Drummer Mephisto Halabi Breaks Down the Walls of His ‘Arabic Room’
Mephisto Halabi’s The Arabic Room blends eastern exoticism, circuit-bent electronics, and some of the heaviest free improvisations you might ever hear.
noise rock
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MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Albums of September 2021
Here we are with the September crop of the best heavy music, featuring everything across the board from extreme metal to noise and post-rock.
Crossing Boundaries: An Interview with Liars’ Angus Andrew
Liars’ founding member Angus Andrew talks with PopMatters about revisiting the band’s past work and creating a new sci-fi album, The Apple Drop.
Upper Wilds Find a Balance Between Noise and Hooks on Venus
Upper Wilds’ Venus is a glorious cacophony of guitar noise, pounding drums, fuzz bass, and big catchy hooks. It filters guitar heroics through punk energy.
‘Irresistible Bliss’ at 25: Personal Friction Couldn’t Dampen the Musical Chemistry of Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing’s success with Irresistible Bliss shows how the early ’90s grunge music explosion led to the more expansive alternative rock boom of the mid-’90s.
‘Attic Tapes’ Illuminates the late Tim Taylor as the Epicenter of Brainiac’s Genius
Attic Tapes might be Record of the Year material for those who followed Brainiac back in the day. And it might also be a gem solely for completists.
Black Midi Avoid the Sophomore Slump on ‘Cavalcade’
Black Midi’s Cavalcade is a great LP, and though not a fully brilliant or complete masterwork, it will leave many others imitating these guys sucking wake.
Loud Guitars and Pop Melodies Fight for Dominance on Dinosaur Jr.’s ‘Sweep It Into Space’
On Dinosaur Jr’s Sweep It Into Space, the melodies have been dug out from underneath layers of fuzz and placed firmly at the forefront of every song.
Punk Rockers the T-Tops Are ‘Staring at a Static Screen’
Listeners are treated to 12 high-octane songs straddling the ill-defined spaces between punk, post-hardcore, and noise-rock on T-Tops’ Staring at a Static Screen.
Black Midi’s ‘Cavalcade’ Is Spellbinding and Circuitous
Black Midi’s Cavalcade displays superlative skills, fierce chemistry, and avant-garde vision, offering spellbinding performances while also falling prey to sonic tautologies and circuitousness.
Senyawa Subvert Industry Conventions on Apocalyptic ‘Alkisah’
Alkisah is DIY from top to bottom, from means of distribution to the homemade instruments Senyawa build and play.
30 Years of The Jesus Lizard’s Emotional, Meaningless ‘Goat’
The Jesus Lizard’s emotional yet meaningless 1991 album, Goat is full of head-spinning, swinging derangement that still leaves listeners reeling.