Posts by Marko Polovina

[rating=8.00] Full of life and daring direction, early signs of Remind Me Tomorrow punch through as an ecstatic, emboldened statement for Sharon van Etten then a natural step forward in her music career. Unusually spirited and lively musicianship is only the dressing when taking in account it still has the same vulnerable aesthetic delivered with […]

[rating=9.00] Slowdive’s true strength, for those who were familiar with their work in the 90’s, was their openness that was understandably morose yet stirring – no doubt due to Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead vocal duality that seemed to pierce through everything and eventually succumb even the most skeptical. While other groups heavily sedated their […]

[rating=7.00]  Wire’s decades-long career has very little stumbling, always opting for a more experimental approach in musicianship to rein in their lyrical moods. What is striking is they’ve been at this for 40 years, yet their takes in simplicity, classical guitar dissonance, or general post-punk aesthetic have yet to fail. 2013’s Change Becomes Us decidedly tells […]

[rating=7.00] The Iceage frontman, Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, has always brought forth a sense of bleakness to his work, so to see his previously envisioned solo project Marching Church in the same vein isn’t surprising. This solo affair evolved into a full-time band with a more traditional shade of post punk with their debut that was […]

On what became a more intimate, small crowd at Ferndale, Michigan’s Loving Touch for a mid-week performance by Cymbals Eat Guitars, allowed a more eloquent and agreeable nature for the band. Clearly, lead singer Joseph D’Agostino was in good spirits, as he was rarely absent with a smile or smirk on his face while looking […]

[rating=7.00] The band was once known as Viet Cong is now Preoccupations due to burgeoning political controversy over their name. The newly named post-punk outfit’s second self-titled record opens with  the familiar murkiness the group beautifully rendered in last year’s Viet Cong then self titled effort. “Anxiety,” which is as the name suggests is burdened […]

Now in its second year in Detroit and in similar fashion, Mo Pop faced a chance of heavy delays on the last day of the festival. The tumultuous forecasted thunderstorms on Sunday only mildly stopped the start of the festivities for a half an hour, luckily hitting earlier than anticipated.  The fest on the riverfront […]

Originally scheduled to play at St. Andrews Hall, a venue change saw Thrice play at Detroit’s Fillmore on June 22nd with excellent opening acts to boot. Gates, who opened and frankly sounded much like latter-day Thrice parallels were able to get a good contrast of sounds with the next act ready to go up. Local […]

[rating=8.00] Almost two years since their stellar and critics favorite To Be Kind was released, Swans’ The Glowing Man has the band changing up the pacing a bit; this is a far less challenging 120 minutes and frankly more inviting than they’ve written in quite some time. The opening 13 minutes of “Cloud of Forgetting” […]

You wouldn’t know it from their appearance, but Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement are all about the rock and roll lifestyle. At least they professed that during their Flight of the Conchords performance on June 16th at the historic Detroit Fox Theatre. They are also chronicling their behind the music in a book of their […]