post-punk

Rainbows in the Dark: Anatomy of Habit — “Even if It Takes a Lifetime”

IanLeave a comment

Whoa!  It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these.  Blame it on whatever you like, but life has been pretty busy around here.  Still, I knew I wanted to get one more of these in before the close of the year, and as soon as I saw the blurb for Even if It Takes a Lifetime, I knew this would be the one.  Not only are Anatomy of Habit hometown heroes, they also do the thing that I love writing about most in this column: effectively straddle the line of genre and blur the region of space between metal and non-metal.

Continue reading →

Rainbows in the Dark: Actors — “Acts of Worship”

IanLeave a comment

Here we are, back again with another post-punk release, back again with another Artoffact release, this time courtesty of Vancouver, BC’s Actors, who continue the time-honored tradition of blending dark and moody tones with upbeat danceable rhythms and bright melodies. Whereas the last Artoffact release I’ve talked about here sought to push the genre into more modern territories, on Acts of Worship, Actors pays homage to the classics and doesn’t shake up the original recipe too much. But hey, sometimes you want to go with the original recipe over the extra spicy. I might have lost the metaphor somewhere in there.

Continue reading →

Rainbows in the Dark: Cold Cave — “Fate in Seven Lessons”

IanLeave a comment

Welcome back folks!  Not only have we returned with more #content over here, but we are also back to something of the regularly scheduled Rainbows programming.  After a brief but thought provoking sojourn into the world of harsh noise, we return with something that is decidedly much less harsh and noisy, but no less evocative and artistic, in every sense of the word.  Synthpop/post-punk darlings Cold Cave seem poised to be the epitome of the modern-day resurgence of old-school cool, and on Fate in Seven Lessons, they show off a little bit of everything they bring to the table.

Continue reading →

Rainbows in the Dark: Future Faces — “Euphoria”

IanLeave a comment

I almost skipped the intro for this one because life is extremely busy right now, and I’m crunched for time while writing this.  Sometimes I feel like it almost costs more energy to slow down and take a breather than it does to keep up with everything, but if there’s one thing that music lets me do it’s that, and that is kind of the whole point of Future Faces’ debut full-length Euphoria.  It’s really an album about taking a second and letting it all hit you, absorbing the full spectrum of beauty and vastness that we inhabit. 

Continue reading →

Rainbows in the Dark: Ploho — “Phantom Feelings”

Ian1 Comment

We had an interesting discussion come up in our group chat the other day, specifically concerning vocals.  Not only do I have no problem with a language barrier between myself and the lyrics of a song, often times I prefer it.  I don’t tend to get too hung up on lyrics and phrases, with some notable exceptions.  I’m more of a sucker for a good melody, and if the vocal melody is solid, I can listen to someone sing about just about anything (within reason, of course).   Enter, then, Ploho and the Siberian trio’s new post-punk opus Phantom Feelings.

Continue reading →