Album Review: Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old

August 18, 2014

Formed in 2003, Bear in Heaven have been releasing contemplative, psychedelic synth music since before (and now quite a while after) such a sound stumbled its way into the zeitgeist. Up to this point the highlight of their career is probably 2009‘s Beast Rest Forth Mouth, a dark, spiraling collection of mind-bending synth-pop. With Time Is Only One Day Old, Bear in Heaven seek to improve their sound while also leading the listener down a stranger, more introspective path, and it’s difficult to listen to this ten-song collection without thinking they have succeeded.

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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: Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues

March 4, 2014

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is an album inherently bound to its context. Against Me! have cemented a reputation as a rock band that balance old-school punk energy with brutally honest lyrics and this album in itself does little to alter this legacy. By now, even most casual alternative music fans have probably heard of lead singer Laura Jane Grace’s coming out as a transgendered woman.

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