The Central – Sick and Dying
The Music
The Words
Wisconsin’s The Central totally killed it, back in 2016, with their album Discovery of a Rat. Without any foretelling, they released Sick and Dying on Valentine’s Day. This EP is a nice follow-up to Discovery of a Rat. Its mathy post-hardcore is still here and still sounds fresh, perhaps because of a few new changes and additions. First of all, their sound seems to have put on some weight, making it closer to mathcore than it was on their previous effort. Secondly, I feel that there are more atmospheric moments; we could call them … Read more
[‘selvə] – Doma
The Music
The Words
Italy’s Selva – stylized [‘selvə] – is a potent purveyor of blackened post-hardcore. Their 2016 album Eléo was impressive enough as it was, but I think they truly hit the nail right on its head with their just-released EP Doma. With only two tracks, the twenty-five-minute record delivers a level of aggression only matched by their Swiss cousins Rorcal. Indeed, the similarities are unescapable: both “Silen” and “Joy” sound like they could have been on any Rorcal album.
Such comparisons are always a bit diminutive of the work of their respective artists, so let me … Read more
Sandy Ewen & Weasel Walter, Snowpoet, Party Pack Ice, Grind-o-Matic, See You Space Cowboy & Second Grade Knife Fight, Utsav Lal, Сольвычегодск, Nautilus, and Œstre
Sandy Ewen & Weasel Walter – Idiomatic
Long time musical explorers Sandy Ewen and Weasel Walter released a new free noise jazz album as a duo. Under the name Idiomatic, the group goes in long form musical peregrinations, which yields three tracks, each over twenty minutes long, that alternate between hectic improvisation and crushing atmospheres of noise and distortion. The verdict is quite simple: this album is awesome!
Snowpoet – Thought You Knew
Lauren is perhaps one of my favourite singers. I became acquainted to her voice with the mind-blowing experimental jazz band Blue-Eyed Hawk, but her work in … Read more