Kayo Dot – Plastic House on Base of Sky

My review of the new Kayo Dot album, which is weird in all the odd places, and odd in all the weird complacences.

Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls

As an amateur noise enthusiast, I was vaguely interested in Dominick Fernow's main project Prurient back in his long-haired howling feedback with a microphone and an amplifier days, but it wasn't until Bermuda Drain that I became enraptured. That album is basically a darkwave/noise crossover record, a nightmarish vision of synthpop, and I was very into it. Frozen Niagara Falls feels like a magnum opus for … Continue reading Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls →

Björk – Vulnicura

I realised a couple of years ago that I quite like Björk. Of course, I only realised this after I had already accidentally collected every one of her non-soundtrack albums. This is the kind of weird situation I find myself in sometimes when I buy more records than I can actually absorb in reasonable time. Vulnicura … Continue reading Björk – Vulnicura →

Jeff Bridges – Sleeping Tapes

Sleeping Tapes is - get this - an ambient spoken word concept record from Jeff Bridges, noted actor and all round cool dude, in collaboration with prolific composer Keefus Ciancia. Created as a website/album for a Squarespace ad campaign and sold on a donation basis, its profits go to Jeff's charity campaign, No Kid Hungry. It's also … Continue reading Jeff Bridges – Sleeping Tapes →

Torche – Restarter

While I couldn't help but fall in love with Torche's previous full-length, Harmonicraft, that record did represent a conscious shift toward the band's poppier and more accessible influences. Despite the warm day-glow punk euphoria of that album, the lack of their signature crunchy "bomb string" guitar was noted with some sadness. Their Harmonslaught single from that same year … Continue reading Torche – Restarter →

Pyramids – A Northern Meadow

Recently some mainstream folks have been really excited about Deafheaven, a kind of indie/shoegaze-inflected take on black metal that undeniably has its merits. Personally I don't really get the big deal. There have been bands doing interesting and more palatable versions of black metal for years, and they haven't risen to the same level of … Continue reading Pyramids – A Northern Meadow →

Siskiyou – Nervous

The music of Siskiyou hit me in an unexpected place a few years ago, and it continues to do so. It's somehow been four years since the last release, and three years since I first picked up their self-titled. Reading the story of Colin Huebert's recent health troubles with sound sensitivity, you might think Nervous would somehow … Continue reading Siskiyou – Nervous →

Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God

The winter of Gloom is upon us folks. It is time for a review of the new Old Man Gloom album The Ape of God, I suppose. Oh, did I say album, I meant albums! There are in fact two new Old Man Gloom albums, and wouldn't you know, both of them are named The Ape of … Continue reading Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God →

Gone Home

I haven’t written a game review in a long while, but then I haven’t played a game that affected me as strongly Gone Home in a long while. What is Gone Home? Well, it's a first person interactive fiction game. It is the début release of the The Fullbright Company, formed by a group of developers … Continue reading Gone Home →

The National – Trouble Will Find Me

Okay, so I love the National. No need to look at me like that. I know it's weird to like a band who play songs that you can legitimately call songs. I know it's pretty out there to like a band that puts out records of 11-13 tracks, each around 4 minutes in length, all … Continue reading The National – Trouble Will Find Me →