Welcome to another weekly instalment of Riot Act, your dose of news and opinions on all recent alternative music shenanigans. It’s been a wild time putting the show together this week, as both Steve and Remfry are reeling from the news that one of hardcore's most beloved and inspirational bands have split up. We talk through the Every Time I Die split before paying tribute to them as best we can by each choosing five songs from their illustrious back catalogue to create our own personal ETID super playlist.

That’s not all though, there’s also chat on recent releases from Elvis Costello, Comeback Kid, Toundra and Som, live reviews of Idles and Haggard Cat, the surprising (if fairly minor) rise in CD sales and how old and confused we feel by the recent announcement of the emo*-tastic When We Were Young one day festival in Las Vegas later this year.

*NOT REAL EMO!

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We’re back with another Riot Act Reviews, the show where we cast our critical eye over a brand new release from a sizable or interesting artist. 

Today we’re looking at the 6th studio album from Canadian stadium punk lads Billy Talent, Crisis of Faith. Billy Talent are both sizable AND interesting, particularly if you’re German, but both of our hosts scratch their heads and try to remember the bands previous album, 2016’s Afraid of Heights, but can’t quite put their finger on having any prior knowledge of it. That’s not to say we have no prior love of BT, in fact their earlier material is very close to the heart of one of us, but that was the past, and can the Billy Talent of 2022 match up to their wiry, yelping and anthemic best of the 2000’s?

https://billytalent.tmstor.es/?lf=116807cff6d6a83d5c61fc8e34f9e763 (Like Billy Talent? Pick up some merch or pre-order the record why dontcha!?)

https://youtu.be/3mlGOGfoYNM (Billy Talent - End Of Me feat. Rivers Cuomo (Official Music Video))

https://youtu.be/Nq1MTaw2X6s (Billy Talent - Reckless Paradise - Official Lyric Video)

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On this Riot Act Review Steve and Remfry talk you through their opinions on the latest album from Chicago born rapper Earl Sweatshirt, Sick!... that’s the name of the album by the way, we’re not just really excited about it. It’s been an interesting life that Mr Sweatshirt has lived, and now, with this being his first release since parting ways with former label Columbia and the promise of more “riskier” material, we get to hear just what he’s been up to in the last three and a bit years. Turns out, like all of us, he’s been stuck in lockdown, and Sick! is another kind of conceptual piece regarding his thoughts on state of humanity during the COVID19 pandemic. At least, that’s what he has said, with a record this slight, its ten tracks clocking in a just over the 24 minute mark, this dreamy and fronted by a man with a fairly lackadaisical flow, it isn’t always that easy to tell. Still, we do our best to decipher it all here.

https://earlsweatshirt.lnk.to/sick (Like the sound of the record? Why not pick up a copy?)

Videos

https://youtu.be/S0yn-5Asyxs (Earl Sweatshirt - Titanic (Official Video))

https://youtu.be/RRA4zbSR8V4 (Earl Sweatshirt - Old Friend)

https://youtu.be/vK3V-3jv58w (Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!)

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Original posted September 16th 2020 on https://www.patreon.com/riotactpodcast (https://www.patreon.com/riotactpodcast)

Steve and Remfry go very in-depth (almost Classic Album-worthy in-depth) on an album that was very hotly anticipated at the time, the debut from Aldershot melodic post-hardcore heroes Hundred Reasons. As suggested by Tierney, this Rioteer's Review provides an opportunity to merrily skip down memory lane as both Steve and Remfry were heavily invested in the scene that Hundred Reasons (debatably) spawned. 

They discuss the hype leading up to the record, the resounding success and sadly, what seemed inevitable decline of a band who, for just a sweet short summer in 2002 looked like they might dominate the entire universe (spoiler ... they didn't).

All that plus, we discover the revelation that Remfry's never heard the saying 'keen as mustard' and Steve stays on brand by obsessing over a band that no-one's even vaguely heard of and oly ever released one(!) demo.

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Welcome to episode 177 of Riot Act, the alternative music podcast … so alternative in fact that Steve brings up Gangham Style within 30 seconds of pressing record … THAT’S how alternative we are!

We’ve had a few weeks off over the Christmas period which has given both Steve and Remfry a little time to listen to some of the records they’d intended to in 2021, but didn’t get round to. We bring you some mainly great releases we missed, a couple of ok ones and one particularly stinky one to round things off.

In the news, we discuss Metallica’s dogs, Glastonbury’s profits and the sad passing of Woodstock founder Michael Lang. Plus, we sift through a few records coming up in the next few months that we can say with absolute 100% assurance that we have not heard, no sir, not us, move right along, nothing to hear here ...

Woodstock Videos

https://youtu.be/Ahb0J5YEWxg (Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer - 8/14/1994 - Woodstock 94)

https://youtu.be/BwH3tUwGh0E (Green Day - When I Come Around @ Live Woodstock 1994 HD)

https://youtu.be/fGl1ItUFPaU (Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole - 8/13/1994 - Woodstock 94 (Official))

https://youtu.be/WKYc_NYcp_0 (Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls - 8/12/1994 - Woodstock 94)

https://youtu.be/ZymOiXCTrN8 (The Allman Brothers Band - The Same Thing - 8/14/1994 - Woodstock 94 (Official))

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Welcome back to Riot Act Reviews, another chance for Steve and Remfry to chew the cud over a new and exciting album from the alternative music landscape. On this episode we look at Epigone, the 4th full length album from Boston based proggressive metallers Wilderun.

We reviewed the band’s 3rd album Veil of Imagination on episode 102 of the show and were very impressed by their blend of extreme metal styles, progressive elements and classical orchestration. We maaaaaay have said they sounded a bit like Opeth in that review but then hey … that’s no bad thing is it!. 

This time around, the “O band” do come up again, but there is definitely a sense of expansion beyond Veil of Imagination, with psychedelic elements, classic American folk and some evocative synth work added to their already very dynamic palette of extreme metal, classic prog and some truly stirring Michael Kamen-esque orchestral flourishes.

https://wilderun.lnk.to/Epigone (Order yourself a physical copy of Epigone why don't you?)

Videos

https://youtu.be/pdpWEpIDKCc (Passenger)

https://youtu.be/MQAPmNybgfA (Identifier)

https://youtu.be/lcRWxBPjDPQ (Distraction I)

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Welcome to the first Riot Act Review of Twenty Twenty Two! This week it’s quite an unusual event, as Steve and Remfry have a ma-hoo-sive new release to chat about in the usually notoriously quiet first week of the year. We go in-depth on Dawn FM the surprise released 5th album from Canadian electro, soul and pop singer songwriter The Weeknd. 

He may well be one of the most famous musicians on the planet right now, but The Weeknd is not your typical Riot Act artist, with one of our hosts having only vaguely dipped his toe into the back catalogue and the other having no prior knowledge of his work at all. Still, this is already a hugely significant release and Dawn FM is a pretty good place to start getting into The Weeknd, as its creator has spoken about the album being a brighter and lighter version of much of his previous material. As well as some seriously seductive and instantaneous 80’s inflected soul pop being present here we also get a varied plethora of famous voices lending their talents to the album, with the likes of Lil Wayne, Tyler The Creator, Quincy Jones and (we’re not making this up) JIM CARREY all lending their voices. The result is an album that is destined to be one of the biggest of the year in any genre … but, is it actually any good? 

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Welcome to the final Riot Act podcast of 2021, and what better way to finish the year off than with the culmination of our countdown of the very best albums of the year. Steve and Remfry reveal their individual top five picks in what has undoubtedly been one of the most exceptional years for music in living memory. With it being such a fantastic period for music there are a whole heap of honourable mentions to be revealed, before things get a little bit emotional as we reach the climax of the last 12 months, with everything from boisterous hardcore punk to delicate folk, from scabrous experimental hip hop to lo-fi indie pop being recognised at the, phenomenally strong, business ends of our lists. 

We will return in 2022, which is going to have to go some way to topping 2021, but we’ll do our best to continue providing you with the very best sounds we can find from every corner of the alternative spectrum… whatever that even means to us these days… even we don’t really know! Have a lovely Christmas and thank you for all your support and encouragement over the last 12 months.

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Yes that’s right, it’s Riot Act, your favourite dose of alternative music content back again with another show filled with lovely year end shenanigans. This week Steve and Remfry continue their countdown of the very best records of 2021 by revealing numbers 10 to 6 in their individual lists, a varied bunch containing everything from prog-metal to lo-fi indie to mad piano jazz to euphoric blackgaze. Plenty for your ears to enjoy.

We also bombard you with a mammoth list of our hosts' favourite songs of the year, which excitingly includes an entire reading of that Godspeed You Black Emperor song with the mad long name, and a bit of a chat about how good metal has been this year (Not very on brand is it!)... oh, and we prove we’re shit at maths.

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Welcome back to another Riot Act, where you join us at the second of four shows detailing Steve and Remfry’s continuing countdown of the 20 best albums of 2021. 

This week our hosts talk you through numbers 15 to 11, waxing lyrical on everything from soaring, majestic soul to crushing, expansive black metal, from warming, bright shoegaze to icy cold gothic melodrama. All that and much more are represented in our hosts picks, and they also find time to talk through some of the most disappointing albums of 2021. In our humble opinion you understand. Sure. Obviously. 

Oh… Remfry ISN’T wearing new glasses by the way. Just to be clear. THEY ARE NOT NEW GLASSES… Carry on!

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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