W♥M

Darkestrah - The Great Silk Road

 

The Silk Road (excerpt)

Darkestrah

Since I just posted a review of a Velvet Cacoon album, I figured I should review something on the exact opposite end of the black metal spectrum. Unlike the drugged-out droning of Velvet Cacoon, this band plays fast, melodic black metal with a strong folk-ish slant.

 

Darkestrah, proud owners of one of the most hilariously awful band names ever (sorry, but I simply can't let that one slide), are a black metal band hailing from, of all places, Kyrgyzstan, and currently based out of Germany.

 

Despite the really weak band name, this band plays some of the best pagan black metal I've heard in a long time. The band combines a black metal sound with the use of a number of highly uncommon folk instruments and techniques (especially for black metal) including the kyl-kyjak (a type of fiddle), the temir komuz (also known as a Jew's harp), and the use of sygyt (a style of throat singing), among others.

 

And speaking of things that are unusual in black metal bands, this is one of the rare female-fronted black metal bands. The singer, going by the name of Kriegtalith holds her own with the best metal vocalists out there. There is nothing for people who like fake metal bands with whiny mallgoth girls fronting them (you know who I'm talking about) here, and for that, I am incredibly thankful. Honestly, she sounds more or less androgynous to me. I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't been told. The point is, she makes Dani Filth sound like a eunuch.

 

Of course, all of that wouldn't mean much of anything if the music was bad, and the unusual elements sounded cheesy and tacked on, but the standard guitars, drums, bass, and vocals are all here, and there is lots of suitably brutal drumming and awesome enough riffs and melodies to silence all doubters, and the folk instruments are not only well-integrated into the band's arrangements (along with a number of other instruments that unfortunately were unnamed in the press kit), but they're also an essential melodic part of them. This is a well-composed black metal album that will not only satisfy the hordes that are already out there, but might even be tolerable to people who've never listened to a black metal album in their life.

 

More information can be found at their official website.

Soup wrote this:

 

Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve

 

 

Avalon Polo

Velvet Cacoon

Receiving a copy of Genevieve by Velvet Cacoon from Southern Lord was somewhat of a surprise to me. I've had the vinyl edition for almost a year, I'd guess, and to be honest, I just assumed the CD version had been out for about as long.

 

I'm not complaining, though. Writing about a band (the names Josh and Angela are the only clues given as to who they actually are – and there's speculation that Angela doesn't exist) as utterly absurd as Velvet Cacoon is something I've wanted to do for quite a while, and honestly, I was actually considering just writing a review of it earlier based on the vinyl edition. For those who don't know the story, Velvet Cacoon is a Portland based ambient black metal band that extols the virtues of DXM, the active ingredient in Robitussin. They made a name for themselves spreading rumors about the band's supposed ecofascist activism, the death of a band member in the Cascades, and accounts of incredibly violent live shows. On the album I'm reviewing now, they allegedly used a homemade invention called a “diesel harp” - a guitar with diesel-powered pickups amplified through aquariums. Of course, all of these things were later revealed to probably be completely untrue (except the diesel harp thing; in case your common sense hadn't tipped you off as you were reading it, Josh openly admitted it was after the album's release). Eventually they put recordings of Portland-based dream pop artist, Korouva (listen to this stuff; it's good) on their MySpace page as their own and faced further controversy after the plagiarism accusations. The band's response: to admit that everything about them is a joke, that they're horrible people and an excellent example of what too many drugs will do to a person, and announce a still-unreleased new album. Of course, this presented a hell of a lot more questions than it answered, and the band's intentions are even more unclear at this point than they were before.

 

Recently, Southern Lord picked up a couple of the recordings that were theirs to reissue. Northsuite, an earlier recording, and Genevieve, which is their actual debut album. And for a “joke” band, this is a really great, really powerful album.

At the core of the sound here is fuzzed-out, noisy black metal. Droning ambient passages hide surprising melodies and drugged out, distant vocals. A thick, distorted haze surrounds everything, from the drugged out lullabies presented on “P.S. Nautical” and “Avalon Polo” to the sleepy clockwork guitars of “Laudanum” that fade out for a vocal break and then again for an ambient passage toward the end of the track. The title track probably sounds the most like traditional black metal, with fast drumming and buzzsaw guitars providing the backdrop for tortured raspy vocals and subtle keyboard holding down the melody. The last track, “Bete Noir” takes up a good third of the playing time of the album. This track is the album's comedown, a slowly building ambient track that exercises considerable restraint, consisting mostly of ambient noise and layered keyboard melodies, all hanging in the background for 17 minutes, getting noticeably louder and then disappearing completely in the last 30 seconds.

 

As for finding further information on this band, you're essentially limited to what Wikipedia and Google searches turn up. They haven't really maintained an official website (their current site features nothing more than an e-mail link and a picture of a lady on a bike) in quite some time, and they will probably never tour. Still, they're responsible for some of the most oddly atmospheric black metal in recent memory, and I have to highly recommend it to anyone who's into that sort of thing.

Wrote by Soup

Thrash Roundup! Voetsek and Guillotine! Hot Diggity!

Soup wrote this thing:

 

Bully With a Badge/Someone I Used to Know

Voetsek

So I figure since my stack of CD's to review is kind of piling up, and I've been pretty lazy, of late, I would start combining reviews in logical ways. By genre, label, release date, etc. So today, I'm talking about some good old fashioned thrash played by some bands that I think get the idea better than most other bands playing this style of music now-a-days.

 

On the more hardcore end of things is the new album, Infernal Command, by the bay area's Voetsek. Ami Lawless's vocals range from hoarse shouts to high pitched screeches that bring to mind Nausea's Amy Miret. The band is about as thrash as it gets. Speed is the key here. But while the rhythm section is mostly punk, the guitars stray into metal territory quite often with killer leads wherever possible. Double-bass is used tastefully, which is nice to hear in a band like this. This band thrashes through 17 tracks in about 21 minutes, so this thing isn't for the feint of heart.

 

Lyrics range from dystopian (“Frozen Heart”) to social (“Self Righteous Fuckdom”) to political (“Bully With a Badge/Somone I Used to Know”) to just straight up goofy (“What Would Lemmy Do?”). I'd recommend this as highly for people who are into things like Municipal Waste, Septic Death, Man is the Bastard, Nausea, XBRAINIAX, or Hummingbird of Death as I would for people who are just into old-school 80's thrash.

 

They've got a few shows lined up, and they all look like complete “burn down the house” sorts of deals. Lack of Interest and Mind of Asian in particular are sick as hell. Here are the dates, and stay tuned to their MySpace page for more:

Nov 21 2008 LACK OF INTEREST, MIND OF ASIAN (Japan), VOETSEK, CALIFORNIA LOVE + more @ Gilman Berkeley, CA

Nov 22 2008 LACK OF INTEREST, VOETSEK, MIND OF ASIAN (Japan), SMD, SUMERIAN AXE, TERRORISM in SoCal Boyle Heights, CA

Nov 23 2008 GHOUL, MIND OF ASIAN, VOETSEK, I WILL KILL YOU FUCKER, DR. KILL ’EM ALL @ Burnt Ramen Richmond, CA

Nov 24 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Portland @ Plan B Portland, OR

Nov 25 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Seattle @ the Rendezvous Seattle, WA

Nov 26 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Eugene, OR Eugene, OR

Now onto the second band of this article!

 

 

Insanity

Guillotine

I wish Sweden's Guillotine had sent me a little more info because I know almost nothing about them. But I'll work with what I can dig up! It'll be okay, I promise. They're on Singapore's Pulverised Records now, a label that I pretty consistently dig. They have one other album out. It came out ten years ago. Their sound is relentless, fast-ass thrash metal. Much more of a straight-up 80's thrash metal sound than the Voetsek album, and definitely rooted squarely in metal rather than punk. I'm not sure I get what these guys are all about, since, unfortunately, they didn't include any lyrics, but their sound is great.

 

The lead guitar work here is refreshingly creative for this kind of metal, with just enough of a classic sound to be familiar, but with some definite influence taken from Swedish melodic death metal (a style I generally don't like, but it works well here). The drumming is classic thrash all the way through, with a little bit of punk influence, but unmistakably metal overall. The songs here are a bit longer, with 12 tracks stretching over 41 minutes, but not one of them wears out its welcome.

 

And in true thrash metal tradition, this thing includes cover art by legendary thrash metal artist, Ed Repka (who has also worked with such classic bands as Venom, Death, Atheist, and Megadeth). I'd say it's worthy. You might agree. Anyone who digs things like Kreator will probably be into this. So check it out!

 

I don't see any tour dates for these guys on the internet, unfortunately, but I'm sure they're good and nasty live. So keep an eye on their MySpace page for some new dates.

 

 

 

 

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Soup wrote this:

 

Nothing Ever Happened Deerhunter Tour Dates 10/31/08 Microcastle Record Release Show @ Variety Playhouse w/ Pylon, Jay Reatard, Times New Viking Atlanta, Georgia 11/01/08 Orange Peel w/ Times New Viking, Vera Fang Asheville, North Carolina 11/02/08 Cat’s Cradle w/ Times New Viking, Lake Inferior Carrboro, North Carolina 11/03/08 Ottobar w/ Times New Viking, AIDS Wolf Baltimore, Maryland 11/04/08 Black Cat w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts WASHINGTON, Washington DC 11/05/08 First Unitarian Church w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11/06/08 Terrace F. Club w/ Knyfe Hyts, Times New Viking Princeton, New Jersey 11/07/08 Music Hall Of Williamsburg w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts Brooklyn, New York 11/08/08 Bowery Ballroom w/ Times New Viking, Vivian Girls New York, New York 11/09/08 DCU Center w/ Nine Inch Nails Worcester, Massachusetts 11/10/08 Paradise w/ Times New Viking, Vivian Girls Boston, Massachusetts 11/11/08 Theatre Plaza w/ Times New Viking, Neighborhood Council Montreal, Quebec 11/12/08 Lee’s Palace w/ Times New Viking, Neighborhood Council Toronto, Ontario 11/13/08 Crofoot Ballroom w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Pontiac, Michigan 11/14/08Grog Shop w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Cleveland, Ohio 11/15/08 Metro w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Chicago, Illinois 11/16/08 High Noon Saloon w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Madison, Wisconsin 11/17/08 Triple Rock Social Club w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Minneapolis, Minnesota 11/20/08 Richards On Richards w/ Times New Viking, BARR Vancouver, British Columbia 11/21/08 Neumos w/ Times New Viking, BARR Seattle, Washington 11/22/08 Hawthorne Theatre w/ Times New Viking, BARR Portland, Oregon 11/24/08 Great American Music Hall w/ Times New Viking, BARR San Francisco, California 11/25/08 El Rey Theatre w/ Times New Viking, BARR Los Angeles, California 11/28/08Casbah w/ Nite Jewel, Times New Viking San Diego, California 11/29/08 Modified Arts w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Phoenix, Arizona 12/01/08 Palladium Loft w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Dallas, Texas 12/02/08 Emos Alternative Lounge Outside w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Austin, Texas 12/03/08 Warehouse Live w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Houston, Texas 12/04/08 Chelsea’s w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Baton Rouge, Louisiana 12/05/08 One Eyed Jacks w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel New Orleans, Louisiana 12/0/08 Bottletree w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Birmingham, Alabama Read More Atlas Sound http://weheartmus... Bradford Cox, singer of Deerhunter, has a solo project: Atlas Sound. Based out of Atlanta, Georg...

Microcastle is one of those albums it took me a while to figure out how to actually review, which means it's a good thing they gave us an absurd amount of lead time on it, and I've had it to listen to all summer (this thing has seriously been on my iPod for about the past two months or so). Deerhunter's last full-length, Cryptograms, explored noise and ambient music in a pop context, largely pushing the more pop tracks into the second LP. The vinyl edition came with the next EP, Fluorescent Grey, a largely pop affair, on the D-side, and they ran quite nicely into each other.

 

Microcastle picks up about where they left off and sort of comes back around full circle. After a short instrumental intro, they're in full-on pop song territory with “Agorophobia,” which might be one of the most explicitly sexual indie rock songs ever written. Blending a new wavey bass driven sound with sunny pop melodies seems to be what this album (or, at least, its A-side; I'll explain this shortly) is all about. “Never Stop” takes the pop element even farther, with a bigger guitar sound drenched in reverb and feedbacking all over the place with everything building into an ecstatic outro sort of reminiscent of The Arcade Fire, if they were too stoned to be excited about much. “Little Kids” slows things down a bit, drowns the vocals in reverb and lowers them in the mix, and then proceeds to drown everything else out into a strange noisy pop drone. The title track, “Microcastle,” seems like a strange contrast to this, with its sparse arrangement and relatively untouched (aside from a little reverb) vocal sound. It's not until the last minute or so the distortion kicks in and then the whole thing abruptly grinds to a halt. “Calvary Scars” is more a straight-up ambient thing that serves as a really nice lead-in to the Sigur Rós-styled piano of “Green Jacket,” a song that is almost staggering in both its sparse expansiveness and its brevity. The last third of this sandwich is “Activa,” which brings to mind the “swamp of noise” (because it sounds to me like someone writing songs around a bunch of sounds they recorded at some sketchy looking house in a swamp somewhere) sound of their last album. I get the feeling these tracks are probably intended to make the listener sort of uncomfortable in preparation for the album's first single, “Nothing Ever Happened” bringing the band back into full on pop song territory. This track is about as straight-up “indie rock” as these guys get. It reminds me a little bit of Yo La Tengo with its extended, sort of “jammy” instrumental outro, which takes up about half the time devoted to the song. “Saved by Old Times” is written around a bluesy guitar line and the actual song gives way to goofy samples of people yelling at each other incoherently played forward and backwards. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but the song itself is great and turns into a weird ambient post-punk thing at the end. The next track, “Neither of Us, Uncertainly,” is more an ambient thing with lots of reverb and a nice hypnotic melody. The outro leads into “Twilight at Carbon Lake,” which sort of reminds me of Built to Spill with its expansive sound and melancholy pop vocal melody, as well as its use of guitar interplay. Even Bradford Cox sort of channels Doug Martsch with his vocal style on this one. The biggest difference is that where Built to Spill would turn the song into an epic jam session, Deerhunter drowns it, bludgeons it, and destroys it with layers upon layer of guitars and feedback with equally majestic results.

 

So basically, this album is good. I like it about as much as I liked Cryptograms, but for different reasons. The last album was more about ambient strangeness. This album is pretty much the closest thing to a pop album they've written so far. It's really good and I recommend it highly.

 

These guys are headed out on tour with Times New Viking (who are also awesome in their own way). More info can be found at the band's MySpace page, and also at the blog where Bradford Cox posts a lot of song downloads, mostly for his other band, Atlas Sound.

 

 

Outlaw Order - Dragging Down the Enforcer

 

Siege Mentality

Outlaw Order

Soup wrote this:

 

Here's one I wasn't expecting! The new Outlaw Order album, Dragging Down the Enforcer, came out yesterday, but I just got it in the mail from Season of Mist today. Outlaw Order (abbreviated 00%) is a side project in the loosest sense of the word. Eyehategod guitarist, Jimmy Bower was busy playing drums in Down, and the rest of the band, all being on probation (in fact, since their first 7”, Legalize Crime, their original bassist went to prison), decided to play up the “outlaw” theme with this band. This time, bassist, Marc Schultz has been replaced (for obvious reasons), and really, they don't sound any worse for it because Justin Grisoli (also the only guy in the band who's never been in Eyehategod) does a damn fine job filling his shoes.

 

After a “declaration of a state of war,” the band is out the gates like a raging drunken bull. “Relive the Crime” is a really awesome track with some good sludge going on. Stoned, off-time playing, with drunken, almost punk rock vocals. I guess I'm stating the obvious when I say it sounds a hell of a lot like Eyehategod. A stoned drum-based dirge opens “Safety Off.” Slowly, the bass starts coming in, followed by buzzsaw guitars. They speed up into Sabbathy riffing with some angry drunken vocals. “Double Barrel Solves Everything” sounds like a hardcore song (in fact, I keep thinking it sounds sort of like a Minor Threat song, ironically, but I can't put my finger on which one). Pissed off vocals, economical, brutal guitar playing and drumming, and a nice sludgy bass assault make this track for me. “Alcohol Tobacco Firearms” starts out sounding a little like Sleep, and then throws that out to go into full-on old-school hardcore territory with the most speed displayed so far on the album. They stay fast and heavy for “Mercy Shot,” which has a nice crusty edge to it that reminds me a little bit of Asbestosdeath or Nausea. “Narco-Terrorists” has some really Sabbathy lead guitar going on. “Siege Mentality” goes even farther into that territory. More of the track is instrumental than not. Crushingly heavy, too! “Walking Papers” has a really cool ascending and descending lead guitar. You can smell the whiskey coming off of it. The last real song, the title track, has this cool juxtaposition of slow vocals and fast instrumentals. The drumming in particular is brutal as all hell.

 

This is a really solid album. I'd recommend it for fans of Down, Superjoint Ritual, Eyehategod, Asbestosdeath, Sleep, Electric Wizard... basically anyone who takes their metal slow and heavy. These guys only have one upcoming show scheduled. They're playing the Howlin' Wolf's “Raise the Dead” Festival in New Orleans. Maybe they can't leave town due to their probation? I don't know, but if you're in the area, check it out! Since their official website appears to be no longer owned by the band, more info can be found at their MySpace page.

 

 

 

Grails - Doomsdayers Holiday

Reincarnation Blues

Grails

Soup wrote this:

 

Portland's Grails dropped their new album, Doomsdayer's Holiday on Temporary Residence today. They play a sort of heavy classic rock, blues and folk influenced post-rock kind of thing, somehow defying any attempt at categorization or pigeonholing.

 

The title track is probably as straight-up metal as these guys get, with its classic doom metal guitar bringing to mind bands like Black Sabbath and Candlemass without ever ripping off either of them. The second track, “Reincarnation Blues,” is definitely my favorite on here. Starting out simple with bells and a wind instrument (I'm not sure what it is) playing an awesome blues riff. Then the guitars come in and the track turns into an energetic psychedelic blues freakout that winds down into an ambient drone outro with some sampled chanting underneath it. “The Natural Man” is folk music for astronauts. It channels the feel of David Bowie's “Space Oddity” into something else entirely. Something that sounds undeniably classic without being too self-conscious about it. “Immediate Mate” seems to kind of want to hang in the background. Starts out with a quiet blues guitar riff and some keyboards and subtle percussion. It's sort of an ambient jazz thing, and the glitched out electronics and awesome jazz percussion keep it interesting. “Predestination Blues” picks up where “Reincarnation Blues” left off. It's a slower song, drowned in reverb with the same kind of feel. Meditative chanting provides a base from which swirling guitars build up over the last two minutes or so of the track. The next track, “X-Contamination” builds up from a droning keyboard into a swirling mass of samples and loops into an awesome spaced-out blues-rock thing, which is gone almost as soon as it began, degenerating back into the primordial soup it came from. The last track, “Acid Rain,” starts with a lazy, stoned Dark Side of the Moon style guitar thing with some electronics building up under it until they eventually overtake it in a sort of staticky climax that, much like the radio fading out, quickly fades out and disappears. There are some vocals here. Very subtle, buried under the guitars and bass and drums. Eventually, this fades out to make way for a warm, reverb drenched guitar meditation.

 

These guys are playing a show on October 12^th with Sunn o))) in Portland. After that, they're going on a short east coast tour with the Silver Apples (who I am frankly surprised are still around, but it's an appropriate fit, I think)! As always, more information can be found at the band's official website.

 

Oct 12 2008 8:00P Berbati’s Pan, w/Sunn0)) Portland, Oregon

Nov 11 2008 8:00P Empty Bottle Chicago, Illinois

Nov 12 2008 8:00P Skull Alley Louisville, Kentucky

Nov 13 2008 8:00P Hi Tone, with Silver Apples Memphis, Tennessee

Nov 14 2008 9:00P Caledonia, with Silver Apples Athens, Georgia

Nov 15 2008 8:00P Drunken Unicorn, with Silver Apples Altanta, Georgia

Nov 16 2008 8:00P Emerald Lounge, with Silver Apples Asheville, North Carolina

Nov 18 2008 8:00P Local 506, with Silver Apples Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Nov 19 2008 8:00P Ottobar, with Silver Apples Baltimore, Maryland

Nov 20 2008 8:00P Bard College Poughkeepsie, New York

Nov 21 2008 8:00P Union Pool Brooklyn, New York

Nov 22 2008 9:00P Knitting Factory Manhattan, New York

The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and the Sun

 

Another Leather Lung

The Sound of Animals Fighting

I should probably hate The Sound of Animals Fighting. A pretty large percentage of members and former members have been in a lot of bands I frankly can't stand. Over the years, it's featured members of Saosin, Circa Survive, Chiodos, Rx Bandits, and Finch. It's sort of a mainstream scene-core dude supergroup, if you will.

 

And thankfully, their new album and Epitaph debut, The Ocean and the Sun, is so, so, so much better than that description makes it sound. This album sounds like what their last album, Lover, The Lord Has Left Us, probably should have been. The unnecessarily experimental wank has been washed away, leaving some pretty cool songs behind. Gone are the earsplitting chants (well, technically, more like mixed down to a tolerable level), the unlistenable half-baked experimentation, and all the other things that made the last album so tedious, and the line-up has been trimmed down to match, the most notable absence being that of Chiodos singer, Craig Owens. The line-up of musicians has been pared down to about half what it was, with the bulk of the actual performance being carried by the original four-piece lineup.

 

So what are we left with? The intro track is someone reading a poem in Farsi in a studio. To be honest, I feared the worst when I heard this. Thankfully, instead of putting the chanting and backing vocals way too high in the mix like they would've done on the last album, all the vocals on the title track are beautifully layered. The whole thing sounds almost like something Thievery Corporation would do. The outro features a kinda cool ambient keyboard/spoken word thing that leads into “I, The Swan.” This track has a really cool slithering guitar backbone to it and a kind of downtempo feel contrasted by busy drumming and children providing little spoken word bits that aren't nearly as cheesy as they could be. The loud/soft dynamics on the second half of the song are used economically enough to sound fresh. “Another Leather Lung” takes its cues from OK Computer-era Radiohead right down to the vocals. It's actually not bad, though, despite being something that's been done a million times before. A little bit of The Cure creeps in here and there, providing a kind of cool contrast that I really dig. And then they tear it all apart like The Blood Brothers might have, adding their own touch by dragging it through the streets a little bit before cutting the rope and riding away. The next track, “Cellophane” is kind of boring until the last couple minutes where it builds up into a feedback'd-up guitar solo. The intro to “The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion” has a cool glitchy sound with some nice key changes going on. After that, it turns into a pretty standard modern post-hardcore sort of thing. The contrast between the slow vocals and the fast music is kind of cool, though. “Uzbekistan” has a really cool keyboard and drum backbone that gives it kind of a frantic, chaotic feel. Bursts of static, butt rock guitar leads, and odd manipulated vocals round it out into one of the best tracks on the album, although it also kind of sticks out by being so different from most of the rest of it. The outro almost reminds me of A Silver Mt. Zion's first album, with spoken vocals slowly overtaking the music (which is appropriate, because they're obviously fans – the last album even featured a track called “Horses in the Sky”). It seems appropriate the the next song, “Blessings Be Yours Mister V” should be more of a straight-up rock song. And it is, and it's kind of faceless up until about a third of the way through where glitchy, mathy guitars take over, and then the whole thing breaks down and gets weird, eventually stopping altogether to make way for harmonized vocals that introduce an almost dancey section with some glitched out drum machine programming going on. “Ahab” is the only interlude actually listed on the back sleeve (there are two others; the intro track, and one entitled “Lude”), and it's a one-minute chunk of static that leads into the delay and reverb drenched intro to “On the Occasion of Wet Snow,” which features tastefully mixed male and female vocals behind a thick wall of sound. Psychedelic guitar leads reminiscent of Built to Spill give this part a pretty cool feel to it. The guitar leads turn into more of a straight-up post-hardcore thing but without much of the hardcore. This is definitely my favorite track on the album, and a pretty good end to it.

 

There don't appear to be any tour dates coming up or anything, but more info on these guys and where you can get this album can be found at the band's website, of course:

 

http://www.thesoundofanimalsfighting.com/

 

Soup was not raised by wolves.

Mahjongg - Kontpab/European tour!

03 - Kottbusser Torr Mahjongg Tour Dates 01 Oct IT Cesena - Officina 49 03 Oct IT Brescia - Lio Bar 04 Oct IT Udine - Cormon Salvadi Festival 05 Oct IT Bologna - Locomotiv 06 Oct IT Faenza - Clandestino 08 Oct IT Roma - Init 09 Oct IT Pisa - Caracol 10 Oct IT Genova - Buridda 11 Oct FR Marseille - Festival Actoral / Montevideo 12 Oct FR Bordeaux - Saint-Ex 14-16 Oct FR Brest - Workshop / Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Brest 14 Oct FR Brest - Salle du Clous tbc 17 Oct IRL Dublin - Upstairs at Whelans 18 Oct UK Glasgow - Stereo 22 Oct UK Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach 23 Oct UK London - Upset the Rhythm / Bardens Boudoir 24 Oct UK Brighton - Freebutt 25 Oct FR Rouen - Emporium Galorium 26 Oct NL Amsterdam - Studio-K 27 Oct DE Hamburg - Astra Stube 28 Oct DE Leipzig - Frueh Auf 29 Oct DE Dresden - Scheune 30 Oct DE Berlin - Bang Bang Club 31 Oct FR Colmar - MJC 01 Nov FR Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris) - Festival BBmix 02 Nov DE Darmstadt - Oetinger Villa 03 Nov CH Basel - Hirscheneck 04 Nov DE Esslingen - Komma 05 Nov DE Koln - Tsunami 06 Nov DE Trier - Exhaus 07 Nov FR Metz - Festival Musiques Volantes / Les Trinitaires 08 Nov CH Lausanne - Festival Métropop / Le Romandie 13 Nov SP Castellon - Tanned Tin Festival

 

 

So I've been sitting on this album for quite a while. I don't know why I never got around to reviewing it, but hey, better late than never, right? Anyway, Chicago's minimalist dance rockers, Mahjongg bring a fresh sound to K Records on their new album, Kontpab, and now that they're about to embark on an epic European tour, now's as good a time as any to talk about this album. Repetitive lo-fi droning electronics, percussion ranging from syncopated and tropical to sparse, simplistic dance beats, and sparse melodies, all come together to create a pretty cool sound.

 

The opening track, “Pontiac,” consisting of the aforementioned syncopated drumming sounds like a dance party on a trashed beach, could not be more different from the sleazy lo-fi disco jam, “Problems,” with its repetitive melody and sparse electronic drums that do the bare minimum to great effect. “Kottbusser Torr,” on the other hand sounds like Kraftwerk, as influenced by electro and old-school hip-hop. Glitchy beats with rhythmically spoken vocals with a two-line sung chorus almost distract from the cool melodic synth line that sounds like something out of Metroid. “Tell the Police the Truth” is like the sound of someone playing Space Invaders, with added chaos and some vocals. Honestly, this is probably one of the weaker tracks on the album, in my opinion, mainly because of the vocal melody and the overly long outro. Still not bad, though. I really love the lo-fi pop on “Those Birds Are Bats,” though. This is about the closest this album comes to sounding like something that was released on K Records. It's a really straightforward, catchy pop song, with bursts of tape hiss and static interspersed throughout. “Wipe Out,” on the other hand, is just odd in all the right ways. Syncopated rhythms combined with glitched-out carnival organ flourish with Bee Gees style helium laced vocals. More a curiosity than a “song,” but I still think it's awesome. The electro-funk of “Teardrops” is more hilarious than anything. A strong bassline provides a backbone for glitchy, percussive electronic clicks, beeps, and bells and sleepy vocals. The tinny sound of”Mercury” is really cool. It's like hip-hop as played on a pile of cheap, secondhand keyboards by a bunch of nerdy kids. This track is awesome. Seriously, seriously awesome. The album culminates in the 8-minute dance party scorcher, “Rise Rice.” It starts with a slow build-up, from a bassline, adding tribal percussion, adding layers of vocals and percussion, and tearing them back down with just as much ease.

 

So I hope you're convinced of how great this band is. Here are the European tour dates. I'd definitely love to catch these guys live. Here's your chance to beat me to it! More info on these guys can be found at their official website.

 

Soup thinks you should all be dancing to this right now.

Old Wounds by Young Widows

 

Old Skin Young Widows Tour Dates 09/09/08 Ear-X-Tacy Louisville, KY 10/14/08 TBA Detroit, Michigan 10/15/08 Sneaky Dee’s Toronto, ON 10/16/08 The Casbah Hamilton,ON 10/17/08 Mavericks Ottawa, Ontario 10/18/08 Club Lambi Montreal,QB 10/20/08 Truro TAAC Grounds Scotia 10/21/08 Pictou Youth Centre New Glasgow,a Scotia 10/22/08 POP EXPLOSION FEST @ Gus’ Pub Halifax,a Scotia 10/25/08 Church Boston,MA 10/26/08 Death By AudioBrooklyn,NY 10/27/08 Barbary Philadelphia,PA 10/28/08 Talking Head Baltimore,MD 10/29/08 Nara Sushi Richmond, VA 10/30/08 Snapshot  Greenville,SC 10/31/08 THE FEST 7 Gainesville, FL 11/01/08 THE FEST 7 Gainesville,FL 11/02/08 The Hanger Athens,GA 11/03/08 Milestone Charolette, NC 11/04/08 Pilot Light Knoxville, TN 11/05/08 Drunken Unic Atlanta, GA 11/06/08 Bottletree Birmingham, AL 11/07/08 Lola’s Fort Worth, Texas 11/08/08 FUN FUN FUN FEST!!! Austin, Texas 11/09/08 Prophet Bar Dallas, Texas 11/10/08 The Conservatory Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 11/11/08 The Bluebird St. Louis, Missouri 11/13/08 Cahoots Louisville, Kentucky 11/14/08 TBA Milwaukee, Minnesota 11/15/08 Beat Kitchen Chicago, Illinois 11/16/08TBA Indianapolis, Indiana

Post by Soup

 

Steve Sindoni left Louisville, KY's Breather Resist in 2005. Despite the loss of their singer, Breather Resist went on with Evan Patterson, their guitarist, taking the mic, and they changed their name to Young Widows. Well, Young Widows do still carry on some of what Breather Resist was doing. But instead of noisy post-Hoover math rock and post-hardcore, what we have here is something that takes more influence from things like Fugazi and The Jesus Lizard, still exploring the territory of post-hardcore - and in fact, they're working with Converge guitarst, Kurt Ballou as a producer - but in a completely different way.

What Evan Patterson brings to the table vocally is a slightly more raw approach that brings to mind The Stooges as much as it brings to mind any hardcore band. There's more untrained singing on this album than trained screaming, and it sounds awesome. The opening bass riff to “Took a Turn” sets this album up as the closest thing to a straight-up rock record you'll find anymore, without ever having to define what that even means. “Old Skin” is based on a repetitive guitar line that swirls and lacerates everything within earshot. “The Guitar” explores minimalist territory, with most of the song being based around a repetitive bass line with equally repetitive vocals, with a noodling guitar building up over it. “21^st Century Invention” takes an awesome bassline and bludgeons you in the head with repetition with guitars cutting through the muck. “Delay Your Pressure” is about as close to straight-up punk rock as you'll find here. Gnarly guitar noise and shouted vocals, over a drum and bass hardcore assault. Of course, it breaks down at the end into a reverb-soaked swamp of rhythmic noise. “Feeler” kind of reminds me of Fugazi's “Nice New Outfit,” except with the bass cranked and the guitar set to “screech.” This track rules. And the last track, “Swamped and Agitated” is a rock song with heavy bass and drums and the guitar providing awesome riffs to accent any given moment of it. I particularly like the part where the guitars sound kind of like air raid sirens. Near the middle, there's a cool drum and bass breakdown.

Overall, this goes above and beyond the typical post-hardcore album. You can hear a little Joy Division, a little Fugazi, a little Breather Resist, and a little Jesus Lizard here, but it all comes together into a pretty cohesive whole. These guys definitely stand on their own.

They've got a tour coming up. They'll be appearing at The Fest 7 in Gainesville, and they're touring the US and Canada. More info can be found at the band's official website (which, honestly, is a link to a bio, a blog, and a MySpace page, so I'm not gonna bother linking to all of that stuff).

W♥M022: Meet the Meat Extender, plus Bookcast!

Ladyhawke - Dusk Till Dawn (Pascal Gabriel Radio Mix)   Inga Swearingen - Happy to Be Patterns Spiral Into Swarm Sal Kimber - Met Police

These podcasts keeps getting longer and longer! I promise to cut it down next week.

Download #22:
Download this episode (71 min), subscribe over at weheartmusic.mypodcast.com

Some bands/music that we used in the podcast are: Philanastasia, Inga Swearingen, Sal Kimber, Beatnik Turtles, Canvas Solaris, and Ladyhawke.

PART ONE: News topics covered are Michael Jackson goes on secret dates with Pamela Anderson, Guns N Roses wants blogger to "rot in jail", Album leak welcomed by Metallica, Heart Lash Out At McCain Campaign’s Use of “Barracuda”.

PART TWO: Meet the Meat Extender, Alex and Brian talks to us about their punk band.

PART THREE: I originally requested the Music Success book to compare and contrast to The Indie Band Survival Guide, but having read both books, I have to say that these two books are not really in the same league. Both are written for different audiences, and both are worth looking into if you're thinking about promoting your band.

MUSIC SUCCESS IN NINE WEEKS
by Ariel Hyatt
cyberprbook.com

Music Success in Nine Weeks Book (2008)

Billed as a "step-by-step guide to supercharging your PR, building your fan base and earning more money," this 2008 book comes in both print and electronic version, and retails for $34.99 (there is no discount for the e-version, the last time I checked).

The book reads like a self-help book and generally is a breeze to get through. On a quiet evening, you can get through this 128-page book in a matter of hours. Don't let the 100+ pages discourage you, if you take away non-essential spacing or "notes" and exercise, I would guess this book is no more than 50 pages of solid reading.

The things I like about this book is that it's very easy to follow and read. No pretentious tones, and it's written through the eyes of Ariel Hyatt, a publicist who's been in the music industry for at least twelve years. Sometime her writing falls too much on the personal side (dealing with her past experiences or mentioning she's married to a blogger), but I sometime think that's part of the charm.

I also liked her money-saving tips, from free website endorsements to doing your own PR work. Writing your own biography and networking seem obvious to me, but if you're new to this, then reading the step-by-step guide is essential.

Like most self-help books, this book really depends on your participation. I would only recommend getting the printed version and following the instructions explicitly, otherwise the book might not work for you.

As an exercise, I did try and apply some of the tips to promoting W♥M: for instance, I will only give out my business card if someone asks what I do (instead of bringing up what I do in conversations). I have also thought about building the email list, which I think might not work for us (since people already subscribe to our RSS feed or via the neighborhood networking)... but I really should be more aggressive in promoting our Twitter which you can subscribe via email or text messages. Ironically, this account was setup by Ryan in the UK and twitter recently dropped their option to text to UK mobiles.

THE INDIE BAND SURVIVAL GUIDE
by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan
www.stmartins.com
indiebandsurvivalguide.com

The Indie Band Survival Guide Book (2008)

Billed as a "complete manual for the Do-It-Yourself musician", this hefty 300+ book by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, two members of the band Beatnik Turtle, details their experiences and success in this essential guide.

The book is very affordable ($14.95, but obviously you can get it lower online), so there is no excuse to not owning this book. Although it's written for the musician, I think this book can apply to anyone interested in the music industry or work in promotions.

The book is broken into two sections: Get Prepared and Get Fans. The first part focus mostly on your image/branding and web presence, while the second part focused on publicity, distribution and getting booked. Between the two, I felt that the second part is the big hurdle, so you may want to focus more on the first part - which goes into details from picking a searchable band name to your website's content.

The book is very detailed, so as a guide book, which is not necessary cover-to-cover read, I suggest skipping to topics that interests you. You can get lost in all the details, for instance it goes into image color formats (RGB, CMYK, Black and White Line art and Grayscale), which I found very interesting - but might not apply to you.

From a web developer, I liked reading over the band website chapter. They stressed over the 'contact page', from their experience (and mine), that there are many opportunities that present themselves just by making contacting you easier. They also noted that if you're comfortable, you should also include a telephone number, as ABC Family/Disney (aka traditional media) still does business through the telephone. From a promoter's point of view, I can tell you that I have passed over some band because there was simply no way of contacting them.

Other interesting thing I discovered reading the second part (since this is the part that is most unfamiliar to me), that you can actually have your CDs in smaller stores as consignments (where they pay you only after they sold your CD). Even if you don't sell any albums, it works as a small advertisement for you as people will start recognizing your name. It even goes into detail about giving an extra store copy as a promotional device - really great tip.

For emerging bands there is a section to have banter or "stalling banter" prepared, in case you break a string on your guitar. Personally, I have always enjoyed when a band is talkative, and it really does help add to a band's showmanship.

They do admit in the forward that this book is best used by acting and doing, in addition to using the book as an idea or theory. The low cost and invaluable guide, I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in music.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com