With their eighth album — No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead (Constellation Records) — Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor firmly move into the territory occupied by such bands as Take That, The Pixies, and Smashing Pumpkins in having had major success, before breaking up and then returning to be even more prolific than before. Continue reading
Tag Archives: avant-garde music
ALBUM REVIEW: Melt-Banana – 3+5
If Noise-Rock, and Punk were musical movements built on no more destructive behaviour than a gigantic excess of sugar, and were intrinsically aligned with computer game soundtracks, the world might have many a Melt-Banana. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: A Burial At Sea – Close To Home
With all the technical and specialist instrumentalism that goes into the world of post-Rock, it is no wonder that the sub-genre has almost become synonymous with being a tad bit pretentious, with acts at times focusing on how skilled their members are than writing a good song.
It’s only been six years since A Burial At Sea formed, but quickly they have cemented in their earlier works that this has not been the case for them at all. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Swans – The Beggar
According to the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus, change is the only constant in life. Everything that comes into being is a product of conflicting opposites and that process of becoming never ends. We never stop becoming. We are never at rest. The music of Swans (and by extension that of songwriter/bandleader Michael Gira) is the embodiment of an ever-changing being, existing through the continual tension of opposing forces; never at rest.
ALBUM REVIEW: Helen Money and Will Thomas – Trace
Helen Money, aka Alison Chesley, is a cellist who has worked with some pretty heavy hitters in the alternative/underground scenes including Jarboe, Bob Mould, Steve Albini, and Neurosis. In addition to these, she has also released music as part of the band Verbow and as a composer for film, theatre, and dance.