Bloc Weekender 2015: the DiS review
Bloc is back from the brink – but does it deserve to be? Here's the verdict»
Articles
dartsplayerswives has written the following articles:
Sunn O))) - Kannon
Essentially sounds like the platonic sonic ideal of a Sunn O))) album»
Pissed Jeans - Shallow (reissue)
Shallow is aurally thunderous – demonstrably a product of the modern hardcore scene, but sounding like it’s dead set on brutality via guitar tone»
Black Bananas - Electric Brick Wall
Black Bananas’ utter disinterest in presenting a ‘natural sound’ makes mid-Eighties ZZ Top look like, well, early-Seventies ZZ Top.»
Dead Moon - In The Graveyard / Unknown Passage / Defiance (reissues)
The choicest cuts of an extraordinary band.»
clipping. - CLPPNG
All told, this is probably as good a time as any for clipping. to exist.»
Perc - The Power and the Glory
Fifty minutes of often punishing, often superlative techno that happens to be fairly on-trend at the moment, but never sounds like it cares too much about that.»
Shopping - Consumer Complaints
None of Shopping appear to be musical virtuosos, but collectively they harness the power of simplicity.»
Congo Natty - Jungle Revolution
If modern rave culture doesn’t have room for an album of hectic toasting, Zebedee bass sproing, 150bpm breakbeat mania and lush lighters-out reggae intervals... well, it does have room.»
RP Boo - Legacy
The result of a very singular vision, one which has influenced pretty much everyone else in the genre’s sphere – up to and including Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas himself»
Purson - The Circle & The Blue Door
Purson deserve better than to fall through the cracks, but if you only have so much time...»
Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School Of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done
Despite Jello Biafra’s best intentions, White People And The Damage Done seems to settle for righteous belligerence while falling some way short of being a worth soundtrack for the anti-globalisation movement.»
Purling Hiss - Water on Mars
Purling Hiss's next release might be a whole ‘nother curveball, but Water on Mars is a treat on its own terms.»
Black Pus - All My Relations
Brian Chippendale has no interest in making his puzzles easy, but Christ, it’s just wonderful to hear him playing drums.»
Pete Swanson - Punk Authority
Pete Swanson’s current techno mode chimes helpfully with other broadly like minds of the moment, but he’s definitely establishing his own niche with Punk Authority.»
James Ferraro - Sushi
James Ferraro’s public persona is pretty inscrutable, so it’s probably best to just rate his tunes on their own merit. In the case of Sushi, about half the album is worth hearing.»
Sigha - Living with Ghosts
Deserves to find an audience among anyone who is curious about how the legacy of UK techno is being upheld in 2012, and anyone who feels mildly gleeful at the idea of genres barging into each other’s territory.»
Sonic Youth - Smart Bar Chicago 1985
Smart Bar – Chicago 1985 is not going to change perceptions of either Sonic Youth or live albums: it’s a decent recording strictly for fans. Maybe you’re one.»
The Pheromoans - Does This Guy Stack Up?
“Deport that Littlejohn / Now he wanders Europe like a fat James Bond.” We cannot make this happen, but we can collectively dream, with The Pheromoans\ as the soundtrack.»
Sauna Youth - Dreamlands
For an album chiefly given over to quick, simple-pleasure garage punk bashers, Dreamlands is not one for easy answers.»
Turbonegro - Sexual Harassment
Devilishly fit for purpose.»
Oris Jay Darqwan - To the Fly
Oris Jay Darqwan, if he insists on being called that, is a dude born to make dancefloors go off.»
Heavy Blanket - Heavy Blanket
Anyone who’s happy to listen to J Mascis repeatedly pull his pud for six minutes or so at a time is in for a treat.»
Traxman - Da Mind of Traxman
What sets Traxman apart from most of his current footwork peers is an ability to preserve the tenderness when he’s stripmining house, soul, disco and Prince.»
Sophia Knapp - Into the Waves
A fine album which might be too much of a period piece to truly be the ‘sound of 2012’ or somesuch, but has a greater chance of making Sophia Knapp into a minor unit-shifter than Lights or Cliffie Swan ever did.»
Hood - Recollected
Are there actual young eager beaver post-rock crazies who’ll dive in and submerge themselves in six hours of Hood? Over and over again? Take it, and take as you will, from someone who’s spent the last fortnight reopening old wounds in this way: it will leave you drained.»
Windy and Carl - We Will Always Be
If you take an interest in ambient music, drone rock or related quasi-genres, it behoves you to own some of Windy and Carl’s catalogue; this is as useful and high quality a starting point as just about anything they’ve recorded.»
Azusa Plane - Where the Sands Turn to Gold
Jason DiEmilio’s playing had its own sonic tics which make the majority of things on here sound genuinely individual; Vinita of Rocket Girl’s efforts to honour her friend’s memory deserves applause.»
Loincloth - Iron Balls of Steel
Iron Balls Of Steel is metal’s first great album of 2012. If you eff with Melvins, Relapse-era Mastodon, Botch, American Heritage or Don Caballero, this was precision-built for you.»
H Hawkline - The Strange Uses of Ox Gall
As much as The Strange Uses of Ox Gall showcases a talent for earworm guitar pop, it’s sometimes as awkward as you might expect from a disc of which 150 copies exist.»