Autumn (Defense)'s In The Air

The Autumn Defense is a project featuring Patrick Sansone and John Stirratt, both members of Wilco. While Sansone has been part of Wilco for only a few years, Stirratt has been playing bass there since they formed from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo.

The Autumn Defense offers the two an opportunity to share the spotlight, which in Wilco is occupied primarily by Jeff Tweedy. Whereas Wilco started as alt-country, morphed into a sort of American-Radiohead, before settling into a dad-rock niche, TAD delights in the soft rock of the 70s. Singer/songwriter type stuff but lushly produced and orchestrated. I have listened to a few of their albums before but with their latest, called Fifth, they finally and perfectly hit their stride.

I am a big fan of the early records of the band America, and Fifth fits in perfect harmony with those records. Fifth sounds like it stepped out of a time machine, especially the lovely "August Song" which could easily find itself on Homecoming. The harmonies are not as overt as America did in their best days (think "Ventura Highway") but TAD come close. "The Light In Your Eyes" has a particularly great chorus section.

I would not categorize the record as an homage, because that is a bit of a negative descriptor. Fifth is a great record on it's own merits. It's well written and well played and extremely well made. There is nothing searing our loud or heavy here. Fifth is the kind of record you play on cool night on a desert highway with the top down. It doesn't push boundaries but it plays within established ones to great effect. Great songs are great songs. And when they sound this good they make for a very enjoyable listening experiencing.

Here's "August Song"

Heavy Round-Up

If you've read here enough you know I have a soft spot for heavy rock and metal. Here's a round-up of some records of that ilk I have been digging and playing regularly.

The back of Old Man's Will eponymous debut says "File Under: 70s rock/blues rock/hard rock." That sums them up just right. Hailing from Sweden they are a modern band doing old school heavy rock. They are another great band on the EasyRider Records (about to become Riding Easy due to legal reasons) label. Deep Purple minus Jon Lord is what comes to mind when listening. "An Ennobling Evening" has that Ritchie Blackmore kind of vibe, heavy guitar licks over a thudding beat and wailing Ian Gillian-esque vocal. "Alidheim" is slow burn, rhythm and bluesy vocals before the bottom-friendly guitar lick kicks in. It's a nice debut by a very promising band. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

The Oath are a couple foxy ladies from Sweden and Germany respectively and a couple guys named Fred (no offense) doing a fast, witchy blend of hard rock and metal. German singer Johanna Sardonis has a fascination with evil things and the hereafter; it bleeds into her lyrics. Swedish guitarist Linnéa Ollson can flat out play. Take the also eponymously-named album opener "All Must Die." That title does not express the end is imminent but that it's eventual, and that it might not be a happy eternity awaiting you. Musically it has a nice time shift in the middle. They do that a bunch keeping things especially interesting. The song titles are as expected: "Night Child," "Black Rainbow," "Death Delight" and "Psalm 7" for example. My copy came direct from Rise Above Records and includes a 7" for "Night Of The Demon." The album cover alone gets attention and the music backs up the look. If you dig devilish metal you'll dig this. It's harmless fun, whether or not they believe the shtick.

Less metal and more heavy rock is the wonderfully named British outfit Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel and their new LP Check 'Em Before You Wreck 'Em. Another offering from Rise Above Records, these fellows bring more 70s inspired rock. These Brits sound more like late-era Ozzy Sabbath. It's not earth-shattering but it's rock n roll and it's fun. Plus their guitarist calls himself Johnny Gorilla and I respect that. They look like they stepped out of the 70s. Denim and boots and weird birds riding motorcycles. It's fun and sort of stupid but the fun is in the stupidness. 100% respect in that statement. I dig it and if you dig loud guitars and heavy rhythm you will dig this. What's not to like about a song called "2 Tonne Fuckboot"?

Here's Old Man's Will doing "Evil Woman"

The Oath and "All Must Die"

YouTube is coming up short on stuff from their new record

so here is a clip from a February show of theirs:

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.

Awaiting the Mothership

In the DISCOVER section of Spotify, it will say things like "You listened to so-and-so, you might like these-other-folks!" or "You haven't listened to Debbie Gibson in a while. Listen now?" or "Your friend  likes Stryper. Check it out?"

One of the bands that fit under the first statement is Texas' Mothership.  Apparently there are a lot of bands out there named Mothership. Most of them seem to be cover bands, including one Led Zeppelin tribute band. These guys are a tribute in that they salute the 60s and 70s hard rock and heavy blues bands of days gone by. A lot of bands do this kind of stuff but most of them unfortunately can't quite pull it off. Mothership, surprisingly in a way, do. The lyrics are...well let's just say it..sort of dumb in spots. For example "City Nights" talks about rock n roll being here to stay and how they are ready to fight and yadda yadda yadda.

But a band like this isn't agreeable because of the lyrics. Or the vocals, which are kind of meh, but are very happily crystal clear so that you can hear the guy is really singing, so I really do dig that. But it's all about the riffs, man.

And the awesome album cover. See said awesome-ness there ----->

But mostly the riffs. The jams are classic sounding 70s hard rock veering into metal. Like the side 1 closer "Angel Of Death", it's got a killer Richie Blackmore-esque lick that drives the song. "City Nights" has the wanting lyrics but it's no worse than any Scorpions song (that's a compliment). The album opens with a wicked-cool instrumental "Hallucination" before segueing right into "Cosmic Rain." The back side opens with a "Win Or Lose," which could have been a bonus track off some expanded edition of Never Say Die. It has songs that every hard rock record should have: songs about eagles and guys in charge of the moon and some weird word that looks like a girl' name. She's probably  the busty angel on the cover. Or at least a witch.

The band is a power trio from where I grew up...Dallas, Texas. Two brothers and a guy named Judge.  The bassist kind of look like Kim Thayil from Soundgarden. The lead singer looks like the fat violin guy from Kansas. The drummer looks like a drummer. The LP comes with a poster, which is fucking cool and should be in every metal record, that shows a wall of Orange speaker cabinets, so that immediately makes these near and dear to my heart.

Jokes aside, I like this record a lot. Music is supposed to be fun and this record is fun! It's not as inventive as Kylesa or as wicked as Blood Ceremony or as retro as Kadaver or as scary as Baroness but it's incredibly, incredibly solid heavy rock.

Here they are doing their thing with "Win Or Lose."