Aaron Robinson has collaborated with Patrick Damphier and Kyle Andrews for this brooding, rather emotionally crushing song. Robinson’s voice has always had an indescribable weight to it but pair it with a song about gun violence and you’ve got some serious oomph. Oddly, they still managed to make the song catchy and enjoyable, despite the heavy subject matter.

Naming your band RIFFT will set certain expectations to any potential audience. There better be some guitars and they better be real big. Fortunately, RIFFT delivers on that promise with four tracks of epic proportion. Not only are the guitars big but they span a range of influences: doom metal, space rock, prog and a hint of desert wailing. 

And, in case you were wondering, yes, there is an 11 minute saga to close out the album called “Demon of the Maddening Night.”

I’ve written about them before but Murfreesboro’s Tomato Face exists in a place where I can’t tell if they’re a total joke or a completely serious undertaking with a bizarre aesthetic. Fortunately, there’s plenty of gray space between the two. These two songs will be available via a 7″  on Third Ham Records and feature a lot of slappy bass, simple drums and vocal rantings that are equal parts Mike Patton and Children’s Storybook. 

I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t stumbled upon it myself but Murfreesboro is making some great Vaporwave. The latest from Success Factors hits on all the right production aesthetics (visually and aurally) – reverb-y sax solo’s, MIDI galore and the feeling that you need to rewind the VHS tape when you’re done watching. Somehow the saturated nostalgia vibe doesn’t wear on me, it puts me in a relaxed trance. 

Which brings me to my only real complain about the collection of songs – the run time is entirely too short. Right when you’re being enveloped into the low bit-count VR world they’ve built, the song is over. This needs a remix, stat.

Recently, someone described We Own This Town as “very sincere.” I couldn’t help but feel a little offended as I took it as a slight that there wasn’t thought or proper critical thinking put into the reviews and posts here. I try to keep things generally positive around these parts and see no reason to write about a band just to shit all over them.

Despite the self-imposed rule of “keeping it positive”, I couldn’t help but carry the burden that being called sincere was a not-so-masked critique. Sincere people are boring. Being overly effusive is tiresome. By being nice about everything, it creates a homogenous environment where nothing can ever be particularly special. 

How do you try to help nurture a welcoming Music Scene by providing coverage for bands but intentionally side-step anything you might feel prone to say something bad about? 

Sincerity is hard. 

There is something downright adorable about the five-song EP from Midwestern Accent. The playful guitars remind me of the twee-ish pop of the late 90′s indie scene, straight down to the bullhorn’ed distorted vocals. The combining forces of bedroom production, overall earnestness, and “What’s this album cover really about?” vibe make for a nice summer companion.

The official full-length follow-up to Hammock’s 2013 Oblivion Hymns is a massive twenty-track undertaking that will be released April 1st. You can stream three of the spacey shoegaze tracks over on their Bandcamp, as well as pre-order from a slew of bundled merch options. 

If I described a band as “very 3rd and Lindsley”, would you know what I mean? For me, it’s a way of saying that the music is impressively technically proficient, a little bit leaning on the groove-y side of things and probably intended for an audience in the 35+ age bracket. This isn’t true of all 3rd and Lindsley shows but I stand by the idea that it’s true of any band that you describe as having “a 3rd and Lindsley sound.”

Anyway, I’m 37 years old and think these guys have a 3rd and Lindsley sound that works for me.

Inevitably, the solo work of Joey Kneiser is going to be compared to that of his other gig, Glossary. It’s a fair comparison and not one that Kneiser should shy away from. His distinctive voice is even more forelorn when paired with ex-wife Kelly Smith (maybe the divorce isn’t a bad thing for them but we’re all allowed some level of projection, right?). 

On the whole, the album is a stripped down affair that leans on ballads and quieter storytelling – as compared to the often rambunctious undertakings of Glossary – but that tempered energy level only lends itself to a finer end result. I look forward to listening to this on a porch on some anonymous warm summer night.

Listen to the title track from the forthcoming Tower Defense EP – due out March 25th.