Helmet Size Matters Interscope By: Eric Greenwood Chalk up another needless reunion as Paige Hamilton resurrects Helmet — his deafening early ‘90’s tour de force — with a new cast of assclowns, sporting embarrassing pedigrees like White Zombie and Anthrax. Technically, though, it’s not even really a reunion since Hamilton is the only original remaining […]

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Newgenics Every Girl In The World 7 Inch Level Plane By: Eric Greenwood Newgenics is a Columbia, South Carolina quartet with massive punk and indie rock pedigrees under its belt, as its members hail from such underground diversions as In/Humanity, Guyana Punch Line, Marion, Damn The Sun and Martian Death Lyric. It's first single on […]

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Ova Looven 58:34 10:22 Catune By: Michael Jones Antarctica’s breakup in 1999 was a crushing blow to the cult audience that worshipped and analyzed every note of the 104 minutes and 6 seconds of music the band recorded during their short but influential career. New recruits continue to be initiated, and this rabid fan base […]

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Batter The Drag Unfathomable Depths Self-released By: Eric Greenwood Batter The Drag's energy is contagious. Each song on this Mesa, Arizona quartet's debut EP, Unfathomable Depths, prickles with dynamism and controlled aggression. The cerebral guitar work serves as the backdrop for Ryan Richardson's husky, guttural voice. Wisely avoiding the trappings of typical emo, Batter The […]

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Schooner You Forgot About Your Heart Pox World Empire By: Eric Greenwood With a yelping aggression and a jangly indie pop flair, Schooner blasts out of the gate sounding like an odd cross between Brother Danielson and Black Francis. On "My Friend's Band", lead singer Reid Johnson sounds hopped up on speed, while his sister, […]

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Q And Not U Power Dischord By: Eric Greenwood Q and Not U hinted at the creative growth spurt evident on its new full-length, Power, in the opening moments of its sophomore release, Different Damage, on the song “Soft Pyramids.” The angry post-punk bleating of its Discord debut, No Kill No Beep Beep, had morphed […]

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Duran Duran Astronaut Epic By: Eric Greenwood Expectations for a Duran Duran reunion with all five original members are admittedly low- those classic early albums, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, notwithstanding. It has been 21 years, which was more than enough time for the remaining members who soldiered on to have dragged the […]

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