Symmetrix – Being There | Album Review

Everyone’s truth sounds different. For some, it’s poetic confessions placed over a single acoustic guitar. For others, it’s expansive instrumental music that encapsulates what words cannot. For Marita Ryan, it’s hypnotic electronic music, soulful instrumentals, and inspiring words of personal belief.

Hailing from Melbourne Australia, Ryan began recording under the name Symmetrix back in 2013 with a vision of creating something that could combine both her love of electronica and indie pop, with a bit of rock music thrown in for good measure. Influenced by everything from 80’s synth-pop to alternative and shoegaze, Symmetrix has evolved into a unique fusion of indie and electronica in the vein of Half Waif or Hatchie.

Musical influences aside, Symmetrix’s upcoming album Being There is a wholly-unique and ever-shifting release that’s sure to surprise listeners of every musical background. Whether it’s the betrayal of a close friend, an ongoing battle with inner demons, or the impact of technology on our culture, Ryan’s lyrics run the gamut but offer a comprehensive sketch of everything that’s on her mind. 

All recorded over precise instrumentation, each song is a self-contained journey that sounds nothing like what’s come before it. From a radiant synth beat on “From Here On End” to a downright Frusciante-esque guitar solo on “Where Have You Gone,” the range of influences on display is vast and comprehensive. 

Everyone's journey is different, as is how we present it to the world. We’re lucky to live in a world where artists like Symmetrix can crystallize their truth for the rest of us to live through.

HOFFEY – Love Is Wild | Single Review

At some point, everyone has experienced the same type of relationship. The one that changes you. The one that alters your brain chemistry. The one that rises so high above everything else that it eclipses your sense of self. That sort of passion is the fuel burning at the center of HOFFEY’s new single “Love Is Wild.”

Based out of Vancouver, Canada, Jordan and Erika Toohey met when they were studying music abroad in Sydney, Australia. While their relationship initially centered around writing and performing songs together, the two soon found that their bond went far beyond music. Now married and releasing songs together as HOFFEY, the duo’s debut single “Love Is Wild” was released on July 27th.

Just in time for your mid-summer playlist, “Love Is Wild” is a dynamic song that captures the feeling of infatuation that comes with a new relationship. Beginning with a scrambled version of the instrumental, the track quickly warms up to a boiling point within seconds as the drums kick in and Erika starts singing words of commitment and love. With Jordan placed just under her in the mix singing the exact same lyrics, it gives the song a borderline pitch-shift effect that makes it feel as if the words are simultaneously being sung from both the male and female perspective. 

As they mirror each other’s words of devotion the rhythm warbles beneath the duo until they reach the chorus. Suddenly Erika takes the spotlight and the beat reduces to its most minimal components. As she sings the track’s namesake, the song explodes into a vibrant explosion of light and color that's both dancy and engaging. Evoking the best parts of MØ, Diplo, and Banks, “Love Is Wild” is an exciting electronic single that bottles up the feeling of intoxication into an exotic and affectionate three minutes.

Stream “Love Is Wild” on your platform of choice here.

Small Town Junkies – The Music Industry Is Dead. | Album Review

Schools play a vital role in our culture. Sure, they teach basic skills like reading, writing, math, and science, but they also serve an important function as the first line of defense in our society’s moral compass. School is the first time most children figure out who they are, how to interact with others, and what’s right and wrong. While most kids learn by doing, there are also a certain number of platitudes everyone has instilled in them from an early age. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Sharing is caring. And, of course, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”

While these principles serve as revelatory words of wisdom in our youth, they sort of just fade into the background once we reach adulthood. Call it jaded, or heartless, or just chalk it up to a sad by-product of caring less, but these tenants that seemed so important in childhood quickly become eclipsed with different concerns like fitting in, making money, and capitalistic self-worth. 

And I’m not just pointing fingers here; I’ll be the first to admit I wish I considered these phrases and their implications more often. I’ve recently caught myself judging a book by its cover not only in life, but in my hobbies too. From music and video games to TV and movies, sometimes I’m just looking for an excuse not to like something. Whether its a TV show with an impenetrable mountain of episodes, a viral video that’s a few minutes too long, or an album with a cover I don’t like, sometimes it’s easier to just write some off before committing to it. This is all to say that I judged Small Town Junkies before I’d heard even one song, and now I wish I hadn’t. 

Hailing from Streetsboro Ohio, Small Town Junkies is a multi-faceted music project helmed by David Stump creating emphatic alternative rock that’s so steeped in 90’s Love it would make J Mascis blush. After making waves in his local scene with “Vampire Summer” off Small Town Junkies’ first EP, Stump segued this newfound visibility into multiple projects including the group’s debut full-length, an acoustic album, a stoner rock album, and a highly-collaborative internet-fueled record. Now ready to drop his newest LP as Small Town Junkies, Stump’s 12-song The Music Industry is Dead. is set to release September 28th.

While Stump’s blown-out HDR-abusing aesthetic is consistent across his Bandcamp page, album art, and music videos, I jumped into The Music Industry is Dead. expecting something completely different than what I got. The record’s titular opening track wades the listener into the album with a self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek sentiment as Stump sings “The Music Industry is Dead / I’d rather read a book instead” over a jangly guitar. Shifting from a low vibrato into a bright chorus, the song opens up like a county road in a moment that sets both the tone and mission statement for the remainder of the album. Content to spread ideas and connect with an audience, Small Town Junkies admit that there’s no money in what they’re doing, but that’s why they’re doing it. Stump and his band are chasing something ephemeral, something soul-affirming, something more. 

Third track “Never Enough” serves as the album’s lead single, a distorted and funky cut with a rhythm that sways back and forth at an extremely-headbangable pace. Alternating between chest-inflating southern rock verses and high-rising choruses, “Never Enough” centers around a groovy riff that leads to both an early-album highlight and an absolutely killer single. 

Once I’d made it even a few tracks in, I was able to see the brilliance that lied in wait behind the album’s multi-colored cover. Actually a wonderfully-apt indicator of the record’s vibrancy and maximalism, I quickly found myself regretting my initial judgment. 

After that early trio of songs, the album takes the listener on a voyage of childhood memories, long-lost love, and newfound hope. Both “The Haymaker” and “I Feel Fine” revel in memories of recess, cafeterias, and schoolyard fights, meanwhile “We Just Met” is an earnest recount of love on first (or second) sight that’s at once hilarious and heartfelt. From getting lost in the minutiae of caller ID and living room dates to the double-edged sword of being unemployed (which means having all the time in the world, but none of the money), the album is packed with clever observations and catchy choruses. 

The style and texture of Music Industry also change as the album ventures forward. “Not Alone” is one of the record’s most slow-moving tracks with a spaced-out and airy guitar that quickly ratchets up the distortion on the choruses for a borderline stoner rock effect. Much like Bush’s “Bomb,” the track builds beautifully into explosions of love and regret that swirl together into a void of nostalgia.

Album closer “We Made It” centers around an earnest slice of life tale about busking for ice cream. The song builds up to a gummy Weezer-esque chorus that’s guaranteed to get stuck in your head for hours. But it’s not over there, the secret song “Mean Pitbull” makes its entrance after several minutes of silence with a pang of blown-out guitar. Sending the listener off on a reminder of the joy that can be found in the simple things, the final song bears an endearing message of happiness wrapped around one of the album’s most well-crafted choruses. 

The Music Industry is Dead. has more cards up its sleeve than you might initially expect. Despite how harshly I judged the album based on its cover, I found myself emerging from the LP having enjoyed every second of it. Deeply personal, sometimes troubled, but incredibly well-put-together, The Music Industry is Dead. is an alternative rock release that’s guaranteed to take you back to the amber-coated memories of your 90’s childhood.

Custom – Brace For Impact | Album Review

Genres don’t mean a whole lot in 2018. Indie is an umbrella, everything is “alternative,” and nothing is truly popular. Genres have become overly-broad concepts used to categorize music in order to give new listeners a primer for what an album will sound like. One of the many reasons why the importance of genres has been lessened is that they rarely ever encapsulate an artist’s actual range. It’s rare that a band will be fully committed to one genre, in all likelihood they have a wide variety of influences, styles, and nuances that all exist somewhere between the inherently-broad lines of genre categories. 

Perhaps because of this grey area, it’s all the more refreshing when a band commits. I mean really commits. Custom is a rock band, full-stop. Hailing from Seattle, this quintet of musicians is committed to making straight-up Rock music with a capital “R.” No frills, no fuss, and no distractions, just rock. Custom’s fourth album Brace For Impact is nearly upon us, and it wastes no time jumping straight into the action. 

Within seconds, opening track “No Regrets” bowls the listener over with a shredding guitar riff that offers little time for recovery. Soon the bass and drums jump into the mix, laying down a hard-charging rhythm that paves the way for lead singer David Lyon’s entrance. Painting a picture of a carefree, hedonistic youth, the song works its way up to an anthemic chorus that sounds downright Bruce Dickinson-esque.

As much as Brace For Impact is steeped in “rock,” the band is able to tackle a wide range of vastly-different topics within the album’s 29-minute running time. Things get cerebral on “Drugstore Prophet” as the group tackles the dangers of the pharmaceutical industry in between powerful rolling choruses. Meanwhile “Lonely Girl” is a personal track that zooms down to a micro level depicting one person’s escape from depression, abuse, and personal strife. Similarly, “15 To Life” offers a four-minute vignette of a reformed criminal that climaxes with a sorrowful guitar solo and a vocal performance that drips with lament. 

The penultimate track “On Me” is a late-album highlight that also serves as the album’s lead single. Available as a free download from the group’s Bandcamp page, the song is an ode to the rockstar life featuring a dexterous bassline, fast-paced drumming, and a high-flying guitar solo. All of this is wrapped around a catchy chorus that evokes equal parts Asteroid and Buckcherry for a memorable and hard-drinking rock song. 

With hundreds of live shows under their belt, over a decade of experience, and soon four albums, Brace For Impact makes it clear that Custom is steadfast in their mission. Embodying everything about the rock and roll lifestyle, Custom's upcoming album is adventurous, boisterous, and most importantly: fun. It’s rock music that explodes with life from its first seconds until its last notes. It’s everything the genre was built on, and that’s sadly a rarity in 2018.

Levant – Beneath Rubble, Run Rivers Red | Album Review

At some point every creative has the same dream: take all of your closest friends, rent out a studio, and seclude yourselves from society while creating purely-communal art. There’s something eternally-appealing about being able to create whatever you want, whenever you want, and however you want. The concept of living off your own creativity is the end game for pretty much every artist, even if it means you’re just scraping by. 

Much like communism, the “purest” form of these collaborative projects are rarely ever achieved, and even less often do they produce anything that sees the light of day. There are rare outliers like The Desert Sessions, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that have become success stories, but more often than not, this style of creative incubation is a process that thrives in theory but fails in practice. Even with all of the ways that collaborative albums can fall apart, UK-based metal collective Levant has managed to craft an album that’s worthy not only of being added to this impressive list, but proof that this model can work.

Levant began in 2014 as less of a band and more of a code name for a studio project created by Nick Hutson. Levant’s “debut album” initially started life as an anti-war record, but soon became a highly-collaborative piece that brought in multiple artists all working together to create one release under Hutson’s direction. Now four years in the making Beneath Rubble, Run Rivers Red is almost here, and the hard work has paid off into something wholly unique, constantly-varied, and incredibly-well-polished.

From the first seconds of the album, Beneath Rubble captures the listener’s attention with a George W. Bush pull-quote from a 2005 address:

“The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else.”

With this sample (and its modern context) fresh in the listener's mind, a distorted guitar immediately juts into the mix, punctuating the end of this sentence and making way for pounding cannon drums. This instrumental onslaught is accompanied by a new sample, not from politics, but pop culture in the form of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. 

“Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now let us fight! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”

While this Chaplin quote lies relatively quietly underneath the propulsive instrumentation, it provides an immediate juxtaposition to the album’s opening moments, casting a stark political contrast over the remainder of the album.

After these scene-setting samples, singer JJ Jackson (of The Bastard Sons) takes over vocal duties, barreling into the track headfirst with the album’s first throat-shredding lyrics. Alternating between low growls and piercing screams with each line, Jackson jumps between two vastly-different vocal styles at a whiplash pace. It’s an absolutely breathtaking feat to witness, and a hell of an introduction to the album. 

Second track “Carry Me Home” also serves as the album’s lead single, a hard-drinking song with a southern metal bent and vocals helmed by Johnny Mennell of The Family Ruin. Vastly different from the first song in tone, style, and delivery, “Carry Me Home” lets the listener know early on that they won’t be hearing the same thing twice on this album.

Once the third track begins, it’s clear how well the collaborative gambit paid off for Levant on Beneath Rubble. Songs jump back and forth between different vocalists, styles, and subgenres, all while still feeling cut from the same cloth. There are soaring vocals, bombastic drumming, machine gun guitarwork, and sharp bass lines, all wrapped up in clean production and immaculate melodies. Song topics range from political to interpersonal, but it all adds up to a record that feels ever-changing yet singular thanks to Hutson’s vision.

While metalcore fans will feel right at home within the first track, Beneath Rubble also pulls off an unexpectedly-wonderful feat of softening over time. Despite beginning with such a searing and acidic political song, the album gradually eases the listener into a vast array of different styles that get softer as the album goes on. This becomes most apparent on the fifth song “A Perfect Picture” which is a borderline pop-punk ballad that sees Johnny Mennell sharing vocal duties with Christine Schneider for a heartfelt duet.

There are dozens of compelling moments scattered all throughout Beneath Rubble that are worthy of their own breakdown. From rumbling southern guitar metal on “Say Whatever You Like” to crashing cymbals on “The Darkness in Me,” every instrument and collaborator gets a moment to shine somewhere on the album. There’s a monstrous riff throughout “Silenced” that lead up to a volcanic scream, and a crushing chorus on “Draw The Line” that’s still stuck in my head, but these are just a few moments that felt particularly affirming throughout my multiple listens.

This all leads up to album closer “Time To Shine” which provides some roundabout bookending as pieces of Carl Segan’s “Pale Blue Dot” monologue is sprinkled throughout a glittering, distant, and ornate piano line. Reminiscent of the now-famous Great Dictator x Inception mashup that went viral nearly one decade ago, “Time To Shine” makes the listener feel at once infinitesimal and triumphant. A goosebump-inducing reminder of humanity’s scope in the grand scheme of things. 

The album ends on a holistic note of hope. A reminder that we’re all more similar than we give each other credit for. That the shared experience of existence bonds us, and that’s something to celebrate. That universality is a reason to love and be loved, not tear each other apart. And that’s a message we need in 2018 more than ever. 

Every band is a collaborative effort, but Beneath Rubble, Run Rivers Red is a testament to the spirit of collaboration. It’s 11 tracks and 39 minutes of concrete proof that sometimes working toward a shared vision pays off in spades. 

Beneath Rubble, Run Rivers Red is set for pre-release on 6th August and will be officially released across all major streaming platforms from 3rd September.