
As I mentioned on the podcast last week, Sacred Bones have been on a nice roll as of late and part of that streak is the latest album from The Men titled Leave Home . When I first heard the band a couple or so years ago with their four song EP We Are the Men , I never envisioned them having the type of genre spanning sound and influences that they carry now. At the time of the EP The Men [...]
Download / Stream 01 - Thee Oh Sees - Stinking Cloud 02 - Warm Widow - Scruff of His Neck 03 - Four Eyes - Back to Life 04 - Bailter Space - No. 2 05 - Iceage - You're Blessed 06 - Cosmonauts - Like a French Assassin 07 - [...]

Fittingly, the album cover for the latest Dead Rider album is just about as bizarre and creepy as the album itself. You can look at it and it's immediately telling that there is something relatively shifty about the contents within. For the most part that general feeling holds true throughout much of The Raw Dents , where the likes of Chicago shaped avant-rock brushes casually with rhythmic, nearly danceable beat driven rock at times. However, never diverting from its plummet into a [...]

It wasn't until after I listened to this debut from Manchester, UK's Warm Widow that I started reading more about how Widower came about. No, it's not some griping tale of troubled recording sessions. In fact, I know very little as to how this album was recorded. From what I can tell it was done on a variety of cheap equipment, lending it the charm that it radiates throughout it's nine tracks. However, that's exactly why I bring it up in the first place, [...]

Apparently Cleveland's Pleasure Leftists are the first band that Fan Death has worked with based on the strength of a demo. Kind of interesting considering the amount of demos that they must receive from various noise and/or punk influenced bands. Either it's a remarkable effort in quality control or they just hate a lot of shit. I am kind of thinking it's a combination of both. Fan Death's track record in terms of quality releases certainly warrants that idea. Which gets me back to this EP, one of the [...]

Originally started as a side project for one Ben Adrian during his time with Replicator , Cartographer then was only him and a trusty drum machine. While I've never heard nor seen what the pairing sounded like, I'll assume it was somewhere along the lines of what the project has grown into today. Around the time Adrian's former band Replicator came to end in '09 he asked then current drummer Chris Bolig to take up duties in Cartographer. Along with André Zivkovich, who also spends time in the excellent [...]

This is more of a heads up than anything else, because honestly what am I going to say about a new Hammerhead release? The four songs new songs they have out via the Memory Hole EP are very much what one would expect from the band and that means they are pretty damn good. However, if you're like me then you probably didn't get a chance to see them live during their 2010 reunion shows and pick up a limited CD-R of the songs. And [...]

I imagine in the beginning when The United Sons of Toil came together they weren't such an angry group of guys. Jamming in the spirit of Touch & Go/AmRep and just embracing loud rock in general. But as time passed something, maybe an overall distrust with the government or the political weather in Wisconsin, gradually drove the band to the point where they are today with their third album When the Revolution Comes, Everything Will be Beautiful . A furious aggression of political statements that are [...]

Just the other day there was a comment on an old post I'd made for Tulips quite some time ago and it made mention of an old single they put out on Sonic Bubblegum titled Sweet and Hateful . I then realized I have said single and was kind of surprised I'd never posted it or for that matter one of the bands other singles Wet as well, which featured a rather by the numbers cover of Killdozer's classic "King of Sex". I [...]

Unbeknownst to me Ned have been going at it for years over in Lyon, France...being something of a touring machine during the earlier part of their existence. I'm guessing they were a noisier bunch then, however like a number of bands that spend a significant time together, they eventually evolve and settle into a bit of a more unique sound stylistically. This is what I hear on the bands latest record Bon Sauvage that was just released at the beginning of the month on Africantape. [...]
Quick hit today/tonight as I wanted to get this out there despite me not really doing a full update. I'll be back tomorrow with regular posting and all that fun stuff. Anyway, I figured some of you out there might be able to help these 'gents out, Victory & Associates . They are looking to put out their debut full-length album These Things are Facts and are hoping to raise enough funds through the Kickstarter website to do so. As friends of BOAWS and purveyor's of excellent rock, I [...]
Download / Stream 01 - 31 Knots - Love in the Mean of Night 02 - Sky:Lark - Cattle Market Whores 03 - No Nebraska! - New Year's Toast 04 - Francis Harold & The Holograms - Hang the Goat 05 - Old Growth - Hey Young 06 - Pink City - Pink [...]
This tape here serves as my introduction to the Finnish band Hebosagil . Having been around since 2003 apparently, they've already got a few releases under their belt which always makes for an interesting experience for someone like myself who is diving head first into an evolving monster such as Hebosagil. Thankfully they've made it a bit easier on me by providing some of their past work for download on their website, if anyone is interested in getting a hold of those. I would certainly recommend it. With that said, [...]

Austin's The Gary have always seemed to write songs with the working class at heart. And with that it's easy to label the bands music as bleak and with a general feeling of exhaustion akin to just throwing ones hands in the air and essentially giving up. Sure, there is plenty of that to be found in their off kilter brand of post-punk/indie-rock. It comes with the territory I'd imagine. However, what really tunes them in I believe is that they hold the small bits of optimism here and there [...]

Hawks are back with their second album Rub out on Trans Ruin, the follow up to what was a pretty damn impressive debut a couple years back with Barnburner . Some of you out there may recall the split they did with Cafe Flesh not all that long ago, and if you had the chance to hear their sampling of songs on it then you're likely primed and ready for the sounds that they unleash on Rub. Carrying on [...]

Nice two track 7-incher of scuzzy/sleazy overblown garage punk here from the Montreal trio Ultrathin . Wasn't aware of these fellas until Badmaster starting pushing this single and using such phrases as "loud as hell" and "oozing bass sleaze" to bait me in. Obviously it worked and what they say holds true, this is some pretty solid stuff. The a-side contains the track "Glass City", which rolls along with a nice buzzing guitar line that keeps it pretty basic throughout (minus some some rockin' at the end) but remains menacing nonetheless. [...]

It's becoming quite routine. Broken Water put out a new release...I listen...I think it's pretty damn good...I feel compelled to write about it. How many times is this now that Broken Water have put out something that just straight up kills? I've pretty much lost count. The last item I heard from the band was their 7-inch on Fan Death for Normal Never Happened . I remember mentioning how I would have welcomed a change of direction, but then again what they were doing [...]

This came out last year, but I only recently ran across it thanks to the wonderful resource that is the French e-zine Nextclues and it seemed too good to not mention here. It would seem I still have some catching up to do however as Distortion is Life is the third album from x25x . Released on their own label Lofi, the album is very much in the way of older AmRep type noise...most notably Hammerhead due to the bands similar combination of [...]
Muscle Worship is a band that has me incredibly excited right now, even more so since they are local...calling Lawrence, Kansas home. I took a peak at some of the tunes the band had up on their Facebook page awhile back out of curiosity since their name was popping up on shows quite frequently around here. The material ended up blowing me away upon first listen, in particular the track "Gone Before Dagon", which has such a wonderfully constructed melodic twist through the first minute or two that I almost had to stop it right [...]

Well, I think it's probably safe to declare this a lost month for the blog. I'd planned on getting things going again last week but as luck would have it my monitor decided to induct itself into my growing pile of dead electronics, leaving me relegated to a laptop with no access to anything I needed. But money spent and considerable time wasted later I'm back up and running. Hoping it stays that way. In the meantime, I managed to get out and enjoy some of the festivities for Record Store Day, despite there being nothing [...]