May 31 Releases

*Aerosmith – Aerosmith/Get Your Wings/Toys In The Attic (reissue)
*Animal Collective – Prospect Hummer
*Blitz – All Out Blitz: The Very Best Of…
*Johnny Cash - Train Of Love
*Cream – I Feel Free: The Ultimate Cream
*Current 93 – Sixsixsix: Sicksicksick
*Current 93 – Thunder Perfect Mind (reissue)
*Dark Funeral – De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te Domine
*Elektro 4 – Keystroke One
*Fishbone – Live In Amsterdam
*Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic
*Gwar – Live From Mt. Fuji
*Melvins – Mangled Demos From 1983
*Meshuggah – Catch Thirty–Three
*Mortician – Re-Animated Dead Flesh
*Motörhead – Crucial Review
*Oasis – Don’t Believe The Truth
*Sentenced – Funeral Album
*Smog – River Ain’t Too Much To Love
*Smog – Forgotten Foundation (reissue)
*Smog – Kicking a Couple Around EP (reissue)
*The Specials – Stereo-Typical: A’s, B’s And Rarities
*Swervedriver – Juggernaut Rides: 1989-1998 (UK)
*T Rex – Critical Reviews 1970-1973
*Thrones – A Day Late, A Dollar Short
DVD:
*Bad Company – A Critical Review 1974-1982
*Behemoth – Crush Fukk Create
*Deep Purple – Burn (Critical Review)
*The Fall – Punkcast/Live At The Garage
*George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic – Live At Montreux 2004
*Inside Cream – A Critical Review 1966-1969
*Inside Motörhead – A Critical Review
*Inside Pink Floyd – A Critical Review 1967-1996 (dvd/book)
*Inside Slade – A Critical Review 1971-1991
*Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
*Napalm Death – Punishment In Capitals
*Oasis – Lyla
*Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
*Stranglers – Live ’78, SF

Peter Murphy, Monday May 30, Salon 21

It’s goth week extravaganza here at The Obsolete, buy me a cape and cover me in panda bear makeup because this monday was Peter Murphy’s show that i went and Thursday i’m going to see Nine Inch Nails, so you can understand now if i start to post grim personal posts and have pictures of Suicide Girls in here...yeah, i hope i’m kidding too. So yeah, i went to see Peter Murphy last night; last time he came to Mexico 2 or 3 years ago, i didn’t go and i felt sort of dumb for not going so i kinda promise myself that i would go next time he came thru town, and so i did.

The Salón 21, where the show happened, is very near my house, doors were scheduled to open at 9:00 pm so i left home at like 8:40, i even got to watch The Simpsons before leaving, but then i finally did; arriving there, i was kinda surprised to see that the vast majority of the crowd outside the venue lining up to enter weren’t goths, in fact there was a little of everything, some punks, some metalheads and a whole lotta normal people, the place got packed and i was shocked by another thing: there was a lot of radio stations and tv cameras covering the event; inside, there is a second floor “VIP” area and it was fucking packed, something completely unexpected. Anyway, i got to stand as close as i could, ending up something like a few feet away from the stage, by the right side, in front of a column, it was quite crowded so getting that close to the stage was remarcable, girls abounded, most escorted by boyfriends, some dolled up in death rock fashion while their boyfriends stood in simple tucked-in shirts and pants, some girls were in packs, there were your token goths everywhere but very few in between, there was every kind of goth represented here: a vampire goth here, a Fields Of The Nephilim goth there, a Sister Of Mercy kid over there, Robert Smith goth, Marilyn Manson goth, The Cult goth, etc., you name it.

Something like 20 or 30 mintues after i walked in, arab chants started to blast out of the PA, after a few mintues of that, the lights went out with the singing still happening and then the band hit the stage, starting to play a song when i realized this was going to be an experience i’ve never had before: you see, i actually know ONE Peter Murphy solo song (“Cuts You Up”) and , sure, i know Bauhaus, which is one of my favorite post punk but Murphy doesn’t play Bauhaus songs live, so my knowledge of songs played was minimal. So the first song starts and it kinda reminds me of a more hard rock version of The Cure’s Disintegration, which was like the norm, alternating between music like that and Adore-era Smashing Pumkins-like, or a more rock Songs Of Faith and Devotion/Ultra; but dude has been doing this since the 80’s, he is a total pioneer. The highlights of the show were the songs themselves which are amazing, well written, catchy yet brooding but hopeful, unlike his work with Bauhaus which was pretty fatalist. Murphy came out as a very carismatic live performer (note the word “performer”), living out his character as a gothstar, he truly loves that shit; he struck me as a more market-specific David Bowie, acting out, exaggerating his stage moves while sweating out charisma, yeah, that word again, but he is truly charismatic, the crowd would go bananas everytime he waved his arms or pogoed around or stroke a posse or hit a particularly emotive singing note.

After the first batch of songs, hard rocking hook-ladden tunes with goth overtones, a second batch started and this was what i expected, more balladesque stuff started to appear on the stage, and couples started to embrace each other as the songs went on; yeah, the songs were still good but i couldn’t help to feel a little bored and unmoved by that stuff. After a couple of those, the band left for the first encore, Peter returned with a new shirt on and a 12-string acoustic guitar and he started to play a song i probably have heard, like, once before but seems to be a big crowd pleaser since everybody started to sing along to it, that song was better than the Goth For Lovers section that went on a little before, he then played another song in that acoustic, drumless setting, after he gave his guitar to a roadie and started to play “Cuts You Up” which of course drove the whole place crazy (me included), everyone sang along, every part of it, verses, choruses, ad-libs, everything; Peter started to lean into the crowd. After it was over, i thought the show was over but the lights didn’t come on, people started chanting “PETER, PETER...” until Murphy came back onstage, said he’d love to speak Spanish to the crowd but he hardly knew any while i was thinking to myself “how is he going to top the last encore?”, so he started to sing a capella and pulled it off, very few can pull off a capella singing like he does (his voice is as good live as it was back in the Bauhaus days); after that, the band came back onstage and played an out and out power ballad, saved from cheesedom only by Murphy’s vocals. With his singing duties for the song over, he waved goodbye, thanked the crowd and walked away while his band was still playing the outro to the song, when it ended, the band walked away too.

But the crowd kept screaming and the house lights didn’t go on again and i thought to myself “how is he ever going to top this?” and then Peter and the band came onstage again and started playing Iggy Pop’s classic “Lust For Life” which i bet the kids with their fashionably expensive dirty clothes and Interpol/The Killers haircuts who i saw while making the rounds before the show thought he was playing some Jet song; that became a highlight for me since i didn’t see it coming (and jugding from people around me, they didn’t expect it either), he did a great job with it; then they waved goodbye and left, again the house lights stayed off and i thought “how is he going to top this? Is he going to bring Daniel Ash and co. and make a Bauhaus reunion encore?” i prayed he did that, but instead, he came onstage and did a song not unlike the songs of the main set, got his band together afterwards for a hug and a bow and then left for good.

I did enjoy the show and i’ll probably get a comp with his best songs on it to remember this concert, which was a different experiece but not as enjoyable as knowing the songs and singing along and really get into stuff and, honestly, only a few bands can pull the trick of being known and have me feel like i was a fan by the time the show’s over (like it happened to me last summer when i saw Judas Priest at Ozzfest). But it was great, watching a guy who did some groundbreaking stuff like 20+ years ago playing songs that were so good, not to mention the fact that i walked out of the concert with a rad new Eintürzende Neubauten t-shirt

Reviews Revisited

OK, this is just a quick note, i recently revisited the record reviews previously posted here and added mp3 links to songs were i could find, so now you're just a click away to try out a taste of those albums and determine if i'm hitting the nail on the head or if i'm a fucking moron. Happy downloading!

Oh yeah, also coming this week: i already taped the first Obsolete Radio Show so that's going up, also classic album and interviews with The Mean Reds and others soon.

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

Sleater-Kinney
The Woods
Sub Pop
http://sleater-kinney.com
OOOOo

Despues de oír las primeras tres canciones (de hecho dos, aunque sea la primera esta rockeando), las cuales son simple mierda, el disco de S-K’s empieza a escupir muy buenas canciones y de repente, en lo que menos te lo esperas, se convierte en un album. Las primeras canciones suenan a como si fuera una obra musical basada en Jefferson Airplaine, lo cual, como aprendemos aquí es una mala, mala idea. Fuera de eso, esta disco es nuestro usualmente bueno (un poco diferente) Sleater-Kinney.

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After the first three songs (actually two, at least the first one is rocking), which are just plain crap, S-K’s record actually starts to spit some great songs and then, when you least expect it, becomes an album. The first songs sound like if they were a musical based on Jefferson Airplaine, which, as we learn here is a bad, bad idea. Other than that, this record is good ol’ (slightly different) Sleater-Kinney.

Entertain.mp3

Unsane - Blood Run

Unsane
Blood Run
Relapse
www.theunsane.com
OOOO

Esto suena como si estuvieras parado en la calle de alguna ciudad y un camión te atropellara...un camión grande, viejo, a punto de desbaratarse, de carga pesada, polvoriento y rápido, y si estuviera pasando sobre ti una y otra y otra vez por como una hora; trata de quitarte el asfalto del culo despues de oir esto. Y esto quiere decir que Unsane sigue de huevos.

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This sounds like standing on the streets of some city and being run over by a truck...a big, old, rattling, heavy duty, dusty and fast truck, over and over and over again for like an hour; try to peel the asphalt off your ass after listening. And that means that Unsane are still fucking A

Release.mp3

Meshuggah - Catch Thirty-Three

Meshuggah
Catch Thirty-Three
Nuclear Blast
www.meshuggah.net
OO

Que carajos le pasó a Meshuggah? Se acuerdan cuando eran la vanguardia en cuanto a cosas pesadas y complicadas se refería? A donde se han ido los días de Destroy Erase Improve? Ahora todo lo que hacen es repetir el mismo pinche riff que vienen tocando desde el disco pasado una y otra y otra vez, con algunas pausas aquí y alla. Meshuggah debería de solo sacar discos de una sola canción, hubiera sido mejor si todo el disco solo tuviera las rolas “In Death – Is Death” and “Shed” como una sola.

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What the fuck happened to Meshuggah? Remember when they were like the vanguard on heavy, complicated shit? Where have the days of Destroy Erase Improve have gone? All they do now is repeat the same riff they have been playing since their last album over and over, with a few breaks here and there. Meshuggah should stick to releasing one song records, this would have been way better if they just released the songs “In Death – Is Death” and “Shed”.

Skullflower - Orange Canyon Mind

Skullflower
Orange Canyon Mind
Crucial Blast
www.monotremata.com/skull/
OOOO

En parte ruido disonante, en parte ruido de rock clásico, en parte ruido de improvisaciones, en parte ruido pantanoso, en parte ruido bonito and y en parte ruido chingame-los-nervios; estos pioneros en serio saben como hacer un regreso en estilo brutal y discordante. Ponlo en tu estereo y trepale, tus vecinos pensarán que estas encerando tus pisos los cuales haz reemplazado con almas heridas, algunos angeles lastimados, hueseros de rock de los 70’s y un monton de cyborgs que pueden sentir dolor. Mejorando la casa en verdad.

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Part droning noise, part classic rock wailing noise, part improv noise, part sludgy noise, part pretty noise and part fuck your nerves noise; these pioneers really know how to come back in brutal, discordant style. Put it in your stereo and crank it up, your neighbors will think you’re polishing your floor which you have replaced with some wounded souls, a few injured angels, 70’s rock session players and a bunch of cyborgs that can feel pain. Home improvement indeed.

Annihilating Angel.mp3

The Locust - Safety Second, Body Last EP

The Locust
Safety Second Body Last EP
Ipecac
www.thelocust.com
OOOo

The Locust podrían darle una lección o dos a Green Day en cuento a hacer rock operas se refiere: escribe canciones con teclados jodidos, blastbeats en tiempos extraños, muchos gritos, ponganse uniformes, llenen cualquier espacio vacio con ruido oscuro ambiental y mantengan la duración en 10 mintuos mas o menos. Despues de un rato, hasta se vuelve pegajoso y, con todo y todo, incluso encuentras una historia en la música...o un dolor de cabeza, cualquiera de los dos es bueno.

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The Locust could teach a lesson or two to Green Day about rock operas: write songs with fucked up keyboards, odd-time blastbeats, loads of screaming, wear uniforms, fill every crack of emptiness with dark ambient noise and keep it at around ten minutes. After a while, it even becomes catchy and, on top of it, you actually get the storyline...or maybe a headache, either one is good

Alkaline Trio - Crimson

Alkaline Trio
Crimson
Vagrant
www.alkalinetrio.com
OOOo

Esto me suena a una versión pop punk de Love and Rockets. Como la banda de los 80’s con ex-miembros de Bauhaus, este disco trata de encontrar un terreno en comun entre sonidos oscuros y tenebrosos y canciones pop que se puedan oír en el radio. Como hacer un funeral en un parque de patinetos, pero esto es mejor que la gente que se le ocurren cosas así.

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Love and Rockets pop punk, that’s what this sounds to me. Like the 80’s band featuring former members of Bauhaus, this record tries to find a common ground between dark, brooding soundscapes and poppy, mainstream-sounding songs. Like hosting a funeral at a skate park, but this is better than most people who dream up stuff like that.

Time To Waste.mp3

Discordance Axis - Our Last Day

Discordance Axis
Our Last Day
Hydrahead
www.studio-grey.com/da/
OOOO

Cuando juntas rolas para hacer un disco postumo de tu propia banda y seleccionas algunas de esas rolas para que las covereen bandas como Melt-Banana y otras para que se conviertan un auto-homenaje electrónico en MIDI, es muy probable que te topes con un desbalance aquí y alla y puedes esperar que sea o aburrido o molesto, y hermano, eso no sucede aquí. Funciona de maravilla; y, si no fuera por la colaboración de 16 minutos de la banda con Merzbow, este disco tendría 19 canciones en 20 minutos.

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When you gather a couple of tunes to make a posthumous record of your band and you select a couple of said tunes to be covered by bands like Melt Banana and others to be made as a MIDI electronic self tribute, you’re bound to have some uneveness here and there and expect to be either dull or annoying, and brother, that’s not the case here. It works amazingly; and, if it wasn’t for Merzbow’s 16 minute collaboration with the band, this record would have 19 songs in 20 minutes.

Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath

Darkthrone
Sardonic Wrath
Moonfog
www.drakthrone.no
OOOO

Esto para nada que se acerca a ser tan bueno como A Blaze In The Northern Sky o Transilvanian Hunger, pero aun así siguen siendo Fenriz y Nocturno!. Este es como si Total Death fuera bueno, la producción es mejor aunque sigue estando puerca y han dejado de usar los blastbeats en piloto automático; aparentemente, SI hay descanso para los diabolicos.

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This is by no way nearly as good as A Blaze In The Northern Sky or Transilvanian Hunger, but it’s still fucking Fenriz and Nocturno man!. This is as if Total Death was actually good, the production is better yet still muddy and they stopped to use the auto-pilot blastbeat mechanism; appearantly, there IS rest for the wicked.

1 minute sample of Sacrificing To The God Of Doubt.mp3

Gorillaz - Demon Days

Gorillaz
Demon Days
Virgin
www.gorillaz.com
OOOOO

Me encantaría que Gorillaz salieran como invitados en caricaturas como en Beavis & Butthead para que los llamen "limpia-culos" y "mentecatos", o en Tommy & Dali (show en un show, lo se, lo se...) para que les corten los dedos de los pies y los sirivieran como aperitivos en alguna cena elegante o en algun anime snuff hentai para que los violen y eso...si, me cagan los pinches dibujitos, pedazos de pretensión y punto barato para venderle discos a idiotas. La mayor parte de la gente que les gusta esto les encantaría que la banda fuera de verdad, pero les tengo noticias: serían de la verga! Despues que NME y el resto de la prensa musical les alabara sus fusiles de 2-Step y Prince Paul, se les subirían los humos y empezarían a pensar que son los nuevos Beatles y querrían hacer una opera. Así que gracias a dios o a Graham Coxon que la música en este cd no esta hecha por una banda mala por mongoloides llenos de prentenciones, porque este album (en el sentido que le pones “play” y dejas que vaya rolando hasta que acabe) es exceletente por las personas detras de él; mas notablemente DJ Danger Mouse, cuyo apetito por una gran variedad de música hacen de este un disco perfecto de impactos entre sonidos increibles. Aquí encuentras a niños cantando, un coro de gospel y a Dennis Hopper narrando, ¿que mas quieres?. Mantengan a la banda fuera de mi televisión pero deja puesto el disco...me sorprendio que me gustara este disco tanto.

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I wish the Gorillaz would guest on some cartoon shows like on Beavis & Butthead so they get called “asswipes” and “dumbasses”; or on Itchy & Scratchy (show whithin a show, i know i know...) so they get their toes chopped off and served as appetizers in fancy dinners, or on some hentai snuff anime so they get molested and shit...yeah i hate the fucking drawings, pieces of pretentiousness and easy sells for idiots. Most people who like this wish the band was real or something, news flash kids: if they were real, they would suck! After NME and the rest of the music press hailed their 2-Step and Prince Paul rip-offs, they would snob out and think they would be the new Beatles and do a rock opera. So thank god or Graham Coxon that the music on this cd wasn’t made by a bad band of pretentious wankers, since this album (in the sense that you push “play” and let the whole thing roll on until it’s over) is great because of the people behind it; most notably DJ Danger Mouse, whose appetite for a great variety of music make the album a perfect all around clash of cool sounds. You get kids singing, a gospel chorus belting and Dennis Hopper narrating, what more can you ask for?. Keep the band away from the TV but leave the album on play...i was surprised i liked it this much.

En caso de que aun no la hayas escuchado/In case you still haven't heard it, stream "Feel Good Inc.":

Windows Media Player
Real Player

Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies

Cephalic Carnage
Anomalies
Relapse
http://cephaliccarnage.infamos.com/
OOO

Extraño los días en que Cephalic Carnage tenían algo a parte de un nombre pocamadre. Casi todo este disco es death metal standard, técnico, con todo y breaks para moshear, lo cual es ABURRIDO (no hay nada de malo en que les guste a la gente, pero no es lo mio, la verdad); oyendo las primeras canciones de este disco solo te da una buena headbangueada si es que...hasta que llegas al último track, durando 9:49 minutos, “Ontogony Of Behavior” es una obra mereciente de cualquier superlativo, algo que CC han amenazado con hacer por años y lo que posiblemente se convertirá en su punto mas alto; desde tranquilada a través de guitarras mal viajadas hasta blastbeats hasta guitarras con supersolos hasta ritmos Melvin-escos, esta canción tiene de todo, y es la razón por la que le di tres O’s.

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I miss the days when Cephalic Carnage had something going besides cool names. Most of this album is just standard, technical, moshpit-breakdowns equipped death metal, which is fucking BORING (nothing wrong with liking that, it’s just not my cup of tea); listening to this album’s first songs just give you a nice headbang if anything...that’s until the last track, at 9:49 minutes, “Ontogony Of Behavior” is an opus worthy of any superlative, something CC have been threating to do for years and which might become the band’s greatest achievement; from bad trip guitar mellowness to blast beats to shredding guitars to Melvinesque grooves, this song has everything, and it’s the reason I gave it three O’s.

Dying Will Be The Death Of Me.mp3
Sleeprace.mp3

Music News and Rants

The Offspring are releasing a greatest hits set. Raise your hand if you care

Interpol are contributing a new song to the soundtrack of the tv series Six Feet Under; coincidentially, i would love to see Interpol buried six feet under. By the way, why is there not a song by the band Six Feet Under? You know, a good old song, oh well...

Dashboard Confessional are recording their next album in Vancouver with producer Daniel Lanois, famous for his production work with the likes of U2. Early reports confirm that the sessions are bringing results described as whiny songs with lots of delay.

At the age of 200, Willie Nelson is releasing a reggae album; it will probably be titled “Too Young For Pretty Much Nothing, Never Too Old To Smoke”

Audioslave played in Cuba, the goverment used them as an example of what’s wrong with capitalistic countries, no doubt about it.

The Backstreet Boys are releasing a new album in June; their fans, now around the age 25, couldn’t care less.

The Rolling Stones are too old, they’re letting Pearl Jam, Black Eyed Peas and John Mayer open their next tour. No one should let John Mayer play at all

Sugar Ray are also releasing a greatest hits set, to celebrate their career as fratcore rock trailblazers, they decided to massacre Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time”...I’d like to remind Sugar Ray that the song has no blame for their lack of talent.

DMX will issue a new studio album on June 28, celebrate by doing a drive–by shooting, get a pitbull or go to court

Fresh after the reunion of his legendary band Slint and on the eve of the release of his solo album, David Pajo has announced he is forming a new band with Michael McMahan (also of Slint), touring Slint bassist Todd Cook and drummer Tony Bailey. Pajo described the band’s music as metal...yeah, you heard that right, in his own words: “I didn't want it to be indie-rock metal -- I wanted it to be 'death to false metal' metal!". I knew he was on to something when i saw a picture of him wearing a Voivod t-shirt

Speaking of Pajo’s ex-bandmates, Billy Corgan has said what everybody knew all along: Zwan sucked; he has been talking about how fucked everyone in that band was and how it broke his heart that the band wasn’t Smashing Pumpkins Part II. I hope he finally got a clue, these declarations show that he’s on to something.

The Darkness fired their bass player before he spontaneously combusted onstage...seriously, if you still think The Darkness are the greatest thing to happen to rock since “throwing the goat” was invented, you should go out now and find this little movie called Spinal Tap and watch it, then experience how your world transforms into something else. Same goes to people who like Moderatto.

This was too good to be true and, of course, it turns out it didn’t last. The Vines are recording a new album; i wonder if people are gonna be fooled a third time into buying crappy music made by retarded people.

Not content with filling every inch of dry land in the surface of the planet with their coffee shops, now Starbucks is a record label, no metaphor can come close to the cold fact of a corporate franchise chain fitting in with the rest of the big labels.

Cursive are putting together a rarities and b-sides album to be released in August, i bet someone is crying for this right now

There’s a tribute to Melvins coming out on August 23 and it seems it’s going to get the prize for “Best Tribute Album Ever”, check the track list:

MARE – "Nightgoat"
MASTODON - "The Bit"
STRAPPING YOUNG LAD - "Zodiac"
THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - "Honey Bucket"
HIGH ON FIRE/KEELHAUL - "Oven"
PIG DESTROYER - "Claude"
ABSENTEE - "Revolve"
MEATJACK - "Shevil"
FEAR FACTORY/SYL/MASTODON – "Joan Of Arc"
DOG FASHION DISCO - "Anaconda"
AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED/ISIS - "Boris"
EYEHATEGOD - "Easy as It Was"
DISENGAGE - "Raise a Paw"
CKY/GNARKILL - "Laughing With Lucifer At Satan’s Sideshow"
MARITIME MURDER - "Copache"
MADE OUT BABIES - "Bar X and The Rocking M"

People are calling Coldplay the next U2, which seems rather appropiate, they are just as bad and untalented; i don’t know if it implies that in 10 years, Coldplay will start to rip-off Sonic Youth.

Coming up soon on The Obsolete: more reviews, Classic Album, interviews and radio show

May 24 Releases

*Alkaline Trio – Crimson
*The Animals – Animals
*At The Drive-In – Anthology: This Station Is Non-Operational
*Jeff Beck Group – Truth (reissue UK bonus tracks)
*Belle And Sebastian – Push Barman To Open Old Wounds
*David Bowie – Collection
*Canned Heat – The Very Best
*Johnny Cash – Original Sun Albums: Complete Collection
*Alex Chilton – Live In Anvers
*Collective Soul – From The Ground Up
*Rodney Dangerfield – 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection
*Miles Davis – Very Best
*Bruce Dickinson – Tyranny Of Souls
*Funkadelic – Funkadelic Finest
*Funkadelic – Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 12th September 1971 (reissue)
*The Get Up Kids – Live @ The Granada Theater
*Gorillaz – Demon Days
*Hair Police – Constantly Terrified
*Madness – 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection
*Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
*Meat Beat Manifesto – At The Center
*Morcheeba – Antidote
*Ikue Mori – Myrninerest
*Negativland - No Business
*Nile – Annihilation Of The Wicked
*Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation: First London Invasion Tour 1987
*Quireboys – Well Oiled
*The Raspberries – Greatest
*Runaways – 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection
*Screaming Trees – Ocean Of Confusion: Songs Of Screaming Trees 1989-1996
*Skullflower – Orange Canyon Mind
*Sleater-Kinney – Woods
*Son Volt – Retrospective: 1995-2000
*Violent Femmes – Viva Wisconsin (reissue)
*Violent Femmes – Freak Magnet (reissue)
*The Willowz – Talk In Circles
*X-Ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents: The Anthology
DVD:
*Brian Wilson presents Smile
*James Chance – Chance Of A Lifetime: Live In Chicago 2003
*Live From Bonnaroo 2004
*White Lion – Hits Version 1

Interview: Wires On Fire

Hardcore punk, the fastest, craziest music of it’s time, sprung out of the hands of kids barely out or barely in high school. With just attitude, rage, insolence and ever expanding musical knowledge as skills; these bands would turn vinyl sides into yells of punishment to anybody who otherwise would not pay attention to them and into anthems for kids like them who felt the same way. Now, 20+ years after the initial suburban punk invation; most bands won’t tap into the same pit of anger and expression as their forefathers, except a band who wear their youth as a badge of honor: Wires On Fire.

Wires’ music plays with the same intensity as prime HC, but their sounds aren’t limited to just three chords and hyperspeed drumming. The band fuses the creepy grooves of the Stooges, the Birthday Party and Jesus Lizard with the more traditional classic rock sounds of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Neil Young; their songs usually feature sections that snake around the music spectrum, knowing where it’s heading without you foreseeing it; guitars duel in a way that recall the dynamic interplay of bands like Television, Drive Like Jehu and At The Drive-In, all played in a way that’s so furious and edgy you sweared they were going to burst out and blow up in any second.

The band has released an EP thru Buddyhead Records called Homewrecker (available at buddyhead.com, it will be in stores soon) and are preparing for a hectic live schedule that’ll keep them busy until September, they will also release a split cd/dvd with like-minded adolescent band the Mean Reds, in which each will cover a youth anthem (the Wires tackle Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen” while the Reds cover Minor Threat’s “Minor Threat”), the dvd will include live footage from both bands.

I talked to Evan Weiss about 6th grade bands, the meaning of punk and hicks.


Marcos Hassan (The Obsolete): So, well, first of all, please introduce yourself. Name, what you do in the band, etc.

Evan Weiss: Ok. Hi, my name is Evan. i sing and play guitar in Wires On Fire.

Can you give us a quick history/Behind The Music on Wires On Fire?

I think we really started in 2001, i had been working on some songs and i showed them to Mike (Shuman), our bass player, and he was like "let’s start a band". i had just tried to start a few bands but nothing clicked, i was playing with strangers so playing with my friends seemed like the right thing to do, we were all like 16 and 15 years old, practicing for hours and hours and hours...

Wait a second, so Wires On Fire is your first band?

Haha, no. i had my first band when i was in the 6th grade actually, we would practice every weekend and play stuff like the school talent show, birthday parties, etc. we started out doing like, i dunno, pop punk covers and shit, we'd do “Stand By Me” and shit like that for our parents, “Twist And Shout”; but towards the end i was discovering more punk music, i remember at the end we did an FYP cover, who were like, a big local SoCal punk band in the mid-late 90s; not BIG, but you know what i’m saying. and then i had Warwagon, when i was 14, which was original music.

Warwagon is a cool name.

Haha, Warwagon was a great band, influenced by mainly 80’s hardcore or bands influenced by 80’s hardcore. But yeah, onto the next question.

Yeah, well it's not really a next question, sort of like continous question or something; what was the first record that got to you and how old were you when you experienced it?

The first two CDs i bought were Nirvana's Nevermind and Green Day's Dookie, i was 10 years old and they both totally changed everything for me, i wanted nothing more than to start playing guitar, it opened up a whole world of rock music to me.

So the Wires just practiced for hours and hours and hours and then...

We practiced for hours and hours and like 2 or 3 months later we played a show, right away we wanted to play out

3 months later...what was practice like? how many hours did you spend praticing? how many days a week?...

Practices would be long, it was really fun, we had never really played the kind of music we were playing before. It started in spring, but then it was summer; we were young, no jobs, no school, practice all day, get drunk at night...

Living the underage rock n' roll lifestyle; so what were the songs like when you started out? what did they sound like? did some of them survived all the way thru to now?

It was a bit different, way more directly influenced by like Drive Like Jehu, early Gravity Records stuff, early 90’s that is...umm, Refused a bit, stuff like that. But not really copycat, just that style and vibe, it wasn’t till a bit later we got into Sabbath or Zeppelin, Young, Birthday Party, etc...Early shows were way more chaotic, always getting unplugged, just young kids going nuts; you know, we were playing angry music, we had a lot of energy. we still play “Daisy”...

You dropped out of high school, right?

Haha, no, we all graduated. Some of us barely...but yeah, Mike and i are the only original members from that era.

Cool, yeah it still counts. so "Daisy" survived from the first batch of songs?

Yes, when we recorded our EP, i think we wanted to record one more song and we had a newer song and the guy who was recording, Frances Miranda, was like "do that song off the demo" and we were like "what?, no way, we have new songs, that shit is wimpy" and he was like "put two guitars on it and make it fucked up". In the earlier days, i would only play guitar for half the set, I’d just run around and sing, so i played on it and we just made it more fucked and took what we had learned and put it into that song. i think it turned out cool.

So then what? After gigging and stuff, how did you end up at Buddyhead and recording the Homewrecker EP?

Ok well, i had known Travis (Keller) and Aaron (North) for a while before i was in Wires, Aaron saw Warwagon once haha, but anyway, we had a band, and i would tell them about it, see them at shows or whatever and then after we played about 3 shows we recorded a demo and i would just bring a bunch to every show i went to and i’d hand ‘em out to bands or friends or, you know, people who book shows, etc...Travis and Aaron came out to a show, and since then have been supportive, they would put us on shows, or tell other people to put us on shows but we were really young, and i don’t think they wanted to deal with us on a "professional" level yet; so a year or so later we were seniors in high school, playing more and they would still help us out or come to our shows...

...and you "blossomed in front of their eyes..."

Haha, sure; and one night Travis was kind of like "do you want to be on our label or what?"

Haha, straight and to the point; did you make a lot of friends by giving them your demo? you know, did you meet cool bands and stuff?

Hmm...friends, aquantances, sure, people who were into it would help us out, it was cool. Actually yeah, thinking about it, i have a lot of good friends now who i met during that time; a lot of people were really impressed, or shocked, or thought it was funny, how young we were.

So, who are your holy bands? your main influences? the bands you look up to?

Wow so many...I, and the rest of the band, we are music freaks, we hang out with music freaks, we spend most of our moeny at the record store, i have lots of favorite bands, like we were talking earlier, Bad Brains are one of my favorites, i love a lot of american punk from the late 70’s 80’s: Hüsker Dü, Black Flag, you know, i could go on forever; i also like british stuff like the Damned, later brit stuff like Joy Division and New Order, Public Image; i love Neil Young, i love Bob Dylan, i love Beatles, Zep, Sabbath, Miles Davis...fuck, i could really go on forever!

I try to be influenced by all my favorites, i dont want to limit the music i make into one specific genre, and i think that is a result of all the different stuff we like as a band; yeah, i kinda don’t like that question, what influences you, it’s like fucking everything man!, my record collection and my life.

You mention a lot of bands you weren't even born to see when they were together, do you think you missed out on the good old days as a music fan and/or as a band? do you feel bad about it?

Yeah it would have been rad to see a lot of those bands...nah, i don’t really get bent out of shape about it, its just a shame that the music world right now is filled with so much bullshit...

...Well yeah, but then again, there's bands like you guys

Yeah, there are LOTS of good bands and i think that kind of makes it more special, when you find a new band you really like because for every one of them there are 10000000000000 other shitty bands.

Ok now, i know you said you don't want to dwell on it but, if it was possible right now, and you could choose anyone in history, who would you like to go on tour with?

Oh wow, so many bands, larger scale stuff like Zeppelin or something but i mean...Jesus Lizard...i don’t know i could really go on forever, so many bands...

Let's focus on now; i want to ask you about the guitar interplay which is, of course, one of the most characteristic things about your sound; how did it came about?

Ok well, that really came about when Jeff (Lynn) came into the band and the new songs we were writing.

Do you sit down and figure stuff out or does it come from instinct and jamming?

Both, some parts, actually, i would sit down with a tape recorder and write a bass line and 2 guitar parts but most of the time it’s like this: i’ll come up with a riff or something and show it to Mike and Jeff and they just come up with parts. i think it’s like we are all confident with each other’s playing and writing and style but, if someone comes up with something that we don’t like, we let it be known, and work around ‘till we are all happy with a song

Is that the same for when you come up with the arrangements? because your arrangements are very odd

Yes, you know, someone might have a whole song arranged but then we examine it and we tear it to pieces, we try so many different arrangements and styles and grooves and beats, we really fucking tear the songs apart, that helps us understand what is going on and then we put it together in the way we feel the ideas and emotions are best expressed. we'll argue and it’ll get ugly sometimes but in the end, it works out.

What about lyrics? how important are they? what's your inspiration?

Lyrics are very important to me, my inspiration come from all over the place: my own life, those around me, current events, history, books, you name it. but lyrics for me sometimes take a long time to write because i cannot force it out and i want to believe in all the words i’m singing.

Do you think Los Angeles and/or California are major influences not only lyrical but in your whole life as a band?

Yes, i hate to sound cliché because every band from LA is influenced by LA but its true for us, born and raised here, i really identify with this city, we’ve toured the whole country, i’ve been out of the country too and i feel like this is the most beautiful place on the planet.

To you, what does punk mean?

To me punk isn’t a style of dress or not even really a style of music, it’s a way of living and making art and not compromising your values and creativity for anyone. To me, punk is about freedom.

You have a very old school way of thinking about punk.

Yeah well, when i got into punk, it was those bands that really spoke to me and i don’t know, it kind of echoed how i was raised, my parents always taught me to think for myself and my dad always said and says "you reap what you sew" and "there’s no free lunch". Growing up, i knew so many kids whose mommys and daddies worked in the industry and they almost got handed record deals, i always thought that was boring and just not in the true rock and roll spirit, i think it’s important to eat shit for your art, it’s not supposed to always be comfortable. Not saying i live on the streets or anything but when we tour, we tour in a van we spent our own money on, we sleep on peoples floors...what punk bands do and have done for decades.

You had some line-up changes lately.

Yeah, my bro (Darren Weiss) is in the band since January or February, new drummer. (Dash Hutton, the Wires’ former) drummer left cos of life, he had a lot he needed to deal with, he’s still one of my best friends and all but it was apparent that he needed to take care of other things. My bro knew all the songs, and is a great drummer so he joined the next day.

So what have you been listening to lately?

Right now, Neil Young – Zuma. Lately, Dinosaur Jr - You’re Living All Over Me, Thin Lizzy, Circus Lupus.

Are you looking forward to any album coming out this year? any new good albums you've bought recently?

Hmmm...Black Mountain album is rad. I tend to reach for older stuff...you mentioned Mean Reds earlier, they just recorded a full length, i’m looking foward to hearing that.

I just read in your site that you're putting a split with the Mean Reds. what's up with that? why did you choose to cover "I'm Eighteen"?

Well, we are friends with them, we are both young and there seems to be a mutual respect for each other’s band, it just kinda made sense; we started playing shows together about a year ago and most of the times we play together ends up insane, felt like something that should be documented.

We were debating other tunes, a Wasted Youth cover, i really wanted to do "Degenerated" by Reagan Youth, untill we realized the song the band in the movie Airheads is a shitty hair metal version of the song! Alice Cooper’s Love It To Death is a great album, i love that whole album but “Eighteen” is a great youth anthem, it sort of fit our style; we change it up a bit, threw a saxophone on it.

So what can people expect from you live?

110 percent, we love playing music, we love playing music live, it’s what we live for so we give it all we’ve got. A raw real human experience.

Has the road treated you well?

Yes, very well. Of course, it’s no easy ride but we have played lots of great shows with awesome bands and met great people all over the country.

Which have been like the best bands you've played with?

Hmmm, well, recently we played a bunch of shows with a band called Two Gallants, they are really rad, great guys. Playing with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was cool, i really like that band; I wanted to hate them when i first started seeing press for them a few years back but then i heard their record, then saw them live, they are one of my favorite current bands. Battles are really good, we played with The Fall which was really weird, but really cool.

Those guys are legends. You played with Dillinger Escape Plan, right?

Yes, those shows were really fun; i didn’t think we would go over well with their crowd but we were received better than we expected; those guys are insane, such a machine.

Yeah, you expect them to be a little sloppy live, but they're jumping off the monitors and contorting themselves and they don't miss a note. Have you had anything weird happen while on the road?

Everyday is weird when you are living out of a van and on strangers floors! Hahahaha. I had some creepy dude ask me about our band at a gas station coming home from Texas in March, he was some hick, crazy red bloodshot eyes, the most crazy blistered hands and he was like telling me about some band that came through and he was like "they gave me a cd, they were good. It’s like nigger music with horns, but it’s good." i just walked out, hahaha, and thought "holy shit, i can’t believe this dude actually said that"

The road is an eye opener, isn't it?

Totally, playing music for me is. I’m a white boy from the suburbs, music has taken me to really bad parts of town growing up, going to punk shows, lots of shows are in sketchy areas so it really opened my eyes to what is REALLY happening in some parts of LA, and later when i started touring the country.

So, when are you recording your full lenght?

We’re thinking maybe winter time. We’ve been writing a bunch of new songs and we want to fine tune them before we record. Touring this summer will help.

You told me before that this new batch of songs are more "song oriented".

Some are, yes. Less fat, some shorter songs.

But are you still pulling labyrinth arrangements on other songs? or that now belongs to vintage Wires On Fire?

Haha.

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Download "Learn To Drown" from their Homewrecker EP

Wires On Fire site: www.wiresonfire.com
Wires On Fire page at Buddyhead
Buy Homewrecker EP straight from Buddyhead
Wires On Fire page at Pure Volume: www.purevolume.com/wiresonfire

MP3 download: Boris

Boris is a band i have been digging for the last couple of weeks and no wonder why: they totally wreck every frequency they invade. For starters, Boris is a Japanese power trio that could be thrown into the "drone sludge" label but in a way defies the category, they could be described as Sunn O))) meets the Melvins meets even Mono or Explosions In The Sky; most of their albums are conceptual pieces, some of them consisting of a single track, and most are short of genius; they have collaborated with Merzbow and Keiji Haino, their singer plays a double bass/guitar and their name comes from a song by the Melvins, how cool is that?

Southern Lord has recently issued Akuma No Uta in the US, Mysanthropic Agenda released the limited edition Dronevil double vinyl (Mysanthropic Agenda also put out Merzbow's Frog:Remixed and Revisited which includes an appearance of the band) and, in Europe, Conspiracy put out At Last-Feedbacker. I'm putting up the title track of the Southern Lord release, which i just got after digging Absolutego and At Last-Feedbacker (both fucking A):


Boris - Akuma No Uta from the album Akuma No Uta


Boris' site: www.inoxia-rec.com/boris
Boris' site at Southern Lord: www.southernlord.com/boris/index.html
Buy Boris cds at Amazon

May 17 Releases

*Candlemass – Candlemass
*DJ Rap – Bulletproof
*Gang Of Four – Entertainment! (reissue)
*Melt Banana – 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 1994-1999)
*Mercury Rev – Secret Migration
*Motörhead – Essential Noize: Very Best
*System Of A Down – Mezmerize
*Richard Thompson – Live From Austin, Tx
*Paul Westerberg – Besterberg: Best Of…
DVD:
*Bob Marley and The Wailers – Live At The Rainbow
*Lou Reed - Spanish Fly: Live In Spain
*Richard Thompson – Live From Austin, Tx
*Son Volt – Live From Austin, Tx
*Wire – The Scottish Play (dvd+cd)

Legal Disclaimer

About The Songs and Photos: All songs posted here are for sample purposes, one music fan to another. They will be removed from this site in a timely fashion. Please, if you like what you hear make sure to support the band in question by purchasing some stuff or seeing a show. These bands need your hard earned cash and support.

If you are an artist or copyright holder of a song or photo posted here and would like to have the song/photo removed, please contact me. The song, photos, etc will be removed ASAP.

Of course, if such a situation arises I reserve the right to reprint any and all cease and desist correspondence.

MP3 downloads: Turbonegro

The dirty Norwegians just issued a DVD (Reserection) and are about to release both an official studio album (Party Animals) and a live cd (the reissued Darkness Forever!); what's more, if you go to the band's site (http://www.turbonegro.com) you can not only already buy the new studio album but also buy some movie with performances by Turbo plus the Adolescents, Peter Pan Speedrock, Electric Eel Shock and more.

Turbonegro's biggest influence, Alice Cooper and Misfits comparisons aside, is probably Spinal Tap, not because they're a joke (which isn't entirely true or entirely false) but because they take self ridicule to new heights, recasting it. Turbo are fun, and that's something you don't get everyday anymore, fun bands; plus they're kinda shocking and they have amazing songs that beg to be screamed by drunk, fucked up people. In short, this is the band people like The Darkness want to be

So if you haven't already, then here is the brand new single from Turbonegro: "All My Friends Are Dead"; plus i threw in (well, not me, the Turbo site, actually) another Turbo gem from their now classic album Apocalypse Dudes.

Turbonegro - All My Friends Are Dead from the album Party Animals (2005)
Turbonegro - Rock Against Ass from the album Apocalypse Dudes (1997)

Turbo's merch:www.turbonegro.com
Turbo's website: www.scandinavianleather.com
Turbo's page at Pure Volume: www.purevolume.com/turbonegro
Turbo's page at Epitaph: http://www.epitaph.com/bands/index.php?id=314

Music News And Rants

Willie Nelson, hyper beardo, weed-soaked country singer, celebrated his birthday this past Saturday April 30th , he’s now 200 years old:


Thorns, ancient Norweigan black metal band, are recording a new album; Snorre Ruch, the band’s mainman is going to have pretty much all-jazz musicians for this record. That’s weird: black metal+jazz= ? something either brilliant or stupid: anyway, Hellhammer is playing session drums on this fucker, so you know those blastbeats are gonna grind hard; even weirder, Snorre’s other band, Thorns LTD are playing at the Whitney Museum Of American Art in New York (yeah, the same museum where Stephen Malkmus and the second drummer in Pavement used to work, also a museum that’s held more than one Kim Gordon exposition), black metal+museum=something i hope.

I hope you already know it but in case you still don’t: the prize for most badass reunion of the year is already decided and it’s unappealable, the baddest reunion this year is Stryper. Period.

This is cool shit, finally, after pretty much decades, seminal Texan metal/hardcore punk crossover band Watchtower have re-released their debut Energetic Disassembly; this is supposedly hot shit, so i might check it out, it’s sort of legendary actually

More D news. The Pick Of Destiny, Tenacious D bio-pic is not only in the works but it’s gonna count with the participation of Ronnie James Dio, yeah, this movie keeps getting cooler.

Fresh from being branded “Classic Album” by this very same blog, DJ Shadow’s ...Endtroducing will get the honor of getting the whole enchilada treatment, getting deluxed and expanded for tentative release this next June 7; the set will consist of demos, a live track, remixes and alternate versions; plus liner notes and cool shit like that. The thing is classic, and if it’s classic then you probably need to buy it twice, enough said.

Listen to a man who played on Appetite For Destruction: http://www.couzined.com/media/audioplayer.php?id=96

Sodom will release a retrospective DVD with shows and Behind The Music and all that shit in July, why isn’t it July yet?

“RollingStone.com: What scenes from Spinal Tap hit home?

Robert Plant: Getting lost on the way to the stage. That was us, playing in Baltimore. It took twenty-five minutes to do the hundred yards from our Holiday Inn through the kitchen to the arena.”...1 gag cleared, 790 000 left to acknowledge.

Next Saturday, May 14 at 12:00 p.m. PST get online and go to Guitar-Guitar.com for a chance to chat with Kerry King, ask him about his tattoos or about music theory or killing dogs or something, hopefully he’ll get pissed off

If you still don’t have a Real Player, then download it fast and then click here to watch a new video of Candlemass. Let thy be doom, son of a beeyatch!!!

Am i crazy or is the dude from Matchbox 20 trying to be Justin Timberlake? I swear i saw him parade around the tv, “dancing” while being surrounded by 700 rented models while i was flipping the channels; oh well, i’ve seen weirder, less predictable shit...

Fugazi is in either a cool vacation or finally over; Ian is playing “Let’s Pretend We’re The White Stripes” in The Evens, Joe Lally is of course slaying somewhere in the world with Decahedron and now Brendan Canty will be drumming on tour with Bob Mould (sweet, eh?). Wonder what Guy is doing...

This is going to be a tour with some very confused audiences, System Of A Down and The Mars Volta are touring together this summer; yeah, Slipknot fans are gonna mosh to 30-minute prog improvisations.

This is one cool blog: http://apollyonsun.blogspot.com/, it’s Thomas Gabriel Warrior from Celtic Frost’s blog! He’s keeping a sort of diary from the recording of Celtic Frost’s next album! Yeah, the Frost is on again, get hip to the Frost before they become reunion of the year (ohh, yeah, almost forgot...Stryper is already reunion of the year); so run and go get Morbid Tales, Into The Pandemonium and To Mega Therion, also get the Hellhammer cd so you can dazzle people by saying how better Hellhammer was compared to the Frost.

Low are cancelling their tour because Alan Sparhawk “hasn’t been mentally stabble”...sounds like a bummer, I hope he gets better and comes out rocking again

Megadeth bailed on some European because some “full-on Satanic” bands were gonna open and Dave Mustaine, who is now born-again christian, wasn’t having any of it; yeah, you want some “good” openers, get Creed (who don’t exist anymore) or P.O.D. (if they still exist) or, better yet, do a co-headlining tour with Stryper (reunion of the year which, if you do the math, would make it tour of the year). Mustaine shouldn’t be surprised about Satanic bands, this is metal, bro!! Yet people are taking it the wrong way: Mustaine is an asshole, and he cancelled the shows to be an asshole and he’s pointing fingers because that makes him an asshole, simple as that; dude is an asshole...a declining asshole.

Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth

Stephen Malkmus
Face The Truth
Matador
http://www.stephenmalkmus.com
OOOO

Volviendose todo rock suave de los 70's, SM nos da un album de canciones payasas que son demasiado buenas. Para nada un Crooked Rain, este disco nos demuestra que el hombre sigue siendo excelente escribiendo canciones un poco astutas/un poco pendejas con grandes guitarras; despues de todo, él ha hecho rolas acerca de que tan guapos eran los Stone Temple Pilots, de cuando te gustan las mujeres por ser vacias y acerca de ser Yul Brynner.

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Going 70’s soft rock on us, SM delivers an album of clowning songs that are way good. No Crooked Rain at all, this record is a sign that the man still kicks ass at writing slightly clever/slightly stupid songs with great guitars; after all, here is a guy who wrote about how the Stone Temple Pilots were foxy, about liking girls for being empty and about being Yul Brynner.

Baby C'mon.mp3

Low - The Great Destroyer

Low
The Great Destroyer
Sub Pop
http://www.chairkickers.com/
OOOOo

Es increible que Low, viniendo de tocar canciones tranquilas, calladas y un poco tristes como “Sunflower” o “In Metal” llegaran a rawkear en este album, digo rockean aun mas fuerte que Yo La Tengo!!! Y aun así pueden sacar momentos dulces; lo que resalta, a fin de cuentas, es la calidad de las canciones, sin importar si son calladas o fuertes. Este disco manda!!

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It’s incredible that Low came from playing gentle, quiet and sort of sad songs like “Sunflower” or “In Metal” to rawking in this album, i mean they rock even harder than Yo La Tengo!!! Yet they still pull some sweet moments here; what stands out, however, is the quality of the songs, regardless of if they’re quiet or loud. This record rules.

Monkey.mp3
California.mp3

400 Blows - Angel's Trumpets And Devil's Trombones

400 Blows
Angel’s Trumpets and Devil’s Trombones
GSL
www.400blows.net
OOOO

Mejor que Black Rainbow, la banda se aliviana lo suficiente para que apreciemos sus voces monotonas y sonidos de guitarra raros. Aun bailando entre agresión punketa y metal Helmet-esco, esta es música para que des de puñetazos o azotes tu cabeza con la pared.

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Better than Black Rainbow, the band actually gets tamed long enough to appreciate the monotonous vocals and weird guitar tones. Still dancing between punk aggression and Helmet-esque metal, this is music for you to really pound your fist or bang your head to the wall.

The Beauty Of Internal Darkness.mp3

Hanin Elias - Future Noir

Hanin Elias
Future Noir
Fatal/Underground Inc.
http://www.fatal-recordings.com/
OOO

Esta sirena gritona anteriormente de Atari Teenage Riot quiere ponersenos toda noir pero en vez de eso, acaba en las tierras de una película de James Bond, agarrando aparititos de alto diseño y poniendose toda contra-espía sexy; a veces, parece que esta karaokeando a través de un disco de Sneaker Pimps pero a veces también su voz sobresale y nos da unossentimientos muy complacientes y despues, por unos pocos segundos, hace de su grito el invitado de honor.

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Former Atari Teenage Riot screaming siren wants to go noir but instead lands in a James Bond movie, she gets all hi-tech gizmos and sexy counterspy on us; sometimes, though, it seems like she’s karaoking through a Sneaker Pimps record but sometimes her voice stands out and gives you some pleasant feelings and later on, for a few brief seconds, she let’s her scream be the guest of honor.

Burn.mp3

Big Business - Head For The Shallow

Big Business
Head For The Shallow
Hydrahead
http://www.bigbigbusiness.com
OOOO

Como si Ruins se volvieran todos Motörhead mientras coverean un chingo de canciones de power metal (ya saben, rock de Calabosos y Dragones, piensen en Manowar) e incluso el vocalista, que esta todo mamado y rudo, quisiera amariquearse un poquito para que se oiga aun mas épico y heroico, que a su vez lo hace sonar como Dio si su deseo de crecer se volviera realidad pero se saliera de control y se volviera un gigante. Se oye super fruity pero este album en serio esta excelente, esta muy divertido y es pesado sin sonar ridiculo...bueno, no demasiado ridiculo.

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Like Ruins going all Motörhead while covering a shitload of power metal songs (you know, Dungeons and Dragons rock, think Manowar) and even the singer, who’s all husky and tough, wishes he could fag out a little just to sound more epic and heroic, which in turn makes him sound as Dio if his wish to grow up actually worked and got really wrong and actually became a giant. It sounds hyper-fruity but this album actually works, it’s pretty fun and heavy without it being ridiculous...well, not too ridiculous anyway.

Focus Pocus.mp3
Easter Romantic.mp3

Dissection - Past Is Alive (The Early Mischief)

Dissection
Past Is Alive (The Early Mischief)
reissue
Necropolis
www.dissection.nu
OOO

Claro, son satánicos y Jon Nödtveit mató a un tipo y fueron parte del Black Circle, pero, como este disco lo prueba e igual que Darkthrone y Emperor, casi todas las bandas de black metal empezaron tocando death metal estandarizado...y si me djaran terminar de hablar también diría que esto es death metal estandarizado muy bien hecho, algo bueno que oir pero lejos de ser misántropo o verdaderamente maligno y brutal. Para fans del hell.

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Sure, they’re satanic and Jon Nödtveit killed a guy and were part of the Black Circle, but, as this disc proves and just Like Darkthrone and Emperor, all black metal bands pretty much started playing standard death metal...if you would let me finish i thought about adding that this is standard death metal very well done, a good listen but far from misanthropic or really evil and brutal. For fans in hell.

May 10 Releases

*Amon Düül II: Vortex (reissue)
*Amon Düül II: Only Human (reissue)
*Amon Düül II: Almost Alive...And Looking Fine (reissue)
*Babes In Toyland – Intermenstral (reissue)
*Boredoms – Seadrum/House Of Sun
*Alice Coltrane – Radha: Krsna Nama Sankirtana
*Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are (reissue)
*Fairport Convention – Chronicles
*Feeder – Pushing The Senses
*400 Blows – Angel’s Trumpets and Devil’s Trombones
*GZR – Ohmwork
*Hawkwind - Space Ritual Sundown Vol. 2 (Deluxe Edition)
*Jimmy Eat World – Futures (UK Bonus CD)
*MC5: Are You Ready To Testify? The Live Bootleg Anthology
*Negativland - No Business
*The Orb – Auntie Aubrey’s Excursions Beyond The Call Of Duty Vol. 2 (reissue)
*Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation – Mighty Rearranger
*Prince Paul – Itstrumental
*The Punks – Thank You For The Alternative Rock
*Spoon – Give Me Fiction
*Team Sleep
*Rigo Tovar – Historia de un Ídolo
*Weezer – Make Believe
*X – Live In Los Angeles
DVD:
*Einsturzende Neubauten – Halber Mensch
*Goverment Issue – Live 1985: Flipside
*Keith Moon – Who’s The Most Dangerous Man Alive
*Murder City Devils – The End: Final Show Halloween 2001
*My Dying Bride – For Darkest Eyes
*Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation: First London Invasion Tour 1987
*Robben Ford – New Morning: Paris Concert
*X – Live In Los Angeles

May 3 Releases

*Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Cold Roses
*David Bowie - Collection
*Deep Purple – Burn (reissue)
*The Guess Who – Let’s Go: The CBC Years
*Madredeus – Faluas Do Tejo
*Bob Marley – Essential Collection
*Metallica – In The Beginning Live
*Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
*Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Worn Copy
*Oneida – Wedding
*Marc Ribot – Spiritual Unity
*Slits – Live At The Gibus Club
*Iggy and The Stooges – Telluric Chaos
*XTC – Compact XTC: The Singles: 1978-1985
DVD:
*Basement Jaxx – Singles

Classic Album: DJ Shadow – ...Entroducing

I first heard about DJ Shadow thru Radiohead; every interview I read during the OK Computer period, there was pretty much always a time when Thom or Jonny would start praising the work of the American DJ and how he inspired the band to approach sound. I thought that earning praise from Radiohead was a rather big acomplishment so I was intrigued by this DJ; this was also the time i started to get into electronica and various other artists and magazines would talk about the “genius” of the guy. So it wasn’t long after i went in search of some Shadow material, and i found this cd, which coincidentially or not, i bought along with Dummy by Portishead (this is another classic album i’m showcasing later on), i put the record on when i came home and the record was nothing like i expected, no techno/rock freakout experience; in fact, it wasn’t techno at all, the feel was all lo-fi and minimalist instead of digitally multilayered, the second time i listened to it, i became hooked on the atmospheric surroundings it created, this warm but strange wrapper of a world i didn’t expected it existed in me (the key here is “me” since it’s an introspective album). The sound of it isn’t dissonant or urged at all, yet it feels new and exciting, since it takes hip-hop and makes this sprawling, epic soundscapes, all done almost completely thru sampling of obscure, scratched up, crackling vinyl. The album’s cover features a photo of a vinyl record store and people browsing thru the crates, inside the booklet appears a listing of everybody who has influenced DJ Shadow to make the album, which seemed sort of odd considering how groundbreaking this album is. But that’s only on first sight, the genius of the album lies in the fact that this record was made like every other old school hip hop album recorded before the mid-90’s, it’s all crack n’ pop samples and muffled drum beats, the approach is the same, but the depth of it is different whatsover. It’s influence can be heard everywhere, especially in indie hip hoppers like RJD2, Blockheads and Sixtoo, and Shadow has released some really great stuff after (like 02’s The Private Press and last years concert dvd/cd Live – In Tune And On Time, both of which you should get, like, now) but perhaps his greatest talent, like Burt Bacharach, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead before him, is that of an amazing arranger, probably the best arranger hip hop will ever know.