Pittsburgh has never been known, particularly, as a hub for post-rock, that fluid genre of ”music for people who read books” that flirts with everything from shoegaze to math-rock. (We…
Justin Vellucci
143 Articles
Justin Vellucci is a former staffer at Punk Planet and Delusions of Adequacy. His music writing has appeared in national magazines like American Songwriter and PopMatters, alt-weeklies such as Brooklyn Rail, Pittsburgh CityPaper, and San Diego CityBeat, blogs Swordfish and Linoleum, and the Gannett publication Jetty. He lives in Pittsburgh.
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Justin Vellucci
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Let me call it early: anybody who’s anybody who considers themselves a devotee of punk rock will consider Hunk, the recently announced third full-length from Reno quartet Elephant Rifle, to…
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Justin Vellucci
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Tom Waits never has sounded better, at least in terms of fidelity, than he does on the new, re-mastered versions of Alice and Blood Money — which were released, to…
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Justin Vellucci
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Yeah, yeah, putting the final nail in the coffin of 2017 is a little premature, seeing as there’s still more than 30 days left in the year. But, I’m the…
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Justin Vellucci
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The Sun Machine certainly has its musical reference points down pat. On its evocative Turn On to Evil LP, which was released two days ago through Electric Church, the Austin…
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Justin Vellucci
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I feel largely under-qualified to review abcdf, the new EP and accompanying visual experience from Montreal duo DF. While tenor saxophonist Dustin Finer employs some of the same looping methods…
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Justin Vellucci
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Chuck Mosley — who died unexpectedly yesterday, age 57 — was a mess of contradictions. He was an L.A. rock star and a Midwestern underground icon. He was audacious, yet…
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Justin Vellucci
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My first exposure to the bizarre genius of U-Men came when I first tracked down a vinyl copy of the scene-setting C/Z Records comp. Deep Six back in the early…
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Justin Vellucci
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Anybody as active in a scene as Misra Records head and Pittsburgh indie-rock impresario Jeff Betten has to have a soft spot for the music. And, man oh man, does…
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Justin Vellucci
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It’s hard not to view Primitive Race’s sophomore outing, Soul Pretender, as the next chapter in Chuck Mosley’s epic comeback story. On the record, out Friday on Metropolis, Mosley is…
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Justin Vellucci
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Pittsburgh’s The Gotobeds are offering their two cents on a vintage blast of punk energy — and it is mighty good. Dubbed Definitely Not a Red Kross EP, the new…
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Justin Vellucci
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There’s electronic buzzing, post-something refrains, borderline-tribal heat, and occasional Rhodes-and-bass grooves. There’s also, however, more mutant pop bridges than you could swing a dead cat at, if that’s your idea…
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Justin Vellucci
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He’s going it on his own again and it sounds great. Tomorrow, after a decade-plus at the helm of the thought-rock ensemble/b(r)and Skeletons, Matt Mehlan will strike out on his…
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Justin Vellucci
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Dreamy, ethereal, other-worldly — all could be used to describe Keep the Ocean Inside, Pittsburgher Maureen ”Maux” Boyle’s engaging sophomore outing as The Seven Fields of Aphelion and her first…
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Justin Vellucci
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Watter — a Louisville post-rock band that’s high in promise due to its parentage, if nothing else — simply fails to deliver on the oft-disjointed but occasionally ambitious History of…
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Justin Vellucci
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When Chad Beattie, a 24-year-old from Baltimore, first told me about his bedroom project Yes Selma — a Dancer In The Dark nod — he referenced a lot of the…
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Justin Vellucci
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The antique-garde is rearing its head again. After seven years of silence, Pinataland founder David Wechsler — whose bizarre orchestrette once emanated from near the epicenter of a NYC micro-scene…
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Justin Vellucci
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The songs are sparse exercises in stoicism at times, but — like most Loscil recordings, it seems — there’s a lot percolating beneath the surface. Perhaps less than usual —…
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Justin Vellucci
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Twenty-five years ago today, the beat was born. It was the sound of young adults from Louisville — a sprawling collection of collaborators, most of them close friends since childhood…
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Justin Vellucci
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Five days ago, David Grubbs released one of the best records of his storied career and a real contender, especially in avant-indie circles, for Record of the Year. The LP…
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Justin Vellucci
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It’s starting to become the definition of stasis. Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a new LP, Luciferian Towers, the band’s sixth, today on Constellation Records and, while it’s certainly far…
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Justin Vellucci
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It starts with the guitar and the guitar alone, amplified slightly but not distorted, its complicated figures as crystalline as frosted glass. It advances, carefully, with the occasional pitter-patter of…
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Justin Vellucci
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For the better part of the last two decades, The National has been providing me and others like me with the soundtrack for our adulting. Now, I’m not talking, necessarily,…
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Justin Vellucci
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Black Wine is dead. Long live Black Wine! Everyone’s favorite New Jersey punk trio played its final show Aug. 13 at Brighton Bar in Long Branch, N.J., bringing to an…
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Justin Vellucci
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Captain Beefheart devotees, rejoice! Shape-shifter Don van Vliet might be deceased but his spirit — and that of his ever-evolving Magic Band — is alive and well in Pittsburgh. Local…
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Justin Vellucci
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Man, that’s devastating! If the reverb-drenched guitar on this record’s second track doesn’t move you to tremble with tears, then the soaring strings on “M1” surely will. Pianist/composer Rachel Grimes…
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Justin Vellucci
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Indie writer/musician Adam Gnade is a lot like Neutral Milk Hotel’s beautific, canonical ”Oh Comely;” he makes you feel resilient and centered as life and all its context tries to…
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Justin Vellucci
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Much pomp and circumstance has been made about Sam Beam returning in 2017 to the form of his early years. But while Iron & Wine’s Beast Epic, out today on…
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Justin Vellucci
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Portland’s Taylor Malsey presents listeners with some warbled tunes and an inviting, warm blanket of melancholia on the excellent Wilt debut Hand Mirror, out now on Good Cheer Records. And,…
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Justin Vellucci
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There’s this moment on Envy — the new six-song EP from Rotterdam’s The Lumes, out soon on Crazysane Records — that you’ve gotta hear. It’s ”Discharge,” the third song, and,…