Årabrot - S/T

Label : Fysisk Format

Year : 2013

Norwegian noise rock from Oslo. This being their 6th lp and also being my favorite LP of  the year. It may be a year old, but it's new to me.. so there!!  Årabrot have been at it since 2001 and I'm just now hearing them, I kind of slept on this band (where have I been??) . I just got the vinyl in the mail and haven't stopped playing it. Real sludgy and doomy, but also very Melvins influenced. It also reminds me of early Voivod  and Celtic Frost at times. The vocals really helped me sink into these guys. Great tribal off-tempo drumming helps tie it all together. 

I came across this on one my Bandcamp sessions. Listening to band after band, trying to find something new to get into... well I found it. I have been on a Årabrot kick for the past two weeks and have been able to find some of their other LP's as well. I think with a few listens you will either love this or just kind of go...eh? The whole lp is up on Bandcamp if you require a listen before you commit. I ended buying two of their lp's as a result. It's sounds borderline metal at times, but also you can kind of tell they are taking a piss at some of the black metal that Norway is so infamous for. If you like metal with your noise rock, you'll abso-fuckin-lutely love this! - Slander

Favorite track - Throwing Rocks At The Devil

01.Ha-Satan Deofol
02.Throwing Rocks At The Devil
03.Arrabal's Dream
04.Blood On The Poet
05.Dedication
06.Blood On Bunny
07.Drawing Down The Moon
08.The Horns Of The Devil Grow
09.The Bitter Tears Of Könt
10.Mænads
*(mp4 of the video for Ha-Satan Deofol included)

(If you are looking to purchase some Arabrot vinyl, it's a bit pricey because they don't seem to have a  decent US distributor.. but after some digging around I was able to find their LP's on Amazon for a fair price.)

DL

LISTEN /BUY

WHORES. - RUINER / CLEAN

Label : Brutal Panda

Year : 2014

I recently saw WHORES. and they were selling these at their merch table. I have also added their cover of The Cure's "Jumping Someone Else's Train" (from the split 7" they did with Rabbits). What you end up with is everything the band has put out over the last two years. It plays like a full length release and will give you the meat shits from repetitive spins. I would love to see them release this collection as one release on vinyl down the road. 

WHORE'S are one of the best new bands to come along in the last couple of years from the Atlanta, GA area. If you get the chance you owe it to yourself to see these guys live. They still have some for sale along with vinyl of both releases over at their Big Cartel page or over at Brutal Panda Records. 

Enjoy friends!! - Slander

01. Baby Bird

02. Last Looks

03. I Am Not A Goal Oriented Person

04. Cougars, Not Kittens

05. Blue Blood

06. I Am An Amateur At Everything

07. Daddy's Money

08. Fake Life

09. Shower Time

10.Straight Down

11. Tell Me Something Scientific

12. Jumping Someone Else's Train

DL

LISTEN / BUY

Gay Kiss - S/T

Label : Knuckle Fucker

Year : 2014

If you were lucky enough to catch punk rock supergroup OFF! on their

last tour, then chances are you were one of the lucky ones that got to see Phoenix, Arizona's "Gay Kiss" open for them. One of the best new bands to come across these ears in a while. Gay Kiss blends angry rage induced hardcore with just the right elements of noise rock. 

This includes their first 2 ep's "Dumpster Rules" & "Fault" plus 5 more songs from tour cassettes. They brutalize Nine Inch Nails "March of the Pigs" at the end of this 34 minute scorcher.

Check out their bandcamp page : https://gaykiss.bandcamp.com/ 

01.Deus Ex Machina 

02.Storms 

03.Social 

04.Compassionless 

05.Defenestrate 

06.New March 

07.Spit Oath 

08.Cruelty 

09.Enclave 

10. Rant

11. Sealed

12. Hunting Party

13. Dumpster Rules

14. Last March

15. Caroline

16. Armistice

17. Influencer

18. March of the Pigs

DL

LISTEN

The Rodeo Idiot Engine - Fools Will Crush The Crown

Label: Throatruiner
Year: 2011

It's a post-Botch world, and they just live in it.
I can say that I followed the lineage from Today Is The Day to Deadguy to Botch with great interest. I was a fan of that overbearing mess of torn riffs and scraping vocal roars. Went over well. Not to say that the second tier bands of that ilk did it for me (looking at you Drowningman) with their faux-irony or their reliance on a kitchen sink approach (looking at you Dillinger Escape Plan) that never settled into a satisfying enough wallop. But, done well, the noise-core genre was a particularly effective.
Fast forward over a decade, and I can honestly say that I will still revisit that style occasionally, albeit in proportionally inverse chronological order; meaning, I listen to more Deadguy than Botch these days, and far more Today Is The Day than both.
So, color me surprised when this band caught my ear and I have found myself thoroughly enjoying their homage to the late 90's noise/metal/core amalgamation. It's got the monolithic roaring vocals. It's got the start/stop song structure that can go from flat out grind to G.I. Joe headstomp (just looking for a way to get in a Sick Of It All ref...personal goal) to swirling discombobulation all in three measures. It's an obvious relic of a bygone era, but they do it so convincingly that I'm not one to complain in their case, when ordinarily I'd simply reach for 'American Nervoso' and just call it a day. I mean, hell, even the cover art could have been a Second Nature release circa 1999 (maybe a split with Burn It Down?). So, maybe they are just hitting me in my soft spot (not my vagina...THIS time), or maybe I'm on a nostalgia trip, but I'm thinking this is a real deal good record.
You think?

DL

The Chrome Cranks - Ain't No Lies In Blood

Label: Bang! Records
Year: 2012  


The Chrome Cranks are one of the most underrated bands in the history of noisy rock and roll. I saw The Chrome Cranks back in 95 and again in 97 in Austin, TX and both times had my teeth kicked in, sonic-ally.  They broke up like most of the great lost bands of nineties noise-dom, but have now reformed and have answered their die hard fans with a new record.  They have not mellowed with age, if anything have come back meaner, louder, and driven to deliver what I think is one of the best records of 2012.  If Pussy Galore and The Birthday Party got into a knife fight, you'd get The Chrome Cranks.

Fun facts : Chrome Cranks Guitarist William Weber used to play for GG. Allin & The Murder Junkies, The Candy Snacthers, and Sugarshock. Drummer Bob Bert used to play with Pussy Galore and Sonic Youth for a short time.

DL
re-upped 11-7-14

MTN ISL - God Became Animal

Label: Muckman
Year: 2013

Almost a year ago we posted the MTN ISL (caps lock if you're nasty) demo here, or there if you rather, which we were delighted by, in it's murky post hardcore pall. Well, luckily for you, me, and everyone not currently on ebola quarantine, the proper album version has been released and is available for your earholes. And by "has been released", I mean to say, since November of 2013 it has been available for your earholes. But it's not like we're talking about a fucking carton of milk on the counter, we're talking about top quality Atlanta, Georgia styled rock damage, in the vein of former Atlanta, Georgia greats Freemasonry. Which you can be forgiven if that reference doesn't translate, but in all honesty, once you finish up with MTN ISL make haste to the nearest record store to procure your own copy of Freemasonry's 'Sparrin With The Varmint' album (conveniently located in the dollar bin of every record store ever)!
Of the six tracks here, most fall into the 'mid temp glower' category, meaning a semi-slow burn of Big'N type noise rock that doesn't cut corners on the grit, but remains accessible in a way that you and I can talk about when the adults aren't in the room, cause the adults don't think this sounds anything like their Peter Gabriel tapes (nor should it). It's got a hulking gait that certainly can shake the ground, but it never overwhelms in a blanket of volume, noise, or distortion. It remains in balance. If you were a fan of Sunglasses, then you'll hear some of that (ex-member…so…duh) in here, the dirty viscera of sludgy hardcore clamor, now tempered with a more deliberate and nuanced collection of riffs.
Highly recommended.

DL

Superheater - Something Sticky

Label: self released
Year: 2014

This one sounds like a throwback to a previous throwback to the fuzzy guitar rock of the early to mid 1990s, of which I'm a fan. And by throwback to a throwback, I mean, remember back to the turn of the century...this current century...when there was a "resurgence of rock" or something? There were bands like The Datsuns, The Vines, The Hellacopters, The Von Bondies, The Hives...basically any band with a "The" definitive article in front of their name who were taking elements of pure rock and roll and dragging that through the muddy fuzz of the Grunge Era bands (who were a throwback in and of themselves, but I mean, all music is sort of a throwback really, so...) and basically celebrating (to varying degrees of success) the essence of guitar based music. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Well, now, ten years removed from that guitar rock resurgence comes another generation of that same effort to mine the fertile vein of loud, raucous, catchy, rock music. Four friends, a bass guitar, a drum set, a microphone, a guitar, and a distortion pedal. Done and done. Superheater have the 90s elements, the 00's elements, and then add in a few Brit-pop sort of touches, a few Nirvana-isms, a few proto-metal caveman riffs, and a general "alt-rock" sheen, which I'm ok with. I like it. I like that they can offer up a few different influences and still come out the other side with something catchy and something that harkens back to touchstones that were important to me (the royal "me" of course..."me" is "you", it's always "you").

DL

Mclusky - BBC Wales - 03-02-02

Label: bootleg
Year: 2002

Four songs recorded for the Welsh BBC (which, you may or may not have deduced on your own by piecing together the various clues hidden in the very title of this post...murder mystery!), which don't seem like first generation to me, but then again, I'm not Welsh. Not "bad" sound quality by any means, just doesn't necessarily sound like a radio broadcast, especially when you're used to hearing all the John Peel sessions and whatnot. Small quibble though.
You do get a non-album track (non released for all I can tell) "Date Celebrities Or Die", which is a particularly noisy throb of a song. You get "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues", which is the "hit" I guess, or at least in my mind it is. Sort of a perfect song really. Then you get "Ain't No Fool In Ferguson", which came out as a single a couple years later. And you get "Alan Is A Cowboy Killer", which was on the 'Mclusky Does Dallas' album, and is a wonderful testament to the band's misanthropic humor. So long as you're not in the cross-hairs I suppose. Nothing worse than being brow-beaten by someone more clever than you (not that I'd know).

DL 

Psychic Blood - Drrrty 7"

Label: Nerve Hold
Year: 2013

Highly recommended catchy distorto-rock, for fans of Sonic Youth and lager beer. A great pop song is buried beneath the echoing maelstrom of overloaded guitar and bashing rhythms. It hearkens back to a golden era in the the early 90's when any self-respecting college town in America would have at least one show per weekend of this glorious volume-soaked abandon (the laziest promoters would often times call it "Chapel Hill Night"...that was your signal).
For those of you not past your prime yet, some contemporary touchstones might include Ty Segall meets METZ, or maybe No Age meets Yuck.
Regardless, you will like this one, whether you're old and grizzled or young and fresh (Young Fresh Fellows?), so long as you can get stoked on messy rock music played with full fuzz intact.

DL

Flux - Plains At Ground Zero

Label: Man's Ruin
Year: 1996

This one is sorta strange, by both this blog's standards, and the Man's Ruin record label's standards. It's two hazy-blues, Janes Addiction meets Wool meets Brant Bjork sort of jammers. I shall submit it to you with no further comment.

DL