Outer Battery Records are building quite the musical roster for themselves not just with Swervedriver’s brilliant recent EP The World’s Fair, which was reviewed recently for Ghost Cult, but also the inclusion of Heavy Blanket (with J Mascis), Petyr and finally Obits; best known for featuring the legendary, late, great Rick Froberg (Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes), RIP. Excitingly, there are also live albums from Dinosaur Jr, Om, and OFF! available from the label. Impressive, right?Continue reading
The Exodus of Gravity (Relapse Records) is the follow-up to Arcadea’s 2017 debut. Brann Dailor is still handling the drums and vocals, with Core Atoms returning to handle the bulk of the synth duties. At the same time, they are also joined by Mastodon‘s current touring keyboardist João Nogueira, adding to the layers of prog unfolding here. There is less of a synth wave feel this time around. His drumming is more aggressive. He piles on layers of vocal overdubs to try things he does not normally explore with his day job. The title track would feel more like current-day Mastodon if the synths were replaced by guitars. “Fuzzy Planet’ is the lead single and the best of the first three songs, as it takes things in a more new wave, Gary Numan direction, while applying some funky grooves. This sets the project apart as a more distinct entity. Continue reading
David Lynn Thomas, lead singer of Pere Ubu, Rocket From The Tombs, solo artist, and actor, has died after a long illness. He was 72 years old. A highly influential artist and personality in American music, Thomas formed the proto-Punk and pre-Alternative band Rocket From The Tombs (other members went on Dead Boys and The Saucers) and later formed Pere Ubu in 1975. Making an immediate impact, but highly volatile, Pere Ubu which first broke up in 1979, but reformed and recorded and toured for four more decades. Spanning genres from Art punk, post-Punk, avant-garde, musique concrète, New Wave, proto-punk, industrial rock, and alt-Rock, experimental, the band played their brand of music self-described as “avant-gaage”, and Thomas personally disliked Pere Ubu being lumped in with punk-rock as a rule. A great lyricst, vocalist, and frontman, he will be missed. RIP. Continue reading
It’s a cliche, but this album blew me away. Blew me away like the guy in the old Maxell ads. But that’s not right because you cannot listen to ALT BLK ERA’s Rave Immortal (Earache Records) without legit dancing. Finds like this are why I love doing these reviews. Let me do a reset to where I first hit “play”.Continue reading
All-female punk trailblazers The Linda Lindas have released their sophomore album No Obligation via Epitaph Records. Their latest musical effort follows their 2022 debut album Growing Up, also released via Epitaph Records.Continue reading
LA-based London natives Bones UK are releasing their sophomore studio album Soft via Sumerian Records. Nearly five years in the making and recorded across London, LA, Chicago, and Texas, Soft follows Bones UK’s debut self-titled album from 2019. Featuring contributions from Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and Mike Shuman from Queens of the Stone Age, Soft conveys an overall heightened intensity, maturity, and vulnerability within the musicality of Bones UK.Continue reading
The two renowned Extreme Metal labels Stygian Black Hand and Invictus Productions are collaborating this time to release the anticipated mini-album coming from the ever-gnarly unholy trinity Horns & Hooves, entitled Spectral Voyeurism. Continue reading
Almost 60 years on from the kaleidoscopic cultural explosion, tied to the back of free-loving, flower-powering, mind-warping hippies and the kicked-open-door of artistically experimenting possibilities, Hard Rock-New-Wave-Jazz-Punk ensemble Rated Eye demonstrate on debut Rated Eye (Wax Donut Records) that people are definitely still strange. Continue reading
How concerned are you that you missed one of the best tours of 2023? Ministry, Gary Numan, and Front Line Assembly took their spectacle on the road and blew away audiences everywhere they went. The three like-minded bands have become fast friends and the mutual respect they have for each other is evident in social media posts and comes out in stellar performances night after night. How do you top that kind of success? Do it again. Continue reading
Tijuana Bibles play an explosive style of rowdy post-punk flavored rock. The Glasgow-based band takes you back to a time when punk sprang from the seedy intersections of rock n’ roll in the early seventies. These guys are forward-thinking and time and dedication went into Free Milk (Button Up Records). It is thought out from a production and songwriting standpoint without feeling like the danger was edited out in the mix. Continue reading