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.

Indricothere - II (ex Behold The Arctopus/Krallice/Gorguts etc)

Amazing OTT widdly technical metal stuff.

It's the solo project of Colin Marston from Behold The Arctopus, Krallice, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia etc.

What else do you need to know?br>
Totally mindmelting stuff.

Simon Aulman - Doctored Placebo

Welcome to my newest planet of grotesque elephantine distortion and tender licking exquisiteness. Yes I like this one quite a lot - but the newest one is always overrated. It starts the way I'd love everything to start and belly and end - with something blunderingly simple and repetitive. Unfortunately it sounds more repetitive than it really is. It sounds like some lazy five second loop going on till OAPdom. But it's actually quite complicated and if you listen hard you can hear how it moves from being jumpy and off-kilter to being smoother and better-flowing. But no one will listen hard - or soft - or at all. And that's how it should be. I'm bored of it already. The moment the final track is starting to upload I want to get on to the next thing. The second track is actually even lazier than the first one. How I love lazy music. It's the kind of slightly odd music that your mum loves - because it's so insta-sexily hip-in/out rhythmic - but every muso will despise it because it's just a lazy echo-y thing. The title of the second track is inspired by the title of that absolutely fantastic old documentary about Chet Baker - "Let's Get Lost" - which I watched this morning before it got light, before the boot-sale. If Let's Get Lost is still on youtube then it's well worth a pot - and probably a more delightful experience than hearing this album. A lot of work went into the third and fourth tracks. When I say "a lot of work" I mean about an hour each. Which for someone as impatient as myself is a long time in front of the computer. I totally love them. But it's the same love you have for your own farts and your own children and poetry and dreams - no one else is intrigued. But anyone who makes it to the centre of the tracks will maybe like the lusher slower keys, losing the war against the terrible distortion. And maybe not. The long final track is probably fairly boring to anyone else, but I like it and I can assure you it's not repetitive at all - every moment is unique. This is my favourite album so far. Everything was made in LMMS - which I've now been using for about a month. I haven't learnt anything more since about the second day. Malcolm Gladwell says that in another ten thousand hours I should be a genius at it. The prang is that it's getting harder - the more I know the harder it is to keep it simple and naive and I'm losing the freedom of being able to think Oh Bugger It and then just echo everything so that boring random bangs become simple minimal swaying procreative pleasures. I spent more time doing the cover than I did doing the first and second and final tracks and look how crappy-naff-sicky that photo turned out, which is a good lesson to anyone else who is patiently polishing their turd.

Barge - No Gain 7" (Grave Mistake)

Premium quality Infest/No Comment worship.

Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol 2

Contemporary pop music from the Sahara desert, where songs are stored on cellphones. Collected in Northern Mali in 2010 (since taken over by extremists who've banned music on cellphones) the second volume expands into new sonic territory - from dreamy Niger guitar ballads, Bamako club juke, to hi energy Moroccan child Raï - with a focus on the Autotuned DIY creations circulating the desert.

Only half way through listening to this second instalment of Music From Saharan Cellphones but it's standing up well with the awesome first volume.

Basically, it covers the mutant sounds of the Saharan desert. A scene where music gets passed around via mobile phones. Completely the antithesis of "authentic" Womad style world music. Recognisably African in sound but filtered through autotune and hip hop and rock but in completely and utterly unique ways.

Impossible to describe really. It's totally sui generis.

Under The Church - Demo 2013 (old school death metal)

ex Nirvana 2002.

Fiends for old school Swedish death metal will have already clicked on the link.

Samothrace (20 Buck Spin) & Bell Witch (Profound Lore) - London, Monday 6th May

So yeah, this isn't really a review of the bands' records but fuck it. My blog, my rules ;-)

Milgram Records presents:

Monday 6th May
@ The Black Heart, Camden

SAMOTHRACE
doom from the US on 20 Buck Spin


BELL WITCH
doom from the US on Profound Lore


BALISTRARIA
raw black metal from Lich/Hunger/Human Junk folk

£10 in, 7pm start

http://www.facebook.com/events/438921616184495

Blackest Ever Black

BLACKEST EVER BLACK have a bandcamp page now - http://blackesteverblack.bandcamp.com/

Home of some of the best electronic sounds going at the moment: Raime, Regis, Cut Hands, Dalhous, Vatican Shadow, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, Prurient. Harsh & bleak techno/industrial sounds.

They've only got two albums up there at the moment but hopefully they'll put the back catalogue on. There's a Prurient piece and also this from Alexander Lewis:-

Night Birds - Maimed For The Masses 7" (Fat Wreck)

Loved the last Night Birds LP.

This 7" is more of the same. Tuneful, surf guitar tinged punk rock. Agent Orange, Adolescents, Descendents, Zero Boys and that kind of thing but with an added dose of Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and Man Or Astroman?

Kind of surprised to see it being released by Fat Wreck. Not quite what you usually associate with them. Hopefully should mean more people get into them. Good for them. Also makes it more likely they'll come back and tour the UK again.

Seriously, Night Birds UK tour soon please.

Apparently there's a new LP out soon too. Can't wait. In the meantime these 4 songs will have to tide me over.