75 or Less Records


CLICK HERE to go to the label page for information on the latest news, upcoming releases, live dates and other 75orLess Label info




WELCOME TO THE 75ORLESS
MUSIC WEBSITE

Over 1,900 reviews in our archives, started in October 2001.


IN OUR EARDRUMS - updated May 2013

Low - The Invisible Way (Sub Pop)
Yo La Tengo - Fade (Matador)
The Soft Drugs - In Moderation & Get Back Side A (self released)
Overseas- Self Titled (Undertow)
John Vanderslice - Dagger Beach/Diamond Dogs 2XLP (self released)
David Bazan - 2013 Tour EP with print (self released)
Eleventh Dream Day - New Moodio (Comedy Minus One)
Joel RL Phelps - 2012-13 demos
Ho-ag - World-Destroying Zig-zag (self released)
Kurt Vile - Walkin on a Pretty Daze (Matador)
Shane Sweeney - The Finding Time (Last Chance)
The Men - New Moon (Sacred Bones)
Tobacco / Black Bananas - Split 7 inch (Volcom)
Toman - Postrock Hits Vol 2 (Graveface)
Various - Rated GG Tribute 7 inch (The Best Show)


Why 75orLess?
It's a reasonable question. The idea was born during our daily music chats back in the Fall of 2001, while discussing reviews we'd read. There was only one thing we consistently agreed on: they were too long. It seemed the point of how the music sounded and whether or not it was good was lost in an overlong mess of lyric quotes, personal accounts and a seemingly desperate attempt to fulfill a word count. Eventually someone said, "It's gotten to the point where if you can't say it in 75 words or less, you should shut the eff up". Within a week, 75orless.com was born. The best part about our limit is its reversal of typical music reviews. We limit the amount of words we use, and are not required to reach a number.

Welcoming brit pop, flip hop, hip hop, power pop, trip hop, nintendocore, nerdcore, sadcore, borecore, floorcore, grindcore, borecore, crabcore, hardcore, rockabilly, shockabilly, psychobilly, snowbilly, disco, narcocorrido, techno, turbo, electro, tango, goombay, taco, zolo, soul, new new wave, new age, nu gaze, nu metal, new grass, new romantic, black metal, tap, neo-psychedelia, prog, kabuki, surf, noise, show tunes, prison metal, synth, ragtime, tuvan throat-singing, death, 8-bit, improv, idm, swamp, tin pan alley, crust, stuffed crust, electronic, boom and chime, indie, pagan, folk, merseybeat, punk, lo-fi, pop, western, gothic, samba, travesty, reggae, punta, jazz, blues, acid, avant-garde, easy listening, sludge, fungi, viking, polka, garage, country, no wave, wizard, waxjax, rap, jug, twee, kettle, swing, electronic hardcore, comedy, math rock, nordic, space age, lo-wage, medieval, thrash, muzak, beatbox, old metal, world, yer major label industry crap and all other music submissions.

To be considered for a review, send all items to:

75orLess
ATTN: Reviews
23 Laurel Lane
Warren, RI 02885

We vow to never upload your music to file sharing sites for others to grab for free. We also encourage you to use recyclable mailing packaging, as we try to reuse as much of it as possible. We also love vinyl submissions.

Another option available for submissions is to make your release available for download.
Please make sure that your music is available as a zip file for download with 160kb (or better) mp3 files. The fine print - We do not review single songs. No streaming, wav, flac, real player, windows media or quicktime files will be considered. Soundcloud users, zip all your songs into one zip! We do not embed widgets or your html code. We also will not install any proprietary music players that are required to hear your music. Keep it simple, folks! Send your link to: 75orless [at] gmail.com

No matter how you submit your music, here's a few things to keep in mind...

Please include some info with your submission, it doesn't have to be fancy. We just need some sort of starting point like, "This album sounds like heavy metal mixed with Brazilian pop music." Giving us a description of your music greatly increases your chances of getting reviewed. We are sorry to report we cannot review all submissions. We are a very small operation and our staff is completely volunteer. If your music is great, we will let our readers know. It doesn't matter to us if you are on a major label or you recorded it in your basement. On the flip side of that, if you are too sensitive to handle an unfavorable review, please refrain from submitting. We don't claim to have our finger on the pulse of current music trends, so maybe you are better off ignoring us. The comment functionality on the site has been disabled for years, so you are safe from the reader's hatred. Anyways, we mostly like to give descriptive or generally positive reviews, but sometimes can't help ourselves. Also, we will never respond to your musical submissions with our ad rates and you should not email us to ask us if it's alright to submit music. This happens at least fifty times per day and we don't have the time to respond. You either submit your music or you don't, that's the deal.

Every friday, we post links to rare and live music available for download. We do not link to lossless files, as we are half deaf ourselves. We also don't host any files, as we do not comprehend the technology. We simply stumble across this stuff and share the links. Please support all the websites and bands responsible for allowing free music into your ears.

We are based out of Providence, Rhode Island. We offer no apologies, nor should you hold that against us.

Some of the compliments we have received

Dolphin Music Top 100 Music Related Blogs of 2008 - #82
Best Music Weblog "Bloggie" nominee 2004
Providence Phoenix Nominee for Best Blog 2008-2010
Time Magazine's Fifteen Great Sites for Musicians and Fans 2003
Yahoo! Pick of The Day 2002
Yahoo! Best of 2002
USA Today's Hot Sites 2002
and thank you, Shift Magazine. It's a real shame you went bankrupt.

Leslie Harpold, we love you and miss you.

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OUR SPONSORS



Garage Doors RI



friends of..... updated 3-10-13
chocoreve
random website
weirdest band in the world
azorean splendor
brooklyn vegan
garage abandon
matador blog
fast n bulbous
kick bright
bandmo
ionik records
sluggisha
atomic ned
acme video
adam xii
free music archive
rocky point movie
beat the indie drum
jarvys cafe
power pop review
providence daily dose
gimme tinnitus
rock and roll report
red ferret
lotsofnoise
indie pages
know your conjurer
captains dead
pvd social club


MUSICAL YOUTH
flat response
largehearted boy
nyc taper
shiny grey monotone
southern shelter
keeping score at home
wfmu blog
onga kubaka
outline infinity
space rock mountain
we effing love music
acid punks
all i want sevens
big o
creep scanner
doom and gloom
down underground
hiding behind the shed
i don't care about sleep
i am the least machiavellian
music art vcl
mutant sounds
noise addiction II
nuzz prowling wolf
ratboy
son of subversive sounds
13th floor vendetta
thats the thing about that
total destruction
uhngreh schpugenuh
willfully obscure
merge
misra
thrill jockey
big school
comedy minus one


PODCASTS & COMEDY
joe's big mouth
earwolf
smodcast
nerdist
greg fitzsimmons
sklar bros
tig notaro
professor blastoff
ronna and beverly
low times podcast
dana gould
tom sharpling
scharpling and wurster
wit stream
todd levin
the onion
mcsweeneys
leslie
slashleen
swan fungus
bostworld
chunklet


MUSICAL GOUDA
bradley's almanac
buddyhead
captain obvious
chromewaves mp3s
good bad music
goutroy
killed by death
motel demoka
music for maniacs
the noise
pop drivel
strange reaction
you ain't no picasso
alice bag
all music
wmcn
wumd
zulieka
admiral radley
bottomless pit
centro-matic
kustomized
mission of burma
mountain goats
portastatic
silkworm
soul-junk
tw walsh
john vanderslice
mike watt
tape-op
silvertone world
kexp
nevver
old school hip hop tapes
peter king lathe cuts
pirate press flexi

ENJOY
there i fixed it
tankboy prime
tiny showcase
crooks and liars
fark
metafilter
this isn't happiness
wonkette
animal rescue league
cute overload
jesus general
prov phoenix
this modern world
tony pierce
yoga loft





Site Meter
75 or Less
album reviews in 75 words or less
(but words with 2 letters or fewer do not count)

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 Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope) [audio/video] [e-card] [upcoming shows]

Everyone's asking... "Will they still be able to kick ass without Nick Oliveri?" "They lost Mark Lanegan, too?!" "What the fuck? The Disneyland marching band?!" Don't worry your pretty little head. The Queens of the fuckin' Stone Age are still kickin' all the ass that needs to be kicked. This is what it sounds like when you disappear into the desert, smoke more pot than should be humanly possible and then put the whole thing to tape. Crushing hooks. Killer riffs. Fuzzed out majesty. Bow to your fucking Queens, baby. - brian
Released 03.22.2005
link this review | 3 comments | discuss

Comeback Kid - Wake the Dead Comeback Kid - Wake the Dead (Victory Records) [mp3] [upcoming shows]

Pop quiz, hot shot: 1) The cowbell is to rock 'n' roll as _____ vocals are to hardcore. 2) True or false: melody has a place in hardcore. 3) Can it still be hardcore without a breakdown every three seconds? The answers: gang, true and absolutely. If you're still suspicious of these answers, just listen to Wake the Dead. The only thing left to be answered specifically about this energetic little band is: can it last beyond the listener's teen years? - jason m.
Released 02.22.2005
link this review | 0 comments | discuss

The Chills - Stand By The Chills - Stand By (MPM) [audio] [upcoming shows]

Almost an entire decade has come to pass since Martin Phillips last released a proper Chills record, and with good reason. In that time, he found himself the victim of addiction, near poverty and diminished health. Stand By would be a worthy return under any circumstances, but even more so under these. The subtlety of The Chills' later albums is abandoned in favor of the playful nature of earlier works, and Phillips miraculously sounds younger now than he did 20 years ago. Welcome back. - paul
Released 10.01.2004
link this review | 0 comments | discuss

Turpentine Brothers - We Don't Care About Your Good Times Turpentine Brothers - We Don't Care About Your Good Times (Alive) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]

Boston's Turpentine Brothers are brazen liars. One listen to the album and it's pretty obvious that they do care about your good times. This stockpile of disorderly garage r&b is highlighted by the thundering organ work of Zack Brines, but band founders Justin Hubbard and Tara McManus round things out with such admiration for the genre they've chosen. In addition, Hubbard's versatile cords deliver either a menacing growl or a self-confident baritone precisely when called for. Best served with whiskey and cigarettes. - paul
Released 01.18.2005
link this review | 0 comments | discuss

Iron and Wine - Woman King EP Iron & Wine - Woman King EP (Sub Pop) [mp3]

Is it possible that Sam Beam is getting better and better? While many were initially skeptical when the stripped down, guy in his basement segment of Beams career moved into real recording studios, everything since has been exceptional. And now comes this EP, and quality abounds. He almost shifts into a different gear for this EP, as if that third cup of java just kicked in. Still soft enough to lay your head on, but maybe with a little foot tapping added in. If you are a fan already, it's a no brainer, if not, it's time to be. - joe l.
Released 02.22.2005
link this review | 4 comments | discuss

The Decemberists - Picaresque The Decemberists - Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars) [upcoming shows]

Intelligent indie-folk-pop. The Decemberists third LP brings the group's nasally nerdy lyrics to a head, verbally versatile and melodically pleasing indie to boot. Similar to their other albums, Picaresque takes us through the lives of seemingly fictional adventurers, all along the way making intelligent note of the complexities of the world around them and the strange situations in which the characters find themselves. I want to live in a Decemberists song, please. - cat g.
Released 03.22.2005
link this review | 16 comments | discuss

Jesu Jesu (Hydra Head) [mp3]

Jesu makes it nearly impossible to crack a smile. Or take a breath. Or love life. In fact, this sounds so unhealthy that it's hard to even recommend listening to it. But even sadness can lend a comforting hand. In his latest incarnation, nihilism fetishist Justin Broadrick goes off the deep end to invoke human decay and all its crippling effects via super heavy guitars and fittingly grimy production. You'll want more even as you question why. - jason m.
Released 01.25.2005
link this review | 1 comment | discuss

Eisley - Room Noises Eisley - Room Noises (Reprise) [audio] [video] [upcoming shows]

Eisley falls into that very narrow category of bands with underground buzz who are on the verge of becoming widely known. Poor kids, the pressure must be immense. Though they should be applauded for writing and performing better material than a host of their peers, Room Noises betrays the band's penchant for overcompensation; clever musical and lyrical turns simply for the sake of cleverness. What could have been a wonderful pop record is tainted by its desire to be something more. - paul
Released 02.08.2005
link this review | 0 comments | discuss

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart (Interscope) [audio]

A decidedly different effort from Source Tags and Codes. ...AYWKUBTTOD have learned to pull the density of their sound way back, occasionally to Jack White-like levels. This allows their trademark wall of sound approach to feel more like the crescendo it is meant to be. The songwriting is actually improved on this record, with a number of melodies that I have been humming all week. Add well-placed symphonic elements, and you get a worthy follow-up with just the right mix of growth and familiar territory. - tom d.
Released 01.25.2005
link this review | 18 comments | discuss

Bear Claw - Find The Sun Bear Claw - Find The Sun (Sickroom) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]

Many years have passed since I would claim to appreciate an album sounding like this one. You know the kind I'm talking about; that muscular, aggressive, rhythmic blueprint that once dominated Chicago's indie output. Credit Steve Albini if you want, but it's Bear Claw themselves who've done the hard part. They've breathed life back into a genre of music that's been in a vegetative state for a decade. The next thing you know, the Lounge Ax will be forced to re-open. - paul
Released 10.26.2004
link this review | 3 comments | discuss

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