Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Eastern Anchors – James the Viking
Releases a couple of weeks ago, Eastern Anchor’s new single James the Viking is up on bandcamp for Name You Price! These post indie guitar smashers for Red Bank NJ. Are due to release their new album Drunken Arts and Pure Science on Oct 9th. I’ve heard the album, it’s FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. I’m impressed but not surprised. I’ll save the full review for the Album’s release, but in the mean time, James The Viking, is a harbinger of how excellent this album is. Check it out and Download it for free at http://easternanchors.bandcamp.com/
Rocker Tycoon Day: Formaldehyde Face (Frito Lays) by They Live
Firstly, lets talk about great band names. They Live certainly ranks up there with the best. Check out their single Formaldehyde Face. It’s a tale about a martian and a record collection and a life of general malaise and corn chips. Oh and there’s a rant about Phil Spector.
Disc Deconstruction: Holy City Zoo – Nobody Sells For Less
Holy guitar rock, Batman! The Zoo (Holy City Zoo, that is) is back and bringing it full frontal with their new EP Nobody Sells for Less. The only Crazy Eddie these cats evoke is Iron Maiden’s mascot, though. What I mean is that this album is not a Ponzi scheme or some kind of tax fraud to off shore accounts, this is red blooded american hardcore. Finally something I can clench my fist, bare my teeth and keep my chin upto. Lets dissect this bugger.
War World 5? Not sure, but I’ll say this: The build into the song is great! A little guitar then forceful drums coinciding vocals, then like a stealth bomber she takes off! The chorus rockets off with lead guitar that sounds like its out of an Ikari Warriors reboot for a game system that’s not out yet. The bridge is a battlefield of guitar. A lil calm vocal action then climax and it dies out…
Afterburner
… ONLY To blast back off with Afterburner’s hot riff! She flows into the chorus with dueling vocals… or are they Mexican stand-off vocals? (If this album was made in Mexico they’d just be stand-off vocals). Back to the riff, then we calm down for a build. And lead guitar sounds like a dive-bomb at the peak! Whoa! Ending with a top off. I imagine some kind of Blue Angels figure four deal fading into the sunset, Top Gun Style.
Paper Beats Rock
Spillpeak Media’s Al Vasquez put together a sick video of this song. More reminiscent of HCZ’s previous EP. Pay attention to the the flourishes between vocals on drum and guitar right before the breakdown. That’s one thing about the Zoo, they give you a respite before utterly destroying your face with temperatures approaching absolute infinity. They end it with a little piece of universal truth which is also the song title. And a hard stop.
Medolarke
This could be a b-side from Foo-Fighter’s first Album. The lead-in is followed by a wheeling guitar part and a call/respond vocal part. This is the album’s anthem for sure! Theres a violent trade off on guitar and bass… a small break and a solid piece of drumwork then the fade out. Nobody Sells For Less leaves you as classically as it entered.
So there you are kids. One for the record books! You can find this wonderful EP over at HCZ’s Bandcamp.
I Am The Heat at Trash Bar
“You’re Cut see ya tomorrow.”. My Co-worker tells me unceremoniously.
“What?! It’s 11… I’m out at 12.”
“Yup it’s dead, you can go home.”
“Home…” I begin cackling like a maniac. “yea right it’s 11 pm on Saturday Night… Home.”
Twenty mins later I’m at Trash Bar. I was gonna cab it but hell I’m early I figure I’ll save a buck and walk a little. It’s pretty great out. I hope this null winter happens every year. I get in the door, my glasses fog up, I think I see someone I recognize. It’s Jameson Edwards, guitarist/lead singer for I Am The Heat. No one was sure if I’d make so the look on the guy’s face is pure gold. High Fives ensue. Mike Horaz, Drummer for I Am The Heat (alias Mike Hotel drummer for my band, WarFace) is surrounded as usual by a throng of women. I fight my way through his cadre of admirers and we shoot the shit. “Where’s Billy?” I ask.
Mike points to the bar before being engulfed in a sea of ladies.
“Yo, Dewd!” I say in my excited voice.
Billy laughs as he sees me, he was pretty sure I was stuck at work too. It’s one of those Billy Gray laughs, from the gut. He’s filling in on Bass for this show. I order a drink and we bullshit, then a catch eyes with Julius Myren.
He’s hanging back a little. Turns out he can’t play tonight he cracked a rib snowboarding (He muttered something about damn machine gun turrets and The Albanians…I’m pretty sure Julius is ex Spetsnaz). Anyhow he’s in the crowd with the plebs tonight. “I can’t mosh..” He says shamefully and in part to make sure that I don’t tackle him to get a pit going.
The Show starts… Jameson, Mike and Billy are a force on stage. There’s so much bravado I feel like the stage is might collapse in on itself and form a Black Hole in Williamsburg. Billys new basslines really add a dimension to IATH’s sound. “This Song is about when I met Jameson for the First time in Highschool.” Although Mike clearly has no idea what the songs are about.
They ended with Silver Skies. Julius got on stage Jameson now on full vocal duties. It was out of control.
After the show I was gonna head to another bar to see some friends, but at the last minute I signed up for karaoke and busted out you better you bet by the who. Everyone must have been smashed cuz there was a lot of audience participation.
I wrote this while insanely hungover in my bed 12 the next day… Julius was last seen getting into a car labeled “Free Puppies”. If you have any information leading to his whereabouts dial 1-900-909-jeff and talk to the Fresh Prince himself. (99 cents for the first minute $399 for each additional minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLy7QkW1EXM&list=UUJu1KaBnejr1EdMUMDc25Wg&index=1&feature=plcp
Singled Out: The Company, INC by City of Horses
I’m trying to have an single review out every fri this year. Today’s choice comes from my buds at Indie Rebellion.
http://thecityandhorses.bandcamp.com/track/the-company-inc-featuring-katie-costello
The Pixies meet the They Might Be Giants meets the Violent Femmes, The City of Horses’s songs range from dancey new wave to folky punk. But this song takes the cake for me. It’s bouncy guitar and the contrasting vocals are great. Every guy out there has been a Ben and every girls been a Sally. Or at least we’ve all wanted to. Lines like Ben’s commentary about his boss’s opinion of his in-office romance “I don’t care if he’s stern, his new wife is my old intern.” Fucking spot on. It’s worth a listen for sure. Well done, The City of Horses, Well Done.
Jerk Video by Stephie Coplan and the Pedestrians
First off… Watch this
Ok, Let’s discuss. HOT?! Goddamned right! And how about this new sound? I’m not gonna lie, I FUCKING LOVE IT. SC&P’s are in no danger of being compared to Ben Folds in this one. There’s a touch or Metric in here, though. Thats not a bad thing. It’s an update sound, for sure. How about the art direction. Make-up is great the DP really must of had a field day with this. Lighting is excellent, the non challant “Jerk” dude plays his part to the T.
Also gents, fellas and those of you in the friend zone, fucking take notes! This is a play by play of all the fucked up shit we do that drives women up the bloody wall. If you follow these steps and follow them well, ex girlfriends will be calling you for a late night tryst instead of asking you to help her move because she just stopped seeing the guy she left you for, and she really can’t afford movers, and she really doesn’t have any other guy friends, because she severs all ties when she enter a relationship… so since all this is sort of your fault for making her break up with you in the first place and date this other guy, the least you could do is help her move and maybe rent a U-haul cuz there’s a lot of books and some of those records she started collecting when you dated. Y’know or something like that.
Marvin Berry & The New Sound, Nude Beach and Fire Bison at Lone Wolf
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615
Lonewolf
Friday Night, Billy Gray hits me up. He’s wondering if I’m going to see Marvin Berry tonight at Lone Wolf. I’d nearly forgotten, but It’s Friday I ain’t got shit to do. I say, “Let’s do it!” I hit the scene, order myself a Jack and Coke and catch Fire Bison. A girl fronted three piece from Virginia. You can’t beat that with a canoe oar. Two beautiful girls trading off vocals, playing guitar and bass and in the center sits this bearded madman on the drums. He damn near stole the show with his outrageous over the top style and facial expressions. Somebody get this cat a mic! He looks like he knows the words too!
Billy saunters in. We agree. Awesome band, great sound… “Amazing legs!” I add like a creep. Billy shakes his head and facepalms. “What man, I’m just callin’ em like I see ’em.”
Next up Nude Beach hits the stage. Surf rock with a sneer! I dig it. We get involved in the crowd but still we haven’t had enough to start rabble rousing just yet. Back to the bar. We talk about whats been going on since Ben Franklin, he hints at something on the horizon (I’m sure that makes a lot of you happy). And we talk about work and stuff like that. It’s hard to remember exactly because after a little bit Marvin Berry and the New Sound hits the stage.
Punk pop dynamos! These cats are a barrel of monkeys greased up and ready to party! Marvin Berry & The New Sound is Joe Porter (vocals) Danny Zaj(Bass/Vocals) Chuck Van Dyck (Guitar/Rad Haircut) Nick Andreoli (drums/Wild insane looks) and Jon Davies (Guitar/Vocals). Here I am with my two favorite redheads (Joe and Billy), rocking out to Space Age and Howling at the Highway, and the crowd is into it as well. We’re all bouncing around like fools and for a minute all the bullshit I deal with kinda fades into the back. Everyone’s smiling and it’s 20 mins of pure rock out sing a long good time fun. Then it’s over, short sweet and powerful.
We head home and laugh. Something about a great show, just makes everything else easier to deal with knowing there’s plenty more just around the bend.
Disc Deconstruction: Creosote Acoustic Lacquer EP by Black Water
I’ve been slackin’ lately. I admit it. I need to kickstart my self some times. Get the rusty joints oiled out. And just write as much as I can in a short burst. It just so happens that today my buds Black Water released an EP. It’s the practice session from an acoustic show they did. Let’s break it down into chewable morsels. Download it here and listen along
First thing, I notice that we have two of my favorite Black Water songs as acoustic versions! Exciting! Then I spy the artwork. I can’t tell without breaking my neck if its a tornado or a forest fire. But it’s a classic look thats been a sort of tradition since Copeland and Griffin’s days in the Meltdowns. I should also mention that Low-ridin’ Lloyd Naideck is absent on this EP. I think he was touring the globe on some political campaign, don’t quote me on that. Anyhow, this endeavor is strictly Adam Copeland, Gary Laurie and Gerry Griffin.
1. (Keep on) Moving.
The album starts with a little jammy intro, 40 seconds in Copeland cuts in the guitars bouncing along with him. I’m gonna go out on a limb a guess that this song is about working till you’re dead. “When the sun goes down, you will find, that there’s more ahead.”
2. Rose, My Old Ways
A confessional, or a devotional. I’m not sure what the term is exactly. A Promise? Yea its a promise. Apparently, Rose has had it up to here with the narrators drinking and fighting and being all “Jersey”. So he’s promising to not go back to his old ways. (Point of Topic: I once saw Adam Copeland get into a a verbal altercation with a man whose dog had bitten two other people. The man called those people “hipsters”. I want to state for the record that Gary Laurie is no hipster. Also for the record, I ran off like a girl. I’m down to my last pair of specs.)
3. Arizona (Dharma Version)
Already a very fun song, Laurie’s lead guitar steals the show here. The lyrics are changed from God to Buddha for a cheap laugh (I like a cheap laugh). Griffin’s work on the low end comes through well here. And did someone just quack in the background? Atotally fun version of a song I’ve come to love.
4. 7 Years (Western Omelette version)
A sweet lazy version of the crescendo song that ends Disasters. The song already has a sort of sad western feel to it. The country twist goes really well here, its cool to see the band experimenting with different sounds.
Synopsis:
Let me start by saying it’s fun and I think that was the idea. It’s free. So as far as value is concerned, they have your value covered. You won’t find the signature outbursts that have Copeland and Griffin pleading with the mic but hey you can’t shout in a coffee house, thats rude. From what I understand Black Water is going to be recording a new LP in the near future you can still get their Disasters LP for the low price of Free on Bandcamp. Take this minute in time to download this and that. Then when you come to the Tiny Giant showcasetomorrow at Lamp Post tomorrow you can sing a long with me and everyone else.
Zac Clark, Rocker Tycoon 