The passing of Steve Albini has left an indelible mark and irreplaceable absence in the pantheon of alternative music. Suffering a heart attack at the age of 61, Albini’s passing has been met with an outpouring of tributes, from past collaborators and admirers alike. Rather than mourning the loss of a true recording legend, it is important to remember how Albini’s art continues to inspire and be heard decades onwards. Equally important is how Albini upheld his own standards of execution and high technical proficiency until the untimely end of his career. For us, Albini represents the golden combination of sheer talent and undying ambition. Thanks to that combination, the world was graced with some of its most legendary recordings.

Not dissimilar from many, we got to know of Albini’s work through Nirvana’s final album, 1993’s In Utero. Certainly a departure from Butch Vig’s tightly packaged Nevermind production, Albini fulfilled Kurt Cobain’s wish to have a raw and live presence for the following record. Listening to In Utero for the first time many years ago, we took note of the now-iconic drum sound that many bands have chased after since its release. Albini’s famous “room drum sound” really shone through on Pixies Surfer Rosa LP first (Listen to opening track, “Bone Machine”... Still sounds huge!), but his mark on In Utero hipped many (including us) to the wide array of his musical contributions. From there, we began to take in much of Albini’s own music.

Having been exposed to Albini through In Utero, we were ill-prepared for the noise onslaught of Big Black’s catalog. While In Utero certainly leans into some noisier territory, it never reaches the provocative nature of Big Black’s discography. It may be difficult to define exactly what about records like Atomizer and Songs About Fucking make them work, but they truly stand out as their own thing decades later. That said, the real genius of Albini comes after the realization of the diverse body of talent he worked with. Albini was more than capable of making records that pushed sonic limits, but he also was capable of making records that simply wowed upon initial playback. 

With credits on records by Low, Jawbreaker, Cloud Nothings, and Black Midi, Albini truly never slowed down. Though many recording engineers would have been satisfied with the adulation that comes from working on a record like In Utero, Albini stayed active/on the move until the very end. Serving as the owner and engineer at Chicago’s Electrical Audio studios, Albini made himself accessible to up-and-coming/working class bands (regardless of his “legend” status). Summarizing all of Albini’s accomplishments/legacy is impossible to truly do, but his commitment to the event of documenting the creation of music (for the sole reason of art) will never be forgotten.

Thank you, Steve Albini. The world is much more interesting due to your work!

Take a look at the records featured above. While each of them are undeniable classics in their own right, we recently found a shared history between all four of them! Pixies, Bob Mould, Quicksand, and Local H may have crafted wildly different batches of tunes with these records, but the work of producer and engineer Steve Haigler is at the center of each of them.

When it comes to the story of alternative music, polarizing record producers and tales of unorthodox recording methods have become things of folklore. The story of Butch Vig's journey from indie producer to Nevermind superstar has become integral to Nirvana's story, similar to how Steve Albini's (Who recently passed away... We are still collecting our thoughts will have a more fitting tribute ready soon) love for great drum sounds would shape Pixies' Surfer Rosa LP. That said, there remain many gifted producers and engineers from this era that deserve recognition for permanently altering the sound of alternative rock... Steve Haigler certainly played a part in this story.

Haigler's earliest engineering credits date back to the late 70s, ranging from vocal groups to singer-songwriter acts. By the mid-to-late 80s, Haigler had begun working on various projects of the alternative and underground variety. Much of his early engineer work would be for seminal 4AD groups, including both Throwing Muses and Pixies. While producer Gil Norton receives much of the attention for the sound of Doolittle, Bossanova, and Trompe le Monde, having Haigler as an engineer was needed to facilitate the technical end of those recording sessions. As longtime Pixies devotees, one thing that has stuck with us from those albums are the guitar tones of Joey Santiago and Black Francis. Though their tones are heavily distorted and oftentimes cacophonous, there is always enough clarity to ensure that the melodicism of their playing comes through. We can only hypothesize that Haigler took note of this, as his own production work would perfect this articulate-yet-heavy tonal character.

Long before we launched Noise Is Power Music, As Good As Dead (Chicago two-piece Local H's sophomore record) served as a seminal record during our formidable years. Memorable singles "Eddie Vedder" and "Bound For The Floor" paired nicely with album cuts "Nothing Special" and "Lovey Dovey", making for a memorable listen many times over. Even back then, we recognized something particularly special about how Scott Lucas' guitar was dialed in on that record. While his playing certainly came across as "heavy", the most melodic elements of his songwriter were easily discernable/never compromised on As Good As Dead. Safe to say, the sound of that record made an impression on us. When we found ourselves introduced to the post-hardcore stylings of Quicksand, we could not help but hear something similar.

Though we initial identified the compositional aspects of Quicksand and Local H to be similar (In retrospect, we do not uphold this opinion), it turns out that Haigler produced both As Good As Dead and Quicksand's classic debut album, 1993's ​Slip.

Those simultaneously heavy-yet-melodic tones on both Slip and As Good As Dead are a "brand" of guitar tone that have become synonymous with alternative rock by now. Between the two records, we also hear kinship between the kick and snare presence on both. While this connection may be common knowledge to some, we find it fascinating that Haigler was the main producer on two hugely influential and important records (on top of engineering Pixies finest work)!

If you are unfamiliar with any of the records Haigler has worked on, do yourself a favor and dive in! More of his credits can be found here.

Set to release on May 24, Where Are You? will serve as the band's first release of original material since 2001's Why Call It Anything? ​LP. This EP serves as a teaser to the band's upcoming new album (Arctic Moon), which is expected for release later this year. Speaking on the band's return to releasing new material, group leader Mark Burgess has said the following:

"By the time we’d got through COVID, Reg [Smithies, guitarist] and I had a very solid band in place, people whose talent we trusted in to bring out the best in whatever ideas we were able to get off the ground... For the first time since the death of John [Lever, drummer] and the departure of Dave [Fielding, guitarist] I felt we were a proper band capable of creating some interesting and exciting music.”

More on the release of Where Are You? and Arctic Moon is available via the band's official press release, but expect copies of Where Are You? to be available at all stops on their upcoming tour. We did not think it was possible to be more excited for their upcoming tour, yet here we are!

As longtime fans of these post-punk revivalists, the recent activity of Fontaines D.C. has us feeling impatient!

If you are a longtime reader, you may recall one of our first reviews being for the group’s last record, 2022’s Skinty Fia. Two years since the album’s release, it remains the band’s most personal offering which houses some of the group’s strongest singles (“Jackie Down The Line” has since become a modern classic, “I Love You” is still one of Grian Chatten’s best performances). Though we became Fontaines fans around the release of 2020’s A Hero’s Death, our excitement for new activity from the band has only grown. While there is no shortage of bands today that try to rekindle the murky mysticism of bands such as Joy Division and The Sound, Fontaines D.C. have established themselves as the group to do it most authentically/best.

On 4/13/24, the band shared what appears to be behind-the-scenes footage from a music video shoot, complete with the brief caption of “Starburster”. Now, as of 4/16/24, a short The Shining-esque teaser video has been posted, all culminating with the reveal of "Romance" at the end of the video. It is heavily rumored that "Romance" is the title of a forthcoming Fontaines D.C. album, with “Starburster” being its lead single.

While we cannot offer our thoughts on “Starburster” at this time, we can assure that our thoughts will be ready for you by Friday! That said, you can check out everything that’s currently going on with Fontaines D.C. here.

For our first VersoFest and Westport Public Library experience, The Lemon Twigs played an exuberant set which doubled as a real preview to the Beatles-esque bliss of A Dream Is All We Know.

Though the joke was made many times throughout the evening (D’Addario bros. are quite funny), the point remains true: Hosting a rock show in a regular place of solitude and study seems like an obtuse concept. However, after having the pleasure to catch The Lemon Twigs on April 4, their performance reinforced exactly why the venue of a library made perfect sense. Their performance was simply a demonstration/masterclass of what can happen when power-pop influence meets modern convention, doubling as a great show and textbook education on “How it’s done” for any musicians that happened to be in the audience. While entertaining a packed crowd, The Twigs’ devout study of songcraft made their inclusion in VersoFest 2024 an unforgettable addition!

Before diving into the performance itself, a huge kudos is owed to the entire VersoFest team for curating such a fantastic and inviting event. Though we wish we could have attended the other guest speakers and panels they hosted throughout the week (Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Tony Visconti, etc.), the care that was put into compiling a wide breadth of topics/areas related to music and arts was wonderful. Simply put, it is something that Connecticut’s art scene will only benefit from in the long term! From what we were able to take in from The Lemon Twigs show, venue staff did a brilliant job at keeping things controlled and fun… Surrounded by a state-of-the-art space and palpable excitement for the Twigs' performance. In short, we highly anticipate returning in coming years.

Returning to the show itself, VersoFest 2024 served as a first date for The Lemon Twigs 2024 tour, which will ultimately become the supporting venture for A Dream Is All We Know (set to release in May). To fully usher in the A Dream Is All We Know-era touring cycle, opening the set with “My Golden Years” simply felt right. The crowd was buzzing to hear it long before the Brothers D’Addario took centerstage, with the energy levels of the room doubling by the time the tune was performed. A slew of Everything Harmony cuts continued building momentum (“In My Head”, “What You Were Doing”, “Ghost Run Free”), cementing the one defining factor of The Twigs’ live performance: Their harmonies in a live context. Being able to pull off the layered vocals that comprise many of the band’s tunes in-studio is impressive on its own, but recreating those parts in real time (With relative ease… That’s practice at work!) was a real treat to behold. As if that was not enough, the bulk of the set’s middle portion featured multiple tracks from A Dream Is All We Know that have yet to be released.

“Church Bells”, “Sweet Vibration”, and “Peppermint Roses” were among the unreleased tunes premiered during the show. While previously released A Dream Is All We Know singles were also performed (“My Golden Years”, “They Don’t Know How To Fall In Place”, “A Dream Is All We Know”), hearing them in context with album-specific tracks painted a grand approximation of what can be expected from the album’s full-release. While we plan on reviewing in-depth once the album is properly rolled-out, the post-Rubber Soul Beatles joyfulness that permeated many of these tracks pleased many (if not all) in attendance. While it may be slightly premature, we are comfortable venturing a guess that The Lemon Twigs’ upcoming album will serve as their true “breaking point”, though only time will truly tell!

Returning to familiar territory, a note-perfect rendition of fan-favorite “Any Time Of Day” paired perfectly with early track “Queen Of My School”. Interestingly, many of the band’s earlier work was reinterpreted, sporting qualities that felt more skiffle-based than their groove-laden studio recordings (“Queen Of My School”, “Tailor Made”). To us, this conscious change kept energy levels high throughout the evening… We approve! The charm The Lemon Twigs exude is hard to deny as well, as the whole band shared genuinely amusing banter and traded instruments many times. To call The Lemon Twigs a “gimmick” that simply coast along on retro aesthetics is inaccurate… Any naysayers can consult footage from the very show we attended (linked above, special thanks to lordazuretwentyfive on YouTube for that). It really takes a lot to impress us with live performances these days, but The Lemon Twigs attention-to-detail while making things appear effortless sealed the deal for us.

If you can make it to an upcoming show, be sure not to miss it! The remainder of their upcoming schedule can be found here. 

Were you at this show? Did you attend any piece of VersoFest 2024? If so, let us know your experience in the comments!

Hope all is well! Today, we got something a bit different to discuss:

Though we don’t often cover news and/or large-scale media headlines, we felt compelled to talk about the concept of “Manufactured Scarcity” in the realm of vinyl collecting after Billie Eilish’s recent Billboard commentary. Discussing the common practice of most major label releases consisting of several “limited” colored-vinyl variants, Eilish offered the following criticism: 

“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right… Some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more. It’s so wasteful, and it’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money.”

While many have been quick to jump to conclusions, stating Eilish is just as guilty of trendhopping as anyone else (Her latest LP, Happier Than Ever, has been released on a variety of different “limited” color variants), she has gone on to clarify her criticism via Rolling Stone, drawing awareness to the fact that this is an industry-wide issue at large (supposedly forcing Eilish to partake in said trends to remain competitive). Speculation of if Eilish can/should buck trends to back up her statements can be endless, but this entire media debacle has gotten us to ask the following question: Why does the modern-day vinyl collector respond to Manufactured Scarcity?

As longtime vinyl collectors, curators, and archivists, we here at Noise Is Power Music have often gravitated towards seeking out particular pressings that have genuine historical value or rarity (i.e. early issues of Big Star LPs, as few were made in the 70s due to commercial failure). Though the occasional new issue on colored vinyl is nice, it will/has never served as a deciding factor in regards to making a final purchase. At the end of the day, physical media exists to be listened to; To serve as tangible representation of a collection of songs. In an era where the prevalence of streaming services are unavoidable, we cling to the ownership/experience of interacting with vinyl, CDs, and tapes as a means to enjoy our music. That said, it cannot be denied that there is a percentage of the current market that enjoys the concept of colored variants: Otherwise, large record companies/corporations would not be making them.

Last year, Forbes reported that new vinyl record sales were up 14%, with Taylor Swift accounting for 7% of all vinyl records sold within the year. Swift’s monopoly over the pop landscape takes partial credit for this statistic, though we suspect it is the manufacturing (and eventual purchasing) of too many “collectible” colored vinyl releases to blame. A quick look at Swift’s webstore shows various albums from her back catalog that have been pressed on a multitude of different colorways. That said, why do/should underground music listeners/fans care?

Reason being, is the expenditure of both time and resources that Eilish called out last week. Unnecessary colored vinyl releases (Whatever happened to focusing on a standard black vinyl release & maybe one colored variant?!) have clogged up the few remaining vinyl pressing plants, making it quite difficult for independent artists to schedule and plan releases for their fanbases. We believe this is partially responsible for recent growth in CD sales, as they have served as a physical medium that is not subject to long production-time delays and inflated costs. For those of us that still want to support independent artists (via purchasing physical media) without navigating the turbulent waters of the modern vinyl industry, CDs are looking to be our meal ticket.

In 2024, we are happy to report that production-delays have improved in regards to years past, though they have persisted. If you (the reader) are still looking for ways to build your vinyl library in 2024, consider exploring the realm of secondhand/older pressings to discover bands you have yet to hear! Within the time you have fallen in love with a record that is new to you, we can assure that your favorite current artist’s vinyl release will be available (regardless of egregious cash-driven re-releases). 

While we can recommend Discogs as a great first-foray into the world of purchasing second hand vinyl online, the best recommendation we can make will be available to you by the end of the week (stay tuned)!

Ah, the rare Saturday update!

Nonetheless, we thank everyone that tuned into the latest broadcast of Out Of Circulation. You can now find the episode's recording within our archives! We will not be broadcasting this Thursday (3/14), but expect to catch a new episode on 3/21.

Between now and then, you can catch us checking out the latest offering from Kim Gordon, The Collective. Though Gordon made her name through providing bass and vocals to Sonic Youth's essential catalogue, The Collective redefines what Gordon is capable of as an artist, over 40 years since the band's debut release. 

Anyone coming to The Collective expecting to hear the guitar cacophonies and jangle that defined records such as Daydream Nation or Washing Machine will be sorely disappointed. Simply, Gordon has crafted an album that is forward-looking and artistically fulfilling rather than nostalgia worship. While contemporaries of Gordon/Sonic Youth have been known to rest on their legacies and "classic material", the ambition to push herself into new territory on The Collective is commendable and deserves respect. Sonic Youth made their name by pushing the boundaries of the technology/equipment that was available to them at the time, which is an ethos that Gordon has updated for the modern music landscape on The Collective. 

Through the album's tracklist, Gordon's poetic vocal delivery is adorned by a variety of manipulated industrial instrumentals. Crunchy 808s, distorted synthesizer lines, and blown-out snares define the confrontational sound of the record. Similar to how Gordon's work with Sonic Youth tested the limits of 80s alternative rock, the argument that The Collective tests the limits of modern-day electronic & hip-hop could certainly be made. Gordon's bravery to artistically reinvent herself has been met with open arms for its ambitions, as TikTok (the platform where modern music thrives) took quite kindly to the album's debut single, "BYE BYE". As longtime fans of the work that Gordon has helped create, we remain happy to see her continued interest in creating provocative music.

For those interested, you can catch Gordon on tour & stream The Collective wherever you get your music. Physical copies are available via Matador Records.  

Welcome to the end of the week! Thank you to anyone who tuned into yesterday's episode of Out Of Circulation.

If you have not kept up to date with the Out Of Circulation episode archive, take today to catch up with what we have done. Our last few episodes have featured some of our strongest selections thus far... Yesterday's edition of Out Of Circulation being no exception. Give it a listen!

In other news, we are checking out TANGK; the latest from the divisive post-punk group, IDLES. While our love for the group began to fizzle out with the release of 2020's Ultra Mono, the musical ideas introduced on TANGK exemplify growth/maturity in an interesting way. While our first few listens have not left us with a Joy as an Act of Resistance-sized imprint, the energy of their earlier releases seems filtered through a Gang of Four-esque filter on TANGK. Having the chance to preview the album a few days in advance at Redscroll Records' listening party, we can at least offer that the new IDLES album is a solid entry into their discography. Our favorite track,  "Gift Horse", is linked above for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy today & thank you for your continued support!

In collaboration with Merge Records, the Scottish indie legends will return with Look to the East, Look to the West, their first album of new material in over ten years.

The release of 2009's My Maudlin Career would establish Camera Obscura as one of the premier bands to come out of the indie-rock revival that took place in the 2000s. In the years since its release, the album's sizable impact on modern indie rock is still felt today. Look no further than Alvvays, whose vocalist Molly Rankin shares similar melodic and compositional ideas with Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell. In the lead-up to Alvvays' heavily anticipated Blue Rev album, My Maudlin Career was often suggested as interim listening. Bright instrumentation, conversational lyrics, and featuring Camera Obscura covers in their live sets made it easy to draw the comparison. All that said, the rise in popularity of the style that Camera Obscura once perfected has made 2024 the perfect time for the band to return. However, after listening to "Big Love", one has to wonder if its a conscious effort by the band to step away from the style that has defined them.

Before diving in, it is unfair to solely associate Camera Obscura with the sounds of their biggest single, "The Sweetest Thing". While the track is a prime example of Campbell's sharp turn-of-phrase lyricism and features string accompaniment (commonplace for the band), it only brushes on the territory that the band would explore on the shuffling "You Told A Lie" and ballad "The False Contender". However, the country-infused melody and leadwork of "Big Love" has come off as surprising to us. We may not be quick to praise this track as an instant classic, but we remain intrigued for what Camera Obscura has to offer to the current landscape of indie music. Have a listen above!

Look to the East, Look to the West is out May 3 via Merge Records.