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.