Misc. Day – Outside Looking In
Nails, the intense three-piece annihilators from California are back and hitting stronger than ever with their newest release, You Will Never Be One of Us. The third studio album, but their first release on Nuclear Blast Records, You Will Never Be One of Us is a 20-minute slug fest of hardcore breakdowns, mosh-pits, death growls, and riffs of steel. Nails is no stranger to aggression and moves in a progressive manner, while keeping a steady grip on their future.
Opening with a massive twist of distorted guitars and a repetition of the phrase “You will never be one of us,” Nails then makes the sudden leap into the deep end where Todd Jones on guitar and vocals, John Gianelli on bass, and Taylor Young create a sudden assault of noise, almost acting as a wall of sound. Young delivers rapid-fired cracks throughout You Will Never Be One of Us and the constant assault is incredibly draining, but ultimately a useful device in keeping Gianelli and Jones in a freefall style of motion toward a full sprint of tracks featured. While the ten-track record feels incredibly short-lived, it is actually a persistent rush where every track bleeds into the next and creates one long segue.
Tracks like “Friend to All,” “Made to Make You Fail,” and “Life Is a Death Sentence” waste no time in building momentum from song to song. Almost like a machine, Nails hammers every single track out without more than two-seconds of continual silence. Jones delivers a mix of both deep growls, and more sudden screams that echo over the entirely loud mix of instruments that clash and are persistently in a power struggle. There are however tracks like “Violence Is Forever,” where the music can take a building process before jumping back into the usual abrasive nature of Nails. This is where You Will Never Be One of Us truly shines as it contains such a large variety of elements that make each track feel like its own entity.
Nails has also done work with hardcore band Full of Hell which it is apparent to see just how Nails and Full of Hell could work so well together. Both bands are extraordinary in their own right, and when paired together; it becomes a recipe for complete and total destruction. Nails brings a new level of energy and the track “Savage Intolerance” is a prime example of how Nails can create different sections on a track that can reel in the listener and then instantly punish them within the next second. With Young creating blasting beats between the cymbal and the snare drum, all while Gianelli acts as a beacon for Nails to experiment more with their breakdowns. You Will Never Be One of Us while immensely brutal, does show signs of beauty in not the band’s sound, but in how they continue to conduct themselves together and continually build each other up.
Even as Nails reaches the final tracks of You Will Never Be One of Us, the aggression still never takes a stand-still, basically achieving a sound that is raw and almost unrefined. The production which is handled by Kurt Ballou who had also worked with Code Orange on their newest record, Forever, sounds incredibly dirty. This is not always a negative connotation as Nails only benefits from this sound; it creates another level of depth and feels much heavier and stronger because of this production style. The real surprise of You Will Never Be One of Us is seeing the final track that reaches the eight-minute mark.
“They Come Crawling Back” starts with more ambiance than previous tracks and creates an enormous amount of tension before dropping the curtain and launching in with a sudden flurry of cymbal crashing from Young that soon comes to more of a grind core style of breakdown where the guitar work from Jones can take the spotlight and create a sense of true brutality. As “They Come Crawling Back” continues to progress, more and more distortion effects are added onto the instruments before the guitar by Jones becomes a screeching disarray and the bass work from Gianelli becomes the main progressive movement. “As They Come Crawling Back” is actually heavier, but one of the more trudging style of tracks on You Will Never Be One of Us. Instead of going for eight-minutes of pure power, Nails decides to dial back the speed and shoot for more of a gradual increase that continually builds before reaching the final breaking point.
You Will Never Be One of Us becomes a spontaneous blast of destruction from the first second. Nails take no time in making sure that no one is safe and makes it their goal to break everything in their way, leaving only ashes following their wake.
Listen to You Will Never Be One of Us Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
New Music – Shattered Fragments
Following His Name Is Alive is a complex journey, through the dozens of different self-released, independent compilations, and even studio recordings; His Name Is Alive has been in the musical both background and foreground for 25 years. First starting with Warren Defever, His Name Is Alive’s first member who began recording in 1985 during high school in his basement, ever since personally sending tapes to recorded label 4AD, Defever has accompanied with many different, almost migrant musicians who will work with him during a project and then move onto the next artist.
Eventually, Defever met with several different record labels until finally reaching a stopping point with Light In The Attic Records and Silver Mountain Media who worked with Defever on His Name Is Alive’s newest release, Patterns of Light. Not only is Patterns of Light an uncharted, but familiar thrill-ride, Patterns of Light is a step back and a call to the true nature of experimentation when coming into a progressive rock record. The vocal style, the guitar work, and even the percussive aspects all adapt to an unstable mold that becomes broken with every incoming moment. No one instrument stays on a similar path for longer than 30-seconds, and this is a complete advantage that His Name Is Alive shares.
With the self-titled track, “Patterns of Light,” vocalist Andrea Morici is able to start Patterns of Light off with an intriguing use of singular vocals that are almost inviting and create a sense of beauty behind the progressive, psychedelic style that is present for most of Patterns of Light. The guitar, soon following Morici’s solo, comes suddenly and when conspired with the drums, it becomes gritty and a slow crawl until the sprint that unfolds. Once His Name Is Alive start into the depth of “Patterns of Light,” the track becomes a three-part course within the first two-minutes. Thoroughly, the instrumentation is a complex, but easy to understand dish that will pull the listener through several stages before reaching even a chorus or what feels like a chorus.
While common in progressive music, the rocking guitar work from both Defever and Dusty Jones, as well as the frequent crashing from J. Rowe on the percussion all creates an always forward style of momentum that carries His Name Is Alive to soaring heights. The guitar solos that lead “Patterns of Light” into the following, “Demonmix” is outstanding, truly a cranking finish that leads into more of a subtle, but still impactful seguing track where synthesizers, primarily a Moog synthesizer and what could also be a Mellotron that is played by Morici and Bubba Ayoub. Their synth work creates the backdrop where the more acoustic instruments can begin to slowly creep into frame until becoming a powerhouse of sound. “Demonmix” relies on Morici to lead the outro into the next track, “Thanks A Million,” which from the start, is more of a straight-forward approach.
His Name Is Alive feels almost as homage to the 1970’s where the strength-ridden guitar solos, crashing cymbals, and electronic, almost “futuristic” synths play out the sounds of the incoming space-age. His Name Is Alive has significant vigor in the way that the band can truly turn on a dime during a track, but it also has a sense of grace in certain ways that the tracks open with intermissions where there is a single instrument playing, or Morici is singing almost to herself.
“Calling All Believers” is a track that feels similar to an intermission or a bridge that forms for other tracks to segue easier. “Calling All Believers” is not really much of a transforming or adapting track as it stays rather consistent on all fronts, a pattern that is uncommon for His Name Is Alive. Constructing a small detour in Patterns of Light, “For The Scientist” becomes a starry, synth-led journey into the deepest sections of infinite space. The constant repetition of the blinking notes, mixed with the low, grumbling toned bass that is only present for a few sections is a lovely distraction from the usual action of Patterns of Light. The two consecutive tracks work as transitioning pieces that, rather than build onto the sporadic movements, become subtle changes.
It is only once the rapid ride cymbal clicks of “Energy Acceleration” where is it clear that the subtle building will no longer be a factor as His Name is Alive spawns right back into the running, but not rushed instrumentals. While not a full sprint, “Energy Acceleration” has a cliffhanging, but smooth jump into the jammed in, “Black Wings.” A full, steady rock track that opens with low-tuned guitar that is crunching through the amp, and more of a clean, yet rambunctious guitar solo attached from early on that creates a large sense of a sprint that hits a brick wall when all the instruments stop, having the synthesizer create the sudden grumble. Then, the instruments start to flood back in, with a sense of gradual build of volume that goes back into the first found style at the opening of “Black Wings.”
The segueing nature of His Name Is Alive is going to be the most important tool within their arsenal. Almost every track feels like it was recorded in one, complete take. This adds to the flow of Patterns of Light and even when using tracks that feature only synthesizers or acoustic guitars, it still has an incredible amount of flow.
“Dragon Down” is going to be the most far-left style of track on Patterns of Light as it features Morici and Jean Cook who works with the violin and string arrangements. There is a constant level of angelic style with Morici’s vocal structure and the way that she approaches lyrics. “Dragon Down” also contains some of the more graceful and beautiful styles of instrumentation which only furthers Morici’s performance to astounding heights. Patterns of Light then comes to the final track, “Silver Arc Curving in the Magnetic Field,” which is also the longest track of the entire record.
“Silver Arc Curving in the Magnetic Field” is more of a drone style track that has a sluggish opening, but uses all the instrumentation to create a sense of space once again. Within its eight-minute run-time, “Silver Arc Curving in the Magnetic Field” has moments where the synthesizers completely take over, allowing nothing but the atmospheric sounds to become the centerfold in the spotlight. While these moments are far and few between, it still becomes a strange mix of different genres. Almost building up into a track that never ends up delivering. The atmospheric synths play Patterns of Light out, until reaching the inevitable silence.
Listen to Patterns of Light Here!!! – Bandcamp/Amazon/iTunes
Classic Day – Live From The Dead
The Alice Cooper Band was once a record holder for having both a number one in America and in The United Kingdom at the same time. At a time of release, this was almost unheard of, especially after receiving such unfavorable reviews by Rolling Stone Magazine. While among the 70-city tour embarked by The Alice Cooper Band, their peaked release, Billion Dollar Babies continued to soar and create one of the most ambitious, but also timeless pieces of Rock and Roll history.
Starting off with just a group of a musical ensemble of around 16-different musicians to achieve the complete sound of Billion Dollar Babies, also included was the immense stage presence that The Alice Cooper band had built for themselves. Not only did they act as world class musicians, but they combined a theatre-like aspect attached to their show and created a larger than life presentation that included whips, snakes, baby dolls, make-up, dentist drills, and even a guillotine that would repeatedly chop lead singer, Vincent Damon Furnier, better known as Alice Cooper’s head off.
While the band had humble beginnings, starting and running with five original members, Vincent Damon Furnier (Alice Cooper), Glen Buxton on lead guitar, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar and keyboards, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and last but certainly not least, Neal Smith on the percussion aspect. Their sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies was the best selling at the time of the release, and had different tricks in the way that it was recorded. While in Connecticut, The Alice Cooper Band recorded in various locations around a mansion in Greenwich to capture the vocal echoing and it is an interesting aspect that went into recording that could be simply manipulated through electronics today. Though, as The Alice Cooper Band marched on, nothing could prepare the world for what Billion Dollar Babies would bring.
Drawing back the curtain, Billion Dollar Babies opens with “Hello Hooray,” a track that at first glance has nearly nothing to do with The Alice Cooper Band that so many audiences had first identified them as. It did nothing to discuss the dead, nothing to discuss the strange, but instead acts more as a wonderful introduction to the beauty that follows behind the madness. Alice Cooper has such an iconic voice, and his charisma behind every lyric is an additional piece that only builds to the lovable style of The Alice Cooper Band. The instrumentalists that back Cooper up are one of a kind and have such an incredible amount of connecting power when playing, creating these giant sound sets that are entirely larger than life.
It is only until the second track, “Raped And Freezin’” where The Alice Cooper Band can achieve this comedic style that follows more of a catchy approach to rape and death. While if taken out of context, the track can seem incredible ill-mannered and downright distasteful, but truthfully the track combines slick guitar work and an overarching theme of a grand approach to an incredibly touchy subject. The various switch-ups that the band displays can really lighten the mood and create more jokes or laughs rather than cries of misery. The Alice Cooper Band acts as one flowing motion on Billion Dollar Babies almost taking no real breaks and showing no signs of truly slowing down until the bitter end. It is incredible to see exactly how Billion Dollar Babies can change from a song that includes lyrics like “Alone, raped and freezing, Alone cold and sneezing,” to then transitioning into a track about becoming “Elected, Everyone in the United States of America.”
Alice Cooper, the lead singer as stated before has an immense amount of charisma that follows this larger than life ego, on the track “Elected,” Cooper brings about the comical side to greed and corruption within politics. He can appeal to the people and really get in touch with the personal side. “Kids want a savior, don’t need a fake. I wanna be elected, We’re gonna rock to the rules that I make, I wanna be elected.” While a group of bravado-style horns can blast out patriotic notes that sound similar in “Hail to the Chief.” Imagining someone like Alice Cooper running the country, rolling in a “Gold Rolls Royce,” saluting the country that he has taken by storm is an idea that now does not seem like it is so far away.
As the last shouts of Cooper can be heard, the self-titled track, “Billion Dollar Babies” turns onto the spotlight and contains percussion work by Neal Smith that is instantly recognizable with the way that he utilizes the snare, bass, and tom drums in such a manner that acts as a progressive piece to launch the rest of the instruments into one glorious crash. As the track continues on, Alice Cooper sings the chorus, “We go dancing nightly, in the attic while the moon is rising in the sky. If I’m too rough tell me, I’m so scared your little head will come off in my hands.” Alice Cooper is not singing alone however as Donovan provides off-kilted vocals that can almost echo Coopers usual candle lit, gothic horror style of singing. There is also a guitar solo completed by Steven “The Deacon” Hunter who also played with the likes of Lou Reed, Aerosmith, and even Peter Gabriel.
Using the multi-talented artists and bringing in guest artists greatly aided Billion Dollar Babies as it brings in more creative minds to collaborate on single ideas and truly combine them to become the best they can possibly be. With the following track “Unfinished Sweet,” The Alice Cooper Band describes the horror of the dentist and paranoia with near blinding guitar riffs, a 007-esque style of solo, and multiple sequences of breakdowns and build-ups where Cooper’s vocals can almost be read as wincing or distant cries. This is also prevalent for the track, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” where Cooper describes a simple man, who “used to be such a sweet, sweet thing, Til’ they got a hold of me… I got no friends cause they read the papers, they can’t be seen, with me.”
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” opens with a small, but impactful guitar solo before coming into the main riffs of the track where it almost can be a replica of a 50’s doo-wop track, if it ran into the circus. Not entirely chaotic, but still has enough flare to be a complete radio-hit when first released and was one of the three tracks that became a Top 100 Hits on Billboard. For a character like Alice Cooper to be released upon the public and to become such a wonderful success through his music, even while containing “cats clawing eyes…” and being punched in the nose by reverends.
The instrumentals of Billion Dollar Babies are just as important as the lyrical aspect and create these different settings for the stories that Cooper can sing about. The track “Generation Landslide” has a section that discusses war and its true horrors. While being depicted, the band is sporadic and creates drastic changes to simulate the chaos that is war, only to completely switch on the next tracks, “Sick Things,” “Mary Ann,” and “I Love The Dead,” where The Alice Cooper Band completely hit a brick wall and decide to go for more of a trance-like state with their final act.
“Sick Things” is more of a minimalist, almost droning track that uses atmospheric sounds and a large amount of bass work to paint this dungeon of a setting where Alice Cooper can sing, “Sick Things, my things, my pets, my things. I love you, Things, I see as much as you love me, you things are heavenly when you come worship me. You things are chilled with fright for I am out tonight.” The instrumentation slowly begins to build and becomes a full-fledge power-struggle between the horns, percussion, vocals, and the eventual guitar solo that begins to flood in and creep from the unexpected corners of the track. The track then continuously segues into “Mary Ann” which is more of a piano sonnet that features Alice Cooper displaying his true love to “Mary-Ann, I’m really crazy about you, do what I can. I just can live without you, Mary-Ann.” It is a simple track with only piano and vocals that eventually begins to pick up more and more momentum until it becomes a piano slug-fest where the keys are incredibly weighted, but also have a cheering tone that quickly vanishes and turns into the last track of Billion Dollar Babies.
“I Love The Dead” is similar in style to the last two tracks as it combines both a graceful rise into a rushed waltz, but takes aspects of “Sick Things” in the way it covers a haunting style. Only a sudden guitar-rush and piano getting the keys hammered makes it clear that “I Love The Dead” is more of an experimental track that tries so many different ideas and they all click so well together and create not just a laughable track with incredibly dark humor, but an actual masterpiece of instrumentation that can turn on a dime, making death seem humorous and fun again. Cooper delivers a stunning performance and The Alice Cooper Band creates a grand finale of cymbals crashing, guitars ringing, horns blasting, and vocal cries of “I Love The Dead” reigning on.
Listen to Billion Dollar Babies Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
Misc. Day – What a Pleasure
Brooklyn, a large breeding-ground of music and artists that can cultivate and become part of an entity entirely larger than life. The Beach Fossils are a band that hails from the New York music scene, creating their own identity through a lo-fi atmospheric style of rock that combines both grace behind the vocalization, and a sense of adventure behind the music.
Their 2011 release, What a Pleasure has a surf-rock style with a halted approach. Beach Fossils started with the original solo project of James Dustin Payseur but saw numerous line-up changes before finally coming into their own with Jack Doyle Smith, Tommy Gardner, and Tommy Davidson to complete the final product. The band contains this child-like wonder about them and has this profound use of different modifiers on their instruments to create an overarching sound of a dreamy walk on the beach.
As What a Pleasure opens, it brings about a short opening track, “Moments” that while only slightly over a minute, creates the entire tone for the album. The running drum fills and the shining guitar are the centerfolds, then as the vocals start to flood in, it becomes clear that Beach Fossils are going to focus more on a journey rather than just delivering an album. It is only then as the second self-titled track, “What a Pleasure” comes into frame is when the album truly starts. Payseur delivers fantastic work on both the guitar and on the vocal front where he can almost effortlessly deliver the lines, “Thinking thoughts of you and me in my life, I’ve never felt so free. You’re so far away from me.” While paired with the perfect percussion work of Gardner and the simple, but beautiful guitar workings of Davidson, What a Pleasure becomes an instant laid-back and relaxed, Sunday morning style of album.
Moving on, the track “Out in the Way” contains a feature from Virginian, single-man rock band formed by Jack Tatum, Wild Nothing. Also on the same record label as Beach Fossils, Captured Tracks, the two artists have a significantly similar style and approach when having their sound. The biggest progressing part on “Out in the Way” is going to be the constant bass lines from Smith that strike in the background, but keep the action moving at a steady rate. This is also accompanied by Payseur’s wonderful lyrical style where he is almost drained, but still manages to sing, “In the darkness passing through, tell me is it really you? You don’t look the same as when I was dreaming, even though there’s not much time, I can’t get it off my mind.” Then the guitars and instrumentals begin to fade into the next dream-scape.
What a Pleasure is a strong release, but most of the tracks feel ultimately similar here and need more of a defining spark to really push The Beach Fossils to the next level. They show progress in each release and prove that the spark is turning into a fire, but on What a Pleasure, it isn’t sudden enough. Enjoyable, but not immensely powerful enough to be a full stand-alone release; Beach Fossils show potential to become a powerhouse in music, but need more time to refine the process.
Listen to What a Pleasure Here!!! – Spotify/Bandcamp/Amazon/iTunes
New Music – Playing With A Deathwish
Prey, the long awaited release coming from Planes Mistaken For Stars after a 10-year hiatus had been silently teased during the short promotional touring for Mercy’s, near its 10-year anniversary. Planes Mistaken For Stars had been keeping quiet, dropping initial teases over a full year before finally releasing Prey to the public, delivering on another solid record that conjured up a new section in the genre-blending discography.
A rushed assault makes up the first impression of Prey, “Dementia Americana” which draws inspiration from punk rock aspects where the drums are a quickened flurry and the guitars can become both abrasive and a moving target in how the track is portrayed. The biggest focus is on how powerful, moving, and stunning the track is from the first moments where screams of guitarist and vocalist Gared O’Donnell drive home the force that works in tandem with Planes Mistaken For Stars’ driving attitude when approaching the musical sections. In a sudden 180-degree turn, the following track is replaced by a much calmer, almost abstract style that put the guitars into more of a melodic run that has drummer, Mike Ricketts focusing on backing tom smacks and a gradual build-up in the track’s second half.
“Til’ It Clicks” has a much more varied field of depth when it comes to how it is presented, Planes Mistaken For Stars abandons the crunching style of “Dementia Americana” and adopts more closely to their stoner-rock style with mixes of ambience that fully combines a wonderful weave of genres. Planes Mistaken For Stars utilize both bass players, Aaron Wise, and Neil Keener who have been traveling with the band for well over ten years; together the gruff undertones where the bass can create a substantial groove of a rhythm section spawns a lovely advance between different sections of the track. “Til’ It Clicks” consistently changes between a gradual crawl and a slamming crush where Planes Mistaken For Stars switch into an entirely different breed of animal.
Moving on, “She Who Steps” becomes a collective effort to display additional power coming straight from Planes Mistaken For Stars. They don’t make this track a complete over-exemplified power struggle, but instead change the formula and contain more building sections rather than breakdowns. Between the ripping chords, crashing cymbals, and the screams of agony that play in the background, it completes a recipe for a pop song that takes a bitter end, but launches into one of the more beautiful segues that has pianos playing Planes Mistaken For Stars into their next piece of bravado style.
The droning continually adds to their musical methods, and the track “Clean Up Mean” is the first track that really brings a memorable set of grooves and sound that can resonate throughout the rest of Prey. The guitars are almost winding and set this real sense of depth to the sound, this is all while the percussion is more of a subtle addition that somberly plays along with the grieving instrumental. There is a rather distinct style that O’Donnell takes up upon on “Clean Up Mean,” and the following track, “Black Rabbit” which while an entirely too short track; he attaches a pained voice onto a blissful instrumental that repeats, “Hear your keys, though I suffer the request.” The rasp inside O’Donnell’s voice creates a sense of disparity within the instrumental and attaches this additional segue from a door opening into the last act of Prey.
“Pan In Flames” is a light-footed, rapid-round of a track that moves in quickly, wrecks the place, and then leaves without a real trace. Planes Mistaken For Stars are interesting in the way that they conduct their song progression, it almost always contains some amount of breakdown where a single instrument will take the reigns and allow the others to take a backseat. In this instance, the bass creates a low grumble while O’Donnell sings in an intimidating tone that slowly fades out into an unbreakable silence.
The final two tracks, “Enemy Blinds,” and “Alabaster Cello” almost blend together in the way that they are presented. “Enemy Blinds” has a humble beginning of a minimalistic approach with only a guitar and vocals, then as Planes Mistaken For Stars begins to add more layers onto the track, it becomes clear that they will eventually scrap the gentle uprising, for more of a stylish, firework like finish that contains different crashing and a huge focus on the guitars’ slick work. “Enemy Blinds” has Planes Mistaken For Stars slamming into “Alabaster Cello” in a quick, transitioning fashion that can be missed quite easily. It is a subtle change that is masked by the crashes of cymbals and the bassists’ work, but a change that eventually leads to the finale of Prey.
Planes Mistaken For Stars spares no final moments as they continually build up before reaching max capacity and launching into not a full-frontal assault, but a somber build that has most of its intensity focusing on the percussion which plays sporadically when compared to the other sections of the instrumentalists. In the final moments, “Alabaster Cello” becomes a blaze of glory, that burns brightest when the guitars, percussion, and basses all play in what seems like everlasting droning out where the final cymbal hit can be the extinguisher of Prey, reigning out and being the bridge to the silence.
Listen to Prey Here!!! – Bandcamp/Spotify/Amazon
Deathwish (Website)/iTunes
Classic Day – Forward Motion
The People Under The Stairs have been a grinding movement in hip-hop since 1997 where the group first formed with Thes One, (Christopher Cesar Portugal) and Double K, (Mike Turner). Two rhyming MC’s that created an independent tidal wave with their debut feature release, The Next Step, which was entirely funded by Thes One’s student loans to independently press and release the first single, “The Next Step II.” A few weeks after, almost every single copy was purchased by Mr. Bongo record shop owner, David Buttle and played in the London store, selling out the single in just minutes. From there on, Buttle contacted Om Records and eventually led to People Under The Stairs receiving a full contract, despite not planning on making a “full-length album”
Opening with “Intro / 4 Everybody,” the actual intro consists of a man talking to a mayor of his town, asking, “Mayor, you spoke earlier about, like, the frustrations, that black people have been going through and are going through. I’m frustrated to the point where, uh, I’m ready to give up on the system, but like I am a black youth… so can you, well, what would you tell me to do in terms of whether following the system as is, or going on off and developing… a new system.” The Mayor then kindly responds, “Let me tell you as a brother…” this is the first glimpse into some of the topics that People Under The Stairs will cover. Topics that are still prevalent today and still matter, as people move toward or away from the government, The Next Step sees into the future and explains how they will, “Start a new system.”
A system that focuses on hip-hop and expression, with Double K and Thes One as the leaders of the new world. The first musical aspect of The Next Step starts with the second half of “Intro / 4 Everybody” where Double K and Thes One can trade lyrical smacks, covering an authentic sounding instrumental with acoustic bass and percussion that also balances horns that add a smooth jazz-like layer and set the tone of the The Next Step. Both Thes One and Double K effortlessly in an onslaught of both speedily, aggressive rhyming schemes and a slowed method where the abrasiveness can be toned down and exchanged for a lovely selection of spoken word.
Double K is the first to break the microphone in as he starts his verse off with, “Yo, I want to see you dead in the worst way, ain’t no way I’m about to let you down without a crown on the top of your dome.” He then moves on to say, “You better off quitting homeboy, you ain’t dope with this. You got something else to say, fool, put up your fists.” Then as quickly as he begins, Double K passes the wire to Thes One where the two of them can come together to create the chorus or hook of the track, “We got the beats and the rhymes and dimes. We create the classic breaks from the crates. We come in with horny horns and the funk, we put in the work to make the cuts you love.” All while both lyricists shout “For everybody” at the end of the chorus’s lines. Thes One comes in with witty lyricism, explaining, “We on the ball like Globetrotters, I do this for your father and your mother. Your parents who’s apparently, inherently talent you inherit.” Surprisingly, for being a completely independently funded and produced record, The Next Step is promising in its first moments and continues to reward the listener with slick instrumentals and clever rhymes to create a double package in both musical performance and on-stage personality.
A sudden Latin dance transition segues “Death of A Salesman” into the frame and is instantly a mood changer when the first horns are heard that create the primary backing section of the instrumental. They are extremely depressed and sound more like funeral horns or a mixed section of a silent film, noir feature. Extremely bleak sounding, but mixed with the repeating lyrical sample, “Wack MC’s is dead MC’s” creates sustenance to the “funeral” sound that becomes portrayed from so early on. There is also story-telling behind the instrumental as Double K explains, “So I stepped to this nigga, looked him dead in the face. Was like, ‘You’s a disgrace to this race.’” Then as Double K finished, the bass kicks in with hard aggressive punches, almost simulating a fist-fight or a gun being fired which would relate to the “Wack MC’s is dead MC’s,” that plays continually throughout both verses from Double K and Thes One.
Before being cut off in a near somber like shuffle, “Hardcore” is pushed onto the scene and is more of a boom-bap style of hip-hop track that capitalizes on the guest verse of MC Smile-Oak who provides this lyrical assault where he can rhyme, “Trans-Atlantic, Titanic-type panic and turn dynamic semantic. Galactic syllabics to granite… And leaving nothing but imprints for the next generation, the interpretation of my iteration may lay the foundation.” It goes above and beyond as he quite-frankly attempts to out-rhyme People Under The Stairs on their own track. It balances on a level between trying too hard, and being genuine with his verse.
Then as The Next Step moves on, “Ten Tough Guys” slows down the action and creates a subtle, but engaging track that displays some stories about rap battling where Double K thrashes amateur rappers until reaching Thes One who can deliver a consistently adapting verse that in his similar style, slows and speeds in sections of his flow that keeps the instrumental steady, but the verses volatile, changing for the better. Double K and Thes One keeps every aspect of The Next Move feeling unpredictable and interesting, if the verses don’t thrill then the instrumentals will pick up any unneeded slack and that goes in vice-versa as well. There is not a single aspect of The Next Step that truly falls flat, using both MC’s genius and ability to keep The Next Step soaring from track to track, until the final, graceful end.
Before the end however, People Under The Stairs continue on with another instant movement machine, “San Francisco Knights” is a downright beautiful mix of dreamy guitars, a booming percussion set, and a tag-team like approach to the verses where Double K and Thes One can trade lyrics on both the choruses, but also through the main “meats” of the track as well. “San Francisco Knights” creates a sun-shine feeling where everything in the track just clicks together, and creates a lovely feeling that instantly puts a smile on your face, especially hearing the two lyricists tag-teaming, “Very often we win, yo, very seldom we lose. Spice rockin’ your whole motherfuckin’ city,” is created in a fashion that plays off the friendly chemistry that Thes One and Double K possess.
Another track that fades into frame, but keeps a minimalist style is “Los Angeles Daze,” that uses a boom-bap beat and synth chords that rarely change, but are still substantial enough to keep a consistent attention. The verses here are going to be the primary aspect of “Los Angeles Daze” as they come in much more aggressive when compared to the subtle instrumental component. Thes One drops knowledge about Los Angeles and its hip-hop history in his verse where he explains, “Keep the rhyme moving like the Unity location, rap has been my vocation since before the Japanese owned the radio station…I blow up, rock free shows at the Palladium, afterwards, the crew I’m taking ‘em to Tommy’s Burgers.” Even Double K’s verse throws some of his personal experiences into the mix as well, “Word to MC Ren, I showed them people that you wack. Peace to the real crews defacing walls on backstreets, in the city of set, porch, halls, and swap meets. From the school of hard knocks, the generation passed down. Kaiser Permanente, yo, that’s where I was found. In the middle of the funk era, ‘fros and dashikis,“ finishing the track with a sample that asks, “Where are you from?” that lets the beat ride out and eventually fade into silence.
Then, the big single from The Next Step comes launching in, “The Next Step II” is a bouncy, overly excited instrumental that uses pounding percussion and a huge focus on cheerful piano chords that create an additional layer of that same “feel-good” style of “San Francisco Knights.” Double K opens the track with his verse that explains, “Yo, it’s the West Coast, shit-talking b-boy from the 80’s. Y’all niggas know the name, the game won’t change.” Thes One then comes in stating, “It’s the Next Step, Part Two, slept on the first. Worse if you slumber on the sequel, one verse, versus us, no equal.” Then People Under The Stairs move onto the final act or track, “Play It Again / Outro.”
The finale of The Next Step, People Under The Stairs use a grand-piano and a boom-bap percussive beat that has Double K and Thes One switching back and forth on the beat in a cooperative style that only boosts the track into this chorus-singing match between the lyricists. The two MC’s move together, stating, “Play it again and again… People Under the Stairs… Play it again and again,” until reaching the final moments where People Under The Stairs use a sample that explains, “I took it home that night and analyzed it, rewound the tape over and over, and memorized it.” Before falling into a fading silence from record scratches and a bright look into the forward movement that is The Next Step.
Listen to The Next Step Here!!! – Spotify/Bandcamp/Amazon/iTunes
Misc. Day – Detroit’s Finest Heroes
Ugly Heroes, a trifecta rap group from Detroit, Michigan that effortlessly blends classy instrumentals and witty rhyming to create some beauty from the Motor City. Comprised of members, “Apollo Brown” (Erik Stephens), “Red Pill” (Chris Orrick), and “Verbal Kent” (Dan Weiss), who together work as a deadly, verbal hydra who tag-team their newest release, Everything in Between.
Released June, 24 under Mello Music Group which is an independent record label based out of Tucson, Arizona. Ugly Heroes joined their roster after rapper and producer Apollo Brown released some of his first works and acted as a launch pad for Ugly Heroes to come in with a different look to hip-hop music. Focusing on “The heroes that work hard all day, everyday to help ensure that the lives around them are taken care of, and do it all without recognition.” This has been The Ugly Heroes’ motto and shall remain as they continue to boost their life stories into masterpieces with each graceful step.
Kicking things off with the track, “Today Right Now,” The Ugly Heroes use sampling to display a question to the audience, “Have you ever figured out what you’ll be like in a few years? Why don’t you look ahead?” This then plays into the first verse coming from Red Pill where he starts rhyming over an instrumental that focuses on a boom-bap style of a percussive beat with a string ensemble that creates a great amount of prideful stride. Red Pill proudly marches over with giant steps and comes in questioning life with his verse, “I don’t know what I’m here for, I don’t know what the point is. [I] spent so many nights alone, sipping this poison. All of us trying to find it, some of us call it purpose.” The message is powerful, and creates an existentialist point of view onto what people of a society are truly doing, then as “Today Right Now” progresses into the hook or chorus of the track, Verbal Kent explains, “No one’s ever promised tomorrow, I’mma be who I am and you are who you are. Let’s let the past be that, the shit is over why overreact? No one’s ever promised tomorrow…” Kent then jumps into his verse directly after the hook and brings an uplifting factor which differentiates from Red Pill’s verse.
Opening with, “No matter what road I travel on, add a little something to the catalog.” Verbal Kent is more of a philosopher that simply rides on the instrumental and both Red Pill and Kent create an astounding level of chemistry on the track that really flows into the rest of Everything in Between. Even the instrumentals of the tracks bring out the best of the MC’s present and challenge, but also create situations where the lyrics can fully flow and act more as a catalyst for the rappers.
Following is the track, “Daisies” which uses a huge focus on piano and more string ensembles that create this floating style of instrumental. There are also flutes present that subtly add background noise between the tapping hi-hat and the mostly muted bass and snare. This is where the “classiness” of Ugly Heroes can shine through and create truly beautiful hip-hop music. The instrumentals alone can become their own tracks and the verses are outstanding additions in creating one of the better projects coming out of 2016.
Verbal Kent and Red Pill are going to be the main vocalists on Everything in Between, however, where The Ugly Heroes truly capitalize is on their production. Tracks like “This World,” “Peace of Mind,” “Can’t Win For Losin,’” and “Unforgiven” shows their true muscle and together create larger than life stories that act as groundwork for Ugly Heroes’ tracks. The group works together in what seems like an effortless move to create and establish a social statement on daily life, society’s changes, and the sacrifices that the Ugly Heroes make for us everyday.
Listen to Everything in Between Here!!! – Bandcamp (Apollo Brown)/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
New Music – Crush Your Masters
Pittsburgh’s hardcore slug-fest Code Orange, formally known as Code Orange Kids come swinging, stabbing, and slicing through with their brand new Roadrunner LP debut, Forever. Still sticking with the theme of desolation, an immense level of aggressiveness, and an everlasting thirst to destroy everything in their path, Code Orange has once again proven that the Thinners Of The Herd are here to leave their mark once again.
From several single releases, teases, and finally a sold-out record release show in Code Orange’s hometown, Forever arrives, and feels more like a continuation of their sound from their 2014 release, I Am King, but with some additional tweaks and bonuses. Every record contains the same producer, Kurt Ballou whose previous works include Converge’s All We Love, We Leave Behind, Kvelertak’s Meir, and Nails’ You Will Never Be One of Us, just to name a few in the past five years of his career. As Ballou has been working with Code Orange since the very beginning, he knows the in’s and out’s of their sound, allowing Forever to fully prosper and become ultimately fruitful for Code Orange.
Opening with the self-titled track, “Forever” is a rambunctious and untamed mosh-pit of sudden breakdowns, pounds of distortion, and a bone-shattering mix of both percussion and guitars that from the first moments, Forever appears to be completely unrelenting in both strength, but also tenacity. From the first quote of the apparition like voice as it reads, “When hands are caught in my brother’s pocket, I’ll burn my Gods down,” to the screams of Jami Morgan who also doubles as Code Orange’s drummer as well. There are also additional vocal performances from Reba Meyers, Code Orange’s guitarist, who was once the band’s bassist a “long, long time ago,” and from Eric Balderose who helps out on adding some of the technical touches with synthesizers and guitar.
As the hydra of vocalists move together, they have distinct changes in their vocal approach which keeps each track feeling entirely different and fresh. As “Forever” reigns as the first-look into Code Orange’s massive destruction that is to come, the following track, “Kill The Creator” almost seems to blend in seamlessly.
Starting off with a rapid-fire assault of machine gun styled instruments, Code Orange breaks the action down but keeps that same level of intensity as they continually switch from breakdown to breakdown, shouting in unison to, “Kill The Creator,” almost as if a warning call to all those who oppress. This is of course before Code Orange launches into one of the dirty jam sessions where the guitars play off of the bass, and the percussion keeps this heavy, but steady flow into the following, “Real.”
From the intense power struggle Code Orange presents between lyricists, the band is also known for showing that same amount of potency with their instruments as well. An instant pit opener, “Real” brings about a simple, but sudden shift in where Morgan can launch a full-frontal assault in both vocal delivery and in the percussion aspect where he rains fire upon using double bass hits to obliterate, along with the guitars shredding in unison in this grind-core fashion; it is pure bliss in thirty seconds. The chemistry put together on Code Orange’s Forever is going to be the highlighted aspect here this time around, as any band that has been together nearly ten-years should, they play perfectly together and create these moments where everything is pure chaos, but still somehow manageable and still able to be an easy passage way into their best release thus far.
“Real” also has a section that if anyone listens to, it will continually stick into your head without a doubt. After the chaos of Code Orange gradually speeding up and grinding down, Morgan has a moment where his voice and the guitars from Meyers and Balderose are the only thing present, Morgan then shouts in complete anguish, “This is real now… Motherfucker.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, Code Orange jumps into a flurry of a brick wall where the guitars rumble, the drums lay heavily on the crash cymbals, and the bass line from Joe Goldman creates a deep growl, all of this is shortly abandoned however and switched up on “Bleeding In The Blur” to more of a melodic and ballad style of track.
Meyers is going to be the leading factor here, and this track is more of a straight up rock track than a genre-blending hardcore track. The switch-up is a welcome change as stated before, it keeps the music from feeling monotonous and gives Code Orange a chance to come from left-field.
Code Orange also implements some synthetic chords into their music, and the track “The Mud” has this drooping, almost flopping synth hits that segue Code Orange back into their comfort ground. Forever does indeed take some intriguing turns and finds a way to rework the sound that Code Orange had established, instead of erasing that sound, they work with it and build off it with “The Mud”’s second half where it becomes a sludge-fest of writhing guitar squeals and a large focus on these syncopated rhythms where the instruments start to shift together and create a fantastic use of free space.
As Forever continues on, there is an intense amount of excitement with each incoming track and “The New Reality” is another song that really brings the rising pressure to new heights. While the shortest track featured on Forever, it is still able to bring in an outstanding rhythm section that can slowly pulverize, but also gradually start to sprint into this non-stop punch-fest with every instrument ripping apart their surroundings. Amazingly, Code Orange’s brilliance works well with the destruction around them, and this can also be said for the track that follows, “Spy.”
A not-so-subtle build up on the percussion aspect by Morgan leads “Spy” into the frenzied shark tank of slick guitar progression, bass grooves, and an unforeseen bombardment by Code Orange around the half-way mark that quickly creates a “jump off the stage into people,” attitude. “Spy” is an extremely diverse track that floats in a sea of variety on Forever. Almost every single track on Forever manages to switch its tone to either adapt to more of a brutal style, or dial back on one aspect and let the differences shine through. While entirely experimental, Forever does not entirely change Code Orange, but on the places where they do switch the formula, it is ultimately for the better.
The last four tracks on Forever are completely different from each other, “Ugly” is more in touch with “Bleeding In The Blur” as it is a track that does not try to melt off any faces or break any bones. Instead, it acts as a progressive piece in moving Code Orange closer to the edge of Forever. It has an interesting mix of both hardcore elements and soft rock elements that transform “Ugly” into a lovely different breed of animal. It gets the mood set for the last true atom-bomb tracks on Forever, “No One Is Untouchable.”
Angry, distraught, and furious, “No One Is Untouchable” uses Morgan’s vocals as he screams, “Dreams will die, blue will burn. But when the cards drop, You’d be the first one to go running.” There are also the other vocalists, Meyers and Balderose and even possibly Goldman that seem to be shouting something along the lines of “Thinners Of The…” but it is unclear as the constant chaos surrounding their voices makes it nearly impossible to tell exactly what they are shouting. Then almost as quickly as “No One Is Untouchable” comes into frame, it disappears and is instead replaced by “Hurt Goes On” which sounds eerily similar to the break in “Kill The Creator” which is only on the track for a few seconds before falling back into extreme mayhem.
“Hurt Goes On” is more of a spoken word track for the first half where Morgan describes, “You’re just a rat in a world full of snakes, I’m just a dog in a cage; waiting to pick you to pieces.” The entire time there is a huge focus on the atmospheric side where Code Orange channels crashing bass drums and some synths before having the full band come into transparency, almost re-envisioned by the wall of sound that hits. “Hurt Goes On” has a somber piano chord ending that trails off into the final track of Forever.
“Dream2” is a final touching stone for Meyers’ vocal performance to shine through and create this great amount of tension within her voice and her lyrics, “I’m just not you anymore, I’m just in a different place.” She then continues on this path until hitting the final rephrase where she states, “I’m just not you anymore, I’m just in a different place. Just wanted so much more, I just can’t relate. I just can’t rel…” until her voice is cut off and the once angelic singing is replaced by a demonic, pitched-down voice that leaves Forever on a sinister cliffhanger. Forever is a bone-crunching addition to their discography and leaves an excited look for what’s next in the future of the Thinners of The Herd.
Listen to Forever Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes/Code Orange’s website
No Classic Day Tomorrow
I feel incredibly sick so those of you who were looking forward or wanted to hear some more of my opinion… I won’t be doing one…. But the schedule will resume on Friday with some juicy new hardcore… Sorry kids, but I feel like death.
Much Love…
Matthew Ryan Miramontes
Misc. Day – Lake & Sand, Sea & Sensation
MAMMAL, or Gary Beauvais is an artist that has been in the recording world since 1996, but his first noted release actually occurring under the MAMMAL moniker came in 2001, with Other Realms. As Beauvais had started to evolve as an artist, so did the MAMMAL name as it shifted away from the more industrial noise of his first record, and really started to shine through on his later released work. The album, Lake & Sand would bridge the gap between his critically acclaimed album, Lonesome Drifter, and Fringe Residue would be a look even further into the mind of MAMMAL.
Staying in the similar noise style, only adapting to a more authentic sounds than previously released, MAMMAL describes the album as his, “most raw and personal album.” This is immensely apparent from even just the first track on Lake & Sand as the record feels gritty, disturbed, but ultimately releasing as Beauvais describes the album was recorded sometime in early 2009 up until the late 2011 and was not even mastered until 2013. As the personal accounts here, mixed with the incredibly bleak instrumentals are downright enticing at first listen. It is only until the third, fourth, fifth, and eventually tenth listen to where the lyrics start to shine through more gallantly. This is a wonderful decision though as most of Lake & Sand is primarily instrumental, and demands to be heard with headphones to catch every detail inside the complexity of tracks like, “Dusty Lady,” “Hydrocodone,” and “Death Perception.”
Subtly meandering in with the starting track, “The Lake,” an acoustic guitar is the main scrap in the musical puzzle that plays in tandem with Beauvais’s voice, that is heavily reverbed and edited to give off an ethereal sound to it. The guitar is also heavily edited, but sounds quite natural and clean as well, almost working in similar chemistry to make the track feel like a sunrise, or a gentle beginning to an immense pain that will follow. The acoustic guitar featured on Lake & Sand is going to be the largest weapon that MAMMAL has in his arsenal, as it is a complete tone piece that creates most of the atmosphere.
Following on the pain described before, MAMMAL opens one of the tracks, “His Song,” with immensely depressed lyrics, “Would you still love me if I died by my own hand? Would you find someone else who’s better than I am?” MAMMAL uses these incredibly lugubrious subjects like suicide, nature, and the everlasting end to his advantage to create these somber moments within his music where he can connect with the listener and make an instant contact into that person’s head where most other artists have trouble breaking that barrier. As MAMMAL continues through Lake & Sand, the tracks become continually daunting, until coming almost full circle with the last act where MAMMAL brings everything to a screeching halt and goes back to the acoustic guitar and vocal aspect.
Final tracks like, “Five Of Cups,” “Half Sun,” and “Sand,” start to come into their own with MAMMAL describing in “Sand”’s chorus or rephrase, “In the end we are all just sand.” Which is an existential way of looking as life and seems to be the theme of most of MAMMAL’s discography. Also his work with different record labels like ORMOLYCKA, Animal Disguise, and even when releasing his work independently through home release, he still manages to maintain a presence without fully being there. He is present on social media, and while his posts are quite frequent, it appears MAMMAL is not quite there. He has gone on tours and different sets, but not entirely too much is known about MAMMAL.
His release, Lake & Sand touches a barrier, a personal one, but a barrier as is. The record is quite emotional and immense pain and distraught can be heard in Beauvais’s voice throughout Lake & Sand, almost as it is therapeutic for him to share his story. As he begins and ends the record on a graceful but bleak note, MAMMAL shows a human side amongst all his synthetic noises and different electronics. He has a heartbeat, shows compassion and love, shows his inner demons, and conquers them on Lake & Sand, proving to all that we are above the sand below us.
Listen to Lake & Sand Here!!! – Bandcamp/
Animal Disguise’s website/Discogs/ORMOLYCKA
New Music – Double The Excitement
Instead of writing my usual review of two albums, I instead wanted to share them upon the world as one is entirely new, coming out only less than three weeks ago. But the other has come out a little over half a year ago and I would like to illuminate some attention to both of these projects. Both hardcore bands are from entirely different backgrounds as “Jesus Piece” is from Philadelphia (“Killadelphia”) as it is known in the hardcore underworld for being one of the stronger sides of hardcore music, and the contrasting “Skeleton” who is not even from the United States.
Hailing all the way from Kazakhstan, which is south of Russia and is located as its own republic in China. The band has just released their new Flexi 1 which I find to be utterly rooted in classic punk sound with a modern twist. That is also similar to the emotion behind Jesus Piece, both bands take a classic sound and contort it to fit a modern style. New Music – The Keyboard Kid is more along the lines of crushing hardcore that punishes the listener with destructive breakdowns, and thousand pound weights attached the percussion.
Skeleton however, is able to open with a technical metal side until unleashing the wonderful strums and percussion combination that cascades into some mosh pit inducing tempo changes that squish the track together, then rapidly pulls it apart.
Both records/EP’s/whatever you would want to call them/ are only a three track list and do not last a second over thirteen minutes, and I would strongly recommend everyone listen to them as it would be a disservice to the musical community to pass on these records.
Jesus Piece‘s Summer ’16 Promo is a free tape and Skeleton‘s Flexi 1 is only three dollars. Who knows, you might just find out some more about both of these bands in the future.
Listen to Summer ’16 Promo Here!!! – Bandcamp
Listen to Flexi 1 Here!!! – Bandcamp
Classic Day – Loose Bones
Eddie and The Subtitles, better known as The Subtitles, now have made a path for themselves throughout punk rock history as the Orange County band that shaped the “Eddie Empire,” where southern California reigned in the name. Comprised of bassist from Middle Class, Mike Patton, and Eddie Joseph; not entirely too much is known about Eddie and The Subtitles as most of their music is substantially rare and almost unobtainable if it was not for the internet.
Thankfully, Skeletons in the Closet is one of those punk records that feels almost lost in time but is still in step with modern society. As the band that once played along Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Middle Class, and Vicious Circle, the band combined beautiful surf rock, 50’s doo wop, and a freeform style to their music that gave Eddie and The Subtitles a one of a kind sound. Even as Skeletons in the Closet was released back in the magical land of 1981; Eddie and The Subtitles were a strange concoction in the music world, but one that must not be forgotten and that shall live on through various websites and rare leaks of photos and their music.
Starting with a rapid hardcore punk track, “American Society” is a mosh-pit inducing thrill ride for a quick minute of two step drum beats and blazing guitar. The mantra is slowly changed over to the 80’s dreamlike guitars rather quickly in the next track, “Magic.” Here, Eddie and The Subtitles become more of a similar style in with The Cars, or even Cheap Trick. It is utterly fantastic to hear the sudden genre change and this appears to be the style throughout most of Skeletons in The Closet. Lyricist Eddie Joseph comes in with a radio-friendly style voice where he explains, “It feels like magic, like pulling rabbits out of a hat. I didn’t know that you could do that, magic.” Almost instantly, the track style changes yet again and becomes a quick dash in “Zombie Drug Killer.”
Not quite a hardcore track, but more of a new wave, Middle Class, Homeland-esque track that is almost over as quickly as it begins. There is a substantial amount of relying on the bass to be the real powerhouse of the track, and this goes for the following of “Treat Me Right.” Similar to a surf-rock track, the amount of switch-ups present is purely magical and definitely the highlight of Skeletons in the Closet. There is a track here for everyone, and for every style. Some of these tracks are also present on Eddie and The Subtitles Fuck You Eddie! compilation album. Tracks like the remaster of the 1963 classic by The Kingsmen, “Louie Louie,” “American Society,” “No Virgins in Hollywood,” and “Child Sin.”
Still following in the changing style, “Dave Dacron” comes into frame and repeats the chorus in something that sounds similar to, “Dead and Gone,” rather than the words, “Dave Dacron.” This could be and is most likely about Rhino 39 singer Dave “Dacron” Bratton who died in an auto accident in April, 1980. Then going into tracks like “Child Sin,” the sound goes back into more of a punk rock style where the bass, guitar, vocals, and drums are much faster paced and that goes for the track, “Boppin’ little Bobcat” as well. The surf rock distinction here is still present and it is interesting to see a compilation album created by one band. More of a sampler of their favorite sounds, it would be an incredible show to witness as Eddie and The Subtitles would frequently change their musical style to create these drastic differences in Skeletons in the Closet.
As I stated before, it is hard to find a complete physical copy of Skeletons in the Closet, but it can be streamed on various sites on the internet or the alternative of Fuck You Eddie! can be purchased for a relatively cheap price as well. Even as Eddie and The Subtitles no longer remain, The Subtitles are still around and are still active out in the world, letting the flame of punk rock never fade.
Listen to Skeletons in the Closet Here!!! – Youtube (Big Shout To “The Unoriginal Fan”
Misc. Day – Show Me Love
Sunnyvale, a small Silicon Valley area near San Jose, was able to house rapper/producer/and living-sex symbol, Antwon. Antwon “cut his teeth at punk and hardcore shows. That’s not only evident when he’s making bouncers fear for their lives and flouting noise curfews. It’s an attitude that seeps into his work even now.” As Antwon began working with other bands, producers, and artists, Antwon became a musical mogul; spanning not only club hits, but also some beautifully crafted, rap tracks that are sure to mix the game up from just one listen.
As Antwon released his latest EP, Double Ecstasy “feels like this record is a rebirth,” according to Antwon. As he contorts what makes us all feel human, covering our wants, desires, inner loves, and ultimately, our downfalls; Double Ecstasy is a shaded look into the inner psyche of Antwon, and it is a roller-coaster of emotion from start to finish.
Opening with the instant classic, “Luv” grazes upon the subject of Antwon’s adventures in the “Booty Club.” Only a rising, but forward synth creates the first few moments of sound, it is only after a short build-up where the instrumental starts to come into fruition. Antwon has a striking voice that is instantly grabbing and becomes the very-centerfold of his music. Surprisingly, Antwon challenges the instrumental and nearly overpowers it, almost creating a constant battle on Double Ecstasy.
As Antwon’s first lyrics fade into frame, the track hits a borderline between jokingly and realistic. Antwon describes on the hook, “Show me love, in the booty club. Private dance, I’mma get a hug, tidal wave, bad bitches offer drugs. I don’t care, I’m just here to fall in love.” There is a sudden censorship over the word “love,” almost implying that the word is too serious or too vulgar to be heard. In doing this, Antwon plays his cards close to his chest and reveals many other surprises through slight cues or progressive changes in his music. Antwon also describes here, “Feeling lonely, why should I begin? So I can fill a void? Feel happy just like my friends? But inside, they dying cause them drugs just kicked in.” While the breakdown is a little unfitting and takes the flow of the track out, “Luv” as a package, is a complete journey of amusement when the low, rumbling 808 bass line kicks in and Antwon is switching between chorus and verse almost effortlessly.
This is then the seguing motion to bring in a complete banger of a track, “100K.” Here, there is a twinkling chime that acts as the primary action in the instrumental, but is also rivaled with various claps in the build-up and a bouncing 808 kick drum that lays down one of the more riveting instrumentals of Antwon’s career. Here, Antwon is able to lay down some flashy lines, “Came from a lane, now I sport change…All I do is ball, all I do is spend, A freak say she likes me but it really all depends. In a world with no love, how can you not hate. La-la-laughing to the bank off dank like.” After his first verse, Antwon begins the hook of “100K,” where he makes a sudden change and the beat starts to die down, letting the focus become the, “100K a summer, on front street getting becky from a runner. She want my number, I tell her 1-800, pulling money out the bank now a nigga ballin’ with no ducats.” Happily, Antwon ends “100K” with a quick fade out, and slow build with the next track, “Girl, Flex.”
More of a track that is ominous, the instrumental is instantly sullen within the first 30-seconds. Then as Antwon starts his verse off, it becomes immediately known that this is the first love-stricken track where, Antwon will describe “A nigga died in the piece, please tell my crew,” and “Girl, Flex, it’s time to have sex.” Honestly, this track is more comical than an actual love track, and it is unsure if Antwon is being purely humorous, or actually being serious. From the near-hilarious chorus of “Put the pussy up on my neck,” and “That pussy just flex,” while Antwon is heavily breathing over the instrumental is quite amusing. I enjoy the track, but I personally think it is the weakest of all the 5-tracks on Double Ecstasy as it is taken more as a comical act, rather than what Antwon could have possibly intended.
However, the following track, “Club” is immensely rapid and becomes one of the points of Double Ecstasy where Antwon can show off his quick-witted lyrical style. Antwon describes, “She wanna hold one nut, while I smoke one blunt,” while this pounding bass line reigns behind the deep, but soothing voiced Antwon. The best section of “Club” is where Antwon is running through the chorus/ending of the track where the instrumental is going in full force and Antwon lays rapid lines where he repeats, “Might smoke K in the club, maybe now we all in the club.” Almost instantly, Antwon takes the high-energy of “Club” and transfers it into the final track of Double Ecstasy.
“DRI-FIT” is another banging style of track that relies on a pounding bass line and this oriental synth that reflects and reverbs the sound throughout the track. Antwon delivers wholeheartedly about his, “Gucci cut and I’m a bread and butter nigga, overseas I be blowin’ dope. Glasgow to the London streets with my mans, two bands I be blowin’ snow.” The instrumental as it keeps a slamming style, demands movement and wants the audience to bounce on the rising claps and get down on the bass stomps. Together, the track is immense fun and that is the theme of Double Ecstasy. As soon as the instrumentals start on each track, Antwon wants people to feel his pain, his love, and see what’s inside his deepest thoughts. It can be anything from money, to shows, or primarily sex, but Antwon takes a change and develops an amazing sound through his music. From covering topics like “booty clubs,” to “DRI-FIT T-Shirts,” Antwon proves that he deserves his own lane in rap music, a lane full of love and roses.
Listen to Double Ecstasy Here!!! – Bandcamp/iTunes
New Music – Gold Trotters
American dynamic hip-hop duo, Run The Jewels has emerged from the shadows of single releases, tweets, and multiple teases to drop their newest studio album, Run The Jewels 3 upon the world nearly three entire weeks before the established date. The release date just happened to fall on Christmas Eve, a true Christmas Miracle is the only way to fully describe the sound and chemistry attached to Run The Jewels 3. The album makes quick waves, sudden punches, and holds no limits as both rappers/producers Killer Mike and El-P come crashing in, riding on lions and holding a serious spotlight.
While the opening track, “Down” has more of a reminiscing tone that looks at where both El-P and Killer Mike had first come from and how they, together, “Could have died y’all, a couple times I took my eyes off the prize, y’all.” But they also discuss the adversaries and obstacles they had overcome and what baggage comes along with that as well as the fame and fortune, “I know a few people pray for my demise y’all.” The accounts here seem to be entirely personal, where Run The Jewels had grown from each project and only become superior with each release.
“Down” is more of a gentle opener than the previous releases of RTJ, but is also significant in its own way. Rather than a complex instrumental and impressive punchlines, the writing takes more of a true to life style that allows everything to feel more flowing rather than abrasive. Run The Jewels 3 is welcoming to all in its first few moments, but soon transitions into the old style that fans of both Run The Jewels and the solo careers of Mike and El-P come to expect.
One of the singles released off of Run The Jewels 3, a loud, abrasive, but glorious run of mosh pit inducing lyrics, teamed up with an incredible instrumental makes for the following track, “Talk To Me.” The instrumentals here are going to be the key players of Run The Jewels 3 as they were in previous releases as well, El-P does an indescribable job with the production aspect and every instrumental could stand completely on its own. The lyrics here are more of an icing on the cake that Run The Jewels expertly creates; Mike and El go back to a style that crushes sound waves and they look amazing doing it.
Run The Jewels contains an enormous amount of swagger and walks with an almost puffed out chest, Run The Jewels 3 is no different and contains the “We Will out rap everyone and leave you looking silly” type of attitude. From early pounding drums to the lyrics that have Mike describing, “Rhyme animal, pit bull terrier. Rap terrorist, terrorize, tear it up. Brought gas and the matches to flare it up.” To including El-P’s verse about how, “Brave men didn’t die face down in the Vietnam muck so I could not style on you. I didn’t walk uphill both ways to the booth and back to not wild on you.” Just the sheer amount of charisma that both Rappers present is almost unfathomable, it is certain that this was just as enjoyable to make for them, as it is to listen for us.
A giant of an instrumental delivers “Legend Has It,” relying primarily on a synthetic, lumbering voice that sways from side to side and some pounding 808 kick drums that slam into the listener at full speed make up the majority of the production here. This is where the chemistry of Run The Jewels shines through perfectly, El-P and Mike deliver an energized trade of blows where they almost tornado tag team the instrumental. Even Mike perfectly describes how Run The Jewels acts, “Half of a mongrel and mythical team, Villainous treacherous things. Legend says El is a spawn out of Hell, the myth is my mama’s a murderous queen.”
There is also a switch-up in the beat here where the stumbling voice is then abandoned and instead is picked up by a clicking, runny synth that creates this background chatter behind both Mike and El-P. Most of the tracks present on Run The Jewels 3 feature some significant switch up in either the beat or rhyming style of the MC’s.
There is an example of these lyrical switch ups on the next track, “Call Ticketron.” When entering the third verse from Killer Mike, he adopts a significantly faster rhyming style, explaining that he is, “…The Same lama doo ma lama, danger dick’ll do your mama. Skeeter with the peeter, never eat her, tell her see ya later.” Even El-P tries his hand at the faster style and describes, “Full clip, I’m a little bit sick, come equipped. Look at what I did for the grit, got it lit, what a cinch. Brought ‘em just a little pinch of the truth, and they flip.” The instrumental sounds like it uses the famous track, “It takes two,” by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock; instead of being upbeat however, the track is more of a supersonic creep that almost sound something similar to a futuristic New York; as the references to Madison Square Garden imply.
Following is “Hey Kids (Bumaye)” that features none other than Atrocity Exhibitionist, Danny Brown. Brown has been featured on an Australian tour with both Run The Jewels and Earl Sweatshirt, so he is no stranger to joining in on the Super Friends of Rap. Mike and El-P both deliver their verses and they are energetic, but Danny Brown completely snaps on this track in his usual fashion and takes the extra mile here. His verse includes some great lines about both, “Word architect, when I arch the tech, I’ll part ya neck,” and “Get pearl tongue like every day, so I Run them Jewels in every state. I kill a mic with Killer Mike, roll el’s out with a p’s wit El-P.” Brown is definitely the highlight of “Hey Kids (Bumaye),” and his verse perfectly segues into the next track, “Stay Gold.”
(I am going to break my writing character of pure 100% professionalism… and say Holy Shit… This track is incredible.) This is one of the best tracks that Run The Jewels had ever produced in their careers. The instrumental is heavy-hitting and down-right outstanding, it uses aggressive 808’s and a blazing hi-hat, only to switch up into a short-winded break down. The constant aggression found here is awe-inspiring, this along with the echoing, almost Morse code-like ding in the backing sections creates an ever larger impact on how powerful the instrumental truly is. Then, as Mike and El-P come into frame, the entire track feels perfect. Both verses set the mood into a fiery heat of slick rhymes that conclude with El-P delivering a line about, “Run down yellow brick roads toward riches, just be sure to not trust no wizards. The golden age is gone, admit it, all that’s gold is not gold that glitters.”
Now meeting the halfway mark on Run The Jewels 3, Killer Mike and El-P decide to show no single signs of slowing down and instead carry the energy from “Stay Gold” into the following track, “Don’t get captured.” This is where the political aspect of Killer Mike starts to present itself more and more, as he progresses through his verse, he describes, “Snow on The Bluff showed up, with the slums in the city blown up. Now the white folks showed up, everything bought, sold up… Politicians so corrupt, sold out black ass out. Really ain’t color, my brother here in Cabbagetown they put they white ass out. Truth been told, I’m out.”
This is where El-P can show his political analysis where he describes, “Good day from the house of the haunted, get a job, get a house, get a coffin. Don’t stray from the path, remain where you at, that maximizes our profit. Is that blunt? Oh well, hell, so’s this boot.” Run The Jewels have always had a hand in political rap even since before Run The Jewels had been spawned, here their claims are more focused on the present and more specifically, Police Brutality; thus, the “Don’t get captured” chorus.
There are then no moments wasted as the following track, “Thieves! (Screamed the Ghost)” comes trailing behind. There is not a huge amount to say about this track as it almost seems like a continuation of “Don’t Get Captured,” but instead starts to go into further detail about specific events that had happened in both Mike and El-P’s life, almost referring to people who steal the greatest treasure of all, someone’s life.
Coming to “2100,” the last single that was released on Run The Jewels 3. Run The Jewels described the track as, “For our friends. For our family. For everyone who is hurting or scared right now. Here is a song we wrote months ago. We weren’t planning on releasing it yet but… well it feels right, now. It’s about fear, and it’s about love, and it’s about wanting more for all of us.” Then when looking into the lyrics where both lyricists describe, “The evening news giving you views, telling you to pick your master for president. Been behind the curtain, seen the devil working, came back with some evidence.” The verses go almost in tandem as El-P comes in and describes, “And I don’t know how much it really means to be right, and what a joy it’d be to see some peace in this life.” There is also a feature from BOOTS, who provides some angelic vocalization that only continues to add an additional layer of beauty into “2100”.
Switching the style back to the more rapid runs of Run The Jewels, “Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix)” opens with El-P delivering an acapellic performance before having the instruments launch the track into a frantic, jungle-style beat that uses different clicking of synthesizers to create this sprint of a chorus where Killer Mike, El-P, and Trina who is the featured artist on the track, chant, “I’m the shit, looking at the money like it’s mine to get.” This is then the platform to having Killer Mike come in with his verse, “Run The Jewels will arrive at arenas, bunch of blood thirsty hyenas to get revenge on the kingdoms that killed the dreams of the dreamers.” There is also a strange organ-like instrument that makes an appearance but only briefly before going back into the frenzy, shark fest of verses and immense pain that Mike and El-P bring.
Seguing from “Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix),” the following, “Everybody Stay Calm” is a slowed, but focused track that puts the centerfold primarily on the lyrics. As El-P exposes the track, he explains, “No sleep for the vicious, key up a cop car just to see mischief.” This is another track where punches are thrown by each MC, as Killer Mike responds, “Presidential suite, got a fuck boy jealous. I’m the Nelson Mandela of Atlanta dope sellers.” Almost as if the instrumental is being played underwater, it feels distant and dreamlike. The snare bounces resonate and continue to ring until the next time that they are struck, that is the similar notion when it comes to the bouncing synth bells or objects rather that continue to play behind the instruments as a subtle, but important aspect of the beat.
The next track, “Oh Mama” is more of a build-up to the last two tracks, but it features one of the better uses of the tag-team aspect. As El-P continues through his verse, Mike acts as a hype man here, “ [El-P] You acting like it’s safe when the revolution’s been… [Killer Mike] Called off. [El-P] There’s liars on the loose, if we listen to you we’re [Killer Mike] All Lost. [El-P] The takers of the jewels never singing a tune at [Killer Mike] All Soft.” The chemistry is such a wonderful aspect of Run The Jewels and it is impossible to imagine another duo in Hip-Hop that has that friend-partner aspect. This is the case in the second to last piece, “Thursday in the Danger Room.”
Kamasi Washington features here and delivers a wonderful addition with a saxophone ridden with raising the mood, making a significant change in the instrumentation; combining both live instruments and synthetic instruments as well. As mentioned before, the production is one of the most impressive aspect of Run The Jewels 3. It manages to combine such complex instruments together, as well as creating instrumentals that work in tandem together to create some of the most memorable tracks of 2016 and of Run The Jewels’ career. “Thursday in the Danger Room” is in similar style of “Down” where there are personal accounts taken into aspect and both Mike and El-P describe the feeling of loss, “And I guess I’d say I’ll see you soon, but the truth is that I see you now. Still talk to you like you’re around, and I guess I say you left too soon. But the truth is that you never left, cause I never let myself forget.”
Finally, coming onto the last leg of Run The Jewels 3; “A Report to the Shareholders / Kill Your Masters,” ends the latest saga in what seems like a down note. “A Report to the Shareholders” is a lovely sounding instrumental that is covered by a sullen sounding Mike and El explaining how to overthrow anyone who doubted them on their journey. Killer Mike explains, “It could all be over tomorrow, kill our masters and start again. But we know we all afraid, so we simply cry and march again.” Even El-P shines his political prowess, “It’s all jokes and smoke ‘till the truth start scheming. Can’t contain the disdain for y’all demons, you talk clean and bomb hospitals.”
This then leads into the last verse of Run The Jewels 3, handled by none other than Rage A
gainst The Machine front man and political powerhouse, Zack de la Rocha. Before his verse however, there are some killer lines from Mike and El-P. Mike describes his, “Garvey-mind, Tyson-punch, this is bad news. So feel me, follow me, Devil done got on top of me, bad times got a monopoly.” While the punishing instrumental starts to build momentum, El-P comes in with a clever bar to open his verse, “This life will stress you like Orson Welles on the radio, war after war
of the world, it’ll make all your saneness go.” Then finally, we come to Rocha’s verse who had been present on Run The Jewels 2, so hopes were at an all-time high; he completely delivered.
Rocha starts with a rather lyrical style to open his verse up, “Killer children of men on the throne, roving with no atonement. Got me feeling like I’m Clive Owen rowing through a future frozen.” Rocha then goes on to say, “Shit be grim, and De La born a reaper. Born in the beast and fixing feast tearing its features…We ain’t asleep, we rope a dope through the flames. Man, the world gonna ride on what’s implied in the name, Run ‘em.” With one of the hardest-smacking, bone-crushing, rap groups this world has ever seen, Run The Jewels makes their music seem like something of a lyrical, but aggressive dream.
Listen to Run The Jewels 3 Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes/Website
Classic Day – Fun In The Dark
The Groovie Ghoulies were a Sacramento band that originally released their first record Appetite for Adrendochrome, all the way back in the distant land of 1989. Becoming local legends and a moderate name in pop-punk, The Groovie Ghoulies went on to produce Born In The Basement, World Contact Day, Re-animation Festival, then finally coming into 1999 where Fun In The Dark would hit the public and while not much information is displayed about The Ghoulies, it appears they move at night and recorded Fun In The Dark in front of a “dead audience.”
The line-up would see consistent changes through-out The Groovie Ghoulies career, however, Fun In The Dark includes Chris “B-Face” Barnard on the bass who was also a popular musician in a little band called The Queers, a guitarist and vocalist Rochelle Sparman who spawned the nickname “Roach,” and a drummer, Jeff “Kepi” Alexander who also provided vocals as well. The band would adopt a Ramones style of punk rock, but also kept a modern spin on the lyrical style and even the sound of the instruments.
Opening with “Carly Simon,” a dashing guitar track that displays some of that Ramones’ charm where for a split second the track almost sounds like something along the lines of “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Still finding their own identity, The Groovie Ghoulies change their lyrical style to fit more into the horror-punk genre where the lyrics discuss horror movies or topics like witchcraft, science fiction, and death. Kepi who delivers most of the vocal aspect of Groovie Ghoulies happily exclaims, “It’s just like Carly Simon said, things are coming ‘round again.” This is then leading into the second section where the tone changes and he explains, “Things started going wrong, didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t very long; those magic words rang true.” Kepi’s vocal style of the more fright-inducing lyrics soon shine through as The Groovie Ghoulies move onto the next track of “She Gets All The Girls.”
More of a love song than anything, “She Gets All The Girls” takes a few guitar solos and displaces them around the track before coming into different rephrases and choruses where Kepi can solemnly tell, “I’ve given up, I don’t even try, I don’t need to tell you why…I can’t explain, I wrack my brain, the times have changed; I’m so out of her range.” The percussion here is more of a straight-forward approach that uses a two-step snare beat style that enforces movement. B-Face on the track creates his own rhythm section that varies on following the guitarist and making his own path. His style is almost rockabilly and follows more of a thumping than a usual buzzing bass line for punk music.
The Groovie Ghoulies are a strange, but wonderful arrangement of genre-bending tracks that especially show through on the following self-titled track, “Fun In The Dark.” Switching from a blaze of hits with the previous two tracks, “Fun In the Dark” is more of a slowed down approach to a punk track that has Kepi shouting “Fun in the Dark!” The guitar here is frequent strumming that moves along the fret board almost seamlessly. Just as quickly as it began, “Fun In The Dark” ends and goes following the similar style on “(She’s My) Vampire Girl.”
The real adjustment is when the track, “Lonely Planet Boy” comes into frame and acts almost as a punk-ballad. The entire style of the music is altered here and instead of pounding drums and flying guitar work, The Groovie Ghoulies act more as a slick, love struck group that keeps the action moving at a moderate pace, but instead adopts a lovelier sound. This is also the longest track on Fun In The Dark, an album that has a mere run-time of just 1-second under 30-minutes. The percussion and guitar work in tandem together and act more as one conglomerate, rather than their own separate entities. When the guitar makes a move, the drums follow right behind, and this is the same in vice-versa. Both instruments together make one of the more rememberable and everlasting tracks present on Fun In The Dark.
The next few tracks, “Have Your Way With Me,” “(She’s Got A) Brain Scrambling Device,” and “Outbreak” all follow the same sort of distinction. A variation on chords and tempo played of course, but the tracks sound similar and almost seem to be mushed together into one package. It is only when the track, “The Spell Is On,” does the sound completely change and become an interesting mix of all three hydra-heads of The Groovie Ghoulies. The percussion and guitar form a rhythm section that allows the bass to make its own path again, acting as the backbone of the track, while the drums take the centerfold. Vocalist Kepi stays on the subject of love; singing, “Don’t try and fight it, just let it be… ain’t no denying you’re the one for me… You’ll think only of me every single hour, The spell is on and you’re under my power.”
Starting to wrap up loose ends, The Groovie Ghoulies moves into the final act of Fun In The Dark where the process once again speeds up with “Ivy Says.” Following the similar style of some of the earlier tracks on the record, the guitar and vocals become the main “meat” of this track and while brief, still make for yet another jamming song. The Groovie Ghoulies constantly change up their style and make a break for the relaxed method of “Laugh At Me.” Rather than launching into a full-frontal assault, the track starts a gradual progression that leads into the final rephrase where The Groovie Ghoulies start to shift into more of a frenzied style where the drums play a loosely and the guitar follows right along side.
Almost taking the coat-tails of “Laugh At Me,” the following track, “Let’s Go To The Moon,” starts with a countdown starting from 8-1, before jumping straight into the quick moving guitar and where the primary aspect of the vocals are handled by Roach who describes in radio static, the “different creatures” who live out in the deep void of space.
Finally, a sprint of a closer, “Don’t Make Me Kill You Again,” instantly sparks the flame and becomes a rushed jam session of stylish guitar work, and some decent bass runs that play in the background to give the tracks more depth behind the other instrumentalists. Kepi almost passive-aggressively explains, “This job is definitely becoming unfun. Don’t Make Me Kill You Again…” As soon as the last note resonates, The Groovie Ghoulies fade back into the darkness from which they came, only to return again when the graveyard fog rolls in, and the mausoleums crack back open.
Buy Fun In The Dark Here!!! – Amazon
PUTTING ON A SHOW FOOLS
COME HANG OUT WITH ME AND SOME OTHER DOPE PEOPLE IN THE NAME OF LOVE…
$5 BUCKS TO COME GET AN ENJOYABLE SHOW AT THE LOVELY MR. ROBOTO. PROJECT IN BLOOMFIELD…
SERIOUSLY, COME OUT AND SHOW SOME LOVE FOR OTHER PITTSBURGH ARTISTS…
TICKETS CAN BE ORDERED THROUGH MY STORE HERE!!! OR YOU CAN JUST SIMPLY MEET ME… IT’S ALL GOOD… I DON’T BITE
SETLIST INCLUDES –
BRANDON AND SOME BANGING DRUMS
IZZYREAL? OR NAH?
ISAIAH SMALL
DON’T MISS OUT… IT’LL BE FUN…
Misc. Day – Sorrow And Extinction
Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Pallbearer is a doom-metal/stoner-rock band with a grand sound. Swapping through different members, Pallbearer has seen drummers come and go until finally sticking to a final entourage of Brett Campbell on vocals and guitar, Devin Holt on backing vocals and guitar, Mark Lierly on percussion, and Joseph D. Rowland on the bass guitar, along with some backing vocals thrown into the mix. The band relies heavily on their spacious sound and brute-force that can not only destroy, but also rebuild from the foundation up, to make one of the best records to come out of rock music.
Opening with a gentle acoustic guitar that is light on the ears, “Foreigner” gives off more of a laidback and relaxed introduction to the punishing sound that will follow. The instrumentation launches into more of sludge induced march with full bravado of guitars, drums, and rather cleans sounding vocalization that almost creates a constant contrasting nature within Sorrow and Extinction’s sound.
Rather than going straight in for the “kill,” Pallbearer would instead create more of a melodic centerpiece and suddenly leap into the spacious sound with lyrics that exclaim, “All along the dark and forbidden way, I can…I can feel their eyes and see their arcane thrones. So between my steps, I rest to gather up my strength, I must keep pushing onward.” Every track on Sorrow and Extinction manages an almost perfect segue into each following song, making the entire record feel as though it was completed in one single take.
More of a straightforward crush starts “Devoid Of Redemption,” allowing the instrumental to obtain a full, substantial sound. Each instrument present is able to make a significant impact; this is especially true during the break down where the drums from Zach Stine and lead guitar from Holt are able to work in tandem together, creating an aggressive build of energy that peaks with vocals from Campbell. Stine who is no longer with the band did exceptional work with his constant cymbal shifts where the ride and crash cymbals are used to provide the primary sound of his set.
There is also Campbell, who has consistent clean vocals throughout Sorrow and Extinction, but there are some cases in where his vocals use reverb and different effects to make his voice seem more projected and more filling than it actually is. Between the solos from Holt and Rowland, constant pounding of the percussion from Stine, and the wonderful sustaining notes of Campbell, Pallbearer joins together to make a dooming combination.
Graceful, powerful, and Earth-shattering, “The Legend” is able to sound more in style to the “Stoner Rock” label where the melodies present are much slower and the music itself feels weighted, but droning as well. Interestingly enough, there is a huge amount of complexity and the majority of instruments all play a significant part in making Pallbearer’s sound completely unified. Even as the members play entirely different sections of music, the band still works as a machine, making every track have an enormous amount of chemistry.
Relying heavily on the guitars and percussion to make most of the sound of Pallbearer, there is more of a focus on the lyrical aspect on “The Legend”, where vocalist Campbell can gracefully add, “No more to breathe the air, to feel the warmth of summer. As I start to slip away, I know my time has come.” The lyrical style is seemingly lugubrious and lingers on the subject of death or the everlasting end.
As stated before, Pallbearer is more of an instrumentally driven band on Sorrow and Extinction and the following track, “An Offering Of Grief” shines through on their capabilities as instrumentalists. Able to create seismic activity through the rumbling bass-lines and overall daunting sound, Pallbearer is also able to manage a real sense of beauty behind their music. When “An Offering Of Grief” begins to snowball and pick up, becoming more rushed than at the original start. Pallbearer finds themselves using more echoing vocalization and downright wicked guitar solos that almost seem underwhelming when played beside the crashing cymbals and the anchor of a rhythm section, that lock the band in an outstandingly bold fashion.
Finally, Sorrow and Extinction comes to “Given To The Grave,” peeling back the curtain with a sullen bass-line and beautiful harmonic vocals that sound like a church choir, there is an instant duality within the track. This is then the seguing motion that leads Pallbearer into the usual crashing fashion of overpowering, but still graceful instrumentation. Creating a perfect album to throw on and just strictly listen to with zero distraction. Sorrow and Extinction keeps such a fine line of excellence within the instrumentation and, even as the vocals make few appearances, the presence is still known well enough to stay substantial.
Sorrow and Extinction is a gorgeous album and through the constant stages of metamorphic like changes where the band can shift the tone in a matter of seconds only continues to display a new factor in Pallbearer’s music. “Given To The Grave” shows in complete fashion where the sound can consistently twist from peaceful to blasting in only a moment’s notice. From Earth-shattering, to fading out, Pallbearer makes sorrow and extinction seem amazingly less bleak than it originally can sound.
Listen to Sorrow and Extinction Here!!! – Spotify/Bandcamp (Record Label)/Bandcamp (Artist Page)/Amazon
TOP TEN LIST – BEST OF 2016 FOOLS
What a banging year for music, from both the new surprises, and old favorites; this has been one of the best years for music to come out and I can not be more excited for what 2017 will bring.
Starting with my top ten list of music that I could not stop listening to this year. Most of this I have reviewed or have at least tried to let people stream one way or another. This site has grown so well and completely blown away my first expectations, it always amazes me to see people actually reading and hearing what I listen to. I started this as a way to expose more artists and hopefully let people that only have 1,000 listeners start selling out shows and moving from city to city on tour for fans. I made T-Shirts, Buttons, Stickers, and even an Instagram, Facebook and Twitter devoted to sharing to an even wider audience all for the fans of music out there. I have immense hope for 2017 and the future of MattsMusicMine.com . Together, we can all work together and discover something new that we had no idea about previously.
ALSO THIS LIST WILL JUST BE A TOP LIST OF SHIT THAT I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO… I DON’T CARE WHAT YEAR IT CAME OUT, MUSIC IS AGELESS AND WILL FOREVER BE THE PERFECT REMEDY TO EVERYTHING. I WILL DO ONE OF THESE EVERY YEAR TO SEE JUST HOW MUCH MY MUSIC TASTE CHANGES OVER THE YEARS… (ALL CAPS WHEN YOU SPELL THE MAN NAME)
Without further ADO… HERE IS THE TOP TEN LIST OF 2016 HOES!!!
ALSO THERE IS NO ORDER…
10. MADVILLAIN – MADVILLAINY….
I HAVE FOREVER LOVED THIS ALBUM FROM FIRST LISTEN…
ALSO MY FIRST REVIEW…
10 OUTTA 10 FOOL…
REVIEW
9. RADIOHEAD – A MOON SHAPED POOL
THOM YORKE IS SAD…
THIS ALBUM IS BEAUTIFUL…
REVIEW
8. DAVID BOWIE – BLACKSTAR
PRETTY CLICHE SO FAR…
SORRY…EH
REVIEW
7. DEATH GRIPS – BOTTOMLESS PIT
DIRTY… FAST… SEXY…
YOU KNOW HOW I LIKE DEATH GRIPS
REVIEW
6. ICE CUBE – AMERIKKA’S MOST WANTED
OOHH MAN… GOT DAMN
OLD HIP-HOP IS STILL DOPE…
NO REVIEW 🙁
5. KAYNE WEST – MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY
I LOVE OLD KANYE AND NEW KANYE…
GET OVER IT…
NO REVIEW 🙁
4. BAD BRAINS – BAD BRAINS (BANNED IN D.C.)
THIS SHIT WILL ALWAYS BE TIGHT
PAY TO CUM…
REVIEW
3. TRASH TALK – TANGLE EP
SAW THIS LIVE IN PHILADELPHIA..
WEAKNESS IS A SICKNESS…
REVIEW
2. $UICIDEBOY$ – I NO LONGER FEAR THE RAZOR GUARDING MY HEEL (III)
GOT DAMN IS THIS SOME LONG AWAITED FIRE…
I STILL LIKE PART TWO BETTER… BUT THIS DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
NO REVIEW 🙁 … BUT IT CAN BE STREAMED HERE
THE NUMBER ONE…
NOT REALLY NUMBER ONE…
JUST SOME SHIT I REALLY LOVE AND LOOKED FORWARD TO…
IF YOU KNEW ME AT ALL…
YOU KNOW WHAT IS COMING…
THE LAST ALBUM THAT I CAME TO OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO WAS…
RUN THE JEWELS – RUN THE JEWELS 3 (MOTHERFUCKERS)
OH MAN…
I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE WAITED ON MY LIST SO I DID…
THANK YOU MIKE AND EL-P…
MERRY CHRISTMAS…
NO REVIEW… (YET) 😉
WELL THAT IS IT FOR THE END OF THE YEAR… THANK YOU FOR THE PEOPLE WHO READ THIS STUFF AND PUT UP WITH ME…
NO DAYS OFF…
NO BREAKS…
ALWAYS FORWARD…
NEVER BACKWARD…
MERRY CHRISTMAS… HAPPY HANUKKAH… I LOVE YOU…
P.S. I LOVE EACH AND EVERY PERSON WHO READS OR HATES ON ME…
I’M TAKING THIS SHIT NEXT LEVEL AND I HAVE HUGE PLANS FOR THE FUTURE…
New Music – No… (Post Malone)
Post Malone, or actually known by his birth name as Austin Richard Post. First rising to fame with his track “White Iverson,” Post Malone now tries his newest take on the debut record Stoney. Previously, Malone has released a mixtape, August 26, which was received well by the general public but was ultimately a record I did not find to be as engaging or great as everyone else. Stoney is similar to the last release, and only further proves that Post Malone is more of a one-hit-wonder with flashy instrumentals than a substantial artist, making waves on the music scene.
Opening with “Broken Whiskey Glass,” a highly reverbed, but ultimately a well-produced instrumental feeds into Post Malone’s dreamy style of vocalization. He begins with the lyrics, “Slaved for the man and I broke my fucking back, so you can take your nine-to-five and shove it up your ass…I done spent some time chasing women that don’t give a shit, I done learned my lessons and I ain’t never gon’ forget.” A solid, but deceiving opener that leads into “Big Lie.”
This is where Stoney takes its natural mold and becomes the radio-friendly “music” that it truly is. “Big Lie” is busy and while the fairly layered instrumentation uses 808’s and finger snaps, Malone delivers a verse here where he states, “So you flexin’ that’s a big lie. When I pull up, get this bitch live, and you know that I’mma get mine.” The track’s subject matter and Stoney’s for that matter is primarily about coming up, flexing, and how Post Malone is constantly in a wave of emotions.
Following is “Déjà vu,” a “Hotline Bling” style of island pop track that features none other than Justin Bieber for a quick verse on here. The instrumental uses some dreamscape guitars that echo and float through the track and has Post Malone delivering a verse over about, “I’m trying to see you from my own perspective, you all in my section tryna come to my section.” This then opens the floodgates for Bieber to come in and slow the track down into more of a somber, club track where the instrumental becomes the key player on “Déjà Vu.” The burst of hi-hats and the echoing instrumentals keeps the track moving, but this then becomes the concurrent sound of the album that never seems to change or differ from the social norms of popular trap/radio/hip-hop music.
“No Option” flies into frame and is heavily focused on 808 synth clap beats, and is in similar fashion to the other tracks present on Stoney. It is slowed, but unfortunately does not do enough to really sway the balances of the sound or enough to keep this track from standing out among the other tracks.
Then, “Cold” appears and the instrumental present is okay, but almost too complex and layered for the style that Post Malone adopts with his singing. It changes so often, and tries to put Malone into this slowed style of singing that overall just does not work in too well or as well as it could have been if Malone had put more effort into the actual verses of the track, rather than the chorus. The entire track seems to rely on the production to carry it through and honestly, it is the only saving grace present here and that is the theme for the rest of the tracks present on Stoney. Post Malone comes with a usual slick production, but no flash in his lyrical style or game.
Finally, we come to “White Iverson,” Post Malone’s true claim to fame. The single that originally launched him so far, “White Iverson” has no doubt been heard before and is unfortunately, the best track on Stoney. While being released over a year ago, it is slightly confusing to see it present here and ultimately, one of the album’s few high points.
Following is “I Fall Apart,” which is surprisingly a moody, and semi-pop-punk style of track where Malone delivers a love-sick verse that includes some attacking hi-hats and a surprising breakdown in the midpoint. In the breakdown, bouncing synths start to build and eventually launch back into the real prime meat of the track where Malone can deliver a few verses, but again seems primarily focused on the hook of the track, “…didn’t know it before, surprised when you caught me off guard. All this damn jewelry I bought, you was my shorty, I thought.” The main problem that I have with this album, is that no song has a true identity. Every single track sounds nearly identical in chemistry and variation, and there is seemingly no difference between any of the tracks. It is near impossible to find a distinction that sticks out and makes a difference for any of the songs here, all 18 of them.
In comes “Patient,” another (You Guessed It!!) radio friendly trap song that uses hi-hats, snare bounces in the breakdown, and auto-tuned singing. Post Malone delivers the first real verses that last longer than 20-seconds and they are average. They do not sway towards outstanding or mediocre, and this appears to be the mantra that is repeated throughout the entire release of Stoney, it takes no real challenge and unfortunately comes to a shaky middle ground where it does not leave a true mark on music and almost seems to shuttle away once it is over.
An acoustic guitar opens the first section of “Go Flex,” but that is rather quickly shot down to instead adopt the usual style of falling back into the safety net of the booming bass and the rattling hi-hats. Here, “Go Flex” uses some guitar in the backing section, but the trap music style and guitar do not mix well and it provides mixed emotions for Stoney. Does Stoney want to be this radio mass appealed record where everyone hears it and loves it? Or was it supposed to be more of a serious project that real music lovers will understand and gain Post Malone more fans? The morose and brooding subjects on certain tracks is near-antisocial and does not appeal to a mainstream audience, but then the instrumentals present are going to appeal to everyone as they are easy club beats. It is unsure where the album wants to fall, even this track as the ending lands onto a solo of Malone playing the acoustic guitar; where was this album heading?
As we travel further down the rabbit-hole, “Feel” comes about and while not a bad instrumental, it still falls victim to the pit falls where there is no change in format or anything that gives the track a true identity. Even after listening to Stoney multiple times, I still can not pick out a single track that stands out, they all blend together as a soup, rather than a substantial meal. “Feel” features Kehlani and again, her verse is okay, but ultimately doesn’t add much. Malone then comes crashing in with this downright awful line or interjection rather where he states, “Fuck.Me.Till.I.Can’t.See.Straight.” It just was not appealing or satisfying in anyway.
I am starting to sound like a broken record and honestly I don’t want to go any further with this record review. There are 8 more tracks on this record… I am serious, this thing is THAT long… I really do not enjoy hating on anyone and I wish success on every man. But Post Malone… Maloney baby, this is garbage… Please, you can be better than this… DO something original, and I am a small, but humble young man who wants to see you go on and make a better record. You can do it, I believe in you.
As for the other 8 songs… They all sound the same, buy this record to help Post Malone but don’t listen to it. Please… do yourself a favor and don’t…
(DON’T) Listen to Stoney Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
Link to a huge fan of this album here!!!
New Music – Hearth and Chimney
Hodgy, formerly known as Hodgy Beats, now adopting a new persona tries his hand with the newest release, Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide. Focusing more on his personal story, gone are the Odd Future lines that seem almost like a lifetime ago. This is a new chapter on Hodgy’s career and life, and a step in the right directions.
The introduction, “Nitro” speaks about the “That fire inside, not that head… it’s not what’s in your head. In our head they tellin’ you, ‘They gonna shoot you, they gonna kill you, they gonna…You could have all the money in your pocket and you dead in five seconds from a car crash, you know what I’m saying?’” Hodgy is not entirely present on “Nitro” and the spoken-word is instead read by a woman’s voice that is basically explaining that anyone can end up dead, and nothing but death is an absolute in life.
This then leads into the first real track, “Kundalini” Kundalini is a type of primal energy which is located at the bottom of the spine in Hindu culture . Hodgy channels this energy through a boom-bap style beat that uses warping synthesizers in the background and a steady hi-hat to make up the instrumental. There is also a feature from Salomon Faye who starts the track off with a few bars about, “Shape shifting, better plains of existence. Enter this dimension by the words of the sentence, willpower by real power, creation be the sorcerer,” and “Slayer and savior, leader and player, player hater, how you unworthy of the presence.”
Trailing right behind is Hodgy and his debut appearance on the Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide. Hodgy begins with a passive, but aggressive lyrical style that brings more of a laid back approach, but some more than slick bars, “It is he that holds the key to places between heaven and hell… I’m a man, I’m a sinner, oh lord forgive me, forgive us. This world is fading, it’s crippled. Draw up the contract in the stipulation.” The outro of “Kundalini” is more of a glory-ridden instrumental that uses electric guitar to resonate through the last few moments before leading in the heavenly toned single, “Barbell.”
Ethereal voices and an R&B styled percussion are present here, making the true focus of the track become Hodgy’s vocals. He includes some lines about, “I’mma tear it up and rip shit apart nigga, Hey, I’mma play my part nigga… Most people come and intoxicate your circle, suck the life out of your circle.” His lyrics here are more story driven and talk more in depth about the means of an end, rather than his beginnings.
This allows “Resurrections,” which is one of the better tracks on Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide through both production and lyrical levels. The production on this track is conspired of backing bass lines, rattling hi-hats, and a sampled voice that makes up the beast or hydra of an instrumental. There is also a chorus where Hodgy can shine through where he ecstatically explains, “I’m thankful for my life, I’m grateful. We all gonna die someday.” Here, this is where Hodgy has similar verses in the subject matter of “Barbell,” as he discusses his death, and what will ultimately lead him there.
A dreamy piano and crashing hi-hats are the opening of the next track, “They Want.” Hodgy becomes more energized here and includes some lines about, “They want you to fail, they want you to hate yourself,” and a line about “I know myself thoroughly, lead to attraction. When you’re taking to me, look at me, don’t be distracted.” He concludes on how immensely proud he is of his accomplishments and how he became his own master, “I’m a boss nigga, cut your circulation off nigga. Deal with your issues that you gotta resolve, I ain’t involved with ya.” Hodgy then takes the action into more of an authentic sound with the next track, “Final Hour.”
Using an upright bass and some more than flashy percussion to make up the instrumental, Hodgy becomes an animal and spits his lyrics in such a rapid fashion and this could be in tandem to the way that Busta Rhymes who is featured on the track, and his incredibly fast style of rhyming. Hodgy and Rhymes are both on similar lyrical styles, but the beat is unfortunately a tad lacking here and does not match their drill like style of rhyming, it is slightly underwhelming when played all together.
“Glory” however, is one of the best instrumentals on Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide where Hodgy delivers lyrically as well, “If I could ask for anything it would be apprehension, Malice is pretentious, no further questioning.” The production features a 90’s style piano and an upright bass line, the entirety of the track is similar to what A Tribe Called Quest would do as it contains that certain 90’s charm that Quest was associated with.
Now, a rather strange conceptual beginning, “Laguna” features Hodgy delivering punch lines about, “I’ve learned that ball is life and I’m the goalie. My pride is my treasure; my ego is stashed away like a goatee. My pen is pointy, start provoking. Pain’s what I harbor mostly, and who I talk to openly.” The instrumental here is an intriguing mix that uses waving synthesizers and an incredible focus on a crunching bass drum. The whole sound of “Laguna” is similar to a wave, it cascades and seems to become a melting pot rather than staying as one conglomerate.
“Turkuoise” starts off and is instantly feeling like a missed opportunity for Hodgy as he tried to make a track that feels loving, but just did not have enough to capitalize on it, making it fall short. Hodgy includes some lines like, “Girl, I ain’t chasing to doubt you… I still can’t live without you.” The instrumental was also lacking here and ultimately; the bars just were not as poetic as Hodgy had been doing before.
Following is “Tape Beat,” which features Lil Wayne and is more of a slowed down and faded instrumental that actually works outstandingly and brings a new level of complexity to Hodgy’s sound. Wayne delivers a fairly powerful verse here, rattling off some lines about, “Never let people get near me, when the reaper come get me. That’s when I reap what I’m knitting, so you say you’re gangsta, I’mma need some convincing.” But Hodgy fires back and on a competitive level, Hodgy comes out on top here, delivering some pure lines, “While trying to beat the dead, you’re just feeding existence. Sometimes you need to take a step back and breathe for a minute, before you overreact to the head and intenseness.” There is then the section where Wayne and Hodgy come together to create a duel-wield of punches from both lyricists, “Catch a nigga riding deep in your women, beep goes the jeep so we winning. Friendless, compete with no nigga but myself.”
This is then the catalyst for “Dreaminofthinking,” an interesting bass and vocal heavy track that has Hodgy crushing some lines, “I never dream constantly, onto better things. Living inside my self-consciousness. I walk up to the doorstep, on the mat, and press the bell that rings. Dealing with goals that I’m conquering, edit segments until it works for me.” The instrumentation handled by Knxwledge is busy, but keeps the action flowing and has this “feel-good” tone attached. “Dreaminofthinking” finds itself onto an abrupt ending and then leads to the rather balanced track, “The Now.”
This is Hodgy’s take on making an inspirational track but it fails semi-short. The instrumental feels suited to a lyrical attack rather than the soft-spoken style of Hodgy here and it feels like a missed opportunity again. The two sections just simply do not mix well and could have become more of a focused track if Hodgy had tried to really go in and not rely on the chorus for the shining moments.
Finally, the last track, “DYSLM,” opens with Hodgy stating, “This song is just for fun, so have fun with it.” It speaks about Hodgy’s changing times and how his life had completely performed a 180 spin. Hodgy includes this level of split-personality where he changes his vocal approach and plays two separate characters. The instrumental is strange, relying on thumping bass and an almost cartoonish style of backing instruments, ending on a bitter note with Hodgy stating, “He [I] ain’t shit.” Thus, leaving a bright future for Hodgy and the future of his musical style.
Listen to Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
THIS IS A LIST OF THE MOST RECENT STREAMS...
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)
MATT'S MUSIC MINE - MERCH FOR SALE
VIDEO REEL 2
LIVE PHOTOGRAPHY – JESUS PIECE AT BABY’S ALL RIGHT, DECEMBER 6TH, 2022
SUNDAY SAMPLER // (Playlist) “12/04/2022″
(Track) Jake Mason Trio – “Rib Eye”
(Video) Lightning Bolt – “Dead Cowboy @ TAICOCLUB 2014”
(Video) The Velvet Underground – “After Hours”
(Video) Mac Miller – “10 Years Of You”
(Video) A$AP Rocky – “Same Problems”
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)