REVIEW: Dungen – Allas Sak
I hate jumping the gun when it comes to naming an album of the year. I usually end up with a handful of albums that I find have their own merits and present an unranked top 10 when the end…
VIDEO: Destroyer – “Times Square”
Dan Bejar is a musician who is constantly reinventing himself. The same Bejar who wrote the rambling folk number “I Want This Cyclops” also put out the jazzy soft rock opus “Suicide Demo For Kara Walker.” While the artist had…
TRACK: Chuck Johnson – “Medicine Map”
Sure to find it’s way onto many “best of 2015” lists (including my own), Chuck Johnson’s Blood Moon Boulder is full of beautiful guitar work reminiscent of Americana great John Fahey. The songs range from foreboding to hopeful and it’s…
TRACK: Animal Eyes – “Mushroom Hunter”
Portland’s Animal Eyes have a way of being consistent without falling into any discernible patterns. Over the many years they’ve been at the music game they’ve released everything from freaky folk to melancholy indie rock jams. On their latest single,…
TRACK: Valet – “Transformation”
Portland’s Valet is back. The first album under the Valet moniker in 7 years, Nature, is out at the end of the month. “Transformation” is awash in gorgeous noise and proof that nugaze is a stupid name for a genre….
VIDEO: Sufjan Stevens – “The Only Thing”
The entirety of Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell is phenomenal. I can say with certainty it’ll be on my year end list, even if I’d only heard the singles released so far. The songs are dark and personal, but there’s…
REVIEW: the Mountain Goats – Beat The Champ
I’ve discussed my skepticism about this album before. It seems John Darnielle, singer/songwriter behind the Mountain Goats, anticipated this as he’s mentioned his reasons for doing an album based around wrestling in various interviews leading up to its release. Well,…
TRACK: the Mountain Goats – “Heel Turn 2”
If you missed the news, the Mountain Goats are set to release their 15th studio album (!!!) and that’s really depending on who you ask. There have been countless demos, “bonus albums” and unofficial compilations that could push the count…
TRACK: Sufjan Stevens – “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”
Perhaps my opinion is a minority one, but I really didn’t like Age of Adz. I tried, but I couldn’t get into it. It was too inconsistent and messy for me to immerse myself in (EDIT, 2018: I was wrong)….
TRACK: Viet Cong – “Continental Shelf”
I realize that I just wrote about this band a few days ago, but I’ve been giving the album some more listens and it’s phenomenal. It’s too early to call it the album of the year, but it’s definitely one…
