Instantly accessible, incredibly entertaining, and zipping along at the rate of a punk album, Kap Bambino’s Blacklist is a thorough album. Kap Bambino is an electronic French duo, Caroline Marital on vocals and instrumentals by Orion Bouvier, that I stumbled upon on the internet much earlier this year and heard their 2007 lp Zero...
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So, in addition to coming from a pop-punk background, I came from a Christian rock background. The weeping and the gnashing of teeth need not apply, because I was birthed on bands that actually did something meaningful with their careers: Relient K, Switchfoot, OC Supertones, and Earthsuit. I listened to a lot of other...
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I (Stephen) am hitting up DFest in Tulsa this weekend, although I’ll only get to go to Saturday, which makes me sad. But I’ll still get to see Mates of State and Cake, two of my favorite bands. The surrounding bands are a bit odd (Blue October? Metro Station? A yoga festival?!), but still,...
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One problem with reviewing is that occasionally people run up against bands that they like for reasons that are almost entirely unknown to them. This is fine, if you’re not in the business of telling people why you like things or don’t like things. Bon Iver is exactly this way for me. I didn’t...
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Dumpster Generation by A Billion Ernies is a hard-hitting album that rarely lets up from start to finish. If you’re not familiar with the band, their sound is a mix of ska and hard rock. Think Emery or Chevelle meets Streetlight Manifesto. It’s standard rock instrumentation, plus trumpet, trombone, and a vocalist prone to...
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The first thing one must consider when listening to Genus Thylacinus by MarsupiaL (with a capital L), is that this is a bona fide jam band. Out of Asheville, NC, MarsupiaL’s sound mixes progressive rock with southern rock and a taste of jazz. What results is a very winding and mellow type of music,...
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The name of the game today is Merykid‘s newest EP, Boy and the Bird, and why you should get it. First of all, you should all trust my excellent taste and judgment in these matters. Failing that, take a look at my impressions, then give Merykid a listen. This guy is a singer-songwriter, yes,...
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There’s a specific type of song that I seek out as the perfect song. It’s different in every genre; in punk it has to do with the way the verses and the chorus work together, and the way the vocals sound (melodic, but still gruff). In pop, it has to do with each interlocking...
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I like !!!‘s name way more than I actually like !!!. I like !!! because it messes with every idea about how you name yourself (something easy to say, easy to set up websites with, easy to remember, easy to tell people about…!!! is none of these things). The name !!! is pronounced “chk...
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Standish Arms’ fourth release, There’s a Distinct Possibility That I’ve Never Woken Up, is best described as quiet indie rock. Supposing the band brainstormed and decided on one word to define their album’s sound, the word “haunting” surely would have been the word circled and highlighted. Most of the time the EP achieves this....
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