Spencer McGillicutty is a pop group with a retro edge. Their unquestionably complex, catchy melodies and co-ed vocals hint of the pop of the 1950s and ’60s. Games is their sophomore release and on it they go slightly acoustic with excellent tracks like “In My Arms Again” and “Secret Best Friend”. Like the pop music of half-a-century ago, this band creates music that is highly upbeat. Read More »Spencer McGillicutty: Games [Album Review]
Listening to “Rip It Up” by Allston, MA band Young Adults, one is hit with a wall of intense guitar… Read More »Young Adults [Demo Reel]
Punk is dead. This is, more or less, a fact. Save for the rare new group to break out or the senior citizens out there still rocking hard (Bad Religion, Henry Rollins, etc.), the whole idealism and solid truths of punk rock is long and gone. It seems as though the best we can hope for is a solid pop punk group swaying their spiked hair and stretched earlobes all over the stages of The Warped Tour (Broadway Calls seems to be the elite in this category). Still, things can never be as eventful as they once were. So thank the anarchist Christ that Pop Noise Records had the brilliant idea to distribute Just Another Teenage Dream, a brand new best of collection of loud, fast, and throat cutting tracks from the former back alleys of England superstars, Thrilled Skinny. Read More »Thrilled Skinny: Just Another Teenage Dream [Album Review]
One of my favorite parts about FensePost is being able to follow the journey a band takes over time. It’s been a few years since Cock And Swan debuted with Noon Hum, and their progression from that album to Unrecognize, out this week on their own Dandelion Gold label, has been tremendous. Noon Hum was an absolute delight, and looking back it’s easy to recognize that it certainly yielded great things. Where Cock And Swan have changed most is not necessarily in their abilities (which have come along nicely over the past few years) but rather in the confidence of multi-instrumentalist Johnny Goss and his keyboard-wielding cohort Ola Hungerford. Read More »Cock And Swan: Unrecognize [Album Review]
I thought of three artists upon first hearing Cold Lake Flight School‘s opening track on The Great Dry Lake. “It Hit The Land” has the simple, stripped-down nature of folk master Jason Molina. The songs are straightforward and, at times, minimalist. When they aren’t, you can hear the influence of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, whose forays into slight lo-fi genius are par none. Again Cold Lake Flight School pulls the proper elements to enhance the music. “Driftwood” drives the band from folk into rock with a clever guitar riff and the consistent accompanying shake of the tambourine. Read More »Cold Lake Flight School: The Great Dry Lake [Album Review]
It’s been one of those lives. We seem incapable of escaping our never-ending days and too-short nights. We are in… Read More »Entertainment For The Braindead: Roadkill [Album Review]
To me, it wouldn’t make sense for someone completely obsessed with modern indie pop to not enjoy a good Morressey song. And to dislike The Smiths would appear downright fallacious. Now I missed last year’s LP, but I did catch Ringleader Of The Tormentors, and while I didn’t think it held the sway of Moz’s early stuff, it was a more than viable collection of songs. “Ganglord” wasn’t on the album, but it did get cast as the b-side to “The Youngest Was The Most Loved” — one of the many standout tracks on Tormentors.
Read More »Morrissey: Ganglord [Video] 
What in the hell has happened to alternative pop music? There was a time when sweet guitar riffs and soft-spoken lyrics reigned supreme. Even misery was an exciting topic when a cat like Dave Pirner would spill his guts on a record about runaway trains and frustration as a business plot. The anger of today may have substantially seeped into pop music, but not in every case. Definitely not in the UK’s rising pop stars Noise Annoys Simon. These guys bring back the glory days in a wonderful fashion with their debut album You Say It, I’ll Know It. Read More »Noise Annoys Simon: You Say It, I’ll Know It [Album Review]
Tonight I hit the kitchen to compile the second FensePost podcast, or FenseCast, while cooking up one of my signature dishes: spicy steak enchiladas with homemade sauce. For desert, a delicious slice of gluten free cake courtesy Andi (the girlfriend), whose cake photo you can see in this post. Unlike the first podcast, this one had a range of bands that stemmed into several genres rather than focusing on garage rock and pop. Within I reminisce on one of my favorite bands of all time, occasionally hover around bedroom pop, and pass along one imperative ingredient in my homemade enchilada sauce. Read More »FensePost Podcast Series: FenseCast #2, Cooking With Fense
Björn Kleinhenz creates pleasant folk-pop with a romantic edge. Like a Swedish version of something by Iron & Wine’s Sam… Read More »Björn Kleinhenz: The Mountain Pt. 2 [mp3]
