Album Review: The Wild After – Lesson Learned

April 9, 2014

People who consume music on a casual basis don’t realize what a strange process it is to start a band. Local acts are constantly splitting, joining, or reinventing themselves. So when former members of The Heyday, Randall Kent and Ryan Buller, teamed up with a new rhythm section comprised of Jesse Spencer and Chris Beeble in October last year, it wasn’t anything unusual. What is unusual is the remarkable sounds they’re making in such a short time together. Their new EP, Lesson Learned, is releasing late March. Fortunately we got a streaming preview to let you know why you should check it out.

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Album Review: Protomartyr – Under Color of Official Right

April 8, 2014

Once a beacon of progress and success, Detroit has become the standard modern example of what can go wrong in an American city. There’s poverty, crime, corruption–the myth of the city itself has transformed from the quintessential American Dream, to a less affluent Gotham swathed in a brutal struggle for its own soul. Art that emerges from Detroit is expected and often possesses a certain tint of nihilism, but most interesting are those artists who manage to both own the new myth of their city and transcend it. Hip-hop artists like Eminem and Danny Brown have done it, and now Protomartyr emerges almost fully formed with Under Color of Official Right.

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Album Review: Musketeer Gripweed – Floods and Fires

It’s difficult to liken comparisons to Musketeer Gripweed. Maybe hints of Zakk Wylde vocalization and Black Keys catchiness can be sought, though such associations only apply sporadically—Musketeer Gripweed is ferociously singular in their style and genre, whatever that specifically may be. Either the band doesn’t know either or they don’t care, given that their official Facebook page refers to their genre as “American Revival Stomp Ass Shake Holla!” The description is fitting: Floods and Fires is a rip-roaring album with very few moments of weakness.

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Album Review: Pandas & People – Pandas & People

April 7, 2014

It’s always exciting when an existing band branches off to explore a new sound and style. Members of the alt-rock (and generally pretty decent) band Five Day Rhetoric, in their downtime, decided to start experimenting with folk rock–a decision that eventually spawned their new project, Pandas & People. The name is catchy, and the music is nice and catchy. However, the product doesn’t break much new ground in terms of the genre, despite the clear presence of passion and potential.

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