One of TWO new double lp releases from Humboldt's Starving Weirdos, the other, a killer reissue of the long out of print Self-Hypnosis, with a whole extra side of unreleased material tacked on, and this one right here, Path Of Lightning, which as far as we can tell, is a brand new record, or at least one we've never heard before.
Sonically though it definitely sounds more like recent SW outings. Less bombastic and pipe fight-y, more drone-y and shimmery, treading a similar sonic path as their free noise compatriots in No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. On Path Of Lightning, the band seemed to have abandoned rhythms, or at least relegated it to the background, more an occasional pulse or stutter, than anything, snippets of voices surface here and there, intercepted transmissions, streaks of ethereal feedback, deep ominous rumbles, shimmery expanses of hushed minimal drift, haunting and lovely, any noisiness is muted, smoothed out into blurs of soft noise texture.
Four side long tracks, by side three, there does seem to be a drummer in the mix, but he doesn't seem to be drumming as much as using his kit the way the other two guys in SW approach their guitars, as a soundmaking tool, subverted from its original purpose. The drumming here is more an occasional skitter, a shuffly scrabble way off in the background, while the Weirdos weave a haunting gauzy sprawling dronescape, that sounds like it could be some Jeck turntable piece, all warbly and warped and looped sounding.
The final side is yet another extended bit of murky drift, muddied percussion floats on layers of ethereal guitar, and woozy tangled melodies, a black ambient buzz that seems to be draped over something more music, shadows and shapes of whatever melody lurks below, barely visible through the softly undulating murk, all wrapped in a patina of ephemeral distant high end shimmer and buzz. So awesome.
Like the Self-Hypnosis record, Path of Lightning is pressed on ultra thick vinyl, and comes in a super heavy gatefold sleeve, and has some of the most eye poppingly sci-fi artwork ever, a topless warrior babe with a machine gun riding a giant spider! Hell yeah! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
The Starving Weirdos (and their handful of off-shoots) have made the rounds of pretty much all the cool labels around the world... Olde English Spelling Bee, Blackest Rainbow, Root Strata, Not Not Fun, Helen Scarsdale, Weird Forest, Amish, etc. Now, they return to Bo Weavil, a label mostly known for their outsider folk recordings, although the Weirdos certainly fit nicely next to the hillbilly ragas of Henry Flynt, who's got a couple of his scratchy pieces of minimalism on Bo Weavil as well. Out of the foggy constructions from primitive horns blurting prolonged atonal blasts and creeping VHS-horror melodies, the Weirdos kick out a rolling, mid-tempo breakbeat to gird their psychedelic minefields and delay-crusted clatter. It almost sounds like a witch-house track, but rendered with an apocalyptic ritualism that would have fit right into a Psychic TV jam circa Unclean or Dreams Less Sweet. A similarly creepy atmosphere is cast on "Flowing Without Rest, Forever Onward" through the intertwining loops of slasher noise, cracks of thunder, squalls of feedback, more horror-score minor key melodies, and tumbling drum fills. If Godzilla were ever to wreak havoc on the Eureka Bay in Humboldt county, the Weirdos have already mustered the perfect soundtrack. A blinding transcendence of squalid hums and suspended atonal mutterings emerges from the junkyard Tuvan throatsong of "Contemplation Of The Setting Sun," before descending into a far more mysterious rattling of chains, bellowing horns, and synthetic notes clashing at the bottom of some murky catacomb. This dark trip is limited to 350 copies, all housed in silkscreened covers.
To be totally honest, when we first heard the name Starving Weirdos, we definitely weren't expecting to like it. It was a strange name, that didn't seem to suit their strange abstract sound. The name seemed goofy, while the music was dark, and ominous, and fucked up. But then something strange happened, like it has so many times in the past, the Flaming Lips is a prime example, something just clicked and suddenly they couldn't bee called anything BUT the Starving Weirdos. And that music, could not have been made by anyone BUT those same Weirdos. We never had any sort of qualms about the music though. From the very first note, we realized these guys were on to something. Something pretty, and something really strange and unique. This latest missive comes to us from the Sound & Fury label in Australia and demonstrates the Weirdos' continual quest to explore and get lost in their music. It's hard to sound totally unique, especially when you're trafficking in the overpopulated world of abstract free noise or whatever, but the more we listen to these guys, the more distinctive their sound becomes and the more fascinating their approach to making it seems. These three lengthy tracks show three distinct sides of the band, each one drastically different, but still inexorably linked to the others. The first track sounds a bit like the Dead C setting up and tuning up in some giant airplane hanger. Clatter and clanks, crashes and thumps, reverberate into the ether, every sound wrapped in thick layers of natural reverb, while floating delicately around these strange percussive occurrences are keening streaks of high end, that just sort of shift an shimmer, while all around chimes and bells ring out. Like walking though some big empty building made entirely of metal, while all around you the bits and pieces of the building spontaneously ring and chime and resound. The second track is less clattery and abstract, instead, thick thread of warm vibration runs through the track, some sort of buzzing bombinating string, that stretches into forever, while all around it, various other instruments vibrate sympathetically, building to a frenzied ur-drone, before the vibrations begin to taper off until it's a barely there afterimage, hovering in some nether world before blinking out completely. The final track is a return to the metallic land of the first track, but now that huge metal structure is crumbling all around you, like the sound of metal raindrops, clang and clatter, a percussive free for all, while beneath, a gentle lilting minor key melody is stretched into a longform drone, that continues to drift dreamlike even after the metallic clatter has died down, eventually becoming shimmering sheets of singing metal, ringing out brightly and then slowly fading away.
Packaged in a red textured paper sleeve, held shut with a black wax seal. The cd is housed in a printed inner sleeve, each disc with an individual piece of band made art. LIMITED TO 150 COPIES, each disc is hand numbered.
Hard to believe it was only a matter of months ago when two guys from Humboldt sent Andee a stack of 15 full length cd-r's. All mysteriously packaged, with bizarre collage art, strange song titles, and music that was stranger still. We went apeshit and insisted they make us a sort of best of disc, which they did and we sold about a million (we still have a bunch in stock too!). Word spread and now the Starving Weirdos are like a real band, with releases coming out all over the place, including a recent one on Root Strata, and this here gem on the Yellow Swans' Jyrk label. They were even in the latest issue of Vice Magazine!! Thankfully all of this hasn't gone to their heads and this blast of murky free psych weirdness is just as fucked up, demented and downright beautiful as anything else we've heard from them. Huge spacious recordings of Dead C like clatter, cavernous swells of haunting ambience, like exploring some lost sewer system that leads right to the center of the earth. Clatter and clang, percussive splatter drenched in natural reverb, like some sort of silverware war in an abandoned cistern. Free jazz played on scrap metal in a cave. Cool and creepy.
The second lengthy track introduces sax, but not in that annnoying sax-ruins-everything sort of way. No, this is more of a deep listening sort of sax, long foghorn like blasts, rumbling and reverberating, drifting into the reverby distance, a slow low meditative series of short rich drones, the whole thing a barely recognized melody stretched into it's constituent parts. A foghorn symphony played on duck calls and broken reeded bagpipes. The final 15 minute epic is a return to the metallic clang of track one. A pipe fight to the death, taking place at the bottom of a black pit, walled with stone and the crushed skulls of past pipefighters, between Z'ev and David Jackman, each hurling broken cymbals, warped gongs, bent cutlery and assorted car parts at each other, while in the background a mad scientist boils up an unspeakable brew of warm wheezing guitars and gurgling electronic drones, each and every sound wrapped in a thick smear of reverb, drizzled with delay, and sent drifting back to the surface where they were recorded onto a wax cylinder. Fucking awesome!
Hand screened cardboard sleeve, photcopied insert. Limited to 200 copies!
With all the Starving Weirdos records around here over the last year or so, it's hard to believe this is only their 2nd proper actual cd release. A handful of cd-r's (not counting the 20 or so unreleased full lengths) and lp and a split, every one of em spectacular, these guys are one of the few bands we almost wish would be more prolific. Not that we don't love Acid Mothers Temple, but we'd sure as heck trade a few of the last 20 or so new AMT records for a couple extra slabs of Weirdos wonder. Nonetheless, Shrine Of The Post-Hypnotic find the Weirdos continuing in their sonic quest, this time around incorporating more guitar it seems, more feedback, the overall sound somewhat heavier, from the dirgey slow motion buzz of the opener "Crewell", to the buzzing clattery Dead C worship of "Droned And Poned", it's a sound that most definitely suits them. It's like the No Neck Blues Band teamed up with some serious amplified firepower. A buzz drenched rambling percussive meander. Murky keening soundscapes, huge distant arcs of grinding feedback, thick swells of crumbling fuzz, heavily reverbed percussive clatter, streaks of glistening guitar, simple angular strumming, hushed minimal shimmer, bells and chimes wreathed in black whirs, massive cavernous room sound wrapped around muted melodies, moaning groaning drones drifting in thick swirls of high end glimmer and rumbling crunch, haunting industrial rhythms sinking slowly in dense fields of dreamy doom, wispy clouds of FX wrapped around creaking ambience, processed vocals transformed into undulating layers of viscous sound. It's all of that and so much more. We can describe the various sounds and sonic events, but it's so difficult to explain just why they sound so fantastic, and what sort of musical magic makes them all fit together so well. But they just do and who knows and who really cares, you should just stop reading right now and dive right in. You won't be sorry.
Packaged in a gorgeous fold over card stock sleeve, screen printed with an amazingly trippy hand drawn landscape.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!
Brand new release from Humboldt County's finest sons, the Starving Weirdos. And their very first tape release. LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES, we got about 15, so we won't go into too much detail, as SW stuff generally flies out of here anyway, so odds are these will be gone in a flash.
As if to commemorate their first tape, the band offer up a whole new sound. Well not a -new- sound exactly, instead, they take the subtle free jazz filigree that infused many of their other releases and shove it kicking and screaming to center stage. On the opening track, the band unleash some seriously freaky out-jazz, as free and chaotic as it gets, wild squalls of horns, the drums in full on kit-down-the-stairs mode, a swirling whirling dervish of sound. Some seriously off kilter speaker shredding jazz fury for sure. But after that opening salvo, things settle down a bit and get back to a more recognizably ramshackle SW sound, long stretches of abstract percussion, disembodied fractured folk strum, high end shimmer, rumbling industrial drones, moaning minor key melodies, chaotic tangles of soaring strings, plenty of abstract ambience and druggy drone-y floorcore, but with echoes of that opening track surfacing here and there, bits of skronk, woozy horn harmonies, but all deftly woven into the constantly shifting and swirling back drop.
Beautifully packaged, pro pressed and printed red cassettes housed in super thick multi panel offset printed sleeves. And again, LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES. We have 15 of those. You no doubt no what that means by now...
Latest from AQ faves The Starving Weirdos, the first we've heard since the beginning of the year (which is practically unheard of in the current way too prolific cd-r scene), and it's not just a new batch of killer blissed out SW dronemusic, it's also a film the band "chopped and screwed" and presented at the third annual Experimental Film & Music Night in Humboldt, and this dvd contains the film and the music composed to accompany it.
The film itself is Sudden Fear, from 1952 starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, but the band re-edited it and re-arranged it, hard to say how much was changed, we haven't ever seen the actual film, but from this version it looks pretty freaked out and fucked up. Although it could be the Starving Weirdos' extra creepy score too, a cacophonous Hermann Nitsch like drone, thick and abrasive, but haunting and ominous. The film playing out, at different speeds, the screen split, images super imposed over one another, the music, appropriately dark and terrifying.
This is definitely the darkest and most menacing we've heard the Starving Weirdos, and it really suits them. Strings sing and squeal, feedback moans and groans, bits of percussion surface and are carried a way by thick swells of low end whir, it's like Bernard Hermann meets Nitsch covering Goblin. Scary as hell and so so good!
Packaged in a mini dvd style plastic case, with a black and white insert cover, and pasted on liner notes on the inside.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES, each one hand numbered.
A brand new full length from Humboldt County's masters of dark droning cinematic ambience, and another gorgeous chunk of masterful dark mystery. In the beginning, their sound, while still quite beautiful, seemed much more haphazard, much more improvised, the vibe decidedly NNCK or SHOTM, a bit chaotic and druggy, the sound of guys just sort of jamming and seeing what happened. Obviously we dug that stuff, a LOT, but the band have continued to hone their craft, their music becoming much more assured, much more dense and varied, more expressive and emotional, and weirdly enough much darker and scarier.
Their last disc was a new score for their chopped up version of the classic film Sudden Fear, but Summon With Electronic Sorcery, sounds just like the title would lead you to believe, some ancient ritual performed in a cave below the Earth's surface, surrounded by demons and shadows dancing in the firelight, like it could be the soundtrack to some lost Argento film, a truly creepy and intense sonic sprawl�
Four long tracks, each one a self contained soundscape of billowing blackness, layers of muted buzz swirl and shift, various steel strings reverberate and shimmer, melodic fragments drift through the ether, doomful melodies chime and ring out and are then sucked under, strange creaks and moans are blurred into a constantly evolving backdrop. Eventually, the sounds coalesce into huge black sonic swells, an ultra slow motion ambient doom, lurching glacially through flurries of percussive clatter, like some huge demon rolling hollowed out skulls like dice. Later, we wander through some old boiler room in an abandoned building. The clank of old pipes, the hiss of escaping steam, all woven into a hissy whirring drone, underlaid with droning guitars and streaks of shimmering melody, barely discernible. Chant-like vocals drift up from the abyss, haunting loops overlap and blur into each other, a murk that seems to glow from within, building to an intense staring-into-the-sun buzz. Finally, a field of high end sound, thick streaks of feedback, simple clattery percussion, distorted melodies, moaning horns, all doused in reverb and allowed to drift and intermingle in gloriously washed out slow motion. Like watching a decaying filmstrip of and old noise rock band frame by frame, the sound flickering in the dim light, the heat of the bulb causing the film to bubble and melt.
So gorgeous. As always.
Packaged in a crazy, glue sealed multiple folded envelope style silk screened package. You have to unseal it, unfold it, and then the cd is revealed inside held in place by a diecut slot. And of course, it's super limited. A ONE TIME pressing of only 250 copies. We got 40, but judging from past SW releases these will go pretty quick.
Back in the spring we received a mysterious email that read as follows:
"We would like to introduce to the most radical band in Humboldt county and maybe North America---Starving Weirdos. You're probably pretty busy but we have TEN full length albums recorded and they are fucking good. So we figured what the hell, maybe you could listen to 1 or 2."
I have to say we were a bit impressed with these guys' moxie! Ten full lengths, all fucking good? So, we bit. Told them to go ahead and send a couple for us to check out. A few days later we received a big ol' box in the mail with ALL TEN full length cd-rs with a note explaining that they couldn't decide which two were the best since they were all so good. Well, alright. Must admit we were a bit skeptical based soley on the name, a little goofy, but Andee decided to go for it and listen to all ten (actually all FOURTEEN, as they sent a second batch a few weeks later!). And you know what, they WERE all fucking good. Fucking great in fact. But ten discs is a bit much for most folks to swallow, so the 'Weirdos put together this three track cd-r with their favorite tracks just for sale at AQ. So what's it sound like? It's gorgeous and droney, abstract and extremely actively ambient. Maybe somewhere between Sunroof!, the Dead C, Fflint Central, and Avarus. They would be right at home on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, or Pseudoarcana, or any of the other killer cd-r labels everyone freaks out about. In fact if any of you cd-r label types are reading this, get in touch and help these guys get all their records into the ears of people who need them! The first track sounds a little like Sunroof and Birchville Cat Motel playing live in a gymnasium DURING basketball practice. Extended peals of feeding back guitars, streaks of white hot upper register shimmer, wheezing toy instruments, reverberating high end scrape and squeal, with random abstract rhythms constructed from heavily reverbed slaps and whaps, like foot stomps and rubber ball bouncing. The whole thing wrapped in gauzy reverb and all warm and thick and creeping along like a big fuzzy caterpillar in the noonday sun. Track two is a similarly abstract and spacious soundscape, but less sun drenched and a little bit more claustrophobic, a dense swirl of blurred vocals, and rumbling machinery, and tinkling chiming percussion that sounds like a railroad crossing gate gone haywire, and that over the course of its twelve minutes manages to become simultaneously more and more epic, and more and more dark and dismal. The final track is a twenty minute free noise, tribal ambient workout, reminiscent of No Neck Blues Band, Anaksimandros, Avarus and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. A slow shifting framework of super distorted chiming plucked guitars, that on closer listening could instead be a blown out recording of some ramshackle gamelans, random and clattery, but all warm and fuzzy, with haunting high end melodies, cobbled together from various whistles and wheezes, tweets and trills. About halfway through the track shifts abruptly into a more subdued soundfield: subtly shifting layers of high end buzz, swoop and slip over and under each other, a constantly moving high pitched drone, pulsing and fluctuating, completely mesmerizing.
Absolutely essential listening for fans of Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Birchville Cat Motel, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, No Neck Blues Band, Avarus. Burning Star Core, Double Leopards, Hwyl Nofio, MCMS and all things CPsiP, Pseudoarcana, Rhizome, Lal Lal Lal, Last Visible Dog and the like.
And if you find yourself particularly smitten by the Starving Weirdos and decide you need all 14 of their cd-r's, drop us a line and we can probably put you in touch with those guys.
Latest missive from our favorite Humboldt County free rock / freak noise / avant whatever dream duo the Starving Weirdos, here teamed up with Tom Carter of Charalambides and Shawn David McMillen, for two sprawling sides of slow burning blissed out ur-drone space raga. Which sounds as good as you might imagine. Dark and dense, swirling and whirling and creeping ominously through billowing clouds of slow motion string buzz, fractured melodies splitting into prismatic shards, drifting dreamlike through a haze of outer space bong smoke building to a gloriously soft cacophony, streaks of feedback, and sheets of high end wrapped around a warm pulsing and churning sonic core, all before slipping into something much softer and folkier, a slow slithery expanse of soundscapery, that sounds like a super subdued Wolf Eyes. And that's just the A side.
The second half of Live At The Accident! starts off all abstract and contemplative, the drones pushed way off into the distance, while the foreground is peppered with random crunch and clatter, what sounds like field recordings, buzz and glitch and hiss, which slowly sinks into the blackened morass, locking into a sort of lugubrious post industrial drift, the whole of the side like some late night wander through a ruined factory town overtaken by the forest, a living thing wrapped around the husk of something long dead, mysterious and haunting and ominous, but also strangely lovely, weirdly delicate, slipping from noisy muted crunch, to hushed reverent whisper, eventually disappearing into a strangely looped field of crackle and hum. Nice!
Aracta's one and only avant-drone duo the Starving Weirdos are back with a brand new lp on UK's Blackest Rainbow. After delivering yet another impressively far-out full length on Bo' Weavil a few months back, the weirdos offer up some new ideas on B/P/M Series 1. Since both Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay have spent time recording the legendary Humbolt based pianist Darius Brottman, they've decided to take a break from their usual musical formula to use these recordings as source material for this new lp. Each side features a different reworking of Brottman's recordings, all arranged and cut up to reveal two distinctly unique sides of gorgeous piano bliss. Though both sides exhibit that distinct production style of all Weirdos recordings, they each uniquely reiterate the virtuosity of Brottman's playing. Side A opens with brief, straightforward piano before more layers of tones and clinks build into a signature Weirdos wall of sound type composition. Side B starts on the more psychedelic side of things, all at once erupting in a sea of reversed loops, chaotic, vigorous piano and reverberating tones. Really great stuff, both sides completely hypnotic and wonderful, like being caught in some orchestral dream world or being lost on acid in a giant piano shop. Beautifully housed in a pro-printed lp sleeve adorned with the psychedelic artwork of Mick Wiggins, this one is limited to 500 and will be gone in no time.
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Record number three, released in 1978, found Starz shedding almost every vestige of hard rock, moving in a pure power pop direction. Hard to say whether it was a band decision, a record company decision, or just some desire to storm the charts, hardly matters, as Attention Shopper is a massively appealing slab of big pumping power pop. A much more reverbed production, and a slicker and smoother sound definitely alienated the hard rock loyal, and unfortunately their pop shift did little to rocket them to the top of the charts and instead served to spread unrest within the group, that would eventually break up the band. But intraband politics aside, this is just a great big and bouncy, crunchy and catchy chunk of jangly riffing, hyper kinetic drumming, caffienated songwriting and hooks galore. Their are definitely a few ballady mis-steps, but there are also some stone cold pop gems, that would sound right at home on that recent Yellow Pills power pop compilation! Definitely for fans of Big Star, Cheap Trick, the Posies and power pop in general. Metal heads may find this a bit light, but close listening reveals plenty of crunchy riffs and metallic bombast tucked discreetly here and there. Features two bonus tracks and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Also released in 1978, Coliseum Rock, Starz' final record, was the bands attempt to return to the more hard rock sound of their first two records. Band member were replaced, the producer was the guy who had worked with them when they were still a pre-Starz rock band called Fallen Angels, and they were off. Definitely harder rocking than record number three, it's not quite as raw and rocking as their debut, definitely loving up to the album title, the songs on Coliseum Rock were big hard rock barn burners, perfect to get back on track, tour the world sharing stadium stages alongside Kiss and Rush and whoever else. Sadly, none of that ever materialized and a year later the band broke up. But this final record is still a doozy, a definite hard rock classic, with a vibe and production style that would live on in almost every eighties hard rock / glam metal band to follow! Features two bonus tracks (from their 1990 reunion album) and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Originally released in 1977, record number two featured the track "Cherry Baby", Starz biggest hit, and it's obvious why, a much more melodic, pop sound, a strange but perfect mix Styx bombast and soaring vocals and Big Star classic pop, complete with Byrds-like guitar lines and hand claps! The record as a whole, is a little less dirty and grimy but no less rocking. Way heavier on the Kiss sing alongs, and that Styx vibe definitely pervades the whole record, especially in the vocals, soaring, high and clear, with lots of awesome harmonies. Features classic hard rock burners like the title track "Violation", which will have you head banging and air guitaring like mad, and the foot stomping metallic boogie of "S.T.E.A.D.Y.". Actually if it weren't for the practically unbeatable debut record, Violation would be THE ONE. As it is, it's nearly as essential! And again, fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features three bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Their self titled debut released in 1976 is quite possibly their finest moment, definitely the heaviest, huge crunchy riffs, amazing vocals, top 40 worthy choruses, total fist pumping, denim and leather rock and roll. Listening to this record it's hard to imagine that they aren't spoken in the same breath as other seventies hard rock legends. Starz totally stands up to the first four Blue Oyster Cult records, the first couple Aerosmith records, the first few Cheap Trick records. A perfect fit, and it's totally obvious that your Poisons and Hanoi Rocks owe as much To Starz as they do Kiss or the New York Dolls or Aerosmith. Fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features five bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
State Of Bengal is a new "Tabla n' Bass" project by Talvin Singh co-conspirator Sam Zaman -- he worked with T. Singh on the Anokha project. For fans of DJ Cheb i Sabbah -- who appears on the same label -- or, of course, Talvin Singh.
A few years ago Honest Jon's/Capitol released a collection of Candi Staton's classic southern soul sounds from her prime, 1969-1973. It was a collection that for many of us was an introduction to a Candi Station we never knew. Best known later on as a disco diva, these songs were a totally different and much more rewarding affair then her glitzy disco years. Such rich and right on soul packed with emotion and flare. This, her brand new album is a nod back to that past. It's really nice to see how her influence has begun to finally fall on new ears. On their recent visit to San Francisco, The Gossip couldn't stop drooling over their love of Candi during their guest DJ set at KUSF. Lambchop's Mark Nevers was such a big fan that he found a way to become the producer of this new record, which also boasts lyrics from Will Oldham on the powerful title track which he wrote specifically for Candi. With Cat Power recently releasing her take on Southern soul, it's so nice to hear from one of the originators of that sound/style. His Hands is a collection of tales of love gone so wrong. If you've recently had your heart hurt bad, then listening to this, alongside Edith Frost's latest heartbroken outing, could just be the good cry you need. It's done the trick for some of us who's hearts have been broken around here lately. Staton's ability to carry so much pain and power in her voice is what always keeps you coming back for more.
Holy shit, does this RULE. This is the sort of stuff we LOVE, and miss, and wish more bands could still pull off. And these guys at least, most definitely can. Heavy, heady, intricate, proggy, instrumental old school style math rock, the bass thick and distorted and low slung and massive, the drums wild and pounding and octopoidal, the guitars crunchy and chuggy one second slithery and spidery the next, the songs constantly shifting gears, from gnarled and frenetic to spacious and epic, locking into super propulsive post rock churn, before slipping into weird tangles of melody and then back again. The band compare themselves to Keelhaul, Mahavishnu Orchestra and ALL, that last one seeming out of place until you actually hear these guys, they lace their chuggy churn and dense mathiness with super catchy little melodies that do in fact sound a little like ALL (or maybe the Descendents), although if we had to come up with some sonic references, it would probably look more like this: Don Caballero, June Of 44, Rodan, A Minor Forest, Bastro, Dazzling Killmen, Breadwinner, Crain, Rumah Sakit, yeah, you probably get an idea of what this stuff sounds like, but maybe just not how goddamn good it sounds, or how good these guys really are, check the sound samples, if it was 1995, these guys would be THEE band, catchy and heavy and hooky, with a massive Albini style production, it takes a lot to keep instrumental rock from being boring, but there's NOTHING boring about the 3 long songs on this disc, so tense and intense, intricate and complex, but not simply for complexity's sake, all the instruments busy as fuck, but not overplaying, instead, just a relentless and dizzying blast of hooky heaviness and majestic mathiness, another record we have been listening to nonstop since we got it in, and one we're probably gonna regret not making Record Of The Week... So totally great!
Alison Statton (the singer for the Young Marble Giants) and Spike had worked together in the early 80s project The Weekend. This 1995 production showcases an interest in Tropicalia and Brazillian jazz along with their breathy pop minimalism.
Although their cd is on Bay Area label 125 Records, Statuesque hails from the distant land of London, England. Stephen Manning is the frontman and sharp songwriter behind this energetic UK pop band. Vigorously strummed jangle'n'crunch guitars propel his predominantly earnest and upbeat songs that get gradually darker and edgier as the album progresses. Overall it's very akin to those frisky Housemartins, but where the vocals are concerned, try imagining a cross between a positively perky Morrissey and Robert Schneider of Apples In Stereo. A baker's dozen fine pop confections.
Trensmat continues to deviate from their previously psychedelic/space rock focus, and delve deeper into obscure electronica, with this latest blast of rhythmic murk from Chicago producer Stave, who delivers a gorgeous bit of gristly rhythmatism, all hazy, synthy swirl wrapped around churning tangled skitter, and all sort of washed out and hazy, buried melodies drifting serenely beneath the roiling surface, all tangled clockwork beats, and mechanical grooves. In a way, it reminds us a little of the more electronic leaning outings from Campbell Kneale's Our Love Will Destroy The World, but where that stuff was total blissed out kitchen sink chaos, Stave is much more measured, sounding at times like classic Autechre dipped in a weirdly noisy psychedelic brew, just check out the opener, strip the beats away, and it's almost some serious Pop Ambient dreaminess, and the beats do drop out at one point to reveal just what's lurking below the surface, but only briefly, before the sound slips right back into more electro-crunch, IDM mesmer. The rest of the tracks follow suit, the sound dense and noisy, the beats wreathed in clouds of static, and fracture melodies, each track a swirling rhythmscape that skirts chaos, but instead of crumbling and fracturing, Stave somehow sculpts that chaos into something propulsive, and moody, and atmospheric. One track goes full on jungle, but Stave style, surrounding the classic break, with a barrage of auxiliary beats, that only add to the strangely psychedelic vibe of the whole thing, before things mellow out into a gorgeous field of muted pulsations, and hushed rhythmic skitter.
Includes a download of the whole record with two bonus tracks! The first of which sounds like it was plucked right from the record, another murky psychedelic chaotic banger, while the closer, sounds almost live, the drums pushed way up to the front, while hazy clouds of chordal thrum, and distant keening melodies, drift dreamily in the background.
You've met John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull, now say hello to George Stavis. Originally issued in 1969 on Vanguard Records, "Labyrinths" was one man's bold attempt to bring the banjo out of the hills and hollers and into the urbane settings of the avant-garde coffeehouse. Subtitled "Occult Improvisational Compositions for 5-String Banjo and 'Percussion'" (the percussion is a rather innocuous beating on what sounds like a small coffee can), Stavis' sounds more akin to Pete Seeger and his "Goofing Off Suite" than Bull or Fahey. And while his occult pretensions may seem a bit silly, his 'improvisational compositions' are quite nice. Even his rendition of Rodgers & Hammerstein's old chesnut "My Favorite Things" (a song I could preferably live without hearing ever again) is so bastardized -- Snuffy Jenkins duelling with John Coltrane -- as to be truly rendered once again listenable. The remaining four tracks on the album are all credited to Stavis and, like Seeger, are performed with a picking style totally unique to Stavis -- a combination of rolls and strumming which allows the skillful Stavis to eke out both lead and accompaniment. Cultures collide, and wildly, on this disc of hippy raga banjo jazz. No wonder we had old-time George Stavis fans calling us up all excited when they heard that his long lost album was being reissued on cd.
MPEG Download: "Finland Station" [/audio/stavisfinlandstaion.mp3]
This Swedish fellow used to record for Cold Meat Industries as Inanna and Archon Satani, but with this release he has dropped the dark ambient occultism in favor of oblique noise modulations and noxious low end rattles closer to the Raster/Mego sound, which the Swedish National Council For Cultural Affairs has seen fit to subsidize. Nice cover by Lief Elggren, of Ghost Orchid (and much else) fame.
Mikael Stavostrand is a reformed industrialist (the musical sort, not the capitalist sort) who has abandoned the doom & gloom of his previous identity (the Cold Meat Industry staples Archon Satani and Innana) in favour of the contemporary electronic glitch sound. The emulation of his new peers is so striking that each track could be direct to digital copies. The first track being Oval, then Vladislav Delay, then Wolfgang Voigt, then Taylor Deupree, then Pole. Like all of those technically proficient guitarists who cop riffs from Hendrix, Deep Purple, or Zeppelin, it's a not a bad thing to practice mimicking your heroes, but is it neccessary to subject your audience to it?
Dark, sometimes droning improv from this Swiss post-jazz trio (drums, electric bass, Hammond organ/electronics). Maybe not as crazed as their countrymen Alboth! or 16/17, but still full of appeal to folks with John Zorn records in their collections. On this disc, one of two simultaneously released new Grob-label cds by the band, they take two different compositions ("DB", written
- RealAudio clip: DBIII
- RealAudio clip: AC6
One of a pair of new cds by this Swiss instrumental noise-jazz-rock trio with a sort of silly name, that have just been simultanously released on the Grob label (following up an obcure live disc from a few years back). The material on this cd was recorded live, in Budapest presumably, and is all improvised (except for the intro/outro, forged from their "grunge" encore by
Ever wonder what it would sound like if Tatsuya Yoshida, drummer extraordinare and mastermind of Japan's hyperkinetic Ruins, somehow collaborated with classic, keyboard-fronted prog rockers E.L.P.? Well, Steamboat Switzerland essentially provide the answer. This instrumental, avant-garde trio of drums, electric bass and Hammond organ say, "Hell yes!" to that concept.
From, yes, Switzerland (not sure how the Steamboat part of their name derives, though), these guys have several prior releases of crazy improv-jazz-prog that we've liked, and some others we still need to find. On this album, and not for the first time, they're doing all pieces composed by their colleague Michael Wertmuller, who knows a thing or two about extreme, insane music, after having been the drummer in the amazing '90s jazzcore act Alboth!, who along with 16-17 were basically Switzerland's answer to John Zorn's Naked City. Wertmuller is currently the drummer for Nohome, feedback guitar wrangler Caspar Brotzmann's new Massaker-like trio, whose debut we highlighted last list, and he also plays in Full Blast with Brotzmann's famous father Peter, among much else on his c.v. of course.
As mentioned in our Nohome review, Wertmuller is a pretty impressive percussionist, so you'd expect the drummer in Steamboat Switzerland to be darn good too, and he is - thus garnering the comparison to Yoshida at the top of this review, his octopoidal playing pounding and precise. Indeed everybody in Steamboat Switzerland plays with virtuosic passion and precision, presumably taking Wertmuller's music to the level he must have expected, and beyond. Zeitschrei is a spectacular attack of avant-prog, with bombastic organ frenzies ably aided and abetted by the energetic, ADD rhythm section. At its most dizzying, this is some intense, "Flight Of The Bumblebee" skree. Heck, the manic, choppy organ runs here would make Keith Emerson stab himself, not his keyboard! There's also some semi-ambient passages of high end droning and skittering drumscapes, but those moody pulsations are often, if not always, violated by sudden machinegun outbursts of volume and violence. So it's not a mellow listen, but it can be a gripping one. Imagine a bass-heavy mathrock mashup of spooky Hammer Horror / Carnival Of Souls soundtrack music. Or, like we said, Ruins with E.L.P.'s organ. Wowzers!
The '60s/'70s psych reissue label Akarma comes through once again with this gem! England's Steamhammer had a heavy name and lotsa chops, but never really made the big time. Their first three albums were British blues rock incarnate, real good at that but not our cup of tea really. THEN came "Speech", their swansong. Something happened (lots of drugs, maybe?) -- it was real different. This is an unusual album for sure. Probably not what Steamhammer fans at the time were expecting: Psychedelic doomy prog-tastic epic instrumental slaying, with fuzz fx, jazzy percussion, and emotive vox. It's not metal but it's got a lot of what we like about metal that's for sure, and kicks ass on most of what came out in '72. Fans of some of the real heavy underground bands from the era like the Groundhogs, Lucifer's Friend, Socrates Drank The Conium, even Il Balleto Di Bronzo ought to check this out for sure! Unfamiliar with those obscurites? Well just imagine Led Zep gone off the rails. Creative, deftly timed/structured songs full of psychedelic atmosphere. From quasi-religious 20th century avantgarde interludes to manic guitar rippage, from gorgeous vocal lamentations to jammy improv spaciness, this is AQ-approved prog weirdness for sure. The 22 minute "Penumbra" that opens the record erupts from a spooky three minute intro into sheer pulse-pounding rock trio shred, then dives into a bass-heavy dirge from which a vocal chorus emerges...and on they go. Everytime we play this for someone who we think *might* like it, boy, they *really* like it. This gets a big thumbs up from all the heavy/psych/prog heads here at AQ!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
2nd album from this heavy noise techno joyride artist.
Oh boy, it's time for more steel pan (drum) music dug up by one of our our favorite reissue labels, Japan's eccentric EM Records. This is the third in their steel pan series (after the Modern Sound Quintet and the Rudy Smith Quartet). Those first two were in a jazz-funk vein, whereas Steel An' Skin is a reggae affair, as you might guess from this disc's title. Reggae and dub and "soca-disco". This hybrid Afro-Caribbean outfit, a merger of musicians specializing in Pan-African percussion as well as the rhythms of the West Indies, and featuring ex-members of the 20th Century Steel Band, was based out of London, England in the '70s. While we particularly liked the jazz-funk grooves of the Modern Sound Quintet, we're also taken by the delightful, sunny appeal of Steel An' Skin's upbeat vibes. While addressing some serious issues ("Fire In Soweto", "Acid Rain") this still has a primarily happy disposition, with soulful vocals and a relaxed atmosphere.
Of course, our favorite track here is "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)" since indeed it's the dubbiest, and that's what we at AQ tend to go for in our reggae. Never heard steel drums echo-effected like that before! It would also be the track we'd play for peeps who love those "Disco Not Disco" comps.
With typical EM thoroughness, this reissue is about as good as a reissue can get, with a large text and photo filled insert, three bonus tracks circa '84, and also a whole extra dvd disc! That features a 34 minute documentary film from 1979, for which the majority of the music on the audio disc was originally recorded. Directed by Steve Shaw for the Arts Council of Great Britain, the film takes a look at Steel An' Skin's educational workshop activities (the band began as a way to teach African and Caribbean immigrant schoolchildren in London about their cultural heritage). Lots of musical performance and practice footage, dancing, happy kids... as well as scenes from some rather medieval looking, grim inner city slums. Interview segments with Steel An' Skin bandleader Peter Blackman, discuss the unique "black English" experience, and the excitement of bringing musicians and singers from Trinidad, Ghana, Nigeria, etc. together. You can see how the group was a positive force in their community.
Now on vinyl!! This recording of steel pan (drum) music was reissued by one of our our favorite reissue labels, Japan's eccentric EM Records, as a cd+dvd back in 2008. Now it's on vinyl, minus the dvd portion obviously. And with a slightly different tracklist than the cd version. But what we said before still goes...
This is the third in EM's steel pan series (after the Modern Sound Quintet and the Rudy Smith Quartet). Those first two were in a jazz-funk vein, whereas Steel An' Skin is a reggae affair, as you might guess from this disc's title. Reggae and dub and "soca-disco". This hybrid Afro-Caribbean outfit, a merger of musicians specializing in Pan-African percussion as well as the rhythms of the West Indies, and featuring ex-members of the 20th Century Steel Band, was based out of London, England in the '70s. While we particularly liked the jazz-funk grooves of the Modern Sound Quintet, we're also taken by the delightful, sunny appeal of Steel An' Skin's upbeat vibes. While addressing some serious issues ("Fire In Soweto", "Acid Rain") this still has a primarily happy disposition, with soulful vocals and a relaxed atmosphere.
Of course, our favorite track here is "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)" since indeed it's the dubbiest, and that's what we at AQ tend to go for in our reggae. Never heard steel drums echo-effected like that before! It would also be the track we'd play for peeps who love those "Disco Not Disco" comps.
You were warned. We reviewed this Circle side project's insane debut ep a couple weeks ago. Now, here's the full-length follow-up. The battletoads are back!
Not Sacred Steel, Steel Attack, Ritual Steel, or Steel Assassin. Not Wooly Mammoth. Or Mammatus. Or Mastodon. Or Pelican's "Pink Mammoth". Not Titan Steele, or Virgin Steele, or Steeler. It's STEEL MAMMOTH!! A metal band, presumably? Well, no, not quite. It IS another example of the many flirtations our favorite Finnish prog-psych band (Circle, including offshoots like Pharaoh Overlord and Krypt Axeripper) has always had with the elements of heavy metal (sonic, visual, lyrical). But the high-concept of "Circle does '80s metal" that you might expect from the band name and cover graphics and band pics with spikes and leather isn't quite what you actually get here, these guys being too clever and creative and crazy to do the obvious thing. Really, if you want to hear Circle-goes-metal, they come a lot closer on certain songs from Circle albums like Sunrise and Tulikora, and the recent, ever so slightly black metal bewitched Katapult. Not to mention, way back on their debut Meronia, with all its Helmet-style heaviness. And probably the most metal they've ever been is on Pharaoh Overlord #4.
So no, Steel Mammoth isn't a metal band, or even a joke metal band (though there's definitely some tongue in cheek joking going on). It's pure WTF? weirdness in the guise of a metal band. More catchy than crushing, it's a hitherto unheard hybrid of Circle's trademark hypnotic pulsations, a relaxed pop sensibility, tossed off hard rock riffing, moody tension, and sensitive vocals delivering ridiculous lyrics. Lyrics that are so ridiculous they're genius, lyrics that would make Monster Magnet or Manowar laugh and crumple up their notebook page if they'd written them. For instance, lines like: "barbarian lords/we ride alone/until we're just a pile of bones", or "lonely banzai rhino blackout leather/volcano hideout of the mountain owl/masterplan suicide war machine/lady death on the steering wheel", or "black diamond thunder dragon/beast of vampire torture/silver locusts on the desert sky/acid rain wasteland"! We also hear about a "multiheaded lion", "switchblade messiahs of hate", "midnight witches", a "metal infant", and the "powersweat of the demonwolf" to pick some other gems at random. Wow. Death and destruction and kicking ass seem to be the themes... yet there's some thought and depth to it all, extending to a self-constructed cosmology for these "nuclear barbarians" on their journey to the center of the "atomic mountain", that's depicted in a schematic in the cd booklet. We even detect a sincere sentimentality to some of this -- when album closer and title track "Atomic Mountain" finds the band sweetly crooning "Down, down, down I go" you FEEL it on some meaningful level, really.
As for the music, most of the songs share a skeletal Judas Priest vibe, stripped down and mellowed out and infused with effects. The opener, "Black Team", reminds us more of a handicapped Rolling Stones, fronted maybe by Danzig, but odder even than that would be. Several tracks later, "Nuclear Barbarians" is reprised from the ep, not really sure why they did that, though it is a cool song -- love how they pronounce nuclear, "nuck-leeyer". But it's followed by something completely different, the 11 and a half minute "Commando Leopard", an instrumental that starts off with primitive krauty rhythms before entering into a long beatless stretch of atmospheric, electronic spookiness. Like we said, WTF? Or should we say, NWOFWTF?
Ohh yeahhh. All the Krypt Axeripper fans here have been waiting for this. Circle fans too. Same thing, sorta. Krypt Axeripper, you know, that was the very entertaining, brilliantly stupid, supposed "heavy metal" side project of our Finnish friends Circle, enshrined on a four song ep earlier this year. After Krypt Axeripper could the NWOFHM get any more ridiculous?? You be the judge, they certainly tried: ta dah, STEEL MAMMOTH!! Seemingly a similar high concept (that being, Circle's metal obsession goes too far?) but actually more confusional than you'd think. Sure the cd booklet is filled with awesome D&Dish artwork and pisstake photos of the truly chuffed band members posing in full leather and studs regalia. But then, check out the music. As with Krypt Axeripper, there's a quota of crotch-rock riffs but it's also so oddly poppy, more like some sort of twisted rock n' roll alternative to the alternative than anything really made of molten metal. English-language lyrics (about Satan and radiation, "metal blade warriors" and "scorpion wizards", and suchlike metallic subjects, 'tis true) are weirdly crooned over shuffling beats and guitars that whilst fully fuzzed aren't exactly wielded by Hanneman/King. It's absurd, and absurdly catchy. When they sing something about how "battletoads explode in stereo" you'll be humming along (if not quite headbanging) and won't even bat an eye.
Looks like the Steel Mammoth trio of Garfield Steel, Rema 7000, and Juicyifer (hmm) and their pal Krypt (all pseudonyms for Circle folks) have invented a new cartoony subgenre all their own, jokingly initiated perhaps but inadvertently (?) awesome. Extra dimensional, post apocalyptic, astral travelling silliness that's part pop, part metal, and yes, part Circle ('specially on "Slow Death" with its unmistakable motorik drumming). This first attack from Steel Mammoth clocks in at 5 tracks, 18 minutes. But get this, future members of the Steel Mammoth Army: there's a Steel Mammoth full-length album in the works now, too! Look out, the battletoads have only begun to explode in stereo...
Following close on the heels (hooves? no that's not right either, what do you call mammoth feets anyway?) of Steel Mammoth's Radiation Funeral lp from earlier this year, comes another vinyl-only slab of "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" madness from this Circle side project. On Nuclear Rebirth, as with their previous lp, Steel Mammoth are indeed a bona fide metal mutation, not merely a poppier Circle in old school leather 'n' spikes drag. "Punkmetal nightmare" is what they claim to conjure on this album, and they're quite accurate in that self-assessment! Nihilistic, nonsensical, noisy, "nuck-leeyr" thrashing and bashing is what you get here, along with more awesome comic bookish cover art featuring their horned and helmeted mascot, and the usual confusional album credits.
It's irradiated '80s speed trash-thrash action at its bizarre best, twelve trax with such OTT titles as "The Dark Behind The Dark", "Hate Medicine Lucifer", and "Undead Facts, Now". Wha? Well, one can debate if Steel Mammoth's non sequitur laden NWOFHM style is parody or not, but if you are banging your head (and we think you will be) then they've won the debate regardless.
However, we should point out that elsewhere on this very list, we've got the Alternative Tentacles reissue of Voivod's 1984 demo, and we respectfully submit that anyone buying Nuclear Rebirth should think about also purchasing To The Death 84 as well. We're pretty sure the Steel Mammoth guys would be super stoked to see both items in your cart...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This being Circle side-project Steel Mammoth's 4th disc, its mere existence pretty much answers the question about how serious they are, or not. Or maybe just creates new questions. If they're entirely tongue-in-cheek, then it's a really elaborate joke. If it's not a joke, then they're insane. Either way, we love Steel Mammoth! As always, they claim to be crusaders of the New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal, it says NWOFHM in big letters in the cd booklet. Where you'll also find some remarkable photos of the band cavorting around a campfire, or at least we think it's the band, though we're pretty sure that this makes 'em the first ever metal act to include a proudly pregnant lady in their ranks, decked out in what appears to be black leather heavy metal maternity wear! Meanwhile, one of the men is posing in a horned helm, massive and metal, apparently handcrafted, that looks very (ridiculously) medieval indeed.
So, Steel Mammoth are certainly bizarre. And silly, and Finnish, and, yeah, metal. Metal but not quite HEAVY metal. Steel Mammoth have a lighter touch for the most part. Sure, there's some distortion - but not always. The vocals are hardly ever, maybe never screamed, usually delivered in a weird rolling-r drawl, lazy and sinister. Heck half the time it sounds more like some kind of indie-rock pop, but all the awesome and not so subtle metal signifiers that infest the music and lyrics make it so much BETTER. But we probably don't need to tell you all this, if you're like us you have all their other discs already.
Nuclear Ritual, not to be confused with their debut ep Nuclear Barbarians, or for that matter their first album Atomic Mountain, is another killer set of tunes all right, catchy and confusional, from rousing opener "The Shakall" onwards. Some -titles- could be "ordinary" metal songs ("Sacred Death", "Cerebral Acid", "King Of The Damned", sure) but others would obviously be unacceptable to most metal bands ("Gargantuan Boom Boom" being the worse offender). And when one listens, none are ordinary. Some aren't even at all metal (the bulk of title track "Nuclear Ritual" is a meandering murky psych instrumental sorta in the mode of "Commando Leopard" from Atomic Mountain). Most of the tracks are kind of a hybrid of metal/not metal, like "Mammoth Sun Bacteria", which is sunny all right, in that it sounds like Iron Maiden gone bubblegum, bright and bouncy. Elsewhere, though, there is some convincingly authentic metal guitar soloing, and the distorted vocals on "Sacred Death" are almost scary. And that's the genius of Steel Mammoth, those vocals fit there just a perfectly as do the Doorsy Jim Morrison stylings that pop up on the track "Atomic Chainsaws".
Oh, and we've got to mention the last song, "Extinction", 8+ minutes long, boasting a lumbering stoner doom riff a la Witchcraft or Jex Thoth. The song eventually morphs into an extended lysergic jam worthy of Circle in its krautiness, with a bassline that Rick Rubin woulda loved on Bloodsugarsexmagic, that never seems like it will end and when it does you'll want to start it again... With results like this, Steel Mammoth are doing something right, even if they're playing metal "wrong". And anyway, when Japan's Metalucifer can make albums wherein every single song title includes the words "Heavy Metal", and still be taken (sort of) seriously, what is and what isn't a joke?
All in all, another highly entertaining, highly radioactive, album from the truly unique entity (well, along with all the other incestuous NWOFHM acts) that is Steel Mammoth!!
While these guys started out as a Circle side project (and not such a serious one, at that, judging by their name), by now they've definitely become their own entity indeed, with their own following. Whether they're "serious" or not remains an open question, but with our Finnish friends, such things are almost impossible to determine anyway. They're all pretty crazy up there in Finland. What IS possible to determine is, that Steel Mammoth rules. This is their fourth full-length (vinyl-only this time, sorry cd folks) and it's another unique slab of Steel Mammoth's "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" stylings... which, of course, isn't always all that heavy metal, actually. Well, ok, it LOOKS metal, in the most awesomely cartoonish way possible. And metal is part of their sound, sure. But so is some sort of weird alt pop. Well you know that already 'cause if you're an AQ customer, you're probably already a Steel Mammoth fan.
However, this new album, Radiation Funeral, might just be Steel Mammoth's most metal attack yet. PUNKmetal at any rate. Two sides, nine songs, 1/2 hour, utter "nuck-leeyr" mayhem, a record filled with "unglued screaming, harrowing guitars, violent drumfire and apocalyptic bass pollution" as they say. And yeah, it IS pretty thrashy and trashy, Steel Mammoth finally letting their helmeted skullface mascot rage with the likes of Motorhead's Snaggletooth. The vocals are shouty, mean, gargled. The songs rumble with heavy riffing, the guitars dirty and distorted, drums bashing away with abandon. You could probably play this for your most 'truest' metal buds, the ones with band backpatches on their faded denim jackets, and convince 'em it's something dragged from the depths of the European underground circa '86, some sub-Sodom speed metal German budget band or something. Maybe. Anyway it's cool to hear Steel Mammoth (aka Circle, mostly) really, really indulge their most metallic urges here. It's a headbanger, all right. Fans of the likes of Speedwolf, and heck maybe even Kvelertak, should really dig this.
And we give 'em props for one of their best more metal-than-thou song titles yet, "Deck Of Wild Cards". Another good one is "Endless Wolf". We figure they get drunk and try to come up with ridiculous/awesome metal titles like those, then write the songs. Who knows? It works. Check out their disturbing/amusing video for the catchy/chaotic "Torture" here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhIa-AcFdo&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
The Steel Mammoth is back! Clanking across the frozen Finnish tundra, bellowing mightily... well no, not quite. This 'New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal' project from members of AQ faves Circle is not exactly what you might expect (unless you've heard them before). Despite the Satanic/Barbaric cover graphics, with cartoon death's heads grimacing in horned helmets in front of a glowing pentagram, and the various other oh-so-metal signifiers like the lyrics, song titles, stage names, etc., Steel Mammoth's unique brand of "metal" doesn't sound all that metal, though it sure is strange. These guys call it NWOFHM. In our review of their first full-length, we coined the term NWOFWTF? to describe 'em. Maybe it is a parody, but if so they take their joke pretty seriously (this is their 2nd full-length after all).
Ok, if you haven't heard 'em, but have heard Circle, imagine that band in leather and spikes (which they are known to wear anyway), having been exposed to strange drugs and radiation, as well as repeated spins of records by The Cult, Manilla Road, Voivod, uh, Dire Straits, the new Darkthrone, and Judas Priest's earliest, more psychedelic stuff (Rocka Rolla!). Then imagine something totally different as well. Right from the start they are deliberately NOT particularly heavy, playing boogie-metal riffs, yes, but in such a laid back, mellowed out fashion it's ridiculous, and ridiculously catchy. They do rock out a bit more on track two, "Black Gold Tyrant", picking up the pace further on the likes of "Steel Factor" and "Nuclear Gyration" (the latter really kicking up some heavily-effected dust), but those tracks are pretty poppy too.
Meanwhile, Steel Mammoth's "radiation rock" is adorned with drawled vocals, delivering amazing absurd lyrics that must be tongue in cheek - informing us that "flesh is weak, metal is forever" and singing lines like "crystal daybreak in the valley of blood/bone and steel crash forever non-stop/heads keep on rollin', battlecries die/corpses keep rottin', vultures take the sky". Yet even when you think the lyrics aren't serious, Steel Mammoth's music will take a turn into emotive, introspective moodiness that can't be funny, and you realize the singer is in fact crooning quite earnestly. Maybe. But there's definitely a method to their madness, one that involves a complex mythology of their own making, about atomic eggs and other cryptic mysteries. The moments of true beauty (like the lovely, sleepy "Waiting For The Goat") don't seem intentionally bathetic at all, even though grins and giggles are never far away. Let's face it, we're happily confused by Steel Mammoth, moreso even than by other NWOFHM efforts from Krypt Axeripper, Motorspandex, and related acts.
While we wish we could take it all completely seriously (or think that it was supposed to be taken completely seriously), knowing the Circle guys we also appreciate their strange humor... Heck it even says ON THE CD TRAY that this is their "disappointing second album". But we must disagree. No disappointment at all. We're lovin' it, from the moment we saw the cover art, through each of many, many spins.
Attention fans of '70s heavy hippie rock!! Another primo proto-metal reissue from the fine folks at Rise Above Relics, who brought us the fantastic Bang boxset we listed not long ago. 'Tis a band/album well deserving of the deluxe treatment given here, especially welcome since only other Steel Mill reissue we've seen in the past was somewhat shoddy looking. THIS, though, is really nice, packaged with an elaborate illustrated 32 page booklet, in a slipcover adorned with new art (while the original, quite effective, surreal cover painting remains preserved within). They've renamed it too, the original lp from 1971 (there it is again, brothers and sisters, Nineteen Seventy Freaking One!!) was called Green Eyed God, this gets a new title of Jewels Of The Forest (Green Eyed God Plus) on account of all the bonus tracks included, and the remastering job, and other improvements.
So, with a name like Steel Mill, you'd expect this British band to be industrial-strength HEAVY, maybe even coming close to Black Sabbath territory. Well they do... and they don't... heavy, yeah, but opting for artier, more progressive atmospheres a lot of the time. Opener "Blood Runs Deep" is a good example, combining big, loping, rather urgent guitar riffage with passages of much mellower, jazz-inflected psychedelia via languid saxophone. Give that one a listen, and if you're like us, you'll know you want this right away. That "jazz" element, represented by what sometimes seems like pagan riot of horns, gives Steel Mill a vibe of mystic, exotic grooviness, putting 'em rite in there with underground tribes like Comus and Cromagnon. Some of these songs sound like rock rituals, like "Treadmill", with its fuzz and (literal) grunt.
Ultimately, they're an excellent, eccentric "heavy progressive" outfit, a la early King Crimson (you can be sure they loved "21st Century Schizoid Man"), Gnidrolog, Gravy Train, Tucky Buzzard, Wild Turkey, Sweet Slag, Steamhammer, East Of Eden, Murphy Blend, Amon Duul II, Culpeper's Orchard, Blackwater Park, Necromandus, etc.
Their acid rock guitar solos and lumbering riffs lean towards the Sabbath, but there's also gentle ballads ("Turn The Page Over") and fluttering flute (featured on the moody "Black Jewel Of The Forest", and elsewhere). Not that, as we've pointed out before, Sabbath themselves didn't indulge in some of their own flute flutter now and then! Steel Mill balance the light and heavy with aplomb, often in the same song. Darkly dreamlike and outre, yes, but also heavy enough for any proto-metal head. If someone were crazy enough to try and compile a collection of 1971's heaviest riffs, they'd definitely have to give Steel Mill some attention. (Er, although technically, some might quibble, as while this was recorded in '71 and the "Green Eyed God" released as a single then, the lp itself was apparently not released until 1972, and then just in Germany, with a UK release only appearing in '75.)
The original album is great all by itself, but we're also digging the bonus tracks. There's 9 of 'em, including songs from a 1972 single, as well as five unreleased studio demos of garagey popsike recorded in 1970. And, one last song - a new one, recorded by a reunited Steel Mill in 2010, "A Forgotten Future, A Future Past". And you know what, it's pretty good! Better than you might expect, actually, fitting in remarkably well. Nice how a lovingly done reissue like this can give an long lost band a new lease on life.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Vinyl version of their major label debut (and finale).
"You were hired by a bitch to find scum!!" That striking dialogue taken from a '60s private eye thriller (Harper) begins the song "Misty Mountain Blowtorch" here, deep into side two, before the track launches into an especially distorted & catchy riff, and that combo somehow sums up the attitude/aesthetic of this album and this band. Heavy, noisy, grungy rock action laced with lots of cool/weird samples, it's an hallucinatory and head caving mix for sure!! As the label that did this necessary reissue put it, Tulip is a "twisted noir detective story on a bad acid trip". Damn right. Psychedelic, metallic, chaotic, freaked out, heavy as heck, full of surprises, and strangely hooky and melodic too, as it explosively lurches through a delirious daze of surfy, sludgy sounds and strange non-sequitur samples.
A little while back, you may recall, we we listed a warehouse find, the first lp by Milk Cult, Milk Cult being the sample-based side project of one of San Francisco's best ever bands (by way of Bozeman, Montana), Steel Pole Bath Tub, back in the late '80s / early '90s. Hopefully that piqued your interest if you weren't already into these noiserock madmen, the trio of Dale Flattum, Darren Mor-X, and Mike Morasky. They were sort of a surreal, soundtracky, noise-noir version of their pals The Melvins, in a way, also using and abusing samples as alluded to above. The kind of band that would do both Black Sabbath and Sonic Youth covers (they have - not found here though). Certainly a band that anybody into the Melvins back then would also have liked, and did, a lot. Stuff on Trance (like Pain Teens) and AmRep also comes to mind. SPBT even managed to eventually wind up, albeit briefly, on a major label (like so many unlikely, underground bands during the '90s alt-rock boom). Their bulk of their career more or less predated our "list", so we never wrote a review of this great album when it was originally issued back in 1990, their sophomore release. Thus it's especially exciting that this has been reissued on vinyl, at long last, and we can list it, finally. Probably our favorite record by these guys - though they made a bunch of good ones. There's just something about this one that's the complete package, the perfect witches brew of their unique sound, immediately compelling and highly entertaining.
Gatefold sleeve, with new jacket art, and an 8-page booklet with photos, art, and new liner notes by Henry "Chunklet" Owings, Noah Landis, and Tom Flynn, plus stuff from the members of the SPTB as well. Nice!
It's a crying shame that these recordings were made in 1996 and never saw release until 2002, but what are you gonna do when you've signed to a major label, only to have the idiot higher ups pronounce your demos "unlistenable"? (Hence the name of this record, heh.) Then again, considering how fresh and good and utterly *now* this album sounds, it really shows how much ahead of their time SF's late great Steelpole Bathtub was. Hard to believe that it was made mostly in Mike Morasky's living room when you hear the thick gooey distorted guitar flangeing in and out, the effected, growling vocals, the squealing guitar solos, the trashcan percussion, the macabre surf-y tone alternating with Melvins-y sludge. There're even two ferocious Cars covers and one hidden track. If you have never heard Steelpole before, this is a great place to start -- in fact, bandmember Darren Mor-X claims these are Steelpole's best recordings. Also, if you've never heard Steelpole but are in love with their side project and major AQ-alltime fave Milk Cult, then get this record now! There's not the sampling and electronics found on the Milk Cult record, but the incredibly well done pacing and tone and weirdly accessible heaviness is all there. Recommended.
One of our favorite albums, and another one we realized to our dismay that we didn't have in the store or on the website, so we thought we'd share our love of this record with any of you who aren't already familiar with this classic.
At their prime, Steel Pulse were without a doubt the best reggae band to come out of the UK, with great songwriting skills, social consciousness and songs bursting with energy and packed with infectious hooks. They were such a huge influence on so many bands in the punk and new wave world, that they were often asked by bands like The Clash, The Police, The Stranglers and Generation X to go on tour with them. In fact, much of the Police's early sound is SO obviously influenced by the music of Steel Pulse. True Democracy is really one of those records that crosses genre lines, while very much a reggae record it's amazing how many people who thought they weren't into reggae at all, heard this record playing and couldn't resist getting caught tight in its irresistible grasp. It's a record that never loses its charm or its ability to sweep us of our feet as we always walk a little faster, feel a little more free, and move with more purpose whenever we have it blasting in our ears. Originally released in 1982 and it still sounds as fresh and vital as ever!
Okay if you're a No Doubt fan (and we know there are a bunch of AQ friends out there who are... at least secretly so!), you've probably already nabbed Lady Stefani's solo debut. Heck, it's really not a whole lot different from recent recordings of No Doubt. And if you're not a ND fan, well, you still might wanna give Love Angel Music Baby a spin. For instance, if the shiny sleek dance pop of Kylie Minogue's Fever album had you in a giddy disco tizzy a couple of years ago, Ms Gwen is makin' it known that she's here to keep the funky fashionista party rollin'. L.A.M.B. is super punchy, pouty and fun without descending into complete vapidness. At times the gloss and glitter are in such abundance, she almost can't contain it nor herself, but that's what's so great about this gal. She's not afraid to go totally overboard. She dons seemingly clashing clothing patterns and musical styles with absolute fearless flair. Likewise, she proves herself to be a pretty smart cookie enlisting a different yet altogether appropriate producer for each song (Andre 3000, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, and her bandmate Tony Kanal to name just a few) and bringing in her pal Eve for a number. That song is "Rich Girl" (with borrowed lyrics from the musical Fiddler On The Roof), and she picks right up where Madonna left off with "Material Girl" and "Dress You Up". C'mon, don't be a hater, wind up that rump and get it bumpin'!
It's no secret that our pop sweet tooth has a serious soft spot for Gwen Stefani, in fact a few years ago we even made No Doubt's best-of collection our record of the week! We were pretty smitten by her solo debut and we've been anxious and curious to hear what this new batch of pop-hits might sound like. There are definitely a few killer tracks here, songs that whether you admit it or not will be stuck in your head and have yo shaking it just a little when no one is looking. But with the follow up to Love.Angel.Music.Baby she seems to have fallen a bit behind. In the short time she was away, other artists have been turning out some highly addictive pop that is way sweeter and way catchier than almost anything on The Sweet Escape. Parts of The Sweet Escape actually kind of sound like a watered down version of Beyonce's amazing new record or like a wannabe Fergie, join the small club of white girls going for L'Trimm gold. So yeah, a couple winners, but overall, we're a little disappointed.
