medicine recall the intersection of environmentalism and wicked humor in the earliest grunge, and offer up their own brand of "bubblegum doom" on "Comfort Pony".
12 Sep 2019
Music
Palm Haze's "Almost Soon" Is Noisy, Shoegazey, and Delightful (premiere)
Brazilian-born, Canadian-based duo Palm Haze deliver a deliciously weighty bit of goth-cum-shoegaze that feels like this could be one of your new favorite bands.
25 Jul 2019
Music
Post-Metal Outfit Pelican Returns with More Dark Moods and Inventive Instrumentals
On Nighttime Stories, instrumental quartet Pelican make the most out of working without a singer, proving that some narratives are best built without words.
18 Jul 2019
Music
Guitar Wolf Is Still Loud and Fast and Hungry in 'Love and Jett'
Guitar Wolf, Japan's answer to the Ramones, has proudly kept their shtick going for 32 years, and the ravenous pack doesn't let up in their latest, Love and Jett.
25 Jun 2019
Music
Black Midi's 'Schlagenheim' Is Technically Proficient But Emotionally Shallow
Like their namesake, Black Midi are a restless, unstoppable force that push their members and listeners to their limits in Schlagenheim.
24 Jun 2019
Music
People Are Going Bananas: An Interview with Cherry Glazerr
Cherry Glazerr's singer, main songwriter, and guitar player Clementine Creevy is not one of those artists who wishes everyone would leave her alone. She's made a big rock star album in Stuffed and Ready and she's having a blast playing sold-out shows.
Jennifer Kelly
15 Mar 2019
Music
The Unspeakable Horror of Daughters' 'You Won't Get What You Want'
There's an 'exorbitant' something that might be considered the implicit subject of Daughters' You Won't Get What You Want, in which it's never entirely clear if the threat is invasive, exerted from outside, or the confession of internal struggle.
06 Mar 2019
Music
Royal Trux Return in True Rock 'n' Roll Fashion with 'White Stuff'
After 19 years of silence, Royal Trux returns rejuvenated and unleashes an old-school, energetic, and fun ride in White Stuff.
26 Feb 2019
Music
Cherry Glazerr Perfects Noise Pop Blend on the Incendiary and Vital 'Stuffed & Ready'
With its personal perspectives on the effects of the current cultural zeitgeist, Cherry Glazerr's Stuffed & Ready is not simply a great rock record, but an important document in the early days of 2019.
01 Feb 2019
Music
Extreme Music Fiends ENDON Return with Another Chaotic Offering in 'Boy Meets Girl'
On Boy Meets Girl, Japan's ENDON carry down the same path of aggression tilting towards their hardcore-esque origins.
25 Jan 2019
Music
After an Eight-Year-Long Hiatus Daughters Reach Their Peak
Noise rock, mathcore veterans Daughters make a fantastic return to the extreme, experimental scene with the highly potent and verging on sadistic You Won't Get What You Want.
22 Oct 2018
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