Fans of
The Stooges, sixties garage psych, and early Monster Magnet should dig this
project which includes everyone from Monster Magnet except Dave Wyndorf (namely,
Jon Kleiman doing a bit of everything, Ed Mundell and Phil Caivano on guitar,
and Joe Calandra on bass). Stu Gollin, Tommy Southard, and Mike Schweigert
supply even more guitar power. Except for one track (“100 Days (Heron)”) sung
by ex-Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, Tim Cronin provides lead vocals and the group
is rounded out with Jim Baglino on bass and Duane Hutter on harmonica. Most of
the songs have only two or three guitarists playing on them, but the trippy
instrumental “A Man Called Shit” features everyone in the band. All the
guitarists deliver good leads, but Ed Mundell’s work especially stands out to
me. “Exploded View”, “Headless Body, Topless Bar”, and “Suicide Punchline” are
all great trashy sounding rockers while “Bugs on the Bluefish” sounds like an
outtake from Monster Magnet’s ‘Spine of God’. This album is proof that America
can still make garage rock every bit as good if not better than the Swedes, even
if it does take 10 or 11 guys to do it. (Bob Ignizio)
Steve
Malkmus has been listening to the Grateful Dead a lot lately. He freely admits
to tape trading with Deadheads in recent interviews. This admission only
confirms what many of us have suspected since the release of Pavement’s final
album ‘Terror Twilight’. Steve just wants to jam. While ‘Terror Twilight’ had
it’s moments, it remains an unfortunate swan song for a band that primarily
reveled in lo-fi tongue in cheek torch songs. Pavement’s bratty refusal to be
straightforward about anything was their greatest charm. Malkmus’ first solo
album rightfully earned him the mature tag as he showcased coherent narrative
songwriting ability on tracks like “Jennifer and The Ess-dog”, and “Church on
White”. ‘Pig Lib’ features a few songs from that mold, but they seem to be just
interludes between the longer extended jam pieces like the disconcerting album
opener “Water and a Seat,“ and the nine minute long “1 % of one.” These songs
should put to bed forever all doubts about who was responsible for songs like
“Folk Jam” and “Speak See Remember” from ‘Terror Twilight’. ‘Pig Lib’ will
probably attract fans of Phish and other bands that people follow around the
country in old German automobiles to Malkmus while the multiple guitar solos
scare away the original crop of Pavement fans that are old enough to have bought
‘Slanted and Enchanted’ the first time it was released. As for the modern indie
rock kids they’ll probably want nothing to do with ‘Pig Lib’, dismissing it as
classic rock as they reach for that new Bright Eyes disc. With these stoner
tempos and background harmonies, Malkmus has likely alienated everyone who pays
attention to the genre that he once helped to define. (Dave Ignizio)
Old Man’s Child – ‘In
Defiance of Existence’ (Century Media)
Although
main man Galder (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) is in Dimmu Borgir now, he
still found time to do another Old Man’s Child album. Along for the ride is
Dimmu Borgir bandmate and ex-Cradle of Filth drummer Nicholas, and second
guitarist Iaroar. The result of their collaboration is an album that sounds
like a mix of Emperor, Opeth, and Dimmu Borgir. Some parts are straight forward
black metal, some have a progressive rock influence, and there’s a touch of
Dimmu’s gothic keyboard stylings. The vocals are all in the black metal style
(no “clean” voice to pretty things up) and blast beats abound. Still, there are
plenty of memorable musical hooks to stick in your brain and raise ‘In Defiance
of Existence’ to a level well above the average black metal release. Killer
tracks like “Felonies of the Christian Axe” and “Black Seeds on Virgin Soil”
aren’t likely to convert those who already hate the genre, but the faithful
should be pleased. (Bob Ignizio)
‘Pierce
My Brain’ shows that punk rock can grow old with dignity. These guys go back to
the seventies, when they played the Akron scene with the likes of Devo and The
Bizarros. Now they’ve decided to give it another go, and the results are one of
the best punk albums I’ve heard in a while. The title track tells of a guy
who’s exhausted all the traditional forms of body modification. ‘I Don’t Wanna
Be a Punk No More’ is a great song about wanting to maybe play some jazz or grow
a beard, but not being able to because “all my friends would laugh at me and say
I’m getting weird.” “Dead Boy (Eulogy for Stiv)” is a song for the late Dead
Boys/Lords of the New Church vocalist that tries to look on the bright side,
like the fact that Stiv “never had to hear a band that’s from Seattle”. On a
more serious note, the band explores how the media manipulates the masses in
“Grip of Fear” and “Your Television Lies”. If you like old school seventies
punk, pick this up when it comes out June 10th. (Bob Ignizio)
Fans of
The Stooges, sixties garage psych, and early Monster Magnet should dig this
project which includes everyone from Monster Magnet except Dave Wyndorf (namely,
Jon Kleiman doing a bit of everything, Ed Mundell and Phil Caivano on guitar,
and Joe Calandra on bass). Stu Gollin, Tommy Southard, and Mike Schweigert
supply even more guitar power. Except for one track (“100 Days (Heron)”) sung
by ex-Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, Tim Cronin provides lead vocals and the group
is rounded out with Jim Baglino on bass and Duane Hutter on harmonica. Most of
the songs have only two or three guitarists playing on them, but the trippy
instrumental “A Man Called Shit” features everyone in the band. All the
guitarists deliver good leads, but Ed Mundell’s work especially stands out to
me. “Exploded View”, “Headless Body, Topless Bar”, and “Suicide Punchline” are
all great trashy sounding rockers while “Bugs on the Bluefish” sounds like an
outtake from Monster Magnet’s ‘Spine of God’. This album is proof that America
can still make garage rock every bit as good if not better than the Swedes, even
if it does take 10 or 11 guys to do it. (Bob Ignizio) 
Steve
Malkmus has been listening to the Grateful Dead a lot lately. He freely admits
to tape trading with Deadheads in recent interviews. This admission only
confirms what many of us have suspected since the release of Pavement’s final
album ‘Terror Twilight’. Steve just wants to jam. While ‘Terror Twilight’ had
it’s moments, it remains an unfortunate swan song for a band that primarily
reveled in lo-fi tongue in cheek torch songs. Pavement’s bratty refusal to be
straightforward about anything was their greatest charm. Malkmus’ first solo
album rightfully earned him the mature tag as he showcased coherent narrative
songwriting ability on tracks like “Jennifer and The Ess-dog”, and “Church on
White”. ‘Pig Lib’ features a few songs from that mold, but they seem to be just
interludes between the longer extended jam pieces like the disconcerting album
opener “Water and a Seat,“ and the nine minute long “1 % of one.” These songs
should put to bed forever all doubts about who was responsible for songs like
“Folk Jam” and “Speak See Remember” from ‘Terror Twilight’. ‘Pig Lib’ will
probably attract fans of Phish and other bands that people follow around the
country in old German automobiles to Malkmus while the multiple guitar solos
scare away the original crop of Pavement fans that are old enough to have bought
‘Slanted and Enchanted’ the first time it was released. As for the modern indie
rock kids they’ll probably want nothing to do with ‘Pig Lib’, dismissing it as
classic rock as they reach for that new Bright Eyes disc. With these stoner
tempos and background harmonies, Malkmus has likely alienated everyone who pays
attention to the genre that he once helped to define. (Dave Ignizio)
Although
main man Galder (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) is in Dimmu Borgir now, he
still found time to do another Old Man’s Child album. Along for the ride is
Dimmu Borgir bandmate and ex-Cradle of Filth drummer Nicholas, and second
guitarist Iaroar. The result of their collaboration is an album that sounds
like a mix of Emperor, Opeth, and Dimmu Borgir. Some parts are straight forward
black metal, some have a progressive rock influence, and there’s a touch of
Dimmu’s gothic keyboard stylings. The vocals are all in the black metal style
(no “clean” voice to pretty things up) and blast beats abound. Still, there are
plenty of memorable musical hooks to stick in your brain and raise ‘In Defiance
of Existence’ to a level well above the average black metal release. Killer
tracks like “Felonies of the Christian Axe” and “Black Seeds on Virgin Soil”
aren’t likely to convert those who already hate the genre, but the faithful
should be pleased. (Bob Ignizio)
‘Pierce
My Brain’ shows that punk rock can grow old with dignity. These guys go back to
the seventies, when they played the Akron scene with the likes of Devo and The
Bizarros. Now they’ve decided to give it another go, and the results are one of
the best punk albums I’ve heard in a while. The title track tells of a guy
who’s exhausted all the traditional forms of body modification. ‘I Don’t Wanna
Be a Punk No More’ is a great song about wanting to maybe play some jazz or grow
a beard, but not being able to because “all my friends would laugh at me and say
I’m getting weird.” “Dead Boy (Eulogy for Stiv)” is a song for the late Dead
Boys/Lords of the New Church vocalist that tries to look on the bright side,
like the fact that Stiv “never had to hear a band that’s from Seattle”. On a
more serious note, the band explores how the media manipulates the masses in
“Grip of Fear” and “Your Television Lies”. If you like old school seventies
punk, pick this up when it comes out June 10th. (Bob Ignizio)