Review: Seahaven's Reverie Lagoon is a shimmering emo record

Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only is an emo-centered indie rock record ruled by its quieter
moments. Paralleling the needlessly wordy title, it’s a slightly bloated album. The distractions are minimal, however, and the album’s longest pieces are also its standouts. Seahaven’s preferred genre has changed since 2011’s Winter Forever, but while the band’s current material may not be as easy to consume, it’s arguably more original and ambitious.

The tired and irrelevant disapproval of Epitaph Records

Epitaph's Punk-O-Rama 10 relates to possibly my earliest memory of evaluating a work critically. My favorite band was NOFX, who at the time released a series of EPs as part of its 7" of the Month Club. I didn't have a record player yet, nor was I very keen on how to obtain rare songs by other means. I used the Internet very infrequently.

Review: The Lawrence Arms confront adulthood on Metropole

“I blinked twice, and twenty years went by.” Rarely has a cliché come across so earnestly, but on Metropole, Brendan Kelly’s revealed longings, even the fairly pitiful ones, are sympathetic. The record itself is a testament to the fleeting aspects of adulthood. Fatherhood, husbandhood, relocation and work all rearranged the priorities of the long-running punk rock band, and it’s now been nearly eight years since The Lawrence Arms released its last full-length. As Kelly might put it, less than the blink of an eye.

Review: On its sixth full-length, Against Me! finds clarity

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is the product of more than two years of songwriting, a pair of lineup changes, and a recurring battle with progress. It’s the end result — or, perhaps, a single milestone — of Laura Jane Grace’s personal journey, one that has since evolved into something much more public.

A music-related Best of 2013 list for those who don't particularly care much for My Bloody Valentine, Kanye West, or the latest Arcade Fire album

The Dillinger Escape Plan. Photo: Sumerian Records

I bought a lot of records in 2013. A number of them happen to have been released this year. I liked 10 of them enough to write about them here. And though I can't help but roll my eyes at end-of-the-year lists posted in early December, I also realize that I probably won't pick up any more records between now and January 1st, unless I'm pre-ordering something new from Dillinger Four. Note to Dillinger Four -- we're now approaching six years of waiting. Again.

Review: Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara once relied heavily on elements of folk, but the group now more closely resembles Kesha than Ani DiFranco. That’s not to say the progression is unexpected.

Band Write Up: We Were Skeletons

Appears at http://www.nationalunderground.org/news/bands-you-need-to-know/451-bands-you-need-to-know-we-were-skeletons

If Ampere decided to find some middle-ground between having a regular tempo and no discernible tempo at all, the result might have been remarkably similar to We Were Skeletons, a chaotic three-piece screamo band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The band adds a mathy twist to many of their songs, and it’s always smartly integrated, briskly played, and typically utilized as a series of transitions into angry, full-on blasts or subdued moments of restraint. Dual vocals often overlap in a tag-team manner reminiscent of early Twelve Hour Turn.

Over the span of their nine-song self-titled sophomore LP, which came out last year, We Were Skeletons demonstrate a remarkable talent for holding the listener’s attention through one dynamic shift to another, and song lengths range from two to seven minutes. The immense “This Destroys Us” features super intricate guitar work that progressively takes shape alongside a percussion-heavy rhythm that breaks down as quickly as it picks back up, and that’s just the first thirty seconds.

Currently signed to Topshelf Records, We Were Skeletons have released a split EP with MNWA, and subsequently released a split with The Saddest Landscape last April. The band recently wrapped up a U.S. Tour, and will be playing the Fest this October. Stream We Were Skeletons at Topshelf's Bandcamp page here!