Review: Brian Evanson with Xingu Hill & Tamarin – Altmann’s Tongue

Review: Brian Evanson with Xingu Hill & Tamarin – Altmann’s...
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Brian Evanson with Xingu Hill & Tamarin Altmann’s Tongue Ant Zen Street: Out Now   The spoken word project with Xingu Hill, Tamarin and author Brian Evanson has been in the works for quite some time now. When I first met the musicians in 2002, John Sellekaers of Xingu Hill had flown from Belgium to

Review: S. Sturgis — In a Haze

Review: S. Sturgis — In a Haze
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S. Sturgis In a Haze Positron Records Street: Out Now The artist’s name alone tells you this album is excellent. In eight years, Scott Sturgis has already shown that he can do gritty industrial with Pain Station, pounding rhythm noise with Converter and experimental ambiance with Notime. After 13 releases of his other projects, the

Review: :wumpscut: – Evoke

Review: :wumpscut: – Evoke
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:wumpscut: Evoke Metropolis Street: 04.12   Because my expectations were pretty low due to the preview, the Blondi single, I’ll admit that I’m not disappointed with this release. The album starts off with a crackwhore waltz featuring the wretched female vocals that are like fingernails on a chalkboard on “Maiden.” Vocoder distortion helps her at

Review: VNV Nation – Matter+Form

Review: VNV Nation – Matter+Form
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VNV Nation fans have waited two years for Matter + Form and will delight in the latest efforts of Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson. … read more

Review: Phazm – Hate at First Seed

Review: Phazm – Hate at First Seed
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Phazm Hate at First Seed Osmose Productions   Phazm are a French band that sound more like Amebix than any of their death metal contemporaries. This came across during the first listen as kind of plain, as there weren’t any other elements added to their brand of brutal metal, but there is enough going on

Review: Origin – Echoes of Decimation

Review: Origin – Echoes of Decimation
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Origin Echoes of Decimation Relapse Records   Clocking in with nine tracks (no intros!) in just under half an hour, you might suspect that Origin’s newest release in well over five years is fast. Oh, yes—it’s fast, alright. With members in the past having ties to Nile, Hate Eternal and other bands, you know what

Review: Aborted – The Archaic Abattoir

Review: Aborted – The Archaic Abattoir
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Aborted The Archaic Abattoir Olympic Recordings   Aborted has been gaining more and more popularity, mainly due to magazines like Terrorizer throwing them in people’s faces. When I finally heard them, I was expecting the much lauded “Aborted is the new Carcass!” kudo to live up to itself—it did not. More or less, these guys

Never Sweat a Show Until You Hit the Dancefloor: Fiery Furnaces Show Review

Never Sweat a Show Until You Hit the Dancefloor: Fiery...
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My buddy Scott, my girlfriend and I sauntered into the safety of the crowd as Dios Malos was finishing up their set but concluded that a beeline to the bar and cheap well drinks were far more in order than standing and watching a band that wasn’t rocking that hard anyway. … read more

Hardcore Realists: Death from Above 1979 Sneer at Glory

Hardcore Realists: Death from Above 1979 Sneer at Glory
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My impression of Canadian two-piece Death from Above 1979 pre-interview was that they don’t suffer a fool. That turned out to be true, but it also turned out to be true that Jesse Keeler, bassist for DFA1979, is non-fakely nice; he granted a 35-minute interview to SLUG while everyone else in the tour group was

Analogical Resurrection: An Interview with Erasure

Analogical Resurrection: An Interview with Erasure
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When Erasure set out to promote 2003’s Other People’s Songs album, they hadn’t toured in four years; neither Vince Clark nor Andy Bell were sure if the fans would still be there. Perhaps they considered wearing the “irrelevant” tag the British press had so kindly tried to pin, with a nail gun, to their chest.