SOUND BITES

Upon reviewing Dead Sara's second album, 2015's Pleasure to Meet You , I talked about how their pending major label contract had fallen through, and how it may have been a blessing in disguise because we got a raw, powerful, uncompromising and amazing record. Well, here we are again; Dead Sara has another shot at major label success, only this time there seems to be concessions all over the place. First off, this is a mere six song EP (and, from the looks of it, not the precursor to a new full-length); it's over and out in just over 20 minutes. After a wait of more than three years, it's a pretty slight offering. That said, this seems to be the way a lot of new major label artists are being promoted these days, so I suppose this is what we get. I also feel like I have to mention the band and/or label's refusal to release it on CD, so old guys like me can't even put on the shelf next to the others. Next, there's the matter of the music; far be it for ...

When we lose a family member or loved one, it's often a difficult proposition to figure out just how we're supposed to move on without them in our lives. It can be especially tough for band mates, as the life and career you had built up alongside this person is now suddenly and irrevocably changed. Consider Mike Shinoda, who acted as kind of the co-frontman of Linkin Park with Chester Bennington for about twenty years before the latter committed suicide in 2017; that's hard news to wake up to, and Shinoda was rightfully going through a wide range of unwanted emotions after Bennington's passing. Now, a year after the tragic death of Bennington, Shinoda presents his self-described "cathartic" solo debut. Sequenced more or less in the order the songs were written, Post Traumatic tells the story of Shinoda's struggles to make sense of it all in the months after losing his friend and band mate, and chronicles his hesitant return to the spotlight he once ...

As brilliant as I found Father John Misty's third record to be ( Pure Comedy received a 10/10 from me last year, a score I never thought I'd hand out again), I will readily admit that it can be a very tough record to get through. Fans of his previous, more character driven and introspective work, were mostly taken aback by suddenly being given a 75-minute opus on which existential, political and societal concerns were order of the day. Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman) had concerns about how his audience would take to this tonally heavier material (as voiced on Leaving L.A. , Pure Comedy 's 13-minute centerpiece), and perhaps he also had a back-up plan in case things didn't pan out. Barely a year after that massive magnum opus comes God's Favorite Customer , a retreat of sorts to the life-and-love subject matter of his first two records under the FJM moniker; it's not only his most personal record, but also his shortest at 38 minutes. Tillman guides us...

As heavy bands who are pigeonholed by the metal community are often wont to do, Ghost has spent the last handful of years putting some distance between their sound and the preconceived notions to what onlookers think they should sound like. Though their campy, Satanic shtick has remained intact, the band's songs have begun to steer toward greater ambitions. With their fourth record, Ghost's sound and image get yet another overhaul, and they take another giant leap in terms of accessibility. There are heavy moments, to be sure; Faith packs a melodic lead lick and a chugging rhythm that will satisfy headbangers, while lead single Rats brings a suitably metallic riff (and a thrillingly guttural closing). What you'll notice above all else while listening to  Prequelle , though, are its hooks; nearly every song on this record boasts a chorus that reaches for the rafters. Some songs, like the deliciously appealing Dance Macabre , find Ghost operating at peak commercial and/o...

Surprise released on April 20 (I know, I'm behind on this one), Cancer Bats' sixth album is their first release on Batskull (their own label), and finds the Canuck hardcore headbangers pressing the reset button in some ways. After moving ever so subtly toward a more accessible and diverse sound over the course of previous albums, The Spark That Moves is laser focused on loud and heavy. Crafting a record like this is can be a dangerous proposition, as it can feel like a reversion to old sounds as a safety net. Longtime fans will understand, however, that safety isn't job one with this band; that said, there are some melodic moments to be heard. The thing is, they're tucked in among some of the band's most aggressive material to date; when you get a minute to breathe (or, in the case of Fear Will Kill Us All 's soft piano intro, 13 seconds), rest assured that it won't be long before you're thrust back into the fray. As a return to roots, then, The S...

After years of building stature as underground darlings, Parquet Courts come into album number seven willing to take some mainstream-leaning risks. Bringing on producer Danger Mouse runs the risk of twisting their sound into the same thick, soulful, M.O.R. rock territory as countless bands before them; that said, this rarely happens on Wide Awake! and, when it does, it's purely in service to the song. Take Violence , which features some stabbing keyboards but also has A. Savage's most frantic and biting vocal performance. Danger Mouse's fingerprints are all over the record, but Parquet Courts' restless and exploratory musical spirit rises above any same-ism that tends to be present on other records he's produced. While there are echoes of the musical past here (think The Clash at their most adventurous as filtered through the lens of modern indie rock to get a head start), Wide Awake! is very much an album of the present; all manner of societal and political o...

Sophomore albums are always intriguing; when an artist releases their first album, there's often a hint of what's to come, in that there's sure to be artistic growth and sonic exploration on future releases no matter how great that debut is. Sometimes that bright future leads to great strides and acclaim, and sometimes there's a fizzle out; when that first record is successful and/or acclaimed, the stakes are far greater for the follow up, and there's much more pressure to build on what that debut provided. In Courtney Barnett's case, her debut was both acclaimed and successful; 2015's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit set the critics' hearts aflame and introduced her to a much wider audience than perhaps she or anyone else had planned on. As for me, I named Sometimes my Album of the Year in 2015, praising its witty observations and '90s slacker rock throwback vibe. Tell Me How You Really Feel is a darker, louder, more perso...