Noise Rockers Chat Pile Mine the Depths of Human Misery (Without Being Miserable)
Chat Pile’s full-length debut God’s Country is a grim yet thrilling soundtrack to American decline, drawing on heavy traditions from nu-metal to slasher films.
noise rock
SCALPING Embrace Eclectic EDM Approaches on Debut ‘Void’
SCALPING’s Void energetically captures music designed for a club/real-time environment and hybridizes any number of EDM, punk, and metal precursors.
DITZ Come Out Hard and Dark with Debut ‘The Great Regression”
Brighton post-punk/metal five-piece DITZ come out hard and dark on their debut ‘The Great Regression’, delivering an album of urgency and visceral intensity.
The Weird and the Loud Collide on Minibeast’s ‘On Ice’
Mission of Burma’s Peter Prescott returns as Minibeast for On Ice, which revels in all of the noises, be they acoustic, amplified, or synthetic.
‘In/Out/In’ Makes a Taut Case for Sonic Youth’s Continued Relevance
In/Out/In, a collection of almost entirely instrumental tracks recorded during Sonic Youth’s final decade, would be a crucial record if it was the only thing they ever recorded.
Drummer Mephisto Halabi Breaks Down the Walls of His ‘Arabic Room’
Mephisto Halabi’s The Arabic Room blends eastern exoticism, circuit-bent electronics, and some of the heaviest free improvisations you might ever hear.
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MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Albums of September 2021
Here we are with the September crop of the best heavy music, featuring everything across the board from extreme metal to noise and post-rock.
Crossing Boundaries: An Interview with Liars’ Angus Andrew
Liars’ founding member Angus Andrew talks with PopMatters about revisiting the band’s past work and creating a new sci-fi album, The Apple Drop.
Upper Wilds Find a Balance Between Noise and Hooks on Venus
Upper Wilds’ Venus is a glorious cacophony of guitar noise, pounding drums, fuzz bass, and big catchy hooks. It filters guitar heroics through punk energy.
‘Irresistible Bliss’ at 25: Personal Friction Couldn’t Dampen the Musical Chemistry of Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing’s success with Irresistible Bliss shows how the early ’90s grunge music explosion led to the more expansive alternative rock boom of the mid-’90s.
‘Attic Tapes’ Illuminates the late Tim Taylor as the Epicenter of Brainiac’s Genius
Attic Tapes might be Record of the Year material for those who followed Brainiac back in the day. And it might also be a gem solely for completists.
Black Midi Avoid the Sophomore Slump on ‘Cavalcade’
Black Midi’s Cavalcade is a great LP, and though not a fully brilliant or complete masterwork, it will leave many others imitating these guys sucking wake.
