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Ghost Of Me is Darwin-based group Tapestry’s follow up to their debut EP Growth , and showcases the band maturing and improving on that release. The restraint shown throughout this release in terms of songwriting is perhaps the biggest strength to be found; such a willingness to let songs breathe allows tracks like “Dark Shade” to really stand out as a highlight of the EP. There is an abundance of super-compressed clean guitars (a production choice that you’ll either not mind or be constantly annoyed by), pained screams and surprisingly effective clean vocals, all of which aren’t exactly game-changers for a genre that often feels like it has given everything it has to offer, but amount to only a little more than the sum of its parts. “Ghost” is perhaps the most generic track on this release, and could perhaps do with a little more ebb and flow between sections to make it really stand out – for the most part it is your standard melodic hardcore scream-fest without a wh...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been monsters of the music industry for a long time, and for good reason - some would say they are one of the most important rock bands in music history. Having been active since the early 1980s, they have been around long enough to have seen and done it all, and eleven studio albums deep into their career they are still touring and (reportedly) writing new music.  It's my job today to try and rank them. I've been tossing and turning as to whether I should be trying to approach this as objectively as possible or simply rank them in order of my personal preference, and in the end I've decided to attempt to achieve a balance between the two. There aren't a whole lot of bad Chilis albums, so some tough choices had to be made - let's jump into it. 11) The Getaway (2016) I was sorely disappointed with The Getaway when it dropped, and while it has grown on me a little since its release it still remains the weak lin...

As you're probably well aware (or if you're not, now you know), Underoath are releasing their eighth studio album Erase Me tomorrow, and it will be the band's first release since their breakup in 2013, since 2010's hugely underrated  Disambiguation,  and the first with original member and drummer Aaron Gillespie since 2008's towering Lost In The Sound Of Separation.  If you've read this blog before then you'll know that I am a huge Underoath fan and have probably guessed that I am hugely excited to get my hands on a copy of Erase Me tomorrow.  There is, however, an issue. The comeback album. Notoriously difficult, commonly disappointing, often nothing more than a filthy cash grab. There have been so many comeback albums in music history that have been so sorely disappointing or undercooked that fans have wished that they were never even made in the first place. There are, however, a number of comeback albums that have been the outlier, that have actua...

   If you're even a little bit clued into Death Grips you'll know the level of memery that the name implies these days. In fact it's gotten to the stage that the name Death Grips is almost synonymous with musical pretentiousness or the kind of intentional and exclusively experimental appreciation of art and music that comes across as elitist or just plain annoying. And don't worry, I get it. But Bottomless Pit is legitimately great. I've listened to the band's entire discography a number of times through, and while popular opinion would imply that The Money Store is the greatest of their albums I would argue that Bottomless Pit is their magnum opus thus far.    I've chosen this record as one of my favourite albums you've probably never heard despite the fact that Death Grips are in fact relatively popular - or at the very least infamous - amongst music circles because Death Grips' music is so abrasive and impenetrable that most simply move on withou...

   This is the start of a new series I am planning, in which I will be writing about some of my favourite albums that might not have been given the widespread recognition they deserved (in my humble opinion). Hopefully in doing this I will be able to turn you on to some records you might never have heard of otherwise.    The first record I'm going to talk about is Splendour & Misery by LA-based hip hop trio clipping. It is the group's second full-length album after 2014's CLPPNG  (not including their 2013 Midcity mixtape), and I stumbled over it without really knowing anything about clipping. or the album. My experience with Splendour & Misery was immediately one of infatuation and obsession, and I was baffled by the fact that so few people had heard it, and more so by the generally mixed reviews it had received (but hey, what do I know).    Without going into too much detail and spoiling the narrative, the album is essentially a science-fict...

    I Don't Think I Can Do This Anymore is more of the same from the Canterbury based four piece Moose Blood, but at this stage that can only be a good thing. It's a great thing, in fact. The earnest, happy/sad and often heartbreaking brand of emo/pop punk that they bring to the table feels incredibly fresh, if not exactly completely original. Only time will tell if their sound begins to sound worn out or weary, but as of now I Don't Think I Can Do This Anymore is the most accomplished album Moose Blood have released so far.     For the casual listener wanting to know what emo can be, there are worse places to start than here (or the band's two earlier albums I'll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time and Blush ). This isn't emo like it was in the 2000s, mind you - My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy have barely an inch of direct influence on Moose Blood's sound - this is what emo sounds like in 2018. It's tired, reflective and often painfully honest. T...

   Camp Cope smash it out of the park once again on their second go around,  How To Socialise & Make Friends . Singer/guitarist Georgia Maq, drummer Sarah Thompson and bassist Kelly-Dawn Helmrich use their instantly recognisable folk/punk sound to charge head-on into some of the most incendiary issues in music today, most notably "The Opener", which is a scathing appraisal of "equality" in music. Music aside, the honesty and bravery of this album is to be commended, and it seems like the perfect time for this album to be added to the collective conscience of the music scene. "The Face Of God" is a harrowing look at sexual abuse at the hands of another musician, and the subsequent doubt coming from the fact that "you don't seem like that kind of guy". Every song is chockers with relevant and startlingly strong stories, and when it culminates in "I've Got You", an emotional tribute to Georgia Maq's late father, while you...

    The internet is a wonderful thing. It really is. With mobile devices we have instant access to any information that we need, and anyone with a keyboard (hey, like me!) can voice their opinions to the rest of the internet completely unfiltered and unregulated. I find it endlessly fascinating and equally as worrying, then, that while theoretically the world is becoming more and more connected every passing day, isolation and loneliness seem to be inescapable parts of the modern human experience. This is one of the key ideas to take into consideration, I think, when trying to unpack the baffling, skeletal and icy classic fourth album by Radiohead,  Kid A .     More than enough has been said and written about the state of frustration and exhaustion Thom Yorke was experiencing at the end of the twentieth century as a result of the massive success of Radiohead, particularly the equally as classic  OK Computer . For those who don't know and need to b...