Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

13. The Sonics - This is the Sonics (Revox) Who would expect a band that hasn't released a record for more than forty years to rock so hard? This is the Sonics undoubtedly shows that rock and roll is not necessarily a young person's game. The Sonics prove they still have what it takes in spades, delivering a record that has all the power of their early recordings with the levels turned up to eleven. The recording sounds crisp and clean, and the band has power to spare. The mono recording captures the power and passion of a group that sounds psyched to still be playing together and does not lessen the sheer visceral impact of their chosen material and performances. While it does not quite match the intensity of their 60s recordings, the album packs a wallop. Gerry Roslie still has the pipes to belt out frantic rock and roll numbers and Larry Parypa plays some riffs that could teach the youngsters a thing or two. Rob Lind blows his sax with the expected squall. Th...

15. Panopticon - Roads to the North (Bindrune) Panopticon is the project of Kentucky native Austin  Lunn and combines elements of traditional folk music with Metal, yet never seems like a Black Metal retread as it relies heavily on American musical folk styles. Panopticon's songs are an atmospheric reinvention of where folk and metal might intersect. Some, such as "The Echoes of Disharmonium" are thrashy, guttural metal numbers, while "The Long Road Part 1: One Last Fire is a distortion free traditional bluegrass fiddling interlude that merges with "The Long Road Part 2: Capricious Miles," a seven plus minute melodically epic track more easily than one would suspect. Panopticon makes these transitions look simple, merging heavy music and several American folk forms, including traditional Native American flutes and even banjos with startling clarity. Roads to the North builds on their earlier records and reflects the growth of this interesting amalgamati...