I stayed up all night for this!

This record kicks ass. 'Nuff said.

Sin of Angels - From the Ashes
NotCommon Records
15 Nov 2005
4 stars

In early February my band got to open a gig for Brooklyn street-metal champs, Prowler, and a couple of touring bands from the Boston label NotCommon Records. The show, while fun to play, was not without its hiccups; with the somewhat typical scramble for extra mics and figuring out who was sharing what equipment with whom. However, in hindsight, the biggest hiccup of them all was the breakdown of a van carrying three men from Providence. At the time I had the, "shit, it sucks that that band can't make it, but at least we're not rushed for time anymore" attitude. Boy do I ever wanna take that back. Now that I've done my homework weeks later I know exactly what we all missed: a heavy dose of New England doom.

Doom? What? I must say that as a transplanted Masshole, I am ashamed of my lack of awareness of the sludge and doom scene in New England. I mean really, when Providence, RI is mentioned in the company of most of the music folks I know, bands like Lightning Bolt or Arab On Radar or Necronomitron immediately come up. Well folks, it's time to hop on the bandwagon, because there is some great stuff from the other end of the speed spectrum going on up there. Along with labelmates Conifer (who hail from Maine), Providence's Sin of Angels are putting out some high quality material.

From the Ashes, SoA's first full-length on NotCommon, clocks in just shy of 45 minutes and not a second of it should be missed. Slow, trudging chords become sludge rock riffage and turn back again carrying you away with each tempo shift. When the energy is just right a solo flies from the guitar as if set free by Loki just to stir up trouble. A lot of the doomier parts on this record are reminiscent of Neurosis, though with more pace: like they were channeling Sabbath. Overall this is a fantastic album that gets better with each listen. I'm dreadfully sorry that they never made it to Brooklyn that night, but I won't miss them next time. And before they come to crush your town, make sure you have this album.

Economists Can Shove It

Want to understand why neither "free markets" nor managed socialist/communist economies function like their theorists would have you believe? The same reason why it feels good to buy a round or bum someone a smoke. I need a job so I can get everyone back who has helped me out.
Give It Away

Grab Bag of Super

First off, a mention for Prowler and Team Robespierre who bring the awesome every time they come out and play. Since the addition of Mike on bass, TR has gotten tighter and tighter and the new material continues to impress. They'll have a split 10" coming out soon with the project formerly known as Death By 1000 Cuts (not sure of their new name, etc. right now). If you want to understand what a robot zombie's internal dialogue is like, then check out Team Robespierre. LONG LIVE THE TEAM!
Team Robespierre

Prowler is a fucking slay-ride of fist-in-the-air street metal that only crazy people can dance to. Their rumbling rhythm section is joined by dueling guitars and fronted by phenomenally operatic witchery. I don't know if they have any new recording in the works right now, but they have a couple songs on their myspace page for the time being. The real magic, however, happens live, so keep yer goddamn eyes peeled.
Prowler

And just for kicks, check out this photo and story on a two-headed baby!!!!!
Two headed baby

You put a spell on me

Last night the Farhydt and I traversed the windswept plains of Little Poland to visit Club Europa. Our original plan was to walk the couple of blocks to Northsix, but apparently they were/are shut down right now, so last night's show had to be moved. I'm glad it wasn't cancelled because that would have been an inhuman tragedy. You see, we trekked out to behold the might WITCH.
Now I've been a Dinosaur Jr/J Mascis fan since I was about 13. When the Hydt mentioned to me that he had a new project I immediately tracked down some, uh, tracks and have a listen. I think I called back about an hour later (he'll have to verify) saying that I got tickets and we're going, no ifs ands or buts.
We missed the first band Titan (or The Titan, or something) and showed up maybe halfway into Panthers' set. Having been a huge Orchid fan, I never quite took to the early garage-esque sounds of Panthers (much preferred Bucket Full of Teeth). It seems, though, that they've been heading off into the groovy depths of stonerdom, because some of their newer shit is right on. It's heavier and much more riff-laden that what I had heard and they didn't display any of the rock'n'roll pretense that so often comes with garage-rock. Kudos.
After a smoke break Witch took the stage. I had only heard two tracks of theirs because I don't have any money to buy any albums right now, but man did they crush with all of their material. Heads were banging throughout the house. Club Europa became a temporary chamber of epileptics, as the music surged and pulsated like the incoming tide.
Witch is a bubbling cauldron of riffs, licks and solos powered by thunder. These guys know how to write songs and play off one another like nobody's business. As soon as I have money I'm buying the album. Hell, I may not have the patience to wait.

Today I listened to...

So I've spent pretty much my entire waking day listening to new stuff, some atrocious and some really good. To begin, I had gotten some cds yesterday from burningangel to review for their site. None of it has been good so far and the preeminent piece of garbage was by a band called Heroine. I wrote up a post for BA which will probably get posted tomorrow. I absolutely refuse to mention this band anymore, so I won't bother to post that here. Goddamn it was truly a piece of shit.

On the upside, though, I had a listen to Yob's The Unreal Never Lived. This was my introduction to Yob and I thought it was fantastic. I'll write something proper for it after I've listened more as I was making lunch while it was on, but it sounded great and put me in a better mood after suffering through the aforementioned sonic atrocity.

Right now I have Bolt Thrower's Those Once Loyal on and I could take it or leave it. I've only reached track 3, but so far most of it lacks distinction. Too much straightforward double bass (no breakdowns, though, which is nice) and I'm not a fan of the gutteral (not quite cookie-monsterish) vocal style. It does rock a bit, but I've heard much better and much more interesting stuff before.

But yeah, I'm gonna listen to Yob again.

My ears hurt

Last night's show was great fun. At least for the bands who played. In some weird paradox of the universe, our (Fake Names) total disregard for the sensibilities of the audience actually endeared us to them. Slightly.

On a different note, fuck blogger for 'tarding up the whole joint so that nobody could post anything for 2 full days. I mean, I stayed up all hours of the night checking out new stuff and wanting to write about it, but nooooooo. Error confirmation 505034820jfadjbhblaaargghhh.

Anyway, Witch is playing on thursday and I can barely control myself. Reports will be filed...

Turn off your mind, there's nothing to find...

In January I placed an order with All That's Heavy, and waited, pacing for days, grinding my teeth into bleeding fingers. And this is the first time that ATH hasn't delivered in like split minutes [exaggerated-Ed.]. The firejar of waterfalls rose and fell and rose again, and on a weekend I received notification: a package was at the post office with my name on it! Two months after ordering, I was to weild the discs of space in my weedling fingers, and carefully slide the needle to its virgin surface, lay back, and bare witness.


BLACK MOUNTAIN - S/T

Super. Chunky guitars, mellow organs, sublime singing, both male and female voices, I think an ocharina, and some grooves straight out of the unshot Easy Rider scene wherein everything's all right, but always in confrontation. Sweet, simple lyrics shade like unimportant masks, very effective in repetition and memory. Some songs annoy me. The opening track, I haven't spun since the first listen, and the opener on B-side is giving me cringing shudders as I sit thinking about it. Just listen for yourself. This troop is bringing a storyteller's singing campfire to everyone with a victrola (33rpm, sorry, Tennessee).


EARTH - Hex: or Printing in the Infernal Method

Earth is the best fucking music this side of my shoulders. At first I was tentative about this sparse, evocative effort. I wasn't worried: I just didn't know what I wanted. I have decided thus far that if it's Earth, I'll take it. The meditations of Hex: are gorgeous, deep, and reflective of a contrary source of primitivism usually demonstrated by howling Sunn0))) amps crashing through cymbal stands. The primitivism of this album is a calm, dream-like approaching misty figure, drenched in collective memory, and freeing tassles from his dressings, lighting them alive to inspire thought with their frenetic, nearly invisible movements. This is an old man laughing.


ELECTRIC WIZARD - We Live

We Live is not an album, it is a ritual.


So in summation I could not have picked better for myself. The sludge of the Electric Wizard is by far my favorite, though. It's a different band than the name suggests. I have known about them for years, and never liked them. The Electric Wizard II is very much my cup of threesome tea, please. And every time I don't want to flip from side C to D-side, I either start C again, or make myself put on D-side, which is a steep demonic debauchery of repetition and slick whistles. It is a side long instrumental with a great ending. What could be better?


Honorable mention: Blessing the Hogs - Twelve Guage Solution

Deriving water from stone...or something

Here's my contribution to the dueling review of The Sword's Age of Winters. Mary's review can be found on the Binge & Purge site, so go see what she has to say as well.

The Sword - Age of Winters
Kemado Records
14 February 2006
3 stars

The Sword is probably one of the most blatant Sleep/HoF/Matt Pike—inspired bands ever conceived. If one was engaged in some sort of blind "taste test" of their debut record, Age of Winters, I would wager a good deal of money (that I don't have) on somebody claiming it to be some super secret (pre-Blessed Black Wings) High On Fire album with Al Cisneros on vocals. I'll never hide my undying love for both Sleep and HoF, so all that having been stated upfront it's actually a pretty damn good record. A total stoner creation from start to finish, it would be a premier effort if the aforementioned bands didn't exist. Then again, if they didn't exist, I'm positive that this band probably never would have formed and this record never made. So there's that.

The members of The Sword are certainly highly capable musicians and they do write rocking material. However, there is very little to distinguish them as a creative force in their own right. Because the songs are so similar to the Matt Pike outfits in terms of both the riffs and lyrical content, I have little recourse but to label them a bit of a "ripoff" band. This is unfortunate since they seem to be talented folks with good taste in music who create something that's pretty fun and very listenable. Even the album art is great, though again it is obvious reference to Alfons Mucha (I'll admit also that I love Mucha and probably wouldn't recognize it otherwise).

Age of Winters is probably something that newcomers to stoner rock should check out, as the old heads would most likely put in a few listens and then retire it. Nevertheless, The Sword certainly display a great deal of promise on this record. I just hope that on future releases they branch out and exhibit more of their own creativity instead of retreading such familiar ground.

Past... to the back

So I've spent probably the last month looking into all of the fucking amazing music that was recorded in the 90's that I never had the time to listen to because I was obsessing over DK and Subhumans and stuff of that nature and trying really hard to be much more badass than I ever actually will be, and I am frankly amazed at how much great stuff I missed because I wasn't paying attention or was still in Primary School in England or something like that. All of the "new" music I'm listening to is, without exception, at the very least 8 years old.

Here are some highlights (I know you all can't fucking wait... breath is baited and all of that):

Boredoms Super AE: This is just some insane, beautiful, noisy, speedy, tribal (I hate that word, but it seems to fit with the weird vocal nonsense on Super Shine) and generally fucking amazing music. Their drummer is completely beserk, their songs are epic, but in a "I can't fucking believe I just heard that, my brain is now completely fucked" kind of way, instead of a boring, cheesy metal way. Good shit.

Slint Spiderlands: I can't believe I missed this (except that I was 7 when it came out) because I love the hell out of this record so much. It's not even that complete really, and there are only six tracks but they're all sufficiently long and interesting and Breadcrumb trail and Good Morning Captain are awesome bookends. From the cool harmonics at the beginning of Breadcrumb trail to the distorted kick-ass outro and the end of Good Morning Captain and all the understated, weird narrative telling strange stories about shipwrecks and fortunetellers in between, these guys made a really cool album and promptly imploded due to the pressures of recording. Heard that one before.

Breeders Pod: I'm a big fan of Kim Deal and everything she's ever done, but for some reason this is the only thing she's had a big hand in that I never really listened to. Stupid me. It's really good.

Guided By Voices Alien Lanes: Robert Pollard writes the best minute and a half long songs ever and then put 30 of em on an album and calls it a day. I already did the Bee Thousand thing (and think, like everyone else who likes this type of shit, that it's great) and heard the music he made afterwards (with actual production... what the fuck is that about?) and really didn't like it so I assumed that was all there was to hear. Nope. Listen to Salty Salute or Watch Me Jumpstart, one for the lyrics and vocal melody and the other for a great guitar line.

There's a lot more, but I just had to rant about a couple in public (semi-public because I'm fairly certain only two people read this rubbish that I write). I'll be quiet now. Seriously though, listen to Spiderlands and Super AE even if you're dubious about the other two...

Aldo Moro and the Fascists

Today is the 28th anniversary of the kidnapping of former Italian PM, Aldo Moro. Supposedly taken hostage by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades), he was held for several days and then his body was found in the trunk of a car in Rome.
While many cling to the belief that the leftist Red Brigades committed this act, a more plausible explanation for this lies in the revelations that most of the terror acts committed in Italy around this time—and blamed on the leftists—were actually carried out by fascist cells. Of course this will be dismissed as "conspiracy theory" despite the fact that subsequent investigations by Italian governments have shown this to be the case and that people involved have corroborated the stories.
Anyway, I guess this is just a reminder that whenever some sort of terror act takes place to scare the general population into accepting situations that aren't in their best interest (oh, like say, 9/11 or the London bombings) it's probably the work of fascists and their sympathizers in government.
For more fun information on this stuff google or wiki-search P2 (Propaganda Due), a far-right Masonic lodge that claims as members pretty much every right-wing Italian there is, including current jackass PM Berlusconi. I'm not for killing people, but I agree that the only good fascist is a dead fascist.

What a waste

Okay, here's something I hate to do, but I gotta do it. I have to post a really bad review. Well, it's a really good review (read: well written) of a terrible album. Could somebody please turn me onto something good by this band? If they're so legendary, why does this album blow so fucking hard? Eh, anyway, here it is:

Cathedral - The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Nuclear Blast Records
26 September 2005
2 stars

I'm not sure where to begin with this one. Hieronymous Bosch must be rolling in his grave. From the atrocious album art to the uninspired and clichéd songwriting this is utterly terrible. Now maybe I shouldn't be one to say too much about this band. After all, Cathedral has been around for over fifteen years now and their (ever-changing) lineup has seen the likes of some of metal's finest (with former Napalm Death vocalist Lee Dorrian still leading the way) . The Garden... is rumored to be their last album and though I'm not too familiar with their catalog, if this is indicative of anything, it's that they should have already hung up the boots.

Although I'd love to go into some of the band's history in order to salvage something meaningful here, I can't and I shouldn't. This review should be solely about the music contained within. I don't really have anything good to say. Cathedral is touted as a legendary doom band. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything doomy about this record: it's moderately fast, very straightforward and the vocals are too clean. The best thing I can compare this album to is a worse Orange 9mm singing about fantastical dragony stuff; something that nearly always annoys me. Hell, Orange 9mm was a lackluster post-hardcore band from when I was like fifteen or something. Nobody should ever have to make that sort of comparison to anybody so "legendary."

Cathedral began as an idea hatched backstage at a Carcass show in 1989, but here it sounds like a bunch of guys got stoned and listened to hair metal. What gives? I'll probably get shit from people because I dissed a Cathedral record, but I can't let this slide. Like Ronnie Dobbs said, "You are shittin' in my mouth and callin' it a sundae." Unearthly delights, indeed.

A Man Is Born

Finally, a flier for this saturday's show. Yeah, it's a little behind schedule, but whatever, it's funny as hell.
Why?
Because I made it.

Steroidal Politics

How about a nice round of applause for Electricity Bill. Just because we on the Spaceship Bastille (it's so hard not to write "spaceshit") like good music and aren't complete assholes doesn't mean we have to ignore professional sports. Okay, so yeah, we totally ignore american football 'cos it's worthless, but basketball and real football (soccer) are beautiful games. And we pay attention.
And while I'm thinking of it, check out this list of sports-related people who donated money to political interests. There are some obvious ones on here, but a few surprises, too. And your suspicion that one of your favorite players donated money to Bush-Cheney could be confirmed. By "favorite" I mean somebody I completely detest: A-Rod. What a fucking loser.
Sports Political Donations

DON'T FORGET THE ROCK N' ROLL SHOW!!

FAKE NAMES, GEIDI PRIME AND DRAW are playing at...

the Rockstar Bar @ Kent & South 5th in Williamsburgh

9pm Saturday March 18th

It's free so bring everyone you've ever met.

I just realized that my completely stupid and long last post got in the way of something actually important.

I'm sure Alex is regretting inviting me onto the spaceship already. I should probably go get my own blog, but I don't want to.

Not a post about music...

...I've been invited to join the spaceship as Slexx's "Bill Simmons". For those not in the know, Simmon is really funny and I don't know that I can do that title justice whatsoever. He also writes about sports, so sportophobes, or more aptly, basketball-o-phobes, beware. I'm unemployed and have some time to devote to writing idiotic spurts of crap. Here goes...
Some predictions for basketball fans:

Paul Pierce is playing out of his mind right now and the Celtics will overtake either Milwaukee or Philly and make the playoffs. Iverson is out for a few games and without him the Sixers are so pathetic that they'll probably lose every game unless Webber plays like he did against the Grizz the other day (31pts, 9rebs, 9asts) and I'm not sure he's got it in him. Milwaukee has lost their edge and since Redd has been slumping a little, they're not nearly as dangerous.
Pierce is doing his best Bird impersonation, hitting game winners and scoring 30 something every day, and playing like a top ten player.

Speaking of which, it's time for an impromptu top ten list:
Top ten players in the league at this very moment in no particular order:
-Kobe Bryant - don't love the guy, but it's very hard to deny that he's one of the best alive right now
-Steve Nash - see below (MVP discussion)
-Lebron James - looks tired at this point of the season, but even when he's playing tired he can really play. I wish he would do more of that Magic Johnson type stuff he did his first two years, but he knows that the free agents his team got have been inconsistent and is just trying to win games at this point.
-Dwyane Wade (how is it that his name is spelled that way, yet pronouced "Dwayne"? Anybody have any idea?)
Dirk Nowitzki - Looks like a leader and he's playing within the system really well even though anyone with a brain knows he could be putting up 30 plus a night.
-Allen Iverson - Probably my favorite player at the moment. Having his best season ever. If only he has some teamates who weren't totally one-dimensional.
-Paul Pierce - Has taken the most confused-looking squad in basketball and is making a playoff push with them.
-Shawn Marion - Just look at the numbers he gets without ever having a play run for him. He literally does everything. Leads the team in scoring, plays good D, leads the league in rebounding at 6'7". He's like the best energy guy of all-time. Like Eduardo Najera with 10,000 times more skills, about 24 extra inches on his vertical and one of the funniest looking jumpers ever. One of my favorites.
-Elton Brand - Having an amazing season. His numbers have calmed down a little as the Clippers get healthy, but he plays power forward perfectly even though he's really not all that tall. He blocks shots and he's become surprisingly quick off the dribble.
-Chauncey Billups - Makes all the big shots, orchestrates a reborn offense and never ever turns the ball over. Ever.
I'm not saying all of these guys are better than Garnett or Duncan, McGrady or whoever else always... just that they are right now.

In the West I think that the Hornets may finally be sunk. Chris Paul has been phenomenal and will be one of the best players in the entire league within the next two years, but they just don't have enough to hang with the Los Angeles Kobes and the new Kings, who are really going to mess with some teams in the playoffs with Ron Artest aboard and Bibby's shooting touch better than it's ever been.

If I had to give out the awards right now (and if I, in any way, had the power to do so):

Most improved: David West will win this, but I would choose Gerald Wallace. He hasn't played enough games to be seriously considered, and his numbers last year weren't bad, but he's become the team captain, he's the only guy in the league putting up more than 2 steals and 2 blocks a game and he's all over the place all the time. He still doesn't have a jump shot and has room for a lot more improvement, but he has become a defensive difference maker and the high scorer for a team that has exactly zero go-to guys. Too bad the team stinks and he won't win. This pick is clearly biased, but I don't care.

Rookie of the year: Chris Paul... this is so obvious it really doesn't warrant debate

Defensive player of the year: Bruce Bowen... he won't win it because perimeter players rarely do. Ben Wallace will probably win it again. But I can't give him my vote (not that I have one) since I'm not even sure he's the best defender on his own team sometimes. Watch Rasheed Wallace guard Duncan or Garnett some time and you'll see what I mean. Shawn Marion will get some consideration, but won't win because people still don't see the Suns as a defensively competent team (even though they actually are this season). If Andrei Kirilenko could ever play a full season he could win it. Camby could too for that matter, but they're both discounted from this season because they've missed so many games. Anyway Bowen should win it because he guards just about anybody and guards them well. He's the only guy on earth who consistently drives Kobe, Vince Carter, Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki crazy. He's a pain in the ass and gets in peoples' heads but, at the end of the day he gets the job done.

MVP: This should be Steve Nash again. Everybody on his team is playing better than they ever have (including Steve himself) and while that might be a coincedence, it's not. He gets his guys open shots all the time and there is so much trust in that teams offense that everyone believes they can be a difference maker all the time. He may not win it though just because back-to-back MVP awards are hard to come by unless your name is Jordan, Magic or Duncan. They're the only ones that have gone back to back in the last 17 years. I don't see the voters holding him in that kind of regard. Also, he's not on one of the big three teams, Detroit, Dallas and San Antonio. Nobody from SA will win, but Nowitzki could make a run, and both Kobe and LeBron will get votes. Regardless, Nash should win it. His team has the 3rd best record in the east without Amare Stoudamire and, as I mentioned before nobody makes his teammates better than Nash does.

I think that this entry is getting a little out of control... so I'll stop for now.
One more thing, Sonic Youth might be one of the best bands ever. If their new album, which I believe comes out this year, is as amazing as Sonic Nurse, my head will explode. I promise.
Wow.

Saturday Night Show

March 18
9(ish) PM
Rockstar Bar - Williamsburg
S. 5th & Kent

Fake Names (KissingerswallowS' alter-ego)
Geidi Prime
Draw
+special guests

Free Show
Be There

Elephant Orchestra

Think this is some kind of joke? HA HA, my friend you are wrong! There really is a Thai Elephant Orchestra and the music is really kind of amazing. I have to check out more of it myself, but I heard this track and it blew me away. It's something like 52,000 lbs. of Elephant with mallets and shit playing xylophones and steel pipes and wood blocks and gongs. They keep great time and have an incredible sense of composition. They also have greater restraint with a gong than most humans do.
Go check 'em out, you can link to their homepage here as well: Elephant Orchestra

Death By Kite

Holy Fuck!

When I say "death by kite" I'm not referring to some small rodent being gobbled up by that relative of the falcon or hawk. I'm talking about a 4-year old Pakistani boy who was maimed by a kite and bled to death!!
Apparently in Pakistan (and probably other parts of the kite-enthused world) duel participants coat their strings with some sort of glass shard paste. When one kite cuts the string of the other kite, the operator of the survivor wins (obviously, I guess).
In this case, the little boy got caught up by one of those gnarly kite strings and died before they could even bring him to the hospital.
Don't believe me? Read more here: Death By Kite

Roll One Up (or two or three or...)

Earth - Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
Southern Lord Recordings
20 September 2005
4 Stars

I was recently privy to a discussion about "droney" bands. It was held under the sway of several pints, so I'll spare you the meanderings, but the general premise was based on the atmospheric elucidations of a good two handfuls of bands. While one side argued based on the merits of some recent indie bands that aren't really my thing (and I can't even remember who to be honest) versus another friend and I who took a decidedly more doom/sludge position. After disagreeing for about 15 or twenty minutes, my side was left with little recourse but to bring out the big gun: Earth.

Earth isn't just some heavy band that incorporates atmospheric sounds to add dimension to their music. Earth IS atmosphere: it can crush you with one chord, turn you to dust and leave you to marvel at how small and insignificant you are in the face of the universe. It is incredibly difficult to utilize such plodding, sparse instrumentation and acheive such devastating results. To say Earth has been influential would be as much an understatement as saying the music is heavy.

Here, on their first studio album since 1996, Dylan Carlson (the sole original member) is joined by Adrienne Davies and Jonas Haskins to create an epic soundscape of the frontier. Unlike their earlier material, which exists predominantly in the land of doom and stoners, Hex:... opens with a call back to raw early country and the blues. This is desert crossing material laden with the echos of ghost towns, mirages of long-dead cowboys and indians; hints that America is truly cursed and blood-soaked land. Carlson has mentioned in interviews his idea of The Note: a continuum of music that has existed long before us and which will long outlive us. Earth has captured the essence of Americana in The Note and revealed how haunting our nature can be.

54345 is #1

What is "The Palindrome," you ask? At first it was just a new apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Within a month of a handful of folks moving in, it became an underground music phenomenon. Literally. In our basement. We that live here put on ten shows in three months, much to the dismay of some of the neighbors (others thought it was the best thing that ever hit the hood).
Anyway, once we got shut down for show purposes, Housemate Mary (that's what we call her round these parts), parlayed her booking expertise into an actual production "thing." I tried my hand at it, but I couldn't be bothered dealing with dodgy venue folks and band people all the time. (I am a "band people" so I know what we're like and I don't ever want to deal with me.)

So to make a short story even longer, keep yer eyes on The Palindrome site for show updates and other fun stuff that we're all up to. And while yer at it, check out Binge & Purge, which is Mary's zine. Issue #2 just came out featuring an interview with Matt Pike and a sociology experiment on gender and heavy music (plus the other requisite rantings, reviews and rubbish that zines gotta have).

Go to this show!

Tomorrow night (thursday) go check this out. This show should prove to be incredible. Unfortunately for me, I can't make it because my own band has practice, which makes me a bit sad. But you shouldn't be sad, because you're going to go.

Straddlerod & The Capital City Fuckups

To really get this thing started right, I'm gonna repost a few of my recent BurningAngel reviews, so that just in case anybody stumbles onto this right away, they'll get something decent to read.

Watchmaker - Erased From the Memory of Man
Willowtip Records
25 October 2005
5 Stars

Erased From the Memory of Man, by Boston's Watchmaker, is a complete 26 minute aural evisceration. Building on their last effort, Kill.Fucking.Everyone., this album reveals increased focus on structure and songwriting. I don't think there's ever been a doubt as to their talent, but some of their earlier material sounded thrown together. Here, Watchmaker has channeled their energy so that instead of just being left with lacerated eardrums, you'll have body parts shorn clean off. From the guitar tones, to the explosive and unrelenting rhythm section, to the terrifying screams from the depths of living hell, Watchmaker will overload your synapses.

Quite fitting, then, that vocalist Brian Livoti is the proud owner of a sawblade microphone. Probably one of the only fortunate aspects of them seldom playing live is that nobody will die by his hand. Brian didn't have it with him at their recent NYC show, which is good, because he probably would have maimed the venue staff (which shall remain nameless) for the way things were run that night. But back to the point...

A good deal of Erased... reminds me of another band I love, Bucket Full of Teeth. Watchmaker follows a more narrow path, eschewing the forays into stoner groove and ambient noise that made BFOT stand out. This is not a bad thing, though, as Watchmaker have become so adept at what they do, they don't need to experiment. Grindcore, power violence, thrash? I don't know what the hell to call it, which is nice because they definitely defy any normal categorization. So go pick this up, get your fists ready to pound on something (yeah, I know this is a porn site, but I don't mean that...) and please, for the love of everything good, stay away from the knives.

immaculate interstellar conception

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.