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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