Nicely dimensioned punk-prog indebted to an odd cast of influences that would have to include Alice in Chains, roots emo, Rush and Pennywise. Although comparable to Ozzy’s first couple of records in a strictly technical sense, the scenery is much more homemade and unglossed, sort of a metal-tinged Blue Star. Order at djizoes.com
Red Hot Chili Peppers: “Stadium Arcadium”
Before bawling into their lattes over the unholy pummeling this album is going to receive at the hands of critics, long-time thirtysomething fans of the Chili Peppers might pause to think about how Generation Amercrombie is going to feel about their hip-hopping mojo being flattened when one of these snoozers starts dribbling out of the […]
Zombi: “Surface to Air”
An odd care package hit the office earlier this year from Relapse, containing not the expected metalpalooza thrash headliner but instead a clutch of instrumentalists which included Don Caballaro. Unlike the more famous Caballaro, Zombi is more lo-fi and less prog, remindful of Kraftwerk in their prime and fixating on subdural will o’ the wispiness, […]
Gnarls Barkley: “St. Elsewhere”
Cautious consumers shouldn’t expect Dungeon Family-era Cee-Lo here (as if that ship hadn’t sailed a while ago), or any largely comparable effort for that matter; this team-up with Brian Burton’s Danger Mouse character may indeed not be liked at all by even the lowliest mall-gangsta who typically finds hirself hypnotized by loosely related product like […]
Jenny Davis: “It Amazes Me”
Like June Christy, jazz chanteuse Davis comes off relaxed and smoldering while reciting these standards, and her band (sax, piano, guitar and upright bass in the main) lends her second album (in follow-up to 2000’s Daydream) the subtle friendliness of a coffee table book. The record kicks off with “It Don’t Mean a Thing If […]
Ahab Rex: “The Queen of Softcore”
EP containing five versions of an indie-dance droner that resembles a meth-ed out Rico Suave ruminating over his pet bimbo while a pet bimbo utters doo-wahs in the background, all this to mid-BPM prattling that’s non-fuzzed Queens of the Stone Age-vs-jazz chords 101. The takes range from Massive Attack bink-bink techno to long-dead 90s indie, […]
Gram Rabbit: “Cultivation”
Seriously too groovy and timely for US indie radio, Gram Rabbit tries a lot of different styles on for size – straightjacket shoegaze bliss to post-Kashmir grunge ringouts – and instead of the usual tuneless muck that spells alt for lack of a more honest pigeonhole, it’s this hypnotic, earthshakingly cool cross between Enigma, Madonna, […]
The Sammus Theory: “Man Without Eyes”
Floating in limbo between Bauhaus and metal, Sammus Theory appears to be a demo vehicle for single-named guitarist/singer Sammus, whose whiz-bang guitar work outshines his singing (photogenic though it is – he’s a ringer for Ozzy during “Answers”). Our Sammus likes Stone Temple Pilots quite a bit, as proved in the “Sex Type Thing”-pilfered “Take […]
Lord Belial: “Seal of Belial”
Black metal is enjoying unprecedented respectability thanks to bands like In Flames and Cradle of Filth, but what’s more important is the level of songwriting that’s begun to rise dripping out of the murk. Raw-throated demon-mocking vocals are one thing that separate Lord Belial from goth hard-rock like Fields of the Nephilim, hyperspeed bass-drumming and […]
Das Ich: “Cabaret”
Further proof that Berlin is much cooler than your town. EBM pioneers Das Ich may have lost a few (okay, many) followers with Lava, but Cabaret is an attempt to win them back to witness a schooling of Dresden Dolls in pre-war European weirdness. It all goes down better with a German-English dictionary kept handy […]
Thee More Shallows: “Monkey vs. Shark”
Or Sufjan Stevens vs. Nyquil. Extra-super-deluxe-weird San Franciscan Dee Kessler has half-sings as if he’s trying to keep cool while hiding under the covers from monsters, his accompaniment chirpy, flitting, morose and sometimes danceable synths, mostly in the vein of fringe rebels of mellow frazzledness like Yo La Tengo. The Brits love this so much […]
Bass Tone Trap: “Trapping”
A re-release from 1983, Bass Tone Trap was the launching pad for several Discus Records regulars who’ve gone on to some of – okay, the most – experimental jazz/noise dada found today. Kickoff song “Sanctified” could be thought of as Madness trying to magpie Prince while keeping in the good graces of the patrons of […]
Lumari: “Emerge Dancing”
New Age lady bearing a concoction of world, chant and Joe Satriani that’d probably work as clear-your-head background for ashtanga class if the students were told the lyrics are in Sanskrit (they’re not). Going by Google, Lumari is the only person on earth spreading the “Alawashka” language, billing it as “the mother of all languages,” […]
Imperative Reaction: “Eulogy for The Sick Child”
It’s been an odd year for Metropolis releases, with nearly all of them fitting a pattern of better music being found on their second halves. Eerily enough, this extends to their reissue catalog as well, as seen in Eulogy for The Sick Child, 1999’s EBM clinic from the former DNA. Admittedly, there’s not a lot […]
Bluebird: “Stylemasters [Soundtrack]”
New soundtrack to a performance-surfing documentary shot in the late 70s. The intro offers speed-drumming fritzed through a phase-shifter, then moves on to your typical (and ironically dated, as of recently) Queens of the Stone Age fuzz with a nod in the general direction of hammock-rock things like Quagmire. “Glitter Pit” is comprised of slapped-together […]
Photophob: “Still Warm”
Conjecturally, Photophob are nosing around the underground territory lorded over by Chachi Jones, who specializes in “circuit bending,” a headphone electro technique characterized by slow-paced symphonic dirges splattered with incorrigible, frothing beats and samples that include old Furbys or basically any consumer electronics device that makes odd noises when its components are fritzed. Though nowhere […]
Brandie Frampton: “What U See”
Dreary soccer mom pushes her drearily cherubic daughter’s C&W bullocks in an age of nothing but null-relevance American Idolbots molded from 100% Plastigoop, world reacts with blank, uncomfortable stares. The little brat sings her hookless Trisha Yearwood wannabe-isms with all the passion of a spanked Hansen, taking great pains to avoid straining her precious honky […]
Sahg: “Vol 1″
Reissue of the superbly angry 1990 release. The album’s atmospheric intro alone is enough to set it apart from other Sabbath-esque product, but the music is even more of a pleasant surprise, with “Repent” utilizing the wobbly vocal effects of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” to a better end, opening a wide, deathly aural space which […]
Paul Carr: “Just Noodlin’”
Paul Carr’s sax is a weapon of chill destruction, not too souped-up (there’s no sign that he’s battling for shelf space with fusion proggers) and not too old school either. His new album administers straight-up commuter feel-goodness similar to Sonny Rollins or a more freestyle Ronny Laws. The set boots up with the album’s eponymous […]
Zeraphine: “Still”
An expensive import, but probably worth it for goth completists. Vocalist Sven is several ticks more animated than most kraut-rockers, not straining away at the chops-licking lasciviousness of Rammstein but clearly putting his back into it. Title track recalls Fields of the Nephilim’s recent doings, infusing them with Fearless Freep jangle and hand-wringing vocal lines. […]
Black Cobra: “Bestial”
A two-person operation in the manner of Dresden Dolls but concentrating on the doom metal approach of St. Vitus, sometimes pegged to Boris speed, ie a homestyle type of jam usually restricted to the garages of the parents of axe-novice teenagers but which now has become accepted by undergrounders mainly because so many 4- and […]
Urkraft: “The Inhuman Aberration”
(Wea/Earache Records) Speed up your basic Danzig record, add some Don Airey keyboard lines, drag Mastodon’s vocals into it and you have these Danish thrashers, who rip it up with some Buck-Dharma-like leads for added gravitas. As with most of this sort of product, key changes are a rarity – there’s huge interchangeability between songs […]
Cecilia Smith: “Dark Triumph: The Life of Victoria Lancaster Smith”
(CEA Records) The real-life story of Victoria Smith as told through music and narration has a distinctly PBS feel to it, revealing the high and low points of Victoria’s lifelong journey of self-sacrifice and service, both as a nurse and a Red Cross and Peace Corps volunteer. Through the subject’s autobiographical narration we become privy […]
MorningSide: “Road Less Traveled”
(self-released) Definitively 90s, Philly’s MorningSide park themselves at the intersection of emo-ska and retail-grunge, combining harder shades of Braid with Foo Fighters daredevil-rock. Heavy users of Epitonic.com and other explorers will be stoked about their proudly displayed garage-ness and may get quite a kick out of the outstanding, crunch-blast lead work of Pete DiCanto, whose […]
Lacrimas Profundere: “Filthy Notes for Frozen Hearts”
(Napalm Records) Huge turnaround for Lacrimas Profundere, who with 2004’s Ave End hit the snoozer trifecta with a glum, rainy take on what Bauhaus might sound like if they were trying to get their most un-hooky things a little respect in today’s billions-and-billions-served market. Their targeting of the gothie brigade has been recalibrated with loud […]