This could have been a long-winded intro. I could have explained why I chose the following albums over countless other releases that came out over the past 12 months. I could have talked about the many artists who have stepped up to stoke an intense flame from the smoldering remains of traditional “indie rock”....
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The end of the year is usually pretty light on new releases, so I don’t have a lot to recommend right now. In fact, November was so sparse I’ve gone ahead and included albums from late last month as well. I realize this is being posted a little early, but I will be traveling...
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October turned out to be a HUGE month for new music. The return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a double album of original material from Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the debut from Kendrick Lamar…Death Grips bypassing their label with the graphic NO LOVE DEEP WEB, hardcore shit from Pig Destroyer, Enslaved and Converge…the return...
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September more than made up for August’s lack of color. Maybe there wasn’t anything as dense and mindblowing as The Seer, but I seriously doubt I could’ve handled another one of those anyway. What follows is a fitting goodnight to the long days of summer. And as much as I hate grouping these albums...
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Swans – The Seer (Young God, 2012) When I posted my recommended releases for August, I made the mistake of saying the Swans’ latest epic was not “extraordinary”. I was wrong. The Seer is nothing less than an absolute beast, with the density of the blackest of holes. The fact that I couldn’t come...
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August has been one of the most disappointing months of new music in recent memory. I literally had a hard time finding even one album I could recommend in good conscience. Sure, there was that comeback Redd Kross album, that 2 hour opus from Swans, that Ash Borer album, and that debut from Jessie...
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Most of July was spent in transit, so my tastes might be skewed towards albums that sound good turned up loud while flying down the freeway, but that’s not to say there wasn’t variety in my roadtrip soundtrack. The past month might have been heavy on metal, but it also saw exciting releases in...
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The first half of June was spent working on the mid-year review, so there wasn’t quite as much time for new music. That being said, there are still quite a few recommendations from this month — a month dominated by metal and female vocalists, including one incredible metal album with a female vocalist. And...
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Portland, OR’s Agalloch are streaming their latest opus, the 20+ minute two-part track, “Faustian Echoes”, on their bandcamp page. It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who follows this blog that I am extremely excited for new material from the Pacific Northwest’s masters of dark folk metal. This EP, containing the single longest track...
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Around this time last year I found myself hard pressed to seriously recommend 5 albums from the past six months. This year I found it impossible to narrow it down to 10. The live music scene has been somewhat weak compared to years past, but to say 2012 has more than made up for...
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May was almost overwhelming in its presentation of new music. Not only were there countless new releases, I also took the time to catch up on some of the metal I had been missing out on, making this a heavy month in recommendations. And as much as I hate grouping these into posts like...
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