noise rock

Haunted Horses’ ‘Dweller’ Is an Intriguing Heavy Album

Haunted Horses’ ‘Dweller’ Is an Intriguing Heavy Album

Haunted Horses get further under your skin, infecting and infesting you with their bleary, spectral plague of madness and maybe a slight spark of hope.

The 10 Spookiest Lou Reed Songs

The 10 Spookiest Lou Reed Songs

From graphic depictions of violence and death to ominous and grating musical atmospheres, Lou Reed created numerous frightening tunes.

A Place to Bury Strangers Don’t Let Up on ‘Synthesizer’

A Place to Bury Strangers Don’t Let Up on ‘Synthesizer’

The Loudest Band in the World, A Place to Bury Strangers, draw from seminal, post-punk influences while taking things to new places on Synthesizer.

Chat Pile’s Bleak View Goes Global with ‘Cool World’

Chat Pile’s Bleak View Goes Global with ‘Cool World’

Chat Pile’s new album does not offer catharsis; it is just an unflinching account of the violence we inflict on each other on an individual and global scale.

The Jesus Lizard Return With the Uncompromising ‘Rack’

The Jesus Lizard Return With the Uncompromising ‘Rack’

Rack is another thrilling chapter from the Jesus Lizard, one of the most significant noise bands ever and whom many groups claim as a heavy influence.

Jawbox Discuss ‘For Your Own Special Sweetheart’ at 30

Jawbox Discuss ‘For Your Own Special Sweetheart’ at 30

Jawbox’s major label debut is their most beloved album, a perfect marriage of songwriting and production that sounds as thrilling today as it did 30 years ago.

Steve Albini’s Black Swan Song: Shellac’s ‘To All Trains’

Steve Albini’s Black Swan Song: Shellac’s ‘To All Trains’

Shellac’s To All Trains is as compelling as anything they ever produced and a swan song. In Steve Albini’s case, the swan must surely be big, angry, and black.

Why Steve Albini Mattered So Much to Music

Why Steve Albini Mattered So Much to Music

The death of artist and recording engineer Steve Albini leaves popular music bereft of one of its staunchest defenders against corporatized greed and conformity.

Melvins’ ‘Tarantula Heart’ Marks Their Strange Trip

Melvins’ ‘Tarantula Heart’ Marks Their Strange Trip

Melvins are masters of their craft, still able to make songs that stand with their finest work precisely because they’re never trying to recapture that past.

Pissed Jeans Laugh at the Absurdity of Life on ‘Half Divorced’

Pissed Jeans Laugh at the Absurdity of Life on ‘Half Divorced’

On their first album in seven years, Allentown, PA’s Pissed Jeans return with a short, savage, scathing and often hilarious takedown of the modern world.

Rid of Me’s ‘Access to the Lonely’ Is More Than Hardcore

Rid of Me’s ‘Access to the Lonely’ Is More Than Hardcore

Rid of Me’s Access to the Lonely is one of the essential hardcore records of the past few months, but it cannot be contained by one genre.

‘Walls Have Ears’ Captures Sonic Youth’s Abrasive Adolescence

‘Walls Have Ears’ Captures Sonic Youth’s Abrasive Adolescence

Drawn from recordings of UK shows in 1985, Walls Have Ears is a wild, unvarnished listen that gets back to the difficult, defiant essence of Sonic Youth.