W♥M (Archive): All Leather

All Leather - I Don't Hate Fags, God Does

All Leather

10/30/09 Slims San Francisco, CA
11/01/09 Black Lodge Seattle, WA
11/02/09 Satyricon Portland, OR
11/03/09 3 Parkside San Francisco, CA
11/06/09 Black Market El Paso, TX
11/07/09 Fun Fun Fun Fest Austin, TX
11/08/09 Rock Bottom San Antonio, TX
11/09/09 Lounge on Elm St Dallas, TX
11/12/09 Modified Phoenix, AZ
11/13/09 Che Cafe San Diego, CA
11/14/09 Club 1979 Baja CA
11/15/09 Smell Los Angeles, CA

Discography

[Aug 2009] Hung Like A Horse EP

[Aug 2009] Hung Like A Donut - Remix Album

Here is the latest collection of Singles and Extended Plays that's come across my desk. Reviewing EPs is simple, as usually it's focused on the main song, but it's also very hard to write about. You can only write so much about one song, which is why I've stopped accepting single songs (we get a lot of these), remixes, edited, videos, streams, or demos. I am also not uploading every song for streaming, just my main song of choice (mostly for hypemachine audiences). Read more EZ EPs articles.

ALL LEATHER
allleather.org ♥ myspace.com/allleather

All Leather's origin is from the ashes of the California punk band Some Girls (not to be confused with the less-than-punk band Juliana Hatfield's Some Girls), where two of the band members (bassist Justin Pearson and guitarist Nathan Joyner) came from.

The band recently featured on rcrdlbl and Alt Press Magazine. The later gives a glimpse of what All Leather sounds like: "[dance music] had cool elements, but was always ruined by lame lyrics, poor vocals and not enough balls. Ironically enough, the balls I wanted came from my exposure to it while working at a gay bar."

What he's referring to is probably their songs "Please Jesus, Send Me Someone To F*ck" and "I Don't Hate Fags, God Does" from their EP Hung Like a Horse, released in August on Dim Mak Records. The title alone is sort of controversial, but since I cannot, for the life of me, understand what Pearson is singing about, I don't know how I should feel about the songs.

I wouldn't exactly classify All Leather as "dance music" as described in Alt Press, this is more like experimental DIY noise - especially with the first two head trauma songs, "As The Hog Pisseth" and "We're Skrewed". Both songs seems to want to drill holes in my head.

Based on the songs and reading about the band, All Leather's fan base will be best built on their live performances. Usually these kind of high-energy sound just translate better on stage. Fortunately, it looks like they're doing a ton of dates in the south-west.

THE STATES thestatesonline.com ♥ myspace.com I've said this before, and I'll say this again: bands really need to pick better names. It's impossible to search for 'states' without having to put 'music' or 'band' in the search box. I'm sure this is the number one complaint whenever someone write about them and/or doing research. Still, that didn't stop the rock trio from being heard on national television on Fox's Fearless Music Show last night. I guess I don't really watch television (do I even have Fox on my TV?), I didn't know there were even music shows! I'm kind of excited about that, knowing that traditional media is still interested in music promotion. Well, We Are The Erasers, released September 22^nd, is the third release from this band. With the exception of the ballad-ish "The Fight", the rest of the five-track sounds pretty much solid rock music. I think the best song on the EP is "Erasers", with Chris Snyder singing its catchy lyrics of "we will be erased", followed by "you have been erased". The State are currently on tour, I'm sure they'll get some better exposure with their official CMJ showcase coming up! 10/03/09 Rusty Rudder Dewey Beach, DE 10/15/09 Fusion 5 Night Club Foxboro, MA 10/16/09 TT The Bears Cambridge, MA 10/17/09 Rack N’ Roll Cafe Stamford, CT 10/18/09 Vibe Lounge Rockville Centre, NY 10/21/09 CMJ Showcase New York, NY 10/23/09 Stone Church Newmarket, NH 11/05/09 Puck Doylestown, Pennsylvania		THE WOLFMEN thewolfmen.net ♥ myspace.com/thewolfmen I've never heard of The Wolfmen before this promo single, Jackie, Is It My Birthday?, to be released on October 5^th on their label, Howl Records, but their two main band members singer/bassist Chris Constantinou and guitarist Marco Pirroni have been in the industries for ages. I know that the two of them worked for Adam Ant, and Pirroni's been associated with Siouxsie & the Banshees and Sinéad O'Connor. It is with the O'Connor connection is that she sings duet with Constantinou on their new single. While the press release quoted this "For thirty years Fairytale of New York has dominated the Christmas playlists and festive radio for anyone looking for hardcore Christmas whimsey. But Jackie, is it my Birthday? is a worthy contender to The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's throne." to describe the song - I'll have to politely disagree. While I did love both the A-Side ("Jackie, Is It My Birthday?") and B-Side ("Blushing God"), "Jackie" doesn't really hit the same sad note as with "Fairytale of New York". Surely, I can think of some better O'Connor duets (just look at "Visions of You" with Jah Wobble or her album Collaborations featuring nothing but duets with O'Connor). Still, the song is championed by a variety of British DJs and musicians, among them Dandy Warholler, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, calling the band "fcking brilliant... I guess The Wolfmen just sound like heavy weights because they are.*" You can hear the song for yourself on their myspace, along with "Jackie Says", which I hear is their breakthrough hit song.
MIKA mikasounds.com ♥ myspace.com/mikamyspace Mika isn't really the sort of musician that I normally listen to. It's not like because of my street cred, but generally once an artist reach a certain status, the PR companies stops answering our calls. Which is why it was weird that I was sent his latest single, We Are Golden by his record label, Universal Records. The single comes with essentially the same song - a radio edit and the full song. The radio edit cuts the song three and a half minutes from its original four minutes epic. I'll have to admit that the song is pretty catchy and inspiring with its uplifting piano. It's a youth song, it sends out the message that old geezer like me would never understand it. Having just appeared on "Later...with Jools Holland", it's a good indication that he'll be heading out on his tour - heading into 2010! 10/12/09 Toronto, ON Sound Academy 10/13/09 Montreal, QC Place de Arts 10/15/09 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre 10/16/09 New York, NY United Palace 10/18/09 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory 10/20/09 Chicago, IL Riviera 10/23/09 Los Angeles, CA Palladium 10/24/09 Oakland, CA Fox Theatre 10/25/09 Seattle, WA The Moore 10/27/09 Vancouver, BC Orpheum Theatre 03/12/10 Antwerp Sportpaleis 03/13/10 Amsterdam Heineken Hall 03/15/10 Copenhagen KB Hallen 03/17/10 Oslo Spektrum 03/18/10 Stockholm Annexet 03/20/10 Dusseldorf Phillipshalle 03/21/10 Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle 03/23/10 Hamburg Color Line Arena 03/26/10 Leipzig Haus Auensee 03/27/10 Munich Zenith 03/29/10 Vienna Gasometer 03/30/10 Stuttgart Schleyerhalle 04/01/10 Basel St. Jakobshalle 04/02/10 Luxembourg City Rockhall 04/16/10 Lisbon Coliseum 04/18/10 Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi 04/19/10 Madrid Palacios Deportes 04/21/10 Milan Mediolanum Forum 04/23/10 Marseille Le Dome 04/24/10 Lyon Halle Tony Garnier 04/26/10 Paris Bercy 04/29/10 Nantes Zenith 04/30/10 Toulouse Zenith 05/01/10 Nice Palais Nikaia 05/03/10 Strasbourg Zenith		NANCY NEWLIS nancynewlis.com ♥ myspace.com/nancynewlis Nancy Newlis is a New York singer/songwriter. Yes, we get a lot of these sort of submissions, especially of the singer/songwriter variety. What makes Newlis stand out is that she's from Moscow, originally studying under composer Irina Vladimirovna. A bit of a prodigy, she found herself studying jazz with a full scholarship in the University of Miami. Her recording break came with the release of Universidad Navidena, featuring the University music orchestra. Bitten by the recording bug, she went on to release Moments last year, and her latest release is Dreamers 2009 EP, released last May. I think what she's trying to do on the EP is a mixture of traditional jazz and pop music. Generally, the way I look at jazz is that it's usually an instrumental form, usually with improvisation (especially played by a veteran). In order for traditional jazz to be accepted by the mainstream audience, it has to have catchy lyrics or pop sensibility. Songs like "Dreamers", "Social Standing" and "What Is It?" on Newlis' EP does a good job fusing the two genre, featuring some acoustics, pianos, and Newlis' unique Russian-esque vocals. If you want to hear her for yourself, check out her free download of "Dreamers" at last.fm.
PUZZLE myspace.com/puzzlepuzzle OH MY! I think I am in love Puzzle. They have this indiepop sound, sort of feels like they are all old school friends in a small, small town, obsessing over their favorite bands. As it turns out, according to their biography, this is a "female-fronted" band from Liverpoool who started in 2007. Their debut album, Sometimes, all of the time, released the same year, is sold out... however their latest MiniCD (the first 30 features a holographic cover, limited to 100), is called We Left, released September 28^th on Lightning Heart Records. I don't know what else I can add to this, except that I really like the way Lucy sings her songs. It reminds me of a bit of Tanya Donelly. If I were to live in Liverpool, you know what I'll be doing on October 13^th (stalking): 10/13/09 Bumper - with Cats and Cats and Cats & maybeshewill		TOTAL BABE myspace.com/totalbabeband A little closer to home, is Minneapolis' Total Babe. Generally whenever I see band names like this, I think "they must mean the opposite, I'll bet they're heavy metal dudes ... with beards!" Well perception kept me away until I added this EP to my work queue. Guess what? They're alright! In fact, having just looked over all their cheesy photography collection, including the hilarious OMG picture, I'll have to say they are cute/dorky normal. The six song Heatwave EP, is full of indieness. My favorite is "Shape Up", featuring some whistling action. Since they are from around here, I'll try and catch them play after their CMJ debut. 10/04/09 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, Minnesota 10/20/09 CMJ FESTIVAL New York, New York 10/21/09 CMJ FESTIVAL Public Assembly Brooklyn, NY 10/22/09 CMJ FESTIVAL Spike Hill Brooklyn, New York 10/23/09 CMJ FESTIVAL New York, New York 10/24/09 CMJ FESTIVAL New York, New York 10/30/09 PERSONAL BEST RECORDS Minneapolis, MN 11/14/09 Kitty Cat Klub, Minneapolis, MN