Excellent production and a shift in style make for a stellar second LP Let’s start by going back nineteen months in order to move forwards, back to the first line of Haunted to be precise, the first track on Young and Heartless’ 2014 full-length debut LP. ‘She is losing all her religion’ frontman Jeremy Henninger… Read More Young And Heartless – Stay Away (Review)
In the interest of trying new things…… Read More Craig Ranks Some Records #1
Max Bemis returns with what may be the strangest album you’ll hear in 2o16, and one which also may be his best in years. I give some thoughts as to why this might be the case.… Read More Say Anything – I Don’t Think It Is (Review)
Live shows aren’t really my thing, so therefore live reviews aren’t either. You kind of need one to inspire the other, you know? I don’t know why I’ve never really gone to many gigs, maybe it’s the travel costs, or the crowds, or the lack of company, or the price of beer at the venues.… Read More Live Review: Julien Baker w/ Old Sea Brigade (Atlanta 1/28/2016)
Review of the new Basement record which, despite promising everything, didn’t really deliver… Read More Basement – Promise Everything (Review)
California natives Meet Me In Montauk didn’t do a whole lot wrong on their 2015 debut Where The Grass Meets The Pavement, a late and triumphant charge in the ongoing ’emo revival’ saga. A mix of angst, emotion, melody and intricate guitar work, the record rarely missed a beat, and since discovering it recently I’ve… Read More Meet Me In Montauk – Dork Soul (Review)
Hey, pat on the back if you got The Mountain Goats reference in the title. I’m taking a few moments to pen a post because tomorrow morning, at around 10:40am I’m taking what my elderly relative yesterday described as a ‘big step’, in the way that grandparents assign that sort of step into the unknown.… Read More Going to Georgia (For a While)
This is my final list, looking back on the songs I’ve found myself playing constantly throughout 2015. Finishing this round-up of the last twelve months, it feels like it’s been a good year for music, and hopefully 2016 will unfold likewise. If you’re curious as to my favourite albums from this year, or my favourite… Read More My Favourite Songs of 2015
I am but one man, and for all the excellent records I’ve heard in 2015 there’s also one I’ve missed, meaning that the end of year list I published yesterday may have some exclusions which maybe don’t deserve to be exclusions. I think the final list is pretty solid, but there’s a bunch of records I… Read More Records I Probably Missed (AOTY Add-on)
What follows is the second part of my countdown, with the first half available to view here. As things are heating up, I figured I’d write a little about some of these records, trying to justify why they ended up where they are. The rest of my list should follow shortly (hopefully). 25) Frank Carter… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2015 (Numbers 25-11)
It’s been roughly two years since Missouri quintet Foxing released their debut record, The Albatross, and its been two years within which that record has come to be acknowledged as one of the most important alternative releases of recent times. It’s a record I’ve listened to gratuitously, an ever-present constant in my life, and one… Read More Foxing – Dealer (Review)
Since first hearing The Upsides some five years ago, in an old friends bedroom, The Wonder Years have always been a constant in my musical life, each of their records an anchor to a particular period of time, realigning with each new release. The bands second record was for the angst-riddled teenager I was back then, hating… Read More The Wonder Years – No Closer To Heaven (Review)
Because it’s good to mix things up a little every now and then, right? Maybe, maybe not. Over the course of this Summer I moved into a new house, a student house in the town I happen to be a student in, a town which is pretty quiet even on its busiest days. Being a… Read More CraigReviewsBooks He Read Over Summer – No Music Here
Fuzzy and infectious second from the best named band in whatever genre Donovan Wolfington are right now. I can’t think of many bands hailing from New Orleans, and even if I could, Donovan Wolfington would probably be better than them. The Louisiana natives caused ripples within their respective field with the release of DIY debut Stop… Read More Donovan Wolfington – How To Treat The Ones You Love (Review)
Emphatic and emotionally savage return to the scene from ex-Gallows vocalist. It’s very good to hear Frank Carter playing heavy music again, very good indeed. When Carter left Gallows in 2011 to pursue a different route it appeared that he’d perhaps turned away from the unbridled aggression that had helped to carry Gallows so far… Read More Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Blossom (Review)
It doesn’t feel like very long since I sat down to review post-hardcore quintet Being As An Ocean’s second record How We Both Wondrously Perish, and I realise that it hasn’t actually been too long since I did so. Fourteen months have passed to be precise, and not knowing a whole lot about what’s involved… Read More Being As An Ocean – Being As An Ocean (Self-Titled) [Review]
‘I might not be as dark as I think’ Sorority Noise vocalist Cameron Boucher sings midway through the sixth track on the bands second record. Art School Wannabe, the song in question, is upbeat and oddly carefree, and the line feels a little off given that it follows Your Soft Blood, which is undoubtedly the… Read More Sorority Noise – Joy, Departed (Review)
Prior to finding myself enthralled by Pale Horses I’d never actually taken the time to listen to mewithoutYou, and the band’s latest release served as quite the introduction. Sure, I’d heard mentions, and read the odd news feature on absolutepunk here and there, but the Philadelphia five-piece had always remained a musical enigma I’d unconsciously… Read More mewithoutYou – Pale Horses (Review)
As was the case last year, Four Year Strong have new music out for the Summer, and I’ve come to find that there’s rarely a better time to listen to the Massachusetts four piece. 2014’s Go Down In History was an EP well catered for the season, and its following self-titled release picks up where… Read More Four Year Strong – Four Year Strong (Self-Titled) [Review]
Ten years in, it isn’t always necessary for an artist to grow with each release, but it helps. As a long time fan of Rolo Tomassi it’s a pleasure to see one of the UK’s most compelling bands continue to do so with fourth record Grievances, a release which further pushes boundaries and defines the… Read More Rolo Tomassi – Grievances (Review)
Craig Reviews Music 