Review: A 12" split meeting of the minds between two equally iconic alt rock punk-lifers, this EP brings together Gainesville, Florida's Hot Water Music and New York City's Quicksand (brainchild of Gorilla Biscuits hardcore hero and Rival Schools emo-grunge auteur Walter Schreifels), covering each other's classic tracks with renditions of 'Fazer' from the Quicksand 1993 debut LP Slip and 'Free Radio Gainesville' off of Hot Water Music's 1999 third full-length No Division. Filling out the tracklist are the unreleased 'Supercollider' which marks the first new cut of Quicksand material since 2021's Distant Populations, and the b-side 'Undertow', originally recorded during sessions from Hot Water Music's latest 2024 LP Vows. With simple cover art featuring Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan on one side, and Quicksand's Alan Cage on the other, it perfectly summarises this playful, mutual celebration of one another's work, some new, some old, all great.
Review: Quade's second album is steeped in the isolation and raw beauty of its birthplace: a crumbling Welsh barn surrounded by moors. The Bristol four-piece i Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly i channel this wild setting into a sound that's both fragile and immense, blurring ambient-dub textures with ghostly folk melodies and the drifting crescendos of post-rock. The Foel Tower feels like it was pulled from misty hillsides and long, firelit nights, an album of quiet intensity: tender one moment, potent the next, yet always emotionally direct. Tracks unfold patiently, as if shaped by the slow grind of weather over stone. There's a strong undercurrent of personal grief and resilience here too. The band's longtime friendship and collective hardships add a tangible intimacy, turning these atmospheric compositions into acts of quiet survival. The Foel Tower transcends as it is stark, gorgeous and deeply human. This is music for the in-between moments: dusk turning to night, silence folding into sound.
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