B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
Rock 'n' Roll Damnation (3:57)
Down Payment Blues (5:38)
Gimme A Bullet (3:21)
Riff Raff (5:13)
Sin City (4:28)
What's Next To The Moon (3:24)
Gone Shootin' (4:47)
Up To My Neck In You (4:15)
Kicked In The Teeth (3:54)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
It's 1977 and AC/DC are not-so-fresh after a spell as the support on Black Sabbath's tour. Looking for a new bassist, after a disagreement over whether to pick Manfred Mann's Colin Pattenden, the band agree on Cliff Williams, who would remain in place until 2003. Recording what became Powerage, their fifth studio album, Atlantic Records soon complained there wasn't a sellable lead single. 'Rock 'n' Roll Damnation' took form, one of the group's outliers, which comes without standard guitar solo but with maracas and hand claps. While this proved divisive among die hard fans, the album itself has gold waiting to be discovered deeper down. 'Gimme A Bullet', for example, has been cited as the finest track the late Bon Scott would write, his lyrical flair and deft metaphorical wit shining through on a tune that won't let up. This was his final LP, and tragically three years later he was no longer with us, marking an end to the group's iconic first chapter.
Review: The sixth album by American scene/screamo band AFI hears a timely 20th Anniversary reissue here. Hinting at a more gothic direction and an abandonment of their former footings in hardcore punk and horrorpunk, we hear Davey Havok and co. move through fast-paced punk and spitty vocals as ever, harking back to a much earlier time (2003) in which this genre sadly held more weight. Like a high school drama plunged into a nightmarish vampire apocalypse, the blend of sounds here are perfect for a late-night Twilight or Buffy binge - with sad piano interludes interspersed with grungey axe washouts and ruminations on hopelessness and despair.
When The Sun Drowns In The Ocean (LP3: Mammal) (8:20)
All Life Converges To Some Center
Mills (LP4: Teethed Glory & Injury) (4:22)
God Alone (4:08)
A Body Shrouded (4:59)
Burnt Year
A Remedy & A Fever
Twelve Was Ruin (LP5: Teethed Glory & Injury) (5:40)
Scald Scar Of Water (5:47)
Found, Oval & Final
Reflection Pulse Remains
Review: Cork based Irish post-black metal pioneers Altar Of Plagues are often cited as one of the pioneering acts to combine elements of second wave tremolo-picking, blast-beating black metal with post-rock and euphoric shoegaze which has since been popularised by artists such as Deafheaven and Liturgy. Trilogy serves as an encapsulation of the band's three vital full-lengths, White Tomb (2009), Mammal (2011), and the epic swansong Teethed Glory & Injury (2013), all re-issued with new artwork and design, as well as being remastered for vinyl from the original tapes. Likely to be the final time these works are ever pressed to wax, at least by label home Prosthetic Records; this is a definitive collector's piece of one of the most underrated and integral contributors and elevators to the black metal genre in the 21st century.
Review: The 1981 debut of Altered Images, Happy Birthday, encapsulates early 80s new wave charm, highlighted by the infectious title track which was produced by the legendary Martin Rushent and proved a massive smash hit single. Altered Images are a Scottish new wave/post-punk band who found success in the early 1980s, fronted by singer Clare Grogan, mainly successful between 1981 to 1983. This deluxe 2CD set offers a nostalgic deep dive, featuring the original album and a bonus CD packed with rare gems. The bonus disc includes the non-album 'Dead Pop Stars,' five B-sides, an extended version of 'Happy Birthday,' and rare tracks from a FlexiPop magazine flexi-disc. Presented in a 7" deluxe gatefold packaging, this set also includes an 8-page booklet with complete lyrics and credits. This reissue captures the playful yet edgy spirit of Altered Images' seminal release. Whether you are a long time fan or interested in getting to know them, this is a great place to step into their sound and enjoy a comprehensive look at their first songs.
Review: Despite having found initial attention via the modern British folk scene that also spawned Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling et al, Bear's Den have managed to carve our a distinct identity for themselves, and this second album sees them building on this with aplomb and ingenuity. Maintaining their trademark heart-on-sleeve approach, and harnessing their Ivor Norvello-worthy songwriting chops to electronic soundscapes and sweeping melodic traditions that extend through hazy recollections of the '70s and '80s, 'Read Earth & Pouring Rain' is the sound of this duo striking out as global contenders for widescreen pop supremacy.
Review: Spectral musical favourites Ghost Box return with the beautiful third album by Beautify Junkyards. Extending the idea that junkyards aren't already beautiful in their own scrappy sort of way, Nova is an exquisite selection of junk-larked tropicalia "finds", visually (album-cover-ally) building on the news cut-up assemblages of Dada and committing them to the beatific atmospheric siblings that are trip hop, psychedelia and what we'd trepidatiously deign to call cosmic lounge. With special guests Paul Weller, Dorothy Moskowitz (of United States of America) and Jesse Chandler (of Pneumatic Tubes & Midlake), this is a thoroughly far-flung metal detecting foray indeed, but it's not the inclusion of the canonic names of 60s psychedelic rock that makes this one special, more than it is its bright, refined, verging on impeccable recordings; despite much guitar echo and analogue anaphora, nothing gets lost in mire, despite this being a nominal junkyard. Best of among the shiny things has to be 'Sonora', the star prize in this magpie's nest. These acid folk have well and truly done it again.
Review: Ghost Box present the CD edition of their latest record by freakish scene-dazzlers Beautify Junkyards, Nova. Despite the record's immediate imagism bringing together news clipping collage, and connotations of scrapheaps and salvaging indicated by the band's name, the sound of the record is anything but adjacent to these themes. The six-piece psychedelia/acid folk band command a wide foundry of instruments, smoothening any rough edge into a shared, sonically doughy dream, beautifying a well-sifted haul of believably, formerly scrapped instruments into a pristine assemblage. Though it builds on motifs heard in 60s and 70s film soundtracks, echoing spaghetti Westerns and early sci-fi, the record's best moments are its seemingly impossible electronica syntheses, such as the unassailed critical mass of trickling drum machine, spring reverb, tonal murmur and near-atonal noise reached on 'Raridade De Contrastes'.
Review: Been Stellar's debut album, Scream From New York, NY, is as a thrilling, assured indie rock release, with ten tracks that blend visceral melody with raw power and showcase the band's live strength and studio control. The album's songwriting is highlighted, with tracks like 'Start Again' delivering waves of distortion and feedback, while 'Pumpkin' explores the space of shoegaze. 'Can't Look Away' and 'All In One' offer noise rock assaults, contrasting with the pop-infused 'Sweet,' which adds a different flavour to the mix. The mix of different styles and sounds must make for an engaging listen. Overall, it is a searing and magnetic debut that captures the essence of New York.
Review: This was where it all started, not only for arguably the most important feminist rock band of all time, but for an entire musical movement. Originally released on cassette in 1991, Revolution Girl Style Now was an incendiary squall of furious ire, set aflame by DIY spirit, rulebook-shredding rage and Kathleen Hanna's fearsomely magnetic charisma alike. To this end, this collection of mighty calls to arms has stubbornly refused to date, standing proud as more than an essential Riot Grrrl document, rather a thrilling and timeless testimony to the power of punk rock at its most righteous.
Review: Providing continual evolution to the greater aspects of how original folk music can be heard, sung and played, Andrew Bird's run of album's since Echolocations (2015) sees his character and sound venture in a world hallowed only by the likes of Father John Misty; that echolich ability to notate the sweet spots in notes with pangs of nostalgia. Alongside strings of country refrain and minimalism, folk guitars and dandy whislisture, there's a code to be cracked within the thematic of the album, putting paid to suggestion that Andrew Bird's latest work might actually be his best.
Review: Starting life as a side-project of Cave psych-voyager Cooper Crain, Bitchin Bajas have quickly made their presence felt as experts in both inner and outer space-the drone-based and meditative strains of the three releases they've embarked on to date see them following in a lineage of electronic repetition that takes in such visionary figures as Terry Riley, Harmonia and Eno. The tracks on this fourth release function as a pathway to altered states, yet also work beautifully on an ambient level, connecting the dots between the now and the '70s, yet also the earth and the stars.
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