Authors: Ryan Michael Painter
Review: Great Lakes Myth Society – Self-Titled
You can hear a young Paul Simon here and there in the opening of “Red Jacket Miners” before it sways into “The Salt Trucks,” but that’s no sort of indication of what is to come. … read more
Review: Bitter, Bitter Weeks – Revenge
BITTER, BITTER WEEKS REVENGE My Pal God Philadelphia’s Brian McTear is vying for your attention and with Revenge he has earned it. These are songs that call back to the days when folk musicians were every bit as political and biting as anything punk would spit out. McTear is clearly dissatisfied with the world he
Local Review: The Rose Phantom – Soulless Experiment
The Rose Phantom = Voltaire + Alan Wilder + Prog rock … read more
Local Review: Revideolized – The Moon Driven Dark
Revideolized The Moon Driven Dark Self-Released Street: Feb. 2007 Revideolized = Recoil Hydrology + Progressive Rock Electronic music in its purest form is by nature experimental. It isn’t just about creating a great melody, it’s about manipulating sounds that by right have no place in a musical structure and turning that chaos into a memorable
Local Review: Phono – The Changeover
Phono The Changeover 10 Degree Productions Street: 2006 Phono = NIN + VNV Nation Joe Ashton terrorizes electronic music with a focus bent on rhythm. Were you to spread the parts out, name checking the various influences that are prevalent on The Changeover you’d find just about every industrial/EBM clich, minus Skinny Puppy’s vocoder. Violence,
Local Review: Cavedoll – The Harbor
Cavedoll The Harbor Psuedorecordings Street: 01.07 Cavedoll = Interpol + Stellastarr* + Franz Ferdinand + Devo Cavedoll sound like post-punk part two, not just a piece of this or that band but literally all of the bands were they smashed into three bodies and one album. While this makes for an uneven ride, it does
Review: Civic Center – The Ground Below
Civic Center = Suicide + Bauhaus B-sides and Dubs … read more
Review: Gene Loves Jezebel – Promise, Immigrant, Discover
Gene Loves Jezebel Promise, Immigrant, Discover (Reissues) Beggars Banquet Street: 06.07 Gene Loves Jezebel = Glam + Goth + Pop + Rock There will be those who suggest that the Jezebels were nothing more than a one-hit wonder, placing them among the brilliant and overlooked Psychedelic Furs, Soft Cell, etc., and in the money-making sense,
Review: Gang of Four – Happy Now
Gang of Four = Primal Scream + Filter + Bono’s falsetto … read more
Review: Fiver – Let It All Fall Down
FIVER LET IT ALL FALL DOWN Devil in the Woods Fiver encompasses dream pop that at times reminds of Postal Service because of the falsetto over-electronic elements, but more often than not, the guitars push away the comparisons. This is more akin to the shimmery pop that dominated the U.K. and American College charts in