This Israeli shoegaze trio hails from Tel Aviv and only sings in Hebrew. Don’t understand Hebrew? Neither do I, but like me you won’t care because good music is good in any language. Vadaat Charigim(“Exceptions Committee” – Yuval Haring – guitar and vocals, Yuval Guttman – drums, Dan Fabian Bloch – bass) play finely crafted shoegaze that borders on dream-rock. Their stuff reminds me of early albums from A Flock of Seagulls – lots of reverb on the vocals, spacey guitar, trippy synths, and drums that sometimes hit heavy and sometimes almost seem to disappear.
I missed them at Levitation Austin last year, but they’re playing Thursday March 10th at Levitation Chicago. I look forward to the set.
Keep your mind open.
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As I reported on February 20th, the Raveonettes are creating a new “anti-album” in which they’re releasing a new track every month this year. They’ve been asked if an album of the tracks will be released and they’ve announced a new PledgeMusic campaign to help fund a CD and vinyl cut of the as yet unnamed album.
The album will be $15 on CD through the campaign, but a singed copy of the CD is available for only ten dollars more. Only 300 of those are being made available and 75 of them are already claimed at press time. Get them while they’re hot.
In the meantime, enjoy the official lyric video for the newest track – “Run Mascara Run.”
Keep your mind open.
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La Basura Del Diablo(Whitey Mack – vocals, Chris Howler – bass, G.W. Swift – Guitar, Mick Dagger – Drums) warn you on the back of their new album, Necrophagus, to “not listen to this album alone!” This is because Necrophagus is not for the timid. It is a wickedly good slice of horror rock, so don’t say you
“Welcome to Hell” certainly is a great title to open a record, as is Howler’s thick bass riff on it. “Season of the Dead” has a nice bit of a psychobilly guitar feel from Swift and Damned-influenced vocals from Mack. “Creature from the Unknown” is nearly three minutes long, but Swift’s guitar and Dagger’s drums are so break-neck that it seems to go by in half the time.
“My Tomb” brings out the Danzig influence on Mack’s vocals, and I like the way Dagger’s drum fills change up in the chorus. “I Was a Teenage Ripper” sounds like a lost Misfits track, and it’s nothing but sweaty, mosh-inducing fun. Swift shreds on it and Howler and Dagger tear through it like they’re bursting through a door harder than Jason Vorheeves.
“Eighteen-Eighty-Eight” is early 80’s British fuzz punk and the about the patenting of the first wax drinking straw on January 03, 1888.
Just kidding, it’s about Jack the Ripper.
“Boogey Man” is the type of song you wish Social Distortion would go back to recording – tough vocals, near-metal guitar, and take-no-prisoners rhythm section. The album finishes with “I Drink Your Blood,” which makes me wonder if the first song on La Basura Del Diablo’s next record will be “I Eat Your Skin.”
You need to look up these guys if you’re a fan of horror rock and movies. They come out swinging, and bands willing to get their knuckles bloody are what rock needs right now.
Keep your mind open.
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Austin, Texas’White Denim, highly regarded as one of the best live acts out there, has started their spring tour to promote their upcoming album Stiff (due out March 25th). They just rocked the BBC 6 Music Festival, and now they’re back in the United States. You can find all the official tour dates here.
Here’s the new single, “Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)” from Stiff. I look forward to hearing the whole record.
Psych rockers (and a favorite band of my wife) Elephant Stonehave released a new single, “Where I’m Going,” from their upcoming album Ship of Fools. As my wife put it, “I was hooked in the first five seconds.” The band has mixed a bit of electro into their raga-influenced psych-rock, and it works very well.
They’ve also announced March tour dates. Catch them if you can.
03/10 – Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dees w/ Champion Lover and Bad Girls TICKETS
03/11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Joyful Noise w/ Vaadat Charigim TICKETS
03/12 – Little Rock, AR @ Vino’s Brew Pub TICKETS
03/14 to 03/17 – Austin, TX for SXSW TICKETS
03/18 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone w/ R. Ring TICKETS
03/19 – Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub TICKETS
03/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right w/ Las Rosas and Fascinator TICKETS
04/14 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa w/ The Mad Alcemy Liquid Light Show TICKETS
Screaming Females(Marissa Paternoster – guitars and vocals, Jarrett Dougherty – drums, “King” Michael Abbate – bass) are, in case you don’t know, one of the best rock power trios of our time. Their album Ugly was one of my favorite discoveries of 2012 and their newest, Rose Mountain, is another great piece of work and the most honest album about relationships I’ve heard in a long while.
Like Ugly, Rose Mountain starts with a good rocker. “Empty Head” gets right to the chugging bass, sharp percussion, and power riffs that Paternoster is making better than anyone right now. It’s about betrayal and annoyance in a relationship (“I’ll take your silence as a sign. You’re a big shot, but who needs who?”) dealt with via guitar.
“Ripe” is about a relationship full of so much passion that it might fly off the rails, much like Paternoster’s guitar riffs on it. When she sings, “I said peel the skin raw,” her shredding practically does it for you. “Wishing Well” almost has a surf vibe to the guitar work as Paternoster sings about regret for screwing up a relationship. “The dial tone is your true love” is a brutal, yet beautiful lyric (as is Paternoster’s solo).
“Burning Car” moves about as fast as such. “Broken Neck” is a song about madness and life in an asylum (although I wouldn’t be surprised if the asylum is a metaphor for a dead end relationship). Abbate’s bass line stalks around the song like a shuffling thorazine addict. The title track is a haunting one about death and Paternoster’s preferred burial site. Her guitar work on it goes from heavy as the Grim Reaper’s blade to weirdly catchy.
“Hopeless” is the saddest song on the record. “Don’t count on me again,” Paternoster sings, “I obsess on our encounters. I want us to be friends. I’m not hopeless, helpless, or begging you to say. It’s just turning out that way.” Who hasn’t been there at some point?
“Triumph” (which is about getting back up after a bad relationship knocks you down – “I want to feel all of the things I’ve been refused and celebrate my first victory, destroy my history with you.”) follows it, and the guitar work on it matches the title. All three of the Females play for the back of the room. Paternoster lays down some of her fiercest riffs on it. She’s one of the best guitar players of this modern age. Watch YouTube videos of the Screaming Females at small gigs and you’ll see men almost twice her size cower back as she plays with the ferocity of that bear from The Revenant.
“It’s Not Fair” seems to be about Paternoster missing her lover while she’s out on tour and “Criminal Image” closes the album with Thin Lizzy-like rock as Paternoster sings about a siren she’s obsessed with and for whom she’ll do anything. A faint piano in the background adds a nice touch as Doughtery’s drums grow in power with each moment. Abbate holds this hold song together with a good groove and Paternoster blazes through the end solo with stuff that would make Prince envious.
It’s another solid record from a solid trio. I need to see them live.
Tamaryn Brown (hereafter known as Tamaryn) Tweeted last year that she felt 2015 had been her least sexiest year ever. I beg to differ because she gave us a lush, sexy, and excellent make-out record in 2015 – Cranekiss.
The title track opener sounds at first like a 45rpm record being played at 33 1/3rpm. The synths appear to be have been recorded at the bottom of a lake and Tamaryn’s lovely vocals appear to have been recorded in an empty YMCA pool. The Cure-like bass make the track something that should be on every “Summer 2015” mix tape.
“Hands All Over Me” immediately counters Ms. Brown’s “non-sexy 2015” Tweet, because I’m sure it’s gotten hundreds of people laid since its release. It’s full of gorgeous keyboards, lyrics about kinks and going for a couple rounds, and a near-industrial feel (especially the ending). It’s one of my favorite singles of 2015.
“Last” is a song by that one early 1980’s New Wave band that has haunted you since you heard it once on a college rock station as you were traveling to your aunt’s house for Christmas. Here it is, full of thick bass, strong synths, powerful and ethereal vocals, and that certain attitude that made you remember it for years. It’s a song about waiting for a lover, so it’s only natural you’ve been waiting to hear this.
“Collection” is bouncy and full of more great synths while “Keep Calling” slows things down and curls around you like incense smoke. It reminds me of early Love & Rockets records. “Softcore” is a genre of adult films, so I again am not buying Tamaryn’s claim of an unsexy 2015, especially when her torch singer voice rubs against you like a purring cat before the track turns into something you might hear in a dark and, ahem, exclusive club.
I think “Fade Away Slow” was recorded in the Black Lodge because it seems to come from another world where time moves slower. The guitar work on it is almost drone metal, but it’s sprinkled with crisp tones that would make Sergio Leone smile. The bass is menacing, the drums simple and effective, and Tamaryn’s vocals rise up around you…or perhaps you sink into them.
I love the guitar work on “I Won’t Be Found.” It has that excellent reverb / shoegaze effect that calms down everything around you, and the pace of the track only helps. This is, again, prime make-out music. Don’t blame Tamaryn if you aren’t getting some by this point on the album, because she’s made it especially easy for you with this track. I mean, for heaven’s sake, the next super-lush track is called “Sugarfix.” How much more help do you need?
Cranekiss ends with “Intruder (Waking You Up).” I can’t help but wonder if it’s about a one-night stand ending in a quick smooch and a thank you for a fun time and the coffee. The fuzzy and echoing guitar increases the “Wow…that was a crazy night.” mood and Tamaryn’s vocals seem to indicate she’s considering not leaving after all.
I know I don’t want to leave this record. It’s like a blissful weekend of good food and drink, late night cocktail lounges, and a lot of sex. If Tamaryn thinks she wasn’t sexy in 2015, then a record of her feeling frisky would probably melt my stereo.
Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor’s (Sean Morrow – guitars and lead vocals, Eric Oppitz – bass and keyboards, Rick Sawoscinski – drums) Desert Brain is the first album from the Detroit psychedelic trio that is one flowing piece of art instead of an album of individual tracks that stand apart from each other.
“We’ve always wanted to make an album that was one continuous flow,” Oppitz told me when I saw SOYSV in October 2015. “We felt like we had the clout to do it after the first two records.”
He’s right. Desert Brain is a fine piece of work that reminds me of early Pink Floyd records that were part-rock albums, part-metaphysical journeys. “Seventh Scene” opens the album with a spacey feel SOYSV do better than most. It flows into the organ-heavy “Major Medicine,” which has become one of their wildest cuts at live shows because it dissolves / evolves into the mind-bending chaos of “What’s Your Cloud nine, 37?” and “Magic Mother’s Tongue / A Little Jaunt into the Light.” “Little” is an understatement, considering this “jaunt” is full of Morrow’s wall-flattening guitar, Oppitz’s thudding bass, and Sawoscinski’s Detroit auto factory-precision power drumming before it becomes something you might hear in a giallo movie by the end.
There’s a brief break of silence before “Girl of a Thousand Voices” when you flip over the vinyl and start the second leg of the journey. It’s a lovely track with distorted vocals and more of those guitar riffs that Morrow seems to pull out of dreams or mystic rituals, whereas the frightening follow-up, “The Prettiest Sounds of Purgatory,” sounds like something out of a Lovecraft story.
“Long Lovers Sun” shows the band’s Doors influences with jangly guitar, ethereal synths, and cryptic vocals about a beautiful woman. The title track showcases Sawoscinski’s drumming as he lays down beats fit for Apache warriors charging on horseback and then switches to near silence just before the song almost spins out of control and drops into “Like a Forest Runs” – a near-shoegaze cut that would be great for walks through bleak Detroit streets or while gazing across a frozen lake with your “Highly Enchanting Eyes.” This last track is something you might hear on a Captain Beefheart record – guitars and synths that mesh so well that they’re often difficult to tell apart, drums that sneak up on you, and slightly skewed vocals that intrigue you almost to the point of giving you the creeps.
I’m a big fan of SOYSV, so it’s no surprise I love this record. It’s a great move for the band as they get weird and pull us down the rabbit hole with them. They are on the verge of being one of the “Next Big Things,” so don’t miss any chance you get to see them. They’re also good chaps, so give them your support.
Australian psych rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard(Stu Mackenzie – piano, vocals, bass, sitar, flute, Lucas Skinner – piano and bass, Joey Walker – guitar, vocals, and bass, Cook Craig – percussion, guitars, vocals, Ambrose Kenny-Smith – vocals and harmonica, Michael Cavanaugh – percussion, Eric Moore – “Nothing.”) have returned with perhaps the hippiest record I’ve heard in years – Paper Mache Dream Balloon.
“Sense” almost sounds like a modern rap track at the beginning until it slides into a mellow plea to take care of Mother Earth. “Bone” is a clever song about the afterlife with lyrics like “If heaven is a place I know, I won’t be taking my bones. Will all my stitches be unsown? And when I’m gone and I’m dead, what will be inside my head?” Mackenzie’s flute carries the track and makes it fun instead of maudlin. “Dirt” is about ditching a relationship that’s toxic for both involved and it sounds like something you’d hear strummed in a southern California park on a summer day.
The title track encourages us to let go of troubles. They aren’t worth it. The song walks along at an easy pace before jumping up to a happy dance tune best suited for waving a bubble wand and hugging whoever gets close enough to seize. “Trap Door” is a quick, weird rocker about keeping our anger under control. “Cold Cadaver” is another tune about death and trying to keep the Grim Reaper at bay. The vocals are distorted just a bit, but to good effect, and the background harmonica and sitar add nice touches.
Then comes “The Bitter Boogie,” a song about the pain of drug addiction that dives headlong into the great subgenre of blues-psych. The whole band lays down a groove best suited for dry Arizona roads and sexy, possibly demonic hitchhikers. Kenny-Smith’s harmonica is particularly good here, as is the acoustic guitar work and the slithering bass line. “N.G.R.I. (Bloodstain)” seems to be about a man waking up to find himself in a crime scene, but the song is jumpy and toe-tapping instead of dark and brooding.
The next two songs mirror each other. “Time = Fate” is about the importance of living in the present (“Pondering things in the past makes you blind.”). “Time = $$$” is a trippy psychedelic track with blues lyrics (“Why is time money? ‘Cos it sounds funny to give me so much time and no money nearby.”).
“Most of What I Like” is both a ballad and a song of lament. The lyrics speak of a man who can’t live without his lover (“Most of what I like is given to me by the one that I love, bears the onus every time.”), but knows that his dependency is killing the relationship (“You always shut your eyes when you look me in the eyes.”).
The whole album is full of these neat combinations – psychedelic rock and blues, death and life, love and lament. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will be returning to the Levitation Austin music festival this year, and I look forward to seeing them again. I was lucky enough to see them two years ago when they played their first U.S. gig there. They came to rock and didn’t disappoint. I’m sure they’ll knock it out of the park again.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive an envelope in the mail from Joliet, Illinois’ punk rockers the Lumberjerks. It contained their newest EP – Four More – and a letter stating the album was recorded on good ole fashioned reel-to-reel analog tape. The name of the band was enough to peak my interest, especially when I considered it might’ve been taken from the Looney Tunes cartoon of the same name in which the proper English-speaking chipmunks Mac and Tosh run afoul of a lumber mill.
The power trio belt out four tunes in less than ten minutes. “Trailer Trash,” with its better-than-an-alarm clock drumming, sticks a middle finger back at Uncle Sam and gives shout-outs to the Misfits and Sex Pistols. “Schizo Episode,” with its near-metal riffs and angry vocals captures bipolarity better than any mopey emo band could ever hope to try. “Somthin” has some of the best guitar work on the record and must be one of their best live tunes. The closer, “Garage Hopping,” is about wanting to break out of the rut of delinquency yet being tempted by the occasional thrill of it. It also proves that the Lumberjerks aren’t just snotty punks who enjoy booze and the occasional “bag of shake in cellophane.” They are good musicians. The bass work carries the track while the guitars slam throughout it and the drums change directions when you least expect it.
You can find the Lumberjerks on Bandcamp, where you can get Four More and their first EP, First Three, at ridiculous prices. A full album by these cats will be something to snag once it’s released.
