Steve Albini’s Black Swan Song: Shellac’s ‘To All Trains’
Shellac’s To All Trains is as compelling as anything they ever produced and a swan song. In Steve Albini’s case, the swan must surely be big, angry, and black.
post-hardcore
Sunny Day Real Estate’s Emo Classic ‘Diary’ Turns 30
When Sunny Day Real Estate released Diary 30 years ago, they inadvertently cemented the personalized and sympathetic elements of emo.
Shudder to Think Look Back on 1994’s ‘Pony Express Record’
Shudder to Think’s Pony Express Record is one of the most enduring releases of the 1990s, evergreen for the very reasons it wasn’t a massive hit upon release.
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis Deliver Thrills
Imagine a train that seems to be going off the rails yet keeps on track, and you’ll get a sense of what The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis sounds like.
Hardcore’s Gouge Away Grow on ‘Deep Sage’
Gouge Away’s Deep Sage delivers heavy hooks that recall 1990s alternative greats without losing that hardcore fury that put them on the map.
Eye Flys Highlight Their Melvins’ Influences on New LP
Sludge metal band Eye Flys take the low-down ‘n’ dirty, down-tuned sludge of the Melvins and heat weld it to massive, 21st-century post-hardcore riffs.
Sprain Aim For a Masterpiece on ‘The Lamb As Effigy’
Sprain’s aim at a masterpiece finds an exhaustive, immersive, and ambitious work of post-rock, noise, and poetry that intellectuals will lust after.
Girls Against Boys on Their Criticized ’90s Album, ‘Freak*on*Ica’
Girls Against Boys are the crucial and criminally under-appreciated link between ’90s alternative rock and the 2000s post-punk boom. Freak*on*Ica plays well in these times.
Jets to Brazil’s ‘Orange Rhyming Dictionary’ Is Crucial in Indie and Emo Canon
Jets to Brazil’s Orange Rhyming Dictionary received generally good-to-great reviews and is now considered a pivotal record in the evolution of emo and indie rock.
Kal Marks Introduce a New Lineup on the Punishing ‘My Name Is Hell’
On Kal Marks’ My Name Is Hell the vocal production is cleaner with the band’s new line-up, capturing the dynamic between Shane’s nonchalant singing and vocal cord-tearing screams.
So High School: Taking Back Sunday’s ‘Tell All Your Friends’ Is the Quintessential Emo Album
Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends shows emo for what it is: a sonic representation of what it really feels like to be an American teenager.
20 Years Ago the Internet’s Music Community Gave a Boost to …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Today, 20 years later, the legacy of Trail of Dead’s Source Tags & Codes has developed as one that’s intertwined with Internet-based music journalism itself.