Sunday, February 16, 2014

Rise Above the Rest

With my renewed interest in the metal scene, I have realized it is far easier to find new bands that previously relying on Pitchfork and other review sites for passing along info. With metal, labels still have a place to play, giving traction and attention to bands that could be potentially working the margins. I wrote earlier about a couple records from a small American label called Easyrider Records. Another such label is the well-stocked Rise Above Records from England. Formed almost twenty years ago by Napalm Death's vocalist, they have a great catalog of heavy bands. If you are a metal head, you should seriously check them out.

Blood Ceremony, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and Electric Wizard are three of the bands I really like on their roster. Two others I have recently been digging include The Oath and the wonderfully named Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.

The Oath are a Berlin-based band and led by Johanna Sadonis on vocals and Linnéa Olsson on guitar. Both ladies are striking blondes. I mean...seriously. That is the bait to get you to notice. The music backs up the image. Solid playing, classic NWOBHM vocals, and two great songs make up their 7" single "Night Child"/"Black Rainbow".

Their sound is rooted in classic sounding European metal. It is not the scary kind of metal. It reminds me of a less interesting Blood Ceremony with their witchy underpinnings. That does not mean they do not have their charms. This EP is a nice appetizer for their full length due later this year from Rise Above Records. Sweet!

Here's "Night Child."



Whenever I think my band has a complicated name, I just need to think of the UK's Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.  Named after a English naval hero, this power-trio is much much more 70s hard rock than metal. Their latest limited edition 7" on Rise Above Records is "Black Sheep" backed by "Elementary Man." Both are hard and fast and heavy songs. They are not deep or thought provoking but rock and roll doesn't always need to be deep. Many times they should just kick serious ass. If you like classic sounding riffs, check these cats out.

I can not seem to get the video to embed right, so here's a link to "Elementary Man." Just look at the clothes and you'll know everything you need to about these guys.

Monday, February 10, 2014

The Most Dangerous Site On The Internet

A co-worker of mine recently introduced me to Discogs. This is a super cool online database of albums. What's cool is that you can look-up all the potential variants of an album. Do you have a German copy of Dark Side Of The Moon? Lo and behold there it is! Naturally I created an account and promptly went about inputting my collection because I have nothing better to do. I was surprised to see I only have 193 records. HA! That's all, right? Here is a link to it if you want to peruse.

The dangerous part is the marketplace. For all these records, there are links to vendors who are selling them and for people who are looking for them. You can create a wish list of things you want. The majority of the vendors take Paypal. So a giant marketplace of Paypal accepting vendors make this a very very VERY dangerous website.

There's also a place where you can comment on records, rate them not only on how you like the album but on the condition of your copy. It is a little clunky in figuring out which copy you have,e specially when there are many to choose from. Many of the titles have pictures of the labels included, which helps considerably for matching up to the degree of exactitude a nerd like me desires.

For what it is worth, I have only done one transaction so far, mainly so I can see how it works. I ordered this from a nice fellow in Germany. It is already on it's way. I am very interested to see how long it takes.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A Noble Experiment

Friday night me and the missus went down to Georgetown for the grand opening of Hill & Dale Records. It is a very nice, modern looking shop. They had drinks and appetizers for the crowd. We were amongst the first folks there and I was somewhat surprised there was no line. Happily for the store it filled up pretty quickly making it a challenge to maneuver through the racks.

Unlike most record stores, which are uniformly used shops, Hill & Dale carries only new releases and reissues. This is an interesting gambit. They did not have an incredible amount of inventory but it did take about 30 minutes to peruse what they had. They and plenty of classic rock and jazz reissues. Tons of Floyd and The Who and Beatles and Coltrane and Miles Davis. Surprisingly there were no Zeppelin records, but that must be because they have not been reissued yet. Unfortunately for me, it was pretty much the usual major label stuff. Going through the stacks, I got the feeling of going through the records available at Urban Outfitters. I don't know the ins-and-outs of how the business works, but it would have been nice to see more boutique label stuff.

Jodi wound up buying two records: the reissue of Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones and a lovely double LP of Ryan Adams' best solo record Gold. She got me Jeff Buckley's Grace (which I figure will be great through the headphones), the first William Tyler record Behold The Spirit and the recent reissue of Townes Van Zandt's High Low and In Between.

In addition to records they have posters and have photography exhibits on the walls. It makes for a nice touch. It feels more like a gallery than a record shop. It feels kind of fancy.

Starting up a brand new brick-and-mortar record shop seems like a silly idea. Vinyl is making a comeback but is it enough to warrant a store dedicated to new vinyl? The location is interesting. Georgetown is a high rent area and the store is set back sort of hidden away back in One Canal Square or whatever it is called. How much foot traffic are they going to get from folks wandering around? Will they even know it is there?

I wish them a lot of luck. I hope it goes well and is a success. It is a noble experiment. I would probably drop in if I was down in Georgetown, but it will not be a destination place for getting records. The internet is still too great a convenience.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Slip the surly bonds with Earthless

From The Ages by Earthless is another of those records that I became acquainted with too late for it to have made my top ten list. That's a shame because it deserves a place. Earthless are an instrumental power-trio from San Diego who occupy that middle ground between heavy rock and metal.  They have a very classic vibe. The guitar playing reminds me a lot of Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower at his noisiest. Not so much in terms of skill, though guitarist Isaiah Mitchell is plenty good, but more in the psychedelic scene their music paints. The rhythm section of Marco Rubalcala and Mike Eginton provide the lumbering foundation for the guitar's histrionics. The occasional keyboard joins the ensemble and adds a new element to the music's mysteries.

It's another double LP (what's with these bands and their double LPs?). Four songs. One on side 1, two on side 2, and the title track spread over both sides of the second disc. This is a record that is comfortable both as the trippy background to whatever you're up to, but also, and far more enjoyable, as something you let wash over you. Doing that, however, is a real commitment, an investment of time that not many bands these days require from their audience. It's enjoyable because even though the songs are long, they still move. There is shape and nuance around the central theme. It lurks and spins and coils in of itself. It starts and stalls and gallops and rumbles into a conclusion. Repeated listens bring forth some new sonic experience. For a discerning rock fan, it's a treasure of musicality.

I can't leave without saying how awesome the album art is. One of the many reasons I love vinyl over CDs is the jackets. In a CD booklet, there isn't much space to appreciate the cover. With vinyl you can appreciate the effort made over the entire package. Opening the front gatefold you see lumbering elephants, emblematic of the music, with what appear to be jewels within their foreheads, crossing a stone bridge from an otherworldly door to meet, naturally, not only an enormous bird dominating the front cover but a shaman-esque humanoid whose head is eyeball. Of course he is dressed in robs and holds a scepter because...because that's what dudes with an eyeball for a head carry.

Here's album opener "Violence of the Red Sea."




Vally Girls

If you like The White Stripes and/or The Black Keys (though apparently they hate each other) there is no reason for you not to check out Deap Vally. What sets them apart from the one-guitar-one-drummer schtick is that they are both ladies. Usually when I hear about a band I go over to AllMusic to read about them; when I got to the line about forming an image around halter tops and short-jeans-shorts I was pretty much sold. Couple that with the story that guitarist Lindsey Troy met drummer Julie Edwards in what is a total rocknroll move: a crocheting class the latter was teaching.

The released an EP called Get Deap! and followed it with an LP called Sistrionix. The EP contains one song that did not make the LP.

What's the music like? It rocks. It's sleazy, it's scuzzy, all those adjectives used to describe rock at it's most primal. Or at it's most elemental, primitive. The song titles reflect that: "Gonna Make My Own Money," "Baby I Call Hell," "Walk Of Shame," "Bad For My Body," and "Woman of Intention" stand out. it isn't earth shattering, it isn't particularly new sounding. They don't jerk off on the guitar like Jack White does, they aren't perhaps the most technically proficient. But they do riff and they lay down a clobber of a beat. There are no plaintive acoustic numbers. There is a George Jones talking bit in side 2 opener "Lies" where they say things like "I thought we agreed/You wouldn't have the need to spread your seed." OK.

A bass player wouldn't hurt but whatever. I enjoy the record. It goes by quickly, which is in now way a bad thing. It isn't the worst of all things: boring. It's fun. I imagine they'd be a trip to see live. This is another band that should be getting played on Little Steven's Underground Garage. I often say they should swap their 3:1 old/new ratio.

Here's the quoted "Lies." Enjoy!


This Band Is So Heavy It Has Other Less Heavy Bands Orbiting Around It

From the first note on their latest record Soma Richmond's Windhand announces their intent. And the intent is making a sound as heavy and as doom-sounding as possible. When plucked the strings on their guitars must quiver like power lines in a hurricane. It is the sound of devils dancing in the Virginia Piedmont night. That sounds kind of Spinal Tap, but screw it, it makes me laugh.

The title Soma refers to a ritual drink from Indo-Iranian and Persian cultures. It was believed to give its consumer immortality.  It was believed the be a bringer of the gods. An apt name for a record like this. Though these gods may not be ones you wish to trifle with.

"Orchard" opens the festivities but it is song two that overpowers the listener. "Woodbine" erupts like a kick to the gut. Play it loud and the walls aren't the only things shaking. Your organs quake. It is low-end power that is the musical equivalent of Doomsday barreling through cities and countless Superman-delivered punches. The album is a double LP. The second LP has one song per side, both epics, "Cassock" and "Boleskin." The latter is one of those vinyl tracks that make use of the exit groove, in this case with wind sounds, that if you don't pay attention shall run forever. In the middle of the album, floating like a dream, comes the acoustic "Evergreen." As out of place as that sounds, it is brilliant at capturing the mood. Dread is equally present in detuned roaring electric guitars and strummed acoustics.

And above it floats the voice of Dorthia Cottrell. She is not so much the singer but the mistress of ceremonies. A female voice above this music is what makes it stand apart from other similarly minded bands. And the exception in their art is fantastic.

My taste in music is driven by melody and it is driven by mood. That is why I can happily listen to a great power pop record one day and the next hunker down in the sludge. Music is the perfect accompaniment to state of mind. With a band like Windhand, you might think there is a massive amount of negativity going on, but that is not remotely the case. Powerful, heavy music is all encompassing. I love the energy it creates. I love the sense of dread. Life thrives in the sunlight but it can sometimes flourish in the dark.

Here is the album opener "Orchard."


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

All's (Matthew) Good

Music is not only a source of enjoyment for your humble writer nor a source of inspiration but also a source of admiration. I do not categorize it as something as trite as "selling out." Whatever that means. Not many artists get the chance to sell out. Most stay under the radar and eventually fall away. Artists who stick with it, who keep doing their thing no matter that it does not seem to be reaching any kind of critical mass. Or that they barely keep hanging on. I admire that tenaciousness. Artists like Bill Mallonee and Grant-Lee Phillips and Mark Kozelek and Aimee Mann. I respect these artists because they know who they are and they make music reflective of that.

Matthew Good is another such artist. Maybe the prime example of them. He is from Canada. He used to front a band called The Matthew Good Band. After a few excellent records he dropped the Band from the act name and just went with his name. That is fine, his presence has been the driving force. His popularity in his native Canada has always far eclipsed that in the United States. He has won Junos, he has had videos on MuchMusic. That was where I first discovered him in the late 90s. "Hello Timebob" and "Giant" and "Strange Days" from his brilliant Beautiful Midnight were on regular rotation and were my first real exposure to him. He does not play the states too terribly often. My old roommate and I trekked to Pittsburg to see the MGB play one time. The other time I saw him was solo and caustic at Iota in Arlington, VA.

His latest album is called Arrows of Desires and it is classic sounding Matthew Good. Great guitar lines and sing along choruses. A lot of attitude and a lot of anger. It is a very anachronistic record, much like the muscle car that graces the album cover. The vibe is still 90s alternative. For someone who grew up on that you get no complaint from me. 

In his lyrics, in his interviews, in his writings, there is a lot of energy and a lot of anger. Anger at how the world works. Anger at the successful who have their success on the backs of others. Anger at the politicians who are ruining his country, who are ruining the world. Anger for the kids who can't go to school without fear of being shot down. Anger at how life has treated his characters, whether they are auto-biographical or not.  You might not agree with everything he says, you might not agree with anything he says, but you have to as a fellow human being appreciate the passion behind it.

He has always come across as a curmudgeon, as someone you might NOT want to have a beer with because you might just want him to shut up. I am not clever enough to analyze the lyrics. I think when anybody does that, no matter how clever they think they are, it is impossible not to project their own issues, problems, worries into them. After nearly 20 years Matthew Good is still doing his thing his way. He had a taste of success but it never happened. But he has been able to carve out a great little career of great songs put onto great records. Arrows of Desire deserved a space on my top 10. It is as good as anything he has ever done. And that says quite a bit if you know the rest of his discography.

Here's "Guns of Carolina." Give it a listen. You might be surprised.


Monday, February 3, 2014

Pass That Shit, Man

One of the ways I find new music is through Twitter. I am not sure how it came to be but I somehow stumbled over a list from EasyRider Records with their Top 10 records of the year. They appear to be a new-ish boutique metal label. One their list they naturally had a couple of their own releases because, you know, promotion. I listened to the records on that list and two of them struck my ear: Banishment Ritual by Sons of Huns and Sweeden Salem's Pot. Yes, Salem's Pot.

I do not know any of the details about Sons of Huns beyond what's in their record. They are a three-piece. They have a strange, hideous space monster gracing the cover of their record. Their name is awesome. They play fast, heavy stoner metal. I think if you have a hideous space creature on your album cover you have to play stoner metal. It is some kind of rule.

The record rocks. There is the goofy Sabotage-era-Sabbath-esque stomp of "Agrenteum Astrum." "Heliolith" sounds like Slayer high on weed. "Horror In Clay" resembles a tuned-down Kill 'em All Metallica. "I'm Your Dad" has a Deep Purple vibe to it, especially in vocalist...actually...I don't know who the vocalist is...the record doesn't say. It's not Ian Gillian, I know that, but the appropriately placed shrieks are Gillian-esque. Much of it reminds me of the more renowned Red Fang.

One drawback is the record is a double LP and I do not think it needs to be. The songs are not extravagantly long. In fact Side B at under ten minutes. Maybe I should be playing it at 45 and not 33, but it sounds fine at 33. That would be funny if I am playing it at the wrong speed. This easily could have been on one disc. Side B closer "Waking Sleep" is this lounge-ish instrumental number that does not sound like a it-must-be-on-the-record-man kind of cut.

Salem's Pot is really the name of a band. I wish I had thought of this. But my band's music does not fit what a band called Salem's Pot should be doing. Salem, home of legendary witches and burnings and troublemaking. Pot, that herb of choice of so many bands. Salem's Pot, a play on Salem's Lot. Ok sure why not. Cover has what appears to be a lady fearing...something. Perhaps it is the hideous space creature from the Sons of Huns record. Spooky, blood drippy lettering. I don't know what Sweeden refers to but it must be spooky.

Music, you ask? What you expect. One song per side. Only a single vinyl disc, thankfully. It starts, it pulverizes your brain, it bids adieu. What's Sweedish for adieu? Frak it, who cares. What does it sound like? Let's say this: If you think a band called Salem's Pot is something you would like, then you will likely not be disappointed here. For Christ's sake, the back of the jacket says "recorded live in an old asylum by the damaged minds of a power trio." Does it really matter whether it sounds like Sabbath (it does) or Slayer or Deep Purple or Bruno Mars?

I sound like I don't like this record. Wrong! It's great! I really like it. Some people like Kanye West and Daft Punk and Lorde and shit like that which gets all the Grammy nominations and all the attention. I like sludgy stoner metal bands. Among other things. This genre makes me happy. I am not a partaker of the stoner part of these bands, but I really dig the music. To me it's fun, it's amusing, it makes me bang my head. Is it Shakespeare? Or the musical equivalent of Shakespeare? Trip Shakespeare? No. Whatever. It's not going to win Grammys or be on the cover of Rolling Stone or on whatever passes for Total Request Live. Maybe it will be on the current version of Headbanger's Ball because that would be awesome. if ever we needed Adam Curry to don his leather jacket and act tough (well, maybe not the second part) it's now. So many metal bands out there that deserve a little bit of limelight.

Don't be a punk. Check them out here.






Sunday, February 2, 2014

You Were Right, It Has Been A While

After doing so many posts counting down my favorite records of 2013 I decided to take a little time off from writing. Well, that is not quite true. It was not an active or conscious decision. I simply did not feel like it. These things happen. Let us move on.

One of the records that came late in the year was You Were Right by Brendan Benson. He is a great songwriter whose records usually find their way onto my year-end list. Last year's What In The World did rightly make my list. This one did not, but that doe snot mean it is not a great record. I believe its failure to arrive on my list is more indicative of my harder-edged leanings this year than anything else.

You Were Right is technically less a proper album than a collection of singles he released through the year. Under that paradigm you would expect the record to sound disjointed but You Were Right does not. Instead it is concessive, strong, and while not quite as outstanding as What In The World it is still very very good.

Most folks who have heard of Benson know of him from The Raconteurs with Jack White, but Benson is one of the best power-poppers around. So that means his songs are catchy, well-written and especially clever. For this record he enlists the help of The Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.

But like any good power pop record it is the songs that speak loudest. The vibe of the songs is especially 70s-esque, especially the slinky "Diamond." It is founded along a strumming acoustic guitar before a twitchy electric guitar line slides in guiding the tune through. "Long Term Goal" has a kind of full-bottomed pop vibe with nice reverb-y guitar chords.  "I Don't Want To See You Anymore" uses horns and chiming guitars to set up the melancholy of the song. These are just examples. I will not go into a song by song analysis. I am not good at that. I am feeling that it is regrettable I could not find a place for this record on the list. But there are only ten spots and what can you do? This is a great, mellower offering from one of the best songwriters nobody has heard of.

Here's "Diamond."