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Love - da Capo

While it is Love's classic 1968 release Forever Changes that steals away most of the bands attention, Da Capo is a masterpiece in its own right. #love #dacapo #foreverchanges

Release Date: November 1966

Photo: AV Club

While it is Love’s classic 1968 release Forever Changes that steals away most of the bands attention, Da Capo is a masterpiece in its own right, filled with incredible tracks that feature a ton of variety considering its 7-song track list.

The choice of instrumentation and the impassioned vocal performance by Arthur Lee on the opening track “Stephanie…

[valleyviewmusic-blog]

Deafheaven @ Neurolux, Aug. 8, 2018 (Boise, ID)

Deafheaven's performance was as tight and cathartic as I've come to expect from these guys. #deafheaven

This was my first time attending a show at Neurolux. It’s a small club with a well thought-out layout: the bar isn’t in the way of the performance nor too close to the stage; a wall separates the merch area, which is sizeable, as well as the bathrooms; and the sound quality is great. This is the exact type of place anyone would want…

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Fluoride - Fluoride

The Philadelphia-based Powerviolence band Fluoride's self-titled debut album is an unrelenting exercise in raw aggression. #fluoride #powerviolence

Release Date: 03/07/17

Did you know you need Powerviolence in your life?

The Philadelphia-based Powerviolence band Fluoride’s self-titled debut album is an unrelenting exercise in raw aggression. Did you know a bands sound could make you feel homesick for an entire region? When I saw this band was originally from New Brunswick, NJ it just made intuitive sense. This could onlycome from the…

[valleyviewmusic-blog]

Childish Gambino - Summer Pack

Childish Gambino's latest 2-track EP is an underwhelming exercise in "why?" #childishgambino

Release Date: 07/11/18

Photo: Getty Images

Hot off the heels of Donald Glover’s musical moniker Childish Gambino’s first Billboard #1 single “This is America”, Glover seemingly squanders an opportunity while everyone’s paying attention. This is not these tracks won’t sell plenty of units, but a more discerning listener is likely to come off this experience saying “um… okay”.

The fact is that…

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The Damned @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, July 6, 2018 (Portland, OR)

A live review of The Damned's 7/6/18 performance, and well-curated setlist, at Portland's McMenamins Crystal Ballroom.

*No video for this show because in every single snippet you can here me singing along FAR too loudly, but here’s a terrible pic:*

Nothing like catching a show of one of your favorite bands while on vacation, eh?

The Damned put on an absolutely killer performance in Portland’s McMenamins Crystal Ballroom – an absolutely gorgeous venue with an admittedly somewhat sub-par sound, which I was mentally…

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The Locust - Safety Second, Body Last

Contrasting with The Locust's previous releases - noisy, synth-infused grindcore parts, give way to experimental, yet slower-paced, noise-rock-of-sorts passages, all while somehow managing to be at least a little catchy. #thelocust

Release Date: 04/11/05

If you’ve heard The Locust before, it’s most likely it was Plague Soundscapesthat you’ve heard. The Locust were strangely well-known and relevant in their hey days of the early-to-mid-2000’s. The band are perhaps best known for their varying screamed vocal styles, dadaist lyrical content, and noisy, synth-infused, non-stop beat-your-head-against-the-wall grindcore, all…

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Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was an unexpectedly influential pop record, and is one of the 2000's best. #gwenstefani

Release Date: 11/12/04

Gwen Stefani’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was an unexpectedly influential pop record, and is one of the 2000’s best.

Going solo is always a dubious proposition, especially if you’re from a rock band – you must do enough to set yourself apart from previous work, while hoping to have some level of success both commercially and critically to make it a worthwhile endeavor.…

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New Found Glory - Tip of the Iceberg EP

Members of New Found Glory have long been involved in hardcore side projects, but kept NFG around presumably to make a living. Here they mix these genre's to surprising effect. #newfoundglory #tipoftheiceberg

Release Date: 04/29/08

Several members of New Found Glory have long been involved in hardcore side-projects, but kept New Found Glory around presumably to make a living. Musically, the band’s never so much as hinted at a hardcore background, yet here they mix these sounds to surprising effect, and even give as entire second half of straight-up hardcore as their alter ego The International…

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Sugar Ray - 14:59

In today's Seriously Underrated Series: Sugar Ray's 14:59, a highly-underrated '90's pop record. #sugarray

Release Date: 01/12/99

Sugar Ray hardly get respect. It’s not difficult to understand why. They’ll certainly never be considered cool (just reference the picture above), and nearly everything post-14:59proved to be tasteless and poorly conceived. None of this speaks to the quality of this record, however. The very album title hints at the bands overall level of self-awareness: their 15 minutes of…

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Archspire - Relentless Mutation

Absolutely top-notch Technical Death Metal - well-written, well thought out, and lean, with an appropriate run time of only 30 minutes. #archspire #relentlessmutation

Release Date: 09/22/17

Photo: Facebook|Archspire

You know when bands are technical for technical’s sake? Relentless Mutationis, thankfully, not that. This is absolutely top-notch Technical Death Metal – well-written, well thought-out, and features a merciful run time…. do we really need 50+ minute injections of TDM? I personally don’t think so, and very much welcome the more recent trend towards…

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Incubus - 8

While Trust Fall (Side A) hinted at a return to form, Incubus' 8 is quite a disappointment, made worse by sub-par audio engineering and production provided by, inexplicably, none other than Skrillex. #incubus

Release Date: 04/21/17

Photo: Facebook|Incubus

While Trust Fall (Side A) hinted at a return to form, Incubus’ 8 is quite a disappointment, made worse by sub-par audio engineering and production provided by, inexplicably, none other than Skrillex.

While this is the first majorly disappointing Incubus release in a long career, there are still some decent songs on this release. In fact, it starts…

[valleyviewmusic-blog]

UneXpect - _wE, Invaders

uneXpect's debut EP, _wE, Invaders, shows the band at their most accessible. #unexpect #avantgardemetal

Release Date: Nov. 2003

Photo: The Gauntlet

UneXpect’s first EP shows the band at their most accessible, but don’t confuse this as meaning this isn’t a highly atypical and unusually creative release.

This EP does ultimately play mostly like a technical progressive metal release with violins and keyboards rather than the outlandishness contained on 2006’s In A Flesh Aquarium.

Opening track “Novae”…

[valleyviewmusic-blog]

UneXpect - _wE, Invaders

uneXpect's debut EP, _wE, Invaders, shows the band at their most accessible. #unexpect #avantgardemetal

Release Date: Nov. 2003

Photo: The Gauntlet

UneXpect’s first EP shows the band at their most accessible, but don’t confuse this as meaning this isn’t a highly atypical and unusually creative release.

This EP does ultimately play mostly like a technical progressive metal release with violins and keyboards rather than the outlandishness contained on 2006’s In A Flesh Aquarium.

Opening track “Novae”…

[valleyviewmusic-blog]

Idiot Flesh - Fancy

Nils Frykdahl's and Dan Rathbun's pre-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum experimental "rock"/performance art troupe is about as far out and varying as you'd expect from these guys. #idiotflesh #sleepytimegorillamuseum

Release Date: 11/04/97

Photo: Discogs

Idiot Flesh, an experimental/performance art group from Oakland, CA are comprised of two future members of avant-garde band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Nils Frykdahl and Dan Rathbun, and thanks in large part to the stylistic choices, Nils’ flute playing and unique voice, and Dan Rathbun’s invented intstruments, this album happens to be the closest thing to SGM…

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Burial In The Sky - Creatio et Hominus

Burial In The Sky's Creatio et Hominus is an excellent addition to an already incredible year of progressive death metal. #burialinthesky #deathmetal

Release Date: 06/01/18

The album starts out with the ambient, airy “Nexus”, this combined with the excellent follow-up track “Tesla”, pretty accurately aligns expectations for the album. What they offer right from the get-go is this yin-yang of their softest side, followed by their most straight-forward progressive death metal side, which works to make the remainder of the album far more…

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The Damned - Grave Disorder

In a late-career dose of inspired song-making, The Damned combine their disparate musical interests into a cohesive musical statement, unheard of in this fashion since The Damned's own 1982 release, Strawberries. #thedamned

Release Date: 08/21/01

In a late-career dose of inspired song-making, The Damned combine their disparate musical interests into a cohesive musical statement, unheard of in this fashion since The Damned’s own 1982 release, Strawberries. Even that album provides for less variety than offered here, and bringing Captain Sensible’s unparalleled guitar skills back in the fold proved to be a very good…

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In Flames - Come Clarity

Come Clarity finds In Flames somewhere between the melodic death metal of Whoracle and the alternative sound of Soundtrack to Your Escape. The mixture here provides for a highly emotive and energetic set of songs. #inflames #metal

Release Date: 02/03/06

Photo: Rudy de Doncker

Come Clarity finds In Flames somewhere between the melodic death metal of Whoracle and the alternative sound of Soundtrack to Your Escape. The mixture here provides for a highly emotive and energetic set of songs.

Perhaps the best example of said highly emotive and energetic tracks is the incredibly impressive early run of this album. The first three…