Blackhole - Dead Hearts 2009

(Re-post 4 of 5)

Hardcore from last year. Often overlooked as just the brother

of the singer in Gallows, this debut album is a fantastic, headlong

rush of spat out vocals, meaty tunes with wonderful guitar riffage

that at times reminds me of the quicksilver lines that Brian James

used on the 1st Damned album.

As Richard Carter shreds his vocal chords on yet another explosive tune,

you start to wonder if this time next year, Gallows will have a fight on

their hands for the British hardcore crown.

Listen

January Music

Gonna try something new.

At the end of each month I shall make a list

of the new albums (or albums that I have just heard)

that have made me jump up and down the most.

And because I am such a great host, I shall put a

track from each release onto a compilation, so

you too can enjoy - or not - the music I have

been enjoying.

Here goes: (in no particular order)

White Drugs - Gold Magic (hardcore/noise rock)

Mudy on the Sakabum - Pavilion (post rock instrumental)

Heinali & Matt Finney - Conjoined (doom prog?)

Ihsahn - After (post black metal prog)

Earth - Angels of Darkness (stoner drone)

Kvelertak - S/T (hardcore)

Let Live - Past History (hardcore)

Tusk - The Resisting Dreamer (post metal with noise & drone)

La Dispute - New Storms (hardcore)

Karysun - Until the End (post metal)

Black Sea - Somethings Cannot be Mirrored (post metal)

Home - S/T (hardcore sludge)

The Chariot - Long Live (hardcore)

413 - Path to Hocma (prog hardcore?)

Listen

Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material (1979)

A full throttled debut from the Belfast boys that

seemed to come from nowhere and kick you in

the face.

Beefy distorted guitars and and a pounding rhythm

section that sounded like Motorhead crashed out

of your speakers.

Throat shredding vocals that were so tuneful but

at the same time full of passion and did not sound

out of place with slightly poppier material.

With the exception of The Pistols, this made some

of the more established punk bands of the day seem

slow, tinny sounding and rather tame.

Listen

Band Info

Black Sea - Somethings Cannot Be Mirrored (2010)

Post-metal from Brazil and once again, Black Sea

have produced a monument to heaviness.

The Cult of Luna seem to be quiet at the moment

and it has been up to bands like Mouth of the Architects,

Kongh or General Lee to set the standards.

But now, emerging as genuine contenders, Black Sea

(and Alaskan) are producing great works that I rate

up there with the big boys. Just as post-metal seems

to becoming stagnant or songs are produced with a

template that consists of loud/quiet, this has enough

small flourishes to stand out as something a bit

different.

If you have any interest in any of the above bands,

give this a - Listen.

Band Info

250 posts

Well, here we are - 250 posts. What a journey it

has been for us all!

We've cried together when rapidshare lost all the links.

We've high fived together when I realised how long

those you-tube links take to load on.

And how we laughed when Goijira made me take

down the link - and then the picture - and then

even the review!

I have been saddened to find out that some of

you have looked at other blogs - so much for

being faithfull. Well, if you must know I have

written reviews for other people and I did not

even tell you! Ha!

Lets not fight - let us celebrate these posts

with some wonderful gifts for you - my faithful

download monkeys.

First off - A collection of out-takes that never

made it onto the 1st Stooges album. For the most

part, the songs sound pretty much the same with

some different vocal inflections from Iggy but

the real joy are the extra long guitar solos from the

sadly missed Ron Asheton - Listen

And for those of you who are mentally ill and do

not like The Stooges - get down with the soundtrack

to the John Carpenter film "The Thing" by the oh, so

cool Ennio Morrcione - Listen

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)

George Clinton lets loose with this slab of funk.

Mixing soul and heavy rock with funky grooves

that drop in bits of jarring psychedelia, this is

rightly hailed as a classic release by Funkadelic.

It starts off with a Hendrix style, 10 minute burst

of slow wah-wah soloing before launching into

the rest of the tracks.

Playing this mish-mash of styles with hard rock

elements creeping in and out, you can hear future

echoes of Prince and Primal Scream.

Listen

Band Info

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Blood & Fire (2010)

After the limp, tired 2nd album that was "The

Royal Society" I kinda gave up on this lot.

2002 brought us the debut "Horse of the Dog"

and it was great - full of piss and spite that bounced

along with a psychotic rock-a-billy swagger that

mixed up the Stooges and punk.

This is a return to form. Stomping rhythms with

a heavy groove set the scene while the vocals veer

between a sneer and shout to give you an album

that at last almost follows up "Horse of the Dog'.

Listen

Band Info

Scratch Acid - The Greatest Gift

Before the Jesus Lizard, David Yow & David Sims

were in Scratch Acid, thrashing out highly original

and frenzied post-punk/noise rock.

Compiling of 2 EPs and their only full length album

"Just Keep Eating", this collection showcases

pounding drums, throbbing bass lines and scatter-

shot guitar riffs alongside of Yows impassioned

vocals and quite bizarre lyrics.

Like an American Birthday Party, Scratch Acid play

a combination of punk, blues, rock'n'roll but with

a bleakness + almost out of control intensity that

would become known as noise-rock.

If you are into this sort of stuff but have never heard

them - Listen now.

Supercontinent - Vaalbara (2008)

Repost 3 of 5 ...... hee, hee - tiny text and crappy info!

Released in 2008, this album was described as

Post-Metal/Post-Hardcore.

Members from various bands came together and like the

supergroup Shrinebuilder, an almighty rumbling emerged

like mountains collapsing - skull crushing sludge like early

Isis or Cult of Luna.

Matt West - bass (Incisor (US), Marburg)

Chris Plumb - guitar/vocals

Justin Bean - drums (Incisor (US))

Matt Gauntlett - guitar/vocals (Incisor (US))

Adam Tatro - auxiliary instruments

David Lock - guitar (The Black Dahlia Murder)

Listen

The Young Gods - L'Eau Rouge (1989)

2nd album from the Swiss mavericks.

With vocals sung in their mother tongue and

sounding like a very sinister Tom Waits, they

used sampled heavy guitars, speech, strings and

all manner of electronics which 22 years ago

sounded ahead of it's time and to be honest, this

still sounds fresh.

Bursts of noise give way to floating keyboards

before hitting you with monster riffs.

If Bladerunner had been filmed with a couple

of handheld videos and there had been no money

lefty for the Vangelis soundtrack, this would of

done the job nicely.

Play this is the dark and let your mind go wherever

it wants to.

Listen

Band Info

Disappearer - The Clearing (2009)

(Repost 2 of 5)

More post-hardcore with

some post-metal influences.

Heavy distortion with

atmospheric touches that

go back to aggressive, noisy

roots.

Original and authentic.

Listen

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World (1970)

This was the first album to use the backing band

who would become the "Spiders from Mars".

All songs were written by Bowie but the music

was largely arranged by Ronson and Visconti.

Mick Ronson flexed his guitar hero muscle and

made this album the heaviest of Bowie's career.

Heavy rock riffs and screaming solos combined

with Bowie's lyrics about insanity, war, sex and

religion make this a fantastic classic rock listen.

There are at least 3 different covers for this but

I have used the one I grew up with.

...... a fact that no one really cares about is:

this is one of the 1st albums I ever brought and

the music it contained made me search out other

heavy guitar music, so for me, I can say it

changed my musical life!

Listen

The Fall of Troy - Doppelganger (2005)

I really tried to like their later releases but they

just seemed to be lacking when compared to

this album.

Post-hardcore with clean/shouted vocals, the

outstanding element here is the amazing guitar

work by Thomas Erak.

Bombastic, spazzy schizo riffing with tons of

distortion going from tech-metal to moments

of delicate beauty and back again to hardcore

aggression.

The drum and bass are as tight as fuck and the

whole thing just kills.

Listen

Band Info

Kvelertak - S/T (2010)

This came out last summer but I have only got

around to giving it a listen now.

............ and it is fantastic! This would of made my

top albums of the year.

Coming from Norway, this hardcore band mix it

up with elements of stoner and filthy rock'n'roll.

Heavy all the way through, they do not forget to

write tunes - each song has an identity. Great guitar

riffs and short powerful solos are used throughout

and are combined with growled vocals to deliver

the (to my ears anyway) perfect album.

If you like Phantom Glue or Colisuem or have

ever dug Baroness in full Motorhead/Discharge

mode - give this a play.

Fantastic artwork from John Baizley as well.

Band Info

Crosby, Stills & Nash - S/T (1969)

Imagine that summer is here, chill-out and

check out some timeless songs - Listen

Scorch Trio - Brolt! (2008)

After Veins Dried Out went Omar Rodriguez Lopez crazy

yesterday I decided to come up with something as crazy as

Omars playing.

The Scorch Trio are a Nordic threesome who produce mental

instrumental music ...... kinda like a cross between the Dub Trio

and Stinking Lizaveta.

Intense, improvised guitar over hyper-manic thrashing drums

and bass that twists and turns.

This is music that comes from electric jazz roots but with

a much heavier rock feel.

If Miles Davis learnt to play guitar in the style of Hendrix,

would it end up like this album? Listen

Band Info

Ruptured Dog - 2010

15 years after last playing together, Ruptured Dog

decided to see if they could coax their ancient bones

and decaying memories into playing some songs.

Well fuck me sideways - we could!

The Songs we played were:

Believe

Black Insect laughter

Justine

Twilight of the Idols

We love the MC5

Loss of Reason

Lazy

Day of Forever

Cathode King

Jerusalem

Wounded Knee

To listen to the songs recorded live in the

studio, with no fancy overdubs, listen Here

To listen to the songs with all guitars over-

dubbed and re-mixed, listen Here

For those of you who have no idea who Ruptured Dog

were, we played melodic old-school punk rock and

worshipped all things by the Clash, Ramones and Iggy.

See a video of how sexy I looked before I became senile - Here

or look at our my-space thingy for a blog, other songs and

pictures of how we looked before the interweb existed -Here

Black Flag - Damaged (1981)

Is this the blueprint for hardcore?

There are other bands and albums that shaped that genre

but for me, this was my benchmark for many years.

Any band that released a record that laid claim to being

aggressive had to be as good as this - and in the early '80's

there were only a handful that could put up a challenge.

Drums and bass were welded into an unstoppable groove

machine, Rollins was at his most frenetic and Greg Ginn

showed the world how jazz scales could be played at top

speed and with masses of distortion.

It still sounds fantastic now - Listen

Band Info

Guards - New Flesh (2010)

This is a real ear-bleeder.

Lightning Bolt come to mind when it first starts

but then Guards take things to a newer horrific

level.

What seems to be pure white noise slowly turns

into hints of tunes, while the instruments sound

like close-miked cement mixers tuned to a major

"A" chord!

I did not think I would like it but as my brains

started to dribble out of my ears, the chaos

seemed to make sense and almost hypnotise me.

Very powerful stuff - not something I will play everyday

but will dip into when feeling brave.

Listen

Guards Blog/

Mick Karn 1958 - 2011

Mick Karn died on Tuesday 4th from

cancer. Known as the bass player in

Japan, he was also involved in countless

other musical projects.

I started this post because there seemed

to be very little news on his death.

I was not quite sure about doing this as

he had never really been that high on my

music radar.

When Strummer died, that was bad. I had

seen the Clash, played the music all the time

and was lucky enough to have talked to Joe

a couple of times.

Beefhearts recordings had seeped into a lot

of other music that I listened to.

But...........

I have always known people who played his

music - Japan has always been there in the

background - checking my iPod, I have 5

albums on it!

So, here is my most played album - the 1st one:

"Adolescent Sex".

While not yet featuring the slinky, fretless

bass work that Karn was known for, this is a

mixture of cold art rock with influences from

Roxy Music, sharp suits, Be Bop Deluxe and white

soul - think Bowie "Young Americans" era.

Listen

James Marshall Hendrix - Monterey (1967)

In 1967, Hendrix played his first major American concert

after getting his shit together in the UK.

Coming on stage, The Experience were a unknown quantity

stateside.

With only a nine song set, Jimi tore through "Foxy Lady,

Hey Joe, Purple Haze" + more, turned "Wild Thing" into

a blazing, destructive sonic prayer and walked off the

stage as the most famous guitar player in the world.

Essential - Listen

Don't know how long this will stay up - I have heard the

Hendrix Estate are shit hot about takedowns but to quote

The Bard - "I come to praise Jimi, not bury him."

Goes Cube - Another Day Has Passed 2009

This is a repost from when I first started my blog - I was

young, dumb and full of cum - using a rapidshare account

that after 3 months got deleted meaning all my links had

been lost! I have been playing this and 3 other albums

in the xmas break + have had requests for links and have

decided that they were too good to be lost....... it's not

laziness, honest!

One of my top rated albums

from last year, Goes Cube

deliver a fantastic mix of

post-hardcore with math-rock

leanings. Steamrolling drum

beats & crunchy, thick guitar

riffs with vocals that range

from clean to a growl.

Heavy, groove laden rock

metal tunes help the songs

flow ................. nice! Listen

White Drugs - Gold Magic (2010)

Cannot find much info on this but bloody hell, it's really

good.

Released on the Kunstwaffe label in conjunction with

AmRep, this is exactly the sort of thing you would expect

from the label that released so many great bands.

Savage riffs galore that are constantly on the verge of

feedback, this is a swaggering collection of songs with

attitude and frenetic rock'n'roll that come across as

the bastard child of Jesus Lizard & Part Chimp with

bits of Melvins type bottom end production.

Don't just stand there - Listen