On their second album, Sweden’s Holograms spearhead a new wave of post punk revivalism with an album that’s a more focused affair then the still equally brilliant Holograms. Forever drops barely a year after their debut made waves and unlike most expedited sophomore albums, this one doesn’t suffer from the “Quick! We have to get a new album out” syndrome. There is absolutely no other band making music like this today. If you combined the gothic overtones of The Cure’s […]
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Franz Ferdinand Puts It All Together On Right Thoughts
Franz Ferdinand stays alive-something their namesake couldn’t manage.
The Julie Ruin, Run Fast: Album Review
For more than two decades, Kathleen Hanna has been a central figure in the marriage of activism, music, and politics. By now it seems to go without saying that together with her bandmates in Bikini Kill, Hanna helped an unapologetically feminist discourse to bubble into the mainstream, fomenting the Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s. The aughts saw Hanna incorporate more electronic elements into her music with Le Tigre, a power trio whose lyrics were no less political, continuing to […]
Metal Monday Volume 139 (9.2.13)
Ontario’s Deathpoint is a new (er) metal outfit that you should definitely pay attention to. On their latest (And first to feature former Odium vocalist Tom Emmans), Sinister, Deathpoint avoid the sophomore slump with an album that is worth the wait (Their debut landed in 2010) and well thought out. Opener “Between The Lines” is a hard rocker for sure but just barely scratches the surface of what the rest of Sinister has to offer. Second track “For Your Eyes […]
The Carlton Shuffle, 8/31/13
Goodbye August, Hello September! It’s been a busy week, and we here at Popblerd hope that you are able to enjoy a well-deserved three-day weekend. As a soundtrack whatever r&r you’re hopefully engaging in, we bring to you this week’s edition of The Carlton Shuffle. Fire it up!
Vista Chino, Peace: Album Review
This is the album everyone will be talking about this fall. The first recorded work from Kyuss Lives (Now known as Vista Chino) is an undeniable return to the desert sound they helped create and then pioneer with a modern touch. Taking cues from …And The Circus Leaves Town and heading full force into Blues For The Red Sun territory at times, Peace stands on its own as a triumph to the legacy of Kyuss. Speaking of Blues…, listening to […]
Note for Note: A Complete Guide to the Discography of Queen, Part 2 (1977-1981)
The show must go on, as we delve into the rest of Queen’s ’70s heyday and give underrated drummer Roger Taylor his due
Goodie Mob Rages Hard In Age Against The Machine
The whole is still greater than the sum of its parts. Goodie Mob is back to save hip-hop.
Nine Inch Nails, Hesitation Marks: Album Review
The beautiful thing about Hesitation Marks, the latest offering from Trent Reznor, is that it is a Nine Inch Nails album without any expectations because it literally appeared out of thin air about 2 months ago. Being a completely unexpected album means it can be NIN’s most experimental yet. They could go pop (“Everything”), industrial (“Came Back Haunted”), electronica (“Disappointed”)….hell, they could even do dubstep if Reznor willed it (Thankfully they didn’t go that route). Like Reznor says during the […]
DevilDriver, Winter Kills: Album Review
Dez Fafara and the boys are back with another blessed hellride on DevilDriver’s sixth album, Winter Kills. ‘You sold me out, I sold myself in/you dealt me out/I dealt myself in…’ or so the story goes on ‘The Oath of The Abyss,’ the lead-off track, Dez’s signature howl in full horn’s up form. ‘Ruthless,’ follows with opening guitars reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins 2007 single, ‘Tarantula,’ before launching into an almost Coal Chamber-like sing-along verse course verse. It’s definitely one of […]
Reconfigured: The Rolling Stones, “Emotional Tattoo”
We are pleased to debut a new regular column, “Reconfigured.” Here we take liberties with revisionism by reediting, reimagining, and resequencing a particular album or albums in an effort to reconfigure the work into a stronger album. By the dawn of the 1980s, The Rolling Stones’ best years were certainly behind them. The band’s previous album (1978’s Some Girls) was the most cohesive they’d produced in years, but that kind of cover-to-cover quality would evade the Stones for the rest […]