It’s that time of year for us to count down each of our top ten favorite albums of 2016. Check out Mike’s list below! 10. Balance and Composure - Light We Made Balance and Composure’s return marks a stylistic change, characterized by electronic drums, distorted vocal samples, and vocalist Jon Simmons’ newfound falsetto. 2013’s The Things We Think We’re Missing’s heavy riffs were exchanged for grooves and ambience. While certainly a divisive release, Light We Made is worth a l

Code Orange has quickly become of the most exciting bands to look out for in the past few years. In 2012, Love is Love/Return to Dust put Code Orange (Kids) on the map with an onslaught of doom and powerviolence inspired hardcore. With the release of I Am King back in 2014, Code Orange proved to be one of the heaviest bands in the scene, again, pulling influences from doom metal and powerviolence, but also drone and ambient metal as well. Within the past month, Code Orange ha

San Francisco based artist Max Gardener recently released his latest EP Stirrings, which is the follow up response to Gardener's two previous albums Memory Lounge and Fear of Mirrors. I had all intentions of first listening to this EP within the sanctity of my four bedroom walls as this was, as Max Gardener describes it, “bedroom theme music.” So why not take it in an ironically literal sense for the listening experience as well? I hit play and closed my eyes, feeling the wal

Photo by Briley Caton. The Pressure Kids are a five-piece indie rock band based out of Nashville who just released their newest single, “You Missed Your Chance,” an in-your-face anthem replicating the characteristic energy that permeates their live sets. This newest single is a follow up from their late summer single “Catherine in Moonlight." The song begins strong with a mix of electric guitars and a simple yet rhythmic drum beat. Around the 15 second mark, a pleasant guitar

Jeff Rosenstock’s WORRY. is the follow-up record to 2015’s well-praised, We Cool?. While this previous effort focuses more on his own insecu

“Celestina” by the Atlanta based band, The Pellys, is that song you didn’t know that you were missing from all your various 31st themed play

Halloween is fast approaching making it the perfect time for Brooklyn’s Friend Roulette to premiere their spooky music video for their song “Dutch Master”. The song, featuring sugary yet haunting vocals contrasting against clusters of psychedelic chaos, is what inspired director Josh Jones to come up with the concept for the video. "I just listened to the song a few times, wrote down these dream-like acts and then started producing,” Jones stated. "I did all of the photograph

In recent weeks, I’ve noticed that music is very similar to an appetite. There’s always a particular genre or flavor we tend to crave at any given time. However, like any balanced musical diet, there are moments when you realize that you are deficient in certain things. “Plant” by Philly based band, Doubles, serves as just that. I didn’t know that I was yearning for just some solid rock music until I got a taste of this track. And now that I have-- I can’t get it out of my mi

There’s something about listening through a record and being excited throughout the whole album as each song progresses. That’s the way I fe

Zooanzoo, or more locally known as Zach Williams, based out of Harrisonburg, VA, released a new single recently, titled “Say it Softly”. The track begins ominously, with the first eleven seconds of the song introducing a soft piano track, overlaid by a record scratching and the muffled words of a little girl talking to someone. The little girl’s ‘cameo’ fades into Zooanzoo’s soft, almost whispered vocals, as he sings about wanting the world to be “a safer place for ‘you’ and