Tag Archives: Shoegaze

ALBUM REVIEW: Black Duck – Black Duck

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Black Duck can best be described as a supergroup featuring as it does key members of the Chicago music scene such as guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day), guitarist Bill MacKay (Broken Things, Sounds of Now), and drummer Charles Rumback (Colorlist, Leaf Bird). I confess to only really being familiar with McCombs due to his involvement in those bands who I’ve listened to for a number of years and hence why my interest was peaked when selecting this album for review purposes.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Spotlights – Alchemy for the Dead

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Brooklyn, New York trio Spotlights (Sarah Quintero – bass/vocals, Mario Quintero – guitar/vocals/keyboards and programming, and Chris Enriquez on drums/percussion/vocals) have been releasing music since 2016 when they debuted with the Tidals album. Since then they have garnered fans such as Chino Moreno and have toured with the aforementioned’s band Deftones as well as Refused, Quicksand, and Mr. Bungle.


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ALBUM REVIEW: ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT – Darling the Dawn

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Darling the Dawn (Constellation Records) is the debut album by long-time collaborative duo Ariel Engle (La Force, Patrick Watson, Broken Social Scene) and Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion) as ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT. For forty-four minutes of vocal-driven electronic droning — combining the melodic tones of Engle with the “noise” (as the credits put it) of Menuck — there’s less of a sense of being taken from A to B, but rather being given the warm blanket of a trance to lie in.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Dystopian Future Movies – War of the Ether

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Metal in its various forms has a reasonably long-standing practice of making concept albums based on historical events, and the latest album from Dystopian Future Movies, War of the Ether (Septaphonic Records) continues that trend with what is almost certainly the most intense musical experience I have ever had.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Holy Fawn – Dimensional Bleed

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Back in the tail end of the seventies, Bon Scott of AC/DC sang “if you want blood, you got it.” Over four decades later in 2022, we might hear a comparable rallying cry from vocalist/guitarist Ryan Osterman and his post-rock/shoegaze band Holy Fawn. However, on Dimensional Bleed (Wax Bodega) — the Arizona natives’ second album — the message would be more like “if you want relentless, beautiful sadness, you got it.”

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ALBUM REVIEW: Crippled Black Pheonix – Benefyre

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Banefyre (Season of Mist) is the twelfth album from Crippled Black Phoenix, the category-defying collective centred around Justin Greaves, a former doom metal drummer (for bands such as Electric Wizard and Iron Monkey) turned multi-instrumentalist songwriter. The current studio lineup of the band has Greaves joined by longstanding vocalist Belinda Kordic, plus more recent recruits Helen Stanley (keys, synths, trumpet), Andy Taylor (guitars), and new second vocalist and third guitarist Joel Segerstedt.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Candlemass – Primitive Man – Mortiferum, and More Live at Le Poisson Rouge

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Doom metal reigned supreme at Greenwich Village’s Le Poisson Rouge on a Wednesday night. Headlining Swedish doom legends Candlemass sold out the show with support from Primitive Man, Mortiferum, and others.

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ALBUM REVIEW: I Klatus – Targeted

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After some serious consideration, I’ve decided that the sounds featured on I Klatus’ Targeted (Dead Sage) would totally make sense in a David Lynch film. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a compliment of the highest regard. Lynch made his bones in the film industry by following his own non-linear muse and at many times incorporating rad sounds into his work (see the Lost Highway soundtrack). I Klatus doesn’t mind taking some strange left turns and certainly isn’t interested in traditional songcraft.

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REVIEWS ROUNDUP: Indigo Raven, Witnesses, A Pale Horse Named Death, and Chrome Waves

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Indigo Raven – Looking For Transcendence

Indigo Raven plays a style of Doom/Post Metal rooted in Chelsea Wolfe’s heaviest excursions, contrasting atmospherically monolithic guitar chugs and slow burn rhythms with ethereal vocals and occasional electronics. Those vocals in particular help the French trio stand out, putting on a passionately bluesy performance that differs from the more vulnerable approach of peers like Frayle and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard.

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