Whoa, nuthugger! Does this quench (or clench) your supergroup craving? Hella's Zach Hill, former Marilyn Manson guitarist Twiggy Ramirez and Chris Goss of Masters Of Reality. Strange bedfellows, indeed! Not surprisingly this total mish mash of musical personalities have made a total mish-mash musical stew that doesn't really resemble any of their other bands' stuff... well, maybe Hella a wee bit! Pretty hard to put into words. Give 'er a spin and see for yourself!
Sam Gopal was an Indian tabla player, making the scene in Swinging Sixties London. His 1969 Escalator album is pretty obscure, but a classic as far as we're concerned. Sam's percussion of course does a lot to set it apart from the paisley pack (not that Eastern sounds weren't unheard of back then), but it's really vocalist/guitarist Ian "Lemmy" Willis (yes, Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead) who really shines here. The young Lemmy conjures up some incredibly liquid, languid dark psych on tracks like "The Dark Lord" and "You're Alone Now". Reminds us a bit of Twink's Think Pink album, or even T2. So starkly beautiful. Mellow, melodic, mystical. Not heavy in a loud way (nothing like Motorhead that's for sure!!), but "heavy" nonetheless if you know what we mean. Some of the songs definitely do rock out, but still remain somehow muted and moody. It's gorgeous stuff, the downer, down-tempo mood spoiled only a bit by covers of "Back Door Man" and "Season Of The Witch" (the later with R&B-ish female backing vocals). Aside from those, though, supposedly all the songs on here were written by Lemmy in one night, up on speed! Wow. Jeez, is Lemmy the best or what? Hendrix roadie, onetime Hawklord, metal icon...and sinister psych singer-songwriter too! This nice digipack reissue, including two tracks from the group's lone single as a bonus, comes very much recommended.
For the past couple of years, we've really been digging the recent unearthing of little known private press new age music whether it be Collie Ryan, William Eaton or Iasos. Lately we've been especially excited about this reissue from Universal Sound, of Edward Larry Gordon's 1978 debut. Gordon, or Laraaji, as he is otherwise known, creates long-form trance-inducing compositions using electronically enhanced zithers, auto-harps, kalimbas and other acoustic instruments that shimmer and radiate in beautifully meditative pulses. This record comprised of two thirty minute tracks, "All Pervading" and "Bethelehem" gained little notice upon its initial release, but thankfully it caught the attention of Brian Eno who subsequently produced his follow-up Days of Radiance for the EG Editions Ambient series in 1980 to wider acclaim. You can tell that Gordon was much inspired by earlier progenitors of cosmic music from Sun Ra to John and Alice Coltrane. You can especially hear the harp-like shimmer of Alice Coltrane in his treatments of the open tuned zither that he plays while in a complete meditative state. Really gorgeous stuff!
Not only do the Grey Daturas kick up a serious noiserock ruckus, they also run their own cd-r label, the mysteriously titled Diagnosis... Don't! There are three new releases, and we managed to get a handful of each.
Gordon is an Oakland-based sound artist, who designs blankets with speakers sewn into them, each connected to some sound producing device, a toy or musical instrument, the listener is then encouraged to wrap themselves in the blanket, and luxuriate in the sounds produced by the listener's movement. Incredibly immersive and so goddamn cool! This disc captures a brief snippet of Gordon's installation. A warm fuzzy soundscape of distorted electronics, droning and growling, hissing and rumbling and whirls of haunting electronic glitches all woven into an undulating swirl of thick buzz and strange murky and mechanical melody.
SUPER LIMITED (of course!). Each disc comes packaged in two squares of one of Gordon's blankets, sewn together into an oven mitt like sleeve.
The fifth title in Sonic Youth's self-released series of experimental work isn't Sonic Youth proper: instead it's bassist Kim Gordon, lauded avant-percussionist Ikue Mori, and DJ Olive of the illbient drum'n'bass group We. And guest Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto. Certainly all these folks have made excellent music with their regular groups, but in the name of that emperor who had no clothes, we must tell you that this record sucks. It's terrible. It's trying to be avant improv, I think (it certainly wasn't composed), but just comes across as utterly self-indulgent noodling without a center, a focus, or a point. The sound of a toilet flushing just might be the most apt moment on the record. Wanting to be supportive of Kim's side projects, and being a big fan of We and Mori, it pains me to have to write this. They're smart people, they must have realized this is BAD! How could they NOT know? For heaven's sake! A total disappointment.
Best known as one of the cofounders and directors of the great Bang On A Can new music festival in New York, Michael Gordon is also a pretty damn great composer in his own right. Performed by a guitar ensemble led by Emio Greco, this twenty minute composition finds Gordon channeling the likes of New York avant powerhouses like Glen Branca and Rhys Chatham. Sounds that conjure images of rushing waves, cascading waterfalls and thundering eruptions. [Purgatorio] Popopera has the range to appeal to not just classical music fans, but also folks into dramatic and exquisite post-rock like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, albeit perhaps with a slightly more avant-garde influence. Cool stuff, and cheap too.
Holy shit. GORE! Easily one of our favorite heavy bands EVER. This is the sort of review that is so intimidating. A record we have loved for years and years, listened to hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, and then to finally have to put into words what it is that makes it so good, so special, whatever it is that makes these two of our favorite records EVER!!!! How much do we love these records? Well, whenever we would find one used, we would buy it just to give it to someone who needed to hear it, so much so that Andee at one point was even talking to the band about a comprehensive career spanning box set. But why you ask? Difficult to explain, especially without being able to play it for you, so since we just got these lps reissues in, and since they WILL be coming out on cd as well, we're just gonna go ahead and list these lps now with an abbreviated review, assuming that most Gore fanatics will need these anyway, and most heavy music fans have probably at least heard OF Gore, if not heard them once or twice, so they too might also want to pick these up. When the cds come out, we'll list them properly, with a longer more fleshed out and more gushing review (if that were even possible... IT IS!), with sound samples and everything, but for now...
Gore were a Dutch instrumental power trio trafficking in ultra minimal heaviness, like an even more minimal Melvins, but sans vocals, their songs made up of one, maybe two riffs, pounded out over and over, a bit like a more metal, proto-Circle.
Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream are the first two Gore records, but play like part one and part two of a single song cycle. Crushing, pummeling, heavy as hell, repetitive, motorik, but weirdly melodic and impossibly catchy, we can't stress enough how massive and seminal these records were and are. Gore mastered a sound that would go on to influence countless heavy bands, and yet, somehow, these two records stand solid decades later as YEARS ahead of their time, masterpieces of heavy rock, of minimal metal, of proto-math metal, of hypno rock, this, as they say is THE SHIT.
For now, all we can say, is if you are at all into heavy music, these records are about as essential as it gets, your life will be changed, the way you look at music, what you consider heavy, how you hear other heavy bands, all of that will change, for the better. Trust us.
For Gore fanatics, like us, these are ESSENTIAL, the new designs are gorgeous, incorporating the timeless original album covers with new drawings and a beautiful super stylized layout. Inside, the records are pressed on nice thick vinyl, with printed inner sleeves adorned with tons of rare photos as well as extensive liner notes detailing the history of the mighty Gore! And most importantly, both record come with a whole extra lp of live tracks from the same era! Unreleased and unheard until now!
BUY THESE NOW!
Holy shit. GORE! Easily one of our favorite heavy bands EVER. We raved about the separate 2lp reissues last list, but we figured we'd wait for the cds to show up before bestowing Record Of The Week status upon them. Now combined as one massive double disc document collecting the first two albums and then some from this Dutch instru-metal group, who forged an incredible minimal metallic legacy that would go on to influence loads of our favorite bands. In fact, aQ would quite possibly be a whole different kind of store if it wasn't for Gore...
This is the sort of review that is so intimidating. Records we have loved for years and years, listened to hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, and then to finally have to put into words what it is that makes these so good, so special, whatever it is that makes these two of our favorite records EVER!!!! How much do we love these records? Well, whenever we would find one used, we would buy it just to give it to someone who needed to hear it, so much so that Andee at one point was even talking to the band about a comprehensive career spanning box set. But why you ask? Difficult to explain, hearing them is enough, even decades after they were originally released, folks who have never heard Gore, are usually sold after ONE song. Sometimes it doesn't even take that long. Just listen to "Mean Man's Dream" below, we'll wait....
See what we mean? So heavy, repetitive, mesmerizing, hypnotic, angular and abrasive, but impossibly catchy, groovy even. Listen to the other tracks, you won't be able to stop, you'll need to hear them all.
Gore fanatics will need these no matter what, and most heavy music fans have probably at least heard OF Gore, if not heard them once or twice, so they too might also want to pick these up. But we might as well start with who the heck this Gore band is anyway, and why should we care...
Gore were a Dutch instrumental power trio trafficking in ultra minimal heaviness, like an even more minimal Melvins, but sans vocals, their songs made up of one, maybe two riffs, pounded out over and over, a bit like a more metal, proto-Circle.
Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream are the first two Gore records, but play like part one and part two of a single song cycle. Crushing, pummeling, heavy as hell, repetitive, motorik, but weirdly melodic and impossibly catchy, we can't stress enough how massive and seminal these records were and are. Gore created and mastered a sound that would go on to influence countless heavy bands, and yet, somehow, these two records decades after their initial release, still sound YEARS ahead of their time, masterpieces of heavy rock, of minimal metal, of proto-math metal, of hypno rock, this, as they say is THE SHIT.
For now, all we can say, is if you are at all into heavy music, these records are about as essential as it gets, your life will be changed, the way you look at music, what you consider heavy, how you hear other heavy bands, all of that will change, for the better. Trust us.
For Gore fanatics, like us, these are ESSENTIAL, the new designs are gorgeous, incorporating the timeless original album covers with new drawings and a beautiful super stylized layout. The cd includes a big booklet, packed with liner notes, the story of Gore, tons of rare photos, and most importantly, both discs come with a whole mess of live tracks from the same era! Unreleased and unheard until now!
BUY THIS NOW! YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY. THIS COULD BE YOUR NEW FAVORITE BAND! AND C'MON SOUTHERN LORD! KEEP THE GORE REISSUES COMING. WREDE! LIFELONG DEADLINE! MEST! SLOW DEATH! WE WANT, NAY -NEED- THEM ALL!!!!!!
Holy shit. GORE! Easily one of our favorite heavy bands EVER. This is the sort of review that is so intimidating. A record we have loved for years and years, listened to hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, and then to finally have to put into words what it is that makes it so good, so special, whatever it is that makes these two of our favorite records EVER!!!! How much do we love these records? Well, whenever we would find one used, we would buy it just to give it to someone who needed to hear it, so much so that Andee at one point was even talking to the band about a comprehensive career spanning box set. But why you ask? Difficult to explain, especially without being able to play it for you, so since we just got these lps reissues in, and since they WILL be coming out on cd as well, we're just gonna go ahead and list these lps now with an abbreviated review, assuming that most Gore fanatics will need these anyway, and most heavy music fans have probably at least heard OF Gore, if not heard them once or twice, so they too might also want to pick these up. When the cds come out, we'll list them properly, with a longer more fleshed out and more gushing review (if that were even possible... IT IS!), with sound samples and everything, but for now...
Gore were a Dutch instrumental power trio trafficking in ultra minimal heaviness, like an even more minimal Melvins, but sans vocals, their songs made up of one, maybe two riffs, pounded out over and over, a bit like a more metal, proto-Circle.
Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream are the first two Gore records, but play like part one and part two of a single song cycle. Crushing, pummeling, heavy as hell, repetitive, motorik, but weirdly melodic and impossibly catchy, we can't stress enough how massive and seminal these records were and are. Gore mastered a sound that would go on to influence countless heavy bands, and yet, somehow, these two records stand solid decades later as YEARS ahead of their time, masterpieces of heavy rock, of minimal metal, of proto-math metal, of hypno rock, this, as they say is THE SHIT.
For now, all we can say, is if you are at all into heavy music, these records are about as essential as it gets, your life will be changed, the way you look at music, what you consider heavy, how you hear other heavy bands, all of that will change, for the better. Trust us.
For Gore fanatics, like us, these are ESSENTIAL, the new designs are gorgeous, incorporating the timeless original album covers with new drawings and a beautiful super stylized layout. Inside, the records are pressed on nice thick vinyl, with printed inner sleeves adorned with tons of rare photos as well as extensive liner notes detailing the history of the mighty Gore! And most importantly, both record come with a whole extra lp of live tracks from the same era! Unreleased and unheard until now!
BUY THESE NOW!
Garage rock label Get Hip brings us this hot, hot, HOTT all-girl three-piece rock and roll band. The Gore Gore Girls, named after the Herschell Gordon Lewis movie of the same name, kick ass and sing tough girl songs like "I'm Going to Hunt You Down and Get You
Killer 15th anniversary reissue of the debut full length from this legendary nineties French black metal horde. These days, we're all about the French black metal: Hell Militia, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Murmuure, Aurvandil, Otargos, The Arrival Of Satan, Merrimack, Peste Noire, Wolok, Glorior Belli, Diamatregon, S.V.E.S.T., we could go on, but needless to say, some of our favorite modern BM outfits hail from France. That said, we must plead a certain amount of ignorance to the bands that came before, the early days of French black metal. In fact, until this reissue, we had never even heard of Gorgon. But thanks to the fine folks at Todestrieb, we can now feast our ears on this epic slab of grim buzzing blackness.
Originally released in 1995, The Lady Rides A Black Horse sounds as good now as we imagine it did then. Sonically in keeping with the emerging black metal second wave, it's surprising that this record and this group weren't more well known. The production here is killer, the guitars super distorted, the howling vokills way up in the mix, the drums LOUD, there's also lots of bass, which as most folks know is usually woefully absent on most black metal recordings, but here it offers plenty of heft, not to mention a sort of gloomy gothic vibe. There are also soaring dramatic synths, and the band launch into blasts of classic sounding metal now and again, harmonized lead guitars, surprising hooks, all wound into the other wise grim buzz and black blast. The vibe is definitely a bit punky, the sound furious and frantic, epic and majestic, a sound that definitely foreshadows the French BM that would follow.
This reissue also tacks on a bunch of bonus tracks, two from right around the same time, that sound like more warped and weird versions of the record proper, the blastbeats way up in the mix, the vocals super intense and anguished, and the guitars even more buzzy and distorted, and the production strangely tweaked, as well as the group's 1993 debut 7", a much more lo-fi affair, murky and muddy, the production super raw, but it suits their raw feral sound, again, the bass sound is huge (especially by BM standards), a churning low end, that probably just makes the sound muddier, but the end result is some awesomely grim, lo-fi raw and primitive blackness, that should most definitely sate the true grim hordes...
What do Aidan Baker, Gnaw Their Tongues, Alkerdeel, Persistence In Mourning, Caina and Expo 70 all have in common? Well they've all released records on ultra cool Portuguese micro label Universal Tongue. And to that list you can add these guys, the strangely named Gorgontongue, one part Arizona black metal outfit Ganzmord, one part Oklahoma funeral doom horde Persistence In Mourning. Although the parts don't necessarily predict the whole in this case, as The Lighter Side of a Suicidal Mind is not in fact metal, black, doom or otherwise, instead this duo are exploring some grim, haunting, oppressive black ambient otherworld, blending soft noise, field recordings, mysterious murky effects, layered drones, much of this sounds like a prettier, less harsh Gnaw Their Tongues, sort of epic and cinematic and dramatically doomy, but also a bit like a more grim blackened Expo 70, that same sort of glimmering slow burn kosmische krautdrone, but laced with strange processed vox, crumbling industrial detritus, swaths of wheezing organs, buried barely audible rhythms, the occasional hellish shriek, tangled bits of detuned acoustic guitar, dubbed out electronics, ghostly vocals, woozy arpeggiated melodies, keening feedback, bits of Dead C like free rock drift, sprawling expanses of space-y ambience, various bits of crash and clank twisted and transformed into strange sonic streaks, rumbling low end pulses, crumbling walls of corrosive metallic crunch, tinkling chimes, all drifting through epic black expanses and dense squalls of psychedelic abstract effects-damaged buzz, culminating in the near meditative final track, a haunting, black ambient driftscape, hushed and haunting and weirdly lovely.
LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES!!! Housed in a Blue Ray style dvd case, with a printed two sided front cover, and a printer insert / mini poster.
The return of the mighty Gorgoroth!!! With all the non musical drama surrounding these guys it's sometimes hard to remember that Gorgoroth remain one of the only TRUE Norwegian black metal bands still totally capable of utter blackened musical destruction. Vocalist Gaahl has had it tough, arrested, headed for prison, but as we've learned from Lords Of Chaos, if you're gonna commit a heinous crime, do it in Norway. 14 years for first degree murder. Gaahl only got a year or so for taking a man hostage and torturing him. But what this might tell you is that Gorgoroth are indeed still very very EVIL. And they sound like it.
There are seemingly two schools of thought on Gorgoroth. There are those who love OLD Gorgoroth, Under The Sign Of Hell being THE ONE, and there are those, like us who lean toward Destroyer, the band's most noisy and fucked up record. We actually love both, but as we're sure you know, we tend to lean toward the damaged and demented. Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam falls mostly on the side of the former, a TRUE buzzing and blasting blackness, that does sound fucking fantastic but is not really weird or noisy or fucked up. We still love it, cuz these guys can still basically do no wrong, ands if you are hankering for some blasting frosty fury, some true grim classic sounding black metal, this will definitely hit the spot. The production is better, the band is tighter, the songs are maybe catchier, but it basically sounds like a modernized version of Under The Sign Of Hell, which is a VERY good thing. Secretly we were hoping for the band to totally drop us in our tracks with the weirdest black metal record ever, cuz if anyone is capable of coming up with such a thing, it's Gorgoroth, but hell, we've been to busy banging our heads to really notice.
Maybe our favorite record from this infamous black metal horde, reissued on vinyl!! Which was released in the early days of the aQ New Arrivals list, so sadly, it doesn't have the sprawling, ridiculously verbose and oozing with praise review it so richly deserves, just know that the metalheads around here consider this to be one of THEE essential black metal documents, and here's the brief, but pretty spot on review from when we listed the cd WAY back when:
Norwegian black metal of the most hateful, primitive, loud, noisy, evil variety. On this masterpiece of almost-avantgarde extremism, Gorgoroth evoke Burzum and Darkthrone. The Romanticism and Hammer Horror gothic cheese of "pop" black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth are nowhere to be found here, this is so much more raw and hellish (tho some melody creeps in now and then)...
The latest from this traditional yet unpredictable Norwegian black metal band. Their previous disc "Destroyer" was a masterpiece of totally noisy, fucked primitive metal and electronics. With that out of their system, "Incipit Satan" is a lot smoother and melodic but bizarre in its own way, going so far as to include bluesy, clean vocals on the love (!?) song "When Love Rages Wild In My Heart".
So, here we have it, one of the more scandalous black metal releases to hit the rounds as of late, at least to those with the time to focus on such pressing matters. Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt is the first Gorgoroth release following the power struggle for, um, ownership of the Gorgoroth franchise and name. The Norwegian courts, certainly in league with Satan, agreed with guitarist/founder Infernus, while his ex-bandmates Gaahl and King Ov Hell were legally forced to peddle their craft in the decidedly less cool sounding God Seed (which, apparently is now kaput following Gaahl's decision to drop out of the black metal scene). Remember when Norwegian black metal bands were actually on trial for cool shit? But whatever, all joking aside, Gorgoroth in 2009 is certainly worthy of the name and reputation they have been building for so long. Yeah, it sounds like Gorgoroth. And why wouldn't it? Infernus is the guy who pretty much established the band's identity with his songwriting and intense riffery, and the man replacing Gaahl is actually the one who was replaced BY Gaahl... wait, what? It marks the return of the mighty Pest on vocals, and we certainly aren't complaining. The album shreds relentlessly, the production is nice and not too over the top, and the band pretty much slays like you would expect them to. Maybe the lack of surprises is just because it's easy to take a band like this for granted after so many face melting releases. But that said, this definitely stands out as a grim black highlight in Gorgoroth's stellar catalog as well as the introduction of yet another evil chapter in Gorgoroth lore. Maybe not quite as evil as Gaahl kidnapping that guy and ripping his balls off with a fork and making him bleed into a cup... but pretty damn evil, nonetheless.
True Norwegian Black Metal is an interesting release on several levels. Okay, it features new vocalist Gaahl, as well as the guitarist (and oldest member) Infernus. In the time since this was recorded, the latter was kicked out of the band - but has started another band he insists is the real Gorgoroth - and they've been feuding ever since. Part of the fight involved Regain Records taking up the side of Infernus, and after which Gorgoroth's remaining members swore never to work with them again. But here it is! A live record on Regain, so we're wondering if this is just to fulfill any final obligations before band and label officially split. Did we say live? Well, live in Grieghallen Studio, that is. Oh, and Infernus re-recorded all of the bass guitar. That means this isn't so much a real live album as it is an album of previously recorded songs being played again by live people, during a new recording session. So what could possibly be gained by hearing this album? Well, if you're a huge Gorgoroth fan, this does give you a chance to hear Gaahl perform vocals on some songs that precede his entering the band. This also feels like some bizarre swansong from Infernus. The bottom of the thank you list just has his name, and as the list comes to a close he starts mentioning some weird names, such as: Leo Fender, Marcus Aurelius, and Mikhail Bulgakov. Sort of needlessly epic? Dude may be losing it. Anyway, this release is for fans only. If you're new to the band and want to find a good starting point, we'd probably point you to Under the Sign of Hell, which - incidentally - features more songs on this release than any other proper album. Tracks sampled below are from the following original releases: "Forces of Satan Storms" is from Twilight of the Idols, and "Unchain My Heart" surfaces first on Incipit Satan.
Maybe all seems grim and dismal and you're in the mood for some truly wretched, nasty, evil-as-fuck black metal to match your mood? Or maybe you're perfectly well-adjusted, but like to explore extremes of mood and melody in a metal context? Look no further than this new disc from Norwegian black metal stalwarts Gorgoroth. Twilight Of The Idols provides eight delightful tracks featuring throat-ripped screams and distorto-riff-carnage to match. Carefully, artfully, Gorgoroth weave a complex tapestry, an ancient shroud, from these elements. Not as experimental and fucked up as Gorgoroth's Destroyer, nor as quirkily 'pop' as their last one Incipit Satan, this new album delivers the goods without any gimmickry at all (until, perhaps, you get to the final, what-the-fuck-? faux classical synth coda ending the album, that is). It's pretty much just straight-to-hell, do not pass go, do not collect 200 kroner. There's dense, downer epics of slow trudge, and trancey, higher BPM blur, both having about the same effect, a lot like a less overtly (overly?) prog Enslaved. With their sense of sick melody and technical execution, Gorgoroth are definitely one of the greats. Indeed, if these guys weren't hulking, face-painted, spike-draped Norwegians, but a bunch of skinny American metalcore guys, maybe we wouldn't take 'em for granted as much as we do, and we'd realize that all the praise heaped on the likes of Converge and Isis is also the level of worship worthy of this band...
Quebec's kings of technical death return with their fifth full length and their first in over a decade - this time with an entirely rejuvenated line up consisting of some of technical metal's biggest brains (members of Dysrhythmia, Origin, Behold the Arctopus and Krallice all play key roles). And while perhaps not as blatantly and stubbornly difficult as their widely regarded career highpoint Obscura (from way back in 1998), Colored Sands is still a bizarre, and at times strangely beautiful, slab of warped avant garde death metal. What makes this record work, and sets it apart from the legion of other soulless plasticine tech-death bands that have sprouted up like exhausting weeds in the 12 years since Gorguts released their last record, is the deft balance between virtuosity and mood. Sure there are bludgeoning blast beats aplenty and there's a glut of dizzying riffery and lurching avant-grooves that seem to obey no earthly laws of conventional melody or time keeping, but there are also moments of eerie reprieve. Spindling clean guitars provide unsettling moments of stillness. There are cavernous acoustic passages that seem to be breathed forth from some dusty forgotten catacomb. And in "The Battle of Chamdo" there's even a full four plus minutes of purely symphonic staccato strings and nightmarish lurking orchestral thrums that might provide the perfect soundtrack if Paul Thomas Anderson ever wanted to make a slasher movie. These moments of calm almost end up feeling more harrowing than the moments of intense metallic mutilations, not feeling like a calm before the storm so much as a state of helpless weightlessness, like a euphoric sense of ominous peace in the final moments of drowning. It's technical savagery refreshingly peppered with a genuine sense of mystery and wonder, like an absinthe addict mad artist's splattering need to create crossed with a mathematicians obsessive attention to detail. It's a line walked successfully very rarely in heavy music, bringing to mind such stand alone classics as Dillinger Escape Plan's Calculating Infinity and Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance. Dynamic, cinematic, and an absolute sensory overload - like an overwhelming telekinetic attack. An ecstatic seizure of frenzied challenging death metal.
The eagerly awaited new album from French-Canadian metallers Gorguts eases away from the no-wave guitar sounds that made their previous disc Obscura such a startling, bizarre work of genius (although those skronky sounds are still very much present) to
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Rarely do bands completely reinvent themselves, especially metal bands. But Canada's Gorguts have done it (firing all but one member of the band in the process...) on this, their third album. Nobody was expecting it (nobody was really expecting a new Gorguts record at all, to be honest), but on Obscura generic deathmetal becomes super aggressive, completely unmelodic, stop/start math metal with the most bizarre guitar playing (totally "no-wave", like they have the guitarist from the Scissor Girls or something!) possibly ever heard in a "metal" band. Highly recommended!
We've been on a bit of a soundtrack kick lately here at aQ, getting a lot of cool ones in over the past little while. We just came across this disc and figured we should give it a shot, even though we hadn't seen the movie and weren't that familiar with the composer - but it's from an early '70s Italian "giallo" style thriller after all, and that's pretty compelling piece of cover art, ain't it? (Grasping hands, witchy woman, supine topless beauty; possibly promising a cinematic / soundtrack experience equally creepy and occult and sexy). As it turns out, this soundtrack turned out to be even better than we had hoped!! Much of the music here is soooooo beautifully sinister and slinky, exotic and noirishly jazzy - but that's not all, what we weren't expecting was how much fuzzed out psych-rock guitar action was going to be on here, too. WOW. Amidst the suitably spooky, sometimes quite lovely atmospheric interludes that primarily comprise the soundtrack, there's sudden heavy parts that sound not unlike the intro to a Black Sabbath song!! Maybe Tony Iommi happened to be visiting ancestral homeland and got hired to do these sessions while he was there - ok, unlikely, but that's almost what it sounds like. And certainly it's not impossible that the same guys who made that Blue Phantom library record could have been involved with this... definitely the occasional isolated slice of Sabbathy fuzzy doom riffage should attract any adventurous proto-metal fiends also into Italian library music, Goblin, & stuff like that too.
Mostly, this consists of dark, suspenseful, instrumental grooves, tracks variously arranged for ticking, agitated percussion, zinging strings, eerie woodwinds, springy Jew's harp, bongo drums, smokey jazz trumpet, wordless haunting female vocals, wavery electric organ, electronic effects... These incidental tracks are sinister, but romantic. Like the theme song for a lover you don't trust to not kill you when she's done with you, but you're still gonna take that chance.
And then, oh yeah, there's that aforementioned fuzz guitar, putting this over the top for us. Sometimes just a stab of it here or there, a single chord ringing out, cranking up the intensity level of this spinetingling music. Or, a couple times, leading into a full-on heavy psychrock jam. Weird how this album at moments reminds us of Black Sabbath or Randy Holden's Population II - and also, at other times, when that trumpet gets a-swinging, of Herb Alpert!
Now it seems lots of times when we list a soundtrack, we mention that we haven't actually seen the movie - in part 'cause yes we haven't seen the movie and thus can't say a lot about it, but also to indicate that you don't HAVE to have seen a movie in order to enjoy a soundtrack - but you all get that already, right? Of course. So for this review, we decided that we'd make an effort to try and watch La Morte Scende Leggera (aka Death Comes Lightly), the soundtrack made us curious after all... but alas we didn't manage to track it down in time. So once again, this is an example of how you can absolutely LOVE a soundtrack without any idea what the movie was all about - although the copious liner notes in the cd booklet, illustrated with stills from the film, do give us an idea - directed by Leopoldo Savona and released in 1972, it was apparently a movie with a confusing plot somehow involving drug smuggling, political corruption, quasi-supernatural elements, a series of mysterious murders, and erotic interludes - part psychological thriller, part ghost story, part softcore porn. The liner notes don't exactly give it two thumbs up, but it sounds kinda cool to us. And the appropriately psychedelic soundtrack for sure is cool.
From reading the liner notes, we also got some notion of how exactly it ended up sounding the way it does. Turns out track one, the movie's theme song, "Sunday In Neon Light", was actually not specifically written for the soundtrack. It had originally appeared on an obscure 1972 album (which now we'd love to find) called Peace On You by the Mak Sigis Porter Ensemble, lead by an expatriate singer/musician from Ghana. Part aching ballad, part heavy psych jam, "Sunday In Neon Light" has a bit of the vibe of some of the Afro-fuzz garage records we've had reissues of lately, with crunching guitar chords and vocals that remind us of Jimi Hendrix or Malcolm Mooney from early Can (hearing it was the first thing that clued us in that this wasn't the usual giallo soundtrack). Then, 'cause they'd decided to use this song in the movie, composer Lallo Gori wrote the rest of the score around it, his orchestrations in a similar psychedelic style using fuzz rock guitar, etc. And, in our opinion, the results are up there with some of our favorite soundtracks like Klute, Psychomania, and Possession - the latter of which we made a Record Of The Week not long ago, so we're gonna do the same for La Morte Scende Leggera too. Also note, it's a limited edition release, our supplier apparently having some of the last copies around, and at a bargain price since it's normally an expensive import.
One of my (Sadie) favorite bands ever. Seriously, I don't tire of them. Simple, stripped down, fucked up garage rock, but no one else seems to be able to capture the magic they do. Blues. R&B. Garage. The basic elements of the Gories, who basically learned their instruments, and how to write songs as they went, which shows in the total energy of their delivery. They released three full lengths and a handful of singles, and their first two full length releases ('I Know You Fine But How You Doin' and 'Houserockin') are on this cd, for only 13.98!!! When I first discovered and fell in love with these records they were out of print and impossible to find, and now lucky you can have them both for totally cheap. These two are definitely my favorites. I've loved the Gories for so long I don't even think of them as unknown or underappreciated but I suppose they are. If you like any garage -at all-, for christ's sake, get this, it is so rockin' and dirty and driving and just makes you want to shake your ass like crazy. They have been such an enormous influence on so many bands (The Coachwhips, The White Stripes, et al) that if you like that stuff go to the source!!!
Last time when we stocked up on UFOmammut's Godlike Snake on the Beard Of Stars label, we also brought in a few copies of this second (new to us, released in 2004) album from English retro-rock stompers Gorilla. Consisting of two guys, including one who looks a heck of a lot like Ron Wood, and one girl who thankfully doesn't, this power trio remains unabashedly dedicated to good-time rock n' roll excess in the amped-up, fuzzed-out, cowbell-knockin' tradition of fellow '70s revivalists Fu Manchu, Nebula and Monster Magnet. Lyrics like "whoah-yeah" will be heard. SF locals Drunk Horse and Parchman Farm might also serve as comparisions. Of course, if you ask Gorilla I'm sure they'll say that what they're into is Blue Cheer, Grand Funk, Sabbath, Humble Pie, Free, Frijid Pink and other staples of the late '60s/early '70s stoner rock pantheon.
Channelling their heroes with enthusiasm, Gorilla pretty much veer between whoopin' it up on the fast songs, and grinding it out with plentiful psych leads on the slower, heavier tunes, or some combination thereof. There's a couple of longer cuts that also dabble in melodic, moody progness (even bringing in Mellotron and flute) but after each spacey interlude they generally start crankin' it again pretty quick -- which is good 'cause, well, we can't say that melodic vocals are their strong suit, unfortunately. But when they stick to the distorted, dunderheaded riff-dealin' on tracks like "Rok Orl Night" and "I'm Dirty", Gorilla live up to their burly name. If that's your thing, and/or if you liked their self-titled debut we reviewed in 2002, then Gimme Some... should prove to be an apt title.
Gorilla, as befits their name, are a heavy power trio from the UK. The band photo in the cd booklet recalls the Melvins (the photo from their "Ozma" album, complete with female bass player and drummer in horizontally striped shirt, but minus the cat), but a better clue to this band's brand of heaviness is the back cover, which appears to be a homage to the back cover of Budge's "Squawk" (a high-contrast photo of the band sitting on a piece of heavy machinery). Yes, they really delve into the Seventies thing, to the point of having extensive liner notes detailing all their authentic, vintage equipment ("a '68 Gibson SG special with P-90 pickups run through an early '60s Vox AC-30" -- that sort of thing) which wouldn't mean much if they hadn't truly managed to capture that early '70s hard rock sound and vibe, which they did. And they can play. Their fuzz-laden heavy riff rock might not be original but of course it's not supposed to be. It's about kicking out the jams, brothers and sisters! The ten tracks here all pretty much live up to the title of track one, the self-descriptive "Good Time Rockin'" -- we also especially dig "She's Got A Car" with its sped up Blue Cheer riff and MC5/The Who '60s beat energy, along with the plodding, Sabbath-riffed "Acorn Brain", and the crushing, spaced-out "Iron Ball", among others. Fans of the likes of Monster Magnet, Nebula, and even maybe the White Stripes should consider adding these throwbacks' disc to your daily listening dosage.
Some changes have taken place in the Gorillaz 'virtual band' ranks since their wildly popular, super vibrant and fun self-titled debut in 2000. That album was a wholly collaborative effort between Blur-man Damon Albarn, man-of-many-hats Dan The Automator, and cartoon illustrator Jamie Hewlett along with contributions from Miho Hatori, Ibrahim Ferrer and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. For one thing, Mr. Automator has left the clubhouse, leaving Albarn as the lone lord of the musical manor. An immediate clue-in to the contrast between 'old' and 'new' Gorillaz can be read in the album's title and seen in Hewlett's latest Gorillaz' illustrations. He continues to provide the visual representation of the group, but his former palette of playful cartoonish hues have been replaced by the darker tones found in the more mature subject matter of graphic novels -- a suitable match for the headier undertones of the music. On the cover characters' faces there's nothing but grimaces and suspicious scowls. When we heard that Danger Mouse was slipping into the production control seat formerly occupied by The Automator, we were expecting some manner of radical changes in the Gorillaz's actual sound -- perhaps a little wilder approach or sumthin'? -- but it's really not that drastic of a departure from their past recordings. No, the primary difference is in the album's moodier undercurrent. Whereas the conceptual and sonic effervescence of its predecessor offered a sense of escapism, once you delve beneath the shiny pop surface of Demon Days, things feel somewhat more claustrophobic, sinister and foreboding. Guests this time include Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder (!), London Community Gospel Choir, San Fernandez Youth Chorus and even Dennis Hopper! Dig it!
Well they certainly didn't make it easy to figure the whys and wherefore of this companion to the proper Gorillaz album. It looks like a bunch of remixes, alternate version, and songs that didn't make it onto the other album. It's decent and listenable, even
This appears to be dub versions of tracks from the Gorillaz record. Said outfit, you will recall, is a project of AQ-pal Dan the Automator (Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030) with main guests Damon Albarn (Blur), Miho Hatori etc. Bearing little resemblance to the original Gorillaz album, or indeed its other, first remix record spinoff, all vestiges of rock and hip hop are stripped away in order for the bass to get heavier, the vocals to get echo-ier, the pace to slow down. As dub, it's decent, if a trifle formulaic. Melodica, horns, organs, even a flute round out the sound. This is my favorite of the Gorillaz-related projects.
Import disc featuring Dan the Automator with guests Damon Albarn (Blur), Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club), and Del tha Funky Homosapien. Sounds exactly like you'd think it would (assuming you'd think it would sound mostly
For fans of NECROPHAGIST!!! Big time. Same label too. Hyper technical deathmetal with INSANE squiggly guitar parts and absurdly brutal vocal gruntings. It's mathy like Girth, dizzingly technical like Capharnaum, catchy like Carcass, and even a wee bit fusiony like Psyopus... and deathly death metal. Grrrr. Lots of stop start jerkiness to mess you up, with riffs swarming like vermin all over the bloody corpses that they call songs. Yet amidst the intense brutality, the guitarwork could even be called beautiful. Certainly impressive. Anyone at all metal-minded will be slayed. It's basically the Fucking Champs/Gorguts fantasy date. And that's probably all you need to know! But can we also say that it's really hard to figure out what they're going on about in their songs? I mean, of course you can't understand what the vocalist is violently belching about. But there's a lyric sheet and we're still confused. We can attribute such song titles as "Hunt To The Weaks" to the fact that they're French and maybe English isn't their strong suit. And yeah, "Smoked Skulls" and "Gutting Job" sound like regular nasty death metal titles. But look more closely into the lyrics and it's not so obvious. For instance, what IS "Gorod"? It's not just the band name, they sing about it. And "Neurotripsicks"? That's all over the lyrics too. Crazy. Just like the music. So, again, Necrophagist fans must check this out. It's the mathy technical death metal guitar-wank record of the week/month/maybe year for sure!!
Sometimes aggressive, sometimes gentle, and as the title suggests, having to do with the destruction of a piano. Extended performance techniques reconfigured through a sampler. Features the Rova Sax Quartet. Quite nice.
A couple customers suggest we track this down, the debut record from the Goslings, and from what we heard about it we were expecting yet another record of downtuned sludge doom drone, SUNNO))) / Earth worship, but man is this anything but. It's definitely heavy, but not typically heavy, or really sludgy even, which probably has a lot to do with the way this was recorded, ultra blown out and super distorted, sheets of crumbling high end and maybe the harshest crunchiest guitar sound we've heard in forever, but the Goslings take this white hot heaviness, this blown out brutality and somehow make it pretty, lovely, gorgeous even. Drifting female vocals and sweet sweet melodies are buried beneath a dumptruck of fuzz, like the a Mazzy Star record, covered by the Melvins, recorded by Merzbow or Masonna. Every track is hiding a secret center, a streak of lush melodicism that sound like bits of My Bloody Valentine, Jesus And Mary Chain, and huge slabs of warm and wonderful dream pop, all roughed up and dipped in tar and rolled in dirt and sent staggering through a minefield of razor sharp guitars, pounding Teutonic drums, all tangled up into a machinelike throb, trudging relentlessly at a snails pace, a head crushing plod wrapped in barbed wire riffs and a thick haze of violent whir, but still you can see a little glimmer, a shiny little wink from within the massively suffocating clouds of drum dirt and guitar grime, all tape hiss and recording grit and musical chaos, a glowing orb of crystalline shimmer, buried and barely visible, almost like someone was tossing bright shiny pop hooks into a pit filled with snakes and nails and used syringes and garbage and soiled diapers and rocks and dead animals. So is this the most gorgeous ugly record ever? The ugliest lovely record ever? The harshest, sludgiest pop record ever? The loveliest harsh noise-sludge record ever? Maybe all of the above. So good!
Not sure if this got repressed or if the label just found a stash of discs under the bed, either way, this monstrous slab of sound is available again, if only briefly...
We've been pretty dang obsessed with the Goslings since the very first second we heard them. They have found massive favor with the SUNNO))) crowd, but other than being slow and heavy, they seem to be a whole 'nother beast. This married couple from Florida, craft impossibly noisy and gu wrenchingly heavy pop songs. That's right, you heard us, pop songs. "But wait," you say, "I'm listening to the sound samples and I don't hear any pop..." Well listen closer. Much closer. Hold your breath and close your eyes and dunk your head into the Goslings gorgeously abrasive soundworld and you will feel the pop. That's the beauty of the Goslings, each song is like a diamond dipped in mud and wrapped in barbed wire. Beautiful lilting shimmer-pop doused in crumbling crunchy downtuned guitar sludge and sheets of jagged feedback. A brief snippet, a casual glance, and all you'd see or hear is NOISE. But settle in, lean back, let the Goslings wash over you, suddenly shapes begin to emerge. melodies drift in and out, riffs take shape and then fade into the mist. A super blown out in-the-red dreamlike sludge, equal parts Boris drone, My Bloody Valentine bliss-out, and shimmering crystalline pop. Like a Mazzy Star record dipped in hot tar and then wrapped in a hundred layers of feedingback guitars. So beautifully heavy. And as we've mentioned in other reviews, the Goslings just might be the loveliest harsh noise-sludge pop band ever!
Packaged in a cool silkscreened oversized sleeve with abstract pink art and the cd affixed to a little plastic nub on the inside. As always, way too limited.
Not many artists can lay claim to their very own musical genre, but Hollywood, Florida's The Goslings are among the elite few who most definitely can. On first listen their sound seems to fit pretty comfortably amongst the current crop of distorted deconstructed decaying blissed out dreamy dirge rock that seems to be all the rave (Nadja, Alcest, Hjarnidaudi, Procer Veneficus, etc.), after all they often get described as half SUNNO))) and half My Bloody Valentine, but that's really only half (again) true. And while their sound does share some of the elements of those other bands, The Goslings are their own perfect, synergetic sonic force, an organic, original soundworld that has absorbed and re-synthesized those influences entirely. In other words, on this latest record, they somehow manage to sound way, way heavier and much, much more lush, transforming any vestiges of other bands' sounds into something distinctly theirs. Formerly just a husband and wife duo, Max and Leslie Soren, Occasion finds the couple joined by two apparently full-time members which does nothing but help make their sound, thicker, and more dense, more intense, more distorted, and impossibly, more beautiful. It's not a huge departure from the sound of their previous outings, but that's not really a bad thing. Occasion just serves to demonstrate that their sound is now even more of a particularly refined and menacing chunk of skull crushingly gorgeous sound.
Each of The Goslings' records has been self-recorded straight onto tape in their $15 an hour rehearsal space. Before it was a 4-track, now it's a reel-to-reel 8-track tape, with any additional tracks being added at a friend's house in Pro Tools -- a slight upgrade, but again, one that merely serves to push their sound even further into some hellish sonic realm. Mastered by James Plotkin, their commitment to relatively lo-fi, analog recording a significant part of why each and every track is so totally ear-stabbingly, skull-fuckingly shit heavy. But beneath the obvious doom veneer, the crushing sludge, the washed out hiss and buzz, there are buried some lovely melodies and more of the Goslings' near perfect pop songs. Fear not though, it's not like Nadja or Jesu, where there is potentially enough of said pop to turn-off those more dedicated to the seriously heavy and/or utterly grim. Regardless of the surprising melodic structures lay hidden beneath the blown out bluster, or the prettiness of Leslie's vocals drifting ethereally throughout, the music, the sound, the Goslings' sheer power continually threatens to overwhelm, a bludgeoning slab of sonic destruction that's systematically destroying your entire life, note by note. Then out of nowhere, there's a weird little bluegrass number, a brief respite before the band lurch back into motion, unleashing another avalanche of village crushing, ultradistorted, stumbling, downtuned beautiful brutality.
A higher recommendation would be difficult to give. Essential!
We were first turned on to The Goslings, a husband and wife duo from Florida, by a couple of our more Sunn 0))) / Earth obsessed customers, so imagine our surprise when we discovered The Goslings to be in fact, a gloriously unlikely, sun dappled, fog shrouded, druggy, murky space pop combo. Sure they had certain elements in common with those dronedirge lords, but The Goslings were a much gentler, much more introspective beast. Taking their thick fuzz and spreading it out over their minimal blisspop like dew on blades of grass, each drop a sparkling, shimmering, glistening swirl of abstract color.
This disc collects two long out of print cd-r's and is the portrait of the artist as a young band, their burgeoning expansiveness only just beginning to take form, but already blindingly beautiful to the ears. The opening track is an endless landscape of hiss and fuzz, rife with random room sounds, the glitch of instrument cables, the feeding back rumble of crappy old amps with unplayed guitars plugged into them, sounds a little like an audience recording of the random sounds between songs at a Dead C show, some drifting vocals surface every once in a while, as do creepy little chimes, and near the end the swirling fog begins to take shape and becomes a warbly organ melody. But such a harrowing, slow moving journey for such little reward. Such is the way of The Goslings. Once you realize that, you realize that every second of hiss, and every minute of near motionless hum are rewards in and of themselves. The rest is easy. The next track is more representative, a Harvey Milk-ish dirge, drifting blurry eyed dopelike dreampop, huge swaths of fuzz drenched melody, soft ethereal vocals buried beneath the fuzz, a strangely lo-fi doomier version of My Bloody Valentine. Elsewhere, guitars unfurl tendrils of simple indie jangle, floating weightless beneath crooning female vocals, all over a rumbling slow motion bass groove, later an almost country ballad, slurred vocals lounged lugubriously over a dusty ghost town of downtuned twang. Each track is its own subtle shade of dopesick and doom drenched, some sinister, some glowing, some crawling broken and buried, some floating heavenward, some cracked and crackly, some lush and dense with soft shimmer. But all of them gorgeous and mysterious.
Anyone who has seen the Gossip live knows what a special and sweat inducing and spirit invigorating experience it is. When Beth Ditto takes center stage it feels like being at the most inspiring punk show, cathartic soul show, and gut wrenching blues show all wrapped into one intense night. So while we aren't always the biggest fan of live records, we knew that if any current band could get away with releasing a live album (and as a major label debut!) it would be the Gossip.
Recorded live in Liverpool, this will show those who have never experienced the Gossip in person what the magic is all about and remind those of us who have, why we try to see them every single time we get the chance. There's no doubt that when they hit the stage they pour every single ounce of blood and guts into making their songs ring as loud and true as possible. They are one of those bands whose music has changed lives, so many people, including a few of us at AQ have had moments when it was a Gossip song or a live show that really reminded us of our core strength, or gave us the perseverance to fight on and be proud of who we are regardless of sexuality, gender, weight, race, etc. Beth has become this amazing combination of the spirit of Mama Cass and Nina Simone with a riot girl disposition. As well as performing songs from their great albums, this live recording also captures a heartfelt cover of Aalyiah as well as a Wham cover not to be missed. Live In Liverpool also comes with a live dvd directed by Lance Bangs. One of the few new live recordings we can totally stand behind!
Awright, listen up and get ready to get down. Somewhere in the sweaty intersection of blues-damaged southern rock and Bratmobile covering the Misfits, the Gossip bring us another album of booze-fuled, raw and dirty rock n' roll and stripped down, slow and heavy blues punk. Singer Beth Ditto has a great tough n' sexy holler, and the barebones guitar and drums get straight to the party-rockin' point. A bit like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's minus the hype-- actually, this new Gossip rocks a lot harder.
MPEG Download: "No No No" [/audio/gossipnonono.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "No No No" [/audio/gossipnonono.m3u]
We know that usually people want to keep their favorite bands a bit of a secret, always fearing what would happen if they exploded and became huge and mainstream. But when it comes to the Gossip we really do hope and wish they become HUGE like on the radio/MTV/blasted in malls/bedrooms of teenagers across the globe huge... because they are a band whose message, energy and spirit is so needed in this world. They are the sound of triumph, the relentless spirit of the underdog and outcasts. A reminder that gender roles and traditional views of beauty need to constantly be challenged and their songs have given so many the courage and inspiration to keep on going at the darkest of times. For their major label, Rick Rubin produced debut they have seriously gone for it, and we love the results! Picking up where their great last album Standing In The Way Of Control left off, but for sure adding more electronics, pop and dance elements to their already fiery and rocking sonic disposition.
There really isn't a more charismatic, powerful and soulful frontman or woman around who can top the Gossip's Beth Ditto for dynamic presence and a voice that speaks right to the soul. She is like some amazing amalgamation of Joan Jett, Dolly Parton, Peaches, Kathleen Hannah, Mama Cass, Madonna, Aretha Franklin Missy Elliott, Corin Tucker, and Big Mama Thorton. And while the Gossip are not quite yet the biggest band in the world they are a lot bigger then anyone would have expected back when their first record on Kill Rock Stars was released, after the band members escaped the extreme religious right and homophobic surrounding of their hometown in Arkansas and took the inspiration of the Riot Grrl scene and fled to Olympia, WA in hopes of a better life. It's impossible to quantify the number of people who have been moved and impacted by their music (including several current and past AQ employees). The charged, clean and immediate production on Music For Men suits them very well, as they have always been a band that is about songs that pack a punch and keep you coming back for more and more. How cool it is that instead of airbrushed typical icons (Brittany, Christina, Jessica, etc) kids can hear sounds and read interviews with a large and in charge, queer and proud woman who like all of us, has had her ups and down yet continues to always believe in herself and give hope to all those who hear her songs. An inspiring and potentially crossover record for a band whose presence in the world continues to fill us with powerful positive energy and an undying spirit!
On record, Olympia, WA based The Gossip are an irrepressible, loosely slung, hell-raisin' blues rawk trio. Live, they crank it up a notch or three delivering the sweatiest swampy licks with an abundance of feist and fire. Live on record, it's all ultra raw, murky and dishevelled. The distorted, lo-fi recordings make you feel like you're right in the middle of the most rad basement party! They shimmy, stomp and shout their way through just over 27 minutes ending with a cover of Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Yay!
