AltWeeklies Wire
Lazer Sword: Memorynew
Electronic duo and production team Lazer Sword—Antaeus Roy (aka Lando Kal) and Bryant Rutledge (aka Low Limit)—is back with its first studio effort since 2010's self-titled debut full-length. Memory, out on Modeselektor's Monkeytown label, is only a slight departure from the partnership's crunky roots...
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
06-25-2012 |
Reviews
Godhunter: Wolvesnew
Local sludge quintet Godhunter finally unveils a proper physical-CD release for their debut five-track album, which became available via the band's Bandcamp site earlier this year. Recorded at Arcane Digital Recording in Chandler and released by Tucson extreme-music label Acid Reflux, Wolves wields a medulla oblongata-wrenching wallop and obvious political (anarcho-libertarian) lyrics...
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
05-16-2012 |
Reviews
Whirr: Pipe Dreams (Tee Pee)new
Guitarist Nick Bassett of San Francisco black-metal band Deafheaven has a new, wildly different project, a shoegaze-revivalist sextet called Whirr. This mysterious Bay Area band ambitiously seeks to return rock 'n' roll to the year 1991, when My Bloody Valentine pushed miasmic guitar-pop to its outer limits with the acclaimed Loveless...
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
04-05-2012 |
Reviews
Breathe Owl Breathe: The Listeners/These Train Tracksnew
I don't normally go gaga for precious, family-friendly concepts like a 7-inch vinyl record accompanied by a homemade, hand-printed-from-woodblocks children's book. But Michigan indie-folk trio Breathe Owl Breathe, led by part-time author Micah Middaugh, has crafted an exceptional release that deserves attention.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
02-11-2012 |
Reviews
Tags: Breathe Owl Breathe
Twin Sister: In Heavennew
In the dry heat of a desert summer, nothing sounds livelier, more effervescent, more eardrum-quenching than Twin Sister's debut full-length, In Heaven. A Brooklyn (by way of Long Island) chillwave quintet praised by all the right online tastemakers (i.e., Pitchfork), Twin Sister is led by adorable, chirpy-voiced Andrea Estella, who takes a few cues from disco-dazzled, Parallel Lines-era Blondie and is clearly having too much fun presenting dance-pop gems like orbit-inducing "Space Babe."
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
09-02-2011 |
Reviews
Tags: Twin Sister
Nekromantix: What Happens in Hell, Stays in Hellnew
On their new album, Danish-American psychobilly trio Nekromantix seem content to create music with a tongue-in-cheek horror shtick. Sexy new drummer Lux, a YouTube sensation known for her technical prowess and the fact that she plays the kit in high heels, brings a precise, forceful and metallic wallop, resulting in what's arguably the best-produced and most-aggressively arranged effort by a band that's been doing this for 20 years.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
08-26-2011 |
Reviews
Tags: Nekromantix
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's: Buzzardnew
As the title sort of suggests, this is a starker-than-usual effort by the Indianapolis sextet Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, which used to be an octet.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
11-05-2010 |
Reviews
Obscurely Accessible: In Mourning's 'Monolith'new
Monolith is either a beautiful way to say goodbye to a broken world, or a chance to enjoy metal done right and - dare it be said - accessibly. Vocalist Tobias Netzell could be singing about flowers and bunnies, but methinks he's actually obsessed with end times.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
02-17-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: In Mourning, Monolith
'Black Future' Will Make You Feel 16 Againnew
One small label, Heavy Artillery, has thrash-metal down pat, scooping up young, ambitious, intelligent metal bands that honor yesteryear's greats while striving for a semblance of originality in a genre that blew its wad 25 years ago.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
01-06-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Black Future, Vektor
Making More Lists: Our Critics Keep Naming the Best Music of 2009new
Our annual saga of music Top 10 lists kicked off recently, and now we present to you the thrilling conclusion of Our Favorite Albums of 2009. One of the albums named: Vic Chesnutt's At the Cut.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene, Curtis McCrary, Michael Petitti and Stephen Seigel |
12-31-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Year in Review
Converge Reaches for Diversitynew
Axe to Fall aims to recapture a bit of the profoundly alien sensibility and weird terror that consistently puts 2001's Jane Doe at the top of any metalhead/punker's desert-island disc list.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Axe To Fall, Converge
Quiet, Melancholy Moods of Orenda Finknew
Now based in Los Angeles, the ex-Azure Ray singer/guitarist recorded her second solo full-length in her old basement in Omaha, Neb., and the modest 8-track approach doesn't hurt the sonic quality.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Ask the Night, Orenda Fink
New Vistas Ahead for Rammsteinnew
With its sixth studio album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Berlin's Rammstein once again delves into a morbid sonic realm of disaffection, chaos and torture with 11 industrial-metal tracks.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Rammstein
The Melvins' Remix Record 'Chicken Switch' Breaks Every Rulenew
Chicken Switch is ideal for Día de los Muertos with highlights such as Merzbow's "SNOW REM REM IBVZ," which starts out sounding like a midnight game of goblin croquet and ends up hissing in the manner of an Atari 2600 console dropped from a tall building then plugged into a broken Zenith.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
11-11-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Chicken Switch, Melvins
Mark Knopfler's Latest Solo Album is a Working-Class Paeannew
Knopfler's sixth solo effort is his best in terms of his material, yet it's his weakest fret-board effort.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
11-04-2009 |
Reviews
