St. Louis, Missouri’s Dazzling Killmen emerged in 1990 and were named after a character in Lucas Samaras‘ Crude Delights. They managed two full-length albums and four singles before splitting in 1995. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Reza Mills
ALBUM REVIEW: Nord Electric – Loneliness For Sale
Outer Battery Records are building quite the musical roster for themselves not just with Swervedriver’s brilliant recent EP The World’s Fair, which was reviewed recently for Ghost Cult, but also the inclusion of Heavy Blanket (with J Mascis), Petyr and finally Obits; best known for featuring the legendary, late, great Rick Froberg (Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes), RIP. Excitingly, there are also live albums from Dinosaur Jr, Om, and OFF! available from the label. Impressive, right?Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: False Gods – Lost In Darkness And Distance
Long Islanders False Gods emerged in 2015 from the ashes of the well-regarded Skeletondealer! Prior releases include a trio of EP’s: 2016’s Wasteland; 2017’s Reports From Oblivion; and 2019’s The Serpent And The Ladde. Twenty-twenty’s full-length debut No Symmetry…Only Disillusion followed soon after, as did 2022’s Neurotopia and finally a 2023 split with Japan’s Abiuro. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Umlaut – Désolé
Post-Mr Bungle’s dissolution in the early 2000s, Clinton “Bär” McKinnon relocated to Melbourne, Australia with stacks of material he’d written originally for the Eureka, California eccentrics. Thereafter, the formation of Umlaut followed, and a line-up that currently reads as the aforementioned McKinnon – Tenor Sax/Flute/ Clarinet/Keyboards/Guitar/Lead Vocals, Angus Leslie – Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboards, Bassist Shane Lieber, and recent addition Danny Heifetz (ex-Bungle) on Drums.
ALBUM REVIEW: Cheer-Accident – Admission
Cheer-Accident has been around since 1981, which equates to the same length of time as Metallica. Unlike the Thrash Metal legends however, the Chicago outfit (named after a Hallmark shopping display) have released a fantastic amount of albums, nearly 30 at last count, as well as several compilations, EPs and seven inches, some of which have been released by the legendary Skin Graft Records (home to Squid Pisser, U.S. Maple, The Flying Luttenbachers, Dazzling Killmen and other such wonderful artists). Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services
New Jersey’s Deadguy formed in 1994 and existed for a mere three years before their 1997 split. During their original run they put out the White Meat and Work Ethic seven inches, 1996’s highly influential debut full-length Fixation on a Co-Worker, the Screamin’ with the Deadguy Quintet EP, and the posthumous I Know Your Tragedy (Live at CBGBs) set.
ALBUM REVIEW: Bronson Arm – Casket Schwagg
Kalamazoo, Michigan is home to Bronson Arm (Blake Bickel – Guitar/Vocals, Garrett Yates – Drums) who are back with a new release a mere year after last year’s self-titled debut. The oddly titled Casket Schwagg (Learning Curve Records) is described as a politically charged album by Bickel despite the band not being politically charged themselves, whether this proves potentially off-putting to some remains to be seen. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Melvins 1983 – Thunderball
Unlike Britain’s flagging public transport system, Melvins are regular as clockwork. In fact, such is the Los Angeles by way of San Francisco by way of Monsanto, Washington outfit’s lust for creating new music, that the fantastic amount of releases put out can be positively overwhelming and hard to keep up with. Continue reading
EP REVIEW: Swervedriver – The World’s Fair
Swervedriver were formed in 1989 and lumped into the Shoegaze genre, alongside Lush, Chapterhouse, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and fellow Oxfordians Ride. The band’s catalogue is extensive and consists of six full-length albums and eight EP’s of which The World’s Fair is the latest; the latter following up from last year’s outtakes/ demos collection Doremi Faso Latido (aka CD3 of the band’s reissued-classic-99th-Dream). The band’s somewhat sizeable catalogue is impressive even taking into account the fact that they had disbanded for a period of eight years, 1999 – 2007 with frontman Adam Franklin going on to forge an equally productive solo career under his own name as well as part of the bands Toshack Highway, Magnetic Morning and the Sophia collective. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Ocre – So Often Lifeblood Comes From Ashes
Duo’s appear to have a winning formula, as is exemplified by Petbrick, Big Business, Organized Konfusion, and Tears For Fears which the promotional notes for this release recognizes, describing Ocre as combining power and elegance.