Music Reviews
New Radiant Storm King

New Radiant Storm King

Leftover Blues 1991 – 2003

Contraphonic

Perhaps one of the greatest bands you’ve never heard of, New Radiant Storm King are classed in the awkward category of “great bands that should have, but sadly…” Leftover Blues: 1991–2003 is a stop-gap collection that chronicles the numerous ways NRSK fires on all cylinders, having crafted inspired indie-rock anthems throughout their 12 years of existence. Slogging away in the trenches while peers such as Sebadoh and Guided by Voices attained the higher echelons of hipster and indie street-cred, NRSK watched their star slowly fade.

Or did they? While they may have been cursed with the death of a band member and the bankruptcy of a record label, they never lost their dogged determinism and sheer incendiary skills in crafting pop-savvy, streetwise slacker tracks. The oddly tangled trajectory of indie-rock over the past decade and a half is mirrored here: the chainsaw guitars, literate lyrics and passion. Their sheer passion and joy for making music transcends all else, demonstrating that what separates the merely good from the great is heart. As this compilation proves, New Radiant Storm King have been showing a lot of heart for the past 12 years.

Contraphonic: http://www.contraphonic.com


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