The Blood Brothers
Crimes
V2 Records
Did you know that the Alternative Press dubbed The Blood Brothers "the world's greatest post-hardcore band"? I didn't, either. There they are: five sprightly young chaps posing on the mag's cover in a Laundromat. I'm always amazed how bands let themselves be arranged for their publicity photographs. Generally, punk bands pose in the streets in some industrial backwater; black-metal bands pose in the forest with their swords and corpse paint; and apparently post-hardcore bands pose in Laundromats. I suppose the photographer just kind of snuck up on them while they were waiting for the spin cycle to finish up and went, "Surprise, dudes! You're on the cover of the magazine! Got you!" Either that or maybe the post-hardcore ethos is all about clean clothes. But from the looks of the guys in The Blood Brothers with their stained pants and their trucker hats tilted rakishly to one side and how they're all slouching insouciantly, I guess not, huh?
Maybe the post-hardcore ethos is about high-pitched caterwauling, or possibly annoying atonal guitars. Shit, I have no idea. I hate to sound like bitter-dude again, but I grew up listening to actual hardcore, and for some reason this post stuff is largely lost on me. Looking over the lyrics, you get the impression that The Blood Brothers are concerned with addressing all the relevant social issues of today. They lambaste the five o'clock news and pop music! Burn, contemporary culture, burn! I bet they "totally hate" MTV and are sooo over Paris Hilton, too.
What they don't seem to realize is that making fun of stuff like that is redundant. Anyone worth a crap already knows how terrible pop music has become or that Paris Hilton is just a wealthy slut, so making fun of them is kind of like making fun of a retarded person. Everyone knows that it sucks to have Down's syndrome, and you genuinely feel sympathy for someone who has it, but by making fun of someone for something they can't help and that is already completely obvious to everyone else just makes you look like the asshole.
All that aside, fans of Japanese noise-pop or other weird experimental "punk" may appreciate this. And can I just mention the album artwork? Will someone please go buy this album and tell me what to think about the cover art? You can contact me via TransWorld.-Andreas Trolf
TODD
Purity Pledge
Southern Records
Hailing from London, England, the band TODD is devastatingly heavy and is awash with desultory melodies and chaffing lyrics. If you took the best sounding parts from Jesus Lizard and Killdozer and meshed them with the best riffage from any old Sonic Youth or Sabbath song, what you'd end up with is the new TODD album, Purity Pledge. Okay, here's another analogy: If Billy Childish ever fronted a no-wave band with rudimentary keyboards, I'd bet it would sound a lot like TODD. Refreshingly true to the harshest sounds that rock and roll can deliver, Purity Pledge is a breath of fresh air.-Aaron Schmidt
Shipping News
Flies The Fields
Quarterstick Records
Be lulled asleep by the soft tones and unassuming rhythms of Shipping News as its sound covertly meanders through the air and into your soul. It's quite a tantric experience, really. Taken by surprise, your uplifted sense of well-being is magnified to the height of your awareness. Negativity-your adversary. Daylight dreams drift in and out, while cumulus clouds of self-expression remain. Entranced, you enlighten your spirit with a calm reassuredness that everything's going to be "A-okay." Push away the stress of your day with Shipping News. I did, and I feel great now.-Aaron Schmidt
Cephalic Carnage
Anomalies
Relapse Records
The loonies in Cephalic Carnage are back at it again with another bona fide grindfest. This time around the album's concept is all about spooky stuff in life: the impending apocalypse, remote viewing, satanic conspiracy theories, and total environmental colpse-my kind of album! The sound is pretty much the same as the last CC album, Lucid Interval, yet it seems to be produced better and is a lot more punishing-if that's possible. These five Hessians from Denver, Colorado will bring turmoil to your sensory organs, leaving your head and neck numb from head-banged acceleration.-Aaron Schmidt
... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Worlds Apart
Interscope Records
I saw this band play live once at the Casbah in San Diego, California. After rocking out beyond belief in the middle of their set, the members of AYWKUBTTOD completely thrashed their instruments into small pieces. After a short break, the dudes came back out onstage with a freshly duct-taped guitar, bass, and drum kit. It was f-kin' amazing to say the least! Then the guys finished the show to the delight of the entire crowd. Fast-paced indie rock shoved down your throat with no-holds-barred mentality. Still flying relatively under the mainstream radar, it's only a matter of time before the band blows up and is all over the place. The Trail Of Dead proves to be another glimmer of hope for the world of rock and roll, as only one or two songs on the album sound kind of MTV sappy.-Aaron Schmidt
Big Business
Head For The Shallow
Hydra Head Industries
Young people, we know you're bored, angry, and confused, but listen up. You're eventually gonna die. So have an open, generous heart, and do everything worth putting your body and mind to. Because whether you believe it now or not, people need people, and life goes better with adventure. And lastly, do yourself a favor-get the new Big Business album. Everything Jared Warren has done, is doing, and will do in the future rocks. Find his work, and get inspired.
Now, you might agree with the first two axioms easily enough. But to the third, you say, 'Who's this Warren character and why should I care?' Fair enough. In addition to having been vocalist for Olympia, Washington's Tight Bros From Way Back When, Warren was also in the legendary Karp. More recently, you could've heard him handling vox/bass duties in The Whip, alongside superhumanly talented, much beloved drummer Scotty Jernigan (R.I.P.) and guitarist Joe Preston (also of Thrones/Melvins/High On Fire). Suffice it to say, everything Warren's hands have been in over the years has consistently kicked ass.
Which brings us to Big Business. If you like your music thunderous and pummeling, then you'll love this new band with drummer Coady Willis (Murder City Devils/Broadcast Oblivion). Right out of the gate, it's no exaggeration to say these two gentlemen exhibit enough guts, volume, and vision to trump damn near every "heavy" band working today. With relentless, profoundly distorted bass riffs, lightning-fast percussion, and vocals howled straight from the recesses of hell, Head For The Shallow takes you on a stirring journey into the heart of darkness and out again. Everything about this album is great. Let it be the soundtrack to your inspired life.-Arlie Carstens
These Arms Are Snakes
Oxeneers Or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home
Jade Tree Records
These Arms Are Snakes step up with a harsh approach to music from the American northwest. Their first full-length album, Oxeneers ..., blends throttling spastic guitar riffs, thundering obtrusive bass lines, rough-edged vocals, and a haunting pump organ to create a constantly twitching and evolving ball of sound. These guys bring it with sweat and blood. Like most creative hardcore bands, TAAS is at its best onstage, and somewhat sadly, the album only provides glimpses of the intense energy that these guys command with their instruments. The creative musicianship on Oxeneers softens the hardcore edges, making the album a bit more accessible to mainstream audiences. However, lyrically TAAS are anything but soft-the band's bitter, tired of working dead-end jobs, and they're going to scream about it. "La Stanza Bianca" is the musical and lyrical highpoint of Oxeneers. The song paints a dark picture of mental anguish suffered by an employee of a mental institution. The pump organ dances around like the thoughts of a madman while vocalist Steve Snere wails, "What kind of job is this?/ This is madness!" The low points of Oxeneers include some minor overproduction and an overuse of effects that can sometimes muddy the brilliant musicianship. Overall, Oxeneers is a very good effort and worth a listen for anyone interested in extremely creative music with rough edges.-Chris Diehl
The Evens
The Evens
Dischord Records
Amy Farina (ex-Warmers/Lois) and Fugazi's Ian MacKaye have a new band called the Evens, a duo showcasing Farina on vox/traps and MacKaye on vox/baritone guitar. But unlike many other two-piece bands (or, for that matter, virtually all groups with male/female vocalists), neither musician takes a backseat here. There's no "lead vocalist" or "front person," and while such an arrangement might not work with other, less willful visionary musicians, here it does so beautifully. For fans of The Warmers, this eponymous debut serves in many ways to reinforce what we've already come to enjoy about Farina's musical sensibilities-inventive, minimalist percussion underpinned by dubby effects and an almost French chamber-pop vocal style.
However, where MacKaye's contribution is concerned, the album brings new-but not wholly unexpected-creative dimensions more clearly into focus. Although merely hinted at on Fugazi's Document and The Argument, after years of dispensing vitality, wisdom, and no small amount of outrage through clenched teeth and blaring Marshall amps, MacKaye is finally turning his full creative powers to more quiet, singer/songwriterly material. At heart, he's always been a folk-punk troubadour and the closest thing the hardcore generation has to its own Woody Guthrie. Indeed, due to his distinctive voice, highly politicized lyrics, and signature guitar playing, it would be easy enough to tag the Evens as a folk-Fugazi. But that would be too base an oversimplification.
By turning down the volume and playing to one another's strengths, MacKaye and Farina have given their delicate, distinctive songs room to breathe and find their own specific gravity, creating a vibe that is no less experimental or thought-provoking than anything either has done in the past. This is a fantastic, lovely record.-Arlie Carstens
The Shitkickers
Gunfighter Ballads And Drinking Songs
Scary Records
Northern California has their share of hillbillies, redneck rhinestone cowboys, or whatevs in the city and suburbs. The country-punk sound has been around for a while, probably starting with Rank And File, The Gun Club, the skate-rockin' Boneshavers, and many other bands throughout the years. San Jose's Shitkickers has always been a backyard favorite and recently has been packing people in to the clubs with its offbeat humor/trailer-trash vibe and plain ol' good shows. The Shitkickers sports a corn pone singer who's better known for slinging drinks than slinging lassoos, but the band gets the job done the right way. "Trusty Steed," "Front Porch," "Jailhouse," and a cover of a Waylon Jennings tune are a few of the songs that won't let you down. E-mail scaryrecords@yahoo.com and ask them, "How much, mister?"-Ray Stevens II
Ted Shred
Mix Tape Vol. 3
Forty Three Records
Coming out of Chico, California via San Francisco is a skate head named Ted Shred. He has layers of music in his dome and isn't afraid to stack them up. He recently deejayed a big skate affair and was stoking ears when people heard his blends of Bob Marley versus Tone Loc, Don Henley versus Puff Daddy, and how about Creedence Clearwater Revival versus Da Beat Minerz? Well, if you weren't there to ear witness the mash-up, contact fortythreerecords@yahoo.com and get your own Ted Shred mix CD.-Ray Stevens II
sical and lyrical highpoint of Oxeneers. The song paints a dark picture of mental anguish suffered by an employee of a mental institution. The pump organ dances around like the thoughts of a madman while vocalist Steve Snere wails, "What kind of job is this?/ This is madness!" The low points of Oxeneers include some minor overproduction and an overuse of effects that can sometimes muddy the brilliant musicianship. Overall, Oxeneers is a very good effort and worth a listen for anyone interested in extremely creative music with rough edges.-Chris Diehl
The Evens
The Evens
Dischord Records
Amy Farina (ex-Warmers/Lois) and Fugazi's Ian MacKaye have a new band called the Evens, a duo showcasing Farina on vox/traps and MacKaye on vox/baritone guitar. But unlike many other two-piece bands (or, for that matter, virtually all groups with male/female vocalists), neither musician takes a backseat here. There's no "lead vocalist" or "front person," and while such an arrangement might not work with other, less willful visionary musicians, here it does so beautifully. For fans of The Warmers, this eponymous debut serves in many ways to reinforce what we've already come to enjoy about Farina's musical sensibilities-inventive, minimalist percussion underpinned by dubby effects and an almost French chamber-pop vocal style.
However, where MacKaye's contribution is concerned, the album brings new-but not wholly unexpected-creative dimensions more clearly into focus. Although merely hinted at on Fugazi's Document and The Argument, after years of dispensing vitality, wisdom, and no small amount of outrage through clenched teeth and blaring Marshall amps, MacKaye is finally turning his full creative powers to more quiet, singer/songwriterly material. At heart, he's always been a folk-punk troubadour and the closest thing the hardcore generation has to its own Woody Guthrie. Indeed, due to his distinctive voice, highly politicized lyrics, and signature guitar playing, it would be easy enough to tag the Evens as a folk-Fugazi. But that would be too base an oversimplification.
By turning down the volume and playing to one another's strengths, MacKaye and Farina have given their delicate, distinctive songs room to breathe and find their own specific gravity, creating a vibe that is no less experimental or thought-provoking than anything either has done in the past. This is a fantastic, lovely record.-Arlie Carstens
The Shitkickers
Gunfighter Ballads And Drinking Songs
Scary Records
Northern California has their share of hillbillies, redneck rhinestone cowboys, or whatevs in the city and suburbs. The country-punk sound has been around for a while, probably starting with Rank And File, The Gun Club, the skate-rockin' Boneshavers, and many other bands throughout the years. San Jose's Shitkickers has always been a backyard favorite and recently has been packing people in to the clubs with its offbeat humor/trailer-trash vibe and plain ol' good shows. The Shitkickers sports a corn pone singer who's better known for slinging drinks than slinging lassoos, but the band gets the job done the right way. "Trusty Steed," "Front Porch," "Jailhouse," and a cover of a Waylon Jennings tune are a few of the songs that won't let you down. E-mail scaryrecords@yahoo.com and ask them, "How much, mister?"-Ray Stevens II
Ted Shred
Mix Tape Vol. 3
Forty Three Records
Coming out of Chico, California via San Francisco is a skate head named Ted Shred. He has layers of music in his dome and isn't afraid to stack them up. He recently deejayed a big skate affair and was stoking ears when people heard his blends of Bob Marley versus Tone Loc, Don Henley versus Puff Daddy, and how about Creedence Clearwater Revival versus Da Beat Minerz? Well, if you weren't there to ear witness the mash-up, contact fortythreerecords@yahoo.com and get your own Ted Shred mix CD.-Ray Stevens II
