Lollipop Magazine

The Delgados – Domestique – Review

March 16, 2004

No string quartets, flutes, keyboards, choirs, or boomy beats, just primal guitar assaults and the voices of Emma and Alun. In the beginning, they were a punky bunch, fists full of jagged distortion and choppy downstrokes.

Dedspace – Constants in Breaking – Split – Review

March 15, 2004

What we have here is a split EP by two local bands who are not really bringing anything innovative or interesting to the table.

The Tyrades – Review

March 15, 2004

Teenie boppers hoping for the next No Doubt best look elsewhere. Singer Jenna Tyrade has no Madonna leanings whatsoever. Her explosive spewing lingers on nauseousness, savoring the bile in the back of the throat before erupting in a wonderfully messy hurl.

Constants in Breaking – Dedspace – Split – Review

March 15, 2004

Dedspace does a lot of the same things that Constants does, but with a much softer edge. Absent are the screaming accompaniment and aggressive distortion, and in their stead are dark, passionate wails and squealing guitars

Young Sexy Assassins – May Day in the Garden of Memories – Review

March 15, 2004

Noisy rock that’s dissonant and sporadic, treading the grey areas between indie, hardcore, and art-rock. But this is by no means a bad thing, and there’s no question that the lads are very good at what they do.

Bright Calm Blue – A Direct Approach For Casual Conversation – Review

March 15, 2004

Bright Calm Blue offers up pretty standard math-flavored indie-rock, which is to say it’s aggressive yet melodious, interesting yet formulaic.

Tyondai Braxton – Rise, Rise, Rise – Review

March 15, 2004

Tyondai Braxton has obviously escaped from the same refugee camp (as Parts & Labor), as evidenced by “Stand There,” the best song Parts & Labor never wrote and probably the highlight of the whole disc.

Tunnel of Love – Rock ‘N Roll Bitches – Review

March 15, 2004

They don’t play their instruments, they beat on them. The vocals are just different degrees of screaming. There are no solos, just a three-piece drum set and distorted, open chords.

Pestilence – Consuming Impulse – Testimony of the Ancients – Review

March 15, 2004

As part of the early-’90s jazz/death movement, Pestilence left behind four albums of pure progressive mindfuck that easily shames anything “technical” today.

Pensive – Something About the Stars – Review

March 15, 2004

There is something inherently stirring about that Billie Joe (of Green Day) virile slacker-collegiate sound certain singer boys seem to have, and Pensive has it.