SOUND BITES

When it comes to divisiveness among fan bases, few artists outside of hot button genres (I'm thinking punk and metal are chief among those) are more hotly debated or as heavily scrutinized as Jack White. Throughout his tenure with The White Stripes alongside ex-wife Meg, Jack established himself as a budding saviour to rock and roll, all while playing cheap guitars and recording on cheap equipment, only allowing his band to operate within narrow parameters that he'd instilled himself; the red/white/black only colour scheme, the warts-and-all performances, the resistance to additional instrumentation, this was the box he had fashioned for himself and he didn't let anything out or in during The White Stripes' formative years. Then, Elephant happened; after years of honing skills, playing shows and building buzz, the mainstream fever broke. Bolstered by eternal stadium anthem Seven Nation Army , The White Stripes' fourth album was an artistic and commercial breakth...

Having already been part of influential under-the-radar '90s band Drive Like Jehu, Rick Froberg and John Reis (the latter also part of Rocket From the Crypt) had used Hot Snakes as a side project of sorts during their original run; given their natural chemistry and talent, though, it's not altogether surprising that Hot Snakes' three albums (released from 2000-2004) became influential in their own right. Raw, loud and energetic, those albums helped lay the groundwork for many of the post-hardcore bands that have formed since their disbandment in 2005. On their fourth album and first since reuniting in 2011, Hot Snakes haven't missed a beat. Jericho Sirens pops with the same manic energy that has fueled the rest of their discography with slashing guitars and raspy shout-vocals by Froberg and Reis that prove the chemistry is still intact. The rhythm section of bassist Gar Woods and drummers Mario Rubalcaba and Jason Kourkounis, meanwhile, hold down the low end with f...

After a lengthy lead-up to debut album ROCKISDEAD , it didn't take Dorothy Martin very long to follow it up; 28 Days in the Valley arrives just 21 months later. There's been a quick turnaround in style, too, as the metallic modern blues of the debut has been replaced with a more kaleidoscopic psych vibe akin to a Stonesy Jefferson Airplane or classic Heart with a little less muscle and a little more soul. This is likely thanks to Linda Perry's involvement, as the veteran producer also co-wrote these songs; the result is a cleaner, more colourful set of tunes that aims to draw more attention to Martin's performance as opposed to burying her under a wall of noise. At first, 28 Days in the Valley delivers on all promises with pleasant results; Flawless , with its massive and melodic chorus and impassioned vocals, establishes itself as the best song this band has released to date, at least to my ears. Who Do You Love really drives home the Jefferson Airplane energy a...

By now, most of us are well versed with the tragic history of Stone Temple Pilots; after a pair of well-received records in the early '90s, diminishing returns and increasing interband tension (and, maybe, just a little drug use) resulted in the dissolution of the band after their half-hearted 2001 flop  Shangri La De Da . There was a tentative reunion record nine years later that leaned on classic rock influences and ultimately didn't leave much of a mark, and an ugly split with Scott Weiland followed in 2013. Later that year, STP resurfaced with Linkin Park's Chester Bennington as their new singer, releasing the High Rise EP and playing a handful of shows over the next two years and change before Bennington announced his departure from the band. A month after that, Weiland was found dead on his tour bus, while Bennington committed suicide in 2017. No one would have been too shocked or outraged if the surviving members of the band went on to do something else with the...

Much of the advance narrative attached to The Decemberists' eighth record was that of another abandonment of their established musical pathways. I'll Be Your Girl has been referred to in some circles as their synth pop record, an assumption drawn from lead single Severed and its thumping new wave propulsion. Upon first listen, the album seems to be following suit; opening track Once In My Life starts out as more typical, acoustic-based Decemberists fare before blossoming into a nocturnal new wave anthem. The pattern continues on Cutting Stone , a less successful re-appropriation of the band's sound. As it turns out, nothing on the record is as blatantly synth-heavy as Severed ; though synths and keyboards do appear throughout, there's perhaps no proof as potent to those synth pop critics as this. The thing is, though, underneath all of that extra colour the song kicks; it's a different look for the band, to be sure, but one that absolutely suits them. As the...

I'll be first to admit that I fell off the Fratellis bandwagon relatively early on; after releasing the brash and immensely entertaining Costello Music in 2006 and following it up with the more uneven Here We Stand less than two years later, they seemed to be running out of steam after just two albums. The five year gap between Here We Stand and We Need Medicine didn't help, and neither did its underwhelming singles. By the time their reunion hit full stride on 2015's Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied , I had entirely stopped paying attention along with pretty much everyone outside of their small, devoted fan base. After eventually hearing some of that last album's tracks, I had to admit there was still something there after all; while their music was mostly far removed from that of Costello Music , there was a maturity and a classic feel that gave Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied an endearing quality. These are trends that more or less continue on In Your Own Sweet Time , but th...

Perhaps among the lesser known bands (in North America, at least) in the bass-heavy hard rock scene that claims Royal Blood and Death From Above as its top talent, Turbowolf have already proven themselves to be more adventurous than most of their peers through two loud, fuzzed out records. For The Free Life , their third and supremely noisy record, they've gone out and enlisted assistance from their most high-profile peers; Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above appears on the swaggering single Cheap Magic , while Royal Blood's Mike Kerr shows up on previous single Domino . That these genre heavyweights lend their talents to the record can only help Turbowolf's stature, and it's completely justified. In turn, there are also guest appearances by up and coming artists; Idles' Joe Talbot and Vodun's Chantal Brown lend vocals to Capital X and Very Bad , respectively, adding even more flavour to the already delicious grooves. The most striking thing about The ...

History may try to sum up Nathaniel Rateliff as the guy who performed S.O.B. , the rollicking, boozy smash hit from 2015; of course, those of us who have dug deeper have discovered Rateliff is an accomplished singer/songwriter who shouldn't have a career distilled (pun intended) down to a somewhat silly novelty hit. Alongside backing band The Night Sweats, Rateliff has built much of his following on vibrant songs that are indebted to soul and old time rock n' roll, and his music evokes a spirit not often captured by modern artists. Tearing At the Seams , Rateliff's second album with The Night Sweats (and fifth album overall), has a livelier, smokier feel than we're used to. This album boasts thick grooves, impassioned vocal performances and sharp songwriting, all elements of Rateliff's past work to be sure but this time presented with a fuller sound and more colour. Put another way, it's more indicative of the band's live show, which has never been a bad...

There seems to be a pattern developing here. When Titus Andronicus first really started to turn heads, it was back in 2010 with their second album; the follow-up to a loose and concise debut, The Monitor brought everything bigger. a Civil War-themed concept album that ran over an hour in length and featured numerous guest appearances and several shifts in style and tone, that record signaled significant growth for the New Jersey rockers. Because of this, some listeners were somewhat underwhelmed by Local Business , which followed two years later and found a more stripped down effort. Still, there were plenty of reasons to be excited for what followed; and, what followed turned out to be the band's biggest and boldest statement yet. The Most Lamentable Tragedy , presented as a five act rock opera and featuring a multitude of sonic twists and turns, set a new benchmark for Titus Andronicus' creativity. It would have been difficult to go much further from here at the time...

If there's been one takeaway from Screaming Females' career up to this point that's clearer than the rest, it's that Marissa Paternoster shreds. It's been evident throughout and, even as they started to steer their overall sound into more accessible territory on 2015's excellent Rose Mountain , Paternoster's commanding voice and pummeling guitar towered over the band's other elements. On their seventh album, that voice and guitar still loom large, but there's also a marked progression into other styles and sounds. While a band with a spike in attention thanks to a stellar record is more often than not tempted to present more of the same with slight refinements, All At Once instead presents Screaming Females expanding into seemingly all directions. There are elements of psychedelia and power pop alongside the punky post-grunge and guttural hard rock that they've been known for previously. They also fearlessly spread their sonic palette to inc...