Back in the day, it was common practice for bands to release an album every year. Some were even known to release more than one. Over time, however, the space between records has grown, sometimes to the point where a decade can pass without new material.
Chris Elliott (Cell Arts Media @Black-Angeles ) caught up with Mark Solotroff, vocalist and analog synth player for Chicago’s Anatomy of Habit, to discuss the band’s fifth full-length album, “Paired Sentinels,” self-released and available on LP, CD, cassette, and digital. Mark breaks down the album’s four expansive compositions, the themes of repetition, memory, identity, and emotional erosion that run through the record, and what it means to reach this level of internal chemistry with the band’s longest-running lineup. Continue reading
When it comes to bands that influenced modern Shoegaze and post-Hardcore, Dinosaur Jr’s name needs to be more prominent in the conversation; granted, if you were judging it by the band’s more modern era, which is more organic and less depressive, it might not be as apparent. On There Near (Jagjaguwar). The overall sound of this album is consistent with what the band has been doing in their modern era, with less moody grunge noise and more upbeat jangling in the guitars. “No Friends” finds the jangle given more rock context. The vocals carry a hint of melancholy, and at times the riffing brings Neil Young to mind. With this album, there is an even warmer, more organic sound than most of their previous material.