Pepo M.

This album doesn't need another review from a privileged middle-aged white man. Just listen to it, bow and learn.

David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise, Zwan, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc.) is always out there looking for something, like a fisherman's boat navigating in the dark. Normally he just fish for its own consumption, but sometimes he get a piece big enough to sell it to others. In this case it's the 9th song of the album: 'Let It Be Me'.

Warpaint at the peak of their game. Good songs, amazing sound and exuberant performing. More dream pop than post-punk, more Grouper than Savages, more delicate without giving up the energy.

I still have mixed feelings about this record. I am sure it's great, and it sounds great and she's great, but I still don't know if I will love it in 2025. If that's the case, I will come back and edit this review.

30% weird + 20% safe place + 50% amazing songs. This record contains songs that will pass the test of time, like 'Royal Morning Blue'. It's always the same with Damon: you don't know what his next move will be, but it's going to be interesting.

I don't think I've listened something like this ever before. One song of 45 minutes with its own world inside, its own rules, its own metric. I don't think I know anyone capable of doing something like this. And I know a lot of talented people.

I don't know what Hot Water Music had in mind before heading the studio to track 'VOWS', but it seems they wanted to create something different without getting too far out from their confort zone for their 30th anniversary release. The result is better than anyone expected due to what looks like a right decisions protocol: songs enough different between each other, high-profile guest appearances (Turnstile, Thrice, City and Colour, The Interrupters and Popeye Vogelsang from Fireside and Calling Hours) and the perfect producer, Brian McTernan, one of those cult presences in the last three decades of hardcore. Expect raised fist sing alongs and meaningful lyrics for grown ups that still wear band tshirts and skate shoes.

Who would ever have dreamed to see two Fugazi members in an Impulse! Records album? Everything I like about jazz is here: sophisticated melodies, raw power and unpredictability. The jazz record punks should buy.