7 that Spells- It Came from the Planet of Love (RAIG Records)
This Croatian psychedelic rock band is back with their 3rd CD in 3 years. The band is getting more and more intense with each release. The CD features 2 tracks, the first, Towards the Planet of Love is 30 minutes long. It begins with some glissando guitar as the sound slowly gets more and more intense and the other instruments filter in and the psychedelic space jamming begins. The track goes through a lot but is pretty damn intense. Phew…. Erotic Meltdown begins slowly but then explodes into a serious Acid Mother Temple like freakout session that finally gives way after 13 minutes the last 5 minutes are a strange ambient drone with a lot of hiss. This is a pretty cool record if you like psychedelic freakout music.

http://www.7thatspells.com/home.htm
If you dig: Acid Mothers Temple, Circle, Paul Chain

Scott

36 Crazyfists – Rest Inside the Flames CD (Roadrunner Records/Bonnier Amigo)
I’ve been repeating myself, so for the sake of experimenting, and since it’s a true Californian summer, just for this issue, I’m gonna try to keep an open mind towards emo. Oh yes, I’m plunging right in. Emo: It’s lovely, isn’t it? You’ve got gigantic monster riffs, double bass drums pummelling ahead, angry growling – and then, whoops, up pops a melodic chorus for you to hold on to, a short breather, sung in a clear voice and all, so the lyrics can really get into your heart and make you feel all teenage angsty all over again. Excellent, right? Serves a purpose, must do, since tons of these records are released every month – and somehow, a large quantity of them make their way around my mailbox. But really, let’s be realistic here: You’re not gonna get kids bred on MTV punk to move on directly to the meanest metal core, you’ve gotta soften it up with a bit of pop for them to be able to swallow it. It’s the alcopop of extreme metal, then. And it’s not like it’s all shit, 36 Crazyfists have obviously put tons of work into the composition of these songs, stuffed them with time changes, heavy guitars, and then snuck in some growling to give the emo kids a taste of real metal core. If I didn’t know better, I’m sure I could dig this. There’s a whole world of extreme music out there, it’s just that it’s hiding sometimes, so you need to find a door like this.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk
http://www.36crazyfists.com
If you dig: Refused, Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance

Jon A

Albatros- Demo 2005 (Sweden)
This is the 3rd demo (I think) by Albatros and the band continues with their cool 70’s style psychedelic blues rock. Uprising opens the demo and is great track with spaced out vocals (just like I like them!) and a track that really builds up into a frenzy. Badger is next and is a slow strange bluesy psych rocker. A Badger’s Tale continues this track but now the guitar takes off and some psychedelic sounds bubble up in the background for quite a strange freakout jam. The next two tracks were recorded live on Oct 7th, 2005 in Gothenburg’s Musikenshus. The sound is excellent on these two live tracks. The band for sure goes for a heavy psych sound. The Way of the Gypsy Curse is quite a hard rocker, while A Thousand Leaves is a longer 7½ minute track that develops a lot more than the other tracks.
Man, the band have one of the coolest web pages I have seen, so go check that out and you can hear most of these tracks on their page as well as 160kbp MP3 files. My only complaint is that several of the tracks sound a bit too much the same here and they could use more guitar solos but that does not mean I did not like the stuff. Spaced out Blues rock….

http://www.albatros.nu
If you dig: Carpet Knights, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Fantasyy Factoryy

Scott

And Say We Did – Final Demonstration 00:00 > 32:17 CD (Basement Apes Ind.)
Remember Hirameka Hi-Fi? Thought you wouldn’t. Not to ditch instrumental rock music as a whole, but some of it just sounds like they forgot to add vocals, especially the more post-hardcore orientated bands like the aforementioned Hirameka Hi-Fi. Like Fugazi without Ian MacKaye yapping his head off – which I’m sure sounds wonderful to some, but probably not the same people that would buy this record. And Say We Did, a Cleveland-based band that reportedly rose up when they were joined by the bassist from Superstatic Revolution (whoever that might be), sound exactly like that. And it’s fine, they have some good songs, a lot of angular guitars, syncopated rhythms, lilting melodies. You just can’t help wishing they’d add a singer, or at least I can’t, to take it a step further, make something great out of it. For now, it’s a good effort, but forgotten next month.

http://www.basementapesind.com
If you dig: Fugazi, Trans Am, Shellac

Jon A

Antler- Nothing that a bullet couldn’t Cure (Small Stone Records)
Antler is a project from the guys in the band Roadsaw with some other locals. This 6 piece band (twin guitars, bass, drums, vocals and keyboards) play southern blues inspired rock music and this is their 2nd CD. The songs are very melodic and slick and bands from the 70’s certainly come to mind when you hear this stuff. I heard the record 3 or 4 times though and it never really picked me up and kicked me in the ass. While the songs are good and solid they just did not catch me and I could not really remember a single one at the end. If you like bands that try to get back to the roots of the southern blues rock but never quite get it right… I don’t know. just a little too mainstream and not gritty enough for me.. I like my southern rock a bit more mean and nasty and no so slick.

http://www.smallstone.com
If you dig: Black Crowes, Five Horse Johnson, The Eagles, Little Feat

Scott

Barra Head – Undermine/Gradiska 7” (Play/Rec)
Denmark’s premier post-hardcore band – one of the very few Danish post-hardcore bands around, to be honest – are back with a new 7” as a teaser for their third album. And it sounds exactly like you’d want Barra Head to sound, especially “Undermine”: Hard, angular, melodic, politic, poetic, and ever-so super tight you wanna piss yourself. “Gradiska” is more on the quiet side, a typical b-side to be honest, but the cool thing is, once it’s over, you can just turn it over again and hear “Undermine” again and again, until your neighbours come knocking down your door, frustrated tears in their eyes, begging to be let into the revolution.

http://www.playrec.dk
If you dig: Fugazi, Refused, NoMeansNo

Jon A

The Beavers – Are Back! 7” (High School Refuse)
I haven’t got a clue where the Beavers have been but I’m glad they’re back! These 4 Dutchmen have been caught in a time warp and they’re now trapped in the 60s. Haircut and all! It’s totally cool and the three tracks here are loud and wild and catchy and the organ sounds cool. The only band I can think of that plays this kinda Back from the Grave stomp just as good is the Hara-Kee-Rees and they are fucking amazing - and so is this. Very short songs but they rock like a bunch of mother fuckers. Even the instrumental is great! I have sort of given up on modern 60s garage rock. Most of it is totally slick and boring. This is not. This is hot and wild and fucked-up…like any good rock record should be. Let’s hope they stay with us.

Simon Nielsen

The Blind Robins : Panorama Valley CD (Rolling Blackout Records)
2nd album by Rockford's honky tonk heroes, which thankfully follows the same path as their excellent debut "The Origin Of The Wasteland". This is roots rock at it's purest, twangiest and most exciting; Old school Merle Haggard-style C&W are fused with Long Ryders alt. country/cowpunk and more traditional bluegrass/folk. The lyrics from singer/guitarist Michael Whyte are as thoughtful and funny as always as he takes on topics like religion, lust, and blue collar politics with his usual dark, reflective but hilarious wit. There's even a tribute to the Carter Family, "Cash And The Carters", which also deals with personal health problems. Guest musicians include Jessica Billey (Mekons, Smog) and Bud Melvin on pedal steel guitar/banjo. The Blind Robins have received a lotta rave reviews, both in the US but also here Europe (especially in the Netherlands), so my fingers are crossed for a Euro Tour. Any fan of the artists on Bloodshot Records will love The Blind Robins, trust me!

http://www.theblindrobins.com
If you dig: The Lone Ryders, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, John Fogerty & The Blue Ridge Rangers

Jens

The BossHoss : Rodeo Radio CD (Universal)
The follow up to ”Internashville Urban Hymns” is more of the same; country fried covers of pop hits like Diana Ross’ ”Upside Down”, ”My Favorite Game (The Cardigans), and ”Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer). Yeah, kinda like the same shtik as Hayseed Dixie are into though not as bluegrass or not as many rock classics, which is why Hayseed Dixie’s music will probably last longer. It’s very easy and commercial to do this concept, it’s not even that new, Junkyard Dogs & Eddie Spaghetti did it many years ago. But you gotta love a cd like this when you had a couple brewskis, one can’t help dancing to the tunes. The BossHoss is from Berlin and does an okay job faking Texas accents, they’re excellent musicians as musicians which helps a lot. And their few original tunes are maybe better than the covers.

http://thebosshoss.com/
If you dig: Hayseed Dixie, Eddie Spaghetti, Junkyard Dogs

Jens

The Brought Law - Right on Time (Small Stone Records)
Like Antler, this is the band’s 2nd release, they hail from the NE of the USA and play southern rock music. The Brought Low has a much more country flavour to them as well as the authentic style vocals (real or not???).. This is much more upbeat and nasty than the slick produced Antler. The CD begins with the excellent A Better Life. Hail Mary is a real sing a long track and not my favourite. This Ain’t no Game is a more AC/DC meets southern rock style thing. Tell Me is even more AC/DC inspired. Dear Ohio is a slow foot stomping blues rock song that the band sort of jams out a bit..Too bad it did not really jam.. Throne kicks it up into high gear and is probably the hardest hitting track on the CD. Blues for Cubby bring it up a level and is a real rocker. There’s a Light is a sort of country styled ballad to end this CD.

http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.broughtlow.com/
If you dig: James Gang, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Crowes

Scott

Buzzcocks : Flat-Pack Philosophy CD (Cooking Vinyl)
Holy Orgasm Addict! This really a surprise after a string of so-so releases, although it can’t capture the standard of their awesome 1977-79 classics (but what can?), ”Flat-Pack Philosophy” still a damn fine release. ”I Had Enough” and ”Sell You Everything” are probably my faves, made me feel 14 again. Don’t know if one could call Buzzcocks the originators of English poppunk, but they sure do it better than 99% of all the bland stuff out there nowadays. Sure wish I could’ve bought Pete Shelley a beer last they were here in Copenhagen, but I was too busy drinking so I didn’t arrived in time for the sold-out show. Well, next time then.

http://www.buzzcocks.com
If you dig: Buzzcocks...what else?

Jens

Camaro Rouge – Got a Grave in my Head LP (Demolition Derby)
Chicago based three-piece rock’n’roll outfit fronted by two ladies who play the bass, the guitar and do the vocals. Arman, (formerly?) of the Whiteouts, does the drums and they deliver some seriously rocking stuff. Great vocals with plenty of attitude and some cool harmonies. That and the kinda raw sixtieish sound gives this a fine Headcoatees feel, however this is more quirky and off-beat and quite original. Inspirations seem to go in all kindsa directions – some great early Hole tendencies here and there - but it all comes out pretty straight-forward and swinging. Considering the fashion/art connection these two ladies have this has a surprisingly simple, pop feel to it. Kinda reminds me of a female version of the Marked Men – I dunno why. They also seem to be able to get away with some strange stuff without ever loosing their focus and energy. Lyrics deal with everyday things like cigarettes, Cadillacs, love gone bad and porn. Stuff we all can relate to…except the porn of course.

http://www.thecamarorouge.com
http://www.demderby.com

Simon Nielsen

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas CD (V2/Bonnier Amigo)
The Norwegians have the Kings of Convenience – and now the Scottish also have that weird kind of easy listening, folky, rocky – yeah, you know the one... I’m not sure if it’s because the record is being backed by the Scottish Art Council (we rare get anything that’s actually sanctioned by a government here at Lowcut), but these two have a real professional thing going – something I won’t mess up with a tasteless review. So here goes! A fusion of early folk traditions, and modern artists renditions such as Thomas Dybdahl or Rufus Wainwright, combined with Mark’s dark and mysterious Johnny Cash voice. The combination of beauty and the beast always makes for a wonderful record, and Isobel and Mark are no exception. With everything from string backing, to dark rockabilly – Heavy Trash sounding tunes, they are bound to strike a chord with most anyone.

http://www.v2music.com

Kristian

Johnny Casino’s Easy Action : I Paid For Affection, Not The House Of Correction CD (Off The Hip)
This album is a bit more rhythm & blues-y than last year’s ”We've Forgotten More Than You'll Ever Know” and it suits the band perfectly. The Australian/American combo sports members of Astroid B612, The Egos, Rancid Vat etc. and they’re here to celebate pure honest rock’n’roll, and man, they do it with a whole lotta soul and balls-out rock control. Covers by the likes Compulsive Gamblers, Little Richard & The Band, and a string of boss originals like “Treatin’ Me Kind”, “Gotta Get Back” and “I Gotta Woman” which reminded me of Swingin’ Neckbreakers. “I Paid For Affection” should appeal to a shitload of rockfans who’s into to nitty gritty stuff.

http://www.offthehip.com.au
http://myspace.com/johnnycasinoseasyaction
If you dig: Celebate Rifles, Chuck Berry, Fleshtones

Jens

Cheap Trick- Rockford (SPV Records)
I have not heard a Cheap Trick record in 20 years! I saw the band on the Dream Police tour in 1979 and they were amazing live. I also had a friend in high school that was a huge fan so I heard the first record, In Color and live at Budakon a lot of times. Anyway, it is the original line up and believe it or not and they still rock like hell in their melodic hard rock way. Welcome to the World is a very short track (2 min) but rocks and has one of the heavier riffs on the record towards the end of the track. Perfect Stranger features really classic Cheap Trick, Beatles inspired vocals and reminds me of their music from the late 70’s. Come ON Come On Come ON is a fast paced little rocker. O’ Claire is an emotional track. Zander he still sounds amazing after all these years. One More is a strange funky little track to mix things up. Dream the Night Away is probably the one they play on the radio, if any of this ever gets on the radio..Decaf ends the CD with a rocker!
Although the band is not breaking any new ground here they are staying true to their 70’s sound and having a good time as well.

http://www.spv.de
http://www.cheaptrick.com
If you dig: CHEAP TRICK, Beatles

Scott

The Cheaters : promo 5 track CD (Big Dipper Records)
Norway seems to bursting with new cool acts at the moment, and The Cheaters are among the cream of the crop, fusing the best of the 60s and 70s into their boss tunes. Be it British Invasion r&b, ’77 powerpunkpop/pubrock or ’Nuggets’ garagerock, The Cheaters master it all. They’ve been around for less than 2 years, but they already played Roskilde and will appear at Gutter Island, so go see ’em if you have the chance, these youngsters are heading for the top! ”It’s Alright” and ”I Might Be Evil” should be out on a 45 by now. Thanks to Joe Cain (The Quotes) who gave me the cd at Primitive festival.

http://www.bigdipper.no
http://www.thecheaters.org/
If you dig: The Yardbirds, Count Bishops, The Seeds

Jens

Cheveu – Clara Vénus 7” (SDZ Records/Pollymaggoo Records)
Get your sweetest sugar cubes and your juiciest carrots out! Cheveu is here and you know you want to be their friend when this electro punk rama lama starts wagging its tail. Unintelligible aural droppings in French all over drum machine beats and buzz saw guitar riffs and it’s even over before it starts. Two short songs and a locked groove at the end of the B-side from the new electro punk geeks on the block. They know which buttons to press and how to get the best xXzZyYyYcHtR – kAkAkA out of their cheap keyboards and fruit loops for sure and there’s an Arthur Rimbaud reference or two somewhere, as well.

http://www.cheveunet.free.fr
http://sdzrecords-at-yahoo.com
http://www.pollymaggoo-at-free.fr
If you dig: Threading a needle with the collected works of Saussure while hanging out at the video game arcade?

Morten

Colour Haze- Tempel (Elektrohasch)
Colour Haze, the Kings of the German Underground scene is back with their new CD. It was recorded and produced once again in Hannover by Willi. Lets just get into it… The CD starts with Aquamaria, which many might have heard on the bands myspace web page. It starts slowly with the track building slowly, as a lot of CH tracks do. There is a lot of more complex interaction between Philip (bass) and Stefan (guitar) giving the track a more progressive rock, jazzy feel to it. Fire is next and a track that the band played a lot in 2005 but the track is totally different now. The track used to have a very short spacey part to start and then a killer very catchy guitar riff kicked in for a real rocker. The track is totally transformed here and the riff never appears and the track stays pretty laidback and is a very emotional track now. Liked the rocking version better but this is nice. Mind, is built on a very groovy bass line and is a tuned down stoner rock groover and features a short Hammond organ solo. I felt this one could have become a great jammed out track. It just feels cut short here… Maybe they extend this one live?? Tempel, the title track begins slowly once again, with some nice guitar harmonics and bass and this is a real showcase track for this bands musical talents. Brilliant! Gold and Silver is one of my favourite tracks on the record and has a very laid back groove and really nice vocals by Stefan. The Hammond is once again featured and Stefan does a great guitar solo. Earth, another track the band played in 2005, is the most rocking track on the CD. Ozean is a short and dreamy instrumental track with some beautiful and spacey guitar playing. I really like that Stefan is adding some delay and has a new tone on this track. Thanks Stefan… Stratoform, ends the CD and starts as a slow and building track with a really cool drum pattern. The dual layers of vocals and a nice effect and the great happy feeling of the guitar solo is great.

Well, Colour Haze proves once again that they are a brilliant band with great players and continue to write cool songs. This CD has a much more laid back vibe than anything before it and Stefan has opened up a little bit on his guitar sound, offering us, perhaps a glimpse into a move away from the sound being too much the same. True Quality music....

http://www.elektrohasch.de
http://www.colourhaze.de
If you dig: Causa Sui, Kyuss, Colour Haze….

Scott

Cross-Shack-Ostermann : Trio From Hell CD (Kick Music)
I’ve seen this combo many times at blues bars, always a pleasure. After 10 years they apparently decided to put out their first release which is packed old school blues, r’n’r and r&b and classics like ”Mona”, ”Baby Please Don’t Go”, ”Summertime Blues” etc. Singer/guitarist Billy Cross has been playing r’n’r for 40 years, touring with the likes of Bob Dylan in the 70s before he moved to Denmark, but he really managed to infuse some fresh energy into the 9 tunes. Maybe the choice to record at Black Tornado with ’garagerock’ producer Ralph A. Rjeily (On Trial, The Untamed, Thee Exciters, Cherry Overdrive, Baby Woodrose etc.) inspired the middleaged trio to attack the much-covered material with more gutso than many younger bands posses.

http://kick.dk
http://www.billycross.com
If you dig: Canned Heat, Dave Edmunds, Fabulous Thunderbirds

Jens

Damnation Kids –Wanna do it!/Broken Heart 7” (High School Refuse)
Wow! Amazing 7” by these crazy Oldenburgers…or wherever the fuck they came from in Germany. I think it’s Oldenburg. Anwyay, this sounds like it comes straight outta the Oblivians member’s collective asses and it’s delivered with the aggression of the Reatards live! Man, you know it’s good. Sadly there are only 2 songs here, but I’d give this 5 razors any day for “I Wanna do It!” alone. Fucked up trashpunkrock like the Oblivians only harder and with eminent off beat guitar solo and screaming Hammond in the back ground. The flip is almost buried in Hammond and feedback but almost just as flat out rocking. I gotta get these maniacs to Denmark so I can see them live. One of the best High School Refuse 7”s ever! Wow!

Simon Nielsen

Dark Sun and the Rising Telepaths- Astral Visions Vol. 1 (Dark Sun Music)
Dark Sun is the long running Finnish Psychedelic space rock band from Helsinki. The band has not released anything for quite for a long period of time but that does not mean that most of the members have not been jamming in the mean time. This double CD set limited to 100 copies is the best of their rehearsal room jam sessions from summer 2004-2005. It features fantastic psychedelic artwork by Ylli. Getting Wild starts off slowly but builds into a great intense psychedelic with all the guitars flying and creating a heavy psych environment. Great 14 min jam to start the CD: Space Jam I is next and more relaxed. Dark Sun used to be heavily a synthesizer band, while now the sound is dominated by spacey psychedelic guitar playing, with the synthesizers playing a very minor role in the sound. In Space Jam II, a Third stone from the Sun bass line starts things off before the guitars kick into high gear. Dis the Key is really like a track that they develop almost into a song and features some far out sounds that spin in your head. Cosmic Waste is 3 minutes of very spaced out noise. We get High is a nice short melodic jam. Spaced out Again continues this vibe and features a beautiful guitar solo to start the piece and then the band fly out into space. The Dream of Judas features a spoken word poem while the band slowly space out. Nice. Pohjoinen Viisaus is sung in Finnish and begins very mystical-magical with cool guitar. The 18 minute Flight to Utopia ends the 1st CD of killer psychedelic jamming.

CD2 is 12 tracks in 75 minutes and is a bit more uneven than the first CD but also features more experimental stuff with Santtu switching to synths and Mikko from Synths to bass, etc.. Solar Jam is a slow building groove as more and more sound builds up and perhaps people joining as well. It features a drum solo at the end. Dreaming in Purple is very dreamy. Monster Jam runs 13 minutes and features a lead synth solo. Sam on Mars features the drumming mainly as a spacey groove builds until Janne comes in on vocals. You can’t run but…kicks things up into high gear again. This is the first real upbeat jamming track on the 2nd CD but it only flies shortly. The Second Coming features some great guitar playing on this floating space piece. Opening Jam is next and features a cool phased out psych guitar groove. Open your Mind features Janne on vocals and is quite a melodic piece. Backwards in Time is 1½ minutes of something they turned backwards and it sounds very strange. Sun God/Psych Avengers is the coolest jam on the CD2 but be patient. IT is slow to start but gets very spaced out. Space and Time is another dreamy piece. Time Machine ends the CD and features some organ way in the background and a strange jam.

If you like free form psychedelic rock jamming, then you will enjoy this quite a lot and it will be a collectors item for sure! The CD is available from the Aural Innovations mail order store and CD Services in Scotland.

http://hop.to/darksun
If you dig: Hawkwind, Øresund Space Collective, The Spacious Mind, Circle, Dream Machine

Scott

DC Snipers : Missile Sunset CD (Dead Beat Records)
These NYC/NJ guys differ somewhat other Dead Beat artists like Live Fast Die and Radio Reelers with a more proto-punk (think Electric Eels) and arty new wave/psych sound. There’s plenty of fast punkers like ”Criminal Dogs” and ”Die (They All Want To) but song like ”Electric Chair From Saigon” really stand out with it’s of primal punk laced with a cool organ, and ”Soviet Union” is kinda no-wave-y-Screamers-ish. DC Snipers is fascinating original, but still classic in a 1979-before-all-newwave-started-to-suck kinda way. ’ve caught myself in humming ”All Humans Are Garbage” several times lately, but please remember to get awesome in the street!

http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
If you dig: Lost Sounds, Screamers, Electric Eels

Jens

DC Snipers – Missile Sunset CD/LP (Dead Beat Records)
Sometimes you get these records that you kind of dig, but you have no idea what to make of them. Like, where does this fit in? You reach for the press release for help, and the cues it gives you are Human Eye, Geisha Girls, Urinals, Red Red Red, Tractor Sex Fatality, and so on. Like, that’s supposed to HELP me?! Thank you! But I like this stuff, I really do. There’s this arty, British post-punk vibe to it that could only come from New York, which it does, but then, just to throw you off, they smothered the whole thing with a driving Wurlitzer that makes it sound like a mix between Swell Maps and Fuzztones. If you can imagine that, you’re not right in your head, and you should go see Doctor Rock. Naming your band DC Snipers barely 5 years after the incident might seem tasteless to some, but then there’s a big sing-along song at the end of the record where the chorus repeatedly goes “All Humans Are Garbage”. Which, at times, they are, especially in New York. Makes me wanna punch some of the Jennifers and Davids yelling up my block in front of the hotel across the street, fucking tourist vulture scum they are with their loud, abrasive voices and preppy clothes.

http://dead-beat-records.com

Jon A

Decomposed – Torn from the Womb CD (Worldeater Records)
A kneeling naked woman covered in blood and faeces, holding a gun to her head as the madness shines in her bloodshot eyes, while between her legs lies her demon spawn, to horned babies calmly sleeping, and beside her the bloody knife with which she cut them from her body. Like, oh my God, if only it didn’t look so amateurish and cheap. Someone’s 15-year-old kid brother did this? The same who did the cover for Returner? Well, fits the music, I’m afraid. I mean, this is a demo, of course, and should be judged as such, but then, it has been released semi-commercially (they want money for it, if just a little), so on the basis it should be judged against other bands reviewed here, like Misery Speaks. This is not something I’d actually want to listen to at home. Like, I’m gonna stand there and ponder, “Hmm, am I gonna put on the first Morbid Angel, the second Pungent Stench, the third Death, or Decomposed’s demo CD?” For real? This only gets an extra razor blade because they’re keeping it old school.

http://www.worldeaterrecords.com
If you dig: Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse

Jon A

Digital Leather – Monologue CD (Empty Records)
Somewhere in sunburnt Arizona sits a melancholic, romantic young man yearning for the rainsoaked, English Midlands of the 80’s to match the chaos within his dark soul. He daydreams of walking the dead, industrial, barren landscape as some sort of Mad Max or Bladerunner, revels in his decadent fantasies of sophisticated, lace- and leatherclad boytoys spilling their semen on his tied-up tortured body, of the humiliation and dehumanization. His parents, art school drop-outs in exile, are fairly concerned about him, wondering if maybe this has something to do with their excessive cocaine consumption during his mother’s pregnancy, and in an attempt to cheer up their boy, his mother gave him all her old records of Dead Or Alive, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, and Sisters Of Mercy, thinking maybe this would set him straight. Instead he stole money from her purse and bought himself a crappy old keyboard and drum machine to create his own masterpiece of dark, erotic, angst-laden, gothy EBM. Parents, in cases like this, you need to give your children hardcore, lots of hardcore, to cheer them up and get them thinking positive thoughts. This ain’t gonna help any, you know, and now Oprah Winfrey has to do the cleaning up.

http://www.emptyrecords.com
If you dig: Sisters Of Mercy, Brandi Ifgray, D.A.F.

Jon A

Doctor Dunbar’s Medicine Band- Sticks and Stones CD-EP (Ant Nest Records)
DDMB is a pop rock band from Lund, Sweden. This EP features 5 tracks in 16 minutes and has a very nice production. The band have been around since 1999 and produced 4 demos and one full length CD (in 2005). This material is pretty much straight up rock 70’s inspired music with a little strangeness thrown in (mostly by the cool keyboard lines) with a melodic pop edge. Not as mainstream sounding as awful Danish pop (thankfully!) and but probably poppy enough to get on Swedish radio. Well played…

http://www.antnestrecords.com http://www.ddmb.se
If you dig: Motorpsycho, Kula Shaker

Scott

Drahk von Trip- Major Breeze CD-R (Drahkvontrip Music)
Drahk von Trip have released their latest psychedelic trip into the unknown in the form of this CD-R, that features two long jams from the rehearsal room recorded in May 21st, 2006.
The opening track Love Breeze is 21 minutes long and a slowly building piece. The sound is quite good on this rehearsal room recording made with two microphones. Think of CAN with a female voice and flute and violin, as the tracks here are long and repetitive but slowly build and captivate you. The guitars really make this piece. IT would be great and add a cool psychedelic flavour if Susanne could have some delay or effects on her voice some times. I would love this. Not sure if the track got its name by it sort of sexual or orgasmic nature of the building vocals at the end, or not??? Major Drahk is a long 46 ½ minute piece that is a long trip and quite dreamy at the beginning. Around 25 minutes Susanne becomes slightly possessed and growls back into the forefront to bring forth strange visions as the hypnotic music drifts on.. Quite an amazing feeling is created as the jam gets very intense and Göran is pounding the drums…. It lets off some steam and drifts back down. Great jam..be patient and you will be rewarded.

If you are fans of the bands monthly jams that they release on their web page, then check this limited edition CD-R release available from the band.

http://www.drahkvontrip.com
If you dig: Jefferson Airplane, CAN, Amon Duul II

Scott

Dusteroid- Albedo Zero (Dusteroid Music)
Dusteroid are a 3 piece dirty-doomy rock band from London, England. This is their debut CD and features 5 tracks. I can see from the reviews on the net though that other versions of this CD were put out with 7 tracks. The CD starts with Something someone said and is a bit like Clutch but not nearly as cool or groovy. Next up, Dykes that Bite, and this is very much like a mix between Cathedral and Orange Goblin. The vocalist is very much like the guy from Orange Goblin. Lots of down and dirty riffing and very few guitar solos. The Rolling Head is really a lot like Cathedral stuff. Dealing Bones has a very cool starting riff but unfortunately does not go in the direction I had wanted to hear but you don’t always get what you want, do you? This is heads down banging rock and roll….Captivating Culture ends the short CD (22min) and is a fast paced rocker. Not a bad debut.

http://www.dusteroid.com
If you dig: Orange Goblin, Cathedral, Clutch, COC

Scott

The Eternal Present Compilation CD (Elvis Coffee Records)
This CD compilation features 7 bands from the record label Elvis Coffee. Kiss my Farkyn starts off with Electrified Pleasures. This is a strange 2½ minute electronic soundscape. Next up is Swn with Bossa eliptyco no. 8. This track is 8 minutes and begins with all electronic sounds that slowly goes almost nowhere until some like bells and stuff mix in and then the buzzing stops and the sound becomes more clear. Les I Mondes is next with Ghost Track, a 2½ minute pretty spacey soundscape. Ghost Detail is next with 3 long days in the Pipe. This is like strange sounds you would hear in a Sci Fi movie out in space, while being scared like hell… Very effective. Analgeek is next with Undergrind. This is a strange and mysterious one. I like the way the bass sort of just comes in every now and then while the sound of creaking pipes or what ever the hell it is makes for a freaky backdrop. Psychic Space Invasion is next with Dust comes from Saturn. It is a dark ambient soundscape. It is totally drifting as sounds of all sorts sort of meld together. The Buff Monkey Ensemble close the CD with Black Narbeth Monkey Tree.

If you like dark, strange ambient soundscapes, you should check out the bands on this label. And remember this is a very special record label in which all the releases are free, you only pay the postage! £1.5 for 1 CD or £3 for 3-4 CDs depending where you live in the world.

If you dig: Trip Tech, Nurse with Wound, Psychic Space Invasion.

Scott

Flaschen – Treat me Bad 7” (High School Refuse)
Check out these guys website and you will find out that these guys are, and I quote: “Raw Primitive Rock’n’Roll from French Riviera”…and I thought they were Germans. Anyway, it’s not the best High School release by far. Simple and primitive fer sure, you can’t deny that, but the songs sound like some of the OI punk demos I reviewed in the 80s only these guys shout “Hey, Hey, Hey” for the chorus instead of “Oi, Oi, Oi”. Great woolly sound, like those demos and I love the cover! I just wish the songs were better. Short, sharp and simple but not really catchy enough to really get this going. This is recorded on tape by the lead-singer and that’s a good idea. I hope they’ll keep doing that…and write some better songs.

http://flaschenpunk.com
http://ecr.homestead.com

Simon Nielsen

Flogging Molly : Whiskey On A Sunday CD/DVD (One Side Dummy/Kick Music)
With over 1,5 million sold records Flogging Molly is an insanely popular combo playing this kind of folkpunk, and after 3-4 albums it should be time for the obligatory ’Greatest Hits’ release. But this is more of a soundtrack for the excellent full length documentary, ”Whiskey On A Sunday” (see review elsewhere). 5 hyper active live cuts from their ’homecoming’ in Wiltern Theater in LA; faves like ”What’s Left Of The Flag”, ”Swagger”, and an remarkable version of ”Black Friday Rule”. Doing songs like ”Drunken Lullabies” acoustic (and 3 others) really shows one what Flogging Molly would sound like if they were a trad. Irish folk orchestra. Dave King is one helluva singer. ”Laura”, from their first live album, is featured here in a studio version. This release is a must for fans!

http://www.floggingmolly.com/
http://www.kick.dk
http://www.sideonedummy.com/
If you dig: Pogues, Clash, Dropkick Murphys

Jens

The Gates - Total Death (Diwphalanx Records)
The band is described as Raw Satanic Thrash Death Rock from Japan. They were formed in the summer of 2002 to play Motorhead-Tank inspired music. This re-release features the split LP they released with Metal Skull in 2003 and their very limited demo tape they released soon after their only full length LP. This band features members of Church of Misery, Sonic Flower and Life. There are 7 tracks of very raw fast paced heavy metal rock and roll in 27 minutes! Pretty ass kicking stuff…

http://www.leafhound.com
If you dig: Church of Misery, Motorhead, Tank, Discharge

Scott

Ghetto Ways – Party Down EP 7” (Wicked Singles Records)
Sometimes, a man just wanna hear some good ol’ MC-5 style r’n’r. Sometimes, you just don’t wanna give a fuck about math rock, emo, screamo, or any weird time signatures and grandiose epics about seamonsters. Sometimes, a man wants to, you know, party down, even if he’s not exactly sure of just how you do that. Ghetto Ways are perfect for that, anyway: These punks sound like they just stole a bag of amphetamines from Jon Spencer and took any cred that guy may have ever had with them, then they slapped together this 7” to show it. I don’t even wanna hear any of their 2 albums, because I’m sure I’d only be disappointed. I’ll stick with this exclusive, 500 copies limited dition, hand-stenciled cover 7”, fuck you very much.

http://www.wickedsinglesrecords.com
If you dig: MC-5, Jon Spencer, Gories

Jon A

Hainloose- Burden State (Elektrohasch Records)
One of the first bands signed to Stefan’s Elektrohasch label, are back with their follow up to their debut, Rosula. What we have here are 10 well crafted bluesy, dirty rock and roll tunes.
Some of the tracks remind me a lot of the Swedish band, Lotus, which are sadly disbanded. Sometimes the band really builds up some cool grooves at the ends of their songs but they never jam it out, not even one time on the whole record. I have never seen them live but I am doubting that they jam even though they should. The closest they get is on Proud of my Doom, which is the best song on the record, in my opinion. Chernobilly is quite a cool instrumental track. Broken Dams Part1 and 2 are pretty cool pieces. The first part is instrumental and leads directly into the second part, which is a more slow bluesy thing. The CD ends with Barricades and Barrels, which is a really strange piece of twisted blues…

For me, this has been a really hard record to get into. This kind of music really needs some killer lead guitar, which is seriously lacking here. IF they added another kick ass lead player, this would be one hell of a band. I think the fans are gonna like this one a lot though… don’t listen to me!

http://www.elektrohasch.de
http://www.hainloose.de
If you dig: recent Clutch, Josiah, Lotus, Rotor

Scott

The Hard-Ons – Most People Are a Waste of Time CD (Bad Taste Records)
If I have to be completely honest with myself, would I like this album if I didn’t have a nostalgic thing for The Hard-Ons? If their classic albums “Dickcheese”, “Love Is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts”, and “Yummy!” hadn’t opened my eyes to a world outside metal, making my days sound sunny, filled with teenage lust, beer, and pot, feeling like I was the coolest among my friends for having discovered this Aussie band that played pop you could actually dig; would I give this album half a listen? My wife swears I wouldn’t, and she’s probably right. This one is advertised as The Hard-Ons’ big pop album, which might be somewhat confusing to the connoisseur, since The Hard-Ons have always played pop songs throughout their 25 years of existence (with a 4-year hiatus in the 90’s), albeit as punk rock – check out “Wog Food” from the “Smell My Finger” 12”. But it’s true that this time, they’re more accessible than ever. It’s almost a bit too much, to be honest. Blackie has taken over vocal duties completely since Keish left, and his voice can get on your nerves, all sugary and whispery. That doesn’t stop me for having a nostalgic thing for this, though, and if there are tad too many mid-tempo songs for my liking here, there are also class cuts like “Bubble Bath” and “There Goes One of the Creeps that Hassled My Girlfriend”. Mostly for fans, but pop punk lovers should get a kick out of this, too.

http://www.badtasterecords.se
If you dig: The Ramones

Jon A

Haunted George : The Devil’s Canyon 7” (Nasty Product)
Steve G. Pallow (ex-The Beguiled) and his one-man band Haunted George evoked images of The Cramps jammin’ in Death Valley with the Manson cult on the A side. ”Graves In The Desert” is more sinister in a punky satan-on-dilaudid kinda way. Spooky and nasty, Bob Log III meets Butthole Surfers? I’m addicted! Haunted George hails from the Mojave desert, a man who manages to record the rootsy sounds of people being buried alive!

http://www.nastyprod.com/
http://www.myspace.com/hauntedgeorge
If you dig: Bog Log III, Tractor Sex Fatality, Cramps

Jens

Thee Headcoats Sect : Deerstalking Men CD (Damaged Goods)
This is a re-issue of the 1996’s Hangmans Daughter album. The Downliners Sect was a semi-obscure cult r&b punkcombo of the mid60s which made The Pretty Things sound like Tom Jones, well almost. Anyway, it somehow seemed logical that Billy Childish & Thee Headcoats, another cult r&b punkcombo of the 80s/90s, would one day work with the Sect, since their sound is quite similiar. It works effortlessly as Keith Grant (bass, vox) and Don Craine (guitar, bass) join Billy (guitar), Bruce Brand (drums) and Johnny Johnson (harp, bass, guitar) and create raw basic garagepunk r’n’r the way we all cherish it. Also get their ”Ready Sect Go!” (2000).

http://www.damagedgoods.co.uk
http://www.theebillychildish.com/
If you dig: Thee Headcoats, Downliners Sect, The Sonics

Jens

Heartattacks – Rejected #11 7” (High School Reject)
Yet another 7” from these Swedish wild men…I know that Tomo is a woman but she’s Japanese and she plays bass and she’s probably crazy enough to be a wild man. She plays some seriously ballsy bass, that’s for sure! Two new originals and the “Rejected at the High School Dance” Mean Red Spiders song again, again and rocking the shit outta me - and you too probably. Not quite as good as the amazing 7” on Kenrock, mostly because that included more songs and a cover song you haven’t heard too many times (I’m sure label boss Koos won’t be insulted cuz he doesn’t give a fuck what anybody thinks about this “Rejected” obsession of his) even though this is the fastest version so far. What can I say? Great band! Just get everything you can get you hands on by them…including this.

Hellbillys : Torture Garden CD (Nickel & Dime Records)
I really enjoyed the ”Cavalcade Of Perversions” best of 45s comp from these San Francisco psychobillies, who’s been around since 1989. ”Torture Garden” is a re-release of their 2nd LP of 1995, no frills punkabilly with some metal influences, I mean, ”Demons” sounds like Metallica’s ”Motorbreath” with double bass slappin’! This is incredibly uncool and silly rock’n’roll, which gives it a wonderful charming we-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-trends feel.

http://www.hellbillys.com/
http://nickelanddimerecords.com/
If you dig: Meteors, Guana Batz, Demented Are Go

Jens

The Hi-Risers – Rockin’ Spree (Rock & Roll Inc/Munster Records)
I fell in love with this band from the start. When anyone has the nerve to write the following on the back cover: ”This is no spinal tap noise fest... no phony punk anger”, you have to admire them! The Hi-Risers obviously still live in a time of Hip Birds and Cool Cats, a time where the muddy Mississippi could kill a horse, and where Rock ’n’ Roll was still innocently rebelious. With tracks like ”Rockin’ Spree” and ”Call me the Wolfman”, you don’t need a degree in rock history to figure out what this is all about. Modern takes on the anals of rock are always appreciated, especially from a band who can actually play well! But even though I’m a sucker for the traditional Little Richard and Buddy Holly, there has to be a reason why no one plays like this any more. Times have changed, and rock isn’t innocent any more, which makes this record grow tired pretty fast. But it’s still charming, playful and a delight to listen to. And to quote the back of their cover again ”What does it mean that Miles Davis is in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame and Link Wray isn’t? Why is there a grammy category for best polka and traditional blues, but not best traditional rock’n’roll?” – amen brother, it’s all fucked up!

http://www.hirisers.com

Kristian

Insurgent Kids – Paranoia CD (Wasted Sounds/Border Music)
Nothing like a good, Swedish crust record top make you feel like a shallow, consumerist pig, is there? Those vans you ogled the other day in the store? Insurgent Kid saw you. The Coca-Cola you had Saturday night at the club? Insurgent Kid noted it, and they don’t approve. How’s that for paranoia? You better go eat your lentils and listen to this for a while to atone for your unpunkness, or you’ll risk waking up one day with the idea in your head that Robbie Williams is actually a pretty good entertainer. For a band whose members most likely weren’t even born when Black Flag released “Damaged”, if they had even taken their first breaths when the Flag disbanded, thanks to a strong and dedicated, if somewhat conservative, crust community, Insurgent Kid reproduce the sound of the first albums by Black Flag and Cirkle Jerks to perfection. Which isn’t as bad a notion as it may sound, because those were great records, you know. This band has only been around for about a year, if they keep it up, they could go on to relative greatness, if not, there’ll be a ton of other Umeå D-beat bands to take up the lead. As long as they keep on releasing records like this, we’re all for it.

http://www.wastedsounds.com
If you dig: Black Flag, Discharge, Cirkle Jerks

Jon A

Skip Jensen – Abscond LP (Demolition Derby)
Debut solo album from former Scat Rag Booster wild man Skip Jensen – and it’s a fucking blast! Wailin’ folk blues stomp with some seriously cool hill as well as rock-a-billy touches here and there. That delta blues based one man music can be cranked out like this in the year 2006 is amazing and fantastic! Fucking fantastic even! Better produced than most other records like this and even though I’m a sucker for fucked-up sounds, this works really well. The guitar has a lot more punch and bass and the relatively slow songs sounds even heavier and bluesier and better that way. Excellent! There have been as series of really great solo records by hipsters (Hooooo!) like BBQ, Harlan T. Bobo, and John Schooley and this is yet another one. How the fuck do they do it? Which one is the best? I dunno. I think that’s very much up to personal taste. All I know is that this is about as good as it gets and it’s probably my personal fave. I’m half drunk on Evan Williams Bourbon right now so maybe that does the trick. Not only is this great music, it’s great music to drink to! Doesn’t get much better than that!

http://www.sonicdirt.co.uk/skipjensen
http://www.demderby.com

Simon Nielsen

Jet Black Combo – Southern Style (Hep Town Records)
Yes, they are back. Funny really, when listening to this record, I might just as well make it a footnote to the review of The Hi-Risers elsewhere on this site. It’s Jet Black Combo, so it’s Rock’n’Roll, and it’s good. But like with The Hi-Risers, it wears thin, which is a shame. There’s a little too much Southern Style for a brand new record. But it makes for one hell of a dancing record! Swing and Twist might just be back to stay, which means that once again, I will be unpopular with the girls. There was a few days there when dancing was un-cool. Those days have passed, what a shame.... Grab your shining shoes, and wax up your hair, and swing those girls!

http://www.heptownrecords.com

Kristian

Robert Lawson- Faster and Faster until we turn into Light (Tiny Tapes Music)
Robert Lawson is a Scottish guitarist living in Spain, who makes all sorts of music and has been playing in bands for 20 years. . The 7 instrumental tracks in 29 minutes featured here are his latest excursions. The backing music is quite basic on the tracks, which are only the backdrop for his guitar playing. Sometimes it is more psych rock, other times a lazy slide (track 2- Half drugged with Sloth and Luxury), and more jazz to space rock (Open like a Tunnel). Nautical Hoedown/Weeper opens the CD and is a slow, sort of jazzy piece. The Red Beard and the Broom features several layers of guitar and is quite noodley… The Monstrous Lapse of a Mainly Kindly Soul again features some nice, sort of spacey slide guitar. Some kind of Flow has a very strange flow and he really experiments with bouncing the guitar back and forth with the bass lines. The Smiling Leeming, the Parrot and the Ox ends the CD and is quite a spacey number, the only one like it on the CD. Quite cool experimental stuff. I enjoyed it!

You can write to Robert Lawson at: tinytapes@yahoo.com
If you dig: Tangle Edge, Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead

Scott

The Limes : Rock’n’Roll Heart 7” (Nasty Product)
Yet another band for the always busy Mr. Jack Yarber (Oblivians, Tearjerkers, Knaughty Knights etc.) with Shawn Cripps. The blooze trashie “Rock’n’Roll Heart” is definitely more Oblivians than Tearjerkers, while “Into A Tree” and “Boogie Sound” have a loose Tav Falco/The Beguiled vibe to’em. Great messy slop rock. The 2nd single by The Limes, who has also released a full length album, “Tarantula”.

http://www.nastyprod.com/
http://www.wearethelimes.com/
If you dig: Oblivians, Tav Falco, The Beguiled

Jens

Liquid Visions - The Lost Recordings CD (Nasoni Records)
Liquid Visions were one of the coolest bands on the German psychedelic underground rock scene in Berlin for 10 years before disbanding a few years ago. This CD contains unreleased studio sessions recorded in 2000, when Robert was still in the band and doing most of the vocals. I remember hearing at least a couple of these songs when I saw them in 99-2000 era.. Anyway, we get 10 tracks in 79 minutes that range from short 60’s influenced psych rockers like Fragile Illusion and Phantom Child to the longer and more spaced out jams. Walk like an Angel is a beautiful track and this is followed by Nightrider, which is full of lead guitars and very spaced out at and psychedelic at the end. Yellow Sunshine Paper Man is 14 minutes and a very special track. It starts very slow and spacey like Pink Floyd meets the Grateful Dead. No Limits starts with a Spanish style guitar and has some nice lyrics, as do many of the other songs (very conscious). Shadowman sounds like a happy song but the lyrics are about the harsh reality of the Berlin street addict. Patchwork is a slow instrumental track and quite spacey. Nuclear War, as the title suggests, is a heavy monster and very Hawkwind inspired at the end. Nightfall ends the CD and also has some Spanish style guitar at times and is a beautiful psych track. Glad someone decided to release this. A really great CD…

http://www.liquidvisions.de
http://www.nasoni-records.com
If you dig: Baby Woodrose, Zone Six, Shiny Gnomes

Scott

Live Fast Die : Thrash Bandana Record CD (Dead Beat Records)
’Every track on ‘Bandana Trash Record’ was recorded on an old betamax recorder and mixed with a Radio Shack mixer”. Live Fast Die is the perfect antidote for all that polished shitty poppunk/emo that’s polluting the airwaves today. Rude like Angry Samoans, offensive like GG Allin, budget rockin’ like Supercharger; Live Fast Die is nihilistic scum punkcore that aims to maim yer ass! Every track rips, be it ”Passing Out In Front Of The Children”, ”Camero Shit The Bed”, ”Snuff Movie”, ”Fat Guy With An iPod” or ”Razor Rat”, this album is definitely my pick of the issue! All hail the new kings of punk and audio terrorism; Shadow Falcon, Time Cop, Viking Thrust & Camero Werewolf (yes, it’s their fuckin’ names!)!! The vinyl record has an extra song.

http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
If you dig: Angry Samoans, Reatards, The Spits

Jens

Lowlife Rock ‘n’ Roll Philosophers- Violent Calm (Seeker Art)
This band hail from Pori, Finland and play a sort of dark, melodic pop-art rock. They are fronted by a pretty cool female singer with an interesting voice. Often the music is a bit hypnotic and dreamy. These guys are probably too young to remember or have heard Hatfield and the North, which I am reminded of a bit on tracks like My Special Day. A few tracks feature 80’s style pop synthesizers. Most of the tracks are mid-paced but Darker Days is a fast paced piano driven track and the band really picks it up on the last track called Sunbeams. Cool stuff. The CD will grow on you for sure.

http://www.seeker-art.net
http://www.lowlifemusic.net
If you dig: Finnish art rock…Elton John

Scott

Low Point Drains promo cd
Fuck yeah! 10 new songs to brighten my day by these sleazy Dutch rockers, thank god (or sugar daddy lucifer) I met lead howler Niels at Primitive festival. This is basically more the of same awesome lewd screwed trash’n’roll that Low Point Drains do so fuckin’ well. The production is probably a tad slicker, but the power of the songs still smack ya on yer ass, maybe even harder, OUCH! The boss blooze slide geetar on ”Baby Night Out” and ”Fuckin’ Lazy” is enough to make any Gun Club fan creem his pants. And of course there’s fast rageaholic punknroll ditties like “Slapped While Suckin’”, “Rock Your Ass” and ”+1”. FanFUCKINtastic! Low Point Drains is still the most underrated band of Netherlands.

http://myspace.com/lowpointdrains
If you dig: New Bomb Turks, The Cramps, Bantam Rooster

Jens

Mater Dronic- Mundo Espectro (Discos Necesarios)
It is always cool when a band contacts you and asks if you want to review their CD and it turns out to have some mind blowing stuff on it. All the tracks here are sung in Spanish and you get plenty of psychedelic rock with delay guitar on this CD. The CD opens with the ten minute long track, ângeles de opio, which takes a while to take off and is a bit repetitive but is worth it as the end gets very psyched out. De todo y nada y mientras is next and a very Hendrix inspired track. Mâscaras de cielo is a beautiful acoustic guitar number and is quite dreamy. Sin Fin follows takes us off on a 19 minute trip. Wow.. this is a heavy duty song, so sit back…IT begins very slowly and then we get the Spanish guitar interlude before the fuzzed out psychic storm kicks in blows your mind. Amor Glacial is another dreamy spaced out track. Como Extraño is nearly 10 minutes and is another psychic journey with some great psychedelic jamming guitar. Fuera del Tiempo is quite spacey yet in your face with the intensity of the guitar. This leads into the 20 minute Sanctus Mantra that ends this CD and is a real guitar track with dual layers of guitar soloing. This ends about 8 minutes or so and the track gets slow and spacey and almost fades out completely before building up once again and instead of more guitar solos we get spaced out synths sounds, before the track comes back to the way it started. Brilliant!

http://www.discosnecesarios.com
If you dig: Sundial, Seven that Spells, Jimi Hendrix, Acid Mothers Temple

Scott

Melted – Kill the Romantics CD (Romansick/Target Distribution)
Since their debut album came out some 5 years ago, the couple of times I’ve seen Melted live, they’ve struck me as having great potential for evolving into something truly personal. Then, when I saw them back in February supporting HateSphere, they had, but I wasn’t too sure if I liked what they had evolved into. This album, only their second, sort of confirms my first impression from that night. For sure, Melted have explored unknown territory, at least to themselves, experimenting with Middle Eastern influenced vocal lines, but what they come up with just isn’t that unique if you’ve heard System Of A Down, nor is it as catchy. For too great a part of the album, all the melodic vocals and down tuned guitars make them sound a bit too much like old Korn. And if that band has come to play an ever-blander pop music, Melted takes it a step further with their cover of Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, which is somewhat funny, yes, but just goes to prove a point that has already been made by writers like Henrik Marstal. To me, Psyke Project has had a lot more success with exploring the boundaries of extreme metal. Shame.

http://www.melted.dk
If you dig: System Of A Down, Korn, Meshuggah

Jon A

Milky Ways : S/T CD (Alive Records)
Montreal’s Milky Ways must be considered nothing short of a supergroup with ex-members of The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, and Del-Gators. It’s not bad trashy lo-fi garagepunk, but one would expect a little more, since the debutalbum is pretty uneven, the production is mediocre at best. Some of it I just don’t get, what’s with the funkbass in “Got My Mojo Back”?!? Sloppy, spazzed-out and somewhat charming, “Mary Blue” is a killer tune, “Mindmelt” has got a nasty cool groove goin’ on, the rest is pretty forgettable. Better luck next time, and please write more memorable songs, I know you have the skills.

http://www.alive-totalenergy.com/
If you dig: Black Lips, Les Sexareenos

Jens

Misery Speaks – Misery Speaks CD (Alveran Records)
It’s like black metal never happened – in fact, it’s like ’92 never happened. Actually, I think that if death metal had sounded as good and professional then as it does now, on its second coming, I would have kept on digging it, instead of moving on to hardcore. Really, I think it’s great that there are all these bands out there recreating this sound, especially since many of them do it a lot better, with a wider scope, than most death metal bands did back around ’90. They’ve taken all that was great about the genre – excessive double bass drumming, excessive riffing, excessive screaming and growling – and left behind most of its more embarrassing old school metal aspects – Morbid Angel’s Fabio look, Pestilence’s over-ambitious concept albums, Death’s prog tendencies. What we’re left with is the essence of what death metal should’ve always been about. Not that I don’t like the old bands, it’s just nice to see that the second wave has something to offer. Production has gotten beefier, too, which is probably the best thing that could happen to death metal. All that said, Misery Speaks aren’t one of the best bands I’ve heard from the second wave of death metal. They do a very good, very efficient job, everything sounds good and is down pat, but they lack hooks. After hearing the album a couple of times, I still can’t recall a single riff. I haven’t been moved to air guitar along to it. Hardly even headbanged. I’ve eaten some fruit, read the newspaper, gone to the bathroom, alphabetized some CDs, watered the flowers. That’s not what death metal should do to you, is it?

http://www.alveranrecords.com
If you dig: Arch Enemy, HateSphere, Nile

Jon A

Motörhead : Kiss Of Death CD (SPV/Target)
“I‘ve been a slut all of my life/I wish every night was a one night stand” (“One Night Stand”). Well, the greatest whore of rock’n’roll is back again to cut through phony trends and empty hype. Being 60 doesn’t seem to slow down Lemmy, a superhuman entity if there was one, and recently he was on Maxim’s top 10 list of ‘Living Legends Of Sex” along side Jack Nicholson, Julio Iglesias and Gene Simmons! “Kiss Of Death”, the 20th studio album by Motörhead (if I’ve counted corrected), is less brutal than the previous “Inferno”, despite the bonecrunchin’ opening rager “Sucker”. Lemmy’s voice is clearer in the mix, and the songs are more melodic. Tracks like “One Night Stand” and “Christine” are pure outlaw boogie rock’n’roll. Still, it’s a typical Motörhead release one would expect from Lemmy, Phil and Mickie, though not as outstanding as the “Inferno” masterpiece.

http://www.imotorhead.com/
http://targetdistribution.dk/
If you dig: Motörhead…what else?

Jens

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution CD (Worldeater Records)
You want edgy, angular, experimental post-hardcore, you say? Want it to be quasi-intellectual, you say? As if it could be anything else, given the first demands? And you want a whole hour of it? Don’t want to pay too much for it, either? OK, Worldeater Records will sell you this album or $6. That’s pretty fair, I think. It’s a good album, too, even if, with 18 songs on it, it’s a bit much, especially since Northern Liberties are something of a Dogme project, in that the line-up consists of one drummer, one percussionist, and one bassist. OK, you get vocals, too, lots of effects on top of it as well, but if you want guitars, you’ll have to search elsewhere. What you get here is raw, artistic expression in the vein of No Means No or Shellac. Not an easy album to listen to, by no means, at times it’s extremely bleak, but it’s rewarding in its own way.

http://www.worldeaterrecords.com
http://www.northernlibertiesband.com
If you dig: No Means No, Fugazi, Shellac

Jon A

On A Warpath – On A Warpath CD (Alveran Records)
Can you imagine a band that makes Biohazard and Agnostic Front sound like real nice friendly types? A band that makes Hatebreed sound emo? On A Warpath are that kind of band. Shit, these guys make Carnivore and Slayer sound like vegan pacifists, make Cannibal Corpse and Necro sound reasonable and well-adjusted. There’s so much anger in this, so many punches thrown, so much brouhaha about vengeance, so much hate in this, it’s – it’s really sad, is what it is. No really, I’m all for self-affirming, muscular, super heavy metal core, it’s good for many things - if not for a romantic evening, mind you – it’s just that this is too much. This isn’t at all positive, it isn’t the least bit exciting – it’s threatening in a very real way, like those big, pumped-up karate slammers with the veins standing out on their shaven heads, their eyes bulging with the desire to fuck you up seriously. This is very depressing music to me. I’m gonna need a whole classic Bad Religion album to cheer me up again and regain my faith in mankind.

http://www.alveranrecords.com
If you dig: Hatebreed, Biohazard, Agnostic Front

Jon A

Ozric Tentacles- The Floors too far Away (Magna Carta)
Well, Ed Wynne is back with his latest Ozric Tentacles CD. You used to refer to Ozric Tentacles as a band but not anymore. This aspect of the group does not exist anymore. Ozrics used to be a psychedelic rock band but are now a psychedelic- electronic music outfit. That does not mean that Ed, who plays everything except a few small parts played by guests, is not still creative. Far from it. Ed has honed his studio skills to such an extent he can quite easily create music all alone now. Anyway, what do we have? The CD begins with Bolshem, a track the band played on the last tour. This is one of the 5 tracks which featuring real drums (Metro) and Brandi plays bass. It begins with forest sounds and a drone before the lush stuff floats in and the track kicks into gear with a synth arpeggio and finally the drums and bass and guitar. Unfortunately, it lasts for only 2 minutes and never really develops into a band song. Armchair Journey is next features Metro (he gets some co-writing credits as well). He is joined by Merv (old Ozrics drummer and member of Eat Static) on percussion. This track starts very new agey and dreamy and takes almost up to 3 minutes before it takes off. Lots of spacey going on and then master Ed lets it rip on the guitar but only for 45 seconds and then there is no guitar. Like most of the tracks on the CD, this is synthesizer driven music and not guitar rock as it used to be. Guitars are played here and there but not continuously on any track. It fades out into dream world again. Jellylips is next and Ed plays all the instruments except some bubbles from ex-Ozrics member Tom Brooks. This is for sure the coolest track on the CD and a very high energy techno-electro creation with a funky groove. Extremely cool stuff. This one blows me away over and over again. The guitar solo is totally spacey and mixed all around the soundscape. This track needs a 5.1 remix by Merv and Joie! Vedavox changes things completely and is a beautiful eastern inspired track with all instruments played by Ed. Now the songs start to get longer. Spacebass is 9½ minutes and features Ed, Brandi and Tom.
It starts slowly with a quite cool deep bass line. Ed plays the drums on this track (real or programmed??). This track is quite close to something from the early 90’s era Ozrics in some ways. The bass line is very cool and the way Ed wraps the synths around the line is very interesting. Wish he would play more guitar. Disdots is another song that many might be familiar with from the last tour as they played this one as well. IT begins with some cool synths before Metro kicks in on the drums. Someone called Forest plays the bass on this track and Brandi on Space Tendrils. Ed plays a very spaced out and psychedelic solo at the beginning before the guitar disappears and the track becomes only bass, drums and synthesizers. Yes…he comes back in for another round of soloing before fading into the background amongst the synths and birds… This track has an amazing sound mix. Etherclock is on for the next 8 minutes and features Ed on everything and Tom on bubs. It is built upon a synth bass line but Ed plays a lot of guitar on this track, probably the most of any of the songs. It is a pity that this track has thin programmed drumming as Metro could have kicked some ass on this one. Around the 5 min track it really kicks into space rock orbit briefly before spacing out again and not really going anywhere. This part should have gone on much longer.. oh well.. Splat is the next track and is 9 minutes and features Ed and Metro with Brandi providing stuff (joints???). This is a very electronic techno programmed like track that when it builds up has an amazing psychedelic sound especially when the guitar kicks in at 4½ minutes and it really rocks out at the end. Ping ends the CD and Ed plays the fretless bass and all the instruments. This features some really fantastic acoustic guitar to accompany the cool bass line. A great track. Well, that is it. 60 minutes of electronic space music with a bit of rock in it. Enjoy until the next one.

http://www.geocities.com/ozrictentacles_web/
http://www.magnacarta.net
If you dig: Eat Static, Oresund Space Collective, Dream Machine, Hawkwind

Scott

Pink Reason – Throw It Away 7” (Savage Quality Recordings)
Do you ever miss the old Royal Trux, you know before they went clean and starting caring about putting their hats on the right way? Here’s a reminder how dopey honky punky blues with some sinister shit cooking beneath still sounds cool when played really slow and Pink Reason even utilize acoustic guitar combing. Spooky. These people might be totally straight and just reminiscing for all I know, but they get their music across sounding like they’ve been there. The B-side contains the songs Slate Train and New Violence and the 7” is 33 RPM.

Savage Quality Recordings, 1132 S. Quincy St., Green Bay, WI 54301, USA
If you dig: Heroin Ceiling, the Kneedles, Royal Trux

Morten

Nozomi Phoenix- Nozomi Phoenix (Self Released EP)
Nozomi Phoenix is a five piece band from the USA. This EP is 5 tracks (23 mins). The bio describes the music as moody evolutionary rock. Man, I really like some of these tracks a lot and the cool very political statements and samples are spot on! A strange dreamy atmosphere on many of the tracks that sort of takes you over…Singer sometimes reminds me of Chris Cornell of Audioslave/Soundgarden. The music has a lot of cool samples mixed into it that really works well and makes for a sort of psychedelic trip, in a way. A more melodic, controlled, Mars Volta vibe. This is great stuff…

http://mysapce.com/nozomiphoenix
If you dig: Monoton, Audioslave, Mars Volta
Scott

Psychic Space Invasion - All God’s Children got Space (Elvis Coffee Records)
This UK one man band (Ian Holloway) has released 7 CD-Rs on the Elvis Coffee Records label. This CD is one 43 minute piece of music. Be patient, sit back and absorb the sounds. IT begins with a ringing like drone that is slowly taken over by another drone by the sound of an organ. As the ringing disappears and the organ sound develops into a special drone some spaced out sounds are starting to filter into the sound (17mins or so). IT gets very spaced out in the min 20 minutes and then the sounds are modulated further until it slowly fades out into nothingness as it began. Phew….Special stuff…

And remember this is a very special record label in which all the releases are free, you only pay the postage! £1.5 for 1 CD or £3 for 3-4 CDs depending where you live in the world.

http://ecr.homestead.com
http://www.psychicspaceinvasion.co.uk/
Scott

Raised Fist – Sound of the Republic CD (Burning Heart Records/Bonnier Amigo)
Run, Raised Fist, run like hell! Run find a better world out there, maybe even a good, unused, heavy riff hidden away somewhere. Man, seldom have I heard a band in such a hurry to get shit done with, even when they play mid-tempo. These guys are so intent, the singer sounds like he’s constipated, bursting vessels to rid himself of the pain all through the record. Like Tom Araya, only without the nuances - it’s a bit of a strain to listen to in the long stretch, I’ll admit, especially that vocal takes some getting used to. There’s no doubt, though, that these guys seriously mean it; They really, truly, desperately wanna do something, if only for the sake of doing it, and they do it with purpose, guts, and nerve. They also employ some ill-advised nü-metallic hiphop beats on the title track which makes them sound just a bit Limp Bizkit for a while, but we’re open-minded and aggressively positive this season, so that’s OK.

http://www.burningheart.com
If you dig: Slayer, Pantera, Refused

Jon A

The Reducers SF : Raise Your Hackles CD (TKO Records)
Street Punk? Pub Punk? Singalong Beer Punk? Heard a gazillion bands who sounded exactly like Reducers, same oi-meet-melodic-punk hooks, singing and backing vocals. They are bad not at it, but listen to your old Stiff Little Fingers vinyls instead, okay? This is too bland for my taste, maybe I ain’t got the right tattoos, who knows...

http://www.tkorecords.com
http://www.reducerssf.com
If you dig: Stiff Little Fingers, Swingin’ Utters, Bombshell Rocks

Jens

Returner – Dealing With This Death CD (Worldeater Records)
Oh wow, the guitarist in this band is from a band called Bitch Slicer! How cool is that? Politically correct, well-advised, or even clever it may not be, but cool it is. But wait, back to the release at hand: Returner have created a concept album, a 25-minute-long story of a 19-year-old vampire hunter in some godforsaken place called Belgrade, who is “consumed by a life of hatred and fear” and “cannot shake the sensation of impending doom that draws nearer.” A typical teenager, then, with more than a little in common with Buffy, which just happens to be one of the few good things about TV I can think of. She’s something of a bitch slicer, too, Buffy is. I don’t know if she’d dig this musical tribute, though, because it’s pretty far from the alt-rock Buffy usually listens to: Actually it reminds me, more than anything else, of these demo tapes I received somewhere around ’90 with a death metal band called Dr. Shrinker, also because of the production. Also Phantasm, a spin-off band from Dr. Shrinker, I think, who made a werewolf-themed concept demo tape. Yes, they did. The story here is a bit on the fantasy side, too, owing more to “Conan the Barbarian” than actually slicing bitches (that would be vampire bitches, of course). Some creepy, and unintentionally funny, spoken word interludes round the whole experience off. On the whole vampire-meets-metal scale, it’s not terribly refined, I’m afraid, but it’s definitely better than Jonathan Davis’ involvement in “Queen of the Damned”.

http://www.worldeaterrecords.com
If you dig: Dr. Shrinker, Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse

Jon A

The Revellions : 5 track CD
Another new Dublin garage combo who played with The Urges, they share a similiar fascination for 60s Nuggets-style garage/r&b. The recording is rawer, and not as elegant as The Urges (especially the vocals), but it kicks plenty of garagepunk butt. 2 out of the 5 tracks are instrumentals, maybe a tad too many.

therevellions@gmail.com
If you dig: The Satelliters, Count Five, Artwoods

The Rydells : Loaded Dice EP CD (San Marin Records)
A little too by the book Social Distortion/Ramones punk’n’roll without any originality. Of Italian punk’n’roll bands I prefer stuff like Temporal Sluts, this is just too mediocre.

http://www.rydells.it
http://sanmartinrecords.it
If you dig: Social Distortion, The Bones, Powergrill

Jens

Saxon- The Eagle has Landed III (SPV Records)
Saxon are one of the longest running NWOBHM bands along with Iron Maiden that have never stopped or given up and continue to deliver the goods… This double CD was recorded at multiple locations in Europe in 2004 (CD2) and 2005 (CD1). It features 32 tracks with CD1 focusing on the old songs and CD2 the new tracks. The sound quality and performances are excellent. If you are a Saxon fan then this will not disappoint. Some of the classics on the first CD include Backs to the Wall and Frozen Rainbow from their very first 7” record in 1979, Suzie Hold On, Stallions of the Highway, Redline and See the Lights Shinning. I was not familiar with a lot of the stuff on the CD2, so it was great to hear that they can still wrote some quite strong songs. Saxon fans will enjoy this and if you are new to Saxon, here you will get a great selection of the classics.

http://www.spv.de
http://www.saxon747.com/
If you dig: NWOBHW, Saxon, Accept

Scott

Scarecrow : Deadcrow CD (San Martin Records)
Metallic Finnish hardcore. Not usually something I put on my stereo, but this combo is actually pretty entertaining since they’re obvious Motörhead worshippers. ”Don’t Open The Cemetary Gates” is a fun beerpunk Misfits-esque party song. Scarecrow’s metallic guitar licks and some of growling left me kinda cold, but their rowdy horror thrash/punk IS quite infectious, and they’re pretty tight, not some black metal joke. I bet they’re a riot live. A perfect warm up for the new Slayer record.

http://scarecrow.rocks.it/
If you dig: Agnostic Front, Poison Idea, Frankenstein Dragqueens From Planet 13

Jens

Set Your Goals – Mutiny! CD (Alveran Records)
Oh, this is excellent! No really, I don’t care if this is melodic and so emo it hurts, Set Your Goals are such a super positive force, just putting on this album the sun breaks out, you have no job, no school, no worries, everything is possible, and you know you’re gonna do it. That’s a nice feeling for a record to instil in you, however much I may like Unsane, and Set Your Goals deserve all the applause they can get for it. This band should make it so big they eclipsed all your Green Days, Sum 41s, and whatever MTV shit the kids are fed – if those bands are Coca Cola, Set Your Goals are Guaraná Power. Righteous, would be the word. And this is only their debut album, which starts off as a suite of songs intertwined like the twin lead vocals, making it all seem almost too overwhelming. At times, they come dangerously close to being pop, but then again, they never try to hide their melodies behind metal core or anything of the kind, so I’m OK with it.

http://www.alveranrecords.com
If you dig: Bad Religion, Fugazi

Jon A

Sexaphone – Fuck your Space EP (Yakisakana Records)
This is the record that’ll make your girlfriend pack her bags and move out, even if you play it at a low volume. If you only have a little sister, she’ll probably want to start a band tomorrow and then the jokes on you. Drummerphone and Voxaphone pay tribute to their hero Prince the best they can and if you like your punk rock played really well with a little ska thrown in for good measure, well… Go ahead and make my day. It’s on Yakisakana, Lemmy Caution (of Black Time) recorded it and that’s really all you need to know. Who said reviewing punk rock in 2006 was easy by the way?

http://www.yakisakana.tk
If you dig: The sound of leaves falling to the ground when trimming bonsai trees…

Morten

The Six String Jets : Savage Beat 7” (Wrecked Em Wreckords)
Memphis punknroll which goes straight for jugular with that fine fine Devil Dogs/Radio Reelers sound with a bit of lo-fi Teengenerate spunk to’em. 4 trackes of utter brilliance, ”Get Away” could’ve been on the first Damned album. Outrageously good, simply sensational! Red vinyl, limited to 300.

http://myspace.com/thesixstringjets
http://www.wrecked-em.com
If you dig: Devil Dogs, Teengenerate, The Damned

Jens

The Sonic Chicken 4 : Don’t Let Me Down 7” (Nasty Product)
”Don’t Let Me Down” is wacky garage trash packed with fuzz geetar, a bit of 60s r&b, and a xylophone (!?). The flipside, ”Sonic Chicken” comes at ya with a higher speed, in a Hasil-Adkins-doing-acid-with-Downliners-Sect kinda way. Neat powerpop backing vocals to boot. SC4 is an extremely interesting combo from the frog munchin’ land that brought you The Fatals and garlic bread. I WANNA HEAR MORE!

http://www.nastyprod.com/
http://myspace.com/sonicchicken4
If you dig: Crazyass soundin’ garagepunk.

Jens

The Spacious Mind- Tonen (God Damn I’m a Countryman Records)
This is number 4 of the Spacious Minds limited edition CD-R series and features 2 long tracks (22 and 24 minutes) that are outtakes from the bands previous studio CD, Rotvåalta. The tracks are simply called Parts 1 &2. Part One begins slow and spaced out as all the Spacious Mind stuff they create these days does. It is amazing sometimes how the band can create such a psychedelic and stoned vibe. Some of the stuff on this CD just blew my mind… You need to be in the right mood but when you sit down and get connected to this music, be prepared to be transported to that other universe……you won’t want to come back for a while.. Amazing..

http://www.countrymanrecords.com/TSM/index.htm
If you dig: CAN, Amon Duul, Pink Floyd, Tangle Edge

Scott

The Spacious Mind. Club Rothko 060906 (God Damn I’m a Countryman Records)
This is number 5 of the Spacious Minds, God Damn I’m a countryman records limited edition (100 to 200 copies) CD-R releases. This is a recorded in NYC, while the band were over playing at a larger festival in the USA. This CD-R features 3 tracks in 60 minutes and is the pretty standard set that the band has been playing the last 3 years. The CD opens with a long trippy version of The Cinnamon Tree. It gets quite spaced out and noisy towards the end. This is a band that is always experimenting.. Next up is E6, which is very Pink Floyd like in nature and trippy until the and picks it up around 16-17 minutes and starts to freak out. Full on psychedelic rock, Baby! A 19 minute version of the One that Really Won the War ends the CD. This time the spacey trippy part only last until 10 minutes before the band kicks it up into high gear. Great soundboard-audience recording but the drums are quite thin sounding. If you are a fan of the band, you must have this for sure.

http://www.countrymanrecords.com/TSM/index.htm
If you dig: Pink Floyd, Amon Duul,

Scott

The Spirit That Guides Us – We Are Under Reconstruction Part 1 CD (Sally Forth Records)
Like, these guys are Christians, or what? I suppose it’s kind of an OK name in a way, but combined with the music on this CD, which compiles rare tracks from the first 5 years of TSTGU’s career (including a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”), it really makes me concerned about being subliminally Christianized. Which again makes me concerned about whether or not this music is actually good for the kids. Because, yes, we’re in emo land here, in the thick of it. Lots and lots of melodies, a lot of crying, some screaming, very little heaviness anywhere. Actually, if it wasn’t for the prerequisite screaming, this band would be The Smiths, only they’re way more positive – which, again, isn’t saying a lot, I know. Somehow, that overwhelmingly positive spirit in these songs is nice and appealing, but I’m too scared of becoming a Jesus freak from listening to this.

http://www.sallyforthrecords.com
If you dig: Refused, Deftones, The Smiths

Jon A

SSM- SSM (Alive Records)
SSM stands for the first initial in the 3 members last names. The band is from NYC and plays a noise sort of indie pop that is very inspired by the rock of the early 60’s in someway but very noisy and distorted…. They mix in as lot of funny psychy stuff as well at times. The music is very much driven by the organ-keyboard player and his sound in the band. At times they remind me a bit of the Talking Heads but in their own unique way…

Http://www.ssmothership.com
http://www.alive-totalenergy.com
If you dig: Sonic Youth, Talking Heads
Scott

The Standing 8 Counts : Greatest Hits CD (Merenoise Records)
This Brisbane combo terrorized the pubs and clubs down under from 1998 to 2003, and it sure sounds like a fun act to drink yourself silly to. Rowdy blooze punk that sounds like a rabid razorback boar chewin’ your scrotum. 22 tracks, 5 different recordings (studio + live) with almost as many different lineups. Maybe a bit too much as a first time introduction to a rookie, but even though not all tunes rip, it’s a damn solid testament of S8C.

http://www.merenoise.net
If you dig: Beasts Of Bourbon, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Jens

The Stitches : 8 X 12” CD (Vinyl Dog)
A re-issue of the classic 1995 12” record by The Stitches. Only 8 tracks, like on the vinyl, a few bonus tracks would’ve been fine. But it’s the music that counts, and The Stitches deliver classic Orange County punkrock with snotty energy, memorable hooks and boneshakin’ melodies. My fave picks would be ”My Baby Hates Me” and their fierce cover of Shane MacGowan’s ”That Woman’s Got Me Drinking”.

http://www.tkorecords.com
If you dig: US Bombs, Adolescents, Agent Orange

Jens

Syzslak – When Demons Ride Angels CD (Worldeater Records)
Jokey, crusty death metal that somehow manages to sound like a mix between Motörhead and Morbid Angel, mostly due to the garage production. I had no idea bands like this still existed. Back in the very early 90’s, I wrote for this Xeroxed fanzine, and I used to get tons of tapes like this one, especially from this one label, Wild Rags Records. I guess Worldeater Records is something like a Wild Rags Records for the new millennium. Which I’m not sure is something you would want to strive for, but there goes. At least they sell their records at a very affordable $6, so you can afford to experiment with stuff like this, if you’re attracted to death metal that has a psychedelic drawing of a goofy-looking demon stealing a psychotic teddy bear from someone sleeping in a coffin on the back cover. This band’s debut EP was called “Hitler Could’ve Been Aborted”, you know. Once you get used to it sounding like shit, this isn’t half bad, actually, there are some good song structures in it and all, and there’s not a trace of pop or emo in it, which is becoming more and more uncommon in metal these days. It’s nice to know that someone is still fighting a losing battle for this breed of un-music, but I’m not sure they’ll get too many recruits for the battle against MTV, modern metal, and mankind. Which is likely the way it’s intended anyway.

http://www.worldeaterrecords.com
If you dig: Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Motörhead

Jon A

Thor- Devastation of Musculation (Smog Veil Records SV63CD)
THOR is back! I reviewed his last CD, Thor against the World last year. THOR wrote and conceived this record up in Vancouver with his musical mate, Mike Kirschnick, who plays almost all the instruments. Anyway, THOR is back with a harder rocking and dark album. THOR’s vocals remind me so much of El Duce from The Mentors on a lot of the tracks but instead of singing about sex, alcohol and porn, here the themes are strictly Medieval and battle stories. I think the songs were more varied and interesting on the last record. There are some real headbangers like Lies of Eternity, which will have the fans of the THOR legion, banging and screaming at the concert for sure! Cold White Ghost and Abandon are sort of ballads but not really. Queen of the Damned begins with some female vocals and is quite catchy but he sounds so much like El Duce.. Tales of the Wolf/Warriors of the Universe is Thor’s new anthem. Very Manowar inspired. This CD sounds best when played LOUD. If you like this style of anthemic medieval Heavy metal, then you will enjoy this. Nothing new but something fun..

http://www.thorcentral.com http://www.smogveil.com
If you dig: Manowar, Hammerfall, Mentors

Scott

Throbbin Urges – Throbbin Urges LP/CD (Dead Beat Records)
There’s a world where “punk rock” means having your logo on a pair of Vans, wearing mascara, and buddying with Carson Daly. If you’re under 30, chances are that’s how you entered into the world of punk rock. Then, once you punched in this URL, you entered into a different world where “punk rock” means a bunch of different things, but none of them sneakers. Punk rock can be a political stance, an attitude, a way of going about doing things, a diet, a religion. Or it can be AAARRRGGGHHH! Maim! Destroy! Fuck shit up! Kill! Lay waste to all and piss off as fast as you came! We like that, here at LowCut, even if we like politics, doing things, even sneakers, as well. Sometimes, it’s so refreshing to hear someone just not give a fuck about anything, except being as loud and annoying as possible. Throbbin Urges are like that: They don’t care what your sneakers say, what committee for environmental protection you’re in, how punk rock saved our life. They’re fun, in a mean way.

http://www.dead-beat-records.com
http://www.myspace.com/throbbinurges
If you dig: Dwarves, Muletrain

Jon A

Throbbin Urges : S/T CD(Dead Beat Records)
HOLY EGG LADY! This is the loudest album I’ve heard since Guitar Wolf’s ”Jet Generation”, in fact this sounds like if early Black Flag had some psychotic Japanese cousins who worked as roadies for Los Ass Draggers but snuffed them for not playing any Crime covers! 12 blasts of trashy glorious budget rock, highlights being ”Dial-A-Date”, ”Accidents” and ”Remote Control Pussy”. Another winner from Dead Beat Records who have yet to release a bad album. The LP has a bonus track, ”By Nightfall”. From Michigan. Hotter than a million Chernobyl meltdowns!

http://www.dead-beat-records.com
http://myspace.com/throbbinurges
If you dig: Guitar Wolf, Teengenerate, The Mummies

Jens

Tiger By The Tail : S/T CD (Bang! Records/Funhouse)
Dave Thomas from Bored! is behind this project, and man, Bored! sure is a blast from the past, I was crazy about their rowdy brand of Stooges-meets-Rose Tattoo r’n’r. Tiger By The Tail is a different group, although the geetars are loud and fuzzy, there’s a Dinosaur Jr. indie-feel to some of the songs. Not bad, but nothing sensational, maybe it’ll grow on this ol’ cockrockin’ knucklehead.

http://bang-records.net/
If you dig: Dinosaur Jr., Nikki Sudden, Wipers

Jens

Tungsten 74- Binaurally Yours (Technical Echo Records)
Tungsten 74 plays all instrumental experimental rock music. They probably get thrown into the post rock category sometimes but I am not sure they fit there. Anyway, this is the bands 4th CD release since 1999. Rusty Cavalier opens the CD and is quite a noisy track (think Mono meets Bardo Pond). Waltz is next and mixes cool sound effects with a nice groove and melodic guitar soloing. Very cool song. Come Sweet Death totally catches you by surprise as it is a short acoustic number with some strange sounds in the background, but quite melodic. Fire Alarm, begins with some alarm like sounds created with guitars, before the drums and the hard riff kicks this one up into high gear! This is the most spaced out number on the CD. Awesome. Absolutely slows things down again and lets the sound drift for the next 10 minutes. It is quite melodic but spacey as it builds and builds up. Great guitar playing on this track. Rusty Cavalier (1b) ends the CD and is again quite floating and dreamy and reminds me of Mono. Very cool CD. Check these guys out!

http://www.technicalecho.com
http://www.tungsten74.com
If you dig: Circle, Bardo Pond, Mono, and Escapade

Scott

Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival : North Of Hell CD (Rock’n’Roll Purgatory Records)
Recorded in just 6 hours, these Ohio ‘Geeks For God’ (Brother Ed & Brother Ant) are devoted disciples of lowdown primitive lo-fi trash. Like Knights Of The New Crusade the duo rants against the evils of the horned one (“The Devil Is A Pussy”, “Gimmie Back My Bible”, “Gates Of Hell”) and preach the 10 commandments (“I Can’t Bang You On A Sunday”). They once had a bassplayer, Sister Amber, but she was kicked out because ‘her breasts were too distracting on stage’. Salvation never sounded this good, Hallelujah!

http://rocknrollpurgatory.com/unclescratch/
If you dig: Bog Log III, Hasil Adkins, DM Bob & The Deficits

Jens

The Urges promo CDS (Reverberation)
Saw this sensational band at Primtive festival 2006 deliver an outstanding show. Very suave rock’n’rollers (Jim was a kickass frontman) with an obvious love for the 60s English mod/psych scene as well as American garagepunk (“Jenny Jenny”). There are countless new bands who aim for that sound, but rarely have I’ve heard anyone do it better than Dublin’s The Urges. An upcoming band, I predict great things for them, they got the skills and chops to pull it off!
http://www.theurges.com

If you dig: Easybeats, The Creation, The Smoke

Jens

Charles Van De Kree- Phoenix Rising (Overlord)
Charles is the leader of the Albuquerque, New Mexico based space rock outfit called Jet Jaguar. This is Charles first solo CD in this context, although Charles has made lots of solo music in the past. The CD was recorded in his home studio and some of the Jet Jaguar people also contribute. Ten tracks of electronic space rock music with highly effected vocals and loads of spacey synths. The music here is not as fast fasted in general as Jet Jaguar and fans of Helios Creed would love this stuff. Dave Brock is clearly an influence on the guitar playing on the CD as well. The CD includes one cover song. Search and Destroy by Iggy and the Stooges. What a great CD. I have heard it a lot lately and this is the type of space rock I love…. Great job Charles.

http://www.myspace.com/jetjaguarrocksinspace
If you dig: Chrome, Helios Creed, Jet Jaguar, Hawkwind, Pressurehed, Farflung, Space Mirrors

Scott

Vanna – The Search Party Never Came MCD (Epitaph Records/Bonnier Amigo)
If I was 15 years old, would I dig this? Would it be the perfect channelling of all my pent-up frustration, my romantic longing, my fragile sensibility, my blinding rage? I mean, if I wasn’t this pseudo-intellectual university drop-out pushing 30, whose ears have over the years been accustomed to ever more extreme sounds and ever more abstract concepts of what can be called music, to the point that I’m hearing free jazz in everything atonal by now – if instead I was a young wanna-be skater kid sporting expensive baggy pants and skull-decorated hoodeds on the look-out for exciting new sounds to complete a reality that’s never enough in itself. No, wait, that’s also me. Anyway, if I’d been spending my time watching MTV renditions of emo and teenage angst in the hands of My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte, wouldn’t this sound refreshing to me? My guess is it would blow me away, actually, that it would provide me with a sense of purpose to my young life, and that some old fuck like my actual self could just piss off with his judgmental attitude and shitty preconceptions about melodic singing in hardcore. And I wouldn’t give a hoot if I started comparing some of the heavier parts to Refused just to be nice, I’d just be even more of a condescending prick. I’d just blast this 6-track CD over and over again, listening to the world being born anew, and every band henceforth would be compared to these guys, whom I got into by their debut mini-CD.

http://www.epitaph.com
If you dig: Refused, Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance

Jon A

The Warriors – Beyond the Noise CD (Alveran Records)
Like, fuck! Just as I was getting really open-minded and tolerant towards emo slipping into my hardcore, if only for the season, a record like this comes along and completely wipes out all the whiny romantics! Oh, thank God for putting an end to my misery. And it’s, like, they’re so close so many times throughout the record, teetering on the edge of emo, a hair’s breadth from bursting into a big, melodic chorus or start singing about feelings and stuff, they really got you on the edge of your seat. But, damn, they hold it just there, playing powerful, epic, towering hardcore that’s midtempo and punkrock without being boring for it. Which is something of an effort, you should know. All those kids that still get into Rage Against the Machine should be listening to this instead, as The Warriors have updated that exact sound and made it cool along the way. Which is even more of an effort. And yes, it’s still romantic and desperate, and you can still sing along to it, you just don’t have to feel ashamed of it any more. Have a nice summer, then – here’s your soundtrack!

http://www.alveranrecords.com
If you dig: Snapcase, Amen, Refused

Jon A

Young Wasteners : Waiting 7” EP (Hjernespind)
Four leftover tracks from the “We Got Ways” 12” recordings which finally see the light of day long after the band broke up. I’ve always thought Young Wasteners were one of the most exciting and original K-Town punk acts, I even had the pleasure of them supporting my ex-band at one point. The four tunes are perfect examples of what the band was about; “Code Red” is a bit Orange County punkcore-y (D.I. fronted by Johnny Rotten?), the Dead Kennedys-esque “Who To Be”, and the more Birthday Party-ish deathgothpunk of “Waiting” and “Selfallowed”. A must for every fan of the K-Town scene!

http://www.kicknpunch.com
If you dig: Dead Kennedys, D.I., Birthday Party

Jens

Zao – The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here CD (Ferret Music/Target Distribution)
This should be the wet dream of any rock critic with a hard-on for both metal and the more intellectual math rock: Fierce, abrasive, and colossal metal rock in the vein of Mastodon recorded by Steve Albini, a man famous for making The Pixies sound hard. That Zao might have actually benefited from a bit more bottom in the mix and more space around the drums (like the recording Albini did on High On Fire’s mighty “Blessed Black Wings”) is another story, but it’s nice to hear a metal album that hasn’t been compressed beyond all limits, a metal album that still sounds raw. The first couple of listens, all their qualities untold, Zao just don’t appear to be that extreme a band. Monumental, epic, loud, yes, but not that extreme. I like this, I’m just not blown away by it. I don’t feel the wrath of God listening to it, I don’t get weird images of Thor raging across the sky with his hammer held high. But then I took out to listen to it again, give it a spin while preparing a salad – since I didn’t feel it was sufficiently evil to sacrifice virgins to, but did however provide a perfect backdrop for blending guacamole and cutting slices of mozzarella cheese onto a bed of ruccola. Then, a week or so later, I brought it out again. This, apparently, is that type of album you just can’t let go, the kind the slowly creeps under your skin, until one morning you wake up with long, blond, curly hair, studded leather wrist bands, and a goat tied to the bed.

http://www.ferretstyle.com
http://www.zaoonline.com
If you dig: Mastodon, Himsa, Unearth

Jon A

V/A The Drip/Hedgecreep split 7” (Wrecked Em Wreckords)
Had the pleasure of listening to Chicago punknrollers The Drip’s demo CD-R last year and the two tracks are more of the same great Johnny Thunders/New Bomb Turks inspired punknroll stuff. Side 2’s ”Pokey” by Hedgecreep is slow mean sludge dirge. From Memphis. Clear vinyl, limited to 300.

http://thedriprocks.com
http://myspace.com/hedcreep
http://www.wrecked-em.com

Jens

V/A - The Pet Series – Half life (third): rabbit mix (Volkoren)
We’ve reached the fifth volume in this, the ultimate of ambient music landscapes. Jon A may have a stick up his ass about my singer songwriter fetish, but he can’t touch my Pet Series records. There is no better way for artists in, for that is what it is, such a niche to get exposed. Twelve different artists have made it on this record – and all of them are as brilliant as the next. It’s not Boards of Cannada, it’s not Björk. It might be The Beta Band, but they are still not even close. This is the ultimate of ultimates as far as background music goes. If I were in advertisement, I’d have the soundtrack for twelve different hip commercials right here. If you’r the kind that pukes at indie music, stay away – and let the rest of us drink from this sweet sweet nectar! (There, was that corny enough? The record rocks though, seriously!)

http://www.thepetseries.com

Kristian

V/A – Play/Rec Five Years CD (Play/Rec / VME)
There’s one reason to buy this album, and that’s Barra Head’s version of The Unit’s “If It Ain’t Broke”, and that’s enough of a reason. Cover versions can be fun, they can be interesting, they can even be quite good, but they’re rarely ever better than the original, and the original here is an amazing slab of bitterness and uncontrolled garage punk rock fury. But somehow, Barra Head have managed to take all that anger and channel it into one of the tightest post hardcore songs they’ve ever done. I talked to Jakob and Arvid from Barra Head, and both of them had had their doubts about whether or not this was really any good. Then I talked to Søren from The Unit, and to, him this was how the song should’ve always sounded.
All this is not to say there aren’t other good moments on this compilation, because there are. The concept is gather around the whole Play/Rec family and get everyone to cover each other’s songs in one, big orgy where no one gets left out. Even The Kind Of Bitter, Mikkel from Barra Head’s folkrock sideproject is resurrected for a duel with The Magic Bullet Theory. Lack cover Barra Head, which is almost cheating, they admit, since the two bands have been touring Europe playing along with each other, but their reconstruction of “Kill the Lights” manages to turn that whole song on its head, while The Unit go for the primal energy in Lack’s “Deserters”, steering clear of he first verse’s homoerotic lines for fear of having o answer too many questions at home, I take it. Some of the material here is too indie for my personal tastes, as it will be with a label as diverse as Play/Rec, although it’s fun to hear The Violet Hour make a quiet folk rock waltz out of Menfolk’s math rock mayhem “Are We Enemies”. But that opening salvo alone is worth the whole album.

If you dig: Dischord Records

Jon A

V/A – Suma/Bastinado split 7” (Speakerphone Records)
This is the first in a trilogy of split 7”s Suma will be releasing, where the back covers pay tribute to Christiania and the front cover forms a painting of some ugly chick smoking a reefer when put together. The first one is a split with Croatian band Bastinado who do a good job at competing in stoner rock with the Swedes, but being a sucker for Suma’s noise, I’ll go with Suma’s “Don’t Feed the Pigs”, which starts off as a slow, Mogwai’ish track, before building up and blossoming fully in a Neurosis-sounding epic. These bearded young men can’t fail for now. If this is what their second album is gonna sound like, I can’t wait to hear it.

http://willpowerbooking.com/suma
If you dig: Neurosis, Melvins

Jon A