Crain - Speed...

I didn’t hear much of Crain until sometime after they had disbanded. My first exposure to the band was kind of odd, hearing their album Heater before anything else a few years ago. Their first album Speed had eluded me since it only had an original pressing of 1000 copies back when it was released in 1992. However, a couple years ago Temporary Residence really came through and put out a very fine CD reissue of the album. To some it was long overdue I am sure, however for many the album was merely something they had heard a lot of praise about or possibly something they had never heard of at all.

Spawned out of Louisville, Kentucky Crain was formed in the 1989 and went through a number of lineup changes before the band would call it quits in 1996. In between that period of time they released a number of 7 inches and a couple albums. Their sound was an early incarnation of sorts to the whole math-rock/post-rock scene that eventually catapulted bands like Slint and Rodan. However with Speeds initial limited release, it left the band with little to no exposure and they were sort of left in the dust. It’s really too bad, as it’s evident through the remastered recording of Speed that the band was as equally gifted as the aforementioned bands. However, with the reissue at least it gives the band a bit of well deserved credit for contributing to a scene that would prove to be pretty important.

The thing I really enjoy about Crain, as a whole, is that their sound was a great combination of different styles. They were much more frenetic and meatier than a lot of the bands that would later surface out of the math-rock crop.

Crain – Proposed Production [MP3]
Crain – Ten Miles of Fiction [MP3]

To those that have never heard Crain, do yourself a favor and pick up the reissue of Speed over at Temporary Residence. Not only is it an amazing album, it’s also a great sounding one as well.

The Angelic Process...

Since their formation in 2001, The Angelic Process of have been releasing nice healthy doses of ambient drone-metal. However, for the most part the band has flown under the radar until this last year which saw the reissuing of a couple of their albums, Coma Waering and …And Your Blood is Full of Honey. It’s great to have all of this material readily available now, as some of it had been practically out of print since its original release. For any of those that are not familiar with the Athens Georgia duo, they create some incredibly loud and distorted shoegaze influenced noise. A lot of times when describing the whole shoegazing thing, it’s pretty common that the phrase “wall of noise” will turn up at some point. It’s hard not to because it really is a great description of what it sometimes resembles. As true as that may be, the phrase couldn’t be any better suited being used here with The Angelic Process. Their music is literally a gigantic wall of distorted blissful noise, although much darker and quite moody. For someone like me who is completely addicted to “fuzz”, it’s hard to not fall in love with this especially when it’s intertwined with a lethal amount of rumbling bass and pounding drums. This is shoegaze taken to a completely whole new level.

Coma Waering:
The Angelic Process – The Sun in Braids [MP3]

…And Your Blood is Full of Honey:
The Angelic Process - …And Your Blood is Full of Honey [MP3]

As I mentioned before, a couple of their items have been recently reissued, I would highly recommend checking out Coma Waering which can be had over at Paradigms. Also, for many of their other releases check out Decaying Sun Records. Keep on the look out for a new album from the duo in ’07.

Monthly Mix for Janaury...

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. It’s bitter cold here and for anyone that has read the blog over the past year or so knows how much I hate cold weather. Bring on the warm weather; I am completely ready for it. Anyway, kicking off this week I am putting up the monthly mix a couple days early, this is mostly due to me actually finishing it early for once. That’s a rarity. Moving on, I present everyone with the first monthly mix for the year. Don’t forget, all the links lead to a place of purchase wherever it may be applicable. So please do support the artists buy checking those out and purchasing a few tunes here and there. Enjoy!

01 – For Against – The Effect
02 – Bastro – Nothing Special
03 – Molly McGuire – Exhaust
04 – Jesse Dangerously – For Lack of Trying
05 – Deerhunter – White Ink
06 – Lambsbread – Trash Diet #5
07 – My Vitriol – Infantile
08 – Drive-By Truckers – Something’s Got to Give Pretty Soon
09 – Shiny Beast – Lodestar
10 – Shiner – Only Shallow (My Bloody Valentine)
11 – Toe – New Sentimentality
12 – The Storied Northwest – Curious George
13 – Pachinko – Cecil
14 – Woods – Be Still
15 – Shining – Winterriese
16 – Guapo – Ditch
17 – Drexel – Untitled #2
18 – Holy Molar – You’ve Had More Kids Pulled out of That Thing than a Burning Orphanage
19 – Prong – No Question

Download (.zip file)

HUM...

I’ve always been conflicted as to whether I should write something about Hum on here or not. I know back when I first started this blog I posted a YouTube video of them performing “I’d Like Your Hair Long” and kind of expressed my long time love for them. I figured doing an extensive post on the band would kind of be like beating a dead horse, since I think that their fan base has grown by quite a hefty sum since their demise right at the end of 2000. Anyway, I am bored enough tonight and really don’t feel like writing about anything else, so…I guess I’ll do my Hum post because in the end I just really fucking love this band.

Hum was originally a much different band than what most people came to know them as. Their first album Fillet Show, to be honest, wasn’t really that good. I can’t say that I listen to it all that much, if any at all. It really was almost a completely different band at that time. The lineup was also considerably different as well. The “classic” lineup didn’t necessarily come around until they released their second album Electra 2000. It featured an early display of what Hum’s sound would ultimately end up being, although still in a rough developmental phase. The spacey/science influenced lyrics were there and the sound was definitely coming along. Anyway, once they reached their second album and after a few personnel changes is when the band began to take off. They had from that point on Matt Talbott (vocals/guitar), Tim Lash (guitar), Jeff Dimpsey (bass), and Bryan St. Pere (drummer extraordinaire).

To say Hum’s sound was large would be a huge understatement. Hum had a sound that was enormous, gigantic, monolithic, gargantuan, or whatever other words are out there that mean “very very big”. When I first heard them when I was quite young I was blown away. I’d never really heard anything as loud and heavy as that but yet maintained such beautiful sweeping melodies. It was pulverizing enough to impress my friends that were into strictly metal and then catchy enough to be accepted by my casual alternative listening friends. It’s unfortunate though that not everyone felt that way when they were actually around. When they got signed and released their third album You’d Prefer an Astronaut they did have some success with their single “Stars”, which will occasionally still get a spin or two on some radio stations due it being one of those staple “90’s songs”. Despite that though, You’d Prefer an Astronaut was really the album that completely sold me on the band. The only beef I have with it is that you can’t really hear the drums as well as you should be able to due to the production being sort of muddy. It doesn’t really show how excellent of a drummer St. Pere is. The songs are amazing though and the album contains one of my all time favorite Hum songs, “Suicide Machine”.

Unfortunately the success of their previous effort didn’t carry over to what would be their last album Downward is Heavenward, which is arguably their best. I always have a tough time deciding upon this one or You’d Prefer an Astronaut. It’s really a toss up. One thing Downward is Heavenward has that the other doesn’t, is a much cleaner and crisp production that really allows Bryan St. Pere to put on a show when it comes to the drumming on this album. It probably is the better album as it excels in just about every possibly place it can. The albums opener “Isle of the Cheetah” is one of the songs I feel perfectly defines what Hum was all about, being able to make something so rocking sound so majestic at the same time. It’s a shame that they weren’t bigger during their actual existence, but something about that just makes me like them all that much more.

Electra 2000:
Hum – Shovel [MP3]
Hum – Diffuse [MP3]

You’d Prefer an Astronaut:
Hum – Suicide Machine [MP3]
Hum – I Hate it Too [MP3]

Downward is Heavenward:
Hum – Isle of the Cheetah [MP3]
Hum – Dreamboat [MP3]

Stars (UK Single):
Hum – Boy With Stick [MP3]

Puppets EP:
Hum – Aphids [MP3]
Hum – Puppets [MP3]

Thankfully all of Hum’s albums are still available over at Amazon, well excluding the first one. Do yourself a favor and pick them up. After the band broke up Matt Talbott went on to do Centaur, which have released one album to date and have a slight resemblance to Hum. Jeff Dimpsey went on to work on his project National Skyline and then eventually moved to Texas. Tim Lash released an album for his project Glifted. As far as I know Bryan St. Pere pretty much quit doing music as soon as Hum came to an end. Hum has reunited for a couple one off concert events over the years and fans remain hopeful that someday the band will record again.

The Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever

Whenever I see The Boo Radleys mentioned anywhere it always seems like the album Giant Steps is the one that gets brought up as their masterpiece. I’ve honestly tried a number of times to get into to that album and have never been able to really come to appreciate it as much as apparently the critics do. I’d like to think I’m missing something in it, really I would, but I just have trouble hearing it. If someone were to ask me what my favorite Boo Radleys album is, along with what I think their best album is, I would have to tell them that it’s Everything’s Alright Forever. I’m not going to act like no one else feels the same way, because I’ve seen my fair share of Everything’s Alright Forever supporters; however it seems on the bigger level of professional critical opinion that this album just doesn’t really get a glowing review the majority of the time.

Everything’s Alright Forever often gets slammed a bit for being a My Bloody Valentine knockoff, which is partly true. I won’t lie; it does have an obvious affection for Kevin Shields’ signature guitar sound. The thing I don’t like about that criticism though is that the sound isn’t just directly lifted and made to sound the same exact way. The Boo Radleys took the warped sounds of My Bloody Valentine and used them to craft songs that were much more poppy, that of which contained incredibly catchy melodies and hooks. Really, whenever I listen to the album I can’t think of many other bands that really pulled off the whole wall-of-sound deal as well as The Boo Radleys did on this album. They really had discovered a good balance between being explosively noisy and at other times being completely serene and dreamlike. While the album definitely leans more towards the shoegaze side of things, it also makes for a solid pop album as well. If anything check out the song “Firesky” and listen to the guitar effects in it. Simply amazing.

The Boo Radleys – Memory Babe [MP3]
The Boo Radleys – Does This Hurt? [MP3]
The Boo Radleys – Firesky [MP3]

While Everything’s Alright Forever is out of print from what I can tell, it’s still readily available used at Amazon. Check around, and pick up this album if you’ve never heard it. It’s definitely one of the most underrated shoegaze albums and should be a classic.

Kudgel...

The Boston, Massachusetts band Kudgel wasn’t around for a very long however their music played a big role in basically developing what came to be known as “chimp rock”. The sound for it is described as such in their bio, “spastic and overblown-guitar driven noise-pop, infused with a bubblegum sensibility that belied the complexity of their song structure”. Pretty accurate really, although they were much nosier and abrasive than some of the bands that they are mentioned along with, such as the Swirlies…which is saying a lot.

Kudgel’s existence was pretty rough to say the least. It’s surprising that they even stayed together as long as they did. Complete with member changes, horrible tour experiences, and trouble in finding any interest to what they were doing. It’s a shame really, but thankfully the band was able to stick it out and release enough material that was eventually compiled on a release called Chimp is Dead on Super 8 Records. Featuring 20 tracks of odd ends and their singles, it’s a pretty comprehensive look at a band that never really has gotten its due. Although, just last year Midriff Records took interest and re-released the bands original 10” record Sea Monkee on compact disc along with seven extra tracks. I think that’s just about the only thing the band even has in print at this point, which is a shame.

Kudgel – Chicken Pump [MP3]
Kudgel – Nozzle (old version) [MP3]
Kudgel – Scrapple [MP3]
Kudgel – 280x (Chimp is Dead) [MP3]

For anyone that is a fan of noise-rock then I can’t imagine not owning anything by this band. It looks as if Amazon might have copies of Chimp is Dead available, however if not there are also a couple used copies apparently for sale too. I would strongly urge for those that don’t have it to pounce on that. It’s completely worth it. Also, their re-release of Sea Monkee is still available over at CD Baby.

Sirhan Sirhan...

I was waiting eagerly all weekend for this disc to show up and thankfully it arrived this past Monday. Being a big fan of both Molly McGuire and Gunfighter, I was really excited to find out I could pick up this self-released EP from Jason Blackmore’s new band Sirhan Sirhan. The self-titled EP is a bit different from what I am normally used to hearing from Blackmore with his previous bands, but this new direction is right up my alley.

According to Sirhan Sirhan’s bio, the band was mistakenly formed in San Diego when the three members happened to somehow run across each other. I guess the rest is history from there, the details of such mistake have been left out, but nevertheless…it’s one of the best mistakes that could have happened to coincide with my musical tastes. With all three members of Sirhan Sirhan having pasts in Midwest music their sound still greatly thrives on that, although this time around it’s louder, faster, and a whole lot noisier. Blackmore’s vocals are slightly distorted to sort of fit the bands overall alcohol fueled feedback first approach. It’s a noticeable difference, which for the most part works.

Anyway, I am pretty excited about this band. I know I am a bit late in discovering them, which is a bit disappointing considering I’ve tried to obtain just about everything that Blackmore has been apart of that I am aware of. Why this went under the radar for so long is beyond me. Despite that, hopefully this band can stick around long enough to release an album or two. That would truly be awesome.

Sirhan Sirhan - Surgery [MP3]

According to the bands MySpace they recently went into the studio to record tracks for what will possibly be another EP. Also, they will be contributing a track to a future Anodyne Records compilation. So keep an eye out for both of those. For now however, those of you interested can pick up the current EP from CD Baby. I strongly urge everyone to do so!

Cuckoo Canoe / Shining...

Although this is a bit of a departure for the type of music that I generally feature on this blog, I felt like it deserved a bit of a mention on here. I only recently had a chance to listen to the album Basketball Freedom Overdrive by the NYC trio Cuckoo Canoe. Goofy name aside, their album is actually pretty impressive despite the obvious Strokes pseudo garage influence they have going. Even though they do have that sort of style to them, their music is undeniably catchy. I never find myself listening to a whole lot of fairly straight up indie rock, but this certainly grabbed me after I listened to it a couple times through. It’s actually kind of nice to hear a band that is working within tight limits of funding and a DIY attitude release something that I would consider much more listenable than whatever the latest overly hyped indie darling is. Cuckoo Canoe may not be forging any sort of new ground with this release, but they obviously know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating catchy pop songs. Hopefully this will make its way across indie land and get some attention, because it’s solid enough to warrant some, that’s for sure.

Cuckoo Canoe – Aderol [MP3]
Cuckoo Canoe – Turtle Envy [MP3]

There really isn’t much information on the release or really the band itself. However, for those interested, they do have a MySpace.


Another album that I gave some attention to over the weekend is the new one from Shining entitled Grindstone. After their last album In the Kingdom of Kitsch, it’s pretty evident that these guys have made a name for their selves as being possibly one of the most original bands currently out there right now. They originally started out as an odd post-bop jazz quartet; however the band has over time taken that sound and greatly built upon it and turned into an interesting art-rock blend. I have no idea how to capture Shining’s sound in the form of words. To say it’s completely all over the place is probably an understatement. The influences are many, and they hit them hard here on their latest album. While I have yet to determine whether this album is as great as In the Kingdom of Kitsch, I can still tell you that it’s definitely going to be pretty good regardless. I do have to admit I wasn’t high on the opening track, but Grindstone seems to gain steam as it rolls on. Some of the songs like “Psalm” are pretty mind blowing and continue to strengthen this bands place in the upper tier of avant-rock.

Shining – Psalm [MP3]

This has yet to be released in the US and doesn’t look like there will be one for a couple months or so. Until then keep checking out the Rune Grammofon for a more definitive release date. Enjoy!

Solea - Finally We Are Nowhere

It’s truly odd how sometimes you completely lose track of members that were in past bands that you once loved or even still love to this day. That sort of thing kind of happened to me when I discovered Solea. Up until the Texas is the Reason one off reunion at the end of December, I hadn’t really been aware as to what Garret Klahn had been up to since he had been in New Rising Sons. Come to find out he’s been doing Solea with former members of Samiam and Sensefield as well. It’s completely crazy as to how I didn’t even run across this at any point. Even worse, they already have one album under their belt that was released in the US in 2005 and now they are set to unleash their second here in early ’07 called Finally We Are Nowhere through Bad News Records. It should be noted though that the album is already available in Japan and on iTunes.

While I missed out on the first album, I am proud to say that the new album is pretty good. While I imagine it’s often hard to set oneself apart in the world of emo/pop-punk bands these days, I imagine Solea won’t have to work to hard at doing that. Their sound is obviously well matured and that is probably no fluke with almost every single member having been in such amazing bands to begin with. The music is quite poppy at times and even uplifting, however never falls into a horrible lapse of clichéd out cheese ball lyrics or ever sounds like it’s trying to hard. The album is quite sincere in its approach and full of genuinely heartfelt lyrics. One of the things I am quite digging about the album is the nice use of reverb and feedback here and there, creating a nice lush atmosphere to back up the already strong melodies. Definitely quite a welcome addition to the list of projects the members have worked in.

Solea – Finally We Are Nowhere [MP3]
Solea – Far and Wide [MP3]

For anyone looking to purchase the album now, please steer clear of Amazon (they have it for $27 dollars imported) for once and head on over to Momibello and you can pick it up for considerably cheaper. This is the Japan version, so do keep that in mind. It’s also available on iTunes as well, for those that are willing to go that route. Finally We Are Nowhere will officially be out in the US sometime in early ’07. Enjoy!

Bluetip...

One of the more overlooked bands that were found on the Dischord roster through the 90’s was Bluetip. Originally formed in 1995 by former Swiz members Jason Farrell and Dave Stern, the band recorded three full-lengths and a nice rarities comp before eventually calling it a day. While practically all of their recorded output is worth listening to in my opinion, I would have to say that Join Us was the bands finest moment. It was their second album and found the band with a much more comfortable sound than their first album and didn’t teeter off into odd explorations that of which sort of brought Polymer, their third release, down a bit.

I’ve seen it argued in places that the band just wasn’t as catchy or possibly were just to average to really gain any sort of notice among all the other then current bands that were on Dischord. While I will admit that Bluetip probably wasn’t the most captivating or head turning band on the label, they do deserve some sort of respect. They were consistently good from record to record and carried on that DC post-hardcore sound just as well as anyone. While the music may have fallen flat to some ears, I always felt that Jason Farrell’s lyrics were quite redeeming. While they were in good fun, Farrell’s lyrics were often very self deprecating along with being fairly colorful and interesting. They were definitely something I felt that most could relate back to in some way or another. The band shared a certain similarity to Jawbox and Kerosene 454, which to me is more appealing than about 75% of the stuff I hear now and obviously about 100% more appealing than any garbage that is currently making the rounds on mainstream airwaves right now. It just seems that bands that were consistently good but not great back then got swept under the rug way to easily. Now days with such a high interest in file-sharing and online music, I think it’s necessary to get as much of these types of bands out from under there.

I apologize for my minor rant that was thrown in there, but that aside, Bluetip were a very solid band in my eyes and I do hope others out there feel the same way.

Bluetip – Salinas [MP3]
Bluetip – F- [MP3]
Bluetip – Bad Flat [MP3]

For those interested, all of Bluetip’s major releases can be found over at Amazon. Also after the band split, Jason Farrell went on to form Retisonic with former Garden Variety and one time Bluetip drummer Joe Gorelick. Definitely check those guys out if you’re a fan of the tunes above.

Boris w/ Michio Kurihara - Rainbow

I am admittedly a sucker for anything that Boris puts out, so I try not to write about them to often since they release stuff pretty frequently. Rather it is an actual album or collaboration, the group seemingly always has something ready to come out, and I am usually more than willing to listen to it. Continuing their list of collaboration releases, their latest which just came out on the Japanese label Pedal is called Rainbow and is with mega talented Japanese guitarist Michio Kurihara. For those not familiar with Kurihara, he can also be found in Ghost, White Heaven, and The Stars.

The reason I am taking the time to talk about this particular release is because I honestly do feel it’s a bit different than most of their back catalog. While almost every Boris release brings something new to the table, this one seemingly does so more than many of the others. On Rainbow, the addition of Kurihara helps push the Boris sound into more of a psych/kraut-rock friendly area. Definitely an interesting expansion to the groups sound. While it does contain at times bits and pieces of the more drone related side of Boris, it’s the interesting and talented guitar work of Wata and Kurihara that truly make this album worth listening to. Some fans might be a bit disappointed with this albums overall sound, but I think it contains a very cool and laid back feel to it. More like a jam session between the involved minds.

Boris w/ Michio Kurihara - Starship Narrator [MP3]
Boris w/ Michio Kurihara – Sweet No. 1 [MP3]

While this is only currently available as an import, for those that must absolutely have it…the album can be found here. However, those who can hang on until May 15th Drag City will be bringing the album to the US for release and it is said to contain a completely new track no found on the current version. So that is some added incentive I suppose. Regardless, for whenever May rolls around, I do suggest picking this up. Fans of a more spacey and psychedelic Boris will surely be pleased.

Fuehler...

There isn’t much information out there on the German band Fuehler from what I can tell. However, I guess it’s not surprising as their self-titled album that came out on Amanita Records in 1996 was their one and only full-length release. Apparently the band either drifted off into obscurity or disintegrated soon after the album came out. It really is a shame too, because the album is pretty amazing and was actually really ahead of its time.

With metallic post-rock becoming more and more popular these days, I would definitely suggest people look into finding this album. While it’s not exactly the carbon copy of what we hear these days, it definitely displays an early interest in the genre. However, the band doesn’t completely settle on that one niche. Although their music remains to be fairly melodic, there are instances where the melodies are also made up a nice sheet of underlying noise that is reminiscent to the likes of Glenn Branca or Caspar Brotzmann. The lead track “Harry” pretty much sums up the bands style. The seven minute masterpiece rides the fence of possibly being prog, however near the end brings it together for one absolutely epic ending that has one of the most ear pleasing riffs I’ve heard. No lie. However that’s probably my one and only complaint for the album, that the opener kind of steals the show for the rest of the time. While a number of the other songs on the album are fairly stunning as well, none really ever compare or stack up to “Harry”. Still, this album is pretty incredible, both for the band members’ musicianship and for it being a slight pre-cursor for a lot of today’s post-rock influenced music.

Fuehler – Harry [MP3]
Fuehler – Teufel 3 [MP3]
Fuehler – Greifen [MP3]

This may or may not be out of print these days; however for those that are interested it does look like Crucial Blast has it available still. I strongly urge those of you that are quite into the more metal side of post-rock to check this out. Amazing stuff.

1 Year of BOAWS...

Today officially makes it one full year for BOAWS, which is a pretty cool feeling. I am prone to start things and never finish them or never start them at all and with this blog I’ve finally put together something that I feel I’ve actually been able to follow through on. I plan on continuing it for however long I can as it’s a great deal of fun to work on from time to time.

Anyway, I don’t really have much planned in terms of any kind of celebratory post and I imagine this will be the only one I ever do since it’s the first year. But I did think it would be cool to go back and a sort of do a second part to my very first post I did on the blog. Also, a good friend of mine, whom has recently started a blog for movies, took the time to put together a collection of all the posts through last year. For anyone that would like to have that, it can be downloaded here. It’s pretty nice for anyone that doesn’t want to go sifting through the archives, which is a pain. Also, there is a print version done up for anyone that might be interested in that. So a big thanks to him for putting that together, cause I know I wouldn’t have had the patience to do all of that.


So after Quicksand went their separate ways for a second time in 1998 it was said that there was some sort of aborted album or at least some new material recorded during that period. I briefly mentioned it in my inaugural post. Over time this has proved to be true to an extent as various tracks have gradually found their way on to the Internet. Although I am unsure as just how many tracks there are, I am quite certain that there is at least six. After listening to them an obsessive number of times, I do think some of the tracks had potential. Although a fair amount of them do remind me of what Walter Schreifels would go on to do in Rival Schools. It’s to no surprise that at least one of these songs ("Requiem") would later be re-recorded as a demo for that band. But anyway, the song “Hostage Calm” especially stands out as one of the stronger demos, although I’ve heard that this is one of the songs that Schreifels wasn’t completely happy with. However, don’t hold me to that. I am not sure if these will ever see the light of day in any sort of official format, but for the time being, in honor of one of the greatest bands ever and the inspiration for BOAWS; enjoy some of the ‘98 demos.

Quicksand – Hostage Calm [MP3]
Quicksand – In the End [MP3]
Quicksand – Constant Tension [MP3]

By all means check out the fan site United by Walter for anything and everything that has to do with Quicksand and/or Walter Schreifels. It’s an amazing site and a wonderful community of fans over there. Also do check out Walters MySpace for his recent solo material, good stuff.

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks

It looks as if 2007 is going to begin with a plentiful amount of great releases, one of those included is the new record from Big Business called Here Come the Waterworks. The album is set to be released on March 6th through Hydrahead and I am here to tell you that it pretty much rocks.

Big Business is a duo made up of Jared Warren (vocals, bass) and Coady Willis (drums, vocals). Warren was also once in the amazing sludge driven juggernaut that was Karp and Willis has previously spent time in Murder City Devils. While I was a fan of the duos first record Head for the Shallow, I was left feeling a bit under whelmed by it. I felt like with all that potential that the album should have been absolutely mammoth sounding. I mean, it sounded huge and it was most definitely loud and sludgy, but it wasn’t quite there yet. All of this has been taken care of on Here Come the Waterworks. Maybe that time they spent playing, touring, and recording as part of the Melvins had something to do with it, I don’t know. Regardless of whether that’s the case or not, the album is magnificent and blows their debut out of the water. On top if it being ridiculously crushing, it sounds like a more complete and fluid effort as well. I know it sounds like I am dogging on their debut a bit, but really...their debut was excellent too. However, they've somehow managed to make that effort seem average in comparison.

Big Business – Grounds for Divorce [MP3]

Definitely pick this up when it comes out. Those out there that enjoyed Head for the Shallow should be pretty excited about this album because it surpasses it in my opinion. There are some really great tracks on it. Keep checking the Hydrahead site for its availability.

With that, I am out for the weekend. It’s supposed to be all icy and nasty here this weekend, so for those that have to get out and make their way around the KC area this weekend…be safe!

Janitor Joe...

While I am a fan of a lot the bands that graced the AmRep roster over the years, Janitor Joe is pretty high on that list as one my favorites. Their debut album Big Metal Birds, released on AmRep back in 1993, absolutely floored me when I first heard it. Immediately upon hearing that first blast of distortion on “Early Retirement” I knew I was about to hear something completely raw and unrestrained, it was like a warning shot. I however didn’t take cover and had 13 tracks rip through my eardrums like a fucking buzzsaw. I definitely don’t regret it.

While Janitor Joe fits snugly in with the whole noise-rock deal, one thing that I loved about them was that their music was much more, for a lack of a better description, “rock ‘n roll”. It was completely filled with energy and an overall vibe that just felt down right rowdy. While they were no strangers to distortion and squealing guitars, they also had a very catchy side to them that really caught my attention as well. They were maybe not one of the more popular choices on the roster, but definitely one of the best in my opinion.

Big Metal Birds:
Janitor Joe – Limited Edition [MP3]
Janitor Joe – Big Metal Birds [MP3]
Janitor Joe – Head [MP3]

Bullethead 7”:
Janitor Joe – Bullethead [MP3]
Janitor Joe – KCL [MP3]

Sadly the band came to an end in 1994 after bassist Kristen Pfaff passed away due to an alleged heroin overdose. The music that the band left behind is no doubt in my mind some of the best material to be released on AmRep. I do highly suggest picking up any of their releases that may be had over at Amazon or wherever else people see fit.

Holy Sons - Decline of the West

Well, I can officially say I’ve stumbled across my first album that I missed from ’06 that I am now kicking myself for. It’s inevitable that I have a few of these after the year is up. The album currently is Decline of the West from Holy Sons.

Holy Sons is the solo project of Emil Amos, whom some might recognize from his drumming in the instrumental group Grails. However, he has been releasing albums under the Holy Sons moniker for a few years now and Decline of the West serves as his fifth. Don’t feel bad though if you’ve missed out on any of his work, as Amos has kept Holy Sons pretty low key…even to the point where for the longest time he was hardly known in his own hometown of Portland. However, that has gradually been changing ever since his last album I Want to Live a Peaceful Life to which he has gained some notoriety for his impressive work. Amos, on top of singing, plays every single instrument on his albums to which I am sure becomes an incredibly tedious task after awhile. Decline of the West took 3 years of recording, mixing, and even more mixing before there was a finished product.

On Decline of the West, Holy Sons moves away from the more folk influenced sound that had graced the previous record. The title happens to be taken from an Oswald Spengler book, which on top of that even lays the foundation for the majority of the albums concept. The sound for the album is derived from, as stated by the label:

“Influenced by the avant German bands of the 70's he used nature recordings, radio transmissions and old Halloween tapes as source material to create slabs of musique concrete-style texture to surround and inhabit the songs.”

Pretty interesting stuff and it sounds ridiculously amazing as well. The whole album takes on a sort apocalyptic feel; however that’s apparently not totally the case. I would suggest reading this highly informative interview with Amos over at Penny Black Music to get more of a complete idea about the entire purpose and meaning behind Decline of the West. It’s definitely a good read and a great look into an amazing song writers mind.

Holy Sons – Gnostic Device [MP3]
Holy Sons – Saccharine Trust [MP3]

The album is currently available over Pamlico Sound along with every other Holy Sons album. Do check it out!

Green Magnet School...

I wasn’t originally going to do a post on Green Magnet School; however I was messing around on Allmusic and was stunned to see such poor ratings on two out of three of their major releases. I mean I know the band wasn’t some type of revolutionary musical force, but two stars for Blood Music or one and a half for Revisionist? That just seems a bit low, and even more baffling is that the actual tiny write up for Revisionist is pretty positive. Don’t get me wrong, I love Allmusic and I use it quite frequently for various things. It’s an invaluable resource and regardless of the cruddy ratings, it at least gives me a good reason to mention something about the band on here.

After coming together in the late eighties the band released a handful of singles, two albums, and an EP. They also had a few tracks here and there on some compilations/promotional albums. Green Magnet School’s sound was definitely hard to pin down, however one of the most consistent to be heard over the span of their entire output in my opinion. They were also fairly crafty folks as well, using an array of different items to achieve unlikely sounds through percussion and such. That and the monotonous plodding rhythms found on some of their earlier material gave them a bit of an industrial sound. However, their music was fairly abrasive while alternating between the use of three guitarists and two bassists. Maybe a bit much in retrospect, but I got to admit it made for one hell of a mess at times; a really loud but great sounding mess. Both of their albums were fantastic in my opinion, although I find myself liking their last album Illuminatus a bit more mostly because it’s bit more straight forward rock as opposed to Blood Music.

White People 7”:
Green Magnet School – White People [MP3]
Green Magnet School – Ammonia Bath [MP3]

Blood Music:
Green Magnet School – Ellipse [MP3]
Green Magnet School – Noxia [MP3]
Green Magnet School - Windshield [MP3]

Revisionist EP:
Green Magnet School – Spitter [MP3]

Illuminatus:
Green Magnet School – Downstat [MP3]
Green Magnet School – General Cornelius [MP3]

I believe the majority of their material is out of print yet you can find all the larger releases on Amazon for pretty cheap used. Definitely worth the small amount for anyone looking for some interesting yet very solid noise rock.

The Chiefs Suck and Brian Jonestown Massacre...

Well, the playoff run for the Chiefs was pretty short lived. I don’t think many thought they were going to pull it off anyway, but I doubt anyone expected the level of miserable football that many of us witnessed on Saturday. It seems impossible to go a whole first half without one first down; however I now know, thanks to the Chiefs, that it is indeed QUITE possible. That game was simply embarrassing. The Chiefs have no offense other than Larry Johnson and apparently if teams (even the defensively challenged Colts) stack the line we can’t do a damn thing. Trent Green looked like he should be sitting in a retirement home somewhere. While I wasn’t necessarily screaming for Damon Huard to come in and replace Green, I most definitely was thinking about it. That game was just bad, bad, bad, and bad. That’s all I can say about that. Anyway, how about that Tony Romo?

When most people think of shoegaze they think about bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, and etc. Not that they shouldn’t, because those were obviously some of the best and most influential bands to come out of the movement, however there are often a few records I believe people tend to forget whether they were just overlooked or just released a bit late in the genres prime. One of those records that come to mind is Methodrone by Brian Jonestown Massacre. While maybe not a full blown shoegaze reverb/fuzz fest, Methodrone still reeks of enough distortion and feedback that I feel safe lumping it into that category. It makes sense that this record isn’t immediately thought of when naming off great shoegaze records, as Brian Jonestown Massacre isn’t really commonly thought of as a shoegaze band, and rightfully so. They recorded Methodrone and then for the most part abandoned that sound in favor of Anton Newcombe’s love for 60’s rock/psych, which is also quite distinguishable on Methodrone as well. That and the album came out in 1995 when the genre had all but disappeared.

The music on Methodrone works off of a druggy hazy vibe that is much like Jesus and Mary Chain but maybe a bit less noisy. Like I mentioned before, there is a pretty large 60’s nostalgia influence going on underneath all the guitar layers and distortion that it gives it a bit of a unique flavor. For anyone that might have missed out on this album, I suggest checking it out. The song “Evergreen” is one of the better songs that I’ve heard produced from any band that was making that sort of music before and during that time.

Brian Jonestown Massacre – Evergreen [MP3]
Brian Jonestown Massacre – That Girl Suicide [MP3]

Methodrone is still available and can be had over at Amazon. Do please give it a listen for those that get a chance.

Pave the Rocket - Take In

I remember being suggested to that I should listen to a band called Pave the Rocket a few years ago. Even at that time I think they had already broken up, but I wouldn’t have known that then. However, I took up the suggestion and shortly after I managed to track down their album Taken In. If I recall correctly the reason I was initially told to listen to the band was because they supposedly had a similarity to Hum, which was good enough to send me searching. After getting a chance to listen to it I immediately began to notice that the comparison was kind of off base. I didn’t necessarily see it. However, the album was pretty good and the influences that shone through were still something that I could definitely get into.

Although Pave the Rocket wasn’t of the caliber as some of their post-hardcore/math rock contemporaries they still managed to release a pretty good album in Taken In that I believe deserves a bit more love than I imagine it gets now. Often when reading descriptions for the band I would see the label “emo” being tossed around which doesn’t really fit the band, although I am sure it stems from their one appearance on the Emo Diaries compilations. The track “Zone” is actually quite different when put side by side with anything that appeared on Taken In. The rest of their material always reminds me of a mixture between Jawbox and Shiner with that hint of Midwestern rock influence. Not entirely surprising considering the band was from St. Louis, Missouri. Taken In isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but does warrant some attention for those that dig a nice traditional post-hardcore sound.

Taken In:
Pave the Rocket – Tyro [MP3]
Pave the Rocket – Facesmash [MP3]

Emo Diaries: Volume 1:
Pave the Rocket - Zone [MP3]

While I’ve never ran across it anywhere, apparently there was another album after Taken In that the band self-released before they eventually broke up. If it’s actually out there I would be thrilled to obtain it, so if anyone knows of any information leading to its availability then by all means leave a comment or contact me via e-mail. For now though, I will enjoy Taken In as I hope some of you will as well. For those interested the album is still available over at Amazon, both used and new. Enjoy!

Rob Crow - Living Well

I am a pretty big supporter of all things Rob Crow, so to see that he has a solo album called Living Well due out on January 23rd is definitely good news to me. I was a pretty big fan of his project The Ladies last year in which he paired up with Hella drummer Zach Hill to create some fairly ambitious but trademark Crow-esque tunes. That’s just one though, Crow has done so much work in other projects like Goblin Cock, Thingy, and possibly his most beloved and well known Pinback to just name a few. However, right around the arrival of his first child Crow decided to make this highly personal solo record that deals mostly with his family as seen through the lyrics and the artwork for the album.

Living Well is definitely the first album of the new year that I’ve found myself enjoying. It’s distinctively Rob Crow, maybe more so than ever. It’s interesting to hear just how similar this album is to Pinback actually. His solo records have always kind have had a certain similarity to Pinback’s material; however on Living Well it’s probably much more apparent than in the past. There is nothing wrong with that though, as I am pretty keen to the bubblegum like melodies that everyone is used to hearing from them.

Rob Crow – Up [MP3]
Rob Crow – I Hate You, Rob Crow (Single Version) [MP3]

You can currently pre-order the disc over at Temporary Residence. Please do check it out.

Breadwinner...

Although only around for a couple years, the band Breadwinner managed to release a couple singles that were eventually compiled onto one album with a few unreleased tracks called Burner on Merge Records. The 20 minutes of music contained on the album is quite possibly some of the best math related rock recorded. As always opinions will vary, but regardless of whether you agree with that statement or not, it’s pretty undeniable that this is some amazing music.

I am not one that can necessarily point out all the technical aspects of just how talented Breadwinner were, but honestly when I listen to them it’s pretty evident that something special is taking place. The stop on a dime riffing is absolutely crazy, and the drumming is probably even more mind blowing at times. At one moment, I think I can follow a song and then it just completely dives into something else, and I’ve heard this album over and over. On top of it being structurally superior, it’s fairly rocking too, which is probably the most impressive thing. Sure, a lot of bands can/could impress with pure technical prowess, but it’s another whole achievement to turn that into a formula that will eventually get you nodding your head and the blood pumping. That’s where Breadwinner honestly sets itself apart. It’s just unfortunate that these guys couldn’t stick around longer. However, it is fairly nice to see that they do get a good amount of recognition despite their very short existence as a band. I don’t know much about what happened to any of the members after Breadwinner. I do know that Pen Rollings spent some time in Loincloth; however that’s about the extent of my knowledge.

Breadwinner – Kisses Men on the Mouth on the Mountain [MP3]
Breadwinner – Turtlehead [MP3]

The album Burner is still available from Merge. I would highly recommend picking this up for anyone that might not yet own it. Great stuff and shouldn’t be missed.

Monthly Mix!

Hope everyone had a great New Year. After a full day of laying around and "recovery", I am finally ready to kick off '07. I know I said this once already in my best albums of '06 post, but I just want to say thanks again to everyone that has visited, commented, e-mailed, and shown support for the blog in its first go around. I am looking forward to another great year.

With that, I bring you the mix for December. With the holidays out of the way for the time being, I can hopefully get back into the routine of updating as frequently as before.

All artist links lead to a place of purchase where applicable. Enjoy!

01 - Ed Hall - White House Girls
02 - Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day
03 - Zu - Tomaraya is Our Elvis
04 - Stratego - Soul Stepping
05 - Softlightes - Heart Made of Sound
06 - Black Moth Super Rainbow & Octopus Project - Psychic Swelling
07 - Potholder - 4 Corners
08 - Band of Susans - Hard Light
09 - Polvo - Stinger (Five Wigs)
10 - Holy Sons - Saccharine Trust
11 - Das Oath - Tropical Malady
12 - Scarce - Honey Simple
13 - Gravitar - Automaton
14 - Songs of Green Pheasant - Pink by White
15 - Miranda Sex Garden - Sunshine
16 - Childs - Reki
17 - Bob Tilton - Ring O' Roses
18 - Silver Jews - Death of an Heir of Sorrows

Download (.zip file)