The name Skullcrusher immediately conjures up suggestions of doom metal, sludge, or thrash metal. The paradox between the appellation, which is the project of Helen Ballentine, and the music gainsays the aggression of any category of metal. Skullcrusher’s debut album,…
From the Record Crate: Bon Iver – ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ (2007)
Bon Iver is a legend of the unknown, and a relatively unknown legend. In 2006/07, Justin Vernon went into the forested wilderness of Midwest America and came back with an album so chilling, melancholy, and soberingly lonesome that it would…
Album Review: Moses Sumney creates a genre-hopping masterpiece with “Grae”
There’s a lot of fucking music to listen to. It can be paralyzing when you really sit back and think about it, all of the albums you will never hear, the moments of discovery that will never happen ever. It’s…
Album Review: Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear – “The Radio Winners”
On 2015’s Skeleton Crew, the unvarnished nature of mother and son earnestly performing anthemic Americana carried Madisen Ward and “Mama Bear” Ruth forward in a whirlwind of press. It was sort-of an unusual case, and that made it captivating to…
Album Review: M. Ward – “What a Wonderful Industry”
For the rebellious folkie in all of us, the idea behind M. Ward’s What a Wonderful Industry feels brilliant at first glance—or, perhaps, ridiculously self-important depending on who you ask. It is, after all, a proclaimed criticism of the very…
Music Review: Neko Case – “Hell-On”
Neko Case’s last solo album, 2013’s The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, was the artistic culmination of an extended bout of depression. Similarly, Hell-On, her recently released eighth studio…
Music Interview: Family And Friends
After cutting their teeth in the Athens, Georgia, music scene, indie folk/rock band Family And Friends are finally releasing their full-length debut, Felix Culpa, out June 8. Written at a formative time for the band, the album stems from the…