Lantern - Burned Youth (2012)

Request from Pigeon Row, Canada.

Here is their press release:

Philadelphia's Lantern returns with a second tape release for Night-People, this time in the form of a reissued tour only cassette that highlights the band's evolution over the course of 2009-2011. Despite being a bit of a retrospective, Burned Youth feels very whole, considered and complete. Overall, the fidelity of these recordings is a bit more hi-fi than the band's recent Night-People tape Stranger I Come/Stranger I Leave. The destroyed, psyched-out proto-punk (Stooges/Denudes) inspired squall of that release isn't really present on this more archival material. For these recordings Lantern seemed to be approaching things from a more Texas/Delta blues and Their Satanic Majesties era Stones influence with a good bit of Texas garage psych thrown in the mix a la the Elevators and Parable of Arable by Red Krayola. This is really fun music regardless and feels like its own take on classic rock and roll aesthetics.

This is lo-fi rock'n'roll that has an almost weary country rock feel to things,

with acoustic guitars being at the front of things but when the fuzz comes in

you get a taste of Mazzy Star and hints of the Velvets at their most reflective.

You get laid back tunes with a 60's garage vibe - what's not to like?

Buy from Bandcamp

Band info Here

Mastodon - Leviathan (Piano version!)

First of all, kudos to Metal Sucks blog for bringing this

to everyones attention. I would not normally just rip

off from a blog but this is a Soundcloud clip with a share

/embed option so here we are.

Some guy (jsabbottO) has recorded the entire Mastodon

album "Leviathan" on the piano in one take! While this

is an incredible feat of virtuoso playing and is definitely

worth a listen, if I had the skills to learn, notate and perform

like this, I sure as fuck would not be doing cover versions!

The Next Hundred Years - Troppo (2012)

Band request from Canada.

The Next Hundred Years have featured on this blog

before but now they have a new album out.

This time around the production is of a much higher

quality which makes for a wider, bigger sound.

The stoner/metal sound is still very evident but

there is a definite groove to the already complex

song arrangements which remind me somewhat

of Alice In Chains.

The guitars have retained their warm, fuzzy tones

but the tracks have more urgency to them and there

seems to be a tension to the riffs that builds up before

being allowed to burst into a heavier passage.

This collection of tunes shows the band have matured

as song writers and have honed their craft. If you want

some good solid rock to bang your head to - Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

Comity - The Journey Is Now Over

French heaviness that defies genre tagging.

Comity play a brutish but thrilling brutal mix of hardcore,

sludge and post-metal but keep things dark and dank with

descents into crust.

The four tracks are long and epic with a crushing feel to the

atmosphere. Extreme sonic noise is suddenly brought to

a stillness with piano notes echoing in the silence until

the chaos explodes - this reminds me of when Neurosis

still termed themselves as hardcore but were plainly

mapping new territory into post-metal.

The intensity of these songs seem impossible to keep up

but Comity play the tension out with an ease that is

helped with sudden bursts of Dillinger Escape Plan type

guitar riffs spewing out over the schizo tempo changes.

If you are not aware - I really like this - despite the fact that

it was released in December 2011, this goes onto my album

of the year list for 2012!

Listen

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Pay what you want at Bandcamp on Throatruiner Records -

one of my favourite labels out there at the moment.

Antares/Seditius European Tour 2012

Italian record label Rancore have asked me to post these tour

dates for Antares and Seditius. I have featured Seditius before

Here - they play some excellent rock'n'roll hardcore.

Two of the best underground bands in Italy are going to tour Europe this April.

We're talking about italy's finest rock n roll act ANTARES and Milan's hardcore-rock band SEDITIUS.

Check the dates and be there!

TOUR SCHEDULE:

23 mar @ LOCHNESS PUB, RIVA DEL GARDA, ITALY
http://www.facebook.com/events/253698191385644/

3 apr @ T.N.T. CLUB, MILANO, ITALY
http://www.facebook.com/events/317077858353747/

4 apr @ ROTER GUGL, BAD WALTERSDOLF, AUSTRIA
http://www.facebook.com/events/190592731045492/

5 apr @ VENSTER 99, WIEN, AUSTRIA
http://www.facebook.com/events/229582250468199/

6 apr @ CAFE' NA PUL CESTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

7 apr @ BOZAK CLUB, TEPLITZ, CZECH REPUBBLIC
http://www.facebook.com/events/272181036177525/

8 apr @ KOEPI, BERLIN, GERMANY

13 apr @ SWAMP CLUB, MASSA, ITALY

• ANTARES || turbo rock n roll from Italy
http://www.facebook.com/AlphaScorpiiRocknroll
http://www.myspace.com/antarespeedrock

• SEDITIUS || hardcore rock n roll from Italy

http://www.seditius.com
http://www.facebook.com/seditius
http://www.seditius.bandcamp.com/

Supported by: www.lapaguis.com, www.rancore.it, www.tornadoriderecords.com

If you are able to - check them out.

Nonogon - People Live Everywhere (2012)

Band request from Chicago, USA.

Nonogon are a post-hardcore trio who have a mathy sound

but without being tied down to the sometimes mechanical

playing that robs the human touch from the "math" tag.

Cleanish vocals are yelped out over the tracks which benefit

from having organic song structures which still pack a punch

despite no obvious verse/chorus motifs.

Technical skills are on show here with great interplay between

all instruments which, thanks to the production, are crystal

clear.

The band have requested that I only put up their own links -

as a DIY affair, they are handling all aspects of promotion etc.

Purchase from Bandcamp

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Listen to the stream - I would put them between Fugazi or

Don Caballero - better still, make your own mind up!

The Melvins - The Bulls & The Bees

The Melvins have just released this EP as a free download

from Scion.

Whadda need to know? 5 new Melvins songs - heavy as

fuck and sounding all melvinny ....... I would say very much

in the style of (A) Senile Animal.

You still here? - get over to Scion and Check out @ScionAV's The Melvins - The Bulls & The Bees on scionav.com!

Kustodian - Dusted Emperor (2012)

Kustodian seems to be a one-man project from New York

but as the bandcamp page I found this on has almost no

information, this is a guess on my part.

Anyway, the music speaks for itself. Experimental sludge

that is played so fucking heavy that I keep going back to

it, just to see if it still sounds the same. Massive riffs are

hammered out over a drum machine (or robot drummer?)

that are heavily processed to give an industrial percussion

that clatters and thuds.

The tracks are largely instrumental but there are spoken

word samples played with distortion and bursts of shouted

vocals drift in and out of the mix. The whole album drips

with atmosphere and is certainly not your standard macho-

grunt fest.

"Adapters" has a echoed piano riff looping while

snatches of police radio and telephone conversations are

played over drones - kinda like the Butthole Surfers song

"22 going on 23"...... this interlude sets up the next track

to sound even more brutal.

"Commuters" is almost 10 minutes long and the last thing

I expected to hear was the guitar solo - a distorted blues wailing

along to the riff - which is probably why it is there.

This is excellent stuff and nicely heavy.

Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

Obstacles - Oscillate

Band request from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Here is their press release:

Having perfected the controlled, well-structured output on

Dividual – a relentless musical assault of tightness and timing

- the band felt an urge to tackle the song-writing in a completely

different way. Loosing up, Letting go. Trying to make the impossible,

possible by making complex music flow in a more free form. After a swift and spontaneous writing-process, 4 tracks were ready to be captured.

Obstacles teamed up with their friend Sune Kaarsberg to begin the

recordings of Oscillate in their studio. This was a very dynamic process filled with experiments in sound and form. The result is breathtaking.

Like being caught in a beautiful storm where chaos and energy reigns.

While still somewhat futuristic in its aesthetics, Oscillate can also be

considered a nod back to a hazy forgotten past, paying homage to

legends of prog-rock and jazz-fusion whilst still maintaining the

punchiness and vigor of their previous releases.

Obstacles are a 3 piece instrumental band who have combined

Space/prog-rock with some Math-rock and come up with some great

sounding tracks. Frantic playing makes sure all the tracks hurtle

along without losing the flow and there is some excellent guitar

riffing and solos that are boosted with the addition of some

un-hinged sax playing. This is pretty hard to describe - play the

stream below and make your own mind up!

Listen

Name your price from Bandcamp

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Bubonic Bear - Fleshworld

Band request from Philadelphia, USA.

This duo play a mixture of hardcore and sludge with

brutal effect. Dirty distorted riffs hammer away as

the vocals vie for levels against the noise rock

type song arrangements.

Hard to believe that two people can make such

a fucking racket but hey, here is the evidence.

The songs speed along leaving you no room to

catch a breath and the aggression shows no sign

of flagging by the end of this eight track album.

This is no mindless thrashing though, they display

intricate arrangements among all the chaos which

should please anyone into Botch etc.

Highly recommended - Listen

Bubonic Bear play at the Kungfu Necktie Club at

1248 N Front Street, Philadelphia on Monday 23rd

April with Racebannon & Bardus.

Purchase the album - Here

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Legal Fingers - No Time For Tenderness (2012)

Band request from Dubuque, USA.

Here is their press release:

Dripping with animal magnetism, Legal Fingers brings

to their small Midwest hometown the kind of loud, sleazy

rock you’d expect to hear blasting from the speakers of a 1978 AMC Pacer in the parking lot of a 7-11. Successfully marrying the raw boogie sound of ZZ Top with the sordid hedonism of 80s glam metal, the 3-piece band write songs about fighting, partying, infidelity and strip clubs (just to name a few).

Legal Fingers play stoner rock with fuzz guitar leads

and riffs that make you want to drink alcohol very

fast - having a thunderous rhythm section that explodes

from the speakers as the songs hurtle along helps as well.

This is no-frills dirty rock and sometimes - that's all I need.

The band have asked me not to put my own links up but fret

not, my faithful download monkeys, they have a pay-what-you

want download from Bandcamp

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Town Portal - Vacuum Horror

Band request from Copenhagen, Denmark.

This is their press release:

"Town Portal play instrumental rock that crosses borders

of genres. Tapping on experience from earlier endeavors

in genres like death metal, shoegaze and math rock, the

three members bring components of it all into a melting pot,

creating a unique niche of original melodies and harmonies,

fixated on a skeleton of complex and playful rhythm structures.

Under the dogma of forsaking vocals and other superfluous effects,

the band throw themselves into a search of new meaningful ways to compose tones over time, with a heavy and dry precision.

After a European tour in 2010 and a minor row of Danish shows,

they released their debut EP entitled Vacuum Horror in late 2011.

The EP was followed up by another European tour in the beginning

of 2012. In Denmark the EP was praised in several large- and small

scale magazines, and the opening track Rosini is currently in rotation

on national Danish radio, DR P6. A surprising outcome for an

instrumental band, with its roots heavily planted in the DIY scenes

ethics and methods. At the moment they’re preparing the recording

of their debut album set to be released later this year."

Town Portal play instrumental math-rock but with a heavier feel than

say, Don Caballero. Striking guitar lines lead the songs but the thick

bass sound comes through this well produced EP and by making sure

the drums have a "live" feel to them, stop this from becoming just

pointless noodling. The tracks rock nicely and I think that when the time

comes for recording a full length album, they will be worth a return visit.

Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

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Keith Cook - Broken Grate

I stumbled across this on Bandcamp and had to post it.

How can you resist this description:

If you’re expecting street rock stuff from me then here it is.

It was recorded on a free recording program, a $2 PC mic

(luckily the last record paid for the mic), and a $0 budget.

All the songs were written on bass, all but 3(written earlier in 2011)

were written and tracked 1st on bass between 1 and 4pm November

17th 2011, the drums were tracked between 4 and 5pm the same day,

besides one that was originally recorded mid-afternoon May 1st 2011

(except for the drums that were tracked November 16th while I was

tracking drums for the other new recording) not too bad for someone

who has probably still spent less than 24 hours behind a drum kit in

their life. Guitar was tracked and the lyrics were written over the next

few days the last thing recorded was around 11:30am November 22nd.

I had a notebook I’d written titles for songs in during 2009 but no words

or music so I wrote them around those titles and saved about 4 for later use.

This is noisy, lo-fi punk - drums and bass barely audible, slurred

vocals and huge white noise slabs of guitars over which fuzzed

atonal solos are played.

Basically if you love the Velvet Underground at their most chaotic

and think the solo from "I Heard her Call My Name" cannot be beaten

then I urge you to give this a Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

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PsychicEyeClix - Serious Idiots EP

Request from Doubledgescissor>8< record label.

PsychicEyeClix play a mix of dubstep/experimental/

electronic/noise which to be honest is way outside

my comfort zone for giving an accurate review.

The 1st track starts of with what sounds like some

John Lydon snippets of speech and then huge stabs

of noise appear accompanied by mutant beats and

keyboard stabs before it lurches into a barely coherent

tune - this is all in the first 20 seconds!

Imagine a bunch of fucked up robots trying to play a

gig using unknown instruments but fueled on cheap

lager and un-tested robot drugs. This is what I imagine

the end result would sound like.

BUT ....... despite my inability to describe the music,

it is fucking great - dunno if I would survive a whole albums

worth but if you feel in the mood to check something different

and genre destroying, please check these guys out.

Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

Towers - Upcoming Events

Towers - the Portland sludge band - who delivered one

of the albums of 2011 - read review Here - have some

dates coming up that if you are in the area, you need to

show support and get your face melted off!

The first event is the "Ceremony of Sludge" festival put

on by Captain Couch Records - this features sludge/metal/

doom/heavy bands from the Portland area and Towers will

be playing on the second night - March 3rd.

Full details Here

Then on March 19th they play at the "Portland Metal

Winter Olympics"! This has been set up by Nanotear

Booking Agency and involves bands being judged by

members of the local music community. The winners

get studio time and other stuff. Towers have come

through the rounds and now play in the semi-final.

Full details Here

If you can, show them some love.