Paul McCartney – Band on the Run 2CD/DVD Review

The 2010 reissue of Band on the Run marks the first in Hear Music/Concord Music Group’s series of deluxe reissues of Paul McCartney’s back catalogue. The packaging of this set is beautiful and recreates the experience of owning the original album. The set comes in a tri-fold cardboard package and contains a booklet with song lyrics and photos, which were part of the original vinyl release, along with a reflective essay by Paul Gambaccini, who had interviewed Macca for Rolling Stone at the time of the album’s original release. The sound is crystal clear but I can’t comment on how this compares to any of the previously issued CD versions of Band on the Run as I never replaced my vinyl version. To provide a frame of reference for the audio purists, the remastering was supervised by the same team who remastered the Beatles catalogue last year.

The first disc of the set is the nine song UK version of Band on the Run. The song “Helen Wheels”, which was always part of the US pressing, has been moved to disc two. The other studio tracks on disc two are the non-LP b-sides “Country Dreamer” (b-side to “Helen Wheels”) and “Zoo Gang” (b-side to “Band on the Run”). The remainder of disc two is comprised of six tracks from Macca’s previously unreleased TV Special “One Hand Clapping” which was filmed live in the studio at Abbey Roads. While it is great to finally see the often bootlegged “One Hand Clapping” get a legitimate release, I would have loved to have seen all fifteen tracks from this session included in the audio portion of this set.

The DVD includes the original pre-MTV music videos for "Band on the Run", “Helen Wheels and “Mamunia”. As a side note, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the “Band on the Run” video prior this release and was intrigued with the use of “Yellow Submarine-ish” Beatles imagery within the video. Also on the DVD is a video promo for the album, silent B&W footage from the recording sessions in Lagos which is backed by an alternate version of “Band on the Run” and the complete “One Hand Clapping” TV Special.

There are a number of different versions of this release which include a 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition where the additional CD contains an audio documentary originally produced for the album's 25th Anniversary release in 1999. The Deluxe Edition also comes with a 120-page hard-bound containing photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith.



Links:
Paul McCartney

A Christmas Carol - iPad App Review (Padworx)

Following up on the success of their previous interactive book (“Dracula”, which was released right before Halloween), Padworx have released a stunning interactive version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.

This version of “A Christmas Carol” breaks away from the traditional eReader presentation and makes maximum use of the iPad’s sound, graphics and interactivity. The book is abridged (approx. 130 pages) and the text runs large which makes it easy for young readers to both read by themselves and to comprehend the nuances of the story. Optimal use of sound adds an additional element that helps bring color to the story. There are also a number of pages (“screens”) that use steampunk-style animation where the user can directly interact with elements in the story (wiping a frosted glass, opening a bolted door, etc.) which then reveals more of the text on the page.

"This is unlike any version of A Christmas Carol ever seen before," said Jeffery Alan Schechter, CEO and producer at PadWorx Digital Media, Inc. "Charles Dickens' remarkable book reminds all of us not just about the importance of gratitude and charity, but about the power of personal transformation. Running with this idea and borrowing from the 'steampunk' art style more closely associated with Jules Verne, we've designed our A Christmas Carol to feel as if the iPad or iPhone you're reading it on has been itself transformed into a steam-powered machine."



"A Christmas Carol" is $4.99 in the AppStore.

Links:
PadWorx

The Nico Blues Release New Video for "Living Proof" (from Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements)

Local band The Nico Blues have taken the viral approach to building a fan base and have been giving away some high-quality music for free over last two years. The band has a demo, their 2009 EP and their current disc, Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements, posted as free downloads on their website (Nico Blues).

I've had the band's EP on my iPod for the last few months and it has consistently gotten a number of plays. The band has an overall layered psychedelic sound which they send into high-gear on some tracks by bringing in elements of garage rock. The Nico Blues complements their music with dead-on (often echo drenched) harmony vocals and the end result is something better than most of the CDs in Best Buy's "New Releases" rack.

The band has just released a new video for "Living Proof" (from Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements).



Links:
The Nico Blues

Soft Reeds are Playing Pianos on Dec. 16th and a 'Toys for Tots' Show at Spike Hill on Dec. 17th

Soft Reeds started as solo project of Ben Grimes(formerly of Golden Republic) that has been transformed into a full band since 2009. Record Machine released the band's debut, Soft Reeds Are Bastards earlier this summer and Pitch.com called the disc a "daring, arresting rock record".

Soft Reeds are in town for two shows later this week. The first show is Thursday, Dec. 16th. at Pianos. Soft Reeds are going on at 9PM and they are playing with The Stationary Set (8PM), Grandchildren (10PM) and Computer Magic (11PM). Tickets are $8.

The second show is a "Toys for Tots" benefit at Spike Hill on Friday, Dec. 17th. Admission is free if you bring at least one new toy, unopened/with tags, at a value of $5 or more, or make a $10 suggested donation to Toys for Tots. Soft Reeds are playing at 9PM and other acts include Milagres and Holiday All-Star Band.



Links:
Soft Reeds

The Canon Logic Release Music Video for "Kiss Me On Christmas" // Show at Glasslands Gallery on Dec. 15th

The Canon Logic have just posted the official music video for their song "Kiss Me On Christmas" - which is made up entirely of kiss videos submitted by the fans. The video is composed of a series of seven second clips so anyone can add a kiss at any time to join in on the fun. As an added incentive to submit a video, whenever you add a kiss - you get the song for free. Here is the link to the current video which also contains instructions on how to submit your own clip - xmaskiss.com.

The Canon Logic are playing a show this Wednesday, Dec. 15th, at Glassland Gallery with The Depreciation Guild, Motel Motel and Dinosaur Bones. Tickets are $8 and the show starts at 8:30PM.

Links:
The Canon Logic

Nitzer Ebb: Industrial Complex CD Review (Major Records)

Earlier this year, Nitzer Ebb released Industrial Complex (Major Records), which marks their first album of new material since 1995’s Big Hit. Core duo Douglas McCarthy and Bon Harris are re-joined by Big Hit era percussionist Jason Payne and the band sounds remarkably fresh and relevant for having taken a fifteen year hiatus from the studio.

Continuing to mine the industrial dance/EBM sound, Industry Complex sounds like something that could have come out of Mute or Some Bizzare’s catalog from the mid-80s. The tracks range from the dark and sleazy to jackhammer pounding industrial dance beats. The disc starts out aggressively with the track “Promises” and, while song tempos vary, the band never loses its sense of urgency and intensity. Douglas McCarthy’s voice has held up well over the years and his vocals range from anthemic dance floor chants to oozing with a sense of cool malevolence on some of the slower numbers. There are a few tracks on Industrial Complex that should be familiar to anyone who has seen the band live over the last couple years as the hard-hitting “Payroll” and the Depeche Mode sounding “Down on Your Knees” have been part of the set for the last few go-arounds. Adding to the Depeche Mode comparison, Martin Gore added (somewhat buried) vocals to “Once You Say”. The overall sound of the disc is full but edgy and uncluttered so the music doesn’t tip over like some of the tracks on Big Hit.

Nitzer Ebb seems to be coming through in concert on a regular basis since reuniting in 2006. The band started the year by touring with like-minded Depeche Mode and just recently played a show at Gramercy Theater. Below is a live video of “Join in the Chant” from that show.



Nitzer Ebb is currently off the road but the band has a one-off date scheduled for January 28th of next year in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Links:
Nitzer Ebb

AWOLNATION - Live Video from Santos Party House, NYC 11/30/10

AWOLNATION played a free show at Santos Party House on Nov. 30th. Adding free vodka, Red Bull and Asahi beer to AWOLNATION's explosive dance-punk sound made for a wild evening.



Aaron Bruno, front man for Los Angeles' Under the Influence of Giants, formed AWOLNATION about a year ago. The band came through town over the summer opening for Weezer and then followed this with a show at Brooklyn Bowl. The band puts on a hot live show that is equal parts punk and synth-driven funk and they capture this same manic energy on their debut EP "Back From Earth" which was released earlier this year.

Links:
AWOLNATION

New York Dolls Announce New Studio Disc, "Dancing Backward in High Heels", Due Out on March 15th

STREAM: New York Dolls - Dancing Backwards in High Heels
(note: click-through to Adobe player)

Photo Credit: Anna Victoria
The New York Dolls have announced the release their fifth studio record Dancing Backward in High Heels which is due out on March 15 on 429 Records. Featuring original members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, the album was recorded in Newcastle, England and produced by Louis XIV’s Jason Hill.

Dancing Backward in High Heels is the follow-up to 2009’s ‘Cause I Sez So, which The New Yorker praises for “[showing] the band at its full power” while Billboard notes that “the unlikely resurrection of the New York Dolls is solidified by [‘Cause I Sez So].”

Track List
1. Fool For You Baby
2. Streetcake
3. I’m So Fabulous
4. Talk to Me Baby
5. Kids Like You
6. Round and Round She Goes
7. You Don’t Have to Cry
8. I Sold My Heart to The Junkman
9. Baby Tell Me What I’m On
10. Funky But Chic
11. End of the Summer

Originally formed in 1971, the New York Dolls are best known for influencing a generation of artists in New York and London who went on to form the first punk rock and heavy metal bands. Largely influenced themselves by the rock & roll of the Rolling Stones and the Stooges as well as the glam rock made by David Bowie and T. Rex, the legendary original Dolls lineup only recorded two albums, New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon, before breaking up in 1976. After reuniting in 2004 (at the behest of Morrissey, the head of the band’s U.K. fan club in the `70s), the band went on to record a pair of records—2006’s One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This and 2009’s ‘Cause I Sez So.

Keegan DeWitt Plays Rockwood Music Hall on Dec. 12th // Ltd. Edition 7" single out Dec. 14th

DOWNLOAD: Keegan DeWitt - "Two Hearts"

Keegan DeWitt is playing a show tomorrow night at Rockwood Music Hall in advance of the release of a new limited edition 7" single, "Two Hearts" // "Reluctance", which is due out on December 14th, 2010 via Nashville's Theory 8 Records.

The forthcoming single's two tracks, "Two Hearts" // "Reluctance", were written this summer while DeWitt toured in support of his recent "Nothing Shows" EP (released July 13th exclusively through Daytrotter). The tracks expand upon the cinematic, orchestral feel of "Nothing Shows", finding DeWitt moving in a notably different direction than either the EP or his debut full-length, Islands (Izumi Records, 2009).

The driving, dance-inflected pop of "Two Hearts" follows in the footsteps of "Nothing Show"'s propulsive, rhythmic closer "Hearts Beat Loud". The second track "Reluctance" - featuring vocals by Isaaca Byrd of The Bridges - has a delicate, shimmering uncertainty and might be the prettiest song he's penned. Each song deals with transition, fittingly, as the single itself continues DeWitt's passage from a solo singer/songwriter to a collaborator: the songs were written to be played live with his current touring band of Byrd, Matt Shaw (Hymns), Jeremy Bullock (Pico vs. Island Trees), and Dylon York (Band Marino), who back him on the recordings. Both songs will also be included on a forthcoming new EP, due Spring 2011.

Keegan DeWitt is going on at 9PM tomorrow night and cover is free with a one-drink minimum per set.



Links:
Keegan DeWitt

HotChaCha Release New Video for "Traffic" from "Fantastic Static" EP

DOWNLOAD: HotChaCha - "Pleasure Cruise"

In today's iTunes-centric world, I'm always impressed when a band and a label make the effort to give the listener a reason to buy music. Too many record companies seem to have forgotten the experience of holding the product in your hands and having a defacto "object d'art". HotChaCha's latest EP "Fantastic Static" is available on a limited edition vinyl pressing (300 uniquely colored vinyl with unique screened jackets) through Exit Stencil's website.

On "Fantastic Static", the third release for HotChaCha on Exit Stencil Recordings, the energy of their riotous live show has been captured and recreated as close to perfectly as possible. Here you have the sound and feeling of a band that has been touring incessantly for the past three years---writing, living, and breathing together as one commanding unit---and winning over audiences and the media wherever and whenever they play.

Singer Jovana Batkovic continues to draw lyrical and linguistic inspiration from her multinational upbringing but more noticeable here is the confidence and tenor of her delivery---exuding a self-possession and presence on par with any of the Joan Jetts, Karen Os, and Chrissie Hyndes of the world.

With this 5-song EP, HotChaCha shows that it has grown into the complete package---a renowned live band that is able to harness that energy in a recorded format. "Fantastic Static" further serves as foreshadowing for things to come with HotChaCha’s follow-up LP, expected sometime early 2011.

The band just released a video for the song "Target" (below).



Links:
HotChaCha

Windy City Gentleman Releases Debut Album "China White" as Free Download

Los Angeles musician Windy City Gentleman has posted his debut CD China White as free download for a limited period of time. This six-track disc is a solid piece of work that follows in the footsteps of artists like David Bowie, Rozz Williams and Peter Murphy with elements of LA death-rock, darkwave and gothic elegance.

Blood relative of America's first serial killer announces the release of his debut album China White, produced by Brian West of Nelly Furtado / K’NAAN / Papertongues fame.

Windy City Gentleman draws inspiration from the man who brought infamy to his family name, Herman Webster Mudgett, aka Dr. H. H. Holmes, the serial killer who terrorized the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The result is a dark and elegant universe that provides the listener with an outlet of escapism evoking the sonic imagery of Nirvana, Radiohead, and Bowie.

China White is OUT NOW on Pterodactyls After Midnight Records.



Links:
Windy City Gentleman Interview with SlowDive Music
Windy City Gentleman

Joel Morales (Dios) Releases "Cyanide Breathmint" Single // Full-Length to Follow in February

Joel Morales - Cyanide Breath Mint

Dios vocalist Joel Morales has just released the first single "Cyanide Breath Mint" from his forthcoming tribute to Beck Hansen's early work entitled When Beck Was Cool.

In 1994, Morales had heard the buzz about Beck Hansen and his left-field hit "Loser" but he had an epiphany after hearing Beck's "Pay No Mind" on KXLU. "I thought, This is really good… and strange," recalls Morales. "I hadn't heard acoustic guitar, with a band, in a modern context, on the radio in such a long time." "Pay No Mind" struck him as the complete antithesis to grunge and corporate alt-rock, a folksy little ditty with oddball lyrics and a delivery that suggested its author might've inhaled a heady cloud of paint fumes before hitting "record."

“I remember hearing ‘Cyanide Breath Mint’ on KXLU — here was a guy with an acoustic guitar, sounding like the pitch was slowed down on the vocals, doing really interesting songs. The rest of that summer was my Beck summer. All I listened to driving around in the car was ‘One Foot in the Grave,’” Morales said.

Morales sought out all three of Beck's official 1994 albums—Mellow Gold, One Foot in the Grave, and Stereopathetic Soulmanure—as well as his early cassette releases and non-LP singles. He listened to them fervently, internalizing them. Up to that point, the Beatles had been Joel's biggest musical influence but the Fab Four now had serious competition. "Beck was a huge building block for me as far as song writing. I loved how laidback and anything-goes that music is." Morales' emerging musical voice was already unconventional yet catchy, but Beck inspired him to get "weirder and weirder" while retaining a pop sensibility.

It wasn't just the music that inspired Morales, either. "There was his whole history, this mythology that was really cool. He'd traveled here and there, making music wherever he could." In the midst of a frantic bidding war, Beck fought hard to retain creative freedom. And he didn't sit around waiting for clubs to offer proper bookings; he'd just appear at a show and play between other bands. "All that was very punk rock to me. I really dug that attitude."

Fast forward ahead 15 years. Joel Morales has cemented his own humble reputation fronting the trippy Hawthorne, CA rock combo Dios, whose 2004 self-titled debut earned raves from Pitchfork for making California rock seem "a little less predictable." Morales was crashing in a house in San Pedro, and gearing up to begin writing the fourth Dios full-length. When a roommate moved out, Joel transformed an upstairs bedroom into a home studio. To get his creative juices flowing, he would warm up playing the early Beck songs he'd learned, loved, and performed in public for years, and fiddle around with his recording equipment as he went.

"Before I knew it, I had four or five Beck songs I'd done in a week. And I thought, Man, I should just do a dozen of these, and put them out somehow." His brother Kevin dropped by and played drums on some tracks, and individual members of Dios popped in and out. Working at home allowed the recordings to remain loose and informal. Over the course of autumn and winter 2009, Morales continued to let his take on Beck's early catalog unfurl. When the time rolled around to leave the house in San Pedro, and relinquish his home studio, he'd recorded more than enough material for a full-length.

The resulting solo album, When Beck Was Cool, is a remarkable marriage of a gifted interpreter with inspiring material. You don't need to know the original versions to appreciate Morales interpretations, which range from flirtatious forays into country-rock ("Got No Mind") to a mélange of string and woodwind timbres, pianos and whistling ("Girl Dreams") that evokes his beloved Beatles as much as Beck. Indeed, many listeners may be discovering these songs for the first time. Aside from the epic "Blackhole," which closes out the disc—just as it did Mellow Gold—the originals aren't found on Beck's major label albums. The demented, socio-political "MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack" comes from an über-rare 1993 split-single. The hazy, multi-layered "Cyanide Breathmint" was plucked from K Records' One Foot in the Grave, while the quasi-instrumental "Ozzy," which Morales imparts with a malevolent, Southern Rock crunch, began life on Stereopathetic Soulmanure. And unless you own copies of early tape-only oddities like Don't Get Bent Out of Shape and Beck, Like the Beer, don't even pretend you've heard "Fume" before.

While Morales isn't as passionate about Mr. Hansen's later oeuvre, he stresses that this album comes from a place of sincere admiration. "Ultimately this is an homage. I'm not making fun of the music, because this is some of the best stuff I've ever heard." In the mid-'90s, Beck was the epitome of musical cool to Morales, and that's the primary thrust of the title. "I know it's a little snarky," he admits, "but I have a feeling Beck would laugh it off and think it's funny. He certainly would've appreciated it back in the day. And if you understand him or his music, you'll get that."

Links:
Joel Morales (aka Joel Jerome)

King Crimson Releases Demo of "Inner Garden" (from Thrak) as a Free Download

PLAY: King Crimson - "Running DAT 8" (Track hosted on DGMLive)

This week's free download from King Crimson is a studio session from Thrak where the band is working through an early version of "Inner Garden".

After Pat’s count-in, we hear the happy-sad sound of Inner Garden but in this earlier form it comes with double drums. Adrian guides the team through the changes on this work-in-progress rendition that would eventually dispatch the percussive parts in favour of something slightly more open-ended and ambiguous on the Thrak album.

Links:
Robert Fripp
King Crimson

Black Sabbath: Live at Hammersmith Odeon Scheduled for Ltd. Edition Vinyl Release in January (Metal Club)

Black Sabbath's Live at Hammersmith Odeon is coming out on a limited edition 3-LP vinyl pressing on January 11th next year. These tracks were originally released on a limited edition Rhino Handmade CD in 2007 (now sold out) and more recently were included in the 2CD reissue of Mob Rules.

The fourteen tracks on this set were compiled from four shows that Black Sabbath played at Hammersmith Odeon between Dec. 31st 1981 and Jan. 3rd 1982. According to Rob Dwyer (sabbathlive.com), here is the breakdown:

1) Neon Knights (January 2nd, 1982)
2) N.I.B. (January 1st, 1982)
3) Children Of The Sea (January 1st, 1982)
4) Country Girl (January 1st, 1982)
5) Black Sabbath (December 31st, 1981)
6) War Pigs (January 1st, 1982)
7) Slipping Away (December 31st, 1981)
8) Iron Man (January 1st, 1981)
9) The Mob Rules (December 31st, 1981)
10) Heaven And Hell (January 1st, 1982)
11) Paranoid (December 31st, 1981)
12) Voodoo (January 2nd, 1982)
13) Children Of The Grave (December 31st, 1982)

This 3-LP set is on 180 gram vinyl with a triple gatefold packaging and it will be limited to 3,000 numbered copies.

Links:
Black Sabbath

The Ferocious Few Make Their NYC Debut at Union Hall on Dec. 11th

San Francisco duo The Ferocious Few make their NYC debut this Saturday, Dec. 11th, at Union Hall this Saturday, December 11th, after having toured extensively up and down the West Coast for the past year.

The band is playing with Owen McCarthy (of Submarine Bells), Alana Amram & the Rough Gems and Graverobbers (Cat-Tooth Jim). Tickets are $8 and doors are at 8PM.

The Ferocious Few first gained attention from busking on the streets of their native San Francisco, which led to them getting signed to San Francisco's Birdman Records. They have become infamous for their 'guerilla style' appearances on many street corners in towns and cities across the States. So much so, that they caught the attention of the New York Times at this year's SXSW, who included them in their 'Best Of SXSW' summary. Continuing to play night after night on the West Coast, they have gathered quite a following and are playing their first Midwest and East Coast dates this month, as well as opening for Cyndi Lauper.



Upcoming Shows:
Dec 7 - Cicero's - St. Louis, MO
Dec 8 - Pancho's - Chicago, IL
Dec 11 - Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY
Dec 12 - Palace Theatre - Waterbury, CT w/ Cyndi Lauper
Dec 14 - Ulster Performing Arts Center - Kingston, NY w/ Cyndi Lauper
Dec 18 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA w/ Cyndi Lauper

Links:
The Ferocious Few

Hull Plays Club Europa with Pentagram in January // Sole Lord CD Review

Hull’s debut disc Sole Lord (The End) was released last year but somehow I missed this disc first time around. Getting straight to the point, this disc will be on my ‘End of Year’ best-of list.

Not to start with a diatribe about the music industry but my belief is that weak product and iTunes have done more damage than illegal downloading ever will. If you take a band like the Rolling Stones, iTunes allows you to selectively purchase the one, two or three decent songs from each of their recent releases rather than forcing you to muddle through the other nine tracks of dross on each release. I’m old enough to remember the days when music (like Pink Floyd’s Meddle and Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) required an active commitment. Thanks to iTunes, music is now a lot more disposable and consumed in “bite-sized” three minute chunks. Pink Floyd felt their songs weren’t meant to be consumed on a song-by-song basis on iTunes and Hull’s Sole Lord falls into similar territory.

Sole Lord takes me back to the early Pink Floyd days as the band combines the ambient psychedelic (or perhaps a better descriptor is “psychosis”) of Meddle-era Pink Floyd with the sludgy doom of bands like The Melvins. While some bands release discs that are consistent from start-to-finish, Sole Lord comes across as one body of work that just happens to be divided across ten tracks. Songs seamlessly flow into the next and some riffs are reused across songs which add to the overall impression that this is one 47 minute body of work.

I wouldn’t use the word “prog” to describe Hull but Sole Lord is a rolling opus of gentle instrumentals which segue into groove-oriented walls of distorted guitars before returning back to another instrumental. The ‘light’ and ‘dark’ elements of this disc are pretty evenly balanced as there are an equal number of instrumentals balanced with songs that make use of roared/chanted multi-part vocals. Hull’s use of contrasting tempos across this disc makes for engaging listening so this is the sort of disc that you are going to want to block some time to actively listen to.

Below is a video from Hull’s “secret show” at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. Hull is playing with Pentagram at Europa on Jan. 06, 2011. Tickets are $15.



Links:
Hull

Karen Rockower (vox/gtr from Bugs in the Dark) Plays Union Hall on Dec. 2nd

"Whales Standing - a great rock album that combines contrasting styles together for an exciting listen. The effort is both a sensual and rebellious ride through a landscape of seamlessly combined muscal styles. It is brash, unusual, uninhibited, melodic and intimate. This is definitely one album that should be a part of your music collection." -- Urban Outside Blog

With Bugs in the Dark being inactive as of late, vocalist/guitarist Karen Rockower has been playing out more and more behind her new solo disc Whales Standing.

Karen is playing a headlining show this Thursday at Union Hall along with Emily Mure (9PM Set Time) and A Slow Death and Loneliness (8PM Set Time). Karen is playing at 10PM and cover is $7.

This Wednesday, Karen is a 15-minute solo set at Otto's Shrunken Head for the ReW & WhO Video Podcast. Here is the link to stream the set.

Links:
Karen Rockower

Vampires Everywhere Release New Single as Free Download // Tour with Murderdolls Postponed

Update: “Due to an unforeseeable family emergency, MURDERDOLLS have been forced to cancel the upcoming 'Violent Night, Deadly Night' tour. These decisions are never easy to make and we did everything we could to keep from having to cancel, but this was unavoidable. We'll do our best to make up the dates in 2011. For those who bought tickets, refunds are available from point of purchase. Sorry, ghoulscouts, but we'll see you all soon!"

DOWNLOAD: Vampires Everywhere - "Undead Heart" (download requires a Facebook or Twitter post)

In a recent interview with About.Com, vocalist Michael Vampire was asked to describe the sound of his band Vampires Everywhere.

Michael: I would describe our sound as a blend of hardcore, screamo, dark pop and dance. We didn't want to stick with one thing and be stigmatized by that our whole career. So we took all of our favorite genres and fused them together. I have played in many bands, and this is the only band I have ever played with that could pull such a feat off and make it sound good. I feel lucky to be playing with these guys.

Los Angeles' Vampires Everywhere are heading out next week on a December cross-country tour with the Murder Dolls (entitled "Violent Night, Deadly Night") which stops at Gramercy Theatre on Dec. 6th. Tickets are $15 (face + $8 in ticketing fees if you buy online) and Get Scared is also on the bill.

Links:
Vampires Everywhere

Earth: "A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction" CD Review (Southern Lord)

Last month, Southern Lord released Earth’s complete first recordings from 1990 as a single CD/double-LP set entitled A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction. While these tracks have trickled out over the past two decades on Earth’s debut EP “Extra-Capsular Extraction” (1991) and as bonus tracks appended to the reissue of Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars (2001), Mell Dettmer remastered the tracks on this reissue/compilation and gives Earth some noticeable dynamics and edges to the music that weren’t heard on the original releases.

This recording has a storied history as Earth was signed to Sub*Pop during the first wave of grunge and came to Sub*Pop’s attention during a show where Earth was opening for L7. (This show sounds as stylistically different as when The Ramones opened for Black Sabbath). These sessions were recorded with Mike Lastra at Smegma Studios in 1990 and the session master tapes ultimately went missing. Bootlegs of then unreleased songs first surfaced as 16RPM singles and later the complete session was issued as a limited edition bootleg LP entitled 10 1990.

One has to admire Sub*Pop for signing Earth as this isn’t the sort of music that was (or is) going to get on the radio but yet it spawned a legion of followers (notably Sunn O)))). The disc’s seven tracks are mostly glacially slow drone. There is a dark overtone across the disc but there are also elements of beauty and light. The music builds upon repetitive, throbbing waves of guitar lines which seem to organically grow in size while still leaving space to breathe. The cold, industrial clanging of the drum machine adds an element of heaviness to the music but there is enough texture and light to keep the music from tipping over into the claustrophobic darkness that some of the bands that followed Earth embraced. Earth even comes close to a ‘radio friendly’ song as Kurdt Cobain and Kelly Canary (from Dicklesss) sing on “Divine and Bright”, which is the closest that Earth will ever get to the “Seattle sound”.

Earth have recently been added to the lineup for the Sunn O))) curated Roadburn Festival which takes place on April 15, 2011 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Links:
Earth

The HOTcakes: Photos from Mercury Lounge 11/23/10 // CD Release Show on Dec. 11th

The HOTcakes headlined a pre-Thanksgiving show last Tuesday at Mercury Lounge.



In a recent interview with Filler Magazine, HOTcakes vocalist Erin Marsz was asked "What Defines The Hotcakes' Style?"

Erin: Everyone in the band brings their own musical element. For me personally I think I have a really strong love of punk rock and The Cure. I really like a lot of drama and high energy and I think that is a big part of the band. We get a lot of references to Blondie; I think because I am blonde and it’s me with a bunch of dudes, but also because we have really catchy songs and we’re from New York.

Blondie is probably a good starting point for a comparison -- as one can hear the new-wave influences in The HOTcakes' music -- though one could just as easily make the comparison to Kim Wilde. Vocalist Erin Marsz sings with a raw passion (as opposed to Debbie's cool detachment) and the band has some huge dance-oriented pop hooks.

At the Mercury Lounge, the band played a nine song set consisting of material from their 2008 self-titled EP and their newest disc "Gonna Go Out" along with a couple presumably unrecorded numbers. While the band slowed down for one - two numbers, Erin Marsz was a ball of energy as she danced across the stage and in the crowd for the better part of the set. At the end of the set, the crowd wasn't ready to leave so The HOTcakes came back on for an encore.

The HOTcakes are playing a CD release show for the new EP "Gonna Go Out" at Arlene's Grocery on Dec. 11th. Cover is $10 and set times have not yet been posted.

Links:
The HOTcakes