new wave
The Rockometer: Illegals in Heaven by Blank Realm
In one sense, yes, Illegals in Heaven is Blank Realm's pop record, for gradually over the course of their career, the Brisbane art-punks have moved from outsider noise rock aiming to please the curators of all things obscure to easily identifiable song structures with shorter run times and predictable melodies. Yet, while continually making strides towards accessibility, the band still enjoy playfully fucking with everything they record by placing track upon track of melody, counter melody and white noise upon those simple songs.
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New Jam City: New Jams by Blank Realm, Deaf Wish, Le Butcherettes, Nervosas, and Pleasure Leftists
Brisbane, Australia's Blank Realm have always had a gift for classically-styled new wave and punk melodies. It's just that they also have a mischievous, almost destructive side, anxious to wreck those perfect melodies with feedback and screech and all manners of playful fuckery. "River of Longing" cleans the process up considerably. The vocals are right out there, in the front of the mix, and all that wonderful fuckery bides its time in the background, waiting for the right moment to erupt. The right moment being that gloriously cacophonous ending.
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A Jam Packed Thursday with Merchandise, Dark Blue, Rat Fist and Priests
Never thought much of Merchandise. Sure, the Tampa band had been all over your hipper music outlets for the past couple years, but for the life of ...
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Play Me: “Elephant Man” by Pleasure Leftists
See that fella, over there on the right side of the photo with the cut-offs and flannel? That man is Steve Peffer. Aside from playing bass with ...
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Play Me: “AD RE:IAN” by Wax Idols
As much as I like my garage rock, and my punk rock and that rock which lies somewhere between garage rock and punk rock, I also enjoy seeing ...
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The Rockometer: Endless Flowers by Crocodiles
Crocodiles
Endless Flowers
Frenchkiss
Three albums into their career, and the West Coast noise pop group, Crocodiles, are still better defined ...
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The Rockometer: Skying by The Horrors
The Horrors
Skying
XL/Beggars US
Although Skying is technically the third album by The Horrors, it feels more like the follow up to a debut. ...
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Moving Pictures: “Still Life” by The Horrors
The magnitude of The Horrors' transformation from goth-punk, buzz band to one of the most innovative UK rock bands cannot be understated. ...
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