To put it simply, Ca$ual absolutely rips. Fed on a steady diet of riffs, the Minneapolis trio has been steadily releasing their brand of thrash-infused hardcore since 2015 EP Shade and continuing with 2017 debut album  Come Around . The band returned in December with their first song in two years, the grimy non-album single "Muck". Rare Form finds Ca$ual absolutely chomping at the bit from beat one. "Flyin' Blind," the EP's frantic opening salvo, has the band looking to take charge. The track's opening words "I built a monster / Just to let it die" burns with the desire to create something you can destroy, and as the EP progresses, Ca$ual's focus on moving forward becomes tireless. The song "Coffin" deals with the fears of losing everything you've built, "Gratitude" is all about the band grinding, and "The Harm" has the band putting on a tough-guy persona with the lyrics "Shit has to get ugly b...

In early 2017, the trans indie rock trio 4th Curtis put out their debut record I Won the Pageant , an album that veiled its angst and cynicism behind a thin veneer of energetic pop-rock. The band is now back with their follow up,  Invisible Ax - an EP that has stripped that facade away, leaving the band's dark sense of humor on full display. Invisible Ax  goes from 1 to 100 right off the bat with the intense imagery contained in the opening track, "Nonstop." Vocalist/guitarist Lex Noens sings about blood on their guitar strings, a theme that continues throughout the song. In the lead up to the EP release, the band referenced a French showman from the 1700s who'd eat anything and everything as an inspiration for this song, and this theme of insatiability compels the band. Historical figures don't seem to influence only "Nonstop," but most (if not all) of the songs on the EP. The middle two tracks are quite upfront with whom they pull from. "...

The combination of vocal harmonies, gentle acoustic melodies, programmed drums, and lo-fi production does not feel like it should work when you put it on paper, yet Laska 's new EP in the blossom of this  seems to have expertly blended all of these elements together into a genre-defying release. The band's 2017 debut album Ceiling Zero gave insight into Laska's genre-bending tendencies, but it is on this EP that the band fully embraced their broader sound palette. Sisters   Hanna, Bex, and Mookie Morton spend  in the blossom of this  reflecting on themselves and their relation to the world. From the opening track "Paralysis," you are instantly captivated. Shimmering guitars and skittering drum loops mixed with organic drums create an expansive landscape for the sister's vocals to float through and give form to. The Morton sisters take time to explore the feelings of disconnect, longing, and depression along with their many facets.  ...