Sorority Noise "It Kindly Stopped For Me" Review

Sorority Noise's It Kindly Stopped For Me comes out Friday on Topshelf Records but it's streaming now in its entirety over at The Fader. To call the record vulnerable would be an understatement. Singer Cam Boucher told The Fader that after the songs were sent off to the plant that he thought maybe they shouldn't be released. 

This record hits home for me in so many ways. Being from the same hometown and experiencing my fare share of friends deaths and depression, these songs and Cam's honest approach to these situations gives me chills and the feeling that even the worst situations and feelings can turn into something beautiful. 

It Kindly Stopped For Me is tragic and beautiful, and so honest and vulnerable, like I mentioned before. Songs like "Either Way," with that beautiful rolling guitar line and an honest look at suicide and death, and "Fource," which sounds as though Cam wrote the music and then went walking in the woods and recorded the vocal parts on his phone as they came. It's raw, it's real. 

Honesty in music is something special. In an industry filled with recycled bullshit and trends that come and die in a single breath, Sorority Noise is sincerity. 

It Kindly Stopped For Me comes out April 22 on Topshelf Records.

You can still catch the band on tour now!

Perennial "Early Sounds For Night Owls" Review

This is the second review request I have received. Again a humbling experience to have people dig whats going on over here.

Anyways,

Perennial are a post-hardcore, self described "art punk" band featuring members of early Topshelf Records bands Lion Cub and Aeroplane, 1929. I get a little hesitant when people use the term "art punk" because it's usually never what I want it to be. I love art. I love punk. The two go hand in hand a lot of the time, but... sometimes... not.

Perennial is not one of those art punk bands. In fact I get a really nice combination of Sinaloa and Daniel Striped Tiger. The fullness of Sinaloa's songs and the raw energy of Daniel Striped Tiger, especially Condition days and earlier, but with something new. While producing top notch post hardcore jams, the band adds the new element of keys and effects which really add something nice. What's refreshing is that the keys take an active role in the song and aren't just there to add filler parts.

We are introduced to the keys as soon as possible as the ep kicks in with the rocking groove of "La Fugue Pour Beton brut." Nothing like coming out of the gates swinging. Energetic, some cool time changes, and the keys and effects at the end add that arty-ness to the mix which is followed by the straight forward and soild "Massachusetts Scenic Byways."

The albums interlude type track, "Circle/Pivot/Circle" is really nice. I like when bands release an ep of a handful of songs where you get a good well rounded taste for what they are about and where they could go in the future with a full album. I;m really stoked on the fact that Perennial can do these interlude tracks that offer more than the normal interlude/noise/ambient track. Sometimes it gets annoying when a band does this interlude thing. I feel like it's an easy way to go when you want another tracks but the ideas just aren't flowing anymore. This is not the case. The track is deliberate and it sets the scene for the intro to the closer/title track, "Early Sounds For Night Owls." A short subtle quiet vocal part that leads into a great payoff when the tracks starts moving.

All around this is a great first effort. Very excited to see what the future holds for this band.

Grab the limited cassette off their bandcamp and listen to the ep over there.

You can see the band on 4/2 in Willimantic, CT and on 4/8 in Amherst, MA!

Slingshot Dakota "Paycheck" Track Review

Slingshot Dakota have a new full length coming out on the fantastic Topshelf Records. The record is called Break and will be released on March 11, but the band premiered the first song off the record.

"Paycheck" is a catchy as all hell, fuzzed out jam. The keys have this really great distorted, fuzz infused, effect on them and they rumble through the verses like a muddy riff and are accompanied by some great tom / cymbal work. I love that the band can capture so much and create so much fullness and layers. I'm really digging the direction this song is taking the band in and I hope that the rest of the album will follow suit. I mean just listen to that groove, man!

Slingshot Dakota will be heading out on tour in April.