Life is rarely fair; missteps are magnified and, too often, subtle victories go unnoticed. When the World can, nearly instantaneously, absorb and forget splashes of glory, the question that lingers is, “Where do I go from here?” The answer, is only ever one of three options – Quit, Refine, or Change. In the context of music, the Quitters are the panderers – the brands formerly known as artists – and they aren’t worth the ink that will never be written about them. Those who refine, those who change, are Heroes. Continue reading The Best Albums of 2016 →

When Outkast released Aquemini in 1998, they announced to the world that rap was every bit as musically rich and freely weird as any other genre. That album created a blueprint that was only followed by a small number of artists after them. There has been a small handful of significant albums that could claim to be the artistic descendants of Aquemini – Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West, and To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar – and after today’s surprise release of Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Brown, there is a new album to add to that list. Continue reading Album Review: Atrocity Exhibition – Danny Brown →

Think about a U2 album. Which album did you think about? We may have all mentally selected different albums but we all heard the exact same sound in our heads. U2 has crystallized a set of sonic qualities, which are uniquely theirs, that may be flavoured with different spices from album to album but are all unmistakably part of the U2 recipe. In this same fashion, Local Natives has created a sound of their own and on their new album, Sunlit Youth, they again play true to form while adding in new elements not present before. Continue reading Album Review: Sunlit Youth – Local Natives →

There are people who will swear that Badmotorfinger is a better album than Superunknown – those people are wrong. On Badmotorfinger there may be some moments that are better, or even a song that is better, but as a cohesive, digestible piece of art, Superunknown is simply a superior album. When Diarrhea Planet releases Turn To Gold next week, fans of the I-like-their-old-stuff-ilk are sure to come scurrying out of the woodwork but the fact of the matter is that Turn To Gold is the best album Diarrhea Planet has released…so far. Continue reading Album Review: Diarrhea Planet – Turn To Gold →

Deftones are the San Antonio Spurs of the music world. Their output is consistent in quality album after album after album. They don’t always win the championship but they are always in the running. Continue reading Album Review: Deftones – Gore →

As 2015 comes to an end, I am reminded of what a fantastic year it has been for music. There is so much that I have listened to, in some cases since the very beginning of the year, that has completely enriched my life this year. I have included my top 15 favourite albums for you to hopefully enjoy as much as I have. (HINT: Click the album cover to go the album on Spotify) Continue reading The Best Albums of 2015 →

Comparing the new Titus Andronicus(hereafter +@) album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy(hereafter TMLT), to another album in existence is an exercise in futility. A fairer work of art to compare it to would be James Joyce’s Ulysses in terms of sheer verbal density, wealth of motifs, and commitment required by the consumer. Stated bluntly, TMLT is a rock opera masterpiece that because +@ are committed to taking the listener on a very specific journey oftentimes at the expense of modern pop conventions. Continue reading Album Review: Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy →

Heavy metal is a stubborn genre that it is generally not accepting of any sort of deviations from the norm (please see exhibits A – Metallica/Load and B – Machine Head/The Burning Red). Heavy metal has only ever had one commandment – Play harder, louder, and faster. This puts obvious constraints on a band wanting to play metal music some thirty years after the emergence of the genre. The peak of human riff speed has already been achieved and the throat can only be so guttural before it gives out. So what’s a new band supposed to do? Continue reading Album Review: Fear Control – The Monster →

Catfish and The Bottlemen explode out of the gates on their debut, The Balcony, with an immediacy I haven’t felt since Stereophonics Language. Sex. Violence. Other? This album sounds like the album that The Strokes, Foster The People, and countless other mid-00’s bands wanted to make but fell just short of. The difference is where most of the other potentially great bands relied on style to elevate them, Catfish & The Bottlemen appear to simply rely on strong songwriting. Continue reading Album Review: Catfish and The Bottlemen – The Balcony →