‘Licensed To Ill’ is cringeworthy, abrasive, and grotesquely enjoyable.
Category: punk
We expend a lot of energy trying not to be irritable, so when anger rises it rouses the question of whether to silence it or push forward. That, of course, depends on stimuli. For 7 Year Bitch, the stimulus was the death of their guitarist, Stefanie Sargent, and the brutal murder of their friend, The […]
Tom Greenhouse sounds like the coworker you never know beyond the timesheet; or the man who takes your details while setting up a council tax account; or the guy who accidentally drops his satchel on your feet on a crowded bus. This is an account of a soul-sucked eyeline and it’s hope for spiritual revival. […]
Glam-punk tends to reference characters who fight, fuck, self-destruct, and at some level, love. The various dichotomies across Endure inevitably become codependent: the glam doesn’t pour glitter over the punk and the punk doesn’t take a shit on the glam. They unite, and it works in a special way. The externally questioning half of this […]
Despite its loving title, ‘Big Love Blanket’ will be unlikeable to some: it’s a cocky, liberty-taking piece of indie-rock that covers a little too much ground. It’s also very enjoyable for those same reasons. Personal Trainer sail across the busy seas of post-punk and art pop, with Travis Morrison forming part of the cabin crew […]
A stylised, sharp, mid-century album cover will often precede a dry, synth-pop experience—it’s the go-to aesthetic for the scene. However, Grotto Terrazza has the eccentricity to angle away from formula and towards his own voice. Kalte Köstlichkeiten is tight, engaging, and sincerely bizarre. There are so many words to call it: drum machine punk, chipmunk […]
Speedy Wunderground, record label/verb. to rise with acclaim, while wearing expensive-looking baggy clothes and having a shaky voice. Label manager Dan Carey (previous producer for Franz Ferdinand, black midi, Fontaines D.C. and TOY) has a definite ‘type’. This is an impassioned debut album with riveting moments that nonetheless needs a weightier voice. To make more […]
The sparkling bling of the corporate gentleman on the cover sits alongside 1960’s film poster font and across from a ragged artist. The creative world of The Replacements interacted with expectations of modern success and an almost perverse artistic flair. A certain silliness makes it difficult to know what the band wanted—hearing their fetish for […]
Arriving like LCD Soundsystem’s unruly out-of-town cousin, Working Men’s Club take on a sinister tone that is oddly energising. ‘Fear Fear’ was born out of the New York disco scene, gathering a Prodigy-like angle for the electronical direct on its way to the present. If the tracks are unnerving, it is only to uptight antennae […]
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