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review

Kurt Vile and Purling Hiss @ The Grog Shop 4.2.2016

Kurt Vile is chill, so fucking chill. Words crawl out of his mouth in a slacked drawl. Notes from his guitar have so much reverb they sound as if they had wobble their way through jelly on their way from the stage to your ears. Kurt Vile is so fucking chill, he inspires conversations between strangers on the amazingness that is legal weed in Colorado. The truth is, it takes a lot of work to be that chill. Vile alternates nimble finger picking with all out assaults on his guitar.
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11 Score

The Rockometer: Total Freedom by Spacin’

Let's talk about this Spacin' album, Total Freedom, 'cause to be honest, Total Freedom, and the previous Spacin' album, Deep Thuds, are pretty much the only things I've been listening to the past two weeks. Total Freedom shreds. It choogles. It's the work of jam masters. It's a jam monster.
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9 Score

The Rockometer: Fuzz II by Fuzz

    Fuzz Fuzz II In the Red Records Did I miss the warning label? This new record by Ty Segall's Fuzz should have a ...
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9 Score

The Rockometer: New Bermuda by Deafheaven

Black metal doesn't like California black metal band, Deafheaven, that much has been established since the band's rapid ascent. But did you know, Deafheaven, in addition to being influenced by black metal, but not being a black metal band, is fond of Brit-Pop icons, Oasis? In a lengthy profile in Pitchfork that is well worth the read (dude's didn't have it easy, dude's had to hustle and grind), lead guitarist Kerry McCoy was proud of the fact that Deafheaven's third album, New Bermuda, was scheduled to be released on the 20th anniversary of Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
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8 Score

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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9 Score

The Rockometer: High by Royal Headache

If musicians were subject to rules of an NFL-style draft, Royal Headache's vocalist, a man who goes by the name Shogun, would be a first round pick. His voice has the wear of a life that hasn't always been an easy one to live. He's got soul. He's got effortless range. If he came in the age in the late '60s he could have fronted the Faces. In the '70s it would have been The Nerves or The Jam. And, if he came of age in the '80s, and really, really liked his booze, he could slide right into an outfit like the Replacements. In the grunge era, he would have sung like he had marbles in his mouth. Let's be glad Shogun is not active in 1995, but in 2015, where he sounds right at home in this scrappy four-piece, garage band from Sydney.
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11 Score

The Rockometer: Payola by Desaparecidos

Political punk rock comes with a unique risk. What if all the causes you've been championing have been overtaken by more pressing issues by the time your album hits the streets? In our era, dominated by hot takes and social media firestorms, remaining topical is even more difficult. When you consider anarcho-punk forebearers, Crass were left to question their own strategy after Thatcher began and ended the Falkland's War in the early '80s while the band worked for more than a year on the double album, Christ - The Album, a modern band surely faces an even more daunting task, right? Who cares about Occupation Wall Street any more? In the past month gay marriage is the law of the land and the Confederate flag has (finally) become a poisonous symbol. A diplomatic, nuclear arms treaty with Iran has been agreed upon and a Cuban flag is flying outside of an embassy in Washington DC. The United States of 2015 is a far different place than the United States of 2012, when Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, and his long, dormant band, Desaparecidos reunited for a second round of incendiary arena-punk.
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8 Score

The Rockometer: Feels Like by Bully

In a recent interview with Humanity Magazine, quoted by Rolling Stone, '90s rock goddess, Courtney Love lamented the sad state of women in mainstream alternative rock. "I'm the last chick on alternative radio that they’ll play, and it’s really kind of stupid," she said. Bully's Alicia Bognanno has something to say about women in rock, too. Her band's debut album, Feels Like, is an adrenaline fueled trip down memory lane to a time that really isn't that too far in the past when the original Riot Girls inspired '90s chart toppers like Hole, L7, and, um, Lisa Loeb. No really, listen to Bognanno and one moment she shows all the vulnerability of a first-timer at open mic night, like a Lisa Loeb, and the next moment she's raging like Courtney Love, born and bred in the seedier spots of the rock scene.
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