ALBUM REVIEW: Baroness – Stone


 

Since the music of Baroness has been unlike any other band to me, and more akin to a spiritual experience since I first got into them in 2007, I set the mood for myself before listening. I turned the lights down low, cracked the window open to get a nice breeze going, and heard the sound of large late summer raindrops filling my ears. The city’s heartbeat in the deep background was the only other sound besides my breathing. I just stared at the new album artwork for five straight minutes. At peace for a change, in the still and calm of myself, and by chance, present in the city of my birth for a few days, I hit play on the promo and then let the first notes hit me. 

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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. 

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Slayer, Against Me!, Flaming Lips, Glassjaw, Senses Fail, Taking Back Sunday, Testament and More Booked for Riot Fest 2019


Riot Fest 2019 has announced its lineup for its 15th-anniversary event this fall in Chicago, in Douglas Park, September 13th -15th. Slayer (final Chicago & Milwaukee show), Against Me!, Flaming Lips, Glassjaw, Senses Fail, Taking Back Sunday, Testament, Avail, Dashboard Confessional, Bloc Party, Ween, H2O, Blink-182, Bikini Kill, The Raconteurs, Jawbreaker, Ween (performing The Mollusk), Bloc Party (performing Silent Alarm), Die Antwoord, Patti Smith And Her Band, Rancid, Violent Femmes, Descendents, Manchester Orchestra, The B-52s, and dozens more are booked to play. Tickets on sale now at the link below.Continue reading


The Nopes – Nectar of the Dogs EP


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If your vision of California rock n roll begins and ends with lap dancers on the Sunset Strip, riding your steel motorcycle into the romantic sunset or worrying about dockside industrial relations, then California punk upstarts The Nopes are about to light a bomb under your preconceptions.

Nectar of the Dogs (admittedly, a decent play on words), out now via Magnetic Eye, is five songs of sonic terrorism it’s acidic, acerbic, scabrous punk rock which, if he is listening, Bob Mould should be getting on the phone to his lawyer about as it sounds like his old band, Husker Du. Wait: check that. It sounds exactly like Husker Du – from the layer upon layer of guitar distortion, some of it amp-led, some of it studio twiddling, this is college rock à la 1985 writ large. Or, as Bob might have it, large writ.

I hope he’s not that grumpy though. He needn’t be. This is an EP full of piss and vinegar, in the nicest possible way. Nectar of the Dogs is eight minutes (yes, you did read that correctly) of furious, life-affirming noise. From the opening bars of ‘Matinee at Market’ to the closer, ‘Jingle Berries’, this is the aural equivalent of falling downstairs drunk- bangs, crashes, wallops and a big shit-eating grin whilst it’s all happening.

If you care about this sort of thing, you might be interested to know that production comes from those guys who twiddled knobs for Deafheaven and their début album Sunbather (Deathwish, Inc.). Whether this matters or not, I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you though is Nectar of the Dogs is a punk record that genuinely sounds punk. Amen to that.

 

7.0/10

The Nopes on Facebook

 

MAT DAVIES