The Church / The Afghan Whigs

The Church – Few bands enter their fifth decade of making music with all the fierce creative energy of their early years. Even fewer bands are like The Church. Experiencing a renaissance of sorts with their worldwide critically-hailed 26^th album The Hypnogogue and a world tour that took them through North America, the UK, Europe and Australia, The Church was met with fervent audiences who embraced not only their early catalog but their new material as well. UNCUT encapsulated this idea when they wrote in their 8 out of 10 review that “The Hypnogogue is like every other Church album, and nothing quite like any of them; both statements are intended as compliments.” Read More

The Afghan Whigs – From their inception in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1986, The Afghan Whigs have never played by the rules of convention. Against the plaid-and-grunge-shaded backdrop of the early-to-mid-‘90s, the Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries by virtue of attiring in suits and being way more likely to slide up on a Marvin Gaye groove than rehash a Black Sabbath riff. They stand apart still. Twenty-six years down the line, bands simply aren’t supposed to be making the most vaulting and thrilling music of their lives. Yet that’s precisely what the Whigs have done with ‘How Do You Burn?’, their ninth album overall and following on from the brace of widely-acclaimed records they’ve made previously since re-grouping in 2012, ‘Do to the Beast’ (2014) and ‘In Spades’ (2017). ‘How Do You Burn?’ picks up the baton laid down by each of those records and runs it to the horizon. Read More