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LISTENING
TO ARCHIVES..... June 04 - Jan 05 |
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Luther's Fall -
"Songs to Wake Up To" - 8 trks
"I'm moving mountains with the message in my head".. - 'Arising' - Luther's Fall LUTHER's FALL hail from Newport News, Virginia - just a stone's throw from the CIA Headquarters underground in Alexandria.. well.. maybe more than a stone's or a 747's throw. The blurb on the website, tells me they're ex-cover musicians who decided to get real and boy, do they get real. They seem to gig relentlessly. Hopefully, on one of my trips abroad to the land I once did and sometimes still do call home, I will cross paths with LF and see them live. Obviously, I was somewhere in the last 6 months that they were and I didn't know it. No t-shirt, but I got the CD, somehow. This is how strange life is. Who gave me their music? It's still a mystery. Down to the nuts and bolts. In general, the Americans have an advantage where this music is concerned. It's as much a part of the culture as, say.. George Washington, dollar bills, Wrestlemania, Marilyn Monroe, Microsoft, big cities, big cats and bears, burgers, fries and pick-up trucks. Guitar culture: it's in the water, heavy metals, all that wide open spaced vibe of the wilderness; 'don't fence me in' sentiments abound. There may be a gun under every pillow, but it's about freedom and the right to choose and fuck off anybody who seriously trespasses on your turf. Right, wrong, whatever... that's just how it is. Luthers Fall, in essence, is a Typical American Rock Band: vocally huge (front man power and harmonies), lyrically forthright and complex with anthemic choruses, compositionally skilled, instrumentally gifted, angst layered, freedom pledged, it's all there.. shifts in tempo, key and direction keep it interesting. Typical American Rock Band (TARB). And don't forget the confident lead work! What can I say? There's a lot of this out there. It's good. That's the problem. It's all good and there's a lot of it. Who to choose from? I guess at the end of the day, it comes down to what happens in the live context; performance, stamina, sound, and that all too important x-factor CHA-RIS-MA!!! Sometimes it's just down to lasting it out. Being there when the others have packed it all in. I get the feeling these guys could win the 'last man standing' competition without breaking sweat. Obviously, I haven't seen this band who hang out in the environs of Virginia and North Carolina, but they must travel as I picked their CD up somewhere out there.. New York, Nevada or California. Such a mystery. I should really start an online streaming radio station, playing all this stuff. People need to hear it, be exposed to more than just the marketing 'campaigns' of the big guns. This is a powerful band and the recording quality is ace. First track, - 'Arising' - (which I now play every morning) kicks off with no-nonsense brutal guitar licks and the warning, "I'll follow the road, wherever it takes me.... I'll fight to the end if it's gonna break me!" The rest of the tracks are true to the course and there's a hidden seemingly almost impromptu improvised instrumental surprise with some nifty bass work and soaring, exploring guitar... just let the CD run after "A Thousand Whispers". I am about to break my single golden rule of reviewing (never say 'sounds like'), but there are shades here of a band I once loved - KINGS X! If you love your guitars fretfully loud and majestically handled, Luther's Fall will not disappoint. Luther's Fall are found at: www.luthersfall.com Contact: Jon Allegretto - jon@luthersfall.com |
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JIM BRYCE - "Sprinting round a one inch circle" (Scotland, UK) Now for something COMPLETELY different..... He may not be rock OR roll, but every now and then we need a stretch. After much agonising, I came away liking things about the guy, but have to tear it apart (Rip It To Shreds!) before we can sew it back together. This musician (gentleman, player, pawn or king) is apparently a regular at an Edinburgh night aptly titled 'Out of the Bedroom', but that's not where it ends. He's in demand for voiceovers and maintains a full life as actor and writer. Does that excuse him? We'll see. In his email to me, Jim Bryce made reference to playing 'Out of the Bedroom' .. but some of his more miserable sentiments clearly belong back there. After heartbreak and disappointment (with everything!) where do songwriters go? To the Bedroom! Have a wee cry (or in this case a wee wonder), then crank up the keyboard or whip out the guitar; write some tuneful little tearjerkers on the Roland. That's what much of this music is like. Clever little tuneful tunes about being human: happy as a lab full of chimpanzees waiting for the AIDS experimentation to begin. I.e. lyric samples: "night falls like a wounded beg--gar..." He dragged the phrase out so far I was sure he was going to say BEAR! At least I could have gotten excited.. a WOUNDED BEAR IS DANGEROUS... a wounded beggar hasn't got a leg to stand on and can be swept under life's carpet by soul-less healthier folk. A wounded bear would give you a run for your money no matter how often you worked out. It's kinda miserable-Disney and spooky old haunted house; a Ray Bradbury carnie sideshow and kinda.. Roland-in-the-bedroom all at once. Then towards the end of the CD he spaces OUT into universes both tragic and longing: "out to the headland and he walked away.. a step too far.. he walked away..." Yes.. it gives me chills to contemplate these lines. The CD title, 'Sprinting Round A One Inch Circle' (suspected metaphor for sprinting 'round' the bedroom - used to be 'bedsit' in pre-Blair/Maggie Britain) makes all the sad sense in the world. The first few tracks are about the internal life. The one glimpsed when you wake up in the morning or lie there like an existential cabbage staring at the ceiling at day's end. The time you have to spend in such occupations when, obviously, you aren't a woman and don't live with a man who drinks or is just plain typically pig-headed, argumentative, controlling, irritating and/or just wants boring repetitive penetrative sex (as opposed to mind-blowing, LSD-stoked, molecularly involved, sensorily experimental, near tantric and completely fabulous sexual congress). Women, generally, get a lot less time to contemplate the universe than men do. Really. We're ALWAYS being harassed by other people... usually a man wanting boring penetrative sex or just to make us feel bad (because he can).. Brings a great country song to mind. But.. my POINT so garrulously arrived at... only men can get caught up in this ponderous shite. Jim Bryce doesn't so much talk about sex (good or bad).. or love (one song) .. or even wanking... It's kinda like Fish without the white sauce. Titles like, "I Can't Give You Love Dear, But I'll Make You A Cup Of Tea", would secure his tenure in any nursing home. Then he confuses me with a broken love song about the universally polar opposition of the sexes: "tides.. drifting sideways, drifting god knows where.." Why do men sing about these things? Why don't they just sing about harvesting the crops.. milking the cow for the morning coffee.. riding the bus to work.. getting caught in traffic in the BMW or transit van or, if they were really useful, SAVING PENGUINS IN THE ANTARCTIC???? Why the heck do they sing about talking to the ceiling.. presences in the hall.. being wounded like beggars...???? Everything's a metaphor. Everything contains a reference to an inanimate or distant object when they're discussing an animate and closer one. Then there's the issue of Mr Bryce's emotional health. Lyrics like, 'it's too easy to be carefree...let's get an ulcer before our time runs out.." let me know.. Jim needs a prescription for 'Solar' like prontito. Why does everyone on this island like being miserable? The 'British Disease'. It's like they don't trust feeling good. It might not last. Being a Pollyanna and LOVING feeling good (you see I've had real acid) this type of miserable yet cutesy/clever stuff isn't for me. This 'wry' approach to being a miserable bastard is why I don't hang out down the pub. It's like the watering hole for the most miserable of the miserable bastards to be. The waiting room for the sick old men miserable younger men will become in 20 or 30 years. I want to feel GOOD! That's why I take drugs. Screw this miserable stuff. But, and it's a BIG 'But', there are a lot of people who would like this. There are people that I term as 'lyric listeners'. They pick through the words to a song searching for a snapshot of something they can identify/understand; like Swiss Mountaineers picking through the rubble after a landslide / avalanche / volcanic eruption, looking for viable signs of life and when they find one, Hallelujah! It's rejoicing all around and maybe even givin' the dogs a bone. There would be plenty of rejoicing around this album for those types. Jim Bryce is intelligent, thought-provoking.. all the usual descriptives of someone who's taken the time to put their message together and has the motor skills to carry it through. "So you stumble to the bathroom..." jeeeeeeeesus.. he HAS gotten out of the bedroom!!! "Peering (or is that 'peeing') through the haze of his halcyon days, wondering where they are.." Those days may be past or overdue or may be just coming in the next life. If we'd known him for the last 20 or 30 years as a singer/songwriter in his own wacky vein, he'd probably sell bushels of CD's, even in a world of current download piracy. He'd have a solid fan-base in the age group that actually still buys CD's.. so.. I don't know what happened there. You'll have to ask him yourself. Visti Jim Bryce at: www.jamesbryce.org.uk |
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LAST GREAT WILDERNESS - 3 new tracks (Edinburgh, UK) "I've gotta right the wrongs..." More Mojo..... Saw a Frank Zappa interview from the 60's the other night. In it he said, 'people are so apathetic. We want to make them uncomfortable so they'll actually get up and do something, change something.' TLGW music has that edge and that desire. Every track has an expectancy about it; like you might just wake up, not just sit there with your stupid pumpkin of a head bobbing up and down to the beat and your dumbass foot tapping. Oh yeah, all of these physical reactions will occur while listening, but the band expect your brain to get involved somewhere along the way. A GIANT STEP FOR MANKIND OR WHAT??!!! Having received a preview of 3 'new' as yet 'unmixed' tracks from Last Great Wilderness.. 'Infinite Bombs' kicks off the wake up call. Uncompromisingly heavy.. as usual.. and Laurence Lean's lyrics drag you out of your deepest slumber. He has a great great voice.. pure and powerful.. pouring out of him like an angry Niagara. Something primeval at the guts of this stuff. 'Love in All It's Pretty Colours'.. I don't know whether he's been drowned or just observed a drowning man at close quarters.. but then there's that incredibly beautiful tune at the end of the American Pornography EP, 'All I Need Is You' and another track he sent me 'Stupid Thoughts' - a mind-blowingly beautiful 'broken love' song. Something tells me the drowning man is a member of the band. After love leaves you, 'Vandalise' steps in to clear the air. Still angry after all these years. A perfect track to end the whole shebang. If you match these newest unmixed tracks with the 3 tracks on the American Pornography EP reviewed below.. and a couple of other tracks they've got floating around, you've got an album that should do it. I may be looking for a new town.. but while I've been in this one, I've heard nothing finer than The Last Great Wilderness. Hats off, hands down and no contest, the best unsigned band I've come across (must forgive me.. I still can't play 'My Electric Love Affair's vinyl offering. Who has a turntable???). So.. if you're miserable and jealous about them being better than you, get over it and go out and see them play. The Last Great Wilderness will be hammering the decibels Fri Dec 17th @ Bannermans, Edinburgh & Sat Dec 18th @ Caledonian Backpackers, Edinburgh, West End. PS - The band have a 'history' and a bit of a pedigree, which really explains everything.. but you'll have to ask them about it. website: http://www.thelastgreatwilderness.co.uk and or contact Laurence Lean at: Laurencelean@aol.com |
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Transaudio - 4-trk EP Dynamite in a can.. if only they knew how to bottle it... I have the CD... handed to me by the band at last Thursday's Full Moon Club @ Bannerman's in Edinburgh. Live? Not a lot to say there. Just plain sonically awesome. I heard them first at The Commplex, probably around March or April of this year, sound-checking for the night ahead and thought...'Oh boy.. they mean business.' Layers of throbbing guitars.. drums triggering synths.. seriously heavy and melodic and battering all at the same time. There's not much I've heard that is as tight and concisely mesmerising. They've got a lot of shit going on in the mix for 4 dudes who just kind of stand up and suddenly 'play'. I could reference aural points.. i.e. Ian McCulloch's (post 'Echo & The Bunnymen) 'Electrafixion' project circa mid '90's in LA... or as my partner said..'It's that Glasgow sound.. Simple Minds revamped and super-amped.. ' I like to think of it as something like another LA band I love with all my heart and pants on fire: STABBING WESTWARD. And yet.. there's more.. .they do but don't 'sound like' anyone in particular.. It's just throbbing, pulsing.. guitars, drums and triggered synth action cycles... in all.. it's a BIG sound... ..spellbinding and... battering... battering... battering... Now.. to the CD. I put it on while I was working the other day. Left it in the background in the distance. My observation is they don't quite know how to tame the horse their riding.. not yet. LIVE they've got it ALL pegged and progressing towards a dazzling future of many conquests. In the studio.. they've still got to figure it out. The CD is for promotional use.. and that's fine.. but my advice is they should plug the live work to the hilt and back. Get SEEN. Get people to their gigs. That's where they shine. For future gigs and band info: www.transaudio.co.uk PS - they used to be called 'ELECTRA', but that's a moot point at this stage. |
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Electra - "Diamond Kitty & Crawl" 2 4-trk EP's Guest Reviews by Andy G - Mr 'Dead Earnest'. DIAMOND
KITTY: Rough Diamonds
CDEP£ Entirely played, produced and performed by Electra, this is an astonishing set of songs. Across the space of 20 minutes you're hearing things, in the vocals particularly, that make you go.. "Whooaahh.. that sounds like.." but before you can pin it down, our hero's already moved on. Opens with 'Nancee (Queen of the Rodeo Circuit)', as cool a slice of Alt-Country as you'll hear; at once surreal, sultry and sing-along superb. A low-sounding female-Willy-Nelson style vocal cruises through the melody, the opening menacing electric bass, strident drums and a distant buzz-saw guitar riff, now replaced by a jaunty keyboard, lilting bass and, wait for it, accordion fills, only for it to turn into this almost rock-operatic mid-section, where the overlaid vocals cover such a super range of feeling and emotion, hard to believe this is all one lady singing. Between it's verses and choruses, it becomes one addictive little song about the joys of young Nancee and her free-reigning spirit. A cute-assed little gem of a track. 'I Would Run' opens a bit like a cross between Cleo Laine & Kate Bush, vocally both sultry and soaring. The song unfolds over a lurching mix of bass, percussion and string backdrops. The lyrics convey atmosphere and strength, yet tell us the story of a girl who still loves 'him', even though he near kills her. As the song unfolds, superbly delivered, the subject almost painful in it's intensity and imagery, a tale of hope lost and freedom found, with some fantastic wordless singing across the range that this lady has in her arsenal; moving effortlessly from low to high end vocal, it's positively jaw-dropping. Track 3 'Jonny Cash', a mid-paced driving track founded on a bed of electro-percussive beats, more strong bass and distant synth backdrops, over which another tale of man v woman unfolds. This time the multi-tracked vocal is a beautiful thing over the flowing lead vocal, quite mesmerising as she cruises through the vocal twists and turns the track reveals. Finally, 'from the Archives', comes 'Kitty Kitty', a strident electronic drum beat leading into a guitar riff (courtesy of Ian Jones) sounding right out of the AC/DC roster, as this high-register lead vocal gives us the tale of 'Kitty', raw-sex pouring out of the vocals and guitars in impassioned doses. The whole thing seriously addictive as you race for the repeat button, not so much to play this track again as the whole EP. You suddenly realise the effect has worked and you are hooked in its spells. Seriously different, seriously well done and seriously fine writing and playing. You can't go wrong with this, but you probably can't get your hands on a copy either. The lady tells me they're not for sale! CRAWL
CDEP£ The darker side of Electra revealed. Opening with title track, 'Crawl', a sultry, menacing little number delivered in a soaring, smooth, passionate vocal over a twisted tango rhythm, with keys, bass, synth and multi-tracked backing vocals as backdrops for the gorgeously crooning lead vocal that gets so under your skin. The air of sensual pleasure and yearning desperation come right out at you in the lyrical flow. Superb. The eight minute, 'That Boy (So Beautiful)', starts with an ethnic percussive rhythm and a bass-line that's right out of the 70's Gong way of things. Electra's vocal veers from singing to spoken word, so mouth-wateringly tense, as the story of her watched Adonis comes to life. You are hooked on the outcome - a bloke witnessing a woman's fantasies and, far from uneasy, it's positively addictive. The only song in existence where being a 'voyeur' is practically obligatory. The delivery is so good, she transfixes you with that voice, the arrangement of song and tale-telling worthy of Gilli Smyth at her finest, although Gilli wouldn't DARE!!!and even Gilli can't make the word 'f**k' sound so sensual. A track that has to be followed by a cold shower! After this, 'The Past' is almost the musical equivalent of the post-coital cigarette, opening with a snaking bass and solid but light percussive rhythms, as the smooth vocal rises and falls, solo and multi-tracked, light and airy, dark and sultry, flying so high then diving for ground. A lyric so full of tenderness and strength when delivered by a vocal as fine as this, almost operatic in it's qualities, but so full of feeling. Sensational stuff. Finally, 'Save You', is a brooding ballad of yearning and intensity. Electra's vocal, mostly quite low register, supported by multi-tracked choruses to die for. The song effortless rising before you in slow-motion, musically developing on a bed of deep dark bass, eerily distant electronics and soaring strings. The gorgeous multi-vocal section that comes into play around the 2-minute mark, for over a minute, is truly breathtaking, as the rich and crystal clear voice soars out of the airwaves and draws the song to its cosmic conclusions. Superbly delivered and positively timeless. Again, the only disappointment? You can't buy it here, there or anywhere. But you can contact her: Electra [I hear she lends her voice to other projects if you ask nicely] |
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THE SENGEN - "PREMASTERS" 3 Trk EP (Edinburgh, UK) Between The Rock & The Hard Place..... As a culture, we suffer communication saturation. As a result, nothing really means anything any more. The spin doctor has to get a ladder to reach yet another superlative to sell his product and himself. The polyglot of other languages is employed where simple English fails. The smart people don't even use words.. they issue vibes and hope we're savvy enough to set sail on them. With all that behind us, I come to another EP for review: The Sengen 'Premasters' (I'd like to add 'of the Universe' but think that might be a liberty or taken as spin). The Sengen are Abe Wilson (vocals), Jamie Ward (guitars), Scot Young (bass), Duncan Lemm (guitar), Rod Urquhart (drums), and Stu Saunders (harp). They're good. That's really all there is to it. Actually, they're very good.. even Very VERY good. Really... BETTER THAN GOOD! This, in itself is unusual; awash in a sea of bands.. anyone can buy a guitar.. anyone can plug one in. It seems to be the thing to do since DJ'ing went out of style... buy a guitar, plug it in... just add water.. you're Jimmy Page or some guy in Oasis, the Stereophonics or a Queen of the Stone Age. Stroll around any guitar shop and there's some kid (maybe the SAME kid) fingering the 'Stairway to Heaven' intro (still!), 'Smoke on the Water' (still!)... Metallica (yup), Rolling Stones (uh huh), and.. wait.. for it.. some Darkness track!! (yeucccccchhhhh). Sometimes I linger.. hoping I'll hear 'something'.... discover the 'new and (impossibly) improved' Jimi Hendrix, but know, God really IS dead. So.. when The Sengen go to their guitar shop and pick up a Telecaster, a SuStainer, a Sunburst..which licks do they pick? I would suspect they pick their own. They're the kind of band that borrows from the heritage, but doesn't rip it off. They've got a pretty unique 'sound', created with a deeply personal approach to the composition (credits the band), excellent fret work (Jamie Ward?) and a successfully haunting element in the painfully distinctive vocal of Abe Wilson.. There. That's a 10-pointer before we even begin. Sometimes that's all you need to say. "You can recognise the band by it's vocalist." Lottery winners step to the left. Can I go home now? I'm afraid not. What spooks me about The Sengen EP is a first track, like 'Gravity'; deep...drilling down.. taking you into the core.. and the next three tracks ('Stream', 'Between Somewhere And Soon', and 'It Might Just Work' - a great song by the way) follow it further.. tour the centre of the Earth.. and then.. the trip ends. You've gone halfway to China and that's it.. no more music to take you the rest of the way. Not even to the salty, silty bottom of the Mariannus Trench, let alone the 5 miles further to break surface and come up for air. So, my only gripe with this 'product' is there's not enough of it. I want to stick it in the machine and journey on the emotive swell.. the strategically edgy guitars (following, carressing the airspace 'round the vocal, then cutting in with a tough melodic kick).. the perfectly solid but subtle rhythm section.. I want to put it on.. and just go with it. But then.. it stops. Why do people make 4-trk EP's? "Uhh.. it's a taster, man..." The truth of the matter: people who like a band and their music (aka fans) want more, but, oddly, the 'industry' (aka assholes) want less. Where the hideous industry is concerned, 3 tracks is 'more than enough' and probably your best bet. They're !TOO BUSY! to listen to your 3 or 4 tracks. [In general , they're too busy being assholes to listen to music at all. I'll never forget a manager, a BIG MUSIC BIG BOY BIG WIG, telling me he never listened to music, unless he was on tour and had to because he was in the venue all night. He picked bands by the 'buzz' around them. He loved hearing the buzz, hated hearing the music.] OK.. enough procrastination.. I can tell I'm pissing these guys off with this dallying around their precious soul material. And it IS precious. Anything 'real' is precious in this tinsel-toxic world. So..... THE SENGEN: 4 TRACKS IS NOT ENOUGH!!! This is a deep must-hear band.. a deep must-follow journey.. and they've got a 'buzz' goin' on. I've heard it down the grapevine. The Sengen play Bannerman's first Friday every month.. plus 30 Oct 04 - Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (see website for gig details around the UK). Also, first track 'GRAVITY' is available on the Bannermans 'Underworld' Compilation CD, reviewed below. Contact the band: for bookings: 07710-778-296 info: info@thesengen.com and Web: www.thesengen.com PS - My additional advice (as paltry as it is) to this band and any others who crave 'making it': We know you've crawled and trawled and bawled. We know your blood is on the tracks.. We know you've given your all and maybe feel weary at the length, depth and breadth of the journey ahead of you, searching the horizon, counting the miles you've already come, but, the fact is, we want more. You must give us more. That's the mark of a great band. They can just keep it coming. Keep putting it out.. keep creating.. keep giving, keep going in the face of incredible and oft-times impossibly insurmountable odds. |
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THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS - "American Pornography" 3 Trk EP (Edinburgh, UK) Mr Mojo has risen..... First things first: The Last Great Wilderness are: Chris Adams (guitar), David Hunter (bass), Andrew Hastings (drums), and Laurence Lean (vocals/guitars): four superb musicians that pin every element down; cut you no slack and instrumentally provide a powerful subtext to Laurence Lean's vocals (lyrics) which are completely distinctive, straight-shooting and achingly strong. The EP was recorded last year at Chamber Studios in Granton "with a chap called Grant Macnamara (he was part of the Human Condition label who put out Idlewild's first single)." [PS: I love the drum sound.] The band are going back into Chamber Studios end of this month (Oct 04) to record another 3 or 4 songs. Not soon enough... To the meat of the matter: I, personally, have a severe problem with this CD. I am so in love with the first track 'American Pornography', I don't even know how to describe it. Awesome? Incredible? A completely shocking find? A diamond in the musical heart of Midlothian? What can I say that would be enough? On this EP, from first track to last, every piece is in place. Everything (music, instrumentation, composition, VIBE) is complete, unique and unerringly powerful. The words, the sentiments, the attitude, the energy, the 'message' (oh yes indeedy, there's a message); it's perfect and if you go through the rest of your life without getting a copy of this EP, (or at least a copy of the CD from Bannermans which has the track 'American Pornography' on it - IT'S FREE from the bar) or see this band live, you're a fool. I get goose-bumps and chills from their power. Having exchanged a couple of emails with vocalist/guitarist Laurence Lean after hearing the 'American Pornography' track (which stopped me in my tracks) on the Bannerman's 'UnderWorld' CD (reviewed below) our correspondence gave me further proof, beyond the simple perfection of the music (and the fact they're fans of the late great Bill Hicks), that The Last Great Wilderness were not fakers, copy-cats, pretenders, wankers, ego-freaks or superficial 'deal-seekers' (you know the ones.. the people who contrive their music and their image; do everything 'right'; the whole whoring song and dance just to get the deal - those guys should all be vaporised.) This band is a massively 'real' thing; deep and wide as ocean and sky; as epic, mysterious and grand as their chosen name. Again, the first track 'American Pornography is simply awesome (I've used the word twice, but what can you do.. when it is.. it is) and the two tracks that follow it, "I'm Only High" and "All I Need" (a beautiful song of longing) are equally eloquent proof that these musicians comprise probably the best unsigned band I've come across here, there (USA), anywhere else on this planet in the last couple of years. It's seriously adult, it's youthfully questioning, it's true, it's ironic, it's longing, it's LOADED! For me, listening to the first track is a religious experience. This is my cathedral.. the place I would crawl on hands and knees to worship at, and they take me there. Get yourself there: http://www.thelastgreatwilderness.co.uk and or contact Laurence Lean at: Laurencelean@aol.com The Last Great Wilderness will be playing Bannermans on Fri 22 Oct 04, Sat 20 Nov Liquid Rooms and Fri 26 Nov Cafe Royal (all venues Edinburgh, UK) |
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Sounds
of the Underworld
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Where's the MOJO???? (check out Track 14) This compilation CD from Bannerman's of favourite bands who regularly play THE UNDERWORLD (i.e. usual suspects on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night) is pretty patchy but has some great moments. Each act has one track (and no information on the CD - links/email where poss), so I will review them in listening order. (It's easier that way.) 1) MODUS - "Rock Star" - Aside from the occasional somewhat 'flat' vocal notes, a cute little Walter Mitty-esque number, chortled by a chick "stuck in a day job", day-dreaming (of course) 'bout bein' a 'ROCK Star!' (What else? only country music sings about love, taking out the garbage and life's more mundane roles). Take a leaf from this book and read it well; unless your day-job is grave-digger (a la Rod Stewart), acid-head, beggar, busker, banger, van-driver (handy for the band), construction worker (they make good steady bass players), lover, loser, art-student, drop-out or speed-freak you'll probably never be a real 'Rock Star'. Office workers and burger flippers need not apply. (Well.. maybe burger flippers.) There is no seminar you can attend to help you improve your technique. Actually, any kind of day-job means you're too reliable to be a musician, let alone a 'legend'. Flipping burgers/filing letters vs pissing on groupies/shooting gear/trashing hotel rooms? Mutually exclusive activities (may use same parts of the body, different parts of the brain), so forget it.. you can whine all you want, you won't make it, but still.. it's a cute little number. [I should write a book: "The How Not To of Rock N Roll"] 2) LORD BISHOP - "Great Ass" - Genetic graft of vintage solo Dave Lee Roth and that 'Clown Posse' band (can't remember the name right now... someone nicked my Ozzfest Compilation CD). The vocalist is strong and grabs you from the get go, so you listen all the way through. But his sole preoccupation with her (or possibly his! gender non-specific) 'great ass' rings hollow in a world with so many other potentially 'great' preoccupations. I'd hate to be trapped in an elevator with this guy, but the track is short. How many times I'd listen or you'd listen is like your faith.. a personal choice. 3) THE FOUNTAINBRIDGE COLLECTIVE: "Auld Reekie" - Parochial or just 'local' hip-hop? Is it possible? Press NEXT... 4) STEALER: "Badface" - Bad face, bad song. NEXT!... 5) CARPE DIEM: "Our Own Gods" - Your gods maybe... I've got drugs. I'm sure they're better live. NEXT! 6) PARKA: "Too Drunk To Fight" - Sounds like they recorded it in the street. Rough 'n Ready. Reminds me of 4-HOUR SHUT UP!!!! I LIKE IT! Yeah... I like this.. Get the CD for this track. Sorry they have no info or weblink. That's a shame. This is good. {Ed's note: Was it the Dead Kennedy's who were too drunk to fuck? I've met Ally, the ex-lead singer. He still is.} 7) WILLOW: "Castaway" - Retro-heard-it-a-million-times-Intro and wet vocal make me wanna cut my ears off and shout "NEXT!" (Of course, this doesn't mean someone else won't like it. It just means I don't.) 8) EMERGENCY RED: "Closer" - Nice song. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. I mean it literally. It's a nice song, bordering on beautiful. Production? Sweet. Reminds me of 'A California Moment'. Best song so far. Should change song title to 'World At Your Feet'. email contact: band@emergencyred.com 9) GRAYSTAR: "Life Support" - I've heard about this band down the grapevine. Supposed to be contenders. Definitely vying here for 'best song on CD' title. Longing tone reminds me of The Blue Nile. Should change song title to 'Let it Rain (Down on Me)" Why can't people name songs the way they write them or with any reference to the hook. Is that not cool any more? email contact: Graystar04@hotmail.com 10) ELLIS: "Dead Heroes" - One great line in this track. "Who needs dead heroes. I'll hide in a bunker, til it all blows over." Not crazy about the drum sound, but ya know. Record it on a shoestring. That's what happens. No contact for this band available. 11) MUTTERFLY: "Character Flaw" - Another band with a reputation in the surrounds. 'Battle of the Bands' and all that. Poorly recorded.. or is that deliberate? You can't tell these days. Verse and vocal kinda like another vintage classic band: America's 'Horse With No Name' until the chorus when it falls apart or falls, unfortunately, together and sounds like everything else I don't like... can't listen right now. Get back to them later or maybe never. Now to the actual 'Rock Section' of the CD. I've kind of been waiting for it to get started and here it comes: 12) THE SENGEN: "Gravity" - It's usual for the good songs to be at the start of a CD, but in this case.. their coming along later. I've heard about The Sengen from the guy at the gym (Pete!) and seen their name everywhere. Guitar sound takes me to a live recording of Big Brother and The Holding Company supporting Janis Joplin circa 1967 - Fillmore East or West. Great guitar sound, then the vocal comes in and brings us all up to date and the guitar follows suit. Whoever he is, I like his voice; distinctive, but definitely WEST COAST (then and now) influenced band. Best so far. WANT TO HEAR THE ALBUM if they've got one. PS - They're playing the Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh 30th Oct 04. Contact the band for tickets: info@thesengen.com 13) PACO ZEUS: "CRAZY" - Another kicking track on this CD. This CD is rising to the occasion specifically with these last two tracks. Great great intro and production, terrific rhythm section. A couple of good reasons to make the trip to Bannerman's to get this CD or wherever it's sold.. actually... I think it's FREE!! Get one. email contact: pacozeus@hotmail.com 14) LAST GREAT WILDERNESS: "American Pornography" - THIS TRACK GIVES ME CHILLS!!! BEST BEST BEST SO FAR!!! Man.. yes... why don't these people have a website? (Uhh.. they do... www.thelastgreatwilderness.co.uk) Great stuff.. head and shoulders above the rest from the intro onwards. I will see this band next time they play. HOT, BOTHERED and so danged HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, appropriately, great fans of Bill Hicks (and Noam Chomsky!). "Won't someone save me from myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Last Great Wilderness have gigs on Sat 22 Oct Bannermans; Sat 20 Nov Liquid Rooms and Fri 26 Nov Cafe Royal) email contact: drumbonzodrum@hotmail.com Calling it quits here for the time-being. I don't want to hear more after hearing Last Great Wilderness. I WANT THE ALBUM, the BACK CATALOGUE, the FUTURE RELEASES, the WORKS!. I'll finish with the other 7 tracks (Sneak Attack Tigers, Korova, Civilian, STML, The Tyrant Lizard Kings, Ayurveda and Heavy Soul) next week: I'm on my way outta town as we speak. Back.. days later...15) SNEAK ATTACK TIGERS: 'Signs of Life' - not my thing. But who knows, someone else might like it. 16) KOROVA: 'White Russian' - Like the intentions here... reminds me of late 80's bands in LA... especially that drum sound.. all those rock bands.. like Faster Pussycat and Lizzy Borden and that track, 'Russian Winter'. I am certain the guys in this band haven't listened to Lizzy Borden or Faster Pussycat or that track 'Russian Winter'.. but they have this 'click' sound in the drums - a 'stick' sound. I love it. Otherwise.. not a bad tune. I'm one-quarter White Russian. Is that an invitation? 17) CIVILIAN: 'Come Morning' - Good tune.. good track.. not crazy about that hollow snare sound. Sorry.. I'm real fussy about drum sounds. If you have a live kit.. absolutely KILLLLL to get the best sound out of it and cross valleys, climb mountains.. swim oceans to get the best drummer. I like the way the song opens out into 'Know that I am what I am, come morning.' Could be a scary moment of self-acceptance, but the song is great there. Wish they had some vocal harmonies on that bit. It would be SO POWERFUL. Actually.. the song's pretty good all the way around. Better as it goes along, but too many changes at the end - don't need that stuff. 18) STML: 'Solpachino - Ok, but one bizzy drummer. He beats the kit to death. Not for me.. Apparently this track is very popular with Bannermans' voters, but sorry.. no contest... they try too hard. Like the guitars filling out in the last 12 bars or so. 19) THE TYRANT LIZARD KINGS: 'Time to Go' - Is the Mojo rising...? the last great Lizard King was the irreplaceable Jim Morrison. This holds no candle vocally, lyrically or vibe-wise to Jim, but it's cute and energetic. Probably better live. 20) AYURVEDA: 'Time to Go' - No contact for this band, but the track is OK. Drums are solid. Can't hear the bass. Vocalist comes in a little reminiscent of Bon Scott, but then again... 21) HEAVY SOUL: 'Give Me A Reason' - Give me a reason to keep listening to this track.. I won't mention the drums. Actually second chorus is ok. But still.. I hope somebody's good-looking in this band. You gotta have something. My VOTE after listening to them all, goes to Track 14: 'American Pornography' by The Last Great Wilderness. To finish: could somebody explain to me why so many bands have a track.. a song.. with like a vibe and an energy and a verse chorus thing going on (yes, I know it's traditional and dull.. but sometimes it just WORKS!) and then they tack another song into the middle of it or at the end of it. Is that to keep us from getting bored? GET A GOOD LOOKING BAND MEMBER!!! If you haven't got the goods.. get the good looking! Much preferred to putting three songs in one. THE CD IS FREE AT BANNERMANS in Edinburgh, down in the Cowgate, under the bridge. I like Bannermans. |
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4-Hour Shut Up - "Tilt Your Hat To Rock" - 6 trk CD Screw the nicey nice intro... let's just cut to the chase.... Track 1, "Heat of Rock n Roll" intros like a 70/80’s metal throwback with punk panache. The throw away who-cares-screw-you-aplomb that I can count on from 4-Hour Shut Up: “goin' for a night on the town…" boom boom boom "skirt’s so short you can see their asses.." boom boom.. Not a lot of imagination here. Kinda like David Coverdale after 5 years in the mines sucking tar, coming up for air on a Saturday night in Scunthorpe, not Sunset. But it works. Heat of Rock n roll n totty, melting into one sweaty no frills mess. But, for me the CD really takes off with 3rd Track HATE YOU!!!! (and why not?) This is not the acid love of the 60’s. This is the battery acid of the 21st century. Anatomically precise verses like “I want to rip your head off… off your neck off your neck (?? I think that’s what he said) I want to rip your head off .. pull your neck (maybe)” “I want to get a samurai sword and stick it in your head," something something… “put my hand in and pull out your guts …” etc (Note Sept 04- considering the hostage crisis/experience in Iraq, these tracks may not be listenable - unless you're a member of Al-Zarqowi's mob.) But to tell you true… it’s catchy. I’ve been walking around all day singing, ‘I’m gonna rip your head off.. off your neck off your neck.. I’m gonna rip your head off!” and I don’t even hate anybody. Tracks 4 “Mutilations of an Adrenoline Junkie” continues the mood: Track 5: “Devil’s Room” – Ascending guitars and Megadeth style prose lead you to the chorus, “it’s a Devil’s Room that they live in!!!” (could be my next door neighbours or Baroness Thatcher!)... These three tracks plus last track: DISTORSION (Distorted?) sum up the band's politics, describe the world they live in: this British Isles’ disintegrating social climate and opportunity wasteland.. post ClockWork Orange, post The Undertones, post Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Iron Maiden…post Margaret Thatcher, post whole-foods and early 90’s grunge, post Oasis and the new poster-boy posers (the Franz Ferdinands etc), post everything that was nice, firmly in the here and now; a world of global warming, crap Pop Idols, social deterioration and inflamed social hatreds, increased government surveillance and control. A world where there is no frontier, young man. A world definitely Pre-Apocalyptic. The music describes a frantic lull before the storm. A world where going out with only one aim (“a place so full of the totty you seek, you’ll never miss your chance!”) is ok. Accepting the environment is key: “Every day I go outside when the clouds are grey.” something something and ‘some little shit’s tryin’ to ruin my day!” “Twats!” The knowing this is going nowhere except down the plughole and some gigantic tsunami really should come and wipe the whole slate clean. Where's an asteroid when you really need one? Don’t misread my message. There’s nothing particularly 'political' about 4-Hour Shut Up.. til you read beyond their lines. They’re talking instant gratification, constant disillusionment. The desires and sensations that come after you’ve twigged that the whole planet’s going down the shitter and it’s not your fault. Whether you do that with full frontal-lobe involved cognizance or it’s just the subconscious side-effect “knowing” that the world is all fucked up. They describe their lives, their days, their nights.. and Boy! are they occasionally pissed off. As I said in my previous review, these guys should change their name to 24-Hour Shut Up… 6 tracks is nothing for them. 600 maybe. I don’t know where 4-Hour Shut Up Are Going. They are determined to make a point. A painful stabby little repetitive-til-you-get-it Point. I wrote in their last review further down the page: " "Loads of energy, loads of bottle and some dead to the chase non-sentiments. No flights of fancy, no Lord of the Rings, no 'it's sunny here in California'."" That has not changed… but the music has. The guitars are broader and the mix better. They’ve expanded their portfolio of resentments to include romance (photos of loved ones on the back cover? or are those just the girls they met on a Saturday night?) and of course, the title implies some sense of history and reverence. Some debt owed and some genuine passion for Rock. Contact: Jonny Miller: sledgodindahouse@hotmail.com website: www.4hourshutup.tk |
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Steel Moon - "Nerves of Steel" - 11 trk CD Having been fortunate enough to see Steel Moon live last year at the New York Music Festival in Vegas, I was doubly lucky that my partner had video'd their set. When we watched the replay the fact that the band were ace showmen, hot and heavy metalists and had every hard core punter in the joint on their feet fully rocked out from the first stroke was pellucid. And, it may not be cool to say this, but it was FUN too! Watching distinctive frontman Eddie Sheets with his fire striped hair and catlike buff body, lead the brotherly duo of Bill Cooper and Rockin Robin Cooper on bass and guitar through their paces, while drummer Casey Morris studiously whacked out the beat, was like watching a 'great' band, a classic band and wondering how I'd never heard of them before and why they hadn't toured under big lights on big stages. Maybe they have, but their history is unclear. The most infectious song from the video was a track called 'Edge of Madness'. I couldn't get the song out of my head, so got in touch with my pal at the NY Music Fest, Teresa Kononchuk, to put me in touch with the band. I received an email from Dolly Sheets who manages them and sent CD Baby info so I could purchase "Nerves of Steel". I duly did and have never regretted the $15 spent. When I was in LA last year, driving around for hours just trying to get from one side of town to the other (to get to anywhere was a 2 hour jaunt down a freeway), Steel Moon were on the sound system. 'Edge of Madness' seemed to fit every effort I was making in that crazy world of tinsel and dreams and valet parkers. It became an anthem of sorts for those last few months of 2003. I still believe whole heartedly that 'Edge of Madness' should be used in a film. It's graphic state-of-mind story-telling is current to all artists's desires and on top of that, it's just a great heavy rock anthem. The album is not all one song. I became addicted to Pussy on the Prowl, My Life, Rock Monster and Buried Alive with consummate ease. There is another track: "911", an instrumental which acts as the perfect sequeway to the perfect 'Edge of Madness'. I cannot say enough about this band and their music. My only advice to them is to put their website and contact information on their CD cover. You can purchase the CD from the following websites: or talk to the band manager: Dolly Sheets at: doll@myexcel.com |
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