Dusted Magazine Features and Reviews

Past Lives - Tapestry of Webs

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Tobias Carroll
The now-defunct Seattle band Blood Brothers welded a devil-may-care glam-rock sensibility to frenetic, at times brutal hardcore. While that sound has found plenty of takers in the years since the first few Blood Brothers albums saw release, it's hard to underplay just how disconcerting a listen... Read More

The Splinters - Kick

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Jennifer Kelly
There's always something festive about bands that have a tambourine player. It's a sign they don't buy into the notion that everybody has to be good at something, that it's fine to have a member who does nothing but thwack a jingling disc against one hip. It's the Partridge Family all over again... Read More

Ruts DC - Rhythm Collision Reloaded

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Brad LaBonte
Thirty-plus years after the initial excursions, the idea of a live band playing dub music still seems dubious. The point of dub is to remove the band from the process and let the man behind the mixing board create headspace. Even bands like Terrorists that were really good at it lost much of the... Read More

The Marked Men - Fix My Brain

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Ben Donnelly
The Marked Men's high notes have been released by Dirtnap Records, a label who's logo shows a cartoon fist under the inscription "Punk Rock." Fittingly, the Men bash out pop songs with cartoon fists. More than the bare-minimum of three chords and a catch-phrase, they're closer to the style of... Read More

Elodie Lauten - Piano Works Revisited

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Daniel Martin-McCormick
New York City in the late 70s and early 80s what a time and place to be. In the face of a collapsing city infrastructure, the explosion of AIDS and the dawn of the crack epidemic, the city produced one of the most vibrant creative eras of the past century, a teeming ecosystem that would mark a... Read More

Janka Nabay - Bubu King

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Richard Miller
Recorded in Forensic Studios, Freetown, in 2000, shortly before the civil war peaked and then ended, the four cuts on this EP represent an overview of a genre popular in Sierra Leone, but less known outside that West African country than the older Kru/Krio Calypso and reggae. Bubu music has it... Read More

Radu Malfatti / Klaus Filip - Imaoto

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Marc Medwin
Electronic musician Klaus Filip enters the Erstwhile catalog on this disc of duo improvisations with pioneering trombonist and composer Radu Malfatti. While the two have performed together and recorded in a group context, Imaoto is their first duo recording -- and it's a winner. A large part... Read More

Interference - Interference

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dan Ruccia
Does the world need more long lost no wave acts? The scene was small enough, with its history so well picked over at this point, that it's hard to imagine that any group who recorded anything at all could have fallen completely through the cracks. Marc Masters, in his book No Wave , lists 32 acts... Read More

Danny Paul Grody - Fountain

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Michael Ardaiolo
You know what to expect from Danny Paul Grody's first solo album if you're already familiar with his previous efforts in the San Francisco-based outfits Tarentel and The Drift. Both groups helped define the sound of the Temporary Residence label: post-rock at its most epic guitar-crashing crescendo... Read More

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Jennifer Kelly
No one who's listened closely to Sing the Greys, off Frightened Rabbit's 2007 debut, would question whether Scott Hutchison has a close acquaintance with depression, nor that his brother Grant's frantic, kit-battering drumming is fueled by anger. It's always been easy to overlook Frightened... Read More

Listed: Cobblestone Jazz + Deadbeat

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Cobblestone Jazz Since 2002, Vancouver's Cobblestone Jazz has been using early computers and analog instruments in improvisatory explorations of the interstices between jazz, techno and electronic music. Tyger Dhula brings a background in DJing and electronic music production, while Daniel... Read More

Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 9

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Doug Mosurock
Airfix Kits Playing Both Sides b/w Leaving (Dirtnap) Two songs of wound-up, punky pop with a few unfinished edges from this Bay Area trio (ex-Giant Haystacks). Vocals here are the weak link, but their plaintive, hoarse use here, backed by their springloaded, slightly mod-ish delivery... Read More

Listed: Mary Halvorson + Home Blitz

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Mary Halvorson Jason Bivins named guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson as one of Dusted's Destined for 2009, and she's done nothing to prove us wrong yet. Since studying with Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University, Halvorson has gone on to play with many of the leading figures in avant-garde jazz ... Read More

Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 8

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Beautiful Supermachines/The Distant Seconds split 12 EP (Chicken Ranch) Hey! Great name on that label! Guess what? It's yours forever! Ten years from now, when folks ask what was the name of your label? there will be no feeling like cringing so hard that a little trickle of urine... Read More

Listed: Poirier + Overnight Lows

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Poirer Montreal DJ/producer Ghislain Poirier's polyglot dance grooves incorporate a diversity of styles, from dancehall to soca to hip hop to 21st century electronics. The host of Montreal's Bounce Le Gros and Karnival parties, Poirier is also a visual artist and provocateur. His latest... Read More

Listed: Blockhead + Joshua Burkett

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Blockhead Tony Simon, who records under the name Blockhead, is one of underground hip-hop's go-to producers, working with Aesop Rock, Slug, Murs and Mike Ladd. His third solo album The Music Scene is a complex mesh of sounds, with elements of funk, soul, jazz, rock and world music woven... Read More

Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 7

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Balaclavas Roman Holiday LP (Dull Knife) Interest turned into raves, and now raves turn into worship. I'd like to consider Balaclavas the premium dark/Gothic/post-punk band of the Americas circa 2010, and hopefully for a lot longer. This short debut album keeps the mood of their first EP... Read More

Listed: Archie Bronson Outfit + Triclops!

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Archie Bronson Outfit Pounding beats, jittery vocals and a ruinous sexual intensity marked the second Archie Bronson Outfit album, Derdang Derdang , released in the US back in the spring of 2006. Dusted's Jennifer Kelly fell hard for it, calling the first five cuts driving, droning... Read More

Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 6

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Bassholes ... and without a name LP (Columbus Discount) Bassholes are still grinding it out, and they still sound like a million explosions of raw white fury rolled into an electric fence. They're a good fit on Columbus Discount, bridging historical gaps between Columbus classics like... Read More

Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 5

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PDT

by Dusted Magazine
Here's a short one for you, as I'm in between several things at once. Hey, I need an intern to help with mailings now and again. If you're a college student in the NYC area, please don't hesitate to get in touch, care of Dusted. 5-10 hours a month. Blank Realm Heatless Ark LP (Not Not... Read More