By: Liam Syrvalin, Contributor [Loma Vista Recordings, 2022] Rating: 9/10 Key Tracks: “Loose Talk”, “Radiator”, “WW4“ Within every genre of music, there are bands that serve to push the boundaries of the style of music they subscribe to. Show Me the Body is one of these bands, continually challenging traditional ideas of what hardcore music…
Category: Reviews
Album Review: Jeff Rosenstock & Laura Stevenson – Younger Still EP
By Roman Salomone, Contributor [Polyvinyl Records; 2022] Rating: 7/10 Key Tracks: “Razor Love”, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” Being the unstoppable and prolific machine that he is, Jeff Rosenstock has teamed up with longtime collaborator Laura Stevenson (both formerly in Bomb the Music Industry!) to bless the world with another release at the tail end…
Album Review: The Backseat Lovers – Waiting to Spill
By: Grace Koennecke, Columns Editor Capitol Records; 2022 Rating: 5/10 Key tracks: “Close Your Eyes”, “Growing/Dying”, “Snowbank Blues”, “Follow the Sound” The Backseat Lovers rose to fame with their debut album, When We Were Friends, back in 2019 after its lead single, “Kilby Girl”, won over fans of the indie-rock genre. Since then, the band,…
Album Review: Inclination – Unaltered Perspective
By Liam Syrvalin, Contributor [Pure Noise Records, 2022] Rating: 9/10 Key Tracks: (all of them but) “Thoughts and Prayers”, “A Decision, Commitment to Self“ Whenever I talk about music with other people, I always tell them to give hardcore albums a chance. Louisville straight-edge hardcore band Inclination’s new album Unaltered Perspective is a perfect example…
Album Review: Poppy – Stagger
By Emma Rickett, Contributor
[Republic Records; 2022]
Rating: 4/10
Key tracks: “Pocket”, “Stagger”
Moriah Periera, who started her career on YouTube making surreal videos under the alias That Poppy, has carried her uniqueness through all her creative works. Songs like “BLOODMONEY” and “I Disagree” are glitchy nu-metal compared to her first album, 3:36 (Music to Sleep To), which sounds exactly like music to sleep to. Periera is no stranger to genre-hopping and blending her favorite genres together in a cohesive, digestible way. Her new EP, Stagger, is a genre she shouldn’t have hopped to.
Album Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard –Laminated Denim
By Nicholas Kobe, Contributor
[KGLW; 2022]
Rating: 6/10
Key tracks: “The Land Before Timeland”, “Hypertension”
A new project has dropped from King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, which is frankly a miracle. King Gizzard’s fans had been waiting an agonizing five days since the release of their last album. Sarcasm aside, King Gizzard has one of the most insane output schedules in all of music. 22 albums deep, just over 10 years into their career. The band’s sound has ranged from psych, prog, electronic, metal, punk, acoustic and literally everything in between. The most recent leg of their career has been dominated by experimentation. This can be clearly seen in their first album from October, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, an album of seven songs, all based on each of the seven musical modes.
Movie Review: Halloween Ends
By Cody Englander, Contributor [Universal Pictures; 2022]Rating: 4/10 The myth of Michael Myers lives on in the ‘final’ entry as this new Halloween trilogy comes to a conclusion. The movie follows mostly new characters, with Laurie and Michael taking a backseat to their own story. The marketing for Halloween Ends strays away from the main plotline…
Album Review: Surf Curse – Magic Hour
By Devon Risner [Atlantic Records; 2022] Rating: 5/10 Key Tracks: “Sugar”, “Unwell”, “TVI” After the recent rise in popularity of their hit single “Freaks” in 2015 and the success of subsequent single “Disco” in 2019, Surf Curse released something completely different from their early albums. Unfortunately, they fell into the path of the “alt-rock” radio…
Album Review: Bladee – Spiderr
By Ethan Hofer, Staff Writer
[YEAR 0001; 2022]
Rating: 8/10
Key tracks: “I AM SLOWLY BUT SURELY LOSING HOPE”, “BLUE CRUSH ANGEL”, “HAHAH”
Bladee is arguably one of the most creative music minds of this generation. From the bizarre, yet intriguing album covers to his ever-changing sound with his Drain Gang collective, there has always been something unique about Bladee. Spiderr’s fascinating cover which features a deified picture of Bladee with a spider in his hand and a Hebrew symbol meaning “truth” on his forehead. The cover truly is as captivating as Spiderr’s sound.
Album Review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
By Roman Salomone, Contributor
[Secretly Canadian; 2022]
Rating: 8/10
Key tracks: “Burning”, “Fleez”, “Different Today”
The reinvention that rock music underwent in the early 2000s has finally reached the age where it’s being looked back upon for ushering in a wave of legendary bands. Groups like The Black Keys, Bloc Party, Metric, and Interpol have all continued to release music through the past decade. Meanwhile, LCD Soundsystem and Paramore have all been coming out of long-term hiatuses and releasing some fantastic throwback singles. Strangely though, one of the most essential groups of that scene has stayed relatively quiet on the music front in the 2010s – the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The trio went on a hiatus after 2013’s Mosquito, and other than reuniting for the occasional festival performance, the group has stayed almost completely silent. That is, until May 2022, when the announcement of a new album and single came to much hype and speculation. Better late than never, but it makes sense. With up and coming groups like Wet Leg, Viagra Boys, and illuminati hotties taking clear influence from the trios’ classic 2000s albums, it’s the perfect time for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to show their bones again.
Album Review: Shygirl – Nymph
By Emma Rickett, Contributor
[Because Music; 2022]
Rating: 8/10
Key tracks: “Heaven”, “Poison”, “Honey”
In Greek mythology, nymphs were attractive young women who had a deep connection to nature and fertile, growing things. In Shygirl’s debut album, Nymph, we hear precisely why she used the name. Shygirl, the stage name for English rapper, singer, and DJ Blane Muise, layers unique pop beats with bright vocalizations and sexual lyrics.
ACRN Live Review: Alvvays at Riviera Theatre in Chicago, Oct. 14
[Photo courtesy of Julia Weber] By Julia Weber, Features Editor There aren’t that many bands that I’m willing to trek to Chicago for (on a weekday, nonetheless). The last time I made the trip, it was for Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot anniversary tour in which I traveled both to Chicago and back in 24 hours…
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