March 2012
1 post
3 tags
SOD: Naive Thieves "Le Sheik Rhat"
February 2012
8 posts
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SOD: The Virgins "Rich Girls"
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Radon Reviews: Islands "A Sleep & A Forgetting"
From the bluesy chords of “This is Not a Song” to the indie-country sounding snare-riding of “Hallways”, A Sleep & A Forgetting by Islands is sometimes a slow foot shuffle of indie rock and sometimes a Happy Days sock hop that has all the pop-like craftsmanship of slow Weezer songs, the cloudy air of The Shins, and just a tiny, tiny pinch of Spandau Ballet. If you want energizing,...
3 tags
SOD: Ladyhawke "Black White & Blue"
Holy fuck it’s new Ladyhawke! I’ll admit after the first listen I’m not too excited for what else will be on the new album but her debut album was so fucking rad that I’m still gonna be ingesting it all in like a fat kid stuck in an ice cream cake freezer at Dairy Queen.
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SOD: R Stevie Moore "I Like to Stay Home"
It’s early onset Apples In Stereo. Enjoy the 80’s VHS goodness.
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Radon Reviews: The Holiday Crowd "Over the Bluffs"
Put on your legwarmers and hi-tops, because The Holiday Crowd’s debut EP Over the Bluffs sounds like it was the very thing written for John Cusack to be awkwardly in love to while Molly Ringwald shows us all that there’s a lot of societal pressure to being a teenage girl. This is a band that is going to be plagued by comparisons for their entire career for the bands that obviously influence...
3 tags
SOD: Bourbon Legend "Robot Dick" THE SEQUEL!
Ask and Ye Shall Receive! A while back “Robot Dick” was our SOD and we loved it long time and hoped we could hear it live with a backing band. Well folks this little gem got dropped in my inbox this week and I gotta say I’m not disappointed in the slightest. The band sounds tight and his voice sounds just as good as the recording. Bourbon Legend, you keep that shit up.
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SOD: Die Antwoord "I Fink U Freeky"
I immediately began sharing this video to whoever was around me per my normal operating procedure when a new Die Antwoord video comes out. Not only will the song make you hit repeat over and over again but the videos are always little nuggets of original content inspired by a TOOL video. So they are entertaining to say the least. I kept waiting for someone to scream “MORTAL KOMBAT” at...
3 tags
Radon Reviews: Plants and Animals "La La Land"
Plants and Animals have put me in a precarious position. On the one hand, what I’ve heard off their latest album The End of That has me in an anticipatory fit. On the other, it’s not out yet. So how about a primer? Let’s have a look at their previous album, La La Land, which is, it seems, just as adept at blending infectiously simple guitar strums with the subtlest of synthesizers to create...
January 2012
5 posts
3 tags
SOD: Jack White "Love Interruption"
Jack White is releasing a solo album and here happens to be the first single. It’s not bad but not Jack White caliber, cant wait to hear the new album but help but think he is doing this so people will forget his work with Insane Clown Posse a while back. Nice try Jack, nice try.
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Radon Reviews: Adaline "Modern Romantics"
It takes about a grand total of five notes for Adaline’s Modern Romantics to present itself: an off-center pop album set inside of some futuristic cabaret. The album does more than just that, but the pulsing electro beats of “That’s What You Do Best” have their own place among the distorted guitars just as the dark horn section of “Lovers Collide” fits in to the scheme of things like a modern...
4 tags
SOD: Etta James & Harvey Fuqua "If I Can't Have...
Only doing this because of Etta James dying recently and I’m out of ideas to post an SOD so here you go. But in true Bearcules fashion its not one of her most popular songs and it happens to be a duet that really captures a juke joint feel to it, enjoy.
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Radon Reviews: Sparrow & the Workshop "Spitting...
Where do I start with the sublime Sparrow and the Workshop album Spitting Daggers? Having just finished my first complete listen of the album despite picking at it in chunks here and there, I feel like I saved the best for last. While the whole album is really something truly special, the final track, “Soft Sound of Your Voice” left me feeling absolutely touched. But how did the album get to...
6 tags
SOD: Bleeding Knees Club "Bad Guys"
To the 5 or so people who actually visit the site I apologize for the lack of posts. The holidays have wrecked the body and mind and killed the motivation to update. That however is completely fucking over with and now we can get back on track. Live shows will begin flowing like wine again and Radon will hopefully send some more album reviews our way and Benjamin will school us is some...
December 2011
3 posts
6 tags
*Click the main picture to see the full album.
“Put on your helmets, bitches!” Fort Collins Natives Elway & Friends Play 3 Kings
Fort Collin’s invaded Denver on Friday, Dec 1st, well okay, not necessarily an invasion, but they definitely sent some hard rocking ambassadors.
Arliss Nancy and Sour Boy Bitter Girl opened for Elway, who all brought they’re respective, yet intermingled genres to...
6 tags
Haiku Review: Melt Banana @ Studio 13
Melt Banana / 400 Blows / Sohns / Wonderland - Studio 13 - 11/20/2011 Sohns are everything music should be; loud, fast, energetic, engaging and completely bad ass. 400 Blows were the elder statesmen and played like a modern Big Black, minus Roland. Melt Banana’s lead singer dressed like a cat, mingled with the crowd and then the band blew the crowd’s ears off. Punk rock is alive and...
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In the last 12 months (December 2010 – December 2011) I’ve reviewed exactly 40 albums for Bearcules. They’re not all necessarily new, some are a few years old, one a couple decades old, but one thing that they all have in common as a result is that they are all officially eligible for the 2011 Bearcules AWESOME Award (Which Exemplifies Special and Outstanding Musical Excellence)...
November 2011
12 posts
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Radon Reviews: Cuff the Duke "Morning Comes"
My love affair with country-folk-rockers Cuff the Duke has waxed and waned over the years, as I tend to tire of their sad whines and defeated sound when my confidence is high, and then when things aren’t so sure, I find myself looking for them, a security blanket, an ex-girlfriend who won’t let you make any regrettable decisions but will still hug you when you need it. Their latest...
6 tags
Live Review: Priory @ Hi Dive 11/20
Technical difficulties lead to a brutally brilliant performance by Priory.
Now I’m not saying this because my comped tickets were in fact not comped, or because the time it took to correct the technical difficulties came dangerously close to the amount of time actually spent playing by the Oregon based band or even because the laser lights during the show may have caused permanent retina damage,...
4 tags
Haiku Review: Morrisey @ Bass Concert Hall
Morrissey - Bass Concert Hall - 11/15/2011 Morrissey’s stage show was pretty engaging and what you’d expect of him, lots of preening, spotlights and projection video coating the stage and the band. Morrissey played a lot of his singles, some smiths and a lou reed cover. Morrissey sounded pretty amazing, he still sounds just like he does in your old smiths albums. This was one of the...
Radon Reviews:
It’s getting to be that time of year when no matter what store you go into, and God help you if you go into a mall, you’re going to be hearing Christmas music. It’s such a sound of the times that I don’t get grouchy about it like some people. There’s something home-y and comforting about the old holiday standards that remind you, even when you live in a place where...
5 tags
Haiku Review: Les Savy Fav & Mohawk
Les Savy Fav - Mohawk - 9/29/2011 Les Savy Fav pretty much do whatever the fuck they want to do. It could be dress up in costumes, climb on the cinder-block walls of the Mohawk, walk around singing in the crowd, drink your snuck in 40oz, or go hunt for yeti. They switch their stuff up from straight forward loud as fuck songs to melodic and dancey songs whenever they deem it awesome to do so. Like...
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Radon Reviews: Hollerado "Record in a Bag"
This band’s name is Hollerado. Their latest EP is called Margaritaville 2: The Reckoning. Are they fun and energetic? Stupid question. Let’s take a look at their debut album Record in a Bag. It’s forty minutes worth of strung out, skinny energy indie rock, and it makes me want to kick things at a strength surpassed in magnitude only by the size of the toothy snarl on my face....
4 tags
SOD: Rubberbandits "Black Man"
Rubberbandits has a new song! Rubberbandits has a new song! MONDAY IS SAVED! I don’t usually post comedic songs but Rubberbandits will always be the exception after this song.
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Haiku Review: Dear Tick, Virgin Forest & Dead...
Deer Tick / Virgin Forest / Dead People - Emo’s East - 10/25/2011 Dead People were really good and sounded a bit like Wavves, but without the whining of Wavves. Virgin Forest suuuuuuucked, their lead singer is one of the worst stage presences I’ve ever seen. Deer Tick did a really good set and really sold their vision of alt-country. If you get a chance, check out Dead People and Deer...
1 tag
Radon Reviews: Born Gold "Bodysongs"
The musical equivalent of a Magic Eye picture, Born Gold’s Bodysongs at first sounds just like unorganized noise layered on top of more noise, but it doesn’t take long to find incredibly clever and lush dance rock in the mix. Perhaps most surprising is that what gets found behind the stuttering electro sounds and reverbing vocals is that these songs are built on epic hooks, mutated into strange...
4 tags
Haiku Review: Japanther & Unstoppable Death...
Japanther / Unstoppable Death Machines - Red 7 - 10/17/2011 Unstoppable Death Machines will stop to smoke a joint and then continue on their march of distorted vocals and over-powering noise. Japanther continues to be one of the most energetic live shows playing out today. Japanther started with a lot of new stuff and finished up by playing the crowd some Ramone’s, leading the crowd in a...
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Radon Review: The Weeknd's "House of Balloons"
I want you to imagine an album that gets name-dropped by Drake at the same time that its title track samples a Siouxsie and the Banshees song. Now I want you to know you can stop imagining and go download The Weeknd’s first album, House of Balloons for free from his official website. House of Balloons is like a nightmarish weekend of endless vice committed to audio, a garage-sounding guilty...
4 tags
SOD: The Booze "Wild One"
Never heard of this band until my recent exploration into finding bands that still sound like the Stones and well I think they nail it pretty well and this album has been on a constant loop for most of this week. Their previous efforts aren’t aren’t nearly at the caliber of their latest effort but the new album “At Maximum Volume” is so good that you can forgive that...
October 2011
10 posts
3 tags
Mourning Music: The Exploding Hearts
What to say about the Exploding Hearts? Most people don’t know the name or the music. But the people who do know the name you automatically form a musical bond & other great unknown punk bands start being exchanged. There are only a few single albums out there that still hold up the merit they were originally intended to have & inspire you to look for more related material & then...
4 tags
Radon Reviews: Zeus "Say Us"
I don’t know when Canada got the monopoly on the Beatles sound, what with Sloan’s decades of dominance in artful pop and now Zeus’ debut album Say Us having that perfect balance of Paul McCartney-harmlessness and John Lennon oddity. I still have about a half of a page of a review to fill out, but that pretty much sums it up handily. So…uhh….how’s it going?...
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SOD: Dye "Fantasy"
The song is ehhhh but holy lord is the video so amazingly fucked up it makes me giddier than a school girl on prom night.
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Radon Reviews: The Panics "Rain on the Humming...
The Panics’ latest album Rain on the Humming Wire brings a bit of humanity to the grandiose anthems that bands like Coldplay seem to just shed off like dead skin. The Australian quintet combines simplicity in form with complexity in style, creating something that sounds as different as it does familiar. I know that just sounds like layers of contradiction on top of each other, but when you...
6 tags
SOD: Kavinsky "Night Call"
Watched “Drive” recently and loved the fuck out of this song. Kavinsky’s whole album sounds like a throwback soundtrack to that quintessetial 80’s movie classic “The Wraith” Enjoy and keep your heads up for a possible review of a local reggae band later this week called “Rastasaurus”
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Radon Reviews: Malachai "Return to the Ugly Side"
As a man first and a music lover second, I have this fantasy where on some dark, rainy night, a group of people will give chase in slow-motion and, set to tasteful, violent music, I proceed to beat the ever-living piss out of them like it’s some kind of Guy Ritchie movie. Well, recently a lot of room on the playlist I have for that has been allocated to Malachai, and their mixture of retro...
5 tags
SOD: Frank Turner "Peggy Sang the Blues"
Gonna go see this guy tonight at the Marquis theater along with Andrew Jackson Jihad, should be a night filled with drinking, acoustic guitars and screaming.
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SOD: Cobra Skulls "Iron Lung"
Felt it was time to post an SOD that wasn’t the Detroit Lions fight song. This is from the Cobra Skulls new album “Agitations” and keeps it catchy and under 2 minutes too. I sincerely apologize for the previous SOD.
4 tags
Radon Reviews: Austra "Feel the Break"
It took a while to grow on me, but I am finally in the groove with listening to Austra’s Feel the Break, and my god, it’s like an operatic Norse goddess of new wave is singing me to sleep every night. A perfect pound-for-pound replacement for Berlin style electronic pop, Austra it’s not so much that it takes time or study to appreciate what’s on this album, but rather...
5 tags
SOD: Detroit Lions Fight Song
Radon and I had a bet that if the Lions lost then he would do a review of an Indian techno artist of my choice and if Dallas lost then I had to post the Detroit Lions fight song as the SOD. Well to my dismay and the Cowboys never one to disappoint the Lions rallied for the win and well you end up with what we have here today. I still think I should have used an Eminem song from 8 Mile but this was...
September 2011
11 posts
3 tags
Radon Reviews: The Pack A.D. "Tintype"
The Pack A.D. has a new album out, and people say how much their sound has changed from their first album – Tintype. I’ve heard the first single “Sirens” from this new album Unpersons, and it sure sounds like a day-long afternoon of roller derby and warm beer but I think there’s a definite callback to their original sound. Tintype is best compared to a White Stripes album with more blues and a...
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Live Review: The Morning Clouds @ 3 Kings 9/8/2011
Took me forever to actually post the pictures from The Morning Clouds first show. Opening along side the excellent arrangement of Josh Wambeke and his backing band were Shady Elders and Tube Top Crush who at the last minute changed their name but I cant remember what to so I’m leaving it as Tube Top Crush. Great sets by all 3 bands especially Tube Top Crush who carried the Bikini Kill vibe...
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Radon Reviews: Oh No! Yoko "Pau Pau"
Oh No! Yoko’s latest EP Pau Pau is full of upbeat anthems for skinny kids who miss researching homework assignments on America OnLine and summers spent in the air conditioning or chasing an ice cream truck. The Vancouver indie band has a pretty sharp recording here that’s a quick, fun-loving mood lifter. Frantic percussion and quick basslines provide the backdrop for full-band chant shouts and...
7 tags
SOD: Elway "Passing Days"
These guys caused a lackluster trivial argument with their name and John Elways PR people a little while back but I’m pretty sure that’s been resolved. Most thought it would be the most press the band would receive and since then I have not even heard a song. I’ve seen them live which I wasn’t too impressed but now after hearing this song on a recent compilation sent to me...
5 tags
Haiku Review: Japandroids @ Mohawk
9/8/2011
Bass Drum of Death would play your garage if you had one and they would play the shit out of it. Japandroids played a lot of newer stuff and it was good. Japandroids’ live show didn’t disappoint and it didn’t suck; in fact it was pretty god damned awesome. Japandroids and Bass Drum of Death were a good show and you should go see them.
-Benjamin
3 tags
Radon Reviews: Lex Land "Were My Sweetheart to Go"
Currently on tour to promote her latest album, Lex Land is a delight in the recording booth, and a captivating charmer channeling every image of a songbird in a smoky, dingy lounge if you have the good fortune of seeing her live. The recently released Were My Sweetheart to Go tries some new tricks while still carrying the emotional intensity that at least makes this reviewer swoon. If you’ve...
5 tags
SOD: Bourbon Legend "Robot Dick"
My only previous experience with a ukulele only musician have been with a Ft. Collins chick that goes by the name of Danielle Ate the Sandwich who is currently blowing up local venues. Her songs are great & the covers she does are spot on & at times funny but always seem like they are stuck with someone more focused on their voice than their weapon of choice the ukulele. Hearing of...
4 tags
Radon Reviews: Paranoid Social Club "Axis IV"
The probable conclusion to the band’s psychological referencing album titles, and the latest disc by a darling favorite of mine, Paranoid Social Club’s Axis IV seems to eschew some of their oddball flexibility for a straight rock disc, a pace set by a clearly Foo Fighters-inspired lead tracks “Count on Me” and the stripped-down cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” While the album isn’t quite as...
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SOD: Pickwick "Hacienda Motel"
Not much to report on this band just randomly came upon them because I love KEXP live recordings and just couldn’t get it out of my head even though the announcer at the end seems a little douchey? Is that a word? Anyway a show review will finally be done on Thursday while covering The Morning Clouds at 3 Kings should prove to be a fun and hopefully life changing for the better type of...
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Haiku Review: Stiff Little Fingers @ Emo's
8/19/2011 Don’t throw beer on Stiff Little Fingers, they hate that shit. Stiff Little Fingers have a tendency to describe their songs really well before playing their songs. Stiff Little Fingers are really old, but they’re still better than most of the formulaic, heartless shit that passes for ‘punk’. Stiff Little Fingers played a pretty awesome set, they would have socked...
5 tags
SOD: Insane Clown Posse (with Jack White and JEFF...
So wasn’t really gonna post anything for awhile cause I’ve been busy and even skipped on radon’s review until next week. But for some fucking reason this rolled across my desk and I seriously thought, “The fuck is this shit?”. Then saw it on Pitchfork. Then got angry. Then saw Jeff the Brotherhood were for some fucking reason involved. I don’t give a shit what...