Category: Reviews

Rewind Review: Flat Worms – Live in Los Angeles (2022)

I have yet to see Flat Worms live. This seems like a crime to me. They’re a great power trio with darkly humorous lyrics and power you cannot deny. So, Live in Los Angeles (recorded in 2019) will have to do until I can catch them at a somewhat dingy venue that feels like a sweatbox and smells like beer mixed with incense.

“Pearl” starts off the raucous set with Will Ivy‘s guitars sounding like a sped-up hotel fire alarm and his vocals bringing angry post-punk lyrics about keeping up with the Joneses to the crowd. “Motorbike” roars like its namesake and Justin Sullivan‘s chops on the drums turn on a dime at any given moment. The live version of “Into the Iris” slows it down a bit but doesn’t lack in power. It’s almost a sludge rock tune in the first half and then kicks into near-punk fury for the second half. It’s songs like this in which Tim Hellman excels on bass. He can lock down any track at any speed and in seemingly any genre, and he plays like a time bomb is about to off on “Plaster Casts.”

“Condo Colony,” a great takedown of gated communities and HOA madness, absolutely slays on this. It’s impossible to choose which of the three is killing it more. The short-instrumental “Scattered Palms” explodes into the snarky “11816.” The album ends with “Red Hot Sand,” and yes, it’s blistering. Hellman’s bass is frantic, Ivy’s guitar is a race car tearing up a dirt track, and Sullivan’s drums threaten to crack the floor under you.

It’s a great capture of a trio clicking on all fronts and crushing everything around them. If you can’t see them live, this is a worthy alternative.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Goat (self-titled)

It’s always good news when Goat decides to release a new album, and their self-titled album from October 2024 is full of their characteristic voodoo-psych sound with complex guitars, hand percussion, dual female vocals, and themes of death, rebirth, and how our spirits are never-ending.

The opening track is even called “One More Death.” It’s a song about reincarnation and how death isn’t anything we haven’t already experienced. The drums and percussion on it grab you straight away and you’re encouraged to cast away fear and step forward on the new journey…and, good heavens, when the guitar solo kicks in it almost shoves you into the astral plane.

It wouldn’t be a Goat album without a song with “goat” in the title, and this time it’s “Goatbrain” – a song about, among other things, “vibrations made by love, moments on Earth.” It has this cool rhythm to it that only Goat see able to create. The flute of the instrumental “Fool’s Journey” seems to come to you from the other side of a valley you’ve only seen in meditations.

“Dollar Bill” is a gritty, great takedown of upper crust rich and the illusion of wealth (“Everyone is going mad. Dollar bills inside your head.”). “Zombie” brings in hip hop beats and loops and is an absolute jaw-dropper. You’ll want this booming out of your car windows. If this doesn’t get you dancing, then “Frisco Beaver” certainly will with its themes of giving up worry (“Do what you like.”) and fear (“Don’t be afraid.”). The guitar riffs sizzle across the whole track. “Look and you will find light of the fire,” they say, and you believe them.

“The All Is One” is another guitar-rich meditative track that weaves back and forth from psychedelia to desert rock. The addition of birdsong in it gives you a contented smile when you hear it. The album ends (Or does it?) with “Ouroboros” – a song named after the symbolic snake eating its tail. Dance beats mix with echoing vocals that remind you that “God lives in every part of you.” The bass kicks in and you’re dancing all over the place, happy to know that all is endless and death and rebirth is not to be feared (and don’t miss the epic saxophone solo!).

It’s one of Goat’s best albums, and that’s saying something since they’ve yet to make a bad record. They’re somehow still one of the best kept secrets out there.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Federico Albanese – Blackbirds and the Sun of October

As producer, pianist, and composer Federico Albanese put it, his new album, Blackbirds and the Sun of October, is “about coming home, and reconnection.” It was recorded in his home region of Monferrato in Italy.

The album is beautiful and combines classical stylings with contemporary music and even electro dance beats at one point. “Into the Sun” is perfect for your morning meditation. It blends so well into “Ulysses” that you might not notice the space between the songs. “A Story Yet to Be Told” is like a gentle breeze bringing you intriguing scents you want to find, and it’s an interesting warm-up to “Bloom,” which could fit into a giallo thriller.

“The Prince and the Emperor” brings in almost sorrowful strings to portray perhaps a tragic tale of the two main characters. “Blackbirds” drops those electro-beats, making you sit up and take extra notice of the track. It’s a neat artistic decision by Albanese. I meditated through “Your Spell” and “Adelasia,” and the tracks produced different reactions. The first was great for slowing down my breathing, and the second lit a fire in me.

“The Libertine” isn’t a party track, and it doesn’t exude lust or sex. It’s a bit heartbreaking, as if the title character is trying to figure out why all the pleasure still doesn’t make them happy. “Song for the Village” is a lovely tribute to Albanese’s hometown.

“Sway” is so subtle that you almost miss it. “Re-Sphere” reorganizes your brain a bit with its haunting strings and chilled, almost ghostly piano. The album ends with “Wallpaper of Dreams” and sends you out like a paper toy boat cast across a fountain.

It’s a fine ambient record, a fine classical record, a fine contemporary record, and a fine tribute to his home.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Rontronik – Zero Nine

Ron Croudy, otherwise known as Rontronik, has been crafting soundscapes and experimental electronic music for a few years now, and his latest album, Zero Nine blends lush atmospherics with field recordings and even dance beats.

“Zero Nine One” layers birdsongs over day spa synths. “Zero Nine Two” is like being a long tunnel while riding in a neon-accented car driven by a robot. “Zero Nine Three” is like following a falcon in flight over a desert and around a giant red rock formation before it lands to face the rising sun. The rattlesnake beats at the end of it become industrial crunch doubled with throbbing bass on “Zero Nine Four.” It’s jarring at first, but it becomes somewhat hypnotic.

The first half of “Zero Nine Five” continues the industrial feel, but it switches to trip hop in the second half. “Zero Nine Six” is a calm track perfect for meditations with floating, lava lamp synths that take their time to massage you. If that doesn’t work, then the final track, “Zero Nine Seven,” will because it’s over nine minutes of birds singing and a river flowing across smooth rocks that lead into synths that sound like they were recorded in a mountain temple somewhere.

It’s a lush record, and one you’ll probably pull more from with each listen.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Rewind Review: Slowdive – Pygmalion (2011 reissue)

This might be one of the most divisive albums ever made.

It’s rare that you find someone like yours truly who thinks Slowdive‘s 1995 album Pygmalion is “Okay.” People seem to either love it or hate it. The lovers contend that it’s an ambient dream music masterpiece and the haters think it’s an atmospheric Neil Halstead vanity project that barely qualifies as music.

The first thing that strikes you is that there’s almost no percussion on this album. Drummer Simon Scott had left the band, and was replaced by Ian McCutcheon…who doesn’t have that much to do apart from making background noises. Don’t expect massive drum fills, cymbal crashes, or rock beats on this album. They’re not here. Acid jazz beats are, albeit quiet ones.

The album opens with “Rutti,” which is over ten minutes long and I think is about death, or perhaps embracing the process of aging. I know it’s mesmerizing if you give it a chance. “Crazy for You” starts to let more sunlight through the clouds, and Slowdive fans back in the day were probably thinking, “Here come the roaring guitars!” during its first minute…but they never arrive. It’s just mantra-like guitars and vocals for almost five minutes.

“Miranda” has unintelligible vocals from Rachel Goswell, who co-wrote it with Halstead, and looping synths that border on becoming white noise. The same goes for “Trellisaze,” but the synths are replaced with guitar strums and slow, almost mechanical hand percussion.

The quick instrumental of “Cello” leads to “J’s Heaven” – a song about depression (“Why am I so low? Isn’t life cheerful?”) with Goswell’s vocals sounding like they’re coming from a haunted well. Goswell’s vocals on “Visions of LA” are clearer, and are a beautiful song to a friend she’s trying to calm as he battles with fear.

“Blue Skied an’ Clear” is the most upbeat song on the album (even with the slow, faint drums and airy guitars and vocals), as it’s about finding encouragement in life when a lover tells you, and means it, that everything will be okay. “All of Us” seems to be about aging, and the realization that it comes to all of us at some point.

This isn’t an album you crank on your hi-fi. I wouldn’t listen to it while driving, as it might make you fall asleep some late night behind the wheel. It’s a classic “headphones record” that is best for times when you just need to lie back and look at the sky while everything races past you.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Drop Nineteens – 1991 (2025 reissue)

Back in 1991, Drop Nineteens were recording songs in their dorm rooms and sending them out on cassette to various labels in the U.S. and the U.K. These demos sat unreleased for over three decades and are now finally seeing the light of day with 1991, putting another feather in the band’s cap after touring for the first time in that long in 2023 and releasing their last new album, Hard Light, last year.

1991 (sometimes known as Mayfield in some bootleg releases) is a great slice of time and shoegaze sound. “Daymom” instantly drops you into another world that’s brighter and lusher than the one you’re experiencing right now. The gorgeous guitars, tight beats, and misty vocals are intoxicating. “Song for J.J.” has great rolling beats and more vocals you can’t quite make out but know make you feel good. The thudding bass of “Back in Our Old Bed” reminds me of early Cure tracks, and is largely an instrumental track – which I love. The drop-out in the middle with swirling vocal sounds and guitar effects is a stunner.

Female vocals chant and call in “Soapland,” making you think of sirens luring sailors to either jagged rocks or island paradises. You’re not sure which. The unofficial title track, “Mayfield,” growls like an angry cat with guitars that would make Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers sit up and smile. “Shannon Waves” hits you in waves, and is a pure instrumental that washes over you like a slow-rolling hot tub.

“Kissing the Sea” glistens like sunbeams atop the water at first, and then the drums roll in and almost change the track to an adventurous sail across a secluded bay. It’s not yacht rock by any means, but it’s just as smooth. “Snowbird” sounds like something being sun from atop a snowy mountain, so the title is appropriate. There are no drums on the first half of track, just swirling guitars and synths, but then the song grows into a thumping rocker with buzzsaw guitars everywhere.

Ending with “Another Summer,” 1991 goes out on the fastest notes of the album and is a glimmering rock track that’s perfect for your summer playlists and leaves you optimistic.

This was a stunning debut that had multiple labels scrambling to sign Drop Nineteens. Caroline Records eventually won the skirmish, and Drop Nineteens became legends.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Mind Wolf – Chalet EP

I don’t know what’s in the water in Belgium and France as of late, but both countries are churning out good doom and stoner metal bands seemingly every month. Belgium’s trio of Mind Wolf is a good example, and their new EP, Chalet, is a great way to be introduced to them.

The opening riff of “Love without a Home” crushes you right away, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they named the EP Chalet, start off the record with this track, and featured a pixelated image of a burning house on the cover. The song burns everything around it to the ground, bringing to mind some early Alice in Chains tracks.

The bass on “Like a Song” reminds me of some Royal Blood tunes as Mind Wolf speeds down the road and sings about how music can change the feel of anything around you. The short guitar solo on it is pretty slick, and the breakdown after is is pretty sick.

No, your ears aren’t deceiving you, the only lyrics of “Hanne Desmet” are, “She can do it. She can really, really, really ice skate.” That’s because it’s about Hanne Desmet – the Belgian short track skater who won a Bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the Women’s 1000-meter event. She was the first Belgian woman to win a medal in any Winter Olympics event. Mind Wolf are apparently big fans of her and I hope she cranks this on her earbuds during practice.

“Just Don’t” is a brutal takedown of perhaps an ex-lover or some jerk the band met who tried to show them up at something, but they quickly figured out it was all “just a show.” The EP ends with “Seduction,” which has some of the wickedest beats on the record and grungy guitars from end to end.

Go visit this Chalet, but be careful it doesn’t scorch you.

Keep your mind open.

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[Merci à Mind Wolf!]

Rewind Review: Slowdive – Souvlaki (2011 reissue)

Slowdive‘s second album, Souvlaki (originally released in 1993), didn’t make much of a splash at first, but everyone pretty much now agrees that it was, and still is, a shoegaze classic.

“Alison” starts off the album in one of the best ways you can start a shoegaze record – with a song about a pretty girl and getting high. You’d think a song called “Machine Gun” would roll out the heavy walls of guitar feedback, but instead they up the hypnotic synths and let Rachel Goswell‘s morning mist vocals about succumbing to a flood come to the front.

It’s no secret that Goswell and Neil Halstead broke up not long before the band started the writing sessions for this album, and Halstead’s heartbreak is all over the album in his vocals, lyrics, and guitar work. He wrote “40 Days” while on a two-week break in Wales to come to terms with it. The song is a bit loose and jangly with Simon Scott‘s drums doing a little shuffle here and there.

“Sing” and “Here She Comes” were cowritten and produced by none other than Brian Eno. The band, and especially Halstead, wanted Eno to produce the whole record, but he declined. He contributes synths to “Sing,” a song about loneliness with Goswell’s vocals making you wonder if she was reconsidering the breakup. “Here She Comes” is about the hope of finding warmth in the arms of a lover, but knowing it could be a long winter before that happens.

“Souvlaki Space Station” is more psychedelia than shoegaze, and goes to show Slowdive can pull off either genre at will. Despite being one of their biggest hits among fans, bassist Nick Chaplin and guitarist Christian Savill, didn’t think “When the Sun Hits” should be on the album. It hits all the “wall of sound” notes you want in a shoegaze track, and they’ve changed their mind on it since.

“Altogether” has Halstead watching Goswell from a distance, knowing things probably aren’t going much further between them, and the sad guitar work on it only emphasizes that belief. “Melon Yellow” continues this distancing (“So long. So long. It’s just a way to love you.”), with Halstead’s voice sounding far away and Scott’s drums almost mournful. The closing track, “Dagger,” is about, as Halstead put it, “a fucked-up relationship.” It, like many songs on the album, refer to Halstead watching Goswell as she sleeps, perhaps telling her what he couldn’t bring himself to say while she was awake and admitting “You know I am your dagger. You know I am your wound.”

It’s a heavy record, and not just from the sound. It’s gorgeous and sad, so, yeah, a shoegaze classic.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Slowdive – Just for a Day (2011 reissue)

Slowdive were one of the best shoegaze bands to come out of the 1990s, but also one of the best-kept secrets in the genre for a while. I don’t know if I, or anyone, can explain this, because they’re widely praised among the genre’s enthusiasts and have been playing sold-out shows across the world since their comeback self-titled album released in 2017.

Just for a Day was their 1991 full-length debut, and it’s full of classic touches that make you realize how much they influenced many other bands. The opening somber notes of “Spanish Air” are as good as anything The Cure was making back then, and just as hypnotic. “Celia’s Dream” seems to be a love letter from Neil Halstead to the girl in the title as he sings about shadows drifting away from her, but also her drifting away from him.

“Catch the Breeze” was the lone single from the album, which makes sense when you consider the big, fuzzy wall of sound that hits you in the chorus. “Ballad of Sister Sue” sounds like it could’ve been recorded in an abandoned church with its echoing guitars, mysterious vocals, and distant drums. “Erik’s Song” ends side one of the album with ethereal, instrumental bliss.

Side two begins with “Waves” – a song about leaving a relationship and the freedom that can sometimes bring (“You’re knocking on the door I closed today, and everything looks brighter.”). Speaking of things being brighter, that’s the theme of, you guessed it, “Brighter” – a song about finding hope when things look dark and trusting that tomorrow can bring something better.

“The Sadman” has Rachel Goswell‘s astral plane voice telling us of a being who calls to us when our hearts are broken. Is it someone she knows? A mythical figure? A guy she met outside a gig who looked broken down but still tried to make her laugh? I don’t know, but this needs to be in a movie somewhere. The record ends with “Primal,” which might be the best pairing of Nick Chaplin (bass) and Simon Scott (drums) on the album. They snap and thump in perfect rhythm with each other and never overpower Halstead, Goswell, and Christian Savill. That’s not easy to do when those three are playing shoegaze riffs that grow and grow like a sunrise through rainclouds.

It’s a nice debut record that hinted at bigger things to come and is now considered a bit of a classic.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Ben Lukas Boysen – Alta Ripa

Ben Lukas Boysen decided to change things up a bit on his new album, Alta Ripa. He wanted to reconnect with the countryside of his youth, but also embrace Berlin-inspired dance music. So, he combined ambient electro with EDM as well as jazz and classical sounds his father often played for him as a kid. He took those elements and grew an album more than he designed it.

“Ours” starts with soft synths that evoke images of birds gliding over meadows and then landing atop the Tyrell Corporation’s replicant factory as the electro-beats drop. The choppy synths of “Mass” remind me of a string quartet playing fast, low-end notes, and then the bass drop adds an interesting sense of danger to the whole thing.

“Quasar” builds to what you think is going to be a good-sized bass drop, but instead takes the mellow approach and keeps the song soothing. The title track is even more hypnotic and will be a great addition to your mediation playlist.

The bumping bass of “Nox” makes you want to put on dark sunglasses and matching trenchcoat and then find the nearest goth dance club. “Vineta” is synthwave bliss suitable for floating in a zero-gravity pool of saltwater. “Fama” pulses and snaps like a grumpy robot doing a spin bike workout. The album ends with “Mere” – which floats you along a slow river while android birds sing to you and warm winds drift through ancient ruins.

This album will take you to another place, possibly one you’ve been craving for a while.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]