SOUND BITES

If you haven't paid much attention to Glenn Danzig, or his formidable career as both a solo artist and onetime singer for highly influential horror/punk group The Misfits, there's a chance that the thing you know him best for is a picture that circulated around the internet about ten years ago. A true down-to-earth moment for the rock star, he was snapped coming out of a store carrying some groceries and a box of kitty litter, and people went wild for it in a cute, "he's just like us" sort of way. A passion project and a tribute to his childhood idol that had been in the works for several years, Danzig Sings Elvis is the result of a lifetime of fandom; in pre-release interviews, he talked about his reverence for The King, and glowed about how influential Elvis was on his own career. So, what do we get from this long-awaited project? A string of dull, uninspired sounding covers, performed and mixed so badly it's shocking to me that it was given the green ...

The debut solo record by Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien has had a particularly long gestation period; the songs that make up Earth date as far back as 2012, and the variety heard on this record speak to a wide range of influences. Perhaps the most notable jumping-off point for what to expect from Earth is the most club-inspired moments from The Stone Roses or Primal Scream, although there is a tendency for some of the album's songs to travel down disparate avenues. You can hear these sonic journeys in the playful tones of lead track Shangri-La as they explode into its crunchy Brit-rock chorus, then again as the gentle, melodic Brasil unfolds into a thunderous booty shaker at its midway point. This pair of opening tracks signal an album that's not content being one dimensional; Deep Days continues the adventurousness, owing much of its charm to a rumbling bass and an R&B-inspired beat which propels the song to its simple yet satisfyingly sweet chorus. The mood turn...

Unprecedented times call for an unprecedented album. For fans of Fiona Apple, the wait for her fifth record was excruciating enough at nearly eight years, but it was supposed to be even longer; while ramping up to the release of Fetch the Bolt Cutters , there was talk about her label wanting to wait until the fall to bring it out. However, with the world in uncertainty thanks to a global pandemic, the decision was made to accelerate the process, which is a godsend; this album dropping during a time when most artists are pushing plans back allows for us to give it the full attention it deserves. The timing of its release certainly isn't the only thing unconventional about Fetch the Bolt Cutters . Top to bottom, there's precious little concession to be heard on this record; recorded at her home in California, these songs eschew any accessible inclinations in favour of raw emotion. Throughout, Apple croons, growls, scats, raps and broadly uses her voice as an added instrumen...

After a seven year gap between albums punctuated only by a slight, forgettable three song offering in 2016, it was kind of anyone's guess what The Strokes would sound like in 2020. More to the point, who even cared? The popular consensus among fans has been that, even though occasional thrills are there on each of their records, The Strokes haven't really come close to the greatness of their first two records since, well, their first two records. I certainly won't argue; from First Impressions of Earth on, The Strokes' albums have been more notable for what they do wrong than what they do right. For me, this came to a head with Comedown Machine in 2013, an album that dressed up as a comeback but bore the stench of lethargy that no amount of glossy production or synth stings could cover up. So, after being dormant for so long, At the Door was chosen as the harbinger for The Strokes' sixth album; a slight offering full of synth and warped vocal effects (and, no...

The sophomore album from Vancouver dream-pop outfit Peach Pit marks a turn toward more vibrant textures and a more laid back, summery aesthetic; this is completely expected, as virtually every band ever has taken at least a couple of records to find their sound and hit their stride. Peach Pit are no different, here tweaking their self-professed "chewed bubblegum pop" into something that resembles a chilled-out Arctic Monkeys, but if Arctic Monkeys had been mostly influenced by, say, Elbow instead of The Strokes. In an attempt to clarify that confusing comparison, Peach Pit's songs tell stories of long lost loves and mundane late nights in a way that recalls Arctic Monkeys' early discography, but with the hard-edged indie punk replaced with dreamy lite rock and shoegaze. When You and Your Friends is at its best, I swear that analogy makes more sense; take opener Feelin' Low (Fuckboy Blues) , which conveys the feeling of awkward college love. Or standout Black...

What can I say about Testament at this point that hasn't been talked about for the majority of their 30+ year career? Even those with a passing familiarity with metal probably know some of their story; coming up in the Bay Area thrash scene of the mid-80s, they were just one of scores of fledgling bands to be influenced by the juggernaut that was Metallica. For some, that's where the story begins and ends, in their minds the band that tried to mimic Metallica so hard they still do it to this day. The thing is, Testament's story is a little more aligned with Slayer in my mind, so as to say they refined their core sound to a point and have stuck with it more or less the entire way. A few detours happened as part of their journey (and they were largely ill-received, proving my belief that metal fans are the most fickle of any genre), but in 2020 Testament are regarded more than perhaps any of the Big Four (especially in the wake of Slayer's retirement) as the dependable...

Though most still remember Brian Fallon as the howling force who broke out with Jersey Springsteen punks The Gaslight Anthem just over a decade ago, there's a strong case for his solo career thus far threatening to eclipse the work he did with the band that made him famous. While his first solo record (2016's Painkillers could be fairly leveled some "Gas-lite" criticism, the maturity and overall tone of the record established just how effective Fallon's writing could be; it was followed two years later by Sleepwalkers , which was livelier and more evocative of soul than punk, proving that Fallon wasn't scared to explore new avenues of sound while retaining the heart of his talents. Enter third solo release Local Honey , which takes its cue not from his previous work per sé, but rather from the tenderest, most heartfelt and melancholy moments on those previous records. This isn't exactly uncharted territory, as each of his previous records (solo and ba...