Rock – Page 163 – 7th Level Music

Rewind Review: Clutch – Robot Hive / Exodus (2005)

Clutch’s (Neil Fallon – Guitar and vocals, Jean-Paul Gaster – drums, Dan Maines – bass, Tim Sult – guitar) 2005 album Robot Hive / Exodus was the rock record you needed in 2005, and is still the rock record you need right now.

“The Incomparable Mr. Flannery” is pretty much a salute to their metalhead fans, as Fallon gives shout-outs to Dokken, Boston, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, and George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers.

“Burning Beard” was the big single for the album. It’s about a man losing his mind as CNN, “the power of the Holy Ghost,” and the “same three dogs looking back” at him conspire to drive him nuts (although he was probably already there). Sult shreds particularly hard on this track, giving us some of his wildest guitar work on any Clutch record.

“Gullah” seems to be about a man coming to terms with his impending doom. “Ain’t no doubt Jesus sees us acting foolishly on American Bandstand,” Fallon sings. “Ain’t no doubt Vishnu missed you, then Kali kissed you. Better get busy. Days get shorter, air get colder…” Heavy stuff with slightly reverbed space-rock guitar and a wicked beat.

The robot hive mentioned in the album’s title is entered in “Mice and Gods.” It mentions “silver women on the OMNI magazine” and calls to “engineer the future now. Damn tomorrow, future now!” The guitar work on runs between the border of stoner rock and prog rock, which is to say it’s quite good.

“Pulaski Skyway” seems particularly relevant in 2016 as it mentions “real estate moguls, Chump Towers.” Maines and Gaster team up for a killer groove on it, as Fallon pleads that we must find salvation in trying times or lose our minds to the robot hive building up around us. “Never Be Moved” is, by its title alone, another exploration of religion. “Woe be the architect in his slumber, for the Watcher never sleeps,” Fallon sings, and almost raps the second verse. The use of organ (by guest Mick Schauer) in the song is also a nice touch, giving it a southern Baptist church call-and-response feel.

“10001110101” reminds us that we are in a robot hive, but we can have an exodus from it if we choose. “The shackles of automata will shatter like their bones,” Fallon sings, and who else but Clutch could pull off a song with a title and chorus in binary? “Circus Maximus” once again reveals the band’s love of monsters and oddities, mentioning manticores, Cthulu, dopplegangers, and even a “seven-legged sow.”

“10,000 Witnesses” is another call to escape the drudgery of the robotic world we’ve created by looking inward and outward for the spiritual. “Land of the Pleasant Living” has clever lyrics about Russian cosmonauts wondering what life is like below them in the U.S.

“Gravel Road” is floor-stomping, sweaty, honkytonk country blues…if that honkytonk was lit on fire by a dropped match and spilled bourbon. I love it when Clutch embraces their love of blues and rockabilly, and the whole band cooks on this track. “Who’s Been Talking?” is another salute to their blues influences, in particular Howlin’ Wolf, and they do him justice.

To make this album even better, they included a DVD of them performing most of the songs from Robot Hive / Exodus in Sayreville, New Jersey on July 13, 2005. You can’t miss.

Keep your mind open.

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Screaming Females announce first Australian tour.

Screaming Females are taking a month off from their tour of the U.S. and Canada and are then off for six dates Down Under for the first time. Fans are already excited for their first shows in the land of Oz, so don’t miss them if you’re there. They put on a fantastic show and might not get back to the land that gave us Mad Max and Razorback soon.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Screaming Females, the Dead Records, Ron Gallo – June 26, 2016 – Ft. Wayne, IN

L-R: “King” Mike Abbate, yours truly, Marissa Paternoster, Jarrett Dougherty

I’ve wanted to see Screaming Females live since 2012 (when I discovered them while working for WSND), and was delighted to see they were playing barely over an hour’s drive from my house last Sunday at the Brass Rail in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were gracious with their time and kind enough to let me interview them while sitting in their touring van. I’ll have a full transcript of that interview soon, and I’m working on an audio version that I’ll play on a future show on WSND.

The night started with the Ron Gallo 3, a fun punk trio who played a loud set of songs like “Kill the Medicine Man,” “All the Punks Are Domesticated,” and “Why Do You Have Kids?”

Up next were Ft. Wayne’s own Dead Records, who dropped a loud, fast, screaming set on the crowd of friends and new fans.

Screaming Females then got on stage for their first gig in Ft. Wayne. I’m not sure how many people there knew who was about to play, but I saw a few of us singing along within moments. Everyone else stood dumbfounded for the first three songs because Marissa Paternoster, Jarrett Dougherty, and “King” Mike Abbate almost flattened the place.

I’d seen videos of their performances, so I had a slight idea of how powerful they are live (especially in a small venue like the Brass Rail). The videos don’t do them justice. They have a chemistry that can only be created through lots of performances and deep friendships. Paternoster, who is without question one of the best guitarists today, emotes power through her vocals as well as her axe (which she straps around her waist instead of over her shoulder, giving her even more of a gunslinger presence).

As much as Paternoster wields her guitar like Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, Dougherty hits his drums like Franco Nero blasts a Gatling gun in Django and Abbate drops his bass riffs like James Coburn drops dynamite in Duck You Sucker. The two guys in the band get into heavy grooves that make Abbate break into grins and Dougherty to go into what appears to be Zen-like meditative trances.

The fans had snapped out of their stunned state by the time the band played “Empty Head” from Rose Mountain. Paternoster thanked everyone for coming to their first Ft. Wayne gig. “Please move here!” A man yelled, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the room.

“Leave It All Up to Me” and “Ripe” were other crowd favorites, and they were cooking with gas by that point.

They closed with the powerful, stunning “Triumph,” which is a fitting end for such a set. It was a triumphant debut for them in a town they hadn’t played in before then.

A friend of former bandmate of mine, Chad, saw the show with me, and he’d only heard one song (“Hopeless”) by the band before seeing them live. He was shaking his head in a bit of disbelief by the end of their set.

“She’s not fucking around, is she?” Chad said.

“No, she’s not,” I told him.

And now I’m telling you. Screaming Females aren’t fucking around.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jarrett for getting me a press pass to the show, and to him, Marissa, and Mike for being such groovy cats.]

Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

Radiohead’s newest record, A Moon Shaped Pool, is about the illusions, dreams, and perceptions we create regarding love. The album gets off to a somewhat frightening start with the sharp string instruments and dark lyrics of “Burn the Witch.” The video for it features a stop-motion animation version of The Wicker Man, a film about illusions and deception (and horror) in a remote English village. Thom Yorke sings about “red crosses on doors” and falling prey to myths as the song builds to Psycho shower scene pace and then cuts to “Daydreaming” – with synth and piano instrumentation that causes your mind to drift elsewhere. Yorke’s lyrics are backwards at the very end, leaving you wondering what the hell just happened…much like you would when returning from a daydream.

“Decks Dark” talks of “a spacecraft blocking out the sky, there’s nowhere to hide. You run to the back and cover your ears, but it’s the loudest sound you’ve ever heard in your darkest hour.” It’s bleak until the other lyrics of “It was just a laugh” come into the song. The bass line on this is wicked, and I love the angular, stabbing distorted guitar licks in it.

“Desert Island Disk” is a term coined by British DJ’s to describe records you’d take with you if you knew you were going to be stranded on a desert island. The song mentions waking up from “a thousand years of sleep” and how “different kinds of love are possible.” It’s easy to think that it’s a song about coming out of the closet, but I think it’s more about waking up from the illusions we’ve created around us. The acoustic guitars on the track are excellent as synths build and then disappear behind them.

“Ful Stop” claims, “You really messed up everything,” but also says, “Truth will mess you up all the good times.” Yorke seems to be singing about how the fantasy he’d created in a bad relationship is finally broken. Is it a good or a bad thing? Only Thom Yorke knows the answer, but the shoegaze / goth wave feel of the song leads one to believe he’s angry about it either way.

“Glass Eyes” is about the hollowness of strangers and love that’s not really there anymore. It’s a somber song with near-funeral dirge piano and synths and strings that move around like ghosts in an old church. On “Identikit,” Thom Yorke admits that he doesn’t want the illusion of false love to end (“When I see you messing me around, I don’t want to know.”). The tick-tock percussion stands out among the jangling guitars, spacey synths, and chorus that sounds like it was recorded in a big concrete bunker.

“The Numbers” is a subtle (in its instrumentation, certainly not the lyrics) power to the people song about the 99% shaking off our shackles and reclaiming happiness. “We call upon the people. People have this power. The numbers don’t decide. The system is a lie.” There’s more excellent string work. I can’t remember so many good string arrangements on previous Radiohead records.

“Present Tense” is about a man fighting for love. “In you I’m lost. I won’t turn around when the penny drops. I won’t stop now, I won’t slack off, or all this love will be in vain.” The backing vocals are a bit ethereal, making you think that voices in Thom Yorke’s head are encouraging him the whole time.

In “Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief,” Yorke lets his lover know that “all you have to do is say, ‘Yeah.’” He’s willing to embrace the illusion if that’s what it takes. It’s an excellent track with more of those great piano chords only Radiohead can seem to make work.

The album ends with “True Love Waits.” It’s a sad song Thom Yorke wrote in 1995 about begging a lover to return and being willing to do anything to make a relationship work. “I’ll drown my beliefs to have your babies. I’ll dress like your niece and wash your swollen feet. Just don’t leave.” The band’s been looking for the right album / moment to release it, and this album is perfect for it.

A Moon Shaped Pool is about how love can be a fragile fantasy. It can be a comfortable illusion that, once shattered, either delivers agony or ecstasy. Would you want to be put back into the Matrix if you were pulled out of it? Would you embrace illusion for the feeling of love, even if you knew it was false? Many would, for the risks in finding new love and a true path are frightening.

There is a Zen koan about the nun Chiyono being enlightened while carrying a pail of water:

In this way and that I tried to save the old pail,

since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break,

until at last the bottom fell out.

No more water in the pail!

No more moon in the water!

Radiohead’s newest album reminds us that love can be like the moon in the water. You think it is there, but it is only there until the bottom drops out and the illusion is shattered. You can find true love past the illusion, or you can cling to it. The choice is yours.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson (2004 reissue)

If you’re unaware of the cultural significance of singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson’s 1972 masterpiece, Nilsson Schmilsson, it’s the album that produced “Without You” and “Coconut.” It also produced other tracks that should be remembered as much as those mega-hits.

“Gotta Get Up” is a funny, quirky pop song about waking up before dawn after a late night of partying and sex that skewers the 1970’s party culture. It’s still valid today. Listen to it and try not to think of club kids, Tinder hook-ups, and Las Vegas bachelor and bachelorette parties.

“Driving Along” continues the skewering, but this time the dying hippie subculture was the target (“They seem to say nothing, they seem to go farther, they seem to go nowhere.”). “Early in the Morning” is a wicked blues cut with simple, haunting organ and vocals by Nilsson. “The Moonbeam Song” could be a trippy song about getting high and watching the night sky, but it’s more about introspection (euphoric or not). The acoustic guitars and mellotron are a nice combination.

“Down” is another dip into the blues; with heavy R&B vocal influences and funky horns that only seem to exist in songs from the 1970’s. The brass section hits as hard as Nilsson’s soulful vocals on it.

No one can deny the power of “Without You.” It’s heartbreaking, especially when you consider the songwriters (Peter Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger) both committed suicide. Nilsson goes for broke on the vocals, and legendary keyboardist Gary Wright plays one of the best and saddest piano pieces of the decade. This song won Nilsson a Grammy and was on the Billboard charts for a year after its release.

I’m glad he put the equally famous “Coconut” after it to make us smile again after our hearts have had a cigarette put out on them. Everyone from the Muppets to the Homer Simpson has covered it. What most people miss is that the main theme of the song is “the cause is the cure,” as Nilsson mentions in the liner notes to the reissue. The song’s a Mobius strip. “Let the Good Times Roll” is a fun version of the blues standard, and it’s a nice set-up for the jaw-dropping “Jump into the Fire” – a rocker so good it leaves you dumbfounded the first time you hear it. It’s a forgotten Top 40 hit from the early 70’s, which is a crying shame, and the reason many promotional spots for Nilsson Schmilsson proclaimed it to be a “rock record.”

“I’ll Never Leave You” is a dark, melancholy end to the album as Nilsson pleads for a lost love to return. It’s “Without You” without any of the hope. It’s a bleak Radiohead track before Radiohead were learning childhood rhymes.

The 2004 reissue also contains a Spanish language version of “Without You,” the quirky sort-of love song “How Can I Be Sure of You,” a demo version of “The Moonbeam Song,” the short and weird “Lamaze,” the war protest song “Old Forgotten Soldier,” and an alternate version of “Gotta Get Up.” There’s also a great vintage radio spot from the album that includes interviews clips with Nilsson and producer Richard Perry.

It’s a fine record and it’s surprising Nilsson isn’t given more credit from contemporary musicians. He’s sometimes referred to as “the missing Beatle,” for crying out loud.

Keep your mind open.

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The Dunes release new single – “Mountain.”

June 22, 2016: The Dunes are proud to announce a new single “Mountain” which is out now on Soundcloud/Bandcamp/Youtube. The new track has all the trademarks of a track by The Dunes; reverb drenched vocals, fuzzed out guitars and bass, 60’s keys, dark buzzing synth and driving drums, but it shows the band growing and expanding their sound. The new material more truly captures the bands live set, and is a taste of things to come – with a full length album being worked on for release in later 2016.

You can listen to the track by clicking on any of the below links;

MOUNTAIN – The Dunes on Soundcloud
MOUNTAIN – The Dunes on Bandcamp
MOUNTAIN – The Dunes on YouTube

There is a little write up below on the song, as well as announcement on our next show… We can’t wait to catch up with our interstate friends and see some great music. Make sure you come along.

Keep your mind open.

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Night Beats announce summer North America tour dates

Not taking time to rest on their laurels, Night Beats have announced a North American tour after completing their European dates with performances at the Glastonbury Music Festival.

The North American dates can be found at their website. See them if you get the chance. They are killing it live.

Keep your mind open.

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The Coathangers – Nosebleed Weekend

I love how The Coathangers’ (Julia Kugel – guitar and vocals, Meredith Franco – bass and vocals, Stephanie Luke – drums and vocals) newest record, Nosebleed Weekend, starts its first song, “Perfume,” with a drum riff that sounds like something that belongs in an Acid Girls techno floor stomper but then switches to a solid rock beat, swaggering guitars, swinging 60’s bass, and lovely harmonized vocals.

The vocals on “Dumb Baby” shout to the back wall while the music gives you a happy beating while they sing about how their sapiosexual brains can’t handle their lovers’ stupidity (“I’ll still love you, darlin’, but you’re so dumb…”).

If “Squeeki Tiki” doesn’t make you love this album, I don’t know what will. They play a squeaky toy on it…and they play it well. Who needs an expensive synthesizer when you can get the sound you want with a squeaky toy you picked up at the county fair? The song’s about a memento the singer wants to ditch because it reminds her of her ex-lover (“You can have it. I don’t want that shit. It’s just a bad memory of what I did.”).

“Excuse Me?” has some neat spaghetti western-like guitar in the slow parts it that I love and blaring, angry guitar in the fast parts that’s just as good. “Make It Right” is old school “break up punk” – a love song hidden (not subtly, if you pay attention) in a punk rock jam.

The title track is a dangerous one in which the singer pretty much tells her lover that he can fool around as much he wants as long as he knows he’s in for a knuckle sandwich when he comes back home after all that philandering. “Watch Your Back” shows off the band’s love of Buzzcocks, because it’s great pop-punk with some wicked high-hat work and crazy surf guitar to boot. “Burn Me” keeps that pop/surf-punk groove going (which shouldn’t be a surprise since this album was recorded in southern California instead of their usual hometown Atlanta digs).

“I Don’t Think So” still has a bit of a surf edge and is such a pretty break-up song that you can’t feel too sad for the singer, even with sad lyrics like “I’m tired of staring at the phone like it’s a person.” You know she’s going to get through it. “Down Down” is good power rock, and “Hiya” is more fun pop-punk as the singer sees an old flame again after a long time (“All I wanna do is hear you say, ‘Hiya.’”).

I love how the power chords and angry vocals of “Had Enough” are backed with fun and light backing vocals during the verses. It also has this quirky, neat, brief guitar solo in it that makes you think the song is going in a different direction before it yanks you back to the rock licks. “Copycat,” the closer, is sexy, a bit creepy, and even, I dare say, a bit shoegaze with its instrumentation and slightly reverbed vocals.

Every song has sharp and witty lyrics about loves lost and found, sex good and bad, and longings and kiss-offs. The Coathangers can blend surf, pop-punk, and fuzz-rock like few others can and Nosebleed Weekend is one of the best 2016 records about relationships I’ve heard so far.

Keep your mind open.

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Clutch announce 2016 US fall tour with Zakk Sabbath and Kyng

June 15th, 2016 – Clutch continues their Psychic Warfare World Tour 2016. Headline tour dates for September-October are in. The group will be heading back on the road this Fall headlining another leg of their US tour. Supporting the tour will be Zakk Sabbath and Los Angeles based metal band Kyng. Including 2 festival appearances, the trek will begin in Buffalo, NY at the The Town Ballroom on September 28th and conclude in Worcester, MA at The Palladium on October 30th.

Clutch lead vocalist Neil Fallon commented “We are pleased to announce that this Fall Clutch will be hitting the road again in the U.S.. This time with Zakk Sabbath and Kyng. Clutch toured with Black Label Society a few years back and it was a blast – and no doubt, this one will be a blast as well. We hope to see you all there!”

Psychic Warfare is the latest and eleventh studio effort from Clutch. The disc debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, No. 2 on the Billboard Independent, No. 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock and Billboard Rock charts. On Record Store Day this past April 16th Clutch released a limited edition numbered etched vinyl 12 inch that included two previously unreleased tracks from the Psychic Warfare sessions: “Mad Sidewinder” and “Outland Special Clearance“. Psychic Warfare was produced by longtime producer Machine (Lamb Of God, Every Time I Die).

Zakk Sabbath, bring their take on Black Sabbath songs on the road for the first time ever. The band features guitarist/vocalist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson (Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie) and drummer Joey Castillo (Danzig, Queens Of The Stone Age). Kyng, the Los Angeles based metal trio, will be supporting their 3rd release and follow up to 2014’s Burn The Serum.

Pre-sale tickets will be on sale today (June 15th) at 12PM local time with public on sale beginning Friday, June 17 at 10AM local time. Pre-sale tickets are available here: Tickets.artistarena.com/clutch

For all other information, visit the Clutch website (www.pro-rock.com).

Clutch, Zakk Sabbath, Kyng 2016 Tour Dates

09/28 – Buffalo, NY @ The Town Ballroom

09/30 – Lakewood, NJ @ First Energy Park – Rock Carnival *

10/01 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

10/02 – Louisville, KY @ Champions Park – Louder Than Life *

10/04 – Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues

10/05 – Atlanta, GA @ The Buckhead Theatre

10/07 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre Street Stage

10/08 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live

10/10 – Little Rock, AR @ Metroplex

10/11 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom

10/12 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater

10/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo

10/15 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl

10/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom

10/18 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater

10/20 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater

10/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

10/22 – Sioux City, IA @ Anthem at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

10/24 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note ** NO Zakk Sabbath

10/25 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues

10/27 – Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater

10/28 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore

10/29 – Clifton Park, NY @Upstate Concert Hall

10/30 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium

* festival appearance

CLUTCH:

Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar

Tim Sult – Guitar

Dan Maines – Bass

Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums/Percussion

For more information, check out the band’s website:

www.pro-rock.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clutchband

Instagram: www.instagram.com/clutchofficial

Twitter: www.twitter.com/clutchofficial

Official: www.pro-rock.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch

Rewind Review: TV on the Radio – World Cafe Live (2011)

This five-track EP from TV on the Radio was recorded for the National Public Radio program World Café in Santa Monica, California not long after the release of their excellent album Seeds. It’s a great slice of live, raw power from the prog / funk rockers.

“Caffeinated Consciousness” is big rocker that’s as smooth as silk covering a gravel road. “Will Do” is always welcome. It’s one of TVOTR’s biggest hits and easily one of their greatest love songs. This performance is groovy, hip, and a little dangerous. “Red Dress” never ceases to be a stunner, and this live version is sharp as a tack.

“Province” is sweet, with fine guitar work throughout it, and the vocal interplay is even better. The closer, “Repetition,” is a little trippy as it moves from a repetitive beat with shoegaze guitars over it to a brash beat with rapid-fire vocals.

TVOTR has been high on my must-see list for years, but the dates never work out when they get close. This EP can’t substitute for a live show, of course, but it certainly is a nice appetizer to the gourmet meal a full concert would be.

Keep your mind open.

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