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3 days ago | 
floodmagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
Serving as a refresher course alongside the band’s reunion, this quasi-greatest-hits collection cements Jenny Lewis’ status as an indispensable figure in the lineage of indie-rock songwriters. Rilo KileyThat’s How We Choose to Remember ItSADDLE CREEKBand reunions are a dime a dozen these days, but the return of Rilo Kiley is something truly special.
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5 days ago | 
newnoisemagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
When it comes to Swedish metal bands, one inevitably thinks of Gothenburg, birthplace of melodeth pioneers In Flames, At the Gates, and Dark Tranquillity, and Stockholm, home to Opeth, Dismember, Entombed, Candlemass, and other legends. But take a 10-hour drive north of Gothenburg and a five-hour trek north of Stockholm, and you’ll land in Umeå, a locality of about 133,000 residents in Norrland that is home to Cavern Deep, one of Sweden’s younger and hotter heavy bands.
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6 days ago | 
floodmagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
The Calgary post-punks couldn’t sound more comfortable in their own skin on their ironically titled fifth album, which seamlessly alternates between joyful and haunting moods. PreoccupationsIll at EaseBORN LOSERSCreating pulsing, beat-driven post-punk with a catchiness that can’t be denied, Calgary’s Preoccupations return in full force with their fifth full-length.
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6 days ago | 
floodmagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
mclusky embody the oft-overused term “uncompromising” in the truest sense. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist Andy “Falco” Falkous from their inception in 1996 until they went on hiatus in 2005, then reformed 11 years ago, the British post-hardcore trio’s unwaveringly rollicking, raw sound is only matched in ballsiness by the political screeds Falkous rips into in much of mclusky’s material.
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6 days ago | 
newnoisemagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
“This album is about huge love.”-Neal Morgan—Neal Morgan’s PAW is a breath of fresh air equally rejuvenating for those who are acquainted with the singer/songwriter and those who are not. At a time when we are all too caught up with society, the Portland-based artist turns his gaze toward the animal kingdom and rediscovers the everlasting life that surrounds us.
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1 week ago | 
newnoisemagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
“I’m amazed that I get to share space with another being of another species and the wonder that comes with interacting with another animal.”-Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss—American kids might not be getting as many dolls and toys this Christmas season, thanks to the whims of a wacko in the White House. But New Noise are getting an early—and very special — Christmas present in the spring courtesy of provocative Brooklyn rock duo Sleigh Bells and their jolly participation in our Pet Sounds series.
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1 week ago | 
treblezine.com | Kurt Orzeck
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, or so the saying goes. But what about when two parts come together and the result is barely a whisper? That’s the fascinating, enigma-wrapped-in-a-riddle of a record that is Totality, an album title that at various turns seems either profound or confounding. Resembling a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist, it’s as if Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas concocted this mirage of a record in their shared dreams.
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1 week ago | 
treblezine.com | Kurt Orzeck
The concept of decline—in economic, political and social terms—is a recurring theme in the work of long-standing noise-rock duo The Austerity Program. But judging by a recent conversation with one-half of the band, guitarist/vocalist Justin Foley, the outlook was positive for the Brooklyn agitators. Fittingly for Foley, who works full-time as a union organizer, The Austerity Program issued their latest album—Bible Songs 2—on May Day.
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1 week ago | 
floodmagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
We recently caught up with the two tentpoles of Shearling, Alexander Kent and Sylvie Simmons, about the rad new experimental-rock band they formed from the ashes of Sprain and under the influence of Michael Gira’s ever-evolving Swans project. They spoke to us from a small studio in a wood cabin in the hills of Los Angeles, not long after they put the finishing touches on the project’s just-released debut, the sprawling Motherfucker, I am Both: “Amen” and “Hallelujah”...
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1 week ago | 
floodmagazine.com | Kurt Orzeck
At under 20 minutes, the sophomore album from the endearing Brighton duo is a jolt of punk-rock beauty, blissfully shambolic from start to finish. Regal CheerQuite GoodUGLY TWINCheers to Regal Cheer for summing up their new record in two words, courtesy of its title. But to elaborate a bit: Quite Good is a jolt of punk-rock beauty, blissfully shambolic from start to finish.
