Wendy & Lisa - White Flags of Winter Chimneys CD Review

DOWNLOAD: Wendy & Lisa - Invisible (MP3)

Wendy & Lisa's first new release in 10 years is dreamy and hypnotic and the disc's sound reminds me of many of the old 4AD bands.

This is a complex record as Wendy & Lisa build a musical landscape across the disc's nine songs. The song structures and melodies are both subtle and multi-layered and the songs flow seamlessly from one to the next. The overall tone of this disc is dark and moody and principal vocalist Wendy Melvoin sounds world-weary as she takes the listener on an emotional journey through love, longing and sadness. The disc's production gives the songs enough space to 'breathe' which prevents this from being a depressing album and provides some light in the darkness.

While most of the cuts on this disc are ambient and somewhat hazy, Wendy & Lisa pick up the pace mid-way through the disc with (Prince-ish) funk rock piece "Salt & Cherries (MC5)" and the indie-rock sounds of "Niagra Falls". Stellar production keeps the disc flowing so this transition isn't as jaring as this description may make it sound. The disc closes with the (almost) nine minute epic "Sweet Suite (Beginning At the End)", which is a haunting and beautiful piano ballad that brings the disc's sound back to the point where it started.

White Flags of Winter Chimneys is available through all of the usual online outlets (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) but if you purchase the disc through Wendy & Lisa's website, the digital version comes with four bonus tracks that are unavailable elsewhere.

Bonus Tracks
1) "Niagra Falls (Lisa Demo 4_1_1997)" (5:17)
2) "The Dream (1992 Home Demo)" (4:58)
3) "Viste (1993 Happy Birthday Maxine Home Recording)" (4:30)
4) "Waiting for Coffee (1995 Home Demo)" (4:03)

Those Darlins Play MHOW on March 2nd and Bowery Ballroom on March 3rd

DOWNLOAD: Those Darlins - Wild One (MP3)

"Not since the phenomenon of the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack has a Nashville project had so much potential to bring hardcore country music to a trendsetting, young, broad-based musical audience. Those Darlins completely inhabit the deepest, raw roots of country music. But with primal charisma, musical chops, and easy confidence, they make these roots seem jarringly modern." -- BMI

Those Darlins have been getting a lot of notice as of late for their musical style (which combines old-school country music with punk-rock attitude and energy). The band is in town for two nights supporting Dan Auberbach (Black Keys) and are playing shows with him at Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 2nd and Bowery Ballroom on March 3rd. Tickets for each night are $20.00.

Those Darlins just recorded a live session for HearYa and the band also has a new single out, "Wild One", which is available on iTunes and at the shows.

Links:
Those Darlins MySpace Profile

Marky Ramone's New Band "Blitzkrieg" Plays Maxwell's on March 27th

I wasn't a fan of the last/current lineup of The Misfits as it just seemed so cliche to hear Jerry (who has a terrible voice) sing Ramones and Misfits songs. Marky has avoided this 'lead vocalist' problem by recruiting Michale Graves (Misfits, Gotham Road, Graves) and Blitzkreig also includes Alex and Clare from the UK glam-punk band AntiProduct.

Michale has a phenomenal voice and should be able to do justice to Joey's vocals. Alex and Clare also have established chops playing the Ramones songbook as AntiProduct have played all-Ramones sets and Clare is part of The Ramonas, an all-girl Ramones tribute band.

Here is a live video of Blitzkrieg playing "Rockaway Beach"


The show at Maxwell's is Blitzkrieg's only NYC-area show. Tickets are $15 and old-school melodic punkers The Fiendz and Ape Fight are also on the bill.

Links:
Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg

Coyote Eyes Plays Death By Audio on Wednesday, March 4th

I just got home after a VERY long series of business meetings in Montreal these past two weeks. I was checking my mail before going to sleep and Coyote Eyes' demo "Yellow Red" really caught my ear.

Coyote Eyes is a fairly new band out of Brooklyn who have played only four shows thus far. The band's next show is at Death By Audio on Wednesday, March 4th. Also on the bill are Katie Eastburn (from Young People), Willy Weird and Buke and Gass.

For once in my life, I don't have an immediate comparison for Coyote Eyes' sound. While the band's sound falls somewhat into the shoegazer "indie-rock" category, the band has a unique take on the genre's sound. Check out "Yellow Red", which is streaming on Coyote Eyes' MySpace profile and the live videos below and you will get a solid sense of the band's sound.

Coyote Eyes - Live @ Vanishing Point 1-15-09


Coyote Eyes - "Jade Pagoda" Live @ Vanishing Point 1-15-09

Dance Club Massacre Plays Jennie's in Asbury Park on March 19th (Metal Blade/Blackmarket Activities)

It seems like there is something seriously wrong when a number of touring metal bands are skipping over NYC.

Dance Club Massacre are playing Jennie's (a southern soul food restaurant???) in Asbury Park with The Agonist (Century Media) on Thursday, March 19th. According to Dance Club Massacre's MySpace profile, the show starts at 5PM. Given the early show time (which is somewhat surprising for a weekday show) and the traffic on the Parkway at that hour, this will probably end up being a "locals only" show.

The Agonist are coming back through the area for a show in Brooklyn at Club Europa on April 14th with Woe of Tyrants (Metal Blade) and Salt the Wound (Rotten Records).

Dance Club Massacre are touring behind their second CD, Circle of Death, which was released toward the end of last year. With this release, Dance Club Massacre establish themselves firmly in the symphonic black metal territory. Gone are the grindcore flailings of the band's previous release and this has been replaced with melodic riffs and horror-movie keyboards and synthesizers. Points of comparison are bands like SOTHIS and Abigal Williamms.

The band doesn't break any new ground with this release but they do appear to have an offbeat sense of humor (which is somewhat unusual in this genre). Some of the songs titles from the new CD include "Brewtality", "Deuces Shoeless vs the Double Dribbles" and "Risk Is My Business... and Business Is Risky?. The capstone for the band's beer, horror movie, party humor is an almost 30 minute death metal version of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (which is the "hidden track" that closes the CD).

With Circle of Death, Dance Club Massacre have made a major step forward with their sound. The band's next CD will be something to watch for.

Here is the official video for "Shenanigans" (from Circle of Death)


Links:
Dance Club Massacre's MySpace Profile

Witch (J Mascis) and Earthless Play Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wed., Feb. 25th

DOWNLOAD: Witch - Sweet Sue (MP3)

After playing the Luna Lounge about a year ago, Witch (which features J Mascis on drums) is coming back through town with a show at MHOW on Feb. 25th.

Witch is touring behind their second CD, Paralyzed, which was released last Spring on Tee Pee Records. This release is described as a return to the band members' past punk roots and the band's Black Sabbath sludge is now combined aggressive punk rock tempos.

Check out the interview with J and live footage from Witch's show last year at Luna Lounge (from Govnmt.tv).



Also on the bill is Earthless, who is an instrumental psych band from San Diego. The description on Earthless' MySpace profile says "We play mostly instrumental, partially structured improvised & grooved out LOUD rock-n-roll with a lot of "cosmic nodding". HIGH VOLUME BASHING. Los eardrums get ze trashing."

Last year, Earthless released a split single with Witch (on Volcom Ent. Vinyl Club) and a double-live LP on Tee Pee Records from their performance at Roadburn Festival.

Tickets are $12.00 in advance and $15.00 at the door.

Links:
Witch's MySpace Profile

HTR (Holy Trinity River) Play Castle in Hell on Friday, Feb. 20th

DOWNLOAD: HTR (Holy Trinity River) - The Shaker (MP3)

Dallas-to-Brooklyn transplants HTR are playing a show tomorrow night at Castle in Hell. The Jersey Beat describes HTR's music as "Bluesy, heartfelt, stripped down, no frills, rock...[with] each song sung from the heart, with a southern feel."

This is an all-ages show and there is FREE BEER (for those 21+) from 8PM-10PM. I got a bit of a chuckle in that Castle in Hell's MySpace Profile says "no one under 21 will be served alcohol. The shows are all ages, but the drinking is not." You can just see some 16 year-olds showing up looking for their "free beer".

On the bill with HTR are Radical Dads (which includes Robbie from CYHSY), Cinemasophia and Miracles.

Links:
HTR's MySpace Profile

Bugs in the Dark Play The Cake Shop Thursday Night, Feb. 19th (Art Punk)

It has been too long since I've seen Bugs in the Dark (who are one of my favorite local bands) play live. I seem to be out of town every time that the band plays and tomorrow's show is no exception.

I'm hoping to catch the band live soon as I'm interested to hear how their sound has evolved now that guitarists Karen and Zach have added a bass player and are playing with a new drummer. Long-time drummer Julia Lomax relocated to the West Coast last year so Zeph Courtney is now behind the drum kit and bassist, Mark Turrigiano, will be playing with the band tomorrow night.

On the bill with Bugs in the Dark are Radical Dads (which includes Robbie from CYHSY) and Cinemasophia (who have a new disc, Fits & Cycles, coming out in April).

Tickets are $7.00 and the Radical Dads start things off at 8:30PM

Bugs in the Dark - "New Words"


Links:
Bugs in the Dark's MySpace Profile

IUGO Announces "Toy Bot's $10,000 Excellent Adventure" Contest (Runs Through March 16th)

IUGO Mobile Entertainment announces a $10,000 prize for the person who completes an in-game challenge among all three Toy Bot Diaries games.

In order to be eligible to win, you must collect 25 datapads from each of the three Toy Bot Diaries games—for a total of 75 datapads. Each player must play all three Toy Bot Diaries games on one device, and must submit an email address from the same device for each of the three achievements in order to be considered for the prizes.

The first place winner of Toy Bot’s $10,000 Excellent Adventure will be awarded $10,000 US. There will be 10 second prize winners, each of whom will receive a $100 iTunes gift card and the one third prize winner will receive a lifetime membership to all published IUGO iPhone and iPod touch games, free of charge.

Toy Bot’s $10,000 Excellent Adventure ends on March 16, 2009.

Additional contest and game information is available at www.iugome.com.

The Dig Play Pianos on Feb. 18th and Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 24th (with The Mystery Jets)

DOWNLOAD: The Dig - "She's Going to Kill That Boy" (MP3)

The Onion said that The Dig "are building a reputation as one of the best young bands in New York. The songs on their (2007) EP "Good Luck and Games"...have energy and intelligence matched only by their heartfelt swagger."

The band posted a new three song demo on their website as a free download and they are playing a couple of local shows before going off on an East Coast tour. The first is a free show at Piano's on Feb. 18th. This show starts at midnight. The second show is at the Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 24th with The Mystery Jets. Tickets are $20 and doors are at 7:30PM.

Links:
The Dig's MySpace Profile

Hollywood Undead - Swan Songs CD Review (A&M/Octone)

Hollywood Underground is the "poster child" for all the bands that hope to be discovered on MySpace. The band's Wikipedia bio says that "in their first nine weeks on MySpace they had almost a million plays". Currently, Hollywood Undead's MySpace player has more than 76 million plays. As the band played their first live show only last year, these stats are insanely impressive when compared against Metallica's 42 million plays or Linkin Park's 82 million plays.

Musically, Hollywood Underground is a rap-metal band that comes across like a cross between 2 Live Crew and Linkin Park. The band features six masked MCs who trade off lyrics about sex (and more sex), drugs, broken romance and the darker side of Hollywood. It is a good thing that these guys are getting MySpace play as the majority of the band's lyrics would cause an FCC censor to blush.

Below is the video for "No. 5", which is a pretty good representation of the band's sound and the rest of the songs on this disc.


While you will notice immediately that the band's lyrics aren't deep and meaningful (No. 5- "when you're drunk, shake that ass like you know how to dance" or Everywhere I Go - "Everywhere I go, b*tches always know, the Charlie Scene has a weenie that he likes to show"), I can easily envision a young crowd memorizing and singing along with every word.

While I'm definitely out of the age demographic that this disc is targeted to, the band's catchy hooks have some staying power. I don't think there is anyone in my age group who wouldn't still recognize 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny" now twenty years after its release. There are some songs on Swan Songs that could easily achieve this sort of recognition and notoriety.

Hollywood Undead are currently off on the Saints & Sinners tour with Senses Fail and Haste the Day. Area tour stops are:
March 7, 2009 6:00PM - Crazy Donkey, Farmingdale, New York
March 8, 2009 6:00PM - Webster Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut
March 10, 2009 6:00PM - Filmore at Irving Plaza

Links:
Hollywood Undead's MySpace Profile

John Joseph (Bloodclot/Cro-Mags) is Doing a Spoken Word Show at Webster Hall

Cro-Mags/FVK/Bloodclot (and occasional Bad Brains) frontman John Joseph is kicking off a spoken word tour next week. The NYC show is at The Studio @ Webster Hall on Saturday, Feb. 21st. Admission is $10 and the show starts at 7PM.

For anyone who (correctly) thinks that Rollins' spoken word tours get lamer by year, John is still the real deal. I saw him read from his book, "Evolution of a Cro-Magnon", last summer and he still knows how to hold the attention of everyone in the room.



Here are the upcoming spoken word tour dates:
Fri/​Feb-​20 - Phila​delph​ia,​ PA @ THE KHYBE​R.​
Doors​ @ 7:​00/​SHOW 8:00

Sat/​Feb-​21 - New York,​ NY @ WEBST​ER HALL(​THE STUDI​O)​ .
Doors @ 6:​00/​ SHOW 7:00

Sun/​Feb-​22 - Washi​ngton​ DC @ BLACK​ CAT.
Doors @​ 8:​00/​SHOW 8:30

Mon/​Feb-​23 Alban​y,​ NY @ THE LINDA​.​
Doors @ 7:​00/​ SHOW 8:00

Tue/​Feb-​24 - Cambr​idge,​ MA @ THE MIDDL​E EAST
Doors @ 7:​00/​SHOW 7:30

Links:
Bloodclot's MySpace Profile
The Cro-Mags MySpace Profile

Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy) Announces In-Store Signing at Vintage Vinyl

Long-time Thin Lizzy guitarist has announced an in-store appearance at Vintage Vinyl on March 4th. Gorham was part of the original incarnation of Thin Lizzy, having played in the band from 1974 - 1983, and he is also part of the current-day "tribute to Phil Lynott" line-up of the band.

On a somewhat curious note, I don't think Thin Lizzy is touring the States and I'm not aware of any new Lizzy/Gorham material so I'm kind of wondering what brings Mr. Gorham to Fords, NJ. Whatever the case, I'll be at Vintage Vinyl on the 4th with my Thin Lizzy CDs in tow. The signing is scheduled to start at 8PM.

Here is a clip from the 2005 Phil Lynott tribute concert with Scott and Gary Moore playing "The Boys are Back in Town".

Eula is Playing The Charleston Tomorrow Night, Feb. 14th (Go F*ck Your Valentine Show)

DOWNLOAD: Eula - "Housewolf" (MP3)

Pop Tarts Suck Toasted describes Eula as "Equal parts punk and new wave, with a dash of the grunge sound thrown in for good measure...It's an exciting sound, one that makes you want slam dance or just plain slam things."

At tomorrow night's show, the band will be playing songs from their new EP "Language of Threat", which is due out next month. Also on the bill are Mortals and Rejouissance. Tickets are $6.00.

Here is a live video from a show that Eula did at Martini Red last month:



Links:
Eula's Website

The Besties Play a CD Release Show at Union Pool on Feb 26th (Hugpatch)

DOWNLOAD: The Besties - What Would Tim Armstrong Do? (MP3)

Brooklyn's The Besties released their second disc, Home Free, earlier this month (on Hugpatch) and are playing a CD release show at Union Pool on Feb. 26th.

On the bill with The Besties are Used Kids (who are also releasing a new CD) and The Measure. Admission is $8.00.

The Besties described themselves on their MySpace page as "60's girl groups dry humping 90's pop punk" and Time Out Chicago said that the band's sound "evokes the Go-Go's recording for Epitaph." These two quotes are a good starting point for getting a handle on the band's sound. Being originally from Washington, DC, I hear more of the Slumberland/Sub*Pop sound of bands like The Swirlies and Velocity Girl in The Besties' music but, either way, it is all good.

The eleven tracks on Home Free are incredibly catchy pop tunes and The Besties touch on a wide splash of power-punk and 60's girl group sounds. On the girl group side, there is everything from high-energy Detroit rave-ups like "Helgafell" to the torch sounds of "Birthday". On the power-punk side, comparisons to range of bands from early Blondie to Velocity Girl seem appropriate. Some of the standout power-punk tunes are "St. Francis" and "79 Lorimer" (check out the video clip below).



Upcoming Shows:
Feb 25 2009 6:00PM, The Breadbox, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Feb 26 2009 8:00PM, Union Pool-HOME FREE RELEASE PARTY W/ THE MEASURE & USED KIDS!!!, Brooklyn, New York

Links:
The Besties' MySpace Profile

Vinny Stigma Announces Shows at Generation Records and The Pyramid (Agnostic Front)

Vinny Stigma (from Agnostic Front) released his first solo disc, New York Blood, earlier this month and he is playing a couple local shows.

The first is an in-store at Generation Records (210 Thompson Street in the West Village) at 7PM on Thursday, February 26th.

The second is a hardcore matinee at The Pyramid on Sunday, March 1st. Also on the bill are Joe Coffee (Sheer Terror), The Bleeding and Last Call Brawl. Tickets are $10 and doors are at 3PM.

Here is the video for the title track from Vinny's new disc:



Links:
I Scream Records

Flipper - Blow N' Chunks CD Review (ROIR)

Blow N' Chunks was originally a cassette-only release that came out eons ago. As both this tape and my cassette deck have been collecting dust for the last decade or so, the Water Records reissues of the first four Flipper albums finally motivated me to pick this up on CD. I also hadn't heard the four bonus tracks that ROIR added when they re-released this on CD.

Listening to this "show" for the first time in years, I'm 'on the fence' regarding my feelings about this release. On one hand, it is a reasonably representation of Flipper's live set but, on the other hand, I had always thought this was a full recording from one show. The edits between the songs stand out a bit prominently as this isn't a complete show but (according to a Flipper discography site) rather a compilation from two nights/three sets that Flipper played at CBGB in November 1983.

On the positive side, this is a more coherent live document than Public Flipper Limited as there is somewhat of a flow between the songs (edits aside). There are also a couple songs on this recording which are unique to this disc (Bruce improvising "Ice Cold Beer" to the tune of "You Naught Me" and the previously unreleased "In Your Arms" and "In Life My Friend". The negatives are that the songs have been rearranged and don't follow in the order that they were played (set lists are below). The stage banter has also been edited out which is disappointing as this was an important and hilarious part of the Flipper live experience.

Here is the full set list from the two shows (from Flipper/Negative Trend Concert Chronology) that were used for Blow N' Chunks:

- 11/18/83 NY, NY -CBGB'S w/Live Skull, (S)Cornflakes
Set One:
The Lights, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise/Way of the World/Shed No Tears/ We Who Survive The Plague/Flipper Blues/Life/

Set Two:
Ice Cold Beer(Bruce's improv over music to 'You Nought Me')/Love Canal/Sacrifice/Ha Ha Ha/ (a much drunker set a couple of hours later)
Note: Part of this show used for the Blow'n Chunks cd.

- 11/20/83 NY, NY -CBGB'S
In Your Arms/Life Is Cheap/In Life My Friend/Get Away/
Note: Part of this show used for the Blow'n Chunks cd.

For Flipper fans, Blow N' Chunks probably falls into the "nice to have" category (but not 'essential'). Casual fans or anyone curious about the band are better served by starting with the Water Records reissues.

Links:
Flipper's MySpace Profile

Insect Warfare - World Extermination CD Review (Earache)

DOWNLOAD: Insect Warfare - "Necessary Death" (MP3)

Next month, Earache is reissuing the debut full-length, World Extermination, from Texas grind-core kings Insect Warfare.

World Extermination originally came out in 2007 and the band seemed to be gaining a strong following. They toured around the world in the first half of 2008 and followed that by abruptly breaking up. There is obviously some back story as "TRUST NO ONE. FUCK SCENES. FUCK LEECHES. FUCK BACKSTABBERS. FUCK YOU." is the message posted on the band's MySpace profile.

Musically, Insect Warfare plays straight-forward grindcore in the style of early Napalm Death. World Extermination's twenty tracks are brutal blast that are all about one minute in length and the whole disc clocks in at just under twenty-five minutes. This disc doesn't disappoint and has everything that you would expect from a grindcore band - snarled, guttural vocals, squalling guitars and pummeling blast beats. In an interview last year with Free Press Houston, guitarist Beau Beasley said “[a] lot of people say we’re not breaking any ground which is OK by me. I want to keep it primitive, simplistic, more barbaric” and that is exactly what you have here.

Similar to other grindcore bands, you aren't going to pick up on the band's lyrical themes from just listening to this disc. Beau Beasley isn't part of the anarcho-punk movement but writes about more personal concerns. He said "I play music as a direct result of things in my life. I don’t care about politics or animal rights...this is just normal stuff – feeling like a loser, lonely, frustrated…I’m not anyone special this is just the way I deal with it.” This outlook helps explain songs like "Evolved Into Obliteration", "Internet Era Alienation" and "Mass Communication Mindf*ck".

World Extermination comes out March 2nd on Earache Records.

Links:
Insect Warfare's Website

Roadrunner United: The Concert DVD Review (Roadrunner Records)

After a three year wait, Roadrunner Records recently released a 2-DVD set of their 25th Anniversary concert. The show was filmed live at the Nokia Theater in December 2005 and it featured a "who's who" lineup of metal act. There were even a few non-Roadrunner acts (Scott Ian [Anthrax] and Tim "Ripper" Owens" [Judas Priest, Iced Earth, etc.] who were part of the lineup.

It is obvious that a lot of thought went into the planning for this show as the lineup and one-off combinations of artists are unlikely to be repeated. The core band for the show was Dino (from Fear Factor and Divine Heresy), Adam (from Killswitch Engage), Roy (from Stone Sour) and Andreas (from Sepultura).

The show starts with Evan and Billy (from Biohazard) playing a straight-forward version of "Punishment". After this, things start to get going with Jamey Jasta taking the vocals on Madball's "Set It Off". From there, Keith Caputo comes out to sing on "March of the S.O.D." and "River Runs Red". I'm not biased because Keith is from Brooklyn but he has to be one of the most underrated vocalists on the metal scene as he really kills it during this concert. In addition to singing the above mentioned songs, he also takes lead vocals for Roadrunner United's "Tired and Lonely" and Stone Sour's "Bother" (accompanied by Corey on acoustic guitar).

It just gets better from here. "Ripper" Owens sings King Diamond's parts on both a Mercyful Fate and a King Diamond cover. Glen Benton sings both an Obituary cover and a Deicide song and he sings the later song in a full suit of armor. This is followed by Jesse Leach reuniting with Killswitch Engage and he and Howard trade off vocals on "My Last Serenade".

Toward the later part of the show, there is a drunken cover of Soulfly's "Eye for An Eye" by Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Farr which is followed by Rob Flynn taking the mic for Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist". Rob keeps the stage and sings on covers of Slipknot's "Surfacing" and Machine Head's "Davidian". The later is kind of cool as it features a reunion with guitarist Logan Mader. Following in this Sepultura/Cavalera family vein, the show wraps up with a cover of Sepultura's "Roots Bloody Roots".

The second disc in the set is more of a retrospective than a documentary. The 75 minute film features interviews with a number of bands that played the show who are seeing the concert DVD for the first time and reflecting back on that night. This disc runs a little long but it is nice to have this one to hear both how the concert came together and memories of the show.

This DVD set raises the bar for concert DVDs that follow. Any metalhead is going to want to have this one in their collection.

Links:
Roadrunner Records

Dogs of Winter Post First Video "Player Piano" From Forthcoming CD (Exotic Recordings)

Brooklyn hard-rockers Dogs of Winter just released the first video from their forthcoming CD Arrythmia, which should be out next month as a free download.

Dogs of Winter - "Player Piano"



Dogs of Winter guitarist/vocalist Brian Grosz is playing a solo show at Fat Baby tomorrow night (check out the video below from Brian's show at Fat Baby from 2007) and Dogs of Winter's next show is at the "Love Me, Love Me Not Jubilee" at the Parkside Lounge this Saturday, Feb. 7th. The show at the Parkside Lounge starts at 2:00PM.


Links:
Dogs of WInter's MySpace Profile
Brian Grosz's MySpace Profile

Lukestar - Lake Toba CD Review (Flameshovel Records)

I know that I'm getting old when a lot of reviewers have labeled Lukestar's latest CD as a "post-hardcore". I hate to do the 'back in my day' thing...but I consider bands like Jawbox, Operation Ivy, Big Black, etc. as post-hardcore. I would consider Lukestar to be a brilliant pop band but this disc doesn't fall anywhere close to the hardcore/post-hardcore genre.

Getting on with the music - this disc falls somewhere between the prog-leanings of Coheed and Cambria and the synth-pop of Bronski Beat. Lead singer Truls Heggero sings with a falsetto that can put both Jimmy Somervile and Claudio Sanchez to shame. Lukestar's music follows the "verse-exploding chorus-verse" format that many of the 90's grunge bands (i.e. Nirvana) rode to fame.

Rather than try and write a lengthy description of the Lukestar's music, check out a couple tracks from Lake Toba.

"White Shade" is the first song on the disc and is pretty comparable of the tracks that follow.



A lot of the 90's indie bands didn't have much of a live sound, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Lukestar.

Lukestar - In a Hologram (Acoustic)


Lukestar is based in Oslo, Norway and I don't believe that the band gets over to the US frequently. The band's last show (and only?) NYC show was a late night CMJ show last October at Cake Shop.

Lukestar's music is available in the US through Chicago's Flameshovel Records (link below).

Links:
Lukestar's MySpace Profile
Flameshovel Records

Scott “Wino” Weinrich Will Be Debuting "The Wino Band" at the 9:30 Club on Feb. 7th (Obsessed, Saint Vitus)

Wino will be playing his first live show with his new band on Saturday night (Feb. 7th) at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Wino just released his first solo disc, Punctuated Equilibrium, on Southern Lord to strong reviews.

In addition to Wino, the other members of the band are Jon Blank (Rezin) on bass and Jean Paul Gaster (Clutch) on drums. Also on the bill are King Giant and Salome.

Tickets are $13.00 and doors are at 6PM.

Links:
Wino's MySpace Page

Flipper - Public Flipper Limited: Live 1980 - 1985 CD Review (Water Records)

Flipper's double live set is a perfect send-off to the original lineup of the band. Mostly recorded between 1980 and 1982, this set captures the band in all of their sloppy, drunken, drugged-out glory. Songs start, stop and "wander off" in all sorts of directions and all of this is punctuated by some of the funniest onstage banter this side of a Fear show.

The reviewer that described Television as the "Grateful Dead of punk" obviously never heard Flipper play live. While Flipper isn't going to go off on a 20 minute (technically precise) version of "Marquee Moon", "Sex Bomb Baby" goes for over ten minutes and other songs like "If I Can't Be Drunk" and "The Game's Got a Price" come pretty close to the 10 minute mark as well.

Most of the songs on this set were previously unreleased and there is a lot of great material here that will hopefully surface in studio form some day. The selection of unreleased tunes range from the punkish "New Rules, No Rules" to the blues grind of "Flipper Blues". In true Flipper fashion, the second disc closes with what sounds like Bruce saying "Are you satisfied yet, can we leave?"

Water Record has done a great job of reproducing the board game that came with the original LP version of this release. You can "tour" the US with Flipper and "every time you come to a town, you must stop there." The game cards were written by Will and have phrases like "Will Get Free Drugs - Plus 15 Points" or "Burned By Drug Dealer - Minus 5 Points".

Flipper is supposed to have a new disc in the can (produced by Jack Endino) so hopefully they settle on a new label soon.

Here is a live performance of "Shine" (which is one of the few songs from Generic Flipper that was repeated on the live disc) . This was recorded at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco when the band was opening for the (then) final performance of Throbbing Gristle.



On this note, tickets went on sale today for Throbbing Gristle's first ever New York show. The show is April 16th at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple and tickets are $35.

Links:
Flipper's MySpace Profile