Isolation Tank demo 2013 (power violence)

Power violence that's filthy and harsh. no pizza mosh dude fun.

Iron Dogs - Free And Wild (Iron Bonehead)

Heavy fucking metal stripped down early 80s style. Fist pumping NWOBHM headbanging heavy metal. If you're into stuff like High Spirits, Slough Feg and Manilla Road then you can't go wrong.

Ritual Chamber - The Pit Of Tentacled Screams

If you've played the Grave Miasma and Portal albums to death this year then this might sort you out nicely.

Monster Killed By Laser - Xalzalix EP

Keeping the spirit of 80s King Crimson alive.

Warm Soda - Someone For You

Power pop perfection. Straddles the stadium power-pop vs punky power pop divide. Poptopia-tastic!

I'd recommend starting off with Only In Your Mind. I swear I've listened to it about a billion times in the last week. One of those songs you just keep hitting repeat on. Perfectly crafted song writing. I guarantee that the first time you listen to it you'll be singing along the second time the chorus kicks in. Catchy as hell.

Basically, if you're into stuff like Cheap Trick, Exploding Hearts, The Raspberries and Big Star etc then you'll love this.

Right, time to hit play again.

Best Of 2013 - the "short" list

2013 was fucking stupid for good new music. Going to do a proper top ten or twenty at some point. Here's a list of albums that I thought were really good that I'm going to try and whittle down.

California X - s/t
Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth
Arbouretum - Coming Out Of The Fog
Shugo Tokumaru - In Focus
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
Chelsea Light Moving - s/t
Spectral Park - s/t
Syclops - A Blink Of An eye
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Dead Lord - Goodbye Repentance
Portal - Vexovoid
Omar S - Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself
Night Marchers - Allez Allez
Maxmillion Dunbar - House Of Woo
Mikal Cronin - MCII
Church Whip - Psychedelic Nightmare
Hounds Of Hate - s/t
Incendiary - Cost Of Living
Melvins - Everyone Loves Sausages
Nails - Abandon All Life
Power Trip - Manifest Decimation
Red Hare - Nites Of Midnite
Hardbodies - s/t
Damnations Hammer - Discplies of The Hex
Cafe Kalut - Applied Music Vol 1 - Scien & Nature
Indricothere - II
Night Birds - Maimed For The Masses
Tony Molina - Dissed & Dismissed
Save Us From The Arcon - Some Things we Carry, Always
Alabaster - s/t 10"
Brokeback - Brokeback And The Black Rock
Pye Corner Audio - Boomkat 12"
Absolut - demo
Primitive Man - Scorn
Sauna Youth - Fale Jesii pt2
Enforcer - Death By Fire
Lurch - demo
Roomrunner - Ideal Cities
Pine Barrens - Kingmaker
Hebosagil - Lahto
Tile - You Had A Friend In Pennsylvania
Ikonika - Aeotropolis
Julia Holter - Loud City Song
Radioactivity - s/t
Laurel Halo - Chance Of Rain
Lumbar - Unwelcome
Malthusian - demo
The Love Triangle - Clever Clever
Vhol - s/t
The #1s - Sharon
Great Falls - Accidents Grotesque
Daniel Rosenboom - Book Of Omens
Ulcerate- Vermis
Makthaverskan - Makthaverskan II
Teramobil - Multispectral Supercontinuum
Speedtrap - Powerdose
Obliterations - s/t
Take Over And Destroy - Endless Night
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
Carpenter Brut - EP II
Uzala - Tales of Blood and Fire
Nohome - s/t
Teeth Of The Sea - Master
Big Business - Battlefields Forever
Gigan - Multi-Dimensional Fractal-Sorcery and Super Science
Psicomagia - s/t
Craven Idol - Towards Eschaton
Scale The Summit - The Migration
Ovlov - am
Hyrrokkin - Pristine Origin
The House In THe Woods - Bucolica
Sofy Major - Idolize
True WIdow - Circumambulation
War Brides - Burden
Tyranny Is Tyranny - Manufacturing Truth
Za - Wanananai
Culo - My Life Sucks And I Could Care Less
Cloud Rat - Moksha
Queens Of The Stone Age - Like Clockwork
Aaron Parks - Arborescence
Argus - Beyond The Martyrs
Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
Gnaw - Horrible Chamber
Mutoid Man - Helium Head
In Solitude - Sister
Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Pat Metheny - Tap: John Zorn's Book Of Angels, Volume 20
Drug Church - Paul Walker
Ralph Towner - Travel Guide
Circle - Six Day Run
Gorguts - Colored Sands
AMSG - Anti Cosmic Tyranny
Arve Henriksen - Places Of Worship
Daniel Wohl - Corps Exquis
Forest Swords - Engravings
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
John Abercrombie Quartet - 39 Steps
Kadavar - Abra Kadavar
Ken Mode - Entrench
Man Or Astroman? - Defon 5-4-3-2-1
Merchandise - Total Nite
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City
Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven
Rashad Becker - Traditional Music Of Notional Species Vol I
MGMT - s/t
Shigeto - No Better Time Than Now
True Widow - Circumambulation

Yeah, some of them are singles and demos. Whatevs.

Flesh World - s/t (La Vida Es Un Mus)

La Vida Es Un Mus now have a bandcamp page.. Expect DIY punk related things.

No back catalogue stuff yet but this new Flesh World mini LP is good. Kind of fuzzy, melodic post punk that's kind of tuneful. Here's the blurb:-

On their debut MLP, San Francisco, CA’s Flesh World plays ice-soaked punk rock led by dark and infectious guitar flourishes and a just-under-the-surface pop sensibility that makes each song an immediate stand out track. Featuring band members who are all veterans of the DIY punk scene — from bands including Limp Wrist, Brilliant Colors, Needles, and more — Flesh World brings influences from a host of punk sub-genres together, calling to mind the tense moodiness of classic British post punk, the sneer of the 1977 school, and just a hint of C86 flourish and feedback. Most importantly, this MLP includes six hopelessly catchy songs that will work their way into your skull like an infection without a cure.

Bowl Ethereal demo (ex Loincloth/Breadwinner/Honor Role)

Go download it now

Bowl Ethereal is a duo specialising in math rock tech metal twiddle shredding. If you've ever heard Breadwinner or Loincloth then you'll know the deal. This is far more along the lines of Orthrelm than that slick djent type stuff. Only 5 short songs but hopefully there's lots more to come.

Beastmilk - Climax

Very goth. Bauhaus/Sisters Of Mercy frilly shirt and velvet trousers goth. Candles and dry ice goth. Gothy gothy goth goth.

Missed them at Live Evil fest because I'd gone for my dinner. Kind of regret that now. Oh well.

Best Demos of 2013

LURCH
Trance Syndicate, Band Of Susans, The God Machine, Foetus, Swans, Old Lady Drivers, Bastro, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Amphetamine Reptile etc
https://lurchsongs.bandcamp.com/album/lurch

BEAST AS GOD
total Unruh/Catharsis/Acme/Integrity etc worship
https://beastasgod.bandcamp.com/album/beast-as-god

MALTHUSIAN
death metal
https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/demo-mmxiii

ABSOLUT
metallic noise punk stuff
https://absolutnoise.bandcamp.com/track/demo-2013

VICE VERSA
power pop side project of Pus Rad
https://ettprojekt.bandcamp.com/track/headaches-heartbreaks

Mordy Laye and the Group Modular - The Mystery of Mordy Laye

Just going through Fact Mag's Top 20 Bandcamp Releases of 2013 list and came across this

Radiophonic library funk moog doings. Ghost Box gone bachelor pad? Stereolab but dustier? Quality stuff.

Drop Dead - s/t 1993

Lashings of thrashings from the kings of fast hardcore. It's 20 years old but still sounds as brutal as ever. They've put up all their other releases as well so dig in.

Naturally i reckon more older bands should put their back catalogue up like this.

The Fierce And The Dead - Spooky Action

80s King Crimson meets The Raincoats meets Sleepytime Gorilla Museum?

Poison Idea - Kings Of Punk (Southern Lord)

Bona fide classic.

Beast As God demo

THIS WILL KICK YOU FACE OFF!

You're going to fucking love this if you're record collection contains Unruh, Catharsis, Integrity, Acme, Kickback, Turmoil, Bloodlet, Starkweather, Acrid, Thoughts Of Ionesco, Stalingrad etc.

Radioactivity - s/t (Dirtnap)

A couple of members of Marked Men's new thing. It looks like Marked Men, smells like Marked Men and quacks like Marked Men. Tuneful punk rock of the highest order. Real songwriting and that. Just listen to the second song 'Other Life'. If you don't feel like putting it on repeat then you're dead to me. Oh, and 'Get Straight' too.

Basic House - Oats (Alter)

Murky electronics on Alter from blokey from Opal Tapes/Drunk In Hell. The album is called Oats so am I allowed to make a godawful pun about how the house might have a hall in it? Screw you.

Boomkat are selling the FLAC. Here's their blurb:-

Opal Taper, Stephen Bishop's intrepid Basic House project is steadily becoming one of the most fascinating off-road electronic projects around. 'Oats', for Luke Younger's highly esteemed Alter imprint, places him in good company alongside textural and rhythmic explorers such as Jamal Moss, Helm and Damien Dubrovnik. It's his 2nd album of 2013 after the crumbling deconstructions of 'Caim In Bird Form' for Digitalis, and finds his sound at once congealing and diffusing with a unique sonic syntax. Textural decay demarcates its six tracks, flowing from the buckled tape loops and guttural bass thump of 'AR II' to the soiled grunge techno of 'Child Confession' by way of a trans-temporal fag break of porno lite keys and a gasping vocal fragment before heading back into the concrète workshop ambience of 'Interiors' to close the first side. On the second, 'Est Oan' features a chamber group of swirling shapes and acephalic voices, before the grotty expanse of 'B.G. Feathers' crackins with distortion before the sinkhole of 'Dry Contact' slowly swallows its contents in a gurgling muck soup. Like any good and properly *new* music, Basic House is breaking down convention and rebuilding new forms with each subsequent release...

Imperial Triumphant - Goliath

Bit of Deathspell Omega/Blut Aus Nord black metal action from some folk in Pyrrhon. Colin Marston makes a guest appearance with a solo so you know it's pedigree stuff.

Bandcamp app

Bandcamp now has it's own iphone and android app

As ever, Bandcamp get it pretty much spot on:-

- generally seems easy to use and it all works properly

- the app itself is less than 1MB.

- it seems to be perfectly happy streaming albums over 3G. It worked fine when I was sat at my desk at work. Was even more impressed to find I could walk into town to get my lunch and go in and out of shops etc without a single glitch.

- it's really good on privacy as it only asks for network access instead of full access to everything on the phone like some apps do.

Ecocide - Eye Of Wicked Sight

Sounds a bit like a slightly more straight forward, thrashier Death

Los Pecadores - Escape From Uranus (surf)

One for fans of Man Or Astroman?, Satan's Pilgrims, The Huntington Cads, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, Estrus Records, Dionysus Records, The Ventures, Dick Dale, Surfaris etc etc.

Total surf worship. Maximum reverb on the guitars and silly sci-fi samples.

The soundtrack to an evening in a tiki bar that's been squatted by punks. Cocktails served in halved coconuts and umbrellas but with Buckfast as the main ingredient.

The LP is limited to a mere 100 copies so be quick.

Vampire - s/t 7" (death metal)

One of the highlights of Live Evil fest. Hadn't heard of them before but they were great live. Real presence. Swedish death metal stuff. Lovely.

Satanic Dystopia - Double Denim Shotgun Massacre

Another bit of heavy metal for Live Evil. One of Fenriz's bands of the week so that's a somewhat trustworthy seal of approval. Raw thrashings.

Midnight - Satanic Royalty (Hell's Headbangers)

Bought this a while back but never got round to reviewing it. Posting it now as I'm off to see them at Live Evil fest. Midnight are in the vein of Venom/Bathory/Judas Priest etc. Heavy fucking metal.

The Love Triangle - Clever Clever

Messy, scuffy power-pop stuff. The label blurb explains it quite well:-

Heretofore, the Love Triangle's recordings have been marked by a particularly raw, aggressive, and even ugly take on classic power pop. Sure, the choruses were huge, but the recordings were ear-splittingly raw and aggressive. However, they've changed things up a bit for their first long-player, opting for a cleaner recording that assures nothing is lost in the translation to wax. The essential elements are still there--Tim's four-on-the-floor drumming, Josh's meandering walking bass lines, and Louis's thrillingly melodic vocals and guitar--but you can actually hear them all rather than just inferring their presence through a wall of feedback and fuzz. The effect is a full-length that recalls the classic songwriting of Nuggets greats like the Electric Prunes and the Seeds as much as it does the more melodic end of the '77 set like Protex, the Lurkers, and the Boys. An LP so good that we don't even need to tell you this is ex-Shitty Limits to get you to buy it.

There's a genuine bit of songwriting nouse going on here under the jerkiness and fuzz. Good stuff.

Plini - Sweet Nothings

Instrumental widdly tech prog-metal stuff. Coming from a similar place to Sithu Aye, Chon and Save Us From The Archon. However, it's also got a bit of a 70s/80s yacht rock thing going on as well. You could imagine it as the background music in Diagnosis Murder for a flashy guy driving a Ferrari. Or maybe Columbo going into some exclusive hotel swimming pool bar on Hawaii in the 70s.

Connections - Body Language

Bit of a Guided By Voices thing going on. Just great, slightly rough indie tuneage. I'd recommend trying Late Shift as a taster. Had that on repeat a few times.

For some reason there's no option to buy it. In the unlikely event of any of the vinyl making it's way to the UK I'd probably buy the LP. However, not going to bother getting crappy mp3s from amazon/itunes. Oh well.

Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - The Perennials

pleasant synthesizer doings

Culo - My Life Sucks And I Could Care Less (Deranged)

For some reason I'd written this off as yet another generic d-beat 'noise' punk thing. My mistake. It's more like Career Suicide or something like that. Hardcore with a bit of actual songwriting going on in the riffs.

The intro is doing my head in because I'm sure I recognise it. Sounds like Delia Derbyshire or John Baker or one of those other BBC Radiophonic Workshop people. If they made it themselves then they definitely need to do an album of that kind of stuff.

Vhol - s/t (Profound Lore)

Okily dokily, this is on Profound Lore and it's got John Cobbett of Hammers Of Misfortune playing guitar. That alone should tell you how good this Vhol record is.

What about this from the press release?

What VHOL have created is a whirlwind of upbeat raw, un-polished vicious cross-pollination where old-school hardcore, dbeat fury and punk collide with classic old-school metal (‘70s era Judas Priest meets “Show No Mercy” era Slayer/”Kill Em All” era Metallica).

It's all that and more. One of the most unique metal records I've heard in ages. They totally create their own sound. Y'know, actual creativity rather than just being a pastiche of an older, better band.

Man Or Astroman? download card

Went to see the reformed Man Or Astroman? the other night. They were fucking awesome.

On the merch table they had something I hadn't seen before but have long argued bands should have - download cards! A fiver for their new album. Half the price of the CD and a 1/3 of the price of the LP.

Portal - Vexovoid (Profound Lore)

Hurrah! Profound Lore have finally put this up on their bandcamp page. Works out at about a fiver in proper money. Worth every penny. Listened to my soulseeked copy on my headphones loads.

If you're unaware, Portal are filthy filthy filthy death metal. Filthy, fucked up and weird. They have a penchant for dressing up as possessed grandfather clocks and demented catholic priests.

They're music is just as bizarre. Certainly not run of the mill death metal stuff. It oozes and pulses in a quite peculiar way.

Beast As God (Unruh/Catharsis/Acme worship)

Beast As God = total Unruh/Catharsis/Acme/Integrity etc worship. They've got a demo coming out soon on Viral Age. Heard an unmixed/unmastered version and it's definitely going to kick your head off. In the meantime, this little live clip will have to suffice.

Ex-Dead In The Woods by the way

LSE report on filesharing concludes that it really isn't killing the music industry

The London School of Economics has whole load of research into digital media.

They've just issued a new report on the effects of filesharing called Copyright and Creation: A Case For Promoting Inclusive Online Sharing. It shows that the music industry really isn't dying and that filesharing isn't killing it.

Obviously, the music industry likes to point out that orange line showing the decline in recorded music sales. That blue line at the top, however, shows that overall revenue is increasing. The LSE's argument is that the mid-2000s slump was due to the music industry sticking their heads in the sand about digital distribution and that the uptick at the end shows they're getting their head around the idea.

And here's the bit showing how much digital has increase:-

And here's a few key lines from the report:-

"The music industry may be stagnating, but the drastic decline in revenues warned of by the lobby associations of record labels is not in evidence. "

The music industry has experienced overall revenue growth in recent times. In 2013, for the first time, UK revenues from online music were higher than revenues from CDs and vinyl combined (55% for online and 45% for CDs and vinyl of total revenues from sales of recorded music)

Revenue from online sources including recorded music sales, streaming, online radio, subscriptions and other is increasing, both absolutely and as a percentage of overall revenue.

Insisting that people will only produce creative works when they can claim exclusive ownership rights ignores the spread of practices that depend on sharing and co-creation and easy access to creative works; this insistence privileges copyright owners over these creators.

Targeting individual internet users is not likely to reverse the trend toward an online sharing culture, and there is an urgent need for independent verification of claims of harm to the creative industries as a result of individual copyright.

Vladislav Delay

Fact Mag have a rather good run down of the essential Vladislav Delay.. From that, I discovered that Vladislav Delay has a bandcamp page with loads of his albums and EPs on.

Vladislav Delay is pretty much essential if you're into electronic music and the more experimental end of techno. it's all ridiculously well produced and thought out.

Worth tracking down the issue of The Wire with a massive interview with him. Just look at these pictures of his studio!

The #1s - Sharon Shouldn't

Killer power-pop/fuzzy tuneful punk stuff from Dublin. Think Exploding Hearts/Marked Men/Pointed Sticks etc. Their last 7" was fucking great. This new one is coming out on Sorry State. Can't wait for the whole thing.

Makthaverskan - II

80s synth pop and Cocteau Twins style indie pop stuff from Sweden. Dead nice.

Girls Against Boys - The Ghost List EP

GVSB recently reformed. This is an EP of new stuff and it sounds just like GVSB should. Sleazy 90s post-hc.

Kevin Drumm and Lasse Marhaug - bandcamps for noise legends

Just found out that Kevin Drumm and Lasse Marhaug have started their own bandcamp pages to slowly put their back catalogue stuff on. They've both been doing noise and experimental stuff for years and have some level of quality control so it's worth checking their stuff out:-

Kevin Drumm bandcamp

Lasse Marhaug bandcamp

Hopefully it might inspire other decent noise artists/labels to put up good quality back catalogue stuff.

Orgone Accumulators - august 2013 demo

THE GREATEST MUSIC YOU WILL EVER HEAR IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!

Yeah, I'm a bit biased cos I made it but it is worth a listen. Started as an attempt to make an electronica version of Man Or Astroman? Ended up as some kind of synth-y lo-fi indie thing?

Noise Rock - 2013 'scene report'

Noise rock is on fire at the moment. There's a small number of bands putting out absolutely killer stuff at the moment. Pretty much the only thing I'm scrabbling around collecting vinyl of. A lot of it seems to fall through the cracks and not get much attention. That's why I thought I'd bung together a list of the great stuff that's out there in one place.

It's probably worth stating roughly what I'm defining noise rock as to avoid confusion. I'm thinking of the output of labels like Amphetamine Reptile. Bands like Unsane, Helmet, Big Black, Distorted Pony, Glazed Baby, Hammerhead, Fudge Tunnel, 16, Cherubs etc.

It'd include Jesus Lizard but not the millions of post-ATP Lizard wannabe indie bands littering University cities across the world. Nor really the Lightning Bolt/Skin Graft/Load kind of thing (although you definitely need to check out Xaddax). The bands all probably like Swans as well but I'm not talking about hour long brutal doom stuff either.

Hope that makes some kind of sense. Anyway, all the following bands vaguely fit in that description. Also, I fully approve them all as quality noise rock. I can't be bothered finding a load of different ways to say each band is good. Every one of the bands on this list is good. Now go check them out. Oh, and feel free to make any suggestions in the comments. Keeping up with the noise rock tag on this here blog might be a wise idea too

HEBOSAGIL
http://hebosagil.bandcamp.com/
After a killer 7" on Kvlt Of Nihilow the gods of awesome Finnish music, Circle, have released the new LP on their Full Contact label.
A review, another review, another one.
Hebosagil on facebook

THROAT
http://ihatethroat.bandcamp.com/album/manhole
"fans of Unsane, Die 116, Tad, Bastards etc take note and obey." - Collective zine review
Another fantastic noise rock band from Finland. They've been putting out some great releases on Kvlt Of Nihilow, At War With False Noise as well as their own, excellent Kaos Kontrol label

BAXTER STOCKMAN
http://bstockman.bandcamp.com/
"The guitar parts crawl and lurk, reminiscent of the Jesus Lizard or some of the snakier, more aggro moments presented by bands like Crain, Rodan or the Shipping News while anchorage is provided by glutinous lumps of bass gloop that slide and slump ominously in the background" - Collective zine review
Yet more awesome Finnish stuff put out by Kvlt Of Nihilow and Ektro
Baxter Stockman on facebook

LURCH
http://lurchsongs.bandcamp.com/album/demo-april-2013
Think of stuff like Trance Syndicate, Band Of Susans, The God Machine, Foetus, Swans, Old Lady Drivers, Bastro, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Amphetamine Reptile etc. The guitars go from the really noisey end of indie stuff to all out sludge. Vocals go from almost-sung stuff (that's actually comprehensible) to agonised screams.
Lurch on facebook

TILE
http://tilenoise.bandcamp.com/
I've been waiting for this album for quite a while. They put an amazing 7" on Kvlt Of Nihilow but that was back in 2010. Thankfully it doesn't disappoint. It's more top tier noise rock. At times there's Pissed Jeans-esque tunes but generally just thunders the riffs along. Definitely an album I'm picking up on vinyl.
Tile on facebook

DRUNK IN HELL
http://drunkinhell.bandcamp.com/
Best band in the UK by a mile. "Vile noiserock shitstorm" was the description i put on a flyer once. There's been talk of them doing a split with the mighty Kilslug. Fingers crossed for records soon. In the meantime youtube will have to do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOvOKIm4mdc - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41S2NNUHI-I - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he4W0DVMgK4
Drunk In Hell on facebook

WOLFBAIT
http://artforblind.bandcamp.com/album/w-lfbait
This is sick. Horrid, slow, relentless, pulverising dirge. Swans. Describe themselves as "kraut violence". Imagine Man Is The Bastard covering a Neu song. But a Neu song written by Chrome at their bad acid addled worst. Like being tarred and feathered and thrown into a cesspit.
Wölfbait on facebook

PINK CITY
http://pinkcity.bandcamp.com/album/virgins
Drum machine noise rock duo that "have found some FX and parts sound a bit like Nirvana drunkenly trying to do My Bloody Valentine stuff" Spoonful of tar
Pink City on facebook

WARBRIDES
http://warbrides.bandcamp.com/
Got a bit of math-y Chicago rock going on amongst the noise rock riffage

HYRROKKIN
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/streaming-hyrrokkins-anacoluthon/
Like a jazzier Dazzling Killmen or a punkier Caspar Brotzmann Massaker. the Decibel thingy mentions Dysrythmia and Sonny Sharrock. a friend mentioned Nels Cline and Sun City Girls' jazzy moments.
Hyrrokkin on facebook

FRIEND COLLECTOR
http://friendcollector.bandcamp.com/album/fcii
the awesome Built On A Weak Spot blog compared them to Swans, Glazed Baby and Drunks With Guns. 'nuff said.
Friend Collector on bandcamp

MURDEREDMAN
http://polar-envy.bandcamp.com/album/murderedman
Murderedman on facebook

FAKING
http://faking.bandcamp.com/
Only a raw 3 track demo so far but hopefully there'll be records soon
Faking on facebook

DROSE
http://droseohio.bandcamp.com/album/a-voice-7
Interview at Destroyed Human, Collective review
Drose on facebook


DIRTDRINKER
http://dirtdrinker.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-lp
If you like stuff like Unsane, Ken Mode, Kowloon Walled City and Coalesce then you're going to be into this. It kind of exists in the grey area between noise rock and the good offkilter end of metallic hardcore (ie Hydrahead, Kiss It Goodbye, Botch, Deadguy etc). In some places the vocals even reach Steve Austin of Today Is The Day levels of intensity.
Dirtdrinker on facebook

PORNOGRAPHY
http://prngrphy.bandcamp.com/
"horrid Swans style noise rock. Repetitive dischords battered out in a most uncomfortable manner." according to me
Destroyed Human review

KOWLOON WALLED CITY
http://kowloonwalledcity.bandcamp.com/album/container-ships
Their first 2 albums, Turk Street and Gambling On The Richter Scale that Feast Of Tentacles put out are totally essential. Pounding rhythmic noise rock stuff. New album veers into a slightly more shoegaze-y sound but is still awesome. UK tour long overdue.
Kowloon Walled City on facebook

TIDE OF IRON
http://shybairnsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tide-of-iron-sow-ep
http://superfirecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-3
Keelhaul/Today Is The Day inspired stuff from Newcastle. Only a split on Super Fi Records so far. In the meantime, this video they made of Bill Cosby dancing to one of their songs is quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0BqXqoLgp4

ART OF BURNING WATER
http://artofburningwater.bandcamp.com/album/this-disgrace
"AOBW channel the prime noise-rock of vintage Zeni Geva and Godflesh with the more complex rhythmical riff obsessions of the Melvins, Keelhaul and mid-period Voivod" according to their press release - http://spoonfuloftar.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/art-of-burning-water-this-disgrace-riot.html
Art Of Burning Water on facebook

GODSTOPPER
http://godstopper.bandcamp.com/
"Somewhere between the Thunder-Pop of sparkly heavy-hitters Torche, the aggressive sludge of fellow Floridians Cavity and the awkward stop-start dream-logic quasi-operatic noise rock of Pony Express Record-era Shudder To Think" - Sleeping Shaman
"stop thinking and get deep into a dichotomous band where dream pop meets nightmare metal, with a healthily unusual mixing of chiming major chords and filthy bass stabs together with chanting underpinned by crushing doom" - Collective zine review
Godstopper on facebook

BONE
http://boneband.bandcamp.com/album/for-want-of-feeling
Melbourne, Australia must be a bleak place. This lot have got a sparse, post-punk thing going on. kind of taut basslines with those old goth-y tom-heavy drums. But then there's also hints of 90s touch and go, Bastro, God Machine, Trumans Water and similar things.
Bone on facebook

SINKING SUNS
http://sinkingsuns.bandcamp.com/
The excellent folk over at Shiny Grey Monotone mentioned Killdozer, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Scratch Acid, Tar, Crucifucks, Big'N, Sicbay and Distorted Pony in their review.
Sinking Suns on facebook

Well, there you go. A bunch of awesome noise rock bands. By the way, there's a gig in London waiting for any of these bands plus some help sorting a UK tour.

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City

As ever, for the more mainstream stuff, Boomkat will sort you out nicely for an independent place to get the FLAC from

Well bugger me sideways with an animatronic panda and call me Wesley, Vampire Weekend have managed to make an album without any horrendous songs on. They've always had some really great songs on their albums but interspersed with stuff that veered from average to outright embarrassing. Take the first album for example. A Punk makes me literally want to jump under a combine harvester. The worst shit in the world ever. Like an unholy mixture of Less Than Jake, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Coldplay.

However, you could make a pretty decent EP out of that first album with help from the delete button. Second one had some great tunes as well but a fair amount of filler too.

Thankfully it's actually possible to listen to this new Vampire Weekend album all the way through without wanting to jump on a plane and batter the band's family pets to death with a golf club.

Quite an achievement in anyone's books.

Here's the good tunes:-

Iron Lung - White Glove Test

Once again Iron Lung prove that their lightyears beyond the rest of the 'power violence' hardcore crowd. All modern grindcore is rendered even more irrelevant than it already is. Burn Maximum Rock n Roll towers to the ground. Send every hardcore punk record made in the past few years to be melted down and recycled. Push every member of a xCelebrityNamex band under a speeding bus. Ban anyone with dreadlocks from buying a guitar. It's done. It's all over. Iron Lung are Gods.

Ice Dragon - Born A Heavy Morning

Some quality early 70s rock worship. Rather than balls out rocking or Sabbath dooming Ice Dragon go for a slightly more stately Groundhogs/Humble Pie almost prog feel.

Flaum Adger - s/t (ex-Jesus Lizard)

Folk from Jesus Lizard and Dis- get together to make a record of classic Chicago style underground rock.

Relatively tuneful which gives it a bit of a Tar feel in places.

The Tunnel - s/t

because you need a Venezualan duo that sound like Torche/Harvey Milk gone operatic but with organ & salsa beats in your life

worth watching this video until at least the 5:30 mark where it all goes wild Van Halen shredding and then he starts to dance.



This may well be my new favourite band. I'd try to explain this in more depth but I think I need to go and have a lie down for a while.

Tyranny Is Tyranny - Let It Come From Whom It May

Think 90s Ebullition/Crimethinc putting out a noise rock/Amphetamine Reptile type band. Maybe something like Torches To Rome crossed with Ire but with more Hammerhead than hardcore in the riffs. Lots of rhythmic guitar stuff, a few 'twinkles', some heavy bits. Seriously good stuff.

Daniel Rosenboom - Book Of Omens

This is jazz metal with the emphasis heavily on the jazz. This Rosenboom bloke is a proper jazz bloke (a trumpeter). Watched some live videos and it's all expensive shirts and mineral water and designer glasses. No bad thing in my book. Just trying to make sure you don't think it's some kind of Naked City style long haired skronk-athon.

Imagine the jazz songs Candiria did but with Meshuggah levels of technicality played by real jazz folk. It's weird because some of the guitar playing gets pretty brtual and dissonant but it still all sounds quite smooth. You know how Sonny Sharrock just starts randomly battering his guitar in the middle of Herbie Mann stuff? A bit like that but a tech-metal version.

Oh, and it's not tech-metal in a jaw dropping WTF widdlemageddon Behold The Arctopus type way. You could probably get away with playing it in a fancy restaurant. Well, for a while. The clientele would soon be ordering their steak ultra-rare and eating it bare handed and smearing blood over themselves before demanding a human sacrifice for dessert.

Svart Crown - Profane

Sick, weird technical death metal stuff from France. Starkweather were posting about a new song by Ulcerate this morning. They basically said FFO Gorguts, Pyrrhon, Portal and Svart Crown. Love the other bands already so thought I'd check Svart Crown out. Holy shit! Add something like Deathspell Omega to that list of bands and you're about there. Quality.

Trumans Water/Birdbath split

Well bugger me, Trumans Water are still going. Great news as they're a total 90s underground classic. Like a bastard punk rock Sonic Youth or something.

Was just watching this recently unearthed live footage of Trumans Water from 1993 and thought I'd check out what they're doing now.



Birdbath are alright too. Kind of math-y noisey indie rock stuff. You could imagine them playing with Bilge Pump.

Meridian Brothers - Desesperanza (Soundway)

One of those bands that's impossible to describe. Think a mix of The Residents, Ethiopiques compilations, 60s surf instrumentals, old 60s electronics and Latin American psych stuff like Os Mutantes and that Tropicalia compilation Soul Jazz put out.

This Colombian band are dead tuneful but in a really bizarre way. Highly recommended though.





Oh, and they've also done one of the strangest covers of Purple Haze I've heard



Boomkat is the place for FLAC of this

Moon Tooth - Freaks EP

Banged on about how great the one song they put up on bandcamp last month was. The whole EP is available now.

Imagine Angel Dust by Faith No More but a preposterously over the top tech metal widdle version.

Obstruct - No Life 7"

Early 80s Boston hardcore worship. Voorhees children.

Renounced - Conditioned From Birth (metalcore)

CHUG CHUG CHUG SQUEEK SQUEEK CHUG SQUEEK CHUGERDYCHUGERDYCHUGERDYCHUGERDY CHUG CHUG SQUEEEEEEEEEK.

Yup, metalcore. 7 Angels, 7 Plagues, Morning Again, Disembodied, Turmoil, Dragbody, Shai Hulud etc.

They even have a 'passionate' melodic guitar song called Interlude.

Quickly breaks back into chugs and squeels though.

I'll be incredibly disappointed if I catch them live and the guitars aren't permanently pointed skywards

Grime 2.0

Picked up the 4LP version of this at the recent independent record label market for a bargain £17 straight from the label. Yup, 4 whole LPs for £17.

The FLAC is available from Boomkat for £9. Still worth it.

It's basically a compilation of great current grime stuff. There's stuff on here from across the world which goes to show how it's spread from inner London.

Here's some decent tracks from it. The Preditah one especially is heavy as hell.:-





oh, and here's a short mix of it all

Spacebag - Magnetic Struggle (ex Rorschach/Kiss It Goodbye)

Prog-tastic instrumental riff fest.

Recommended via Shiny Grey Monotone (definitely one of my favourite music blogs). They mentioned stuff like Rush and Don Caballero. I reckon there's bits of The Fucking Champs in there. Perhaps if Gone jammed Nocturnus riffs? Great stuff.

It's folk from Rorschach, Die 116, Kiss It Goodbye, Playing Enemy etc and you know full well how great those bands are. They couldn't do a shit band if they tried.

Ovlov - AM (shoegaze/indie)

Great shoegaze/indie stuff from the same label that put out Pile

Kind of flits between Dinosaur Jr and woozy effects laden MBV type stuff.

They've got tunes to back it all up with. Ones that'll totally get stuck in your head. You could imagine it fitting on Captured Tracks if it wasn't quite so dirty.

Full Of Hell - Rudiments Of Mutilation (A389)

Utter brutality. downtuned heavy stuff with noise bits. slow, atonal non-mosh riff bits with fastblasts occasionally. If you took the mid-point of stuff like Man Is The Bastard/Crossed and Unruh/Left For Dead and took a detour via Eyehategod. This could have been on Bovine or Pessimiser. Metallic hardcore that's fucked in the head. No mosh. No fun. Perfect.

Sick/Tired - King Of Dirt (power violence)

Top notch power violence. As in power violence. Not a bunch of tepid piss-weak Spazz wannabes being 'wacky'.

A friend with impeccable taste just posted about this and it's virtually unheard of for him to recommend a current PV band. I'm listening now and I can hear why. They've got the brutality but also individuality in the riffs. They're focused on tearing your brain apart rather than just soundtracking mosh dudes with over familiar riffs.

Definitely in the spirit of bands like Iron Lung or Column Of Heaven etc.

Best music of 2013 so far

Lists are great. I'm quite happy that there seems to be a general trend of places doing roundups of "Best Records so far this year" at various points in the year. They're too good to be done only at the end of the year. Occupy the Gregorian Calendar ;-)

Anyway, I reckon 2013 has been fucking great for records so far. In particular order here's a bunch of really good ones:-

California X - s/t (Don Giovanni)

Merchandise - Total Nite (Night People)
FLAC - youtube

Mikal Cronin - MCII (Merge)

Pissed Jeans - Honeys (Sub Pop)

Roomrunner - Ideal Cities (Fan Death)

Power Trip - Manifest Decimation (Southern Lord)

Pine Barrens - Kingmaker (Super Fi/Art For Blind)

Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth (Captured Tracks)

Vhöl - s/t (Profound Lore)

Arboretum - Coming Out Of The Fog (Thrill Jockey)

Shugo Takumaru - In Focus (Polyvinyl)

Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance (Peaceville)

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety (Software)

Chelsea Light Moving - s/t (Matador)

Spectral Park - s/t (Mexican Summer)

Syclops - A Blink Of An Eye (Running Back)
WAV

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Don't pretend you're too cool for school, that Moroder song was ace.

Dead Lord - Goodbye Repentance (High Roller)
no FLAC available - Youtube of a good song
Sweden's answer to Thin Lizzy.

Portal - Vexovoid (Profound Lore)
no FLAC available (shame as I've bought a few Profound Lore albums from their bandcamp page) - youtube
disgusting brain melting death metal

Omar S - Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself (FXHE)
WAV

Night Marchers - Allez Allez (Swami)
no FLAC available
It's John Reis for christ's sake

Maxmillion Dunbar - House Of Woo (RVNG)
Bandcamp

Church Whip - Psychedelic Nightmare (Vinyl Rites)
no FLAC available - youtube
raw black metal punk stuff

Hounds Of Hate - s/t (Painkiller)
no FLAC available - youtube
chuggy NYHC type stuff. think one of Pissed Jeans is involved

Incendiary - Cost Of Loving (Closed Casket Activities)
no FLAC available - youtube
90s mosh chug hc

Melvins - Everyone Loves Sausages (Ipecac)
Review - WAV
Melvins doing a covers album. Of course it's awesome.

Nails - Abandon All Life (Southern Lord)
Bandcamp
absolute savage riffery

Red Hare - Nites Of Midnite (Dischord)
no FLAC available - youtube
basically it's Swiz under a different name. harDCore greatness

Hardbodies - s/t
bandcamp
power pop/glam tunes

Damnations Hammer - Disciples Of The Hex
Review - Bandcamp
Celtic Frost worship

Cafe Kaput - Applied Music Vol 1: Science & Nature (Cafe Kaput)
Bandcamp
Library synth noodles in a Ghost Box style

Indricothere - II
Bandcamp
Insane tech widdle from Colin Marston (Krallice/Behold The Arctopus)

Night Birds - Born To Die In Suburbia (Grave Mistake)
Review - bandcamp
Tony Molina - Dissed And Dismissed
Bandcamp
Guy from Ovens doing more Weezer meets Guided By Voices stuff
Alabaster - s/t (Musicfearsatan)
Bandcamp
Kiss It Goodbye/Unsane/Keelhaul style hardcore from France

Brokeback - Brokeback And The Black Rock (Thrill Jockey
FLAC - youtube

Pye Corner Audio - Superstitious Century (Boomkat)
no FLAC available - youtube

Absolut - demo
Review - bandcamp
raw metal punk

Primitive Man - Scorn (Throatruiner)
Review - Bandcamp
crushing misanthropic doom like Noothgrush/Corrupted

Enforcer - Death By Fire
no FLAC available - youtube
heavy fucking metal

Lurch - demo
Review - Bandcamp
Think of stuff like Trance Syndicate, Band Of Susans, The God Machine, Foetus, Swans, Old Lady Drivers, Bastro, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Amphetamine Reptile etc.

Boards Of Canada

Function

Queens Of The Stone Age

Night Birds - Born To Die In Suburbia

OK, I've banged on about how fucking awesome Night Birds are previously - here and here

Obviously my taste in music is impeccable and you take my word as fucking gospel on what bands to check out. Therefore you should already be aware of just how good Night Birds are.

For the slackers sitting at the back of the class you need to get on this right now. Tuneful surf punk stuff. Think Adolescents, Wipers, Dead Kennedys, Agent Orange etc. One of those sounds that everyone from pop punk types to crusties to indie folk can't deny.

I guarantee you'll be whistling this tunes by the end of the week and clamouring for them to come over the UK and tour again.

Obliterations - s/t

Black Flag/Bl'ast! + 70s Rock stuff. They're doing a decent job of filling in the hole left by Annihilation Time. Obviously it isn't quite as good as AT but they set the bar extremely high. This is only Obliterations debut 7" so they've got the potential to become really mindblowing. For the moment the quality of the rocking is more than sufficient to warrant recommending a listen.

Wormed - Exodromos (Willowtip)

Ridiculously OTT tech/widdly death metal stuff on Willowtip. Ludicrous time signatures galore, guitar solos that make no sense whatsoever.

I could live without the vocals. They're just that bland, monotone growl that's popular in this kind of thing. Drums are a bit clicky as well.

However, if you can look past that, there's some very silly guitars going on.

Dirtdrinker - s/t (noise rock)

If you like stuff like Unsane, Ken Mode, Kowloon Walled City and Coalesce then you're going to be into this. It kind of exists in the grey area between noise rock and the good offkilter end of metallic hardcore (ie Hydrahead, Kiss It Goodbye, Botch, Deadguy etc). In some places the vocals even reach Steve Austin of Today Is The Day levels of intensity. They've got a good sense of dynamics and song structure as well. Certainly not one dimensional.

Fucking great stuff. So good I'm going to track down the vinyl rather than jsut buying the flac.

Noisem - Agony Defined (A389)

Was put off by the name a bit I must confess. Made me think of average mid-noughties vaguely tech euro grind on sub-Relapse labels for some reason.

Thankfully it's an awesome blast of Slayer/Exodus style thrash metal. Just 9, short & too the point songs so it doesn't out stay it's welcome. Just listened to it twice and it's a perfect instant hit of wailing guitar solos and mosh riffs and general thrashing.

You can immediately hear it's top tier stuff that's more than just a bit of retro-pastiche. Bang on.

Arc Neon - Blood Sport 2092

John Carpenter 80s film soundtrack synth worship that's not a million miles away from what the likes of Umberto, Zombi and Gatekeeper are doing.

This is the plot of the film:

"Welcome to Blood Sport, where the only prize is to die quickly."

"Set in the far corner of the galaxy this barbaric test of rage and evil is the only form of entertainment that's deemed legal by the Ultra-Mega Corps who now control the the intergalactic slave population. Each year the contestants are dropped on the dying planet of Zothique to do battle until only one stands victorious. However this year the body count might just be quadrupled..."

-You are condemned to Blood Sport.

Someone should make it.

gets a bit euphoric euro-trance towards the end of Remembering Past Winners though ;-)

Neglected - demo (Power Violence)

The lesser spotted "non shitty new PV band" was how a friend described them. Not a bunch of half-arsed Infest riffs and lyrics about pizza. It's Iron Lung/Endless Blockade territory. Neglected are from Turkey so I guess they've got genuine reasons to be angry

Pink City - Virgins

More great noise rock stuff. Not as pounding and brutal as earlier Pink City stuff. They've found some FX and parts sound a bit like Nirvana drunkenly trying to do My Bloody Valentine stuff. I mean that as a compliment ;-)

Still lots of heavy thudding guitars and screeds of noise though.

Great stuff. Get on it.

Spoonful Of Tar mix 3

Spoonful Of Tar mix 3 by Ewanfrater on Mixcloud

Just a short mix of some stuff I've been enjoying recently - Dead Lord, Power Trip, Tony Molina, The Barreracudas, Mikal Cronin, Lurch, Alabaster, Red Hare

Art Of Burning Water song from new 7"

Mentioned before about how fucking awesome Art Of Burning Water are

This is a song from a forthcoming 7". Quality noise rock ('math metal?) riffage.

You can't download it just yet but the label seems to have all it's other releases available as 'pay what you like' downloads.

tile - You Had A Friend In Pennsylvania

I've been waiting for this album for quite a while. They put an amazing 7" on Kvlt Of Nihilow but that was back in 2010.

Thankfully it doesn't disappoint. It's more top tier noise rock. At times there's Pissed Jeans-esque tunes but generally just thunders the riffs along.

Definitely an album I'm picking up on vinyl.

Richard Pinhas - Desolation Row

Two awesome things to note. Firstly, there's a new Richard Pinhas album and it's sounding pretty damn good. Secondly, Cuneiform Records have put tons of their back catalogue up on bandcamp.

If you're unaware of who Richard Pinhas is then you need to get your lugholes around Stand By by Heldon. Wild 70s French prog rock band. King Crimson and Magma type freakouts. Essential stuff.



Richard Pinhas's solo stuff is a bit Fripp & Eno but minus any kind of 'ambient' Eno influence. He did a collaboration record with Merzbow for fucks sake.

Anyway, if you love genuinely innovative and unique guitar stuff then you need to at least check out some of his stuff.

Moon Tooth - Ebb/Flow

Got a friend who's always got his ear to the ground for awesome tech metal stuff. This was his tip for today. Lots of techy widdle and odd time signatures. Vocals weren't quite what i was expecting. Kind of sung which makes it sound more like Dream Theater or something like that. They also seem to have a bit of a knack for basing all the widdle on something approaching an actual tune.

Pornography - Heaven (noise rock)

Think I must be getting old because my reaction to this band name is to roll my eyes and sigh.

Crap name aside, this is some horrid Swans style noise rock. Repetitive dischords battered out in a most uncomfortable manner.

Good shit.

Perturbator - I Am The Night

 

This is absolutely superb! This album is described as "80s" and one of the tracks is titled "Technoir"... so you can probably guess by now what to expect from this. Yes, total 80s scifi movie soundtrack worship! Really solid stuff; driving, pumping, sexy, synthy, utterly evocative of every 80s trashy scifi/action film I grew up absolutely loving.

To every person who grew up in the 80s and has seen The Terminator about ten million times (so, me then) you will fucking love this!

Snowblood discography (Super Fi)

Super Fi released 3 albums by this lot over the years. DIY doom stuff from Scotland. Heavy and a bit odd.

Criminally underrated.







oh, and some of them have a new band called OMMADON who are well worth checking out. More bleak doom.

Dripping Ancience - s/t (Ocrilim)

Another great release by Mick Barr of Orthrelm/Krallice.

This time he's playing an Azeri Tar and has an improv percussionist backing him up.

Closest comparison i can think of is Flower Corsano Duo



Definitely like to hear more of this side project.

Melvins - Everybody Loves Sausages (Ipecac)

Juno are selling the wav of this for £10.99.. Can't find FLAC anywhere. Ironically, Boomkat now have the CD on sale for £6.99.

OK, it's the Melvins. If you don't love the Melvins then you might as well stop reading now. Go out and buy a copy of Lysol or Houdini or something and sort your pitiful life out.

Everyone else is probably aware that this is them doing covers with an occasional guest appearance. Not a million miles away from the Crybaby album. Personally that's one of my favourite. This isn't too shabby either.

Kicks off with a great version of Warhead by Venom. Let's start off with a controversial opinion - the Melvins version is better than the Venom version. For a start it doesn't lead into total dross like Lady Lust.

Instead they go into You're My Best Friend by Queen. Great song. Great cover. Then it's straight onto an awesome version of Black Betty. Dale or Coady turn out some awesome cowbell action on this one.

Can't be bothered going through every song but some highlights are a version of Station To Station by David Bowie with JG Thirwell of Foetus joining in for 10 minutes of kraut-esque joy; Timothy Leary Lives by a totally obscure KBD type punk band; and Heathen Earth by Throbbing Gristle finishing things off is a treat. Ooh, one more, Tom Hazelmeyer (of Halo Of Flies and head honcho of Amphetamine Reptile Records) joining in for a snotty version of Art School by the Jam.

If you like Melvins and generally have good taste in music then this one is a no brainer.

Damnations Hammer - Disciples Of The Hex

You like Celtic Frost?

Damnations Hammer exist somewhere in the wilds of the North West of England and have made one hell of a savage metal album. Musically it's very Celtic Frost and the vocals sometimes sound like the guy from Primordial/Blood Revolt.

I Hate Records from Sweden put out the CD earlier this year. They put out stuff like Pagan Altar, Evoken, The Austrasian Goat, Jex Thoth etc so you know they've got fine taste in metal.

Highly recommended.

Friend Collector - FCII (noise rock)

Discovered this via the excellent Built On A Weak Spot blog. A great place to find new noise rock stuff. Sadly it's stopping. Real shame.

Anyway, they compared this to Drunk With Guns, Glazed Baby and Swans.

Got to agree that this is good stuff. Filthy Am Rep noise rock. Nothing quite beats it.

Not Waving (ex Walls)

new Not Waving album is streaming over at Dummy

It's half of Walls (the Kompakt one not the Iron Lung one) and it's similar kind of fuzzy synth oooze. They've got some EPs on the bandcamp as well which are also lovely.

Oblivionation (ex OUT COLD) new songs

The Oblivionation demo was fantastic

Basically it's folk from Out Cold doing a band that sounds pretty much like Out Cold. Early 80s US hardcore stuff played by masters of the sound who were doing it years before it became even remotely acceptable let alone slightly popular.

Kirin J Callinan - W II W/Thighs 7"

An Australian guy that's come up with some creepy Foetus style music. Jittery drums overlayed with goth-tinged weirdness. Bizarre industrial pop.

And that's just the first song. The flipside is minimal guitar stuff with drawling vocals. Think Tom Waits or Scott Walker.

Really struggling to describe this accurately. Which is a good thing.

This guy is a total freak off in his own little sound world.

Red Hare - Nites Of Midnite (Dischord)

ex Swiz band on Dischord. What the hell else do you need to say?

Unfortunately, Dischord are yet another independent label that don't make FLAC available. They do mp3 so at least they've got some idea that it's the 21st Century. However, at the risk of repeating myself, why would I want to pay money for a poor quality reproduction of the music? FLAC is the exact thing that comes out of the studio. Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh etc etc etc etc.

Anyway, it's really fucking this good album. Fingers crossed they tour the UK.

FACT magazine's Best Of Bandcamp

FACT magazine have started a Best Of Bandcamp feature

Basically, each month they pick about 10 awesome things they've found on Bandcamp.

They have good taste in the general 'dance' music thing so it's worth checking out if you're into any of the myriad genres that fall under that definition.

Neon Piss - Vinyl Rites

Somehow missed that Neon Piss have a new 7" out. We're talking great tuneful punk. Like The Observers (if you're skinny) or like Wipers (if you've got a beergut).

Bologna Violenta - The Sound Of compilation series (Grindcore Karaoke)

What does a band sound like when their entire discography is played at the same time? A glorious, hideous mess. That's what.

Surprisingly, it also makes for quite interesting listening. Actually listened to quite a few of these so far. Honestly, I thought I'd listen to about a minute of one of them, have a laugh, and then just forget about it. Not the case though.

Should mention Grindcore Karaoke have put up a whole series of these albums. 40 artistst get the Bologna Violenta treatment in total. Everything from Abba to Pantera.

The Charles Bronson track above is a good place to start as it's a mere one and a half minutes long. Gives you an idea of how it all works and how you you can hear sounds fade in and out. Also, shows how the sound changes dramatically towards the end as less songs are playing.

It sounds like 7 Minutes Of Nausea or something like that. Or a bit like the Anal Cunt 7" with 5643 songs on it. AC basically recorded short songs layered on top of each other. Total mess.

The Abba track sounds good as well. You can occasionally pick up bits of melodies from the gloop. Not a million miles away from the racket V/VM used to make.

It makes you feel a bit like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit when you're listening to it. Absolute headfuck.

Doom - 25 Years Of Crust

Who'd of thought you'd see the day when Doom released a greatest hits album ;-)

Power Trip - Manifest Decimation (Southern Lord)

Boomkat sort out FLAC for Southern Lord in the UK so go here for when it's released early next month - http://boomkat.com/search?q=southern%20lord&fields%5B%5D=

Or else, Southern Lord might put it up on their bandcamp

This is, quite possibly, the best crossover thrash revival album that's been made. If you told me it was a long lost album from the mid-80s I'd be inclined to believe you.

Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Cro Mags, Hirax and so on.

Municipal Waste seemed to kickstart the thrash revival and since then there's been tons of fairly mediocre bands floating about. Even the best bands just sounded like mere pastiche.

Power Trip don't fall into that trap though. They've cracked it. They've made a crossover album that is genuinely as good as the original 80s stuff.