Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s new album, Innern, will be regarded as one of the year’s greatest metal records: one that hits hard by virtue of masterful execution of musical adeptness, and that simultaneously leaves listeners feeling better about themselves than when they pressed play. In a world that is completely upside-down, perhaps black netal is our best hope of survival. Read my review on Veil of Sound.
(Note: This essay was written before the Pixies released a fifth video, Live at the Town and Country Club 1988, in 2011.)
So, shocker: Some people have been suggesting in the five-plus years since Pixies re-formed that maybe the foursome – who are revving up for another trek – have only been doing it for the money. What a strange, bizarre accusation. Like the plot of a Behind the Music episode, it’s the most predictable question of all for any band getting back together: It’s been alleged of everyone from CSNY to Simon & Garfunkel to Eagles to the Stooges to My Bloody Valentine to Rage Against the Machine to Dinosaur Jr. to the Jesus Lizard and on. And on. And on.
On the other hand, there is some potentially sound evidence that raking in the clams has been the main, if not only, reason Pixies reunited. As evident in the somewhat-illuminating doc loudQUIETloud, one of the DVDs we’ll be focusing on below, David Lovering was on the verge of going broke, falling back on his career as a magician – turning tricks in order to make ends meet, if you will.
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Billed as “a futuristic synth-rock odyssey set five billion years in the future, in a world where gravity no longer holds us down — literally or metaphorically — but pulsing with the urgency of now,” Arcadea set the bar a little too high with The Exodus of Gravity. It would seem that the band put more thought into the conceptual sci-fi story they concocted, which alone isn’t enough to buoy the record. Read my Treble review.
How the 10 songs that comprise Desolë are generally catchy is what makes this record a true marvel; it’s like watching a knuckleball thrown by a baseball pitcher circle about as if it’s lost its target, only to land smack-dab in the catcher’s glove. It takes mastery to make order out of chaos, and with Desolë, Umlaut earns that distinction. Read my Treble review.
The Coathangers’ Julia Kugel treats each note of her second solo album as a delicate item to be savored and appreciated from a state of mindfulness. Read my FLOOD review here.
UK rockers Shame don’t mince words on their fourth studio album, pairing their infectious proto-punk grooves with nakedly hedonistic lyrics. Read my FLOOD review.
Houston “dirtgaze” trio Shallowater ruminate on our intolerable times with some of the quietest and slowest music—as well as the most deafening, distortion-filled cacophony—you’ll hear in 2025. Read my FLOOD review.
Consisting of two 19-minute-plus songs that lumber, stomp, and trudge along from start to finish, Pharaoh Overlord’s Louhi is one of those rare records that makes you reflect, “How did someone come up with the idea to make music like this?” Check out my review of the record on Post-Trash.
Ganser’s Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) Brian Cundiff (drums) and Sophie Sputnik (vocals, synth, guitar) tap into the artistic wisdom they’ve cultivated together for a decade – not gimmickry, not for a damn minute – to come up with sinister, seductive sounds that serve as the audio equivalent of a red light district or an opium den: irresistible, illicit temptations that even the strongest-willed among us aren’t strong enough to resist. Read my full review on Spectrum Culture.
Completing songs written during sessions with late bandmate Adam Schlesinger, this collection hearkens back to the airy spirit that made Ivy such a delight at a time when it was hip to be hopeless. Read my full review on FLOOD.
The Bad Penny (beta) 