Chicago posthardcore four-piece Tar broke up in 1995, and the number of times they’ve reunited for a show since then you can count on one hand—this gig will be the first time they’ve buffeted a live audience with their mischievous stomp since 2017. They haven’t exactly been silent the past five years, though: for one […]
Tag: posthardcore
Posted inMusic
Era- and genre-defining posthardcore act These Arms Are Snakes hit the road on a reunion tour
Formed in Seattle by former members of technical hardcore powerhouse Botch and mathy indie-rock outfit Kill Sadie, These Arms Are Snakes defined an era and a movement of thinking person’s heavy music during their initial run from 2002 to 2009. Injecting the knotty complexity of their previous bands with a swing and throb befitting the […]
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Temple of Void delve into the abyss on the genre-bending Summoning the Slayer
Death metal gets stereotyped as a one-trick pony, but plenty of bands in the genre are thoughtfully breaking the mold. In the midwest, they include Michigan death-doom outfit Temple of Void. Formed in 2013 by veterans of Detroit’s metal and hardcore scenes, the five-piece have earned accolades for their gritty, genre-bending albums—in 2020, The World […]
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Long-running Chicago posthardcore band Nonagon toy with their beloved genre on their debut LP
You don’t need to read Nonagon’s bio to understand that the Logan Square trio has a soft spot for the great posthardcore bands that shaped American underground rock in the 80s and early 90s. They make that evident with every note of their long-in-the-works debut album, They Birds (Controlled Burn): it’s wall-to-wall with twisting bursts […]
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Emerging Chicago band Lifeguard play noisy, retro-leaning rock without getting stuck in the past
Chicago band Lifeguard make the kind of noisy, brooding rock that’s been foundational to generations of punk and indie bands, all the way back to the dawn of hardcore and no wave. On their self-released debut album, Dive, Lifeguard dispense driving bass lines that could enliven even the dreariest postpunk tune, impassioned drumming that ratchets […]
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Bob Nanna lays his post-divorce life bare on Celebration States
Midwestern emo cornerstone Bob Nanna made his bones working guarded feelings into nervy posthardcore with anthemic ambitions. Nanna started his streak in the early 90s with teenage band Friction, and by the end of the decade he’d established himself as scene royalty, fronting Braid and then Hey Mercedes. He also took up writing solo material […]
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Postgrunge outfit Daybreaker drop a double-edged new video
Daybreaker’s new “Porn and Fame” video straddles the line where partying too much stops being funny.
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Brutus’s atmospheric blend of postrock and posthardcore makes a singing drummer cool for the first time ever
There are few things less cool than a singing drummer. Drummers already have it bad enough; they’re typically pushed into the background, the last member of a band to get any attention or credit. The only people who really care about them are other drummers, and then only on occasion. I’m a drummer myself, so […]
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The Saddest Landscape keep posthardcore alive with the lacerating ‘Souls Worth Saving’
The northeastern heavies hit Chicago Saturday night behind their recently released fifth album, Darkness Forgives.
Posted inBlogs
Local posthardcore band Slow Mass enters the world with ‘Nice But Not Kind’
The Reader has the great debut song and video from this local punk outfit.
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Unmaking themselves at home
Local noise rockers Den are too weird for the hardcore scene that nurtured them
Posted inBlogs
The Return of Small Brown Bike
The reunited Small Brown Bike returns to Chicago with two shows tonight at the Beat Kitchen.