Album Review: Dressy Bessy – Fast Faster Disaster

June 10, 2019

If you just heard Dressy Bessy for the first time, you missed quite a lot. Formed from the same seminal Elephant 6 collective that gave birth to Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, the group released half a dozen reliably enjoyable records. Dressy Bessy is a Colorado cause célèbre, releasing ‘Fast Faster Disaster’ June 13 via Yep Roc Records at Downtown Artery and Lion’s Lair respectively.

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Album Review: Pedro The Lion – Phoenix

February 8, 2019

After the release of Pedro The Lion’s 2004 record Achilles Heel, the term “emo” would be weaponised as a slur—by outsiders and longtime acolytes alike—and earnest and plaintive music was largely cast aside for the irreverent, angular, and abstract indie rock that would define much of the next decade. Fifteen years after the band’s last release, hordes of music listeners will gather in front of stages throughout 2019 t(including The Bluebird Feb 10) to see Pedro the Lion in support of its long-anticipated return on Polyvinyl Records.

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Album Review: Anthony Ruptak – A Place That Never Changes

December 5, 2018

In a musical era defined by digital austerity, A Place That Never Changes is a powerful ode to maximalism, a carefully layered production of towering melodies and micro-cacophonies that cede just the right amount of space for Ruptak’s searing lyrical attack. It captures 2018 America’s prevailing feelings of confusion, anxiety and dread.

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