Tag Archives: dream pop

ALBUM REVIEW: Deftones – private music

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Five years can seem like an eternity if one is a big enough fan of a band, and waiting half a decade for new music from Deftones has certainly had fans chomping at the bit. Deftones’ 2020 album Ohms (Reprise Records, review here) took on a heavy and reflective tone that mirrored the emotional distress of the pandemic and lockdown. Now, Deftones followers can rejoice, as the band have emerged with private music (via Reprise and Warner Records), with eleven tracks of silver lining to what’s been a tense 2025. Co-produced and recorded in California and Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Korn, Alice In Chains, Mastodon), who worked on 2010’s Diamond Eyes and 2012’s Koi No Yokan (both also Reprise/Warner).Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Cheer-Accident – Admission

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Cheer-Accident has been around since 1981, which equates to the same length of time as Metallica. Unlike the Thrash Metal legends however, the Chicago outfit (named after a Hallmark shopping display) have released a fantastic amount of albums, nearly 30 at last count, as well as several compilations, EPs and seven inches, some of which have been released by the legendary Skin Graft Records (home to Squid Pisser, U.S. Maple, The Flying Luttenbachers, Dazzling Killmen and other such wonderful artists). Continue reading →


INTERVIEW: Aki McCullough Talks New Album Directions, Nu House Studios, Allyship, and More

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Aki McCullough is known as one of the most talented and colorful musicians and engineers in the extreme and experimental punk/metal underground. Having played with acts like Dreamwell, A Constant Knowledge Of Death, Necroplanet and guesting on multiple acclaimed albums (including Jisei, Victory Over The Sun and more) to running East Coast cult and very pro lgbtq studio Nu House, McCullough is often a blur of activity, determination and inventiveness. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Iress – Sleep Now, In Reverse

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Iress once again blesses us with another dose of beautiful sonic depression on their new album Sleep Now, In Reverse (Church Road Records). The Los Angeles-based band weaves between genres drifting between darker ominous tones ranging from emotionally heavy to lighter breezy speculation. This is displayed in “Ever Under” which takes you soaring into the sunset from the haunted places in the Hollywood Hills. Dynamically once again everything is perfect. Michelle Malley’s vocals lurk around the corner of grunge-influenced riffage recalling bands like Curve or Lush rather than the doomy zip codes they once occupied.  This album finds Malley’s vocals sitting up front in the mix as more of a focal point than the more atmospheric texture they once created. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Newmoon – Temporary Light

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In the mid-80s under the shadow of the Regan-era Cold War tension, bands like the Cocteau Twins crafted sonic fairylands that shone out from their depressive souls. 

It makes sense that today’s youth would want to experience a similar escape.Continue reading →


CONCERT REVIEW: Crosses – Crook One Live at The Fox Theater

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I could not have picked a better night to go out to Oakland to see the headline tour from Crosses. I remember seeing their debut tour over a decade ago when I lived in Boston, at the Paradise Rock Club. That night, the venue was packed to the gills, and I distinctly remember being by the soundboard and seeing the separate rack settings and notes for Chino Moreno’s microphone and effects. It was a pretty cool glimpse inside the live sound of the guy who I have followed since the mid-nineties with Deftones. But much like Maynard James Keenan and Puscifer, it does seem like Crosses is his favorite child and passion. Along with his partner Shawn Lopez, formerly of the awesome and now defunct Sacramento band Far. They make for a sick team of creatives. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Crosses – Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete 

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Chino Moreno has never been shy at exploring his mellower side away from Deftones, and over the years has dipped into the Post-Rock, Shoegaze and Trip-Hop genres providing us with some highly refined music by way of projects such as Team Sleep and Palms, his collaboration with three former members of Post-Metal kings Isis. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Blood Command – World Domination

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World Domination is a big old task. Both in terms of, um, well, actually taking over the world, but also in terms of taking everything about the fifth full-length from Norwegian collective Blood Command in. Twenty tracks, and everything from Black Metal to slick pop, via snarling punk, metallic stomping Hardcore, and even the odd pause for breath (though only a sharp intake before heading off somewhere else, into urban beats, or shimmery synths, or kicking someone’s head in). 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Mad Honey – Satellite Aphrodite

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Satellite Aphrodite (Deathwish Inc.) is the debut album from Oklahoma’s Mad Honey, a four-piece who are variously described as dream-pop, shoegaze, indie and glitter rock (whatever that is).

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ALBUM REVIEW: Pvris – Evergreen

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Evergreen (Hopeless Records) is a very ambitious album and frankly by far the most thematically well-rounded and best effort from Pvris yet. Lyndsey Gerd Gunnulfsen has seamlessly planted a flag on the moon here, showing it was her that made this project special all along. Not only a queer champion, Gunnulfsen is a top-notch creator and performer who can back it up with grade-A material with startling philosophical depth amidst the beats and hooks. 

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