rock and roll fables

music, comics, and media in a rock 'n' roll world

We Are Scientists Continue On A Path Of Constant Excellence With LOBES

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There’s something comforting in the knowledge of how amazing We Are Scientists has evolved over the years. Especially when considering how many of their contemporaries of the mid-aughts yielded many a one hit wonder/album and then went the way of the Dodo or just transmogrified into something different entirely (Looking at you, Arctic Monkeys), it’s a miracle they survived at all. Yet here we are with their eighth record right around the corner after a steady stream of solid releases and the feeling that We Are Scientists is still just getting started.

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The Ritualists Masterfully Balance Beauty With Bombast On Baroque & Bleeding

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There’s a lot of amazing music that comes to mind when listening through the second outing from NYC’s The Ritualists but none of it actually lives up to what Baroque & Bleeding actually brings to the party. Sure, there’ll be comparisons to Franz Ferdinand or to Pulp and White Lies (Both of whom have been produced by B&B producer Ed Buller) and even to any number of bands emerging from the mid-’00’s Brit Rawk revival but what Christian Dryden and The Ritualists collective has conjured up together on their sophomore record is the sort of aural originality that comes once in a lifetime.

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Dark Mark Vs Skeleton Joe Balance Brooding And Bombast On Electro-Fied Debut Full-Length

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What a wild trip it is to hear former The Icarus Line vocalist Joe Cardamone team up with the legendary Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, The Gutter Twins, etc) for a project that sounds absolutely nothing like any of their previous outfits. On the self-titled debut from the duo dubbed Dark Mark Vs Skeleton Joe fans get an experimental Electro-fused romp through Darkwave and more on a heady head trip from two powerhouses of modern music.

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Gypsum Invite Listeners On An Aural Odyssey With Wondrously Whimsical Debut

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Going through my original notes for the Gypsum debut and I likened listening through the record to recent experiences with the Lauren Lakis album as well as a feel of early dredg. Which is true to an extent but the record is also an all around head trip, filled with a wondrously whimsical tone and a kind of wizardry in regards to the songwriting strength and sonic world building.

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We Are Scientists Present Pop Rawk Perfection On Winning Huffy

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Over the years, We Are Scientists has gradually morphed from these interesting Indie darlings to a bombastic sonic tour-de-force. On their latest, Huffy, We Are Scientists harness the burgeoning energy that started during 2016’s Helter Seltzer to conjure up one of their most massive sounding records to date with powerful performance prowess shining as much as the sanguine sonic storytelling.

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Mark Lanegan And Joe Cardamone Make Some Macabre Munster Music Together On Electrified Dark Mark Vs Skeleton Joe 12″ Single

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While doing some late spring cleaning recently which included a LONG overdue purge of those archaic physical media artifacts known as “compact discs” I came across an abundance of Mark Lanegan albums (Which are not getting purged, btw) and among the records currently in my collection, I cannot think of an artist more dynamically diverse than Lanegan with each and every release. Which is definitely the case again with his latest offering falling under the moniker of Dark Mark Vs Skeleton Joe.

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What’s In A Name? Tombstones In Their Eyes, Looking For A Light

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Everything happens in cycles, yeah? Music especially is this glorious living organism that goes through changes, reboots styles, and then goes somewhere new and even more exciting. Right now, there seems to be a resurgence of a lot of the sub-genres that made the ’90’s stand out with Grunge/Alternative and Nu-Metal making another go at trending in the now. Looking For A Light, the latest offering from Los Angeles’ Tombstones In The Eyes, dwells in the former category and focuses most of its’ energy toward that Jesus Jones, Lush, shoegaze aesthetic to give listeners something fresh yet familiar.

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Singles! Practice, “I Saw Love”

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Practice is such and unique blend of indescribable sonic delights. Formed by We Are Scientists, Spill Gold, and Bishop Allen’s former drummer Michael Tapper, Practice hearkens back to a time when music was just fun and with recent single “I Saw Love” (Taken from the forthcoming full-length due in early 2021), explores and encapsulates that aesthetic to give listeners this this pure, raw thing that’s jovial, jubilant, and genuine.

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Gang Of Four Celebrate The Legacy Of Andy Gill With Anti Hero

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This is my second review lately of an artist releasing something after a founding member has shuffled off this mortal coil and it’s depressing as fuck because the relevant brilliance in both cases is staggering.

But I digress!

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Jenn Vix Concocts Strange Synthetic Utopia With 6

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Jenn Vix is making the kind of Electro music you need to hear. Like a mix of The B-52’s in their early years and Gary Numan circa The Pleasure Principle with hints of the Eurythmics thrown in for good measure, 6 is a veritable melting pot of awesome electronic sounds presented in a new way.

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