ostraca's deathless was a powerful wall of sound crashing down on you but it still felt a bit thin. Unrefined -- would be the word that best fits. last however finds the Richmond band perfecting this wall, thickening it into something more. By record's end, it's clear that it's now a mountain collapsing down on you in a haze of post-metal, screamo glory. It also meets the expectations they set with with faces of the moving year split earlier this year.

They're an ex

When I hear that a band is a two-piece, I tend to hesitate with them because there really is only so much you can do with a guitar and a drum set after awhile. But that notion was completely obliterated when listening to Mobina Galore’s full-length Feeling Disconnected for the first time. The Canadian duo have released an incredibly dynamic melodic punk record that absolutely should not go unnoticed.

Songs such as “Nervous Wreck,” 'Vancouver” and most notably “Suffer” really sho

Blink 182 came back with a bang via California. They exorcised demons of old, rebuking the dark lord Tom DeLonge into the stray lights of the night sky, and set forth with Matt Skiba on a new musical direction. Of course, they kept a lot of the old elements but you could tell that punk rock was no longer their primary concern. The deluxe edition here simply reiterates that with about 10 new songs on display, the band isn't afraid to keep wandering. And here they do so down a path you'd

Chris Gethard is one of those people you have heard or seen at least once if you like pop culture and comedy - he's popped up as an actor in Broad City and Parks & Rec, has his own podcast and cult TV show, and is a stand up veteran going back more than a decade. And of course he's a Smiths/Morrissey fan, the kind of guy who (like me) sings the lyrics with no irony because damn it this British guy is speaking directly to your heart. As he says in Career Suicide, "I was the kind of 21 year old

Slowdive are a magical experience that separates your soul from your body and returns it all the more pure. 22 years later and here we are with Slowdive -- a self-titled record filled with statements of love. It's like they never missed a beat. You'd think that such a long gap in between albums would result in some rust but even those moments are turned into ethereal notes; and melodies that swarm you and warm you.

It doesn't matter which era of indie/emo/shoegaze/dream pop you'r

As triumphant as Craig Finn can sound, his characters aren’t usually winners. Life has its small victories, sure. But his entire career (with Lifter Puller, The Hold Steady and most recently solo) is about crafting detailed accounts for and by the losers. On his new album, he is finally able to get out from under the shadow of The Hold Steady and make one hell of a devastating beauty.

We All Want the Same Things compiles ten distinct stories, each so clearly with its own identi

Obviously, great albums are made up of great songs. Odd Boat is definitely a collection of great songs. Once in awhile, the great individual songs will work together so well that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is also the case with Odd Boat. Each song is distinct, but common musical and lyrical themes add up to create something bigger. Flatfoot 56 has long been relegated to the second tier of celt-punk, but it’s definitely time to reconsider.

I’m old

                There are numerous bands that try and recapture the energy and raw emotion of eighties punk music, in most instances while the bands are able to recapture the basic sound. They often come off sounding overly rehearsed; this isn’t to say they sound bad. Rather, they sound like they fine-tuned their sound to the point the feeling was refined in a studio rather than arrived at naturally. Piss Test is a band that avoids this, as they recapture the feeling of bands like The Wipers

It's about time. It's been eight years since Cloak/Dagger dropped Lost Art, which saw them shift to a more retro punk/garage sound and away from We Are. The latter I admit I enjoyed more because of the hardcore punk influence the band rolled with, wearing their Black Flag influence on their sleeves. That said, Lost Art still felt like a pretty great direction, and it's nice to see I Want Everything continuing in that vein. Seamlessly so, at that.

From the sur