SOUND BITES

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...

Typically a chance to take a breather from the year that had just passed and resolve to get through the winter while looking forward to some great albums in the spring, 2015 bucked that trend in grand fashion. From established artists releasing highly anticipated albums that met or exceeded expectations to hungry new artists looking to make their mark, the first quarter of 2015 provided an abnormally high amount of quality songs and albums. The tone was also set early with female-fronted projects that hit with force and built momentum for women in rock that carried through the rest of the year (I wrote about that here in April). The first batch of Song of the Year nominees are:

Wherein the author cops to being kind of a music sexist (but don't worry, rehab is going great).

Having spent most of the past decade toiling in relative anonymity and slowly building a reputation as a band to watch, Screaming Females started to make inroads with 2012's Ugly (which benefited from recording by Steve Albini). Three years later, they return with the massive Rose Mountain , an album that sees the trio dial back some of their noisier tendencies in favour of natural intensity. It's no bid for superstardom, but Rose Mountain should get Screaming Females some well-deserved exposure, especially in the immediate aftermath of last month's explosive new Sleater-Kinney record.  There are common threads to be traced through Rose Mountain , which is only fair considering S-K's status in the pantheon of alt rock. That's not to call the band or album derivative, as Rose Mountain is an incredibly strong record on its own merits; hooks are sharp, riffs are formidable, lyrics are smart. It all adds up to an incredibly enjoyable record, another early-year behemot...