Here we go again! Part wishful thinking, part playing detective while piecing together social media updates, and part actual facts! We could only be talking about our latest crystal ball viewing as we look to the year 2023 and hope for the best that those “confirmed” releases actually come out and that maybe our thoughts and prayers are answered when it comes to those with less concrete plans as of this posting. Join us, won’t you?
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Spotify is a godsend, okay? Say what you will about the streaming platform but without them and their daily mixes I would’ve never stumbled across artists like Soviet Soviet, She Past Away, or Ritual Howls who just hit Boston as direct support for The Faint while supporting their latest, Rendered Armor which was released in March.
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Holy hell do we have to nip this thing in the bud before we even start! The idea was to have 19 solid releases that are in various states of development to fill out our list of most anticipated for 2019 (Get it? 19 in ’19) but then we kept thinking about ALL THE REST that are due (supposedly) so we had to add a precursor to said list which, well, got kind of insane. So for your reading pleasure is this stream of consciousness thing we concocted before the actual list which follows directly after. We even put artists in bold so you can skip around the wordsplosion that’s about to happen. Thanks in advance for reading! [Read more…]
Who doesn’t love love?
CLOSENESS is the pairing of husband and wife indie darlings Todd and Orenda Fink better known from their day jobs fronting The Faint and Azure Ray respectively. On their debut EP they do not disappoint, meshing their separate styles seamlessly to birth a totally unique album that will satiate all the Fink fans. [Read more…]
Only The Faint could compel a review of a ‘best of’ compilation out of us. [Read more…]
Ah, fuck it! I was all poised to do another “Top 14 of 14” music list and then Bostonregina inspired me yet again to do a post like hers from last year (And hopefully this year, bb????) Anywho, without further adieu, here’s the RNRF Editor’s pick for 2014:
Best Album: The Faint-Doom Abuse
2014 was the year that electronics totally owned me or I totally gave myself up to electronic music. I’m still not sure yet. Either way, whether it was new discoveries like Mr. Kitty or Trust or Skinny Puppy ruling the live scene, electronic music simply owned my life this year. One of my favorite electronic bands also happened to drop a bombshell of an album this year seemingly out of nowhere. The Faint quietly reconvened in 2012 for the Danse Macabre tour and an EP of all new music and then…nothing. That nothing turned out to be this year’s Doom Abuse which was released in April. Taking the best parts of all of their previous albums and infusing their sound with an urgency not heard in some time, The Faint is more alive now then ever before. For our review, head on over here. [Read more…]
Doom Abuse, The Faint’s sixth album, took way too long to come out. Considering that The Faint ceased to be somewhere in the six years since their last album (2008’s Fasciination) was released it’s a miracle that fans are even holding a copy of Doom Abuse in their hands. But speaking of the album you should almost be holding in your hands by now (Vinyl copies are out now, available on CD and digitally April 8th), it is by and large well worth the wait. The sound of a band reinvigorated and taking stock of what made them great in the first place but branching out into unknown territory at the same time, Doom Abuse grabs hold of everything that made The Faint unique in the past and fuses it with something even more futuristic and awesome. Worth the wait? Eff yes!
Mildly teased at the end of 2012 with the 10th anniversary Danse Macabre tour that heralded the “Evil Voices” 12″ (The sinister “Unseen Hand” has been slightly retooled to fit in here while “Evil Voices” remains mostly intact), Doom Abuse is finally here and it is easily the best, most fun, and most cohesive album The Faint has concocted thus far.
This is an album that was made to be danced to from the opening dischordant squeal of “Help In The Head” through to the synth fade out on “Damage Control”. The Faint live is this infectious moving beast that compels the audience to follow suit and dance like maniacs. Doom Abuse is a great soundtrack to that through and through. There’s the punk rock rabble rousings from Fasciination (“Salt My Doom”, “Scapegoat”), Danse Macabre throwbacks (“Lessons From The Darkness”) and some things that are completely new (“Mental Radio” is a Gary Numan meets The Cure amalgamation while “Dress Code” goes for Freedom Of Choice-era Devo).
In other words, Doom Abuse has *ahem* something for everybody.
At the end of the day, this was the album The Faint needed to make after their hiatus. Todd Fink is at the top of his game on every track (Especially on the quintessential “Loss Of Head”), Dapose is a sonic maelstrom throughout as well while Jacob Thiele creates these epic synthetic soundscapes (“Animal Needs”) and Clark Baechle just keeps the beat alive incessantly.
Doom Abuse is out now as a Deluxe Double Vinyl Edition and out on April 8th in CD and digital formats.