V/A – Chakras: From Brazil To Berlin / 2007 Azul / 25 Tracks / http://www.chakras.com.br / This double disc has a very interesting purpose in mind. There is a unification of the more tribal styles of Brazilian spirit music with the functionalist and inorganic sounds of Germany. What would normally sputter out and fail to succeed is whipped into a solid two-disc mix by Miguel Reis, DJ Chris Wood and…
Black Diamond Heavies – Every Damn Time / 2007 Alive / 10 Tracks / http://www.blackdiamondheavies.com / http://www.alivenergy.com / “Fever In My Blood†is the first track on “Every Damn Timeâ€, and it starts out with a schizophrenic drum beat that finally gets reined in about a minute into the track. The guitars and other elements of the band gradually insert themselves into the mix, until a very sixties influenced type…
Villebillies – S/T / 2006 Universal / 12 Tracks / http://www.villebillies.com / http://www.universal.com / However punk or ska-influenced that this cover may be, what the Villebillies do on this self-titled album is rap. “Whiskey†is the first track on the disc, and it seems like the Villebillies are trying to blend together Bone Thugs N Harmony with Gnarls Barkley. “Whiskey†has a level of newness to it; despite listening to…
Tim Barry – Rivanna Junction / 2006 Suburban Home / 10 Tracks / http://www.timberryrva.com / http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com / Tim Barry is one of the member of Avail. Avail was an integral part of the melodic punk scene in the late nineties. “Rivanna Junction†starts out with “Trash Inspirationsâ€, a track that goes the alt-country route taken by Lucero. At some point, Barry is still a practitioner of punk music, and this…
The Buddhist Monks – My Spirit Flies To You / 2006 Decca / 14 Tracks / http://www.thebuddhistmonks.net / http://www.iclassics.com / The Buddhist Monks are to 2006 what the Gregorian Monks were to the early nineties. There is some sort of acceptance by the pop and adult contemporary stations to what normally would be a style of music reserved only for the most devout of followers. The music that is present…
Ligion – External Affairs / 2007 Maple Jam / 11 Tracks / http://www.ligion.net / http://www.maplejamrecords.com / The vocal style that starts off “On The Way†does not mesh completely with the more dance-y rock of Ligion. This is because there seems to be a more emotional and natural sound to the vocals, while the instrumental arrangement on this track seems to be more sequenced than anything. Ligion get their stuff…
Sachal Vasandani – Eyes Wide Open / 2007 Mack Avenue / 12 Tracks / http://www.sachalvasandani.com / http://www.mackavenue.com / “Naked As We Came†is the first track on “Eyes Wide Openâ€, and Vasandani comes forth with a very classic style of singing. If anything, I would have to link eir singing style to an early Dean Martin or Bing Crosby. There is enough of a current focus to keep individuals interested;…
Where most of the DVDs released by Metal Mind and MVD have been foreign acts that played in Poland, Lzy is a Polish band. As one can guess, Lzy is a rock band, and this DVD captures a number of live performances over the course of their career. It seems like the vast majority of footage that is on this DVD comes from the post-2002 period, where there are only…
This Saturday July 7th @ 10 PM EST; MTV 2 Headbangers Ball Celebrates The Launch Of Hot Topic Presents – Third Annual Sounds Of The Underground Tour! This weeks episode of “The Ball” features your favorite 2007 SOTU bands videos airing, tune in or miss out!
Blurt #3 / $1 / 64M / http://www.geocities.com/vinylagogo/vinylaprintprint/ Lew is one of the most interesting zinesters that I have a chance to read every few months. This time, the stories of Lew going to concerts, selling copies of eir zines, and having out with friends are blocked off with a number of different sketches. Â This is a good thing, as the stories that Lew tells are quite a few pages…
Metal Mind Productions presents re-release of classic material from Roadrunner Records’ archives – two albums from Optimum Wound Profile, one of the most fascinating industrial/hardcore projects that emerged in the 90’s. Formed in 1991 in Ipswich, UK, the sextet proposed a powerful combination of metal, crust punk, hardcore and sampling technologies, sealed tightly in a cage of pure condensed madness. Coming out during the industrial spree, when groups such as…
Today in their blog, Fat Wreck Chords band The Loved Ones announce their new members. The blog is available at http://www.fatwreck.com/band/index/82 . The text of the blog reads: Dave Walsh and Chris Gonzalez are officially LOVED ONES…
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster – II / 2007 Ferret / 11 Tracks / http://www.mayleneandthesonsofdisaster.us / http://www.ferretstyle.com / Maylene and the Sons of Disaster is a band that blends together Corrosion of Conformity (“Deliveranceâ€-era) with Marilyn Manson, and puts it in a way that listeners in the current period can love. “Memories of the Grove†is the first track on “IIâ€, and it shows the band as being very…
THE ACADEMY IS… ANNOUNCES DATES FOR “SLEEPING WITH GIANTS” FALL HEADLINE TOUR; Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen recording group The Academy Is… has unveiled details of their eagerly anticipated fall tour. The coast-to-coast headline trek – dubbed the “Sleeping With Giants” Tour – will take off September 5th in Milwaukee, with dates running non-stop through a Chicago hometown finale on November 24th (full itinerary below). The pre-sale will begin thru the bands…
Scott Cossu Trio – Islands / 2007 MVD / 60 Minutes / http://www.mvdb2b.com / Scott Cossu has been around in the jazz scene for longer than I have been on this earth. Ey started in 1981, I entered this world in 1983. That’s pretty impressive; this footage is as well. It is impressive not only for the cuts that are present, but rather because it is so sharp and well-recorded.…
Kiss The Gunner – Why Are We So Dead? / 2007 Harvest Earth / 9 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/kissthegunner / http://www.harvestearth.com / While Kiss The Gunner does a very hard-hitting brand of hardcore that verges on metal a great deal of the time, “Why Are We So Dead?†does not sound like the same thing that a number of artists in a similar genre try to pander their listeners. There is…
Jerry Lee Lewis – Last Man Standing / 2006 Shangri-La / 21 Tracks / http://www.jerryleelewis.com / Jerry Lee Lewis is an individual whose time had came and left by the time that I started listening to music in the middle nineties. This does not mean that ey does not have anything left in the gas tank, but that I had never heard anything more than a few singles from Lewis…
Andromeda – Playing Off The Board / 2007 MVD / 205 Minutes / http://www.musicvideodistributors.com / This Swedish progressive metal act has been around a relatively short time, providing their own take on the prog scene since 1999. The band has been able to cut four albums in that time, and this DVD shows the band touring in support of their last album – 2006’s Chimara. Instead of merely focusing on…
Suburban Pastoral / $? / 1:00 / 44M / http://www.voicesnewjersey.blogspot.net / Suburban Pastoral is a collection of poems by Hank Kalet, who spends most of eir time editing newspapers in the New Jersey area, along with writing columns for The Progressive Populist. This is a chapbook containing Kalet’s works over the last few years. Voices of Reason, the imprint under which Kalet released this chapbook, “is an arts collective that…
Sasha & Shawna – Siren / 2007 Blue Note / 12 Tracks / http://www.sashaandshawna.com / http://www.manhattanrecords.com / I feel so un-educated when I get an album like “Sirenâ€. For example, I was not familiar with Sasha Lazard, Shawna Stone, or Grammy-award winning producer Peter Asher. This album is a blend of classic opera tracks along with the duo’s reinterpretation of popular songs. These songs include Radiohead’s “Fade Outâ€, which opens…