SOUND BITES

It doesn't take a great deal of creative effort to paint a picture of darkness; in fact, if you look at the musical climate The Holy Bible comes from, it was practically par for the course in 1994. However, the art squarely came into focus for Manic Street Preachers; their third album is also the last to be played on by guitarist and frequent lyricist Richey Edwards. Suffering from severe depression while battling substance abuse and anorexia, Edwards would disappear five months after The Holy Bible 's release; his body was never found. It's an incredibly tragic end for such a talented creative force, and it's one that casts a long shadow over this album; mixed in among recurring political and social commentaries are horrifying accounts of gender anxiety, suicidal depression, self-harm and mortal anorexia. It's a relentlessly bleak, terrifying and hopeless album, and Edwards' disappearance only serves to amplify its dark emotions. From a purely musical sta...

Earlier this year, I reviewed the debut EP by Royal Blood, the hard rocking UK duo that's earned the seal of approval from everyone from Arctic Monkeys to Jimmy Page. With such high praise already heaped upon them, it was going to be hard for their full-length debut to live up to the hype. To be frank, it doesn't, but it's not for lack of promise. Using minimal overdubs and no guitars (all that noise is being made by bass and drums), Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher have managed nonetheless to craft one of the year's most greasy, loud records. And yes, I'm going to harp on loud mastering again; as is sign o' the times, this album is given the old "in the red" treatment, with Thatcher's drums often distorting and sucking a good chunk of the life out of the songs. If you're looking for maximum enjoyment (from this record and I'm assuming all rock music in general going forward), burn your headphones, then bury them in the backyard. Strictly music...

Though the gap between The New Pornographers' sixth album and its predecessor (2010's Together ) is the longest in the group's career, it's not like members were sitting around doing nothing. After all, the oft-dubbed "supergroup" is comprised of folks who are veterans of several other groups and/or have thriving solo careers of their own. That said, it is clear listening to Brill Bruisers that a little extra time went a long way. Though the group's members have kept themselves plenty busy in the interim, Brill Bruisers sounds like a band completely rejuvenated; A.C. Newman in particular is in fine form on this record (which, as chief songwriter, is the main reason for the return to form on display). The title track bursts forth with the same sunny energy that first drew my attention to the band over a decade ago. It's a statement of positive change, and it lets the album hit the ground running. Later, the one-two punch of Pixies space popper Wide...

In this day and age, five years is more than enough time for a band to be forgotten, especially a fringe band that never found wide reaching success. It's a testament, then, to the talents of He Is Legend that the half decade gap between albums has only seemed to strengthen their momentum. After releasing a trio of criminally underrated albums from 2004 to 2009, the band went away for a while, and took their time with album four. To say Heavy Fruit benefits from the extra time and care is kind of like saying water is a pretty good way to stay hydrated. This album finds He Is Legend willing to take a song pretty much anywhere it needs to go to succeed, even if it's in multiple directions at once. Opening track No Visitors zigs and zags through tempos and styles but never dulls its attack, while Something, Something, Something Witchy tips its hat to Pink Floyd and Dillinger Escape Plan pretty much equally while also boasting perhaps the album's most potent chorus. Their ...

So maybe I'd be showing my age by referring to Benjamin Booker as a "youngster"; still, the tender age of 22 is much younger than you'd be likely to peg him for after listening to his self titled debut album. To be sure, Booker's talent is raw, but it's not so far removed from what a guy like Jack White built a career upon (to wit, Booker's been opening for White on his recent tour dates). What's most impressive about this record is the many textures and feelings Booker pulls off with relative ease; from the triumphant, Chuck Berry-like bombast of opener Violent Shiver to the early Kings of Leon rough-and-tumble soul of Always Waiting to the White-like fuzzed out stomp of Chippewa to the slow-burning blues of Slow Coming to the evangelistic manic energy of Wicked Waters , Booker makes it all work in his favour, and all within the first fifteen minutes or so. As good as the album starts off, the undisputed album highlight is Have You Seen My Son ,...

One can't help but feel just a little bad for Brian Fallon. His voice and style have garnered him plenty of comparisons to American rock icons, most notably Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty; that he recalls them so vividly for so many speaks volumes not to some kind of impressionist act, but to his obvious and abundant talents as a singer and songwriter. Yet, with every Gaslight Anthem album that gets released, he's dogged with accusations of mimicry. With Get Hurt , The Gaslight Anthem's second major label album (and fifth overall), plenty of Petty references are being made; there are plenty of classic leaning licks to be found alongside Fallon's earnest, hopeless romantic leaning lyricism. It probably doesn't help that Petty just released a pretty good album of his own, but in the end drawing such parallels between the two is a bit lazy; it's not so far off from insinuating that Mastodon's new album sounds an awful lot like Metallica. It might not be co...

Spoon have long been considered one of modern rock's most consistent purveyors of quality records; in fact, they put themselves in a fairly unique position with their previous studio album, 2010's Transference . That was a record that was actually quite good, but had the misfortune of following a string of four utterly fantastic Spoon records, which cast an unfairly critical pall on it. It was a gold nugget among diamonds, a record that didn't sound like a failure but kind of felt like one (albeit a minor one). Now, coming off their longest break between records, Spoon are back with a new record deal and another batch of effortlessly catchy songs on eighth LP They Want My Soul . It maintains the air of cool that Spoon has always had even while knowingly veering toward the mainstream, sanding off a few rough edges and opting for bigger hooks and less quirk. You can hear it throughout the record, but especially in the unabashed sunniness of official lead single Do You . As ...