Valerie E. Polichar
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Valerie writes & publishes music reviews and crime, horror, literary and SF short fiction, and has edited the literary journal Grasslimb since 2002. She also sings/writes songs/records music under the name Huge Shark. By day, she’s an IT Director at the University of California and holds a Ph.D. in experimental psychology.
Articles by Valerie E. Polichar
At its best, Sincere Insanity sews disparate sounds into a circle, bringing the listener back to themselves, as if to say — either about Often the Thinker or about any of us — “I contain multitudes”.
With I Want You to Have This, Taco Johnathan takes the punk genre by the throat and slyly subverts it.
Tight licks, haunting halls of sound, and percussion that propels.
Cool all over: the latest album from Beauty in Chaos is their strongest and most consistent to date.
Beautifully shadowy and complex, the superb Uspeh leaves the listener with a fierce sense of longing for something always just out of reach.
A sunny summer jangle-pop playlist drenched in ‘60s and ‘70s nostalgia.
Simple but elegant neoclassical piano offers lovely company – but it could have been much more.
Mind-altering, disturbing auditory-noise brilliance from the creators of Blue Tapes.
In a rare live show, Whale Fall displays their mastery of instrumental post-rock.
Compelling indigenous hip-hop with dazzling musical breadth and political punch
Hotter-than-Aruba vocals against a darkwave throb of ‘80s synth lines, imperfectly engineered but nonetheless intoxicating.
Indie-rock sweetness — the result of two years of seclusion — offers up bleak reality wrapped in a rich blanket of enveloping guitar.
A catchy package of harmony-centric power/dream pop featuring full-cream layered vocals and instrumentation.
Listenable, likeable melodic prog— bumpy, but promising — from the guitar player behind The Room Colored Charlatan
Evocative, surprisingly rich glitch-ambient electronica from a meticulous artist.
