Felix Camber
49 reviews and 11 musings for Only Great Music. Usually found somewhere near Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Post-Punk, Metalcore.
Reviews
The Klittens' 'Have A Heart' Is a Bracing, Big-Hearted Masterpiece of a Debut
After years of EPs and EU touring, the Amsterdam five-piece finally make an album — thirteen tracks of '90s-indebted guitar interplay and five-way vocals, recorded by Yulya Divakova and mastered by Mikey Young.
Adult DVD's Debut Is Twelve Tracks of Leeds Dance-Punk With a Straight Face and a Filthy Grin
The self-titled debut from a Leeds six-piece formed in 2021, self-produced at The Nave Studios and out on Fat Possum. Album of the Year has it at 84 from five reviews with nothing below an 80, and Dork gave it a flat 100.
Perlah & Sta Dormida's 'Parachute / This Light' Is Two Songs, Fifty Copies and All the Room in the World
A two-track 7" lathe cut co-released by Motion Ward and blush in an edition of fifty, which sold out almost immediately. Iris Camargo and Gustav Kemps wrote and recorded it themselves; Özgür Kaya adds cello. Glenn Donaldson heard it, compared it to Bedhead and early Cat Power, and signed off with two words: 'Instant fan.'
Semiratruth's 'S!M' Is a Gleeful, Booby-Trapped Masterclass in Taking Dance Music Apart
Twenty-two tracks from the Brooklyn-based, Chicago-born producer Semira Truth Garrett, out on Sooper Records, written produced arranged and mixed alone. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day and called it a sharp and stunning deconstruction of dance music. They are not overselling it.
The Drin's 'I Lost My Way For Centuries' Is a 75-Minute Attic Epic That Never Loses the Thread
Twenty-three tracks, seventy-five minutes, self-produced and recorded in an attic for Feel It Records. The Fire Note gave it 4.5/5 and called it their best album yet; Sun 13 called it a tour-de-force and the band's most dynamic record.
Team Dresch's 'Furthermore' Is a Thirty-Years-Later Masterpiece of Queercore Fire
The queercore legends' first full-length since 1996's Captain My Captain, out on Jealous Butcher. Produced with Greg Griffith in Bristol, Connecticut, mixed by John Goodmanson. AllMusic says it sounds remarkably like they never left.
Boy Harsher's 'GET MEAN' Turns Grief Into the Most Danceable Record of Their Career
Twelve tracks from Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller, described by the duo as a meditation on love, loss and survival. The Line of Best Fit gave it 8/10 and called it the best music of their career; it's at 77 on Album of the Year.
Unity's 'Comes Back To You/Was There Ever Unity?' Is a Gloriously Fuzzy Masterpiece of Second Thoughts
Sixteen songs assembled from years of sessions by Jeffrey Cheung's Oakland band, out on the tiny Smoking Room label. Two titles, two halves, one enormous pile of guitar fuzz. The Fire Note gave it four out of five; Stereogum clocked the single on the way past.
Haruomi Hosono's 'Yours Sincerely' Is a Warm, Unhurried Letter From a Lifelong Shape-Shifter
Hosono's 23rd studio album and his first for Ghostly International. Ten tracks moving between bossa nova, classical, doo-wop and soundtrack music. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day, praising its 'special tenderness and ache.'
ODAE's 'MOIREMOIREMOIRE' Is a Gleefully Unstable Masterpiece of Sound Design
Fifteen tracks from Ruairi O'Brien, the Texas multi-instrumentalist who has quietly produced three separate Bandcamp Albums of the Day for other people. This is the one under his own name, and Bandcamp Daily calls it 'the best kind of puzzle box.'
The Tubs' 'Hard Life' Is an Exhilarating Masterpiece of Jangle and Spite
The London band's third album and first for Merge — twelve songs of fiddle-flecked jangle-pop sung by two warring personas. It's sitting at an 85 critic average across seven reviews, with Mojo handing it a perfect score.
Rubber Band Gun's 'Bloodwork' Is a Surprise Drop Built Like a Basement Brill Building
Kevin Basko dropped this one online on a Wednesday night with no warning, cut at his own home studio with the Historic New Jersey crew. Stereogum called the arrangements 'loose and lovely'; Paste called the Philly basement it came from 'the new Brill Building.'
Blaine Todd's 'Angle of Repose' Is a Plainspoken Masterpiece of Roadside Melancholy
Fifth solo record from a Bay Area songwriter, out on the small Chicago label Nudie. Bandcamp Daily's Ben Salmon places him between lo-fi folk, outsider twang and ambling psychedelia, and says the songs stuck around long after the record ended. Ten tracks of acoustic guitar, pedal steel, fiddle and lonesome horns.
CULK's 'smogstar' Turns Vienna Post-Punk Toward the Light
The Viennese four-piece's fourth album, produced by Sophie Lindinger of Leyya and My Ugly Clementine and out on Siluh. Ten tracks of German-language post-punk, dream pop and shoegaze that Bandcamp Daily made an Essential Release — looser and more mellow than anything they've done.
Giraffe's 'The Towering Inferno With Bongo Drums' Is a Sunday-Morning Jam That Sounds Like a Saturday-Night Secret
The debut LP from Dave Harrington's new outfit — Harrington plus Robert Walter, Spencer Zahn, and Kosta Galanopoulos, recorded in a single day at 64 Sound in Los Angeles — is eleven pieces of loose, funk-tilted jazz-psych that feel like the kind of band you accidentally catch and never forget.
Dinosaur Jr.'s 'There Near' Is a Loud, Melodic Reminder That the Original Lineup Still Has Gears Left
The reunited original trio's newest, out August 28th on Jagjaguwar, cut at their own Bisquiteen Studio in Amherst. Eleven songs, two Lou Barlow contributions, and a Metacritic average of 82. Pitchfork called it the most energized they've sounded since Beyond.
Maripool's 'Rotten Luck' Is a Debut That Sounds Bigger Than One Person
Natacha Simões' debut as Maripool, written on a Lisbon residency in a building with a broken window and no Wi-Fi, recorded in South London with Joseph Futak. Out on Smoking Room. Stereogum made it Album of the Week.
Interpol's 'This Mirror Weighs a Ton' Is the Sound of a Band Deciding to Be Great Again
Twelve songs, fifty-three minutes, out on Partisan and made in New York for the first time in over a decade. NME calls it arguably their most consistent and satisfying since Antics; Under the Radar gave it nine out of ten. Fourteen reviews in and the aggregate sits at 81.
Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal's 'DOOMED!' Turns a Breakup Into the Funniest Sad Record of the Year
Fifteen tracks, forty-one minutes, every beat by Kenny Segal. The first full collaboration between two friends of nearly two decades, written while a relationship came apart, and pitched by the artists themselves as the world's first half-whimsical break-up album. Album of the Year has it at 81 across nine reviews.
Black Marble's 'Life in Small Spaces' Picks Up a Guitar and Sounds Livelier Than Ever
Fourteen years and seven releases in, Chris Stewart still writes, records, performs and produces Black Marble entirely alone — and on album eight he finally lets guitars into the room. Eleven tracks, forty-one minutes, and a warmth his vintage-synth records only ever hinted at.
Fontaines D.C.'s 'Marianne' Trades Guitars for Icy Reverb — And It Works
The lead single from the Irish band's upcoming fifth album 'Dopamine Chamber' swaps their usual guitar attack for strings, synth bass, and icy reverb. It's a quieter mode for them, and it still lands.
Wild Pink's Still Coming Down Is a Towering, Hopeful Rock Record
John Ross's sixth Wild Pink album follows his cancer-recovery record with one shaped by new fatherhood, and it sounds like it — anthemic sprawl, scratchy grooves, and Ross's most confident songwriting yet. 'I feel like I've found my voice on this record,' he told FLOOD.
Glisten Trick's 'WORN THIN' Is Krautrock Groove Dissolving Into Drone
This self-released single takes a deep, narcotic groove and slowly lets the air out of it until you're left in pure atmosphere. Glisten Trick keeps building a genuinely singular corner of alt-psych, and 'WORN THIN' is their most confident excursion into it yet.
Getdown Services' 'Massive Champion' Is Deadpan, Danceable, and Completely Its Own Thing
The Bristol duo's second album mines British childhood and disco-punk grooves in equal measure, sliding from crunchy punk aggression to funk-lined sprechgesang without ever losing its wit. Massive Champion is deadpan, danceable, and completely its own thing.
Hank Heaven Goes Toe-to-Toe With New York City on 'Welterweight'
Produced by Phil Weinrobe, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter's new EP on Nice Life Recording Company turns floating through New York — and staying on guard the whole time — into six tender, twangy, live-tracked songs.
The Mountain Goats Turn Nostalgia Into a Weapon on 'Days'
John Darnielle and company dress up mortality in horns and major-key harmonies, name-checking Layne Staley and Charlie Sheen along the way. It's the Mountain Goats doing what the Mountain Goats do — just with better arrangements than ever.
Neptune's Core Turn Adulthood Into a Hook-Heavy Debut on 'Pivot'
A Chicago band's debut album about growing up, produced with a maximalist-then-minimalist instinct that knows exactly when to cut the clutter. Catchy, cathartic, and genuinely moving.
MANAPOOL's 'Tower Trance: Yggdra' Is a Portal to a Video Game That Never Existed
The first installment in a planned episodic trance series for the tiny Tabula Rasa Record Company, MANAPOOL's new EP blends Y2K-era trance, jungle, breakbeat, hardcore techno, and video-game soundfonts into what the artist calls 'romantic hardcore.' Bandcamp Daily compared it to a Kingdom Hearts score.
sachi's mirror's 'Talking in a Different Way' Is a Woozy, Gorgeous Spell
A 10-track spell of moody sampled textures, gossamer strings, and looped field recordings, out on the tiny ambient-tape institution Constellation Tatsu. Introspective without ever going cold.
June McDoom's 'Without You' Is a Gorgeous Argument for Staying Present
The lead single from June McDoom's long-awaited debut album 'Follow the Light' is a spacey, patient meditation on gratitude and commitment. Moves slow, lands hard.
Militarie Gun & Mannequin Pussy's 'World's Always Burning' is a Shimmering Masterpiece of Kindred Spirits
Ian Shelton and Missy Dabice team up for the second time, and the song that almost didn't make the album turns out to be one of the best things either band has put out this year.
Nick Hakim's 'I Can See' Turns Grief Into Spectral R&B Bliss
Co-produced with Andrew Sarlo and tracked at Sonic Ranch, NYC studios, and home setups, Hakim's new album processes the end of a record deal and a long-term relationship into something Far Out called 'quiet but mighty.' Moses Sumney and June McDoom guest on 'The Reason.'
Punch Brothers Go Fully Instrumental and It's a Breathless, Bach-Fueled Triumph
The bluegrass supergroup's seventh album is their first all-instrumental record — no drummer, just mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo, and new member Brittany Haas on fiddle, chasing Bach's moto perpetuo technique at breakneck speed. TheArtsDesk gave it five stars and called it 'breathless.'
Xiu Xiu's 'Eraserhead Xiu Xiu' Is a Noise Record Only They Could Make
Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo rebuild the sound world of David Lynch's 1977 film Eraserhead from scratch, trading in industrial hum, bug-wing buzzing, and tactile mechanical noise. Clash called it 'one of the best noise albums in recent years.'
Cinder Well's 'A Blooming Body' Finds Beauty in the Barest Moments
Amelia Baker's fifth album as Cinder Well brings in guest strings, horns, and organ without losing an ounce of her gothic-folk intimacy. Restraint has never sounded so devastating.
Max Subar's 'Anything Could Be' is a Warm, Hard-Won Debut of Lakeside Folk-Rock
A Chicago studio hand who's spent years producing for Case Oats and Sleeper's Bell finally steps out front with an 11-track debut cut at a Wisconsin lake house. Newcity called it a case for hope; Merge Records signed him for it.
Ferries' 'Eye Wander' is a Hypnotic Wonder of Anonymous Dub-Psych
Nobody knows who Ferries are, and it doesn't matter. Ten tracks of cavernous dub space, kraut repetition, and dreamy trebly vocals on World of Echo. The Quietus made it Album of the Week. So do we.
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom's 'A ? of WHEN' is a Sun-Dappled Marvel of Psych-Pop Craft
Noah Lennox and Peter Kember reunite and refuse to repeat themselves. Harp loops, steel drums, sirens, and Stones-y guitars in a psych-pop kaleidoscope. An endless vat of creativity, per Exclaim — and they're right.
Styrofoam Winos' 'Any River' is a Warm, Shapeshifting Wonder of Slacker Indie Rock
Three Nashville songwriters swap instruments and pass the mic, and the whole thing floats by on humble optimism. Talkbox, pedal steel, marimba, and jokes. Downbeat, generous, quietly brilliant.
Hadnot Creek Find the Kingdom at 'The End of the Road'
Self-released outsider folk from Charlottesville with a full band that plays like a front porch full of lifers. Lap steel, fiddle, barroom piano, and songwriting that earns every weathered line. Nobody's covering this record. That's the whole point.
Death Cab for Cutie Find Blunt Force and Seductive Darkness on 'I Built You a Tower'
Recorded in a rapid three-week sprint, this is the leanest, darkest Death Cab in years — synth-streaked, urgent, and emotionally unguarded in a way legacy bands rarely risk.
Warning Return with 'Rituals of Shame' and Doom Has Rarely Sounded This Clear-Eyed
Pristine production in doom metal is a radical act — every sorrowful note on this record arrives in full focus, and the macro-scale songwriting turns patience into a heavy instrument.
August Burns Red Build a Cathedral of Breakdowns on Season of Surrender
Melodic, progressive metalcore with djent shading and an 84-caliber commitment to craft. Every breakdown here is engineered like architecture — load-bearing, deliberate, gorgeous. Heavy metal work ethic, rainbow presentation.
Elder Blast Off Into the Void with Through Zero
Long-form riff odysseys built on a cosmic scale. Elder stack progressive rock, heavy psych, and stoner heft into towering movements that reward every minute you give them.
Immolation Dig Deeper Than Ever on Descent
Dissonant death metal royalty returns with an album that churns like tectonic plates. Cavernous, crushing, and somehow still surprising after decades. This is the sound of veterans who never stopped sharpening the blade.
Hellripper Floor It Straight Through Coronach
Breakneck riffs, blackened rock 'n' roll swagger, and pure gleeful energy. Coronach is speed metal that grins the entire time it's trying to outrun itself.
Neurosis Rise From the Ashes With An Undying Love For A Burning World
The year's highest-rated album so far, and it earns every point. Slow, punishing, texture-obsessed sludge that plays like an artistic rebirth. Heavy music as landscape painting, rendered in rust and ember.
Converge Are Still the Standard on 'Love Is Not Enough'
Decades in, Converge still play precision chaos like nobody else. This is metalcore, mathcore, sludge, and hardcore fused by a band that helped write the blueprint.
URNE Light the Horizon on 'Setting Fire To The Sky'
Progressive sludge that knows when to crush and when to float. URNE stack atmospheric passages against melodic metalcore shades and make the contrast feel inevitable.
Musings
- The Drum Fill Is a DoorwaySep 1, 2026
- In Defense of the Terrible Band NameAug 13, 2026
- The Album Opener Is a HandshakeAug 9, 2026
- The Runout Groove Is Where Vinyl Gets PersonalAug 9, 2026
- The Hidden Track Is the Album's Best-Kept SecretAug 6, 2026
- The Fake-Out Ending Is Pop's Best Practical JokeJul 31, 2026
- Every Great Band Started in Somebody's BasementJul 30, 2026
- In Praise of the Bridge (The Best Eight Bars in Pop Music)Jul 23, 2026
- The Case for the Mystery BandJul 17, 2026
- Headphones at Night, Speakers on SundayMay 19, 2026
- Your Guilty Pleasure Isn't GuiltyNov 11, 2025