Chelsea Light Moving - s/t (Matador)

http://boomkat.com/downloads/663793-chelsea-light-moving-chelsea-light-moving

This is as good as 80s Sonic Youth.

Just thought I'd mention that first in case you were liable to skip over this review due to the phrase "Thurston Moore's new band".

I nearly gave Chelsea Light Moving a miss because of this but I'm glad I didn't. Definitely worth taking a leap of faith to get over that gut feeling it's just going to be average at best.

It's got a slightly more punk feel to it than Sonic Youth and I'm not just saying that due to it finishing with Communist Eyes. It strips out the slightly nicer pro-sound and becomes a lot more jarring and heavy without descending into just some self indulgent guitar noise noodling.

There's some really great bits where it almost reaches Caspar Brotzmann Massaker or High Rise levels of glorious, horrible atonal guitar riffing. At other points there's actual chug riffs.

And, of course, there's plenty of bits that don't sound a million miles away from 80s Sonic Youth.

Absolut demo (ex-Left For Dead/Midnight)

Holy shit this is good!!!

Noise punk with blazing wailing metal guitar solos.

It's as if Sarcofago and GISM joined forces.

Think of all that current killer hardcore coming out of Spain like Glam and Destino Final but with the metal ramped up to 11.

If those references are a bit obscure then just think of 80s Pushead.

Seein Red/Mihoen 10" (Opiate/Tadpole)

Opiate Records have just put all their releases up for free download

I'll quickly mention this one. Even if you've only a passing interest in fast hardcore then you're probably more than aware of Seein Red. Dutch thrashers that have been going for years and years. Plus they started the whole thing off when they did Larm in the early 80s.

Mihoen are top stuff too.

Basically, it's punk. Worth checking out the Wreck Of Old 98 album. Bit of Minutemen worship going on.

iTunes accounted for 60% of total music industry digital revenues in 2012

Hypebot have got an interesting article about this here - http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2013/02/itunes-payments-account-for-60-of-total-digital-music-revenue-analysis.html

It's only a quick read but quite informative.

Point I want to bring up is that iTunes sold $4.3 billion of music in 2012. That's $4,300,000,000. That's roughly £2.9 billion. As a comparison, £2.9 billion would be 1/25th of the UK's entire retail sector.

Whichever way you look at it, that's a fuckload of money.

It certainly demolishes the "people don't want to pay for downloads" argument that's popular amongst DIY/indie labels that still refuse to offer downloads for sale.

Satanic Threat - In To Hell (Hells Headbangers)

Basically rips off a load of Minor Threat and Uniform Choice songs/riffs but adds on ludicrous satanic lyrics. Vocally it rips off Minor Threat and Uniform Choice as well.

Personally I think Minor Threat's lyrics are fucking crap. Satan is just silly though.

Musically, it's just as good as most other retro hardcore doing the rounds.

Appropriately, the download will cost you $6.66

Suffocation buy their own CD at the shop

A guy from Suffocation videos himself going to the shop to buy his own band's CD.

Basically, he points out a lot of good things about why people should pay for music. Especially why people should pay for underground music. He points out that Suffocation aren't Beyonce or someone like that racking in millions and millions of pounds.

He points out that if bands and labels lose money then bands get dropped, they can't make records, they don't come and tour your city etc etc etc.

He's really trying to drive home the point that underground music needs supporting and fair fucks to him. Fully behind his sentiments.

However, there's a big 'but'. And come on, you knew the 'but' was coming.

Neither Suffocation nor their label (Nuclear Blast) make the music available for sale as flac/wav or any other lossless format.

It's a familiar rant on this blog but crappy, lossy mp3s from amazon/itunes can well and truly get fucked. I'm not handing over cash for something that sounds shit. Also, I'm not buying a CD as I don't own a CD player and I think they're fugly.

I'd be more than happy to hand over cash for a flac download of Effigy Of The Forgotten. It's a classic. I'd also buy their new one too.

That's two album sales they could be making right there for virtually no effort. I'm guessing Kevin would buy them as well. Seeing how much the folk over at Metal Bandcamp buy I'm guessing there's fuckloads more people that'd buy it.

And here ends yet another "just sell us the damn music" post.

Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth

http://boomkat.com/downloads/640015-beach-fossils-clash-the-truth

More great indie rock stuff from Captured Tracks.

Kicks off with a cheeky Sex Pistols riff but quickly settles into the 80s British indie sound. Reverby guitar harmonies, busy drums and persistent basslines.

After a few days I've already got some of these tunes stuck in my head. Just perfect for this kind of stuff.

Spectral Park - s/t

http://boomkat.com/downloads/641169-spectral-park-spectral-park

This is like some kind of hyperactive crystal-meth version of chopped & screwed but done with 60s psych instead of hip hop. It's almost like a bunch of 7"s have been smashed up and randomly glued back together.

It's all really tuneful though. The organ and voice keep the melodies going while chaotic collage of sound swirls around.

The organ is a definite highlight. Can't beat a good organ tone.

Maybe a bit like MGMT done as old school cut and paste collages with glue and old newspaper magazines. it's really well done though.

Guess it'd be a good one to place next to that Retromania book. All the themes and sounds are kind of retro but they're all formed into a different style.

The song in the first youtube video has been on repeat on my commute. Really interesting way the melodies, harmonies and backing music fit together.

They've also got an 'official' video. First song on the album. Which is also good.

Slomatics - The Future Past

New Slomatics jams is always a thing to be welcomed. We only get 10 minutes this time but I guess it's always best to leave the audience screaming for more.

They channel Bullhead/Lysol era-Melvins and fuzzed out doom-psych. Just riffs riffs riffs riffs.

Slomatics really know how to construct a good song as well. It's not just a collection of reasonable sounding riffs. There's real craft going on. They've been going for years now and they know exactly how to do it.

They really need to come back to the UK and do a tour.

Also, someone needs to put these two songs onto a 7".

Vakunoht - Gagarin's Start

"The missing link between XTC, Nomeansno, The Cardiacs and Motorhead?" according to a friend. I reckon something like Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum or maybe APATT doing a metal band.

Occasionally I hear glimpses of things like Tarot Woman by Rainbow but mixed in with Devo.

What about if the folk in Circle/Pharaoh Overlord tried their hand at a pop rock band?

Apparently they've got a new album coming which is going to be even wilder than this one. Can't wait.