For more than a decade, Melody Prochet’s songs have drifted through dream logic — language dissolving into texture, emotion refracted through haze. Unclouded, her fourth album as Melody’s Echo Chamber and third for Domino Records, doesn’t abandon that ethereal quality thanks to the arrival of the Swedish producer/songwriter Sven Wunder, best known for the lush […]
The latest Warp album from the New York composer/pianist Kelly Moran, Don’t Trust Mirrors, is the culmination of six years of work, and it sounds like a definitive career statement. In retrospect, 2024’s conventionally pretty neo-classical record Moves in the Field stands as an anomaly in her catalog. Its elegant, sprightly piano pieces diverge from […]
At a March Seattle gig, SML generated three epic improvisations of subtle groove science (the second piece even evoked the funky swagger of Average White Band’s “Schoolboy Crush”) and galvanic hypnosis. It was the best show this writer saw in 2025, and that it differed from the relative concision of the group’s records just proves […]
Luke Spiller has had a year of “achievements.” He mentions the term twice during our conversation. Once in connection with his group the Struts, who celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their debut album, Everybody Wants, with a major tour. And once when speaking about his debut solo album, Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes […]
Who knew that the Americana ambassadors the Avett Brothers and the thoroughly modern maniac Mike Patton had the same threads woven into their respective freak flags? Scott and Seth Avett have been enchanting the folk contingent for most of this century with a discography of stripped-down and heart-bursting recs. While Patton is known primarily as […]
Just in time for the scariest of holidays, and fresh off the road with 311, Sitting on Saturn are bringing the Halloween vibes home with a bone-chilling, guitar-thrashing video for their track “Ghouls.” The video is a truly legit cinematic work and the track brings a wild, wreckless heft that shows that the band threw […]
The best concert albums bring home the excitement of the live experience. Though the songs might not sound as polished as the studio versions, live records present us with different iterations of music that have continued to gestate long after the producer has applied the finishing touches. On triple-live album Cornucopia Live, released October 24, […]
Instrumental music is not for everyone. Still, lots of creative people enjoy it when they seek a vibe but not a vocal that might distract from thought or focused actions–like writing music reviews. I’m writing this one while listening to guitar virtuoso John 5’s latest, Ghost, and while it’s not exactly haunting, it is a […]
Though Boris has been steadily releasing albums since 1996, there will always be a before and after Pink for the band. Formed in Tokyo in 1992, Boris has released 29 studio albums, 14 EPs, and seven live albums since its inception. However, Pink remains their zenith, a sprawling 47-minute masterwork that marries sludge metal with […]
First, we need to note that Tortoise releasing a record with anyone other than Thrill Jockey after a 30-plus-year relationship is a shocker for a group not known for dramatic changes. It’s akin to Autechre abandoning Warp! Anyway, the important thing about Tortoise is that their last two albums before the International Anthem/Nonesuch-reared Touch — […]