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Grunge

A Desolate Light printed the ticket to transformation in his alt-rock debut single, Suppressor

Posted on 16 September 2023
Suppressor by A Desolate Light

The Sparks, NV alt-rock artist, A Desolate Light, got his forthcoming debut LP, To Knell and Vanish, off to a scintillating start with the first single released from the concept album, Suppressor.

Starting with the solitary strike of a gong, the spirituality of the release asserts itself from here and unravels further through the Jungian and Zen-inspired lyricism throughout the evocatively high-octane progressions. The instrumentals find themselves in the middle ground between gunge and post-hardcore to stoke the fires of a blazingly hot brand of ingenuity that is uniquely finger-printed to the solo artist.

A Desolate Light is a one-man project fuelled by the enlightened innovation of Sam Spivey (ex-Authmentis); aside from the percussive work, Spivey is putting all the finishing touches on his upcoming 13-track album, which is being fan-funded via his Patreon page and Bandcamp pre-orders of the record.

Suppressor was officially released on September 8th; it is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Every Glazer melodised the maladies of modern living in his alt-rock track, Motive

Posted on 11 September 2023

Transcendent leftfield electronica meets snipingly sludged alt-rock in The Every Glazer’s latest lesson in volition-driven distemper, Motive.

By bridging the gap between two sonic stylings that are rarely connected, every progression in motive is a revelation in innovation, from the tranquil intro to the riled-up guitar chords that distortedly cut through the atmosphere under the singer-songwriter’s lyrics that paint a disparaging portrait of a society where nobody wins, and everybody loses, the soundscape scintillates your synapses while the vocals harbinger further dystopic descents.

It feels as though all the fucked-up facets of our modern living are squeezed into the three minutes of this epic protest track, which just goes to show you don’t need to produce in the same vein as Rage Against the Machine to take a stand and prove resistance isn’t futile.

Motive debuted on September 1st; stream it on YouTube and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

djamesk13 has unveiled his retrospective krautrock lament, If We Had Been Forthcoming

Posted on 8 September 2023

Oasis told us not to Look Back in Anger in 1996; djamesk13 heeded that warning before getting to work on the production of his latest lo-fi alt-rock release, which carries the swagger of 90s Britpop into the sludged-up sanctuary of a release that emanates the artful style of an unreleased Pixies B-side.

If We Had Been Forthcoming is a retrospection-rich release that era spans and genre hops to lead the listener in a track that kicks with as much psychedelia as a Krautrock record and picks up just as much dust as desert rock. Between the laments of government-instilled delusion and bitter-sweet retrospections on how we’ve moved past the point of salvation as a society, there are some pitch-black dark lyrical themes, but the blows are nicely cushioned by the sonorously inviting distortion-drenched grooves.

If We Had Been Forthcoming was officially released on August 25; stream it on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sleeping in Circles honeyed their indie-post-grunge seminal single, Grey, with beguilingly artful melodicism.

Posted on 25 August 2023
Sleeping in Circles

 The Little Rock, Arkansas outfit, Sleeping in Circles, bridged the gap between Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden in their honeyed-with-melodicism standout single, Grey.

With sludgy hooks by the smorgasbord and a gruff yet soulfully smooth vocal melody striking enough that it will continue to reverberate through your consciousness long after the quiescent outro, Grey is an unforgettable indie release that stands as a testament to the trio’s songwriting chops.

Grey is the first single to be released from the upcoming LP, which is due for release in September 2023. If the rest of the album carries the same evocatively arrestive beguile of the title single, Sleeping in Circles will be the creators of the most seminal post-grunge album of the year.

Grey will be available to stream on all major platforms from August 25; hear it via their website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

iODYNES became the prodigal sons of compassionate rancour with their alt-rock hit, Know You’re Not Alone 

Posted on 12 August 2023

Nostalgically running in the grungy vein of Soundgarden’s Rusty Cage, the primal outpour of compassionate rancour, Know You’re Not Alone, by iODYNES is a hard-hitting sign of the alienating times and one of the strongest alt-rock debuts we’ve heard this year.

To diminish the melancholic tinges within the vignette that offers a high-octane olive branch to the ostracised, the North Scotland-hailing three-piece threw in a few punchy Paramore and Biffy Clyro-esque pop-punk hooks and blended them with melodic rock increments that reminisce with stylings popularised by Foo Fighters.

The recording of their debut single is as viscerally animated as you could possibly hope for with the gravitas in the tightly knit grooves and punchy breaks. We can only imagine how exhilarating a live set from iODYNES would be. Grab your tickets while you can still see them in intimate venues.

Know You’re Not Alone is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The dust of desert rock gelled with the sludge of grunge in Jeremy Phillips & The Ozark Grunge’s latest single, Hell Into Home

Posted on 31 July 2023

We’ve scarcely returned to the 21st century after revisiting the 90s with Jeremy Phillips & The Ozark Grunge’s single, Crazy. Proving that they’re more than just a one-trick sonic pony, they’ve dropped another nostalgia atom bomb with their lamentatively exhilarating single, Hell Into Home.

If Kurt Cobain had a little more of a Southern twang to his vocal lines and arrestively brashy swagger to his guitar hooks, Nirvana’s seminal hits would have swum in the very same vein as this epitome of an earworm.

The tight instrumentation lends itself effortlessly well to the grungily cosmic songwriting that entices you into the centre of the dusty-with-desert-rock-atmospherics hit that mourns the loss of a home becoming a house in the absence of the person that made the brick-and-mortar a place worth coming back to.

Stream Hell Into Home, which was officially released on July 21, via Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

djamesk13- She Rides in Secret: grungily Lynchian psychedelic Britpop

Posted on 27 July 2023

For his latest single, She Rides in Secret, the alt-rock artist, djamesk13, orchestrated a scintillating installation of grungily Lynchian psychedelic Britpop.

Finding the middle ground between Pixies, Stone Roses, the Psychedelic Furs, and the pioneers of darkly dissonant post-punk, She Rides in Secret is a hypnotic aural effigy to authenticity, inexplicably carved by one of the boldest experimentalists that we have had the pleasure of putting on our radars in recent years.

The moodily sludgy lo-fi propensities of She Rides in Secret may not be anyone’s cup of tea, but if you’d prefer to lose yourself in a sonic storm in a teacup, delve right into the seductive soundscape that will caress you with its succinct melodies and wistful romanticism.

She Rides in Secret was officially released on July 17th; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Peach Giraffe is dejectedly wayward bound in their dissonantly sweet indie single, Take Me Home

Posted on 21 July 2023

Finding the wavy lo-fi middle ground between Nirvana and Elliott Smith, the latest single, Take Me Home, from the DIY indie originator, Peach Giraffe, is a soporifically sweet visualisation of the desire to be enveloped in the irreplicable comfort of home.

In spite of the succinctness of the instrumental arrangement, led by the definitively 90s indie guitars, the single is underpinned by a precariously resonant state of unease that anyone who has a proclivity towards detachment and disassociation will find themselves connecting to.

After this installation of enticing artfulness and expressive candour from Peach Giraffe, our breath is bated for the next authentically raw hit from the artist who holds little loyalty to genres in his fluid discography, constructed by their desire to create whatever comes to mind with minimal inhibition.

Take Me Home was officially released on July 7th; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

HeadWar say R.I.P. to cognitive autonomy in their rancorous installation of grunge-punk ‘Sheep (2023)’

Posted on 18 July 2023

Don’t wage war; wage HeadWar by listening to the Madison WI-residing grunge-punk trio’s latest single, ‘Sheep (2023)’. While saying R.I.P. to cognitive autonomy, the trio pulled out their heaviest instrumental artillery before sludging it up to the nth degree to replicate the chaos currently breeding in socio-political landscapes across the globe.

While I wasn’t all too convinced by the idea that hard times breed good music before, HeadWar is headstrong enough in their vindication to create an irrefutable testament to the adage. With Dalton Aerts ensuring that his vocals are just as savage as his guitars, Sam Tisue paying homage to the drum fills that make Metallica so ferociously cathartic, and Kyle Eith making the rhythm section as tight as possible; for three minutes, Sheep (2023) may convince you to stop banging your head off the wall and bang to the sonic absolution instead.

Add Sheep (2023) to your Spotify playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Every Glazer has unleashed their Orwellian post-grunge protest, Lesser Men

Posted on 18 July 2023

Industrial rock meets post-grunge and riotously protestive RATM-esque alt-rock in the latest single, Lesser Men, from the experimental solo artist, The Every Glazer.

Describing their music as audio glue for a fractured world tells you all you need to know about the MO of the musician and recording artist who uses his talent to give a glimmer of hope in our dystopia that has manifested via Orwellian fiction.

Just as it has done for millennia, music has united us and scribed our stories; Lesser Men is a continuation of that tradition, which affirms as dark as the days seem, curtains haven’t quite closed on humanity yet, regardless of the corruption, greed, devastation, and oppression; as long as society’s swan song plays, there’s no reason to give up your dog in the fight and down tools when we can better the world in the same way The Every Glazer did with Lesser Men.

The official music video for Lesser Men is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast