Hypnos - "Halfway to Hell" CD EP Review (Crystal Productions)

DOWNLOAD: Hypnos - "Burning Again" (from "Halfway to Hell")
(track hosted on band's website)

After spending a couple years apart Czech death metal band band Hypnos released a new six-song EP, "Halfway to Hell", last July on the Crystal Productions label. The liner notes on the disc say "Big Sleep is Over * Monster Is Awaken And Gently Crawling Back!" Gentle isn't a word that I would use to describe this disc as it is a solid slab of melodic, blackened death metal. "Halfway to Hell" features the core duo of Bruno (guitar/bass/vocals) and Pegaz (drums/backing vocals) and this is the band's first new disc since 2005's Rabble Manifesto.

In celebration of this release, Hypnos played a comeback show at the Czech metal festival Brutal Assault alongside bands like Cannibal Corpse, Hypocrisy and Napalm Death.



The disc's six tracks go by in just under thirty minute and Hypnos taps on all of the strengths of the black metal genre without succumbing to any of the excesses. Hypnos' music is heavy but has an underlying sense of melody that doesn't detract from the heaviness. Clear production brings out the tension and texture of the music and there are elements of symphonic black metal running throughout the disc. Adding to this, there is also enough musical variation across the songs to keep them individually distinctive and memorable. (There is none of the mindless growl-n-chug sound that some bands utilize where you can't tell one song from another after the disc has played through). One example is "Symphony V - La Resurrezione Ferale", which is a symphonic instrumental that serves as a lead-in to the chugging riffs of "Burning Again". Another is "Where The Rooks Fly to Cry", which starts out as an epic instrumental that builds up to a crescendo where Bruno adds to the tension with growled vocals.

Hypnos announced on their MySpace page that more shows are planned and that the recording of their fourth full-length CD should take place around autumn of 2011.

Links:
Hypnos

Nails (Southern Lord) Plays A Short Run of East Coast Dates Prior to Appearance at Maryland Deathfest

Nails sits right on the line between hardcore and grind and the band released their debut thirteen-minute full-length album Unsilent Death at the beginning of 2010 on their own Streetcleaner Records, and were shortly thereafter picked up by Southern Lord. The Southern Lord press release for the disc compared Nails to a "cross between the good Amrep bands of the nineties (Helmet, Hammerhead, Today is The Day, Unsane) and Cro-Mags Age of Quarrel riffage played at breakneck speeds."

Nails has just confirmed a short run of East Coast appearances this Spring, as they will attack Boston, Brooklyn and Philly in a straight three-day rampage with support from Burning Love, All Pigs Must Die and New Lows. Nails are also one of the many acts on the roster for this May's annual installment of the Maryland Deathfest, scheduled to play on the first night of the festival alongside Pulling Teeth, Neurosis, Corrosion Of Conformity, Marduk, Kylesa, labelmates Masakari and Goatsnake plus tons more.

Nails East Coast Tour Dates:
3/31/11 -- Great Scott, Boston, MA w/ Burning Love, All Pigs Must Die, New Lows
4/01/11 -- Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY w/ Burning Love, All Pigs Must Die, New Lows
4/02/11 -- The Barbary, Philadelphia, PA w/ Burning Love, All Pigs Must Die, New Lows
5/27/11 -- Maryland Deathfest - Baltimore, MD

Links:
Nails

Tennis Releases First Video in Advance of Debut CD "Cape Dory" // Shows in Brooklyn and NYC in March

Denver lo-fi duo Tennis are releasing their debut CD Cape Dory next Tuesday on Fat Possum. SPIN has already called the disc “(almost) too good to be true”, giving it an 8 out of 10 review in their current issue. The release includes all songs from this summer’s 7” EP, "South Carolina", which is lauded by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and more.

The pair, consisting of guitarist Patrick Riley and vocalist Alaina Moore, met while studying philosophy in college. Motivated by stories shared by sailors including Joshua Slocum, and Lin and Larry Pardey, the two sold their collective possessions, bought an old sailboat and embarked on 7-month journey along the Eastern seaboard. Upon their return, and in search of an outlet to catalog their experience, the couple began writing music together.

The resulting lo-fi sound is inspired by the minimalist lifestyle they experienced on their adventure. Riley explains, “Simplicity and self-sufficiency were our highest priorities. When we were on the boat—no cell phones, no internet, no electricity most of time, having to do everything yourself—made its way into our album by not having a producer, recording it ourselves, mixing it ourselves, very little production, etc.”

Riley continues “Anytime we could make a song simpler, we did. There is very little tracking or overdubbing on the album. We didn’t want to use production tricks to make things sound ‘better.’ No vocal doubling, no harmonizers, no auto-tune.”

The band just made available a video for the song "Pigeon" (directed by Jeremy D'Souza and Scott Laidlaw) and are touring the East Coast in late February/early March.



Tennis' Tour Dates
January 27 -- Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
January 28 -- The Neurolux, Boise, ID
January 29 -- Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
January 31 -- Media Club, Vancouver, BC
February 01 -- The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
February 03 -- Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
February 04 -- Echo, Los Angeles, CA
February 05 -- The Tin Can Ale House, San Diego, CA
February 07 -- Hotel Congress, Tucson, AZ
February 08 -- Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
February 10 -- Hi Dive, Denver, CO
February 17 -- Jackpot, Lawrence, KS
February 18 -- Slowdown, Omaha, NE
February 19 -- 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN
February 21 -- High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
February 22 -- Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
February 25 -- Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON
February 26 -- Il Motore, Montreal, QC
February 27 -- Iron Horse, Northampton, MA
February 28 -- Great Scott, Boston, MA
March 02 -- Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
March 03 -- The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
March 04 -- Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA
March 05 -- Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
March 07 -- Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
March 08 -- Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC
March 10 -- The Basement, Nashville, TN
March 11 -- The Earl, Atlanta, GA
March 12 -- The Social, Orlando, FL
March 13 -- The Orpheum, Tampa, FL
March 15 -- The Parish @ HOB, New Orleans, LA

Here is a live video from the band's performance last year at Glasslands.



Links:
Tennis

Emmett and the Black Mountain Scorpion Bluegrass Experience Gang Release Country/Bluegrass Version of Lil Jon's "Get Low"

After the City's disastrous handling of the first snow storm of 2011, one has to keep a sense of humor with a projected bigger snowfall having started tonight. The Daily News reported that the earlier snowfall resulted in an 81% decrease in auto thefts over last year so perhaps that was Bloomberg's plan all along - if the cars can't be moved, they can be ticketed but not stolen.

Keeping it light, I was going through my inbox earlier tonight and this country/bluegrass cover of Lil Jon's "Get Low" is the perfect way to keep one's sense of humor on this snowy evening.

Poor But Sexy - DC Post-Punk Veterans Release Debut CD // Show at Union Pool with Franz Nicolay on Feb. 25th

DOWNLOAD: Poor But Sexy - "Hotter Than A Poptart"
DOWNLOAD: Poor But Sexy - "Cherry Delicious"

Washington DC's Poor But Sexy (PBS) is the latest project from five veterans of the DC post-punk scene. Singer David Brown and bassist Brandon Kalber met playing in the punk-funk band Travis Morrison Hellfighters. Guitarist and producer Jason Caddell brought the noise for 10 years as the guitarist in the Dismemberment Plan, a DC group that earned an international cult following for incorporating samples and dance grooves into punk rock long before it was de rigueur for indie bands. Keyboardist David Durst composes for the punk-chamber music collective Anti-Social Music when he's not working out his Stevie Wonder licks in PBS. Like a lot of DC bands, PBS also includes an investigative journalist, drummer Bruce Falconer.

In a 2008 interview with Washington Post Express, David Brown tries to explain the band's sound by saying "I was obsessed with R. Kelly. I tried to make some R. Kelly songs, basically. I literally tried to make what I thought sounded like R&B radio hits. But it didn't really turn out that way. People say it sounds like Steely Dan. There's a lot of '70s radio rock in there."

The band released and toured behind an EP in 2009 (which included a show at Brooklyn Bowl) and the standout track from this disc is "The Only Good Thing", where David Brown channels a R. Kelly vibe. (He is quoted in another interview as saying "The original concept was ‘The only good thing about saying goodbye is looking at your ass when you walk away’").



Poor But Sexy now have their debut full-length Let's Move In Together coming out on Feb. 15th and the band is playing some shows over the next few weeks in support of this new release. The local show with Dismemberment Plan on Jan. 29th (at Webster Hall) is sold out but you can catch the band at Union Pool with Franz Nicolay and David Dondero on Feb. 25th.

Links:
Poor But Sexy

Drugs of Faith Release First Video "Grayed Out" From Forthcoming Full-Length "Corroded"

Virginia-based trio Drug of Faith have completed their debut full-length album Corroded which will drop next month on Selfmadegod Records.

Drugs of Faith's riotous attack that fans have become attached to on their previous releases -- including their recent inclusion on Relapse Records' This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 2 compilation, and their 3" split CD with Antigama and the infamous self-titled MCD released by Selfmadegod -- is more potent than ever on Corroded, which bears 14 new tracks in under 27 minutes. Lyrically they continue to focus on socio-political themes in their anguished but empowered fashion, while musically they continue to hone their distinctive dissonant grind n' roll attack.

A live-in-the-studio video of the disc's lead-off track "Grayed Out" has been posted to Decibel Magazine which was filmed by Handshake Inc., who did the Fuck the Facts, Maryland Deathfest and Today is the Day movies.

Corroded Track Listing:
1. Grayed Out
2. Foreign Climates
3. Race to the End
4. Hidden Costs
5. Giveaway
6. Anemic
7. Vignette
8. No We Can't
9. Untitled
10. Checkers
11. Sight Unseen
12. Farewell Kiss
13. Hinges
14. The Age of Reason

Set for release via the band's label home, Poland's Selfmadegod Records, Corroded will be available to the public in February 2011, with a final release date to be announced shortly. Recorded at Developing Nations in Baltimore with Kevin Bernsten at the helm, and mastered by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer/Agoraphobic Nosebleed, the album also features guest contributions from Pig Destroyer’s JR Hayes on a cover of His Hero Is Gone's "Hinges" anthem.

Links:
Drugs of Faith

LIVEEVIL - "Unique Constellation" CD Review (Crystal Productions)

LIVEEVIL is a Czech electro-metal band and the band's second disc, Unique Constellation, came out toward the end of 2009. This disc is a refreshing change of pace from some of the pummel-and-growl death metal discs that I've received recently as Unique Constellation has a number of memorable songs, with melodic hooks that stick with you after listening.

The band's sound relies heavily on prominent, swirling keyboards and clean, chugging guitar riffs. The band's music falls somewhere between Type O Negative and The Genitorturers but there is also a bit of 80's British synth-pop thrown in the mix. On the goth-rock songs, vocalist Petr's "Peter Steele"-style vocals are high in the mix and become one of the focal points of the song. On other songs, Petr uses a more 'mainstream' vocal style which could be compared to what Jim Kerr (Simple Minds) might sound like after too much cigarettes and whiskey. There are also a couple songs ("Resistance") where the focus is on darkwave dance grooves and the vocals are pushed down in the mix. The disc contains nine originals and covers of Duffy's "Mercy" and Mew's "Snow Brigade". I'm not familiar with the original versions of either of these songs so I can't offer much commentary. The Duffy cover is a bit too pop for my taste but Mew cover seems to fit right in with LIVEEVIL's originals.

Where too many bands are going for shear brutality, LIVEEVIL are a refreshing change of pace and Unique Constellation merits repeat listening.

The leadoff track from the disc, "Monster World" (video below), is indicative of the band's strengths.



Links:
LIVEEVIL

NY Export: Opus Jazz DVD Review (Factory 25)

NY Export: Opus Jazz originally premiered in June of 1958 at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy and Robbins' Ballets: USA company performed on the Ed Sullivan Show a year later. This "ballet in sneakers" was an abstraction of Robbins' West Side Story (which debuted the previous year) and the dances depicted youth gangs moving within and against the rhythms of the City. The score blended ballet, jazz and ballroom dancing with Latin, African and American rhythms to create a powerfully expressive, sexy and contemporary style.

NY Export: Opus Jazz made its NYC Ballet debut in 2005 at Lincoln Center after which soloists Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi conceived of this new film adoption. Bar said “[w]e thought the ballet seemed a bit dated in its 1950’s trappings, but the themes that came out in the dancing — the energy and raw emotion of urban youth — were just as relevant today as they were then.” The five movements of the ballet were shot in different locations around NYC - High Line, McCarren Pool, Coney Island, Red Hook and Carroll Gardens - with each location adding a different mood and texture to the energy of that particular movement.

The film contains no narrative so it is the dances intertwined with the cinematography and between-movement vignettes that draw the viewer into the characters' lives. The most moving is "Passage for Two" which was filmed at the pre-renovation Highline where Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall break away from their group of friends to play out their love story on the abandoned railroad tracks at sunset.

I've too often found DVD "extras" to be fairly pointless but the two fifteen minute documentaries that are the "extras" on this disc add volumes to the overall story. Even prior to watching the main feature, the viewer may wish to start with Jerome Robbins' Ballets: USA featurette, which is a well-preserved B&W film that documents Robbins' original production of Opus Jazz and the company's performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The second featurette, A Ballet in Sneakers: Jerome Robbins and Opus Jazz, is a straight-forward "behind the scenes" documentary containing interviews with Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi who discuss their inspiration for the film, Sondra Lee (who was part of the original Opus cast), and other friends and devotees of Robbins.

The film premiered at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Emerging Visions Audience Award and was broadcast as part of PBS' Great Performances series.

Links:
Opus Jazz

Jarboe - "Primal Baroque Experiment" CD Review

Jarboe has been pushing musical boundaries for over twenty years and, in recent years, has successfully collaborated with artists ranging from Justin Broadrick to Attila Csihar to Phil Anselmo. Jarboe has taken to releasing 'works-in-progress' CDRs through her The Living Jarboe website and Primal Baroque Experiment was released late last year.

In a 2009 interview with webzine Lords of Metal, Jarboe was asked: "There is a lot of unreleased material on your website and you occasionally release cd-r's with other material. It seems you have an amazingly high workrate."

Jarboe: I create ideas and it's like a continuing process of me working alone with different source materials and then those things become available. People are really interested in hearing that because often that material continues to evolve...Those recordings are experimental studies that may or may not make it live or onto a more formal kind of album

I have always shared the initial musical ideas for my albums and given people to chance to hear how it evolves and morphs. I think it makes me connected with the fanbase... I don't like to call them fans... the people that like what I do. They like that because they have a very intimate relationship with what I'm doing and I think that's very important.

Jarboe describes Primal Baroque Experiment as "[o]rganic studies in dark texture and primitive drum" and the music is something that you feel and experience rather than just listen to. The musical instrumentation is fairly minimalist across this disc and it seems to include just Jarboe's keyboard, a drum machine and a white noise machine. The sound of the instruments are combined in different proportions and rhythmic structure across the different tracks and are complemented by Jarboe's vocals, which span the range from ominous spoken word to shy schoolgirl.

The disc is bookended by two dark pieces - "Roses", which is a spoken word piece that play out above the musical tension of a pulsing undercurrent and jagged keyboard lines and "Racing Instrumental Mix", which takes the last line ("racing to our death") from the darkwave track "Racing Distortion Mix" and loops this around funeral keys, jagged percussion and white noise. Some of the more intriguing tracks are "Jungle Baroque", which features what sounds like breathing over poly-rhythmic drumming and "Baroque Instrumental", which is an orchestral instrumental that brings in both strings and wood instruments.

All-in-all, Primal Baroque Experiment is a worthwhile expedition into part of Jarboe's psyche and perhaps freeing your own as part of the process.

Links:
The Living Jarboe

Eyezon - Soweto Born Emcee Plays First Full Band Show at Union Hall on Feb. 16th

"Eyezon delivers his lyrics with a religious conviction, but is blessed with a great sense of timing. He has the ability to alter his rhyme schemes constantly, but without losing sight of the cadence of the mystery man’s beats." - RapReviews.com

Eyezon, the Northern California via South Africa emcee, delivers inspiration and entertainment with a dynamic flow and message to match. His last record, People Like Us, was released on Interdependent Media, which is the same indie label that introduced US to K'naan. Currently the band has an on-going sound stage on the Africa Channel along with the music video for their single, "Lord Hold Me", which services as a trailer for their mini-documentary based on homelessness in San Francisco (which was shot by Ethan Lader -- T-Pain/2 Pistols "She Got It", Mullage "Trick'N", J*Davey "Mister Mister").

The video explores the problem of homelessness in the United States by juxtaposing images of Eyezon along with startling facts about our nation's poor. Both the video and mini-documentary challenge our complacency and shed light on an issue that is often over looked.



At the Union Hall show, Eyezon is playing with Brooklyn-based lo-fi electro-pop band Jonka and DJ Captain Kristo. Tickets are $7 and doors are at 7:30PM.

Links:
Eyezon

James Vincent McMorrow's Debut Full-Length "Early In The Evening" is Due out Jan. 25th (Vagrant)

James Vincent McMorrow - If I Had A Boat by VagrantRecords

Following up on his self-titled EP that was released last October, James Vincent McMorrowʼs full-length debut, Early In The Morning, will be released in the US on Jan. 25, 2011. Early In The Morning was released in Ireland in March 2010 and landed the #1 spot on iTunes in the country. James embarked on his first proper Irish tour last year with a sold out show in Dublin and offers from various labels to release the album in other countries began to filter in. When James heard Vagrant was interested, he knew that was the perfect fit. “Iʼve been a fan of the label since school, and getting to put out a record alongside bands like The Hold Steady, Edward Sharpe, and School Of Seven Bells is amazing.” James Vincent McMorrow's self-titled EP served as a teaser for the forthcoming domestic full-length release and it contains two songs off of Early In The Morning along with two previously unearthed demos.
 
From start to finish, Early In The Morning is a ten-song recollection of one manʼs journey through a time of change and transition. Having four years worth of songs written and endless time to document them allowed for James to dissect each song and perfect it. Early In The Morning begins with a five-part harmony echoing over the sounds of an organ and folk guitar in the eerie opener, "If I Had A Boat". “I always knew when I wrote this song that it would open the album,” acknowledges James. “The last two years that preceded this record being made involved some of the greatest change Iʼd ever experienced, physical, emotional and spiritual. When I write lyrics they come together in a pretty uncoordinated way, lines get written, slowly link up until a story reveals itself. It was only when I was finished that I looked back and saw the words for what they were, realized what they meant.” Serving as a perfect prelude to the nine tracks that follow, "If I Had A Boat" lyrically captures the underlying tone of the entire album. Written about transformation and change, the first song is equal parts thoughtfully crafted words and inventive instrumental arrangements, serving as a foundation for the songs to come.

Towards the latter half of the record a darker tone emerges, or as James puts it, “the closest Iʼll ever get to proper mythical fantasy writing!” These songs are where we find him at his most literate and ornate, creating ominous figures, and a wholly tangible sense of tension and foreboding. Drawing on his childhood love of Roald Dahl, as well as his fascination with American novelists such as John Steinbeck and F Scott Fitzgerald, James draws life from their writings because “they all examine the darker less spoken about aspects of life, solitude, disillusionment. Iʼm not one for defining a lyric, or what it definitively means, but songs like ʻfollow you down to the red oak treeʼ, ʻfrom the woodsʼ, and ʻdown the burning ropesʼ are certainly me exorcising the underside of my personality. The characters I create in those songs, the ones existing in the shadows, they are all elements of me for sure.”



And then the album draws to a close just as it started, with a bucolic five-part harmony. The title track of the record, which James describes as a “simple ode to the love that I have”, is backed by a banjo and a piano. This is a folk round that fades out as quietly as it arrives with the squeak of the piano stool serving as a final reminder of the homespun nature of what has just occurred.

Links:
James Vincent McMorrow

Darlingside Play Free Show at Rockwood Music Hall on Jan. 5th

Roots-rock quintet Darlingside are playing a free show this Wednesday at Rockwood Music Hall (8PM set time). The band describes their music as "string rock" and they prominently incorporate often intertwined violin, mandolin, cello and saz (I had to look this one up) into their music.

The band is touring behind their new six-song EP, "EP 1", and band's music skirts and incorporates a number of genres seamlessly. The disc starts with two up-tempo roots-rock style numbers and the leadoff track, "Good Man", sounds like something that a more talented version of Nickleback could have written. The third track, "Malea", is the closest that the band comes to indie-rock and features some creative percussion along with Jeff Buckley-like falsetto vocals. The band slows things down for the EP's final three tracks. Five-part vocal harmonies and prominently featured strings make these tracks sound like something that could have some out of the early 70's Laurel Canyon country-rock scene. Across this disc, the band is able to blend their influences into something that sounds both organic and fresh.

Here is a live recording of "The Catbird Seat" (which is from the new EP).



Links:
Darlingside

The Rural Alberta Advantage Play Early Show at Mercury Lounge on Jan. 12th // New Disc, "Departing", is Out in March

This show WILL sell out...

The Rural Alberta Advantage is playing a one-off show at Mercury Lounge next Wednesday, Jan. 12th, prior to their new disc, Departing, coming out in March (on Saddle Creek). On this new disc, the band further refines the exuberant guitar work; everything-on-the-table singing; songwriting full of conviction and detail; and majestic, keyboard-sprinkled arrangements that have won them so much critical acclaim. Departing strings together themes of small towns, Canadian fall and winter, break ups, and redemption and serves as a companion piece to their debut album Hometowns. Highlights include the affecting "North Star," the stark regret of "Tornado," and the storming, percussive surge of "Stamp," all of which vividly set the scene.



The Rural Alberta Advantage are sharing the bill with Paul Collins' (Beirut) new project Soft Landing. This is an early show with Soft Landing going on at 6:30PM and The Rural Alberta Advantage playing at 7:30PM. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 DOS.

Links:
The Rural Alberta Advantage

Tim Kasher - "The Game of Monogamy" CD Review (Saddle Creek)

I moved from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan over the Summer…this is relevant only because my former Post Office (which has consistently been rated one-star) took over three months to forward on Tim Kasher’s solo disc to my new address. Perhaps there is a reason that the current Yelp review of this Post Office starts with the quote “Nobody in their right minds should ever visit here unless it's an absolute necessity or out of desperation.”

Getting back on track, I’m glad that Tim Kasher’s solo debut, The Game of Monogamy, finally arrived and this disc ended up on my 2010 “best of” list. The Game of Monogamy is similar to Kasher’s work with Cursive and includes appearances from Patrick Newbery (from Cursive), Matt Maginn (also of Cursive) and Minus the Bear’s Erin Tate. The album is essentially a concept album as it follows the protagonist through the romantic arc of courtship, complacency, disillusionment, contempt and ultimately stifling compromise. Kasher's lyrical narratives are at their most colorful on this disc and he creates a character sketch of the disc's focal couple which is progressively built up through the rise and fall of their relationship. This is definitely not a story for the weak or the hopeless romantic.

The disc starts with a cinematic build-up of orchestral strings which then leads into Kashner’s midlife declaration of “I am a grown man. How did this happen? People are gonna start expecting more from me.” From here, the disc heads into the high-energy “I’m Afraid I’m Gonna Die Here” (which includes horns and handclaps) and the bouncy music somewhat masks Kasher's concern that he has “written” the last chapter in his life and is now “collecting cobwebs on the porch”. The arc progresses with the narrator’s current relationship deteriorating (“Cold Love”) and his wishing to recapture his youth and “have sex with all [his] old girlfriend” (“There Must Be Something I Lost”). The inevitable cheating happens (“Bad, Bad Dreams”) along with the expected regret (“The Prodigal Husband”) and the disc ends on a down-note highlighting the stifling pain of domestic relationships (“Monogamy”).



While The Game of Monogamy isn’t the self-immolation of works like Lou Reed’s Berlin, this disc isn’t far behind. Kasher’s narrative and storytelling abilities have taken a leap forward with this release and the detailed story line invites a stage adaptation of the album similar to what Reed did with Berlin.

Links:
Tim Kasher

Cesspool Posts New EP "Heartbreak" as a Free Download // Show at Bruar Falls on Jan. 11th

A few weeks back, I was talking with a promoter friend about how I had recently received a handful of press kits from bands that I wasn't familiar with that had absolutely no "hooks". Unfortunately, I don't think a 'selling point' for a band is moving to Brooklyn with the goal of sounding like Tom Petty, Vampire Weekend or [fill in the blank].

Kudos to Brooklyn band Cesspool as a press quote comparing the band to "the Violent Femmes with learning difficulties" was intriguing enough to make me want to give their six-song EP a listen and it was definitely worth the time. I'm not sure I hear the Violent Femmes in the band's EP but I do hear elements of John Cale (check out Cale's deconstruction of "Heartbreak Hotel" on the album June 1, 1974 as a point of comparison), Brian Eno, early Devo, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. Based on the 'The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo' style theatrical photos on the band's Facebook page (link below), this looks like a band that should be a lot of fun to see live.

Cesspool has upcoming shows at Bruar Falls on Jan. 11th and Goodbye Blue Monday on Jan. 20th.

Links:
Cesspool

BrooklynRocks Top 10 List for 2010

There were a lot of great releases this year so it was tough to pick only ten albums. After spending more time than I would have thought narrowing down the list, below is my 2010 Top-10 list (in no particular order):

01) The Art of Shooting – Traveling Show

02) Tim Kasher – The Game of Monogamy

03) Automatic Children – New Is Beautiful

04) Earth - A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extractions

05) The Canon Logic – FM Arcade

06) King Crimson – Islands (40th Anniversary Edition)

07) School of Seven Bells – Disconnect From Desire

08) Lissie – Catching A Tiger

09) J. Roddy Walston and the Business – Self-Titled

10) Early Graves – Goner

Happy New Year Everyone!

Frost Watson Plays Party Expo in Brooklyn on Jan. 9th

Philadelphia indie-rock band Frost Watson have posted some new songs in advance of the release of their forthcoming EP (below). The band is playing a short run of tri-state shows starting next week and they stop by Party Expo in Bushwick on Jan. 9th . This show is all-ages and starts at 8PM. Sharing the bill are Aficionado and The Marine Electric; tickets are $7.




Links:
Frost Watson

Crack The Sky - "Machine" CD Review

DOWNLOAD: Crack The Sky - Machine Demos (Authorized Bootleg)

Growing up in Baltimore in the late 70s/early 80s, Crack The Sky was one of the biggest bands in town and always seemed on the verge of breaking out. The band toured with numerous established acts (like Yes, ELO, Frank Zappa, Styx, etc.) and routinely sold-out 1,000+ capacity venues in Baltimore so everyone believed that the band's brand of thinking man's prog rock would reach a universal audience. Crack the Sky's debut LP was released in 1975 and Rolling Stone magazine called it the "debut album of the year" and now, in the 35th year of their career, Crack the Sky have released their fourteenth studio album Machine.

Machine follows 2008's The Sale and, like recent Crack the Sky albums, continues with the band's Pink Floyd meets Steely Dan sound. The arrangements are lush and epic and band leader/songwriter John Palumbo's lyrics have all the cynicism and bite of a Steely Dan song. Lyrically, Machine is a concept album about machines taking over at the end of the Mayan Calendar (12/21/12) and mankind's slow slide to their inevitable doom. In an interview with RAYSREALM, John Palumbo compares The Sale to Machine by saying "The Sale is a task to listen to. I realized that after trying to listen to it. I got carried away. I consider it more of a novel than a record. The new Cd, MACHINE, now in the hands of Ricky and Bobby, is even darker. The Sale ended with some hope, MACHINE does not. Cheery, huh?"

Crack the Sky's music has aged well over the years and Machine is a worthy addition to collection of any prog-rock fan. Throughout my college years, mentions of Crack the Sky always drew blank looks so I was looking on YouTube for a video to embed that will showcase the band's sound. These days, Crack the Sky doesn't play live too often so it isn't surprising that there aren't any live videos from Machine posted. For anyone whose curiosity is piqued, a good starting point would be to download the demos from Machine (free download - link is at the top of this post) and check out the live video of the song "Ice" (which is from CTS' debut disc).



Links:
Crack The Sky

Ali Marcus Plays Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn on Feb. 17th

DOWNLOAD: Ali Marcus - "Recession Blues"
DOWNLOAD: Ali Marcus - "Wapato"

Washington DC-to-Seattle transplant Ali Marcus is playing a one-off show at Jalopy Theatre (315 Columbia Street) in Brooklyn on Feb. 17th. Ali's music is rooted in the Americana singer/songwriter/storyteller tradition and she is touring behind her sixth disc The Great Migration.

The Great Migration was released in 2009 and Girlysounds described the disc at the time of release as "[f]itting nice and snug in-between folk and country, these new songs focus on a myriad of topics. Standouts like the album’s opener, “Virginia Road,” uses a stretch of road and it’s surrounding trees as a metaphor for one’s lot in life and what one does with what’s been given to them. On the quiet, but bittersweet “Hey John,” Marcus sings to a fellow songwriter and laments their only encounter, but reminisces about their mutual distaste for Nashville and other similarities. But Marcus is perhaps at her best when heard on “Wapato,” a peppy sing-a-long packed with country hall swing."

Marcus has shared the stages with artists like Tom Paxton, Dar Williams and Catie Curtis so the show at Jalopy Theatre will provide a nice, intimate setting in which to see Ali perform.

Links:
Ali Marcus

Alison Clancy & Electric Child are Playing Mercury Lounge on Jan. 6th

Huff This' Alison Clancy's new project Electric Child is playing Mercury Lounge on January 6th.

(From an interview with Sadie Magazine)
Sadie: If you had to describe your band-dance-art and what you’re doing to someone who had never heard of you before, what would you say?

Alison Clancy: I’m working on a new electro-punk-disco project called Electric Child. My job is to be my crazy creature self: I think as little as possible. Club owners and authorites are often alerted when we start, cause I have a habit of jumping off pianos and climbing stuff. I make people nervous, but usually land on my feet. The music is sonically smashed by my cohorts Roger Greenawalt and Genji Siraisi. We might change the name to Baby Voltage.

Alison Clancy is understood by the refined to be the best new Rock Front Person from New York City since Karen O. Her primary stalker is named Peter. Seriously. He's French. His persistence has inspired a new song called "Peter Peter" that will be debuted at Mercury Lounge. When not wreaking musical havoc, Alison works as a dancer with The Metropolitan Opera, Zvi Dance, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and has appeared at the Guggennheim Museum, Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, and Lincoln Center Theater. All this "uptown" pressure is furiously unleashed in her growling Electric performances.

On Bass is Recovering Crack Addict and Visionary Record Producer Roger Greenawalt (The Pierces/Ben Kweller/Iggy Pop) He has done dinner with Allen Ginsberg, lunched with Yoko, and shared breakfast with Warren Buffett. Recently he spawned a project called Beatles Complete On Ukulele where he plays the entire Beatles catalog in 24 hours.

On Drums is the skeptical primate Ethan Eubanks. Ethan has played with Ivy, Crash Test Dummies, David Mead, Joseph Arthur, Teddy Thompson, and on numerous on air commercials that even now are passing through your deteriorating body. Eubanks has shaken hands with presidents, dined with dignitaries, and romanced models.

Electric Child most recently performed right before Kim Gordon at the sold-out Kathleen Hanna tribute show at Knitting Factory.

Surprise special guests at past shows have included Zee Avi, Fiona Silver and Danny Musengo, who flirt, wail, and take fierce air guitar solos!

Electric Child is sharing the bill with The Wellington Papers and Voxhaul Broadcast. Tickets are $10 and Electric Child goes on at 9:30PM.

Links:
Electric Child