For the approaching year

The year 2007 has been quite turbulent for me: failed to hold down several unsteady jobs; managed to hold down one great, but incredibly low-paying job; had almost zero love life; have a band that's been on an unfortunate hiatus for almost 6 months; moved to a new apartment and immediately had to take on a scourge of critters; had my guitar stolen from said abode; and probably some other stuff happened that I can't recall.

On the upside, I've rejuvenated this blog (though with spotty internet here, not updated as much as I'd like), been reading tons, discovered that D&D (yes, that D&D) is really fun, returned to Brooklyn after a year in (Queens) exile, and have tried to maintain some semblance of a positive attitude. Oh, and I got the Cosmos DVD set for xmas.

The closest I probably come to espousing any sort of metaphysical worldview would be my insistence that life maintains a symmetry or balance; something along the lines of a bastardized, american taoism. There's a wave with peaks and troughs and things generally even themselves out.

Anyway, for anyone who reads this, expect a little more out of me in the near future. As I'll be saving up to buy a new guitar, that means less drinking and probably much more reading and thinking and spouting off whatever it is I do here. So I wish the best to all in their endeavors for this year...

ps - I finally added a list of labels to make it easier to search through past posts. should've done that long ago, but alas, at least it's done now.

Word of the minute/hour/day/week/month/year

In my recent readings of all things skeptical and inquiring, I came across a new favorite word:

APOPHENIA

As far as I've studied and researched, this concept provides a great starting point for understanding all manner of pseudoscience, anti-science, new-age philosophy and other assorted crazy make-'em-ups the world over. Below I'll lay out the simple definition and click on the word above to see a more expansive background on this mot du jour.

Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness".

I want an Ann Druyan of my own

Carl Sagan The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark

Here is a collection of essays representing a spectrum of topics ranging from UFOs and alien abduction to the effects of religion on society to the terrible deficiencies in science education among American youth. While the topics are diverse, they flow quite well together and the read never feels disjointed as such a vast array is wont to do.
Later in the book there are several essays that Carl co-wrote with his wife and collaborator Ann Druyan. These tend to be more general in scope; mostly regarding science education, science's role in society and the possibilities for societal betterment that scientific advancement provides. I thought this made sense given Ann's role in co-writing much of the Cosmos tv series. I also get the impression that she probably helped edit and improve the flow of most of Carl's pieces.
What I appreciate most about Carl's work in popularizing science is his continuous encouragement in questioning everything and keeping a sharp, critical, skeptical mind about what confronts us on a daily basis. It's such a simple concept and seems cliché, but to remain vigilant in the face of encroaching darkness and magical thinking is difficult. I can only imagine what Carl would think if he were still alive in this day of pseudoscience and anti-science, of "intelligent design" in schools and diminished science literacy in general. When I was growing up I remember Mr Wizard and 321 Contact among other science shows for kids. Do they even have that now? Sure, kids can use computers, but too many can't think and aren't exposed to methods of critical inquiry at a young age.
I've completely lost focus now and I'm just rambling. I hate to say "we're fucking screwed" even thought it often feels like it, so it makes me terribly happy and hopeful that we still have the work of Carl Sagan as a light in this terrible tunnel.

This Guy Is Way Smarter Than You

Neil deGrasse Tyson Death By Black Hole

This guy is hilariously informative. I highly recommend everybody read this book even if you're not into having your mind blown by science. It immediately places Dr. Tyson in the "Carl Sagan pantheon of great scientists who make the amazing accessible for the lay man". Seriously, who needs religion and spirituality when you can be enrapt with wonder by the very workings of our bodies, our planet, our universe!!!

Please Don't Buy This Book...

For the first post since the interregnum, I'm going to reprint here the piece I posted on goodreads.com that inspired me to restart blogging. It's here in it's original form, unedited, with the comment I posted there after I actually finished reading the book. Enjoy...

Daniel Pinchbeck 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

this guy is a fucking idiot. i'm forcing myself to finish this because i need to see where he ends up. after a promising start, the book cruised straight downhill into a pile of endless shit. um, buddy, guy, dude, you've based your stupid book on widely (and I mean WIDELY) discredited pseudoscience and touchy feely new age drivel. i'd be laughing while reading this if it wasn't so infuriatingly tragic that people believe this garbage. uh, you do understand that science is based on that which is experimentally verifiable and not just some wild thoughts and premises that people of questionable psychological stability dreamed up ages ago. rudolf steiner? carl jung? seriously? c'mon! you've even botched the parts where you criticize Jared Diamond's conclusions (which are based on actual evidence and testable theories) in his books. did you even read his books, because it doesn't sound like you did.... you use whitley strieber's "Communion" as examples of abductions when even he has claimed his book shouldn't be used as an example of an alien abduction, since there's no way to prove it wasn't something that was dreamed.
oh, and i'll end here, but i've done hallucinogens. a fair amount of them. they fun recreationally. they are, however, not a spiritual doorway to new "consciousness". all they do is reinforce some belief that you already hold about them. jesus, the '60s sucked for a reason, don't try to bring them back you vapid, baby-boomer fuckhead.

okay, deep breaths, deep breaths...i'm done.

--------------

i posted that review before i had actually finished the book. now that i'm done forcing myself to finish it, i have another final comment about the "sexual politics" that pinchbeck throws in at the end: "oh gosh, you have issues with monogamy? join the crowd! but don't start going off on how it's the fault of women for leading men around by their collective vaginas just because you can't make a decision as to whether or not you want to stay with your wife (who has obviously called you out on your bullshit and you can't really write that in a book about your personal bullshit). "you remind me of that handful of neo-hippie guys at vassar who talked a big game about who knows what that made some pathetic girls wet and then slept with as many of them as possible. give it up, you're no better than any frat boy ever. in fact, you're worse, because you try to veil your misogyny in postmodernisms and can't admit to yourself that all you care about is keeping your dick wet and you don't care about 'liberating women' or humanity or any other nice sentiments." i'm proud of myself, that was a pretty good part II of my rant. pat on the back to me!

New Idea!

It's been four months since I last posted anything on here. In fact, as of that last post I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post anything ever again. Well, in the off time I scored a job at a great bookstore (shameless plug for Shakespeare & Co. here) which allows me to read pretty much all day long, in between tasks of course. But basically, yeah, I get to read a lot more and after reading a few things recently, I decided it would be a good idea to start incorporating book reviews here.
As far as the music reviews go, I'll probably still do some from time to time, but for the most part I've been listening to old stuff and playing a lot of catch-up on bands that I never heard that I probably should have started listening to years ago. That was mostly the reason why I stopped posting. That and I just plain got bored of it.
So to make a long re-intro slightly less long and stupid, I'm gonna start posting on whatever I feel like now instead of just music and tidbits of other things...

Breaktime

So it's quite obvious that I haven't posted for nearly a month now. Both a lack of ideas and a lack of interest have contributed to this current situation. Unfortunately for anybody that really cares, there is little that can motivate me to rectify this. So I'm not saying that this is the end of Spaceship Bastille, but I have no immediate plans to restart/resume/reawesomize this site. If I do come back, there will certainly be notice posted here.

Now get off your computer and read a book, or write a song, or paint a thing...

Wikipedia is great

Today's featured article is Slayer. I love it when shit like that happens. Otherwise I have no real news. Tomorrow night (Thursday, 6/28), all you NYC kiddos should head over to Rockstar Bar in Williamsburg (S.5th/Kent) and see a bunch of rad bands play.

Nothing much and next week

Alright, I definitely got lazy during the past eleven days and haven't posted a damn thing. Been focused on other stuff other than finding music and writing about it. I think I posted about shows I wanted to go to (but probably didn't) and I will mention now that the mighty Team Dresch is playing in Brooklyn tonight. Since I've never seen them live, I really should go, but it's a friday night and they're coming out with a new album, so I get the impression that they'll probably tour again. Who knows.

In other news, this is going down next thursday. NYC folks should check it out:

Constant Entertainment Overload (an update/short essay)

Okay, okay, I f'd up stupidly this weekend by neglecting to mention that last night (yeah, sunday night) there was gonna be a kickass show for anyone in the general NYC vicinity. Maybe it had to do with the fact that my band was playing and conflicts of interests could have arisen. But fuck it, my band is good, and I will state that right here.
Now, when you're in a band, you get used to the fact that only about 15% of the time are all the bands on the lineup awesome and agree that everyone else was awesome as well. Last night at Fat Baby was one of those nights. So here, check out these bands:

Archaeopteryx - This off-kilter bass/drums "metal" combo is heading out on a two month tour right now. Most likely that means they'll be in whatever town you live in/live near. Go see them.
From Cocaine to Rogaine - Just met this metal/core instrumental trio last night. Young band putting together some impressive tunes. I haven't listened to the demo they gave me yet, but I will today, so I'll update soon.
Stay Fucked - I've posted about these fellas before, and they've never failed to impress. Unfortunately they'll be taking a brief hiatus as bassist, Tony, is one half of Archaoesohdjfshotx and will be gone on tour.
Warmth - My band. I won't write about us. It's already lame enough that I've mentioned it.

Suffice to say that there is a really amazing undercurrent of strange, difficult-to-classify heavy music going on in Williamsburg right now. Jazz- and math-influenced not-quite-metal with a serious diy/punk attitude. Bands that seem doomed to repeat the lack of notoriety that too many of our influences have endured. While the neighborhood becomes more well known for its influx of condos and i-bankers and shitty derivative pop-music bullshit, there is really some incredible music happening. In a city where there is a constant entertainment overload, it's easy to avoid going to shows where a bunch of "no-name" bands are playing. I'm as guilty as the rest of 'em, particularly since there's so much of the same "trendy" stuff happening. It really sucks to go to a show to see some friends play and just be bombarded by three other shitty bands who just seem to have latched on to some shallow conception of what music is about. Hell yeah that's a pompous statement. Part of the reason that I keep this blog going is that it's a lot of work to keep up on innovative music when there's so much horrible background noise hiding the good stuff. I'm not content to just let some hacks get famous because somebody-knows-somebody and they dress "right." This just might be the last thing in my life that I'm still a hopeless romantic about. New York can jade a person right quick, but I'm also finding that this city can still be fuel for some romantic musicians.

Ah, that felt good, corny and necessary.

Enslaved is so good

Alright, I feel really ignorant sometimes when there's a fantastic band out there that I really should know about, but just don't. This is how I feel about Enslaved right now. They've been around for 16 years now and have released 9 full albums. I didn't really know anything about them, but their latest album, Ruun made so many people's "Best of 2006" lists that I had to pick it up. Of course, I'm broke 80% of the time, so I got it a good year after its release date (May 2, 2006). But whatever, Ruun is so ridiculously fantastic (except for track 2, which I haven't warmed up to at all yet) that I can't stop listening to it. When I first heard the term "progressive black metal" I wasn't quite sure how to imagine it, but wow, it's right up my alley. And by alley I mean a glorious enema of buzzing guitars, squealy/screechy vocals, melodically dark keys passages and wonderfully varied drumming. I love great black metal drumming in all its blastiness, but here there's plenty of change in terms of style and structure that it opens up beautiful new black metal paths. Man, I have a wicked boner for these guys right now, it's bordering on embarrassing. Fuck it. I know exactly why this made so many lists for last year. I also have to dive into their back catalog and boner up on my Enslaved history. This is gonna be fun.

In other news, my little affair with Enslaved got in the way of my big crush on the new Dinosaur Jr album, so a full review of that will have to wait. However, since Dino is playing here in NYC next week, I can do some big awesome thing to celebrate. I also finally just got my hands on the final Bucket Full of Teeth installment, IV. I'll be writing about that soon, too, because it also rules. What a good fucking haul this week.

Dinosaur Jr

Still completely kicks ass. Finally got my hands on Beyond and, well, I've only made it to track three, but so far it feels like where they probably would have gone had the original lineup not taken an 18 year hiatus. So far the only thing that feels different is the production sounds like 2007 instead of 1987. But it still sounds and feels like Dinosaur Jr. This album could have been utter poo-filled donut. Nope. I'm gonna return to paying attention to this quintessential J Mascis guitar solo. Be back later with a full report.

Google Strikes Again

Sorry for the utter lack of updates lately, but I do have a handful of records that should (and I emphasize "should") be arriving today. That means good things are coming, but I always say shit like that.
Anyway, the real reason for this post is that Google has developed an amazing new way to distract you from work. Or in my case, given that I work in the amazing world of NYC real estate, a plausibly work-related way to procrastinate.

Google StreetView. (c'mon, do I really have to link to that? ok, fine.) For serious nerds like me, you can now tour street-level through Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. For now this is way to awesome, though I'm sure at some point it'll get tired. Fortunately, the good folks at Google are probably already working on that.

I've also more personal news to spew, as my band, Warmth, has a bunch of shows in the city during the next month. If you're into mathy noise rock, or noisy math rock, come check us out. At the very least, come to the show with Stay Fucked and Archaeopteryx, because they're awesome.

Coliseum, Young Widows Tonight

I'm gonna try my hardest to make this show tonight despite my head feeling like a balloon: it's allergy season, baby. 538 Johnson in Brooklyn is hosting Coliseum and Young Widows, so I'm pretty psyched. For anyone who hasn't been to this spot, it's a huge loft that a bunch of guys live in and throw shows fairly regularly. The building is about halfway between the Morgan and Jefferson stops on the L in the lovely industrial park area. Go check it out.

I know I haven't posted on any new albums recently, but I will try to soon. I've been busy immersing myself in Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time and having my mind blown. Oh, and speaking of science-y things, some friends of mine have a new comedy/science blog up called Cyborg-Bonanza.

General Site Update Time

I'm not at all sure why I didn't do this a long time ago, but I just relabeled (as in, seriously labelled) the posts on here all the way back to the inaugural post on 3/8/06. So now you can come on here and find old posts by category. Any sane blogger did this while they were posting, I however, did not. I also recently added one of those cool maps and a site counter. So the site counter didn't register the millions (read: hundreds) of hits I got in the past year.
Now I've gotta say "What's Up!" to Iceland and France and New Zealand among others. I'll be back shortly with some new stuff I hope; I have my personal birthday to attend to this week.

Diapers...in a good way.

My first musical crush, Dinosaur Jr, will be dropping their new album, titled Beyond, tomorrow. Original lineup...it's been nearly 20 years since Bug. I completely forgot this was happening and peed myself a little. A lot. I peed myself a lot.

Find Yourself a Waterfall

One of the few things I miss about life in the Mid-Hudson Valley is the waterfalls. Back when I was living there we'd pile in cars during the summer and drive from Poughkeepsie to a sweet, secluded spot about 45 minutes away. After a short hike through the woods, there was an amazing waterfall with a huge pool at the base. The water was generally cold as hell, but if you timed it right, the sun would filter through the trees and keep everything a perfect temperature. Me and my friend Dave used to not bathe and use that as an excuse to go to the falls every few days. It was amazing.
Anyone who knows me well knows that my stories, if they have a point, generally take way too long to get there. So there is a point to the above story, particularly if you've ever had a transcendent experience with a waterfall. Not too long ago somebody posted two tracks from a French band named Year of No Light. I loved the two tracks and couldn't wait to get my hands on the full record. I can't even remember who posted those tracks (though a huge Thank You if it was you). All I can really say is go buy Nord straight away. Get it straight from the band. Crucial Blast is releasing it stateside; get it from them. People have been throwing around all sorts of crazy descriptions of this band. "Brutal shoegazer" and "The Cure playing sludge" are both hilarious yet fitting. I put it on and, while digesting, memories returned of sitting under those falls being crushed by constant torrents of water. In my opinion the territory covered is where I would have preferred Isis gone after dropping Celestial; heavy, predominantly dark atmospherics mixed with industrially-tinged post-metal. Although they don't really sound like them, YONL remind me of City of Caterpillar and may be a functional equivalent in this genre of what CoC was to their Virginia hardcore counterparts.
Writing about music never makes any sense, just go check this band out. I really hope they tour here, I'll be there in a second.

Wicked Broke

Yeah, I'm wicked broke right now, but hopefully I'll get paid this week and buy a dumpload of records or something. Oh, and get to some shows as well. So check back this weekend and I should have more opinions. In the meantime I'm just gonna listen to lots of Screeching Weasel to keep my spirits up in this neverending floodstorm.

Stay away from the expletives

Great show last night at Lit Lounge featuring some friends' bands. I can't hear anything today 'cos I forgot my stupid earplugs, but I digress....The show featured the recently posted-upon Rising Up Rising Down and Brooklyn locals Stay Fucked.
Stay Fucked totally ripped shit up and it was the first time I've seen them live. Normally I just hear them across the hallway in our respective practice spaces. Their drummer, Hank, keeps two blogs going so I'm putting up links to both of those (one is for the band) so go see what they're all about if you've never heard of them. They like jazz, they like rock'n'roll and they like to make you boogie when you can follow the beat. It's great.
Stay Fucked's blog
Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches
The RURD boys informed me that their album will be officially coming out in late May and will be having a release party with fellow Hudson Valley-ites Dead Unicorn. The show will be May 24 at the Rosendale Cafe up in Rosendale, NY. I'm gonna try to get up there for that somehow because risinguprising-Dan Madsen told me that Dead Unicorn's new album is amazing. I find this all to be exciting. Now go do your (music) homework.

Radiation, meet brain

Two reviews in one day? I'm throwin' rocks tonight! As I continue through my box of CDs that I ignored for months, I've pulled out one that I've tried to listen to a few times already but had to put aside for reasons of retaining sanity. Pittsburgh's (((Microwaves))) have one of those great names that lends an idea of what greets your ears. In the case of Contagion Heuristic that means wiring your head to your household appliances while completely fucking stoned. Tonight was the first time I got through the whole thing, mostly because it's such a laborious listen. Now I'm not saying that this album is terrible or unlistenable, because it's not. More accurately I'd say that it's incredibly dense and well...
This album abounds with textures surprisingly uncommon in the digital era. There are cracks, pops, fizzles, weird synths and a friggen panoply of distortion tones layered throughout. I chaulk that up to a masterful production job and an extensive knowledge of effects pedals. Unfortunately, though I do find a lot of the sonics here to be impressive, too much of the songwriting leaves me wanting. Experimentally structured, Contagion Heuristic can come off as "jam" of sorts. The album was probably a hell of a good time to make, and involved some fun drugs (unless these guys are of the drugless-genius-of-Zappa-variety), but I ultimately had to force myself through it over several listens that were weeks and weeks apart. For the most part I would take a look at "(((Microwaves)))" and say to myself, "shit, I know I should listen to this, but I'm really just not in the mood to deal with it right now." So yeah, I guess that thought kinda sums up this record, a lot of really impressive ideas that don't really end up going anywhere, or at least places I would want to go on a regular basis. There's gotta be folks out there completely digging this, these are just one man's opinions.
You can find this over with the folks at Crucial Blast.

"All of these goats are retarded."

I'm not the slightest bit kvlt and I hate to admit that I do find "true" black metal culture more than a little bit campy. However, the idea of an ironic, neo-black metal band to me is simply abhorrent. A brutal, fast, grimy black metal record is, plain and simple, a true pleasure. So when I get "black metal" records like Striborg (see my recent review) it really, really pisses me off. Black metal is supposed to make me want to drink blood, sodomize creatures and smash brittle things. I don't want to hear some weak, experimental garbage from some talentless misanthrope in a basement somewhere. Now I'm all for keeping alive the DIY spirit, but just because a record is poorly recorded and hateful doesn't make it "black metal," it just makes it a bunch of unlistenable crap.
If you want a unhealthy dose of negativity and bloody satan worship then I seriously suggest Urgehal's Goatcraft Torment. This is the first I've heard of these guys, though they've been around since the early '90s (I told you I wasn't kvlt), so I have 4 other albums and other demo stuff to track down now. Carpal-tunnel guitars and battering-ram drums; lyrics in English and Norwegian; sentiments of death and ritual sacrifice. Hell, they start the album by proclaiming, "This is satanic black metal!" Urgehal understands the the basic elements of a great black metal record, only with the added bonus of listenable production. Gee, what a concept! I absolutely hate overproduced albums (particularly metal albums) that strip the songs of their raw energy and emotion. But I also hate poorly produced works that fail to demonstrate the full potential of a band. Goatcraft Torment is a great example of an face-knifing black metal record that actually sounds amazing. It's another one from Southern Lord, so go find it. I might have to do that because my promo copy is fucked up, though the headache stutter would probably be appreciated by the artists.

Trapped in an alley, scared of clowns

Clown Alley's Circus of Chaos is a really fantastic re-release from Southern Lord that I really should have taken the time to post on during my hiatus from posting. This puppy was originally released in '86 on guitarist/producer Mark Deutrom's Alchemy Records. Mark and bassist Lorax (Lori Black) both played bass for The Melvins, something I'm assuming garnered them more notoriety than Clown Alley. Before this package got to me, I knew nothing about the band, though apparently they were a major act in San Francisco during the heady days of mid-80s crossover thrash metal. (Hey, I was 5 when this was first put out, so excuse my ignorance.) Thank Southern Lord for putting this out on CD for the first time, and just putting it back out there in general, because it's an awesome piece of musical history that includes rare bonus live material.
As for the album itself, Circus of Chaos combines the energy and attitude of early-80s hardcore with metal musicianship and songwriting. The guitar riffage is fast and precise while the rhythm section foreshadows early death metal. It's not overly complex, but it's also not as straightforward as most hardcore of that era. Fuck it, man, it's crossover! Basically the album rips and you should go get it. Also, make sure that beer and skateboards are at the ready; you'll understand why once you listen.

8 year olds, dude

I'm currently listening to one of the worst "albums" I've ever heard: Nefaria/A Tragic Journey Towards the Light by Australia's Striborg--a one-man black-metal ambient project. The temptation to turn it off is haranguing me, yet I'm oddly enthralled by sheer terribleness. I got this in the mail during my "I don't feel like posting" phase and it's really the epitome of why I chose not to post for a while. Most of what I was receiving to review was sub-par at best and dangerously unlistenable at worst. Striborg falls completely within the latter camp. And "camp" is a good word for what this sort of black-metal is these days. Forget "kvlt". This shit sounds like a petulant pre-teen was learning how to use a 4-track and let his younger brother fuck around with some of the instruments. I'm baffled by how somebody okay-ed this and let it go to press with international distribution. My crappy high school hardcore band was 1000 times better than this.
Shame on everyone involved with making this album a reality.

Slaving the Parochial Nimrod

In yesterday's post I completely neglected to mention that Asshole Parade and The Holy Mountain were going to be playing at 538 Johnson in Brooklyn. Well anyone who was around and didn't go totally lost out because it was one of the raddest shows I've been to in a while. Last night was my first visit to 538 and at least as far as I've seen, the place doesn't disappoint. It's the perfect loft for punk rock shows and the kids (i.e.; folks younger than my aging 26) were tearing it up (the place was packed, btw.).
There's a whole gymbag of shows scheduled there in the upcoming months. I'm particularly excited about Coliseum and The Young Widows. It will be my turn to make up for getting kicked out of Northsix during Coliseum's set last fall. Can't wait...
538 Johnson schedule

Longmont Potion Castle

I just recently got turned on to something I wish I had heard long, long ago. No, it's not "music" per se, but it is so wonderful on the ears. Longmont Potion Castle is one man, a telephone and a cheapo recording device. These aren't just simple stupid prank calls a la Jerky Boys, this is total surrealist telephonic rediculism. I can't possibly explain this other than say it's fucking hilarious and there are 5 volumes of this or something. Go to the website, then send me a thank-you rod.
A lot of this stuff is out of print I think, but you can probably search it on soulseek or oink or other findy-type places on the internet.

Longmont Postion Castle

Out of hibernation?

It appears that I haven't posted anything here since early January. My own fault as I got bored with writing about music and have been heavily concentrating on playing it. I'm also employed again--not that it means I have any money to speak of, but that my time is much more precious than it had been for months.
So I have a few things to get to and I'm gonna change up how I've been doing this (that is, if anybody is still paying attention). Whereas previously I was only posting about new albums being birthed, I'm now going to broaden this to include old stuff that I stumble upon in my search through musical family trees and through suggestions of friends.

I figure the best place to restart this whole deal is with a bunch of friends from the beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley (there's my full disclosure) who've just recorded a completely sick debut full length:

Rising Up Rising Down
Monster Crusher
Maple Leaf Underground Records

Poughkeepsie, NY-based RISING UP RISING DOWN lead off their debut with an "Anthem" for a sludgy new tomorrow. Impressive as this winding instrumental piece may be, it only signals half of what this band is capable of, because everything quickly turns to full-speed mathemadness! This is grind like all the others don't grind: incredibly low-end heavy, these three gentlemen don't like their mud to flow so slowly. They also write riffs to amuse and confuse whilst retaining memorability. You can (and you will) move to this, but only in short bursts because they've already moved on and you've gotta catch up. It takes fucking talent to write songs that turn from punishing to playful and back without losing bite. So no standing there and just bobbing yr skull, I don't care how high you are, you still gotta pay attention.

Monster Crusher was recorded a couple months back with Will Dandy at Dead Air Studios. He did a hell of a job, 'cos when these guys play live it's fucking loud and destructive (I think the album title is representative of the work as a whole), so to be able to capture it for the record is impressive. The album is short because the songs are short, but they've made every second of it count. Anyone who is bummed that Nasum is no more (and really, who isn't?), should get a hold of this, as RURD is legitimately a younger American cousin. I can't comment on their artwork or lyrics really (although I know there's a lot of relevant social commentary in there), because I got a special advance copy from them because we love each other, but if it's half as awesome as the music, then it will still be rad. Whatever, go check out their myspace page and see what the fuck I'm talking about.

I'm not back I just pretend

I won't lie, I just get bored of doing this and listening to new albums and then writing about them. So I've only been listening to old albums (mostly Unwound and pg.99) and enjoying the shit out of them. I'm sure the 4 people who read this and try to post spam comments will be bummed out.
Also, sometimes it's nice to read a book, ride a bike or just sit and watch Law & Order instead of drugging yourself (myself) with computer all day. Just a thought...