MOVEMENT: MUSIC REVIEWS

The Autumn Offering

2012-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Fear Will Cast No Shadow

Victory Records

Awesome screams and mediocre singing, heavy bass, decentguitar riffs with

killer solos, the drums will blow you away with theimpressive double bass and

leave you wanting more during the slower spots. This albumis great.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Dethklok

2012-01-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

Dethalbum II

Williams Street Records

This album rocks. The guitar, bass, drums, and vocals aretop notch and the

lyrics are just as brutal as they are hilarious. This albumis worth every penny

of the price they are asking for.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

The Number Twelve Looks Like You

2012-01-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

Worse Than Alone

Eyeball Records

Half punk, half metal, all chaos. Good singer. Weird andrepetitive guitar riffs, awesome drummer.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Ill Nino

2012-01-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Dead New World

Victory Records

Great singer/screamer with good lyrics, awesome guitar riffsthat are not too

repetitive and progress from simple power chords to mindblowing solos, and

impressive drums that change tempo yet still keep up withthe rest of the music.

This is an album that older fans of Ill Nino will enjoy andit will also find

them new fans as well, this album is worth buying.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Genitorturers

2012-01-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

BlackHeart Revolution

G-Force Records

Repetitive guitar riffs and awesome solos fit this style ofmusic. The throbbing bass adds depth and keeps the rhythm. The drums are adequateand keep time but, are not the most impressive. The singers voice is amazingand her lyrics have a hint of humor to them. This album is pretty good and wellworth the money.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Sebastian Bach

2012-01-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

Angel Down

Caroline Records

Awesome guitar and bass riffs and solos, great drums

that are fast and never lose tempo, Sebastian Bach's voicesounds the same as it

did in the eighties.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Jamies Elsewhere

2012-01-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

Victory records
Guidebook For Sinners Turned Saints

Great singers, repetitive guitar riffs, really good drums. This is what a punk metal album should sound like, except for the few slowertracks that don't sound like they belong on this album.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

White Mice

2012-01-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Ganjahovadose

20 Buckspin Records

Too chaotic even for punk, this album must be what the Sex Pistols would have sounded like if they were inspired by Slipknot. This entirealbum is a mess.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Fall From Grace

2012-01-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Sifting Through The Wreckage
HRM Records

This band sounds too much like Blink 182 for the majority of the album. There are a few decent tracks on this album but not enough for me to say that it is worth buying.

Keenan Carter
for MovementMagazine.com

Kittie

2012-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

In The Black

E1 music

I have always liked this band's music, the singers voicestill amazes me to this day. The drums have always been able to keep the fast paceand tempo of their music. And the guitar has always seemed to improve betweenalbums. This is the best Kittie album that I have heard in a while.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

The Mirgrant

2012-01-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

Travels in Lowland

Divine Records

Drawing from the well that Beirut, Beck (early years), Tim Buckley, and Jens Lekman have, The Migrant captures the transient vibes of perpetual movement. Travels in Lowland is a compilation of material gathered from his meandering voyage traversing North America with companions consuming two years (2008-10). Their ambiance they carried around like suitcases, exuding talent, and crashing on friends couches; a rag-tag gang preforming at venues big and small, crowded or bare, zestful or board.

Bjarke Bendtsen is The Migrant a Dane who vocalizes English distinctly well. Most of The Travels in Lowland is acoustic guitar harmonized with various folk paraphernalia i.e.ukulele, accordion, fiddle, hand drums. While chords follow the rhythm line, interesting arrangements preserve the melody in the mind. Psychedelic folk rock rolls undulated over this itinerant artist.

Stand out tracks form Travels in Lowland include: “The Organ Grinder”, the album opener enveloping the listener directly into the psyche of The Migrant, focused and forthright. “Beans,” reminiscent of Beck’s early recordings by being raw, feral, and carrying a repetitive sing-along to the coda. “Don’t Turn Tidal Wave,” the unbridled spirit relentlessly charging at the unknown in hopes of something new, something affectionate, something real...

The Migrant has returned to Copenhagen but plans on touring North America again, soon.

Thomas Bellflower

for MovementMagazine.com

Is Tropical

2012-01-16T15:02:00.000-08:00

Native To
Kitsune

Electro-indie pop from across the pond, Is Tropical’s fourth installment, Native To, is a powerful, energetic exposé. Four-on-the-floor, dance, chaotic sound-scapes and triumphant climaxes set this record out of the bunch. Contemporaries of the genre would consider Is Tropical a marriage of Cut Copy and Lupe Fiasco, but considering the mesh to be contrived, Is Tropical is true to the sound, whatever it may be called. Native To starts strong, eases back, drives down, and concludes like a rave in twilight. Synth-base, throbbing percussion, and masked hooligans are, Is Tropical.

Thomas Bellflower
for MovementMagazine.com

Screamin' Eagle

2012-01-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

Hurricane

Independent

As the noise fades away from the forefront a distant echo isheard... that’s the Screamin Eagle. A message, a voice, a guitar, and apurpose.

“The creator created everything, which means, there isnothing the creator did not create.”

Shaggy, unkempt, self proclaimed rebel armed for revolutionwith a six-string in hand is here, Florida born and Florida raised. ChristopherAlan Nanney is the Screamin Eagle, a singer-songwriter from St. Augustine. Inthe intrepid voyage of life few tenants stand out as a promontory in thevoid like the Screamin Eagle who shrikes across the recesses. It is difficultfor one to know when a voice like his begin to develop because, it’s motive isuniversal, eclectic, and semi-spiritually enveloping.

At the age of 22 he was taken to county jail for breakingand entering the largest, most influential, church (institution) inJacksonville, FL. Found wearing a garment and flailing a scepter, allegedlytaken from the establishment, police encouraged Screamin Eagle to relinquishhis post from atop a decorative fountain, where he was then apprehended.(source)

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=154307

The debut album Hurricane is filled to the brim withcreative song writing inspired by Screamin Eagle’s own meandering experiences.The opening track sapidly invites the listener to a simpler place, one wherethe weeds grow high and time moves slowly with a deliberate pace; nowhere inparticular but lasting, intransient, and ever-so-delightful. “Step, step, stepright in, the water is fine...” From the opening howl to the final vibrationthis album has a familiar, yet, imaginative grasp on the listener.

Stand-outtracks on this album include: “Obama,” harmoniously repeating the chorus with adark introspective tone, “County Jail,” the confession of faith in a duality ofconsciences, “Brand New Dawn,” a playful and elated melody, and “the JesusSong,” a duet featuring Katie Grace Herlow.

ScreaminEagle is an intransigent paradigm of folk. other than a simpleone-two-and-three drum track on the “Obama” song; the album has noaccompaniment. Brilliantly acoustic and unperturbed Screamin Eagle is on “...awhole’nother level.” Although the format is unformitable the beauty of itresonates in the heart, strumming the strings of exquisiteness.

ScreaminEagle’s stage presence is rivaled by few but, hailed by all. Often performingsolely illuminated by lamp light he captures attention immediately, then leadsthe audience into a self assured resolve. It is as if the listener has carnalknowledge of a music dormant in the soul and Screaming Eagle brings itmelodically into prominence.

Superbly drafted, masterfully executed, and performeddutifully commanding attention the debut album by the Screaming Eagle,Hurricane, is the first installment in what is to be a fruitful and prosperouscareer.

Thomas Bellflower

for MovementMagazine.com

Dirge Within

2012-01-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

Force Fed Lies

E1Entertainment

Overall this is a decent album. Awesome guitar work andsolos in every song, an excellent drummer, good bassist. Great vocals andlyrics are found throughout. My only complaints are the overused snare on tracks 6 and 8 seems to tarnish the drummers better qualities. I also thought thattrack 11 seemed a little repetitive with the vocals. Those minor complaintsaside, I think that this band has a lot of talent and anyone who is a fan of heavymetal should check these guys out. Dirge Within rocks.

Keenan Carter
for MovementMagazine.com

The Modern Age Slavery

2012-01-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

Damned to blindness

Napalm records

This band is awesome, the screamer has a decent range in hisgrowls and roars. The guitar riffs are a lot palm muted power chords. The drummer isdecent at times, awesome the next, then all of a sudden he is terrible. Relying too much on his snare. Overall this is a pretty good album that a lot offans of this band

will enjoy.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Celan

2012-01-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

Halo

Exile on mainstream records

I like the singers voice and the drums. The bass is good, but I can't say that about the guitar, which doesn't really sync upwith the rest of the music.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

October Falls

2012-01-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

The womb of primordial nature

Moribund records

Musically great, even though it is predictable. Every songstarts off slow with classical acoustic guitar, then the distortion kicks on. I'msure the singers voice is awesome, granted I could actually hear it. All fourtracks are over eight minutes and sound exactly the same.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Arckanum

2012-01-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Antikosmos

Moribund records

First four tracks sound exactly the same. Then after thechange of pace at track five, the remainder of the tracks sound like track five.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Janus

2012-01-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Red Right Return

Realid Records Inc.

Great singer, great guitar and bass, great drums, andbeautifully composed music. This band is unique in a way, but kind of reminds me of A Perfect Circle.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Darkest Hour

2012-01-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Eternal Return

Victory Records

Good drums, decent guitar, the vocals sound a littlestrained. This album is ok, but

I think this band could do better.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Carnifex

2012-01-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

The Diseased And The Poisoned

Victory Records

Pure death metal, good rage filled guitar, the drums fade inand out between awesome and repetitive with an overused snare, and the vocalsare as great as they are horrifying. This album jumps back and forth fromgood to bad in every track, it's great at an instant then awful the next.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Emmure

2012-01-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Respect Issue
Victory Records

Savage vocals, the guitar is kind of slow in places and fullof angry power chords that are great for this style of music, amazing drums arefast and rhythmic. This band is hardcore awesome.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Asmegin

2012-01-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

ARV
Napalm Records

Great male and female vocals, good music, guitar riffs arefar too repetitive but accompanied by other instruments to compensate, lyrics inNordic. I like this band, they sound like Vikings doing death metal.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

The Red Chord

2012-01-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

Pray for eyes

Metal blade records

Very aggressive lyrics and angry vocals, masterful guitarsolos and breakdowns and a beast of a drummer. The Red Chord does metal right,dothem right,buy their album.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Nuclear Winter

2012-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

This Album is so Underground, Album art is unattainable.

The swords have been forged E.P.

Stay tuned records

Completely devoid of lyrics or vocals, mediocre drums andguitar, decent bass. This band needs work.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Shadows Fall

2012-01-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Retribution
Everblack Industries

Amazing lyrics, backed up by an awesomesinger/screamer, brutal drums never miss a beat and superb guitar shredding. This album is pure metalat its finest.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

August Burns Red

2012-01-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

Messengers
Solid State Records

Awesome drums, guitarwork and vocals, this album is great from start to finish

and should not be missed by any metal fan.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Stuck Mojo

2012-01-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Great Revival

Napalm Records

This album is a trap, at first it's pretty good then itmakes a strange transition from decent crossover metal to some heavy 'Everlast' sounding mess, at first I thought this sounded it like it was going to bepretty good album but each track was a step down from the previous and by the end,I wasn't liking it anymore.

Keenan Carter

for MovementMagazine.com

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

2011-11-14T20:13:00.001-08:00

Sour Mash/Mercury

Going Big requires a bit more than simply turning up the volume. This is something Noel Gallagher has long understood. Sure, with Oasis he had no problem churning out dozens of loud, raucous crowd-pleasing anthems, but during the majority of their live performances he was also just as likely to sway thousands armed with only a acoustic guitar and the strength of his songwriting. Few things rival the pleasure of singing along to a song penned by Noel Gallagher, and with his High Flying Birds, the joys continue. While “maturity” can be a slippery slope for many musicians, Noel seems to dodge a bullet stepping away from traditional rock band arrangements. Dabbling in an array of sounds not featured as heavily in his previous work: pedal steel guitar, choir, strings, horns, the album has a more atmospheric/psychedelic feel to it while still showcasing his knack for grand, sweeping tunes. It’s not a rock album by any stretch, more suitable for a “get-together” than a party, but if you’ve been following him since his band’s reigning days as the Kings of Britpop (yes, they were), chances are you’re older too and have the perspective to appreciate it. Having said that, with songs like “Everybody‘s On the Run,” “Stop the Clocks,” and most particularly “If I Had a Gun,” Oasis fans won’t have any need to retire their lighters just yet.

Tommy Salmon
for MovementMagazine.com

Lords Of Acid

2011-11-07T11:57:00.000-08:00

Little Mighty Rabbit
Metropolis

Ten years of silence for this? You've got to be kidding me. With a sound pitched somewhere between My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult's cast-offs circa the "Dasiy Chain 4 Satan" sessions and, like, Kei$ha, "Little Mighty Rabbit" could be seen as a return to form, of sorts, but that form is unfortunately disposable Eurodisco cheez. You can almost guess how the song sounds without hearing it - female moaning in orgasmic delight? check! generic techno beat? check! distorted vocals? fucking check! - total formulaic disappointment.

Oddly, with rave about to make a comeback as the likes of Tiesto and Swedish House Mafia storm the charts and dudes like Skrillex take dubstep to the teens, with the right remixer this may very well be LOA's moment. Which reminds me, besides the three new numbers, "Little Mighy Rabbit" is padded out wtih no less than nine (!) remixes of the title song. And shame on KMFDM and Chris Vrenna for being two of those remixers.

Thumbs down.

Matthew Moyer
for MovementMagazine.com

The Fall

2011-10-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Your Future, Our Clutter
Domino

Okay here's what I like. I like Fall vocalist/leader Mark E Smith because he triumphantly proclaims that he's gotten rid of all of the “old saddoes” that used to frequent Fall gigs in favor of a younger audience. I like Mark E. Smith because he recently heckled and threw beer bottles at Mumford & Sons. I like Mark E Smith because there's a story that he caught some (soon to be ex-) bandmates dancing in a club to the Clash's “Rock The Casbah” and slapped each and every one of them. I like Mark E Smith because he lives by a dictum that creative application of tension fuels creativity, and as much as that might frustrate audiences and hapless musicians, horrified at the sight of amps unplugged, mics knocked over, keyboard settings erased mid-song, in that particular momen, the fact is that his methods have yielded the desired dividends. For instance, the Infotainment Scam (1993) is every bit as good Hex Induction Hour (1982), and the Fall’s non-system continues to yield dividends on “Your Future, Our Clutter.” Leading a band or relative newcomers (save the steadying presence of wife Elena on keyboards), Smith presides over disjointed rockabilly, alien funk, and razor bursts of minimalist motorik-punk. Every track is wholly other, and thoroughly enjoyable. “You don’t deserve rock n’ roll,” Smith slurs at the very end. He might be right.

- Matthew Moyer

T Rex

2011-10-20T07:24:00.001-07:00

The Slider
Fat Possum

Still fearlessly freaked-out and ahead of their time! From the first notes of "Metal Guru," with a thuggish rockabilly beat and an effete scream fading into a Wildean swoon, it's immediately clear that "The Slider" is total generation gap music. Either you're on the side of proper, denim-clad blues rockers or you're on the side of Marc Bolan and his long-haired, glitter-eyed, swan-riding legions. Thirty-something years on, not a note of this near-perfect album has aged, and with everyone from David Bowie (one who appropriated most of his pansexual vibe and elfin good lucks) to Siouxsie and the Banshees to Ariel Pink, it's clear who won the war. And yet, playing this album is still, in a way, drawing a line in the sand; a matter of glamour vs. technique, teenage kicks vs. corporate sponsorships, the joy of strumming your first barre chord vs. endless scales and solos. Ex-Mod and ex-Hippie Marc Bolan was already a counterculture favorite with his Tyranossaurus Rex and their fey, blissed out tales of "children with sky in their hair" but it was only when he donned a top hat and discovered his latent rock god that he really caught fire. Bolan created rock that was so defiantly dumb and hamfisted while simultaneously femme that it bordered on total mad genius. Marc Bolan would run with this idea for the rest of his too-short life, giving birth to glam rock, punk rock and pretty much any underground, guitar-based music that would follow. And what an idea! An identical, pounding, four-to-the-floor drumbeat on ever single song, and minimal variations on the same simple, slashing, one-maybe-two chord rifferema that pillaged Sun Records and Bo Diddley recasted it in glittering golds and silvers all lorded over by an almost impossibly dandified Marc Bolan, whose orgasmic, falsetto vocals were dripping with so much affectation that they make Quentin Crisp look like Bob Seegar. "The Slider" is not as over-the-top RAWK as the equally timeless "Electric Warrior," but this is silken caveman jive of the highest order. Listen to this, memorize it like a holy text. Trust me, homework will never be this fun.

- Matthew Moyer

Astronautalis - THIS IS OUR SCIENCE

2011-09-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Astronautalis

THIS IS OUR SCIENCE
Fake Four Inc

The first word that comes to mind when I think about Astronautalis' latest effort, THIS IS OUR SCIENCE (Fake Four Inc, out September 13, 2011), is "unexpected." Not unexpectedly good, because I expected it to be good, at the very least, but it's so much more than that. Even stylistically speaking it is not [initially] unexpected. What is unexpected about THIS IS OUR SCIENCE (I promise, when you listen to it a time or two, you'll be spelling it in all caps, too) is all the points hit between. It's not an album that starts or finishes strong, it's more of a shockingly cohesive greatest hits album that stays remarkably strong throughout. Even the two songs I did not exactly dig at first ended up worming their way into my heart on the second listen by the strength of their lyrics (because the second listen is reserved for just sitting, soaking and actually hearing the words). And upon that second listen, I got to really hear the story within the mix, which itself granted understanding of why the songs sound as they do and almost immediately flipped them from being songs that didn't do too much for me, to two of my favorites. So, don't overlook thatthis is essentially a book of short stories put to (quite spectacular) music with one of hip hop's greatest troubadour as your narrator.

One thing I must say about THIS IS OUR SCIENCE is in regard to its place in Astronautalis' catalog by way of my personal experience with him as an artist. Which starts with me confessing that I was never all that into The Mighty Ocean And Nine Dark Theaters (2006,Fighting Records), at least not at first. I loved some of the songs on it on their own merit, and absolutely adored a few others when performed live, but the studio album as a whole just didn't really grab me. It has only been in the past couple years that I've really grown to appreciate it for the [damn fine] album it is, largely due to things that happened in my life that, I suppose, finally put me in the right mindset to 'get it,' for lack of a better term. To get why it played the way it did, to get why there was such restraint throughout as opposed to the way the same tracks came off live, boiling over with passion and electricity. It's since become one of my top ten favorite hip hop albums.

All of which is to say that Astronautalis has been slowly building towards making the album I have always wished he would make. His last effort Pomegranate, felt like he was really starting to write songs with that built in passion I so longed for. There was less of the "Okay, this is great stuff, but I want to see him belt this out live," because that raw energy was finally coming through on the albums. In both style and content, THIS IS OUR SCIENCE is the next step on that path, beautifully binding those elements from his previous work into something that both shimmers and smashes in turn. The songs range from quiet, almost trancelike dirges, to raucous booze soaked southern ass hallelujah choir songs. And I don't mean boring, Catholic humming kind of choirs, but a hundred Dirty South Big Mamas with voices bigger than Jesus smashing down the building they're in kind of southern ass hallelujah choir. -- Hold on, Holy Water just started playing. It's the track after his collaboration with Tegan Quinn of Tegan and Sara, which is excellent, but this one right here ... hot damn, babydoll. If this song doesn't get you excited, someone snatched up your heart. What was I saying? -- And while I cannot wait to hear all of these songs performed live, I can confidently say that I cannot recall when last I was so completely satisfied with an album. Am I saying it's perfect? Of course not. I could sit here and pick apart some of the (very) few complaints I have about it, but at this point, I have listened to it so many times and enjoyed it so much, that they're more or less lost to me.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this would be a contender for Album of the Year here at MOVEMENTmagazine, and I honestly cannot imagine another contender cropping up before year's end that could even come close to competing with this gem. Do yourself a huge favor and go buy this album and experiment for yourself with OUR SCIENCE.

A+

daveSMASH / MOVEMENTnorth

Bon Iver

2011-06-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Bon Iver
Jagjaguwar | 4AD

Brilliant, melancholy, abstract, sporadic, intentionally and intricately calculated all describe Bon Iver’s self titled new album, an emotional work that through music and tone brilliantly touches the listener through themes of love, loss, and hope. The new album, written by Justin Vernon, keeps the emotional connection to the listener but marks a departure from the minimalistic acoustic driven songwriting found in the 2007 album 'For Emma, Forever Ago,' finding more complex and ambient layers supporting Vernon’s falsettos and delicate ambiguousness. Since 2007 Vernon has been a busy man. After igniting the blogosphere and Billboard with 'For Emma, Forever Ago Vernon' has had a number of projects leading to his new album. Vernon performed with and recorded a few tracks with Kanye West for the album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,' undoubtedly affecting Vernon’s sound engineering and recording quality for the new album. Vernon also doubled the amount of band members for this release after collaborating with Gayngs, a soft rock project featuring about 25 different musicians from bands and performers like Megafaun, Andrew Bird, The Rosebuds, Har Mar Superstar and many other goodies. The album starts with 'Perth,' opening with a delicate melody pushed forward by ambient guitar and powerful drums. Vernon establishes early on that this album will not be a remake of his last. When asked what the meaning of his first album was, Vernon referred to 'Emma' as a pain you get stuck in and can’t erase, and he starts his new album with the lyrics “this is not a place, not yet awake, I’m raised of make,” marking a departure from the painful storytelling found in his previous work. What we find in the new Bon Iver album are ambiguous lyrics backed with cryptic words which derive different meanings depending on the listener. Throughout the album we find waves of minimalism followed by thickly layered moments of ambience and strong percussion; Vernon seems to be so calculated throughout the album while never losing a sentimental aura. Throughout the album, the music acts as a catalyst to installing feeling and emotional to the cryptic lyrics of Vernon. No longer are Vernon’s songs driven forward with a haunting acoustic guitar and “Calgary,” the 8th track and single released before the album, is a prime example. Calgary starts by backing his vocals with a strong, steady progression on a synthesizer leading into powerful drums, distorted guitars and synth effects, and each song on the album follows these similar arcs. These arcs lead to a mood that is hopeful and optimistic, and each listen is new and exciting. There is just so much at work and so much to take in, it demands multiple listens. The album concludes with “Beth/Rest,” a pop ballad which contrasts the rest of the album with its forceful melody and strong jabbing vocals. It resolves the album with a victorious tone, with the lyrics hinting at healing. The final words of the album are “danger has been stole away, this is axiom,” ending the album on the solid note of romantic optimism. Bon Iver’s Bon Iver is a must have and a must listen. Although the lyrics are enigmatic, the album is unlike any other in that the musical emphasis leads listeners to their own understanding of the meaning behind the lyrical ambiguity, and what Vernon was feeling in the writing process, and what you are feeling during the listen. Do yourself a favor, go pick it up. You’ll be better for it.

- Frederick J. Pecor II

Atmosphere

2011-05-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

The Family Sign
Rhymesayers

I will be honest, Atmosphere’s latest full length, The Family Sign (Rhymesayers Entertainment, 2011), is not their best effort, especially the first time or two you listen to it. It’s very much one of those albums that takes a few days to grow on you. I’ve been listening to it pretty regularly for a couple of weeks and can now honestly say that my collection would be a lesser thing without The Family Sign in it. I always have a hard time with artists slowing down over the years and calling it maturity, but in this case, that seems fairly accurate. Sure, there is still the irreverent wordplay you would expect from Slug (he does the talktalk) and Ant (he makes the beats) still gets to go nuts on a couple of tracks, but overall, The Family Sign feels like a really mellow sequel to their last major effort, When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but in this case, the newer definitely ends up the inferior album. That said, if you have the patience to give an album five to seven listens to really grow on you, then The Family Sign is definitely worth your fifteen bucks.

Hits: “Became” “My Notes” “Something So” and “Millenium Dodo.”

Misses: Really only “Bad Bad Daddy” bugged me enough to fall into this category. “She’s Enough” initially annoyed me but has since become one of four songs that I almost always listen to again immediately after it finishes.

Overall: B-

daveSMASH / movementNORTH

OhGr

2011-05-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

unDeveloped
Metropolis Records

Any long time MOVEMENT readers will know I am a total geek for all things Skinny Puppy and any related releases from the two twisted minds that lurk behind it. Today we all can celebrate a new addition to that ever expanding catalog of groundbreaking music with the release of OhGr's unDeveloped. Despite its title, this release is substantially more developed that the last and on par with the brash quality and driving power of this projects earliest works, such as WELT. Mark Walk and Nivek Ogre are an undeniable match forged in hell and unapologetically unleash an epic onslaught of war-drum beats sounding the call for generations of fans and newcomers alike to take notice. Wicked sequences plunder through haunting and surreal dreamscapes of sound sewn up tight by Ogre's unique and ever evolving vocal styling. This is music at its finest, brash, brutal, and honest.

unDeveloped is available today everywhere. Evolve or perish.
http://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/ohgr

- Max Michaels

School of Seven Bells

2010-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Alpinisms
Ghostly international

It's in the middle of the first rushing, sighing, wordless chorus of “Iamundernodisguise,” all heavily treated waves of backmasked guitar and electronics and female vocal undulations, that you realize there are such things as happy endings in (icky) rock and roll. Case in point: Benjamin Curtis, tired of doing time in perennially shoulda-been-huge rock band-of-brothers Secret Machines, wanted out desperately, he just didn't know when or how to make the final jump. However, after sharing stages with On! Air! Library!, a band fronted by inscrutable twin sisters Claudia and Alexandria Deheza, he saw his future in a very different set of siblings. They each ditched their respective bands and plotted a more mysterious and mainstream-shy course of action with School of Seven Bells. The gambit has paid off, “Alpinims” is their finest moment yet, leagues ahead of “Face to Face on High Places.” It fairly bursts forth with mystery, ambition and a lust for new ideas, new sounds and new experiences. School of Seven Bells is most directly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's hazy beauty, Dead Can Dance's omnivorous hunger for a whole world of sound, with a dash of Toro y Moi’s shimmering uncertainty. The electronic treatments and programmed beats are fresh and inventive, often adding a danceable sheen to complicated effects collages, the guitars are understated, oft seeping into an inseparable whole with the synths and keyboards, and there is a wealth of vocals! The Dehaza sisters construct beautiful and unexpected harmonies together, before darting off into their own separate worlds, and Curtis whispered baritone is much more rare, but a fine complement. And despite the clash of ideas, effects pedals, and songs that follow their own internal logic, goddamn does School of Seven Bells know their way around a chorus.

- Matthew Moyer

SARAH BRIGHTMAN

2010-04-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

SYMPHONY: LIVE IN VIENNA

A Soundtrack to Slit Your Wrists To….

I fucking hate her. I fucking hate hate HATE her!!! Not because she is a bad musician, singer, lyricist – oh no – she’s incredible… however, I hate her because every time I listen to her I fall in this deep black pit. The most darkest, saddest abyss that I could ever possibly imagine. How is it that this woman hasn’t lynched herself yet? Seriously??! I am a big fan of Sarah Brightman – I am a masochist – because I chose HER CD to review. Shame on me!!! (slapping my own hand). In all honesty though I have to come back to my original question… how is Sarah Brightman still living in all that suppressed sadness?? Really guys. We all have our dark side but this bitch LIVES in agony! I don’t believe in Vampires, or real life Devils or any of that Renaissance crap but I do think that Sarah Brightman is truly the worlds biggest Goth. No she is not Elvira. No she doesn’t bite off the heads of bats… but she sure as fuck lives in a world of such dark & debilitating sorrow that she manipulates you to a point that depression, sadness & angst makes suicide sound like the new Garden of Euphoria. No wonder our world is coming to an end. The only song on the entire CD that wakes you out of your own nihilistic coma is lucky track # 13 (of course) – very sexy – however it’s followed by “Ava Maria” (which is what was played at my Fathers funeral last year)… So again, I digress…

I am fully convinced that Sarah Brightman is the AntiChrist. Of course it’s a woman. I always knew it would be….

Please don’t buy this CD unless you are really serious about putting an end to it all…. No fake ass cries for help please – this shit is serious business.

by Mia Carlin

THE BIG PINK

2010-03-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

It’s an Easter miracle! On Sunday night, April 4th -- don't worry, nice and late so you won't have to decide between that and church – London’s electro-noise duo The Big Pink are touching down at Jackrabbits as part of their first big US tour.

The twosome of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell (with help from a shifting collective of collaborators, including members of Sunn0)) and Pre) released the fuck-yeah-wondrous album, “A Brief History of Love,” late last year. It’s a darkling mix of the Stone Roses, Jesus and Mary Chain, shoegazer stormclouds and electro-violence like the Horror's stellar "Primary Colours," early Chemlab and Curve (yes, yes, yes). The album won plaudits from the likes of MOJO, Rolling Stone, and the famously fickle NME, and unlike so many hype bandits, The Big Pink actually lived up to the hyperbole.

Though they count amongst their supporters the likes of Klaxons and Lily Allen, Furze and Cordell are no social climbers or bandwagon jumpers. Furze worked with Alec Empire and Cordell ran the Merok label, home to Crystal Castles and Salem, prior to the band becoming their primary concern. And all that journeyman time paid off, "A Brief History of Love," is the sound of a band in firm control of their sound, combining dark-purple clouds of dense electronics and guitar pedal roar with whipsmart, synthesized beats and pop savvy into instant anthems. The Big Pink have their cake and eat it too, indulging gleefully in big choruses, but almost just as happily sabotaging them with carefully manipulated guitar noise and walls of synth-damage that shakes your insides. "Dominoes" is incredible, the taunting, almost melancholy chorus of "These girls fall like dominoes...." overwhelmed by towering crests of fuzzed-out, eight-bit guitar and battering drums, the vocals a world-weary croak along the lines of Richard Ashcroft and Karl Hyde. “Crystal Visions” is like the inescapable whoosh of the future, Velvetsy-droning verses give way to a radio-ready chorus and then all of that is just obliterated by a storm of guitar rumble-and-scree that is somehow catchy as fuck. “Velvet” is epic like comets burning up in the atmosphere, lovelorn vocals melding to otherworldly, altered guitar and synth bursts. And that’s just a random sampling of the songs on a “Brief History of Love.”

The Big Pink might just be the new face of British guitar music, along with the Horrors and the xx. We all like to sit and complain that Jacksonville doesn’t get any really good tours– well, we just got one. To the future!

MOVEMENT will be hosting a city wide EGG HUNT for free tickets to the BIG PINK show Easter night at Jackrabbits throughout the weekend of April 2nd-4th at select Jacksonville locations!

UPDATE 04.02.10

THE BIG PINK
EGG HUNT!

MOVEMENT AND OUR SPONSORS HAVE HIDDEN BIG PINK EGGS AT THE LOCATIONS BELOW ...

INSIDE EACH ARE A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE BIG PINK SHOW THIS SUNDAY AT JACKRABBITS!

Please be respectful of our sponsors and search responsibly! If you'd like assistance, ask one of the staff for hints!

Good hunting ...

APHOTIC CRYPT
9940 Beach Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32246
(904) 638-6827
www.aphoticcrypt.com

CARRIBBEAN CONNECTION
777 3rd Street South
Jacksonville Bch
(904) 241-4231
www.carribbean-connection.com

CARRIBBEAN CONNECTION
1034 Park Street
Jacksonville
(904) 633-9161
www.carribbean-connection.com

HOT TOPIC
Regency Mall
9501 Arlington Expy # 385
Jacksonville
(904) 805-0604
www.HotTopic.com

HOT TOPIC
Avenues Mall
10300 Southside Boulevard
Jacksonville
(904) 538-9677
www.HotTopic.com

Universe of Superheroes
2724 Park Street
Jacksonville
(904) 389-3312
www.UniverseofSuperheroes.com

More events and live show listings are always at
www.MovementMagazine.com

FOLLOW MOVEMENT'S NEWS REVIEWS COMICS FILM ARTS EDITORIAL and PHOTO BLOGS!

Balmorhea

2010-01-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Constellations
Western Vinyl

So, start with a guitar. That sounds pretty nice. Layer on a violin, and that sounds a little nicer. Oh, is that a banjo? Double bass? Percussion? Now that just sounds swell, and as smooth as butter. That's how you can describe Balmorhea's (pronounced bal-more-ay) new album "Constellations." It's a strictly instrumental, minimalistic, acoustic experience taking you through an array of moods and emotions. Each song is like a musical parfait. As you listen to each layer, delicious music is unveiled until it culminates into this moving, tasty movement of acoustic music tinged with classical and bluegrass stylings.

The album takes on a darker mood compared to Balmorhea's previous albums, but the charm remains. It starts off with "To the Order of the Night," a haunting piano solo with delicately dark emotional phrasing, leading to the gem of the album, "Bowspirit" which layers it on best, leaving you with a message so clear yet unable to be put into words, like a hug when there are no words to say. The rest of the album follows a deliciously dark and melancholy tone right through "Palestrina," which wraps up the album. You'll find yourself searching for a faint melody through the audio textures backed by a faint chorale of voices, which may not be voicing anything audible, but seem to be saying, "thank you for listening, and I hope the introspection involved in listening to this album has made you a better person."

To that, I would say "No 'Constellations,' thank you."

- Frederick J. Pecor / MOVEMENT Jax

Murder Junkies & Ghostwitch Family Band Live

2010-01-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

at Landshark Café

When the Ghostwitch Family Band started their set, I could tell it would be an amazing show. They have a very unique sound to their music, it’s good ole’ southern hellbilly rock. A few of their songs that really stuck out to me from their set was “Black Mass Baby” & “Wastin’ Time”. Ryan Gunwitch-Black, the singer, acoustic guitar player, & mastermind behind Ghostwitch does amazing job performing on stage. Ghostwitch may be a local band but I could see them being the next big thing. They do many different shows throughout the Jacksonville area, so I’d suggest if you get the chance, to go to one of their shows.

The Murder Junkies set was short but really good. I think their singer PP Duvee is doing a great job leading the band vocally. I like him the most since GG Allin was alive. Dino Sex played the drums in the full nude, like always, and was so fucking good pounding away on the drums throughout the set. Merle Allin bass lines shook the building and made their set so much more intense. The Murder Junkies produce the sound track to mayhem, murder, & madness. For the short period of time that they played, it was punk rock at its finest.

There was this one annoying drunk annoying guy which caused the set to end extremely early. He thought since it was a Murder Junkies show it had to be exactly the same as a GG Allin & The Murder Junkies show. He just would get on the stage and bump into different members of the Murder Junkies who would shove him off the stage. At one point he ended up hitting PP Duvee in the head. The second time he attack PP Duvee, he picked up his microphone stand and hit him extremely hard in the back of the neck twice. This caused a huge gash on the drunk idiots neck which immediately followed with bloodshed. Landshark security had to through the drunk guy out because he was causing problems & starting fights with anyone who he saw. This ended the Murder Junkies set about five songs into it.

- Kent Donohoe / MOVEMENT Jax

Cold Cave

2009-12-22T10:45:00.002-08:00

Love Comes Close
Matador Records

What happens when you lock a bunch of hardcore and noise musicians in a room? They make gothic music, of course! I unreservedly love Cold Cave. Wesley Eisold (formerly of American Nightmare), with assistance from Caralee McElroy (Xiu Xiu) and Dominick Fernow (Prurient), bashes out primitive, insanely catchy, dark electro in the vein of Joy Division, Blank Dogs, and Cabaret Voltaire, filtered through archaic effects pedals and ancient keyboards. The vibe of “Love Comes Close” is poised, foreboding and authoritarian. The vocals are joyless and icy - split between a blank female and a blank male – the synths and drum machines echo the heartbeats of a melancholic. Their music takes in and spits out new wave, postpunk and early house music, all with a deeply European hue.

Cold Cave are up there with the Horrors in terms of sullen defiance and singleminded expression. Overcast grays and pale greens suffuse every note, dancing a wild dervish on the inside of your eyelids. And yeah, one of their songs is on the teevee, but don't hold that against them. This is
what you need.

- Matthew Moyer

Sole & The Skyrider Band

2009-12-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

Plastique
Fake Four

Now, I hadn't had much contact with Sole & the Skyrider Band, outside of a couple guest spots on other artists' tracks (Sage Francis, Bleubird,) until I got my hands on their latest album, Plastique. What I found in those tracks was an incredibly moving collection of stories that were much more interesting than what one usually expects from the average hip hop record. It's not everyday you happen across an artist who can touch on topics ranging from politics to space to nature, human and otherwise, and on and on without sounding self important or, worse yet, boring. Sole manages to run the gamut ideologically, pulling you along with a hypnotic flow and complex beats that leave you wondering how the hell the album is already ending and hitting the repeat button so you can try to wrap your head around what just happened. "Plastique" has grown on me to the extent that I'd say it's neck and neck with "Never Better" by P.O.S. for best hip hop album of the year. Is it perfect? No, but a few faltering moments aside, it is damn close. Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with Sole and the Skyrider Band if you haven't already done so. You will not be disappointed with what you find.

- Dave Conkey

MORRISSEY

2009-12-22T10:44:00.002-08:00

SWORDS
Polydor

Aside from the definitive Viva Hate and Your Arsenal, Morrissey’s last three releases; You Are The Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors and Years of Refusal, respectively feature some of the best work of his post-Smiths career. From those he slices out, reissues and repackages a compiled 18-track sampling of b-sides and singles as SWORDS. Initial copies of SWORDS include a bonus disc of eight songs recorded live in Warsaw during his 2009 tour featuring Life Is a Pigsty, I Just Want to See the Boy Happy and The Smiths gem You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby. SWORDS is a must for die-hard fans and a solid introduction for those just discovering Moz. Remember kids, it's his world, we just live in it.

- Max

Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions

2009-12-22T10:44:00.001-08:00

Through the Devil Softly
Nettwerk

Hope Sandoval is one of the more enigmatic figures in pop music today, a welcome contrast to the social networking impulse to reveal everything all the time. She seemed to float through Mazzy Star albums like a purple aether, bewitching and beguiling, with a gorgeous coo that often seemed untethered to the music. It was a voice that completely rejected the "bluesy belter" or any other outmoded "women in rock" template, a voice that was only concerned with plumbing the depths of sadness and expression, uninterested in the starmaking machinery that sought to co-opt her. Her body language in interviews and promotional duties spoke to that, sullen silence, pregnant pauses, and a head tilted downward in boredom and disinterest. When Mazzy Star broke up, she seemed, to the casual observer, to disappear.

In a way she did. Sandoval stepped off the pop culture treadmill and immersed herself in music, at her own pace and of her own choosing. Collaborations with Jesus and Mary Chain, Bert Jansch, Massive Attack, and Air followed, as did an album with a new group of collaborators, the Warm Inventions (“Bavarian Breadfruit”), in 2001. Now going on eight years later, Sandoval is releasing a new album with the Warm Inventions, and though her recorded voice sounds more intimate than ever, to parallel that she seems more distant than ever. The Warm Inventions includes members of Dirt Blue Gene and Sandoval's main co-conspirator, Colm O'Ciosoig from My Bloody Valentine. Colm was last seen kicking up a monstrous racket with a reborn My Bloody Valentine, and the Warm Inventions, where even fingers moving up and down guitar frets threatens to overwhelm the delicate music... well, that's just perverse.

Sandoval is the only vocalist for whom it would be a compliment to say that her voice hasn't matured at all, still sounding like a cosmic-lost-ghost-girl, all autumn winds and careful swoons. Careful listeners, though, will hear hints of blues diva sass (especially in "Trouble"). Unlike the unfettered roar of My Bloody Valentine or the tormented churn that drove Mazzy Star's fuzztone torch, the instrumentation on “Through the Devil” is quiet, unhurried, and woodsy -- minimal but highly expressive acoustic guitars, murmuring bass and brushed drums, music boxes -- like Neil Young's Harvest or a lost Tim Buckley record. Check out "Lady Jessica and Sam" for a perfect encapsulation of this sound. It's space rock reflected through a late night fire in the hearth of Big Pink.

- Matthew Moyer

Volcano Choir

2009-12-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

Unmap
JagJuaguwar

How can you follow up the wintry, isolationist heartbreak that seemingly burst out of Bon Iver's debut album? How do you work up the courage for that second act? Willingly seek out heartbreak? Head back to the cabin? Wisely, Justin Vernon doesn't even attempt such a thing. He's avoided the damning weight of expectations with fucking acrobatic deftness by momentarily shedding the Bon Iver name. He's joined up with oddball unitand kindred Wisconsonites Collection of Colonies of Bees to form the Volcano Choir and explore a whole new musique. The first thing that you must understand is that the songs on “Unmap” are worlds away from the tear-stained lullabies of “For Emma.” The music here is not as prayerful and carefully constructed; here it's spontaneous, improvised, nonlinear, uncomfortable and much more joyous. A song may be one-minute in length, or it may be seven minutes in length, they may break down into grating percussive noise, static, or bucolic, burbling electro. Aesthetic schizophrenic futurism, with the only common thread being Vernon's wondrously openhearted falsetto, soaring to even greater heights when matched against his friends' cubist doodles.

There are moments of pure, simple beauty, like "Island, IS." "Dote" is like those wonderful mood pieces that linked the tracks on This Mortal Coil's “Blood,” incidental, ghostly sounds and faint traces of Vernon's androgynous sigh. "And Gather" is all group handclaps over childlike guitar and keyboard figures while the massed falsetto vocals egg each other on to greater heights - it's like a meditation, a Steve Reich piece and a playground game all at once. An autotuned Vernon in "Still" almost makes you want to laugh in disbelief, were it not for the prayer-temple instrumental vibe of synth drone and hands lightly brushing guitar and harp strings, before it roars into life as the beginning (just the beginning, mind you) of a song that Coldplay or Radiohead would kill for. "Youlogy" is built around sparse, unadorned torch vocals intoning some ancient lullaby over leftover music, a tantalizing hint of a gospel/angel choir appears briefly like a flicker several times before disappearing into the ether. Out like a ghost.

- Matthew Moyer

Woodhands + Junior Boys

2009-11-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

at Cafe Eleven

by
Tara A Skalowski
www.triggerhappytara.com

Pretty Lights

2009-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Passing By Behind Your Eyes

I caught a notice for Pretty Lights on tour and having never heard of them before I did a quick google search to check them out. I'm so happy I did, and happier to find that the man behind the lights Derek Vincent also offers the album Passing By Behind Your Eyes as a free download from his site. After scanning just a few tracks I'm hooked. Throbbing bass lines, soul-infused neo-jazz, pounding electro, and a smattering of hip-hop all combine in a sonic alchemy that is sure to get your head bobbing and dance floors everywhere jumping. Pretty Light make pretty noise. Keep it coming Derek!

"Passing By Behind Your Eyes" is the 3rd full length Pretty Lights album released on October 6th 2009.

Find out for yourself at
www.prettylightsmusic.com

- MAX

OWL CITY

2009-11-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

Ocean Eyes

By now you can barely turn on MTV or VH1 without catching OWL CITY's "Fireflies" video or hearing clips of it in a TV show segue. And no, it's not 'that guy from Death Cab For Cutie,' though the similarities are eerie on that first single. So indeed, this kid is just EVERYWHERE, and frankly I'm not complaining. "Fireflies" however, is just one gem in a mixed goodie bag of indie-dance-electro tracks that are damn near infectious. I've been catching myself humming them often. There are a couple of sickly poppy tracks that I could forgo (see the singsongy "The Bird and The Worm" or very odd "Dental Care"), but standout favorites like the booming opening track "On The Wing," "Vanilla Twilight," "Meteor Shower," and most of the 12 tracks are consistently sonic with deep waves of bass carrying cascading synths, epic breaks and soaring vocals. His third release and major-label debut album Ocean Eyes is an exceptional bold mix of styles and flawlessly executed.

"Hoot! Hoot!" for OWL CITY!

STAR WARS in concert

2009-10-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Jacksonville Arena
10.29.09

Anthony Daniels clad in an all black tuxedo and metallic gold vest took the stage amidst a sea of lights, lasers, smoke and fire to narrate between the symphonic renditions of the music from STAR WARS featuring key characters (including his own C3PO) and plot moments illustrated by massive video screening filled with synched montages from all 6 films that got my midichlorians all tingly. Presented in two parts with a 20 minute intermission ended with a sustained standing ovation. Simply a must for geeks of all ages.

Below are some photos from the show and the display areas featuring props and costumes from the Lucas Films archives.

- Max Michaels / Jacksonville FL

Depeche Mode - Tour of the Universe - 09.04.09 - Tampa, FL

2009-09-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

A three hour drive that seemed like days. Driving across town from the venue just to find a Starbucks amidst the farmers markets, taco buses, creepy little rundown roadside motels and closed drive in theaters. Scoffing at the $30 "vip" parking in lieu of walking farther to the main gate during the only 15 minutes of rain at the venue all night. Seeing Depeche Mode for the 5th time. Priceless.

While Dave Gahan is still pulling off his signature spins and snake like girations and Martin Gore's outfits are as shiny as ever, for a band with a discography a mile long there was a notable absence of signature songs that people of all ages go to see legendary bands like this for. Specifically staples like People Are People and Everything Counts, though other favorites like Flys On The Windscreen and In Your Room had their moments, Dave's vocals on those powerful, brooding tracks seemed less committed than on previous tours. Perhaps due to recent surgery, or the moist open air venue, or maybe having done them ad nauseam. I Feel You was by far the best track of the night, vocally and visually. Martin stepped up the guitar and head banged like it was a metal show, and stepped back to man the keyboards while Andy Fletcher simply stood there next to the live drummer and additional keyboardist, none of which were introduced, instead Dave introduced Martin three separate times as either Mr. Martin or Mr. Gore. Yes, Dave we get it, he's awesome. And he is, his vocals were as strong as ever and carried every track, especially where Dave fell flat, and as always when he's belting out the soaring piano ballad Somebody.

All in all, despite what seemed like an epic trek through adverse weather, dozen and dozen of State Troopers ganged up on car after car they had pulled over, there really was no better way to kick off the Labor Day weekend then spending a Friday night with Depeche Mode in Tampa, FL.

The Beautiful Deadly Children - The Gospel According to Goth

2009-09-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

A Kabaret Grotesque by Bertie Weirdly
Mallard Independent Publishing

Beautiful Deadly Children appear to be a long-lived English goth outfit that never quite made a name for themselves outside of their immediate scene in Birmingham (home of Black Sabbath and Napalm Death!), and what notoriety they gained was mostly for flamboyantly unfortunate taste in costumery. I'm talking troll ears, fake claws, batwing dresses with wings, puffy shirts aplenty, and surely illegal applications of PVC and rubber. Whereas any other band would have given up in the face of such deafening indifference, Beautiful Deadly Children took quite the opposite tack. With a delusional self-belief that rivals that of Half Japanese and Andrew WK (and usually I’d approve of such world-making), BDC decided to concentrate not on honing down the music to a darkling point, but to instead pen a lengthy tome detailing their life and times. The results aren't pretty. I'd rather not do a hatchet job on this book, because the concept behind it is something I'd certainly want one of my favorite bands to do (I think the Kills were talking about doing a photography book), but this is... definitely... not... that. Here's the problem, the writing is pretty pedestrian, it feels like I'm reading an overlong Myspace profile. To make matters worse, it seems that they run out of things to write about halfway through (which is weird, because, y'know they had complete control over the book) so by the end, when they start giving (lengthy) make-up tips, the book drops out of my hand and falls to the floor. The tone is in turns overly precious and desperately clumsy. And the pictures, ehh.... you dare not look. It's just a roly-poly bunch of chancers shoehorned into a dizzying array of inappropriate, unflattering, and faintly ridiculous attire. I don’t care if you hang out at the Factory or the Castle every weekend going back a decade, you’re going to be channeling Ogre from “Revenge of the Nerds” ‘round about page 30. I think it's possible to age with dignity in the gothic scene, but these cats just ain't there baby. May I direct you to the new Horrors album instead?

- Mathew Moyer

Von Iva

2009-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Girls on Film
Stickfigure

Fresh from a stint as Zooey Deschanel's backing band in by-the-numbers comedy "Yes Man," all-girl trio Von Iva step out on their own with "Girls on Film (*wink wink* or bad Duran Duran reference?), an album drenched in the bad drugs and worse hangover of Noughties clubland hedonism. Von Iva have stripped down their sound to a blandly modern synth/rhythm affair, redolent of bad DFA or Shiny Toy Guns. Singer Jillian Iva does that pseudo-soulful diva thing, while the instrumental backdrop is pounding four-to-the-floor beats and utterly obvious booming synths. The songs are bland and tentative, the performances feel forced. This just feels like a blatant grab for the lastnightsparty or Cobrasnake demographic. Boooooooooring. That said, stardom is most likely imminent.

- Matthew Moyer

Nachtmahr (PRE-SHOW)

2009-07-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

LIVE Saturday 7/18
Edge 17 - Factory

For those craving a great industrial show, your about to get your wish. Nachtmahr, hailing from Austria, are about to hit Jacksonville with their brand of hard-hitting electro that's sure to please rivetheads around town and in the nearby area. Nachtmahr is the side project of one Thomas Rainer who is also one half of the electro/darkwave group L'Ame Immortelle (the latter being a band many electro fans should be familiar with). While L'Ame Immortelle had it's share of heavy moments, Thomas got the idea for Nachtmahr while doing a series of dj shows inspired by the material he was spinning. The music is brutal, harsh, peppered with German voiceover samples and will simply destroy any dance floor. There are some instrumentals on the cd I have (Fuer Frei!) and I assume that is the case with some of the newer releases, that I don't have. If I had to compare them to anyone I would say they share common ground with their German brethren Feindflug and possibly elements of Suicide Commando and Hocico. This is the music that so many of us love, but don't get to hear (or see live) very often without a road trip. So don't whine to anyone that there are no industrial bands coming through our area if you miss this show. You have been warned!

- Craig Harvey

Nachtmahr performs live
Saturday July 18th
at FACTORY @ EDGE 17
1187 Edgewood Ave South
Jacksonville, FL 32205
www.edge17.com
www.FactoryJax.com

Nachtmahr (PRE-SHOW)

2009-07-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Katzenjammer Kabarett

2009-07-01T06:29:00.001-07:00

Grand Guignol and Varietes
Projekt

Oh, thank god for this! I was getting so fucking bored of how so many so-called dark cabaret bands were just bleeding the whole shebang dry with bloodless artifice and facile undestanding of the very basic artform; like, “Hey I'll just use this Cabaret 101 piano vamp over and over and over and over and everyone will be shocked by my decadence.” Zzzzzzzzzz. But then comes French quartet Katzenjammer Kabarett (pretentious name that references classic late 19th century comic strip? Yeah, I'll have some of that.), paying some fealty to the cabaret aesthetic but then shaking it up like a cheap snowglobe - cramming in a dizzying array of other influences like postpunk, early British goth, Japanese music, 4AD’s dream experiments, chamber music, disco, Ze Records at its height. And, oh yeah, Siouxsie and the Banshees loom large, particularly in the singer’s lusty, singular vocals. “Grand Guignol” is an invigorating, heady mix, with remarkably assured performances, arrangements and an unerring instinct for fucking with the format.

Art-damaged gothic chamber music, you saved my damn life! What took you so fucking long?

- Matthew Moyer

Blood Money

2009-07-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Blood Brotherhood
Killer Pimp Records

Sometimes even avant-garde classical music doesn't afford the aesthetic freedoms that the truly restless hunger for. To that end, cigar-chompin' composer and academic Ken Ueno has joined up with Tom Worster and Jon Whitney to form Blood Money, a trio that attempts a meditative inversion of the power electronics aesthetic. “Blood Brotherhood” is not a linear or normal song-based record, but it is completely shorn of the tiresome masculine histrionics that permeates much noise music. In its place, with the barest of sonic tools, are songs mostly based around less than a smattering of accidental percussion, a thin lattice of electronic hums, whines and static buzzing, and the tightly simmering vocals of Ueno, delivering through clenched teeth and muted microphone, an otherworldly hybrid of Dionysio D'Arrington, Telepathik Friend, tuvan throat singing, Diamanda Galas and speaking in tongues. Some of the earlier numbers with just the spooky tom of a single drum, mosquito-like keyboard hum and vocals that seem to be attuned to an alien language, unsure of each syllable remind me of a summoning at midnight under the haunted walls of a hundred-years old fortress. Ghost ships pass through a fog-shrouded inlet. Metal snakes shed their skin and consume diamonds. Another time, stretching every syllable to the breaking point, Ueno proclaims a coming release, as the undulating noise pulses drop out, and all that is left is the flickering murmur of a cathedral organ. “Blood Brotherhood” is a bold symbiosis with silence, a joining of irreconcilable opposites for a haunted inner peace.

As an art statement, in conception and execution, “Blood Brotherhood” often hedges close to fucking stunning. Whether you'd want to listen to it repeatedly? Well, let's just say that there are handy pop-psych exams no farther than your internet browser far more qualified to judge that than I.

- Matthew Moyer

Demon Hunter

2009-06-23T07:35:00.001-07:00

45 Days DVD
Solid State

I have to admit, I picked this up from the office because I liked the bands logo. I had seen adds for their music and it was metal, so I figured I would give it a whirl. Then I found out they are a christian band. Well, that took off some serious points before I even listened to the music. Yes, folks I don't like christianity, so sue me. However, since I had the dvd's already I went ahead with it. The concert was just "ok". Yes, they had all the right elements (that was basically by-the- book, cookie cutter new wave of American metal sound) to be "heavy" but there was nothing that original about them. Even if they hadn't been a christian band, I would have felt the same. Again, it was just average. The tour documentary of 45 days in the life of Demon Hunter, centers around the band, touring, the fans talking about how the band's music brought them closer to god, Jesus, etc, etc..... If your a fan of these guys, this is your lucky day, but for anyone else, I say pass. There are far better and more original metal bands out there to listen to.

- Craig Harvey

Standeg

2009-06-20T05:41:00.002-07:00

Ultrahightechviolet
Artoffact Records

This album is by some of the founding members of Haujobb. Well, they wear their former influences on their sleeve that's for sure. They even do an updated version of the song "Homes and Gardens". That said, there is still some dark, futuristic, industrial/ebm to be found here. Track one, "Replikant" was my favorite. Merging some heavy guitar into this instrumental, along side the synths gave it a very eerie, majestic, almost soundtrack quality. The re-make of "Homes and Gardens" wasn't bad, but I prefer the original. Still, this is better than much of the music this genre has put out as of late.

- Craig Harvey

Delain

2009-06-20T05:41:00.001-07:00

April Rain
Sensory Records

The cover to this album was a little misleading to my eyes. This beautiful girl, hair blown back, with her band sihouetted in the background gave the appearance of some type of dance/pop album. Wrong again. Remember folks, you can't judge the music by the cover. Delain is a symphonic metal band with female vocals. The band was founded by ex - Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt back in 2002. "April Rain" is their second album. Granted their are several bands of this ilk; Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Leave's Eyes, Midnattsol etc... Delain definitely shows they have the talent to keep up with their peers. Vocalist Charlotte Wessels has a stunning, beautiful voice and her range is impeccable. The guitars are downtuned for maximum heaviness, and the entire album is slick and well produced. There are also some male vocals by guitarist Ronald Landa who moves from clean to "growling vocals". Thankfully the growling vocals are only on one track. Not that I don't like that style, but their are two many bands of this type who go back and forth between the beautiful female and growling male vocals already. I was definitely impressed and I think you will be as well, especially if you like this type of metal.

- Craig Harvey

Aidan Baker & THISQUIETARMY

2009-06-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

A Picture of a Picture
Killer Pimp

So this is what Aidan Baker is up to when he's not creating Foucault-does-doom via the Cure's “Pornography” in Nadja with partner Leah Buckareff. With THISQUIETARMY (aka Eric Quach of Destroyalldreamers) at his side this time around, Baker creates airy, pillowy-soft, self-regenerating ambient bliss. Creating music that makes “Music For Airports” seem downright noodly, Baker and THISQUIETARMY manipulate sparse patches of watery guitar fuzz, cloudbursts of synth, and naturally occurring electronic sinewaves and pulses to create music that seems like microtonal flowers continually bursting to life, before slowly closing again. Closer listens reveal a much more lyrical bent to this music. The sound manipulators are very much in synch, each trying to out-sad the others with the most melancholy innervision, songs build, but so subtly and quietly you might not even notice it. Gigantic compositions and emotions rendered in quiet miniature. For fans of Brian Eno, Lycia, Harmonia.

- Matthew Moyer

Fever Ray

2009-06-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Fever Ray
Mute

Although one would be hard pressed to imagine membership in the Knife creatively restricting, some spontaneous urge obviously got its filigreed fingers around the neck of Karin Dreijer Andersson one-half of the Magick Brother/Magick Sister electro duo. And while the Knife dazzle and horrify with creeping, pounding, industrial rhythms (parts of the Knife's last album reminded me of early Skinny Puppy), tandem, off-kilter vocals, and a visual image straight out of “Eyes Wide Shut,” Fever Ray is a different type of spellbinding. Created, as she says, in a state of mostly complete solitude in a small studio over eight months during banker's hours, it's seemingly more organic and naturalist. Moss and jade leaves grow between the synthesizer keys. The music is just this close to being new age in terms of ambience and a sense of inner calm, though the sounds are tweaked and warped enough to keep it wayyyy off the radar of Enya fans. and Andersson's vocals take the center stage, still either slowed down to an androgyne crawl or a sharp, distorted incantatory tone that insinuates into your inner ear.

Instead of the implied threats and subliminal violence of Andersson’s day job, as Fever Ray she sings straight from the stream of subconsciousness, talking about dream visions, hopes, everyday banalities like "talking on the telephone to a friend about dish soap” without even one word seeming trite. Indeed it's weirdly profound and comforting. The pacing is languid. Lazy hand drums, handclaps and ticktock-machine clocks are cut through with bell-like synth tones and gleaming sound knives. The songs are carefully constructed in that way that seems so offhand and spontaneous. The overall effect of the “Fever Ray” album is dazzling, weird, choked-up beauty. Highlights include “Dry and Dusty’s” slo-mo vocal torch with sunburst synths, “Seven's” Italo disco-goes-native kitchen sink drama and evil-Kate-Bush vocals, “Triangle Walks’” evocation of classic Depeche Mode-chanson collages, “Now's the Only Time I Know’s” labyrinthine woodblock echoes, “Keep the Streets Empty for Me’s" orchestrated electronic hum and echo, like a pillow for her most straightforwardly beautiful vocals yet. "Morning keeps the streets empty," she sighs.

Enterprising musicians are going to be ripping off the tricks on this album in no time flat.

- Matthew Moyer

Heather Wikstrom

2009-06-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

Self Titled

This Jacksonville resident (who originally moved here from Las Vegas a few years back) gave me a copy of her debut cd to review and I can tell you after just one listen; why this lovely young woman does not have a recording contract is a mystery to me. This girl can sing. Not only sing, but write good songs as well. Her voice has quite a wide range and she covers a lot of musical ground on her album. While I would have to classify it as a "pop" album, I can hear her summoning a little of Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, Amy Lee and a host of others in her vocal style. Most of her songs are about relationships (some based on personal experience and some fictional) and the music was all done by the producer, which mixes guitar, bass, drums, piano and some electronics. Truthfully, I can see Heather right at home doing pop material, fronting a blues/rock band, soft jazzy numbers or even singing for a house/techo dj's album. She has got the ability to do it all. I hope this talented lady gets noticed in the near future and if you see an add for her playing out, do yourself a favor and go see her perform.

- Craig Harvey

To purchase her music go to:
http://www.myspace.com/heatherwikstrom
or Heather_Wikstrom@hotmail.com

Chimaira

2009-06-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Infection
Nuclear Blast

Chimaira are one of those bands, who for some reason (even after putting out 5 previous albums) I just haven't paid much attention to. However, when their sixth album "The Infection" showed up at the office, I decided it was time to give them a listen and see how they ranked in the metal world. The new album is well produced with solid, down-tuned riffs, a powerful rhythm section, and the yelling/growling style of vocals (which has become rather overdone in my opinion). That said, fans of the metalcore/NWOAHM (New Wave of American Heavy Metal) style of music will undoubtedly enjoy this release. I however, found it to be just average with not much new to offer my auditory senses. The songs are too similar from track to track and the vocals have the same problem. The best song on the entire album is the last, entitled "The Heart Of It All". Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, this instrumental piece shows a side to the band that would be nice to hear more of in their music. Lot's of texture, movement between clean and distorted tones, and without the vocals I was able to really hear the musicianship come through. This is not a bad cd to be sure, but unfortunately to my ears, it's not making me want to go out and purchase their older material either.

- Craig Harvey

NINJA TOUR

2009-05-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

Lakewood Amphitheater
Atlanta, GA
May 10, 2009

Story and photos by
Tommy Salmon
Movement Senior Correspondent

The NINJA tour is an amazing showcase for some of the sounds and ideas born in underground culture over 20 years ago. The fact that it goes over so well today stands as proof positive that these "cult" bands of yesteryear indeed altered popular culture for the better. However (and this isn't a bad thing), despite their trailblazing work, the structure of the evening wound up following that of a traditional three-act play, complete with a rise, fall, and resolution. More specifically, the Street Sweeper Social Club got the party started, Nine Inch Nails delivered a devastating set steeped in a sense of finality, and finally -perhaps even miraculously- Jane's Addiction rose Phoenix-like from the ashes to restore the sense of adventure and hope that got this whole thing started in the first place.

With matching pseudo-military jackets and power-fighting anthems like “Fight! Smash! Win!,” Street Sweeper Social Club came off as an incendiary cross between the International Noise Conspiracy and Public Enemy. The band is centered around guitarist Tom “The Nightwatchman” Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and Boots Riley, rapper from the Coup and founder of the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. Fans of Rage and/or the Coup definitely caught glimmers of each band’s appeal courtesy of Morello’s innovative guitar work and Riley’s politically-fused vocals. To be fair, Morello is far more than just an exquisite noisemaker, and with a guitar bearing the slogan “Arm the Homeless,” he too took to the microphone in between songs to encourage the audience to be a part of their 3 Point Plan, which is to “Feed the poor, Fight the power, and ROCK THE FUCK OUT!” He also offered up some texting info for the audience to become more involved with their food drive. While the vast majority of the audience was there to see either Nine Inch Nails or Jane’s Addiction, SSSC wound up being the bona-fide surprise of the evening. Their debut album won’t be out for a few more months, but they held their own against the big boys. If anything, since this was widely regarded as NIN’s final tour and Jane’s Addiction’s show is based on their reunion, Street Sweeper Social Club was the only band on the bill with any plans for the immediate future. Their set was a quick thirty minutes, but folks were impressed and got the feeling they would be hearing more from them in the future.

Calling it the NINJA tour is a pretty awesome incorporation of the two other bands’ names, but the NIN portion of the show was also known amongst fans as the “Wave Goodbye” tour. Hell, if it’s on a $35 shirt on sale in the foodstuffs area, it’s a pretty official title. While it would be unreasonable to assume we won’t be hearing from Trent Reznor again -it’s obvious the guy loves to create- he seems completely comfortable with ending an era of doing business as usual. The record-release-promote cycle is assuredly a thing of the past for him, and with NIN’s set, Reznor celebrates the fact that he isn’t out there to promote a specific product. Far from the standard “hits-and-the-new-stuff” collection most bands are obliged to perform, Reznor made a point of mentioning (and proving) that this tour was about the band doing whatever they felt like. The result was a collection of crowd-pleasers, die-hard fan-pleasers, rarities and personal band favorites, even going as far as to bring out Saul Williams for a performance of the song “Banged and Blown Through” off of his Reznor-produced album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! . Far from a victory lap, NIN is spending this tour providing an overview of a complex career.

As for the performance itself, Reznor and crew are going out at the top of their game. The light show and stage setup has been toned down a little, the reasoning is that they can’t get locked in to anything elaborate with a setlist they intend on changing every night of the tour. As for what they are working with, it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of most bands, and warnings of “intense lighting” were posted at each entrance. Even when they’re holding back a little, Nine Inch Nails are still legally obliged to offer a warning. The changing setlist was also cause for a lax attitude on cameras and recording gear, with the understanding that fans would be able catch a taste of what happens elsewhere on the tour beyond the particular show they were able to attend. Again, this too came with a warning, (posted by Reznor on the band’s website) - bring what you want, but do so with the understanding that it *may* get broken. Sure enough, the crowd was filled with budding guerrilla documentarians with iPhones and digicams, but halfway through the show the majority of them were far more interested in actually experiencing the show than capturing it. The novelty of taking photos of a band kicking ass was simply no match for the actual ass-kicking at hand.

Based on his appearance, demeanor and a brief bit of banter toward the end of his set, Reznor seems to have literally exorcised AND exercised away his demons. The guy is in astounding shape physically, and his band’s sound reflects this muscularity and discipline. As such, Reznor finds himself at the end of a long-fought road, free from any label restrictions, healthy, engaged, and well….very content. There was a point while singing “Something I Can Never Have,” where he looked out at the sea of fans singing along and he just couldn’t help but smile. There‘s no doubt the song has quite a bit of personal pain invested in it, but by this point it‘s also regarded as an early career highlight, and no matter how much he gave of himself, he was getting it back tenfold from a crowd that adored him. He seems to have come full circle, and he’s either come to peace with, or conquered, many of the issues that fueled Nine Inch Nails.

When he took a moment to address the crowd with talk of “going away for a while, maybe forever” he had to be aware of it’s resemblance to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust announcement of his “last show ever.” However, when the crowd responded with the prerequisite “NOOOOOOO!!!” Reznor actually shrugged off the drama of it, like it really wasn’t that big of a deal, he’s just beyond playing the corporate game. He told folks interested in making music that nowadays “you don’t have to do it like this” and just before he aired what was poised to be an anti-label laundry list, he cut himself short mid-sentence, smiled, and shook his head in a manner that suggested there was really no point in complaining about something from which he is now happily removed. Sure, he ended the show with a blistering rendition of “Head Like a Hole” thereby following the showbiz notion of “giving the people what they want,” but ultimately, Trent Reznor has found himself at a well-deserved point in his career where his is free to do absolutely whatever he wants.

NIN setlist: 1,000,000/Wish/Heresy/March Of The Pigs/Something I Can Never Have/Metal/The Becoming/Head Down/Mr. Self Destruct/Reptile/The Big Come Down/Gave Up/Gone, Still/Survivalism (w/ Saul Williams)/Banged And Blown Through (w/ Saul Williams)/Home/Physical (You're So)/Down In It/The Hand That Feeds/Head Like A Hole

About 20 minutes after NIN was finished, the collective age of Lakewood seemed to have gone up about 10 years. A few folks who voiced displeasure online over NIN’s choice to go on before Jane’s Addiction actually did follow up on their threats of leaving prior to Jane’s set. Not exactly the mass exodus threatened in some heated exchanges in the NIN.com forum, but the crowd did thin out slightly. To be fair, some of this may also be a matter of the overall mood of the place being altered after NIN delivered over 90 minutes of a set guaranteed to exhaust anyone’s sense of aggression. Spent of tension, the mood became one of excitement for the appearance of Jane’s Addiction with their original lineup.

A curtain was lowered in front of the stage about 10 minutes prior to Jane’s set, and this too seemed to heighten the sense of mystery and suspense. After 17 years of sporadic (and incomplete) sightings, the band that brought underground art rock from the back streets of Los Angeles into the homes of suburbia via the now-classic albums Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual was about to take the stage and work their culture-shifting magic.

Jane’s show began with a film clip from the 1997 movie The River’s Wild projected onto the curtain. In the scene, a young boy chats with a man wearing a Lollapolooza cap. The scene humorously acknowledges the band’s impact (the man in the cap is Kevin Bacon- Jane’s Addiction is ONE DEGREE from Kevin Bacon!) as the man recalls the band as “great,” and the boy, perhaps speaking for a generation, intones a desire about to become a reality:

"Boy, I wish I got to see Jane's Addiction before they broke up.”

The comment brings down the house, and Perry Farrell’s spoken word intro from the band’s epic “Three Days” fills the arena. The bassline… that bassline played by the bass player begins, and there they are- Jane’s Addiction.

A little more than 25 years have passed since JA first performed, but their sound has remained intact. Some wear and tear on Farrell’s voice now places the songs in a lower key, but otherwise, their playing ability has not diminished. More importantly, their ability to play together hasn’t suffered at all. It seems like absence has indeed made the heart grow fonder, and throughout the show there were moments of interplay between the members that bordered on gleeful. The manic physicality and banshee-wails that drove performances in the early nineties have been replaced with a more relaxed tone and groove, but this works for the band for several reasons. Competing with Nine Inch Nails’ precision and force would be a losing proposition at this point, so the band wisely sidesteps that confrontation with a looser, more organic approach. Compared to their early days, it’s the difference between cocky and cocksure, and the band’s performance is created with the audience, not simply aimed at them. Farrell’s playful banter incorporated local spots around Atlanta, various bits of Georgian lore, the full moon, and the evening’s warm weather. While the songs themselves have become standards over the years, it all came together to create the feeling of a one-of-a-kind celebration of this specific evening. NIN blew people away, no doubt about it, but Jane’s Addiction, and in particular Perry’s role as a frontman, put on a show that brought the crowd together with a sense of community that goes back over a dozen years.

They ended their show with “Jane Says,” a song about a roommate that Perry and Eric had back in the 80’s. With two acoustic guitars, a small percussion set including steel drums, and the only prerecorded music of their set- a minimal drum loop, the band led several thousand people through a sing-along on a tune originally preformed in their living room. It’s been years since Jane has indeed kicked her habit, but Jane’s Addiction still has that spark that can make listening to music a special experience.

Jane's Addiction setlist: Three Days/Whores/Ain't No Right/Pigs In Zen/Then She Did.../Mountain Song/Been Caught Stealing/Ted, Just Admit It.../Had A Dad/Ocean Size/Summertime Rolls/Stop!/Jane Says

Sixx A.M.

2009-02-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
Eleven Seven Music

I was a Motley Crue fan from way back (especially their first two albums) but they went a little too commercial for me and I never really followed them much after "Shout At The Devil". That said, I never showed much interest in the solo efforts of some of the members either. That changed when I heard Sixx A.M 's song "Life Is Beautiful". This was an example of a great rock song that stayed in my head for days on end. However, was the rest of the album just as good, or was it just a fluke? After just one listen to "The Heroin Diaries", I can tell you for sure it was not a fluke. This is solid, extremely well written album full of fantastic songs that you will want to hear over and over again.

"The Heroin Diaries" chronicles bassist Nikki Sixx's downward spiral into the black abyss of heroin addiction and his desperate struggle to crawl back from the gutter that had become his life. The story takes place in the years 1986 through 1987 during Motley Crue's reign of debauchery and decadence. While it's not the most uplifting of subject matters, you feel as if your with him on this journey to regain his sanity and his soul. The songs themselves range from heavy, hard rock numbers to mournful ballads, all having brilliant lyrics with spoken word intermissions by Sixx himself. Regardless if you’re a Crue fan or not, this is a great album that I can't say enough good things about.

- Craig Harvey

Dimension Zero

2009-02-19T13:10:00.002-08:00

He Who Shall Not Bleed
Candlelight

On their fourth album (first one for me) Dimension Zero hits hard with a blitzkrieg attack of blackened/death/thrash metal (or something along those lines) that's as violent as a rabid pit bull from beginning to end. Acidic, screeching vocals coagulate with furious guitar/bass riffs and maniacal drumming. Dimension Zero is a side project from members of In Flames, Soilwork and a former drummer/vocalist from Marduk. While it's got some great metal fireworks, it tends to fall flat on originality, as most of the songs sound too much alike, not to mention this style has been done to death and sounds tired. That said, the brutality on the other hand, is top notch. It doesn't let up for a second. You kinda feel like someone beat you to death after it's all over (which for a metal album is a good thing.) However, I think that metal bands need to quit listening to each other so much and go outside their genre for influences to have a more diverse sound. They got half the formula right anyway, so it's not a total loss.

- Craig Harvey

Lethargy

2009-02-19T13:10:00.001-08:00

Purification
Powerage

Lethargy are a band of many sonic layers that together produce a hard rock/metal sound that is heavy, melodic, and massively infectious. This young foursome from the UK sound like a band twice their age, but don't let their youth fool you; these guys are the real deal. Pulling from early classic rock, stoner/doom, and more modern prog/thrash metal, they twist all these influences into a massive wall of sound that will catch you from the first song till the last. "Purification" has some of the thickest, tightest guitar riffs and catchy wah-drenched solo's, that sound effortless and flawless. And oh, does this band groove like nobody's business. Phil Humphery delivers a soulful, powerful vocal performance (not to mention his phenomenal guitar work) that is well complimented by co-guitarist Andy Hunt, who along with bassist Marc Jones supply backup vocals. Drummer Gaz Hunt does what drummers do best and that's pound the living hell out of his kit, providing this band with a fucking solid, brick wall foundation. Don't try to classify these guys as they've thrown in everything but the kitchen sink into their musical brew. Just enjoy the hell out of it. I promise you will.

- Craig Harvey

Combichrist

2009-02-13T09:57:00.001-08:00

Today We Are All Demons
Metropolis

I really hate to say anything negative about this album because Andy LePlegua is such a nice guy and he creates some great music. Unfortunately, Combichrist has become stagnant and repetitive as of late. I can't really see much change from the last album, the one before that and this latest effort. It's the same formula, same sounds, same beats, etc…. It's not bad, but I heard this three albums ago, and it hasn't evolved much at all. The first Combichrist EP, "Kiss The Blade" was really cool, because it was more powernoise, which then changed and morphed into a crossover of that style with danceable industrial on "Everybody Hates You." It was aggressive, heavy, and it really kicked ass. So what happened? Beat's me. I guess like many artists, you find a sound that works and take it as far as it will go. This is a novel idea, but if you don't change somewhat with each release, it becomes boring and un-interesting and that's the case here. I really hope Andy decides to give us something unique and different next time around, or you'll hear me vent the same disappointment as now on the next review.

- Craig Harvey

Entertainment

2009-02-12T09:13:00.001-08:00

Gender
Stickfigure

It's fucking great when a band emerges fully-formed with such a strong sonic identity. Athen's Entertainment craft a postpunk spin on gothic music the way god and nature intended - sticky, cavernous and dramatic. Equally evocative of early LA deathrock and punk - Christian Death, TSOL, Adolescents - and British postpunk weirdness - the Cure, pil, Cabaret Voltaire, Bauhaus - "Gender" is defiantly outsider art. A gritty, dirty, stripped-down sound.

I was pleased at the audacity of going for an epic "Double Dare" type vibe on opener "Romance In A Rain," all stutterstep tribal tattoos and guitar strangulation with the added diversion of keyboards that sound like one of those noise-activated “Boooo” ghosts you can buy at Halloween at your local drugstore. "A Seduction Walks" is fuelled by manic bass/drum lockstep propulsion that woulda had Ian Curtis' right leg jerking insanely while the rest of his body was locked in thousand-yard stare comatose daze - and those echoey, overwrought vocals are outta sight. And then when the vocalist purrs, "the look of love," the song upshifts into a whole new form of heat, with a guitar solo that sounds like shards of stained glass. Best track on the album. And just wait until "Patroness" kicks in with a minute to go – total overheated death disco or virus funk. It’s like ten-ton columns of sleek black marble, distorto glam-dub riot. If the whole album could be that one minute, mmmmm, we'd be in a new heaven.

After that it's just one tribal punk nightmare after another, with style and poise to spare and a mastery of crepuscular atmospherics that even Bauhaus might covet. That drummer really fucking cooks and every other player knows that silence can be just as terrifying if not more than everyone pulling out all their tricks at the same time. Simple basslines boom and echo like good Cure or New Order. The vocals are a breathy, androgynous yelp closest to Rozz Williams in the flush of youth circa the first Christian Death album. Can you even consider music like this a throwback when a band follows in the footsteps of bands that the popular consciousness is not even close to catching up with yet? The smoldering tension and release power-plays of "Confusion of Senses" masks epic Bunnymen-esque pop heroism. The coda of closer "Flesh" is just two much, jagged guitar harmonics shimmer on top of a truly thuggish bass and drum interplay with the vocalist yelping and screaming far away in the background and then twenty seconds of bass and drums pounding away and then nothing. Silence.

- Matthew Moyer

Legendary Pink Dots

2009-02-12T09:11:00.001-08:00

Plutonium Blonde
ROIR

There're all of these seriously fucking annoying truisms about the nature of rock n' roll that have been allowed to propagate and spread for way too fucking long now. Rock n' roll is a "young" "man's" game. A band has only two, three maximum, good albums in them. All the best stuff will be written in the early part of a band's career, after that, it's the law of diminishing returns in full effect. Bands need several years to craft and complete an album. Where, dear sirs, dear mythmakers, do the Legendary Pink Dots fit into your nostalgic haze? Thirty years, several albums out every year, each one building on the last, restlessly treading new ground each time. According to the immutable laws of rock n' roll, I shouldn't even be listening to “Plutonium Blonde” right now, and certainly not enjoying it as much as I am.

“Plutonium Blonde” finds the Dots stepping back from the elegiac and stately despair and politics-as-eulogy that pervaded “All The Kings Men” and “Wailing Wall,” and instead crafting ten sonically diverse mad-scientist lullabies. Some of it is drop-dead gorgeous, some unbelievably creepy, the rest, utterly flushed with the limitless possibilities of outsider sound. The principal players are in fine form. Edward Ka-Spel's childlike lilt is evergreen and drunk with wonder, his lyrics cloying and inscrutable. Nils Van Hornblower flits furtively in and amongst the mechanical spines of the song, every bit the sonic deus ex machina, before bursting forth like a hard-charging jazzman. Ryan Moore's guitar is still wondrously soulful and human, even when splintering into millions of tiny angular shards, chiming and bell-like, or drifting and otherworldly, like the last embers of a dying fire. Silverman keeps the electronics and percussion groovy enough to form the spine of their fractured pop, but weird and skittering and unexpected enough to continually jolt the listener.

Listen, buddy, they were survivors all along. Strength through creation. Ever wondered what Syd Barrett or the Soft Machine would be like if they'd managed to keep it going, to keep it together, for the sake of art over all else? Well, wonder no further.

- Matthew Moyer

Godhead

2009-02-04T12:44:00.002-08:00

At The Edge Of The World
Driven Music

For some reason, my gut instinct told me I was not going to like this album (or at the very least, I would think it just average and nothing overly special.) So much for my gut instinct. I was way off base. I had been familiar with Godhead by name only. Never really listened to them, just heard they were a metal/industrial act that had been around for several years. So I figured they had that "sound." You know, the one every other band of the same genre had; screaming vocals, heavy riffs, and some backing key's and noises to give them the "industrial" tag. Well they do have heavy riffs for sure, but the vocals are amazing. Frontman (and guitarist) Jason C. Miller has an outstanding set of pipes, which occasionally reminded me of Geoff Tate of Queensryche in certain parts. Between him and guitarist Mike Miller, (not related) they weave a powerful, yet very melodic set of 13 tracks, that are solid and well written. Bassist/Keyboardist Ulrich Hepperlin along with drummer Ty Smith provide a massive wall of rythym to keep things in place. Interestingly enough, Ty Smith is Godhead's sixth drummer, which make it seem as though they have been through more drummers than Spinal Tap! There are also five bonus remix tracks (including one from Curse Mackey) which makes a total of 18 songs altogether. More bang for your buck I always say. I was glad to be proven wrong this time, and found myself more than ready to go back and check into Godhead's previous work's. "At The Edge Of The World" is an album you should do yourself a favor and pick up. You won't be disappointed.

- Craig Harvey

Punisher

2009-02-04T12:44:00.001-08:00

War Zone Soundtrack

I thought most of the songs on here would be new stuff, but with the exception of Rob Zombie's "War Zone" (which by the way, is the best song he has done in a long time) it was all older material. It's not a total loss however, there are some good tracks lurking on this disc. Slayer - "Final Six", Slipknot-"Psychosocial", Seether - "Fallen", Kerli - "Bulletproof", Justice - "Genesis" and Hatebreed - "Refuse/Resist". Can't say whether the film is any good or not, as I haven't seen it (I was kind of pissed Thomas Jane did not reprise his role, but what can you do?) However the soundtrack is definitely fitting for this type of film.

- Craig Harvey

Lamb Of God

2009-01-25T13:43:00.001-08:00

Wrath
Epic

Damn if these guys don't get better with every album! If you thought that their last release "Sacrament" was brutal, you better hang on to your seat with this one. "Wrath" starts off with a slow instrumental before kicking into songs so monstrous they could bring buildings crashing down. Guitarist's Mark Morton and Willie Adler are one of metal's finest duo's and they write some of the most bad-ass guitar riffs that will ever decimate your eardrums. Mark's style is more straight forward and his lead work ventures from bluesy swagger to full-on shred-your-face off, while Willie's riffs tend to be more abstract, with obscure note placements and odd time signatures. Together they blend seamlessly to form a massive wall of sound that swings, grooves, and wrecks anything in it's path. Vocalist Randy Blythe has got to be the most angry, pissed off singer I have ever heard. There are a million singers out there who "sound" evil and mean, but Randy…. fuck, he makes you a believer. Chris Adler (Willie's brother) and bassist John Campbell lay down a wicked bottom end. The bass is very fat and meaty this time around, and the drum work is nothing short of phenomenal. "Wrath" has a more organic and less polished sound than "Sacrament" but the production is still top notch. I can't really give you a favorite track at the moment, as I am still trying to absorb it all, but "In Your Words", "Fake Messiah" "Choke Sermon" and "Reclamation" stand out so far. This is a hell of a great start for 2009 with regards to metal releases. It's gonna be hard one to top that's for sure. Highly fucking recommended!

- Craig Harvey

The Tossers

2009-01-07T07:59:00.001-08:00

One Fine Spring Evening
Victory Records

I have never been a big punk fan, but I sort of fell in love with this Irish group not that long ago after hearing their live album "Gloatin' and Showboatin'. The Tossers are not your average punk outfit mind you, it's all acoustic instruments for one, and to be honest it's not all punk either. That's just part of their charm. However, because they have played with a lot of punk groups they get lumped into that category I suppose. Regardless, what I truly enjoy about The Tossers is their witty blend of traditional Irish/Celtic melodies, combined with heartfelt lyrics and the energy of punk to give it all a unique spin. Oh, and there's lot's of songs about drinking, drinking and did I say drinking? Well, not all of it anyway. You have many stories of love, heartache, Irish pride and family drama. Vocalist Tony sounds like he's had a few pints as his warbly, but honest and passionate vocals charm you from the moment he starts to sing. The rest of the band are a credit to Irish folk music, as they weave wonderful tunes that go from emotional, soft ballads to furious, fast paced party songs. "One Fine Spring Evening" is the first album other than the aforementioned live disc I have heard, but it reaffirmed that my interest in these guys was not a fluke. I say green is the color of the day and a fine one it is!

- Craig Harvey

Bella Morte

2009-01-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Death
Metropolis

Bella Morte has become one of the solid standing fixtures in the Gothic Rock genre as one of the new touring and writing monsters of our subculture. Creating solid hard hitting sounds that are unapologetic, at times brash and at others deeply inspirational. Their unique mix of Electronic, Goth, Deathrock, Punk and Metal makes for a bittersweet and heavy blend of tracks that entrances people from many different genres. Always attempting to adapt their style and never be stagnant, the act recently released Beautiful Death. An intriguing and deep new album that hearkens back to their more romantic and deeply traditional Gothic Rock roots.

Beautiful Death opens with the acts latest single for Metropolis records, the song "Find Forever Gone". Andy shows a softer and deeper side to his lyrical repertoire in this very slow and beautiful gothic dance track. "Can't Let this die" opens with a slow electronic rift then pulls you in for the killing rift, the more heavy sound you expect of this gritty act. "Black Seas Collide" Features heavy ripping guitar work combined with eerily dripping keyboards. Again we see the softer side of Andy's vocals in this very classic Goth rift. "Buried Within" is a harder hitting fast paced track with lightning paced synth. "The End of the Day" is a more tragic sounding solemn and moving track. "Fades like a song" is a deep emotional ballad of love lost and burying the past history. "In the Dirt" starts with a crawling Deathrock lyrical rift that explodes into a punching frenzy.

"One thousand days" is an emotionally driving track drawing images of Suicide, Alienation, and Depression. All too familiar themes but this tracks burning image of endurance against all odds is inspiring. "Burn the Sky" is another driving Gothic Rock track with heavy guitar tracks combined with hard hitting lyrics that blend an epic Gothic Rock anthem. "Eternal" is a more exploratory and experimental track with industrial synth and gritty guitar rifts. It carries a more hopeful tone than the prior tracks. "Nine Hours" opens with haunting Piano tones, a heavenly close to this very beautifully put together album.

Recent fans of Bella Morte who have been exposed to the break out album "Bleed the Grey Sky Black" might find the transition to a more romanticized traditional Goth album a hard switch. Bella Morte though shows their ability to mix their traditional gritty guitar licks with deeply written intellectual lyrics and a softer side to Andy's traditional lyrical style to create an album that crawls with the most crepuscular Goth act. The sound of "Beautiful Death" is reminiscent of early Goth acts like Play Dead or Nosferatu. However, Bella Morte retains its razor edge that has kept fans coming back for each new lick the band releases. With the act losing Gopal and Jordan earlier on, many fans felt that Bella Morte might lose some of its punch. Rest assured that the album "Beautiful Death" does not disappoint with all its romantic and creepy crawling beauty.

http://www.myspace.com/bellamorte

- Dr. Raven

We Wish You a Metal Xmas And A Headbanging New Year

2008-12-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

Armoury Records

What could be a better gift for the metalhead in your life than a cover of X-mas songs done by their favorite metal artists? Nothing. So, the folks at Armoury records got together some of metal's cream of the crop and had them put their spin the holiday classics we know and love. Some of the renditions are outstanding, some are downright hilarious, and some are just eh... ok. However, most are pretty darn cool. The best ones are "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Tonni Iommi on guitar; making this the darkest, heaviest version of this song ever done. Dug Pinnick lends his outstanding voice to "The Little Drummer Boy" with a little help from George Lynch, Billy Sheehan and Simon Phillips. Joe Lynn Turner turns on the charm on "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" backed by four delightful lads; Bruce Kulick, brother Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo, and Simon Wright. For the more humorous side of things, we have Testament frontman Chuck Billy doing his scary, evil vocals from hell on the thrash anthem "Silent Night." He had help of course from Scott Ian, Jon Donais, Chris Wyse, and John Tempesta. Alice Cooper gives us a new nightmare, in the form of "Santa Claws Is Coming To Town." Scary guitarist John 5, mad bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer extraordinaire Vinny Appice were also held responsible for aiding and abetting Alice in this song. There are several other's that are not bad, but don't rate as well as these, except one: I saved the best for last, "Run Rudolph Run" performed by none other than Lemmy Kilmister on the mike, the Reverend Billy Gibbons on the six string, and Dave Grohl bashing the skins. Folks, it just doesn't get any better than this. Hell, the album's worth it for this one track alone! This is one X-Mas album you won't mind listening to during the holiday season or anytime during the year. Ho! Ho! Ho!

- Craig Harvey

Trivium

2008-11-30T11:47:00.001-08:00

Shogun
Roadrunner

On their last release "The Crusade" I was hailing these guys as the next thrash metal kings. Moving from the more metalcore style of their previous album "Ascendancy" I was floored by the monstrous riffing and great vocals on "The Crusade". Even vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy's voice had evolved into a near carbon copy of Metallica's James Hetfield. It was truly an amazing release. So now, on their forth album "Shogun" the band has taken yet another leap in their sonic journey to combine all the elements of their past sounds and bring us a heavier and even more powerful album. Employing seven string guitars and bringing back Heafy's screaming vocals into the fray, "Shogun" is a powerful tour de force. Heafy's vocal prowess has become quite impressive. He can easily move his voice from screams, to his "Hetfield" yells, to what has become a much improved singing style. The musicianship is of course, outstanding. Unlike Dragonforce, Trivium know how to write great riffs, play insane shredding solo's and manage to have the restraint not to overplay and leave space and texture in the songs when it is needed. The songs themselves delve into Japanese and Greek mythology and are four to over six minutes in length with the exception being the almost twelve minute closer "Shogun." To be honest, I could have done with less metalcore screaming and more of his (Heafy's) other vocal styles, but regardless, Shogun is definitely on the best metal albums of 2008.

- Craig Harvey

Cradle Of Filth

2008-11-30T11:46:00.002-08:00

Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder
Roadrunner

The most well recognized and popular gothic/black metal band returns with their most vile, horrific and blackest album yet. "Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder is a return to their older works in terms of speed and tempo, but still retains the clarity and more riff oriented elements of their previous release "Thornography." Never one to shy away from controversy, Dani Filth and his cohorts in foulness have outdone themselves this time. While a previous album (Cruelty And The Beast) enlightened us to the horrific crimes of the blood countess Elizabeth Bathory, we now are told the tale of one of the earliest serial killers history had all but buried in it's deepest dungeons; Gilles de Rais.
This 15th century nobleman fought along side Joan Of Arc, (and was rumored to have loved her) but after her death, he became dark, evil and immoral beyond words. After his vast fortune was exhausted, he delved into the occult, searching for ways to accumulate his wealth once again. This path took him into the black realm's of Satanism, child sacrifice and terrible sexual deviancy. His abominable deeds became the stuff of nightmares. After he was caught he did express remorse for his crimes and was pardoned by the church, but then hanged (and possibly burned). Cradle of Filth's take on this story is of course embellished to give it a sense of drama and tragedy, but none the less, one of their most thought provoking albums yet.
As I said before, the intensity is amped up and brings to mind earlier albums, but has a much better production quality I think. Paul Allender's guitar work is a raging inferno of wicked riffs, speedy single note lines, and fleet fingered solo's. Dani Filth's voice is just as blasphemous as ever, with ear piercing demonic screams, and raspy growls he has never sounded more in his element than now. Dave Pybus bass work along side Martin Skaroupka's drums are a thunderous force that conjures up the bowels of hell itself to hold everything together. Old friend and partner in darkness Doug Bradley ("Pinhead") once again provides narration between songs, as he plays the role of Gilles de Rais himself. He of course, is as the Brits say "spot on" with the part. Female background vocals are again done by Sara Jezebel Deva who has been part of the Cradle family for some time now. So I can say without a doubt, this is one best Cradle of Filth albums to come about in a while and assuredly their most disturbing.

- Craig Harvey

Dragonforce

2008-11-30T11:46:00.001-08:00

Ultra Beatdown
Roadrunner

I first heard Dragonforce on their last album "Inhuman Rampage" late one Saturday night when Headbanger's Ball played their new single "Between The Fire And The Flames". I was impressed. It was kinda like Dream Theater on speed. The song flew by a breakneck speed, the vocals clear and soaring, the guitars, keyboards and drums played at imhumanly fast tempos, and oh yes, there was plenty of amazingly fast shredding guitar solo's. So of course I bought the album. That's when the disappointment set in. After six tracks I couldn't take it anymore. It was all the same. It sounded like a swarm of angry bees had flown into a video game arcade. The talent was there but these guys had no sense of writing a catchy riff. One or two tracks like this would be ok, but the entire album? I love extreme metal, power metal, black metal, metal period. But this was on the verge of being ridiculous.
So, why do you ask would I think their latest album would be any different? I have no idea. Especially when it's entitled "Ultra Beatdown". Maybe I wanted to give these guys a second chance and see if they could slow down and give me something to bang my head to and not dislocate my neck from my shoulders. To my dismay it's exactly what I feared (it's probably even worse), with the exception of one (count that, one) slow ballad. I bet guitarist Herman Li and co-guitarist Sam Totman were having speed withdrawals just waiting to get done with this song. I know that this is their gimmick, and what their fans want to hear, but I just can't get into it. It's a shame really, because as far as I am concerned, it's great musical talent gone to waste.

- Craig Harvey

Chemical Brothers

2008-11-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

Brotherhood
Astralwerks

While it may be true, that the electronic dance phenomenon that swept through the nineties has gone underground and out of the limelight, the artists that help spawn those magnificent days gone by are still around and still very valid. One such artist is The Chemical Brothers. Their contributions to the particular music scene could easily be described as nothing short of brilliant, rivaled by only a handful of their respected peers. So, in honor of the historic musical achievement that these lads have graced our ears with, Astralwerks has put out a beautiful 2 disc box set of their greatest singles and a limited disc of re-mixes that are quite rare, entitled "Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10".
There are fifteen wonderful tracks that will surely bring back memories for those who have followed this duo from the beginning. Even if you were not all that familiar with them, you surely heard a few of these songs somewhere in your travels. Not all of the songs are from older works however, as this set chronicles all the way to some of the most recent singles as well. The Chemical Brother's defy categorization as they seamlessly blend house, techno, psychedelia, and every other aspect of electronica you can imagine into their own wicked brew that has (and continues to rock clubs today). I can't recommend this enough for fans of great dance music.

- Craig Harvey

Oasis

2008-11-30T09:01:00.001-08:00

Lord Don't Slow Me Down

On the surface, what seems like a yob's eye view of "Eat the Document" or even Radiohead's "Meeting People Is Easy" tour documentary quickly becomes so much more. The plot is a simple and familiar one within rock n' roll: band tours the world, deals with all the attendant highs and lows that come with the surrealities of "pop stardom." "Lord Don't Slow me Down," much like the aforementioned "Eat The Document" or even Nick Cave's "The Road To God Knows Where," is less concerned with what happens onstage - songs are only presented as snippets, bookends - and instead concentrates on what happens in between the concerts. The endless promotional grind of clueless interviews (Noel, why don't you like Liam? Liam, why don't you like Noel?), planes, buses, trains, sitting and waiting for the show, sitting and waiting for all of the hangers-on to leave the backstage area, a procession of bars and late nights followed by punishingly early mornings. What elevates this particular film from a "tortures of fame" pity party is that Oasis are so fucking grumpy and bemused and funny about the whole affair. Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher clearly enjoy being rock starts, but as they start to get a little older, it's just as clear that they realize just how ridiculous all the rituals are; even though it doesn't kill their crucial/original love of music. An unselfconscious encore of The Who's "My Generation" proves that.

Didn't I say funny? The movie begins with a backstage party where Noel is unable to open a comically large bottle of champagne, leading every band member to have a go, with members of their entourage joining in too. It's only after several minutes and ever-more ridiculous scheming that the bottle finally yields, to relieved cheers. A few minutes later, Noel is incredulously asking an interviewer, "You do know I'm not Liam, right?" Then there is a shot of Noel at a radio interview in New York, giving a "What the fuck" look at the camera, as the hosts prattle on about nonsense from ten years ago. Even later, when a reporter asks Liam how he prepares for a gig, he doesn't even hesitate before deadpanning, "Wank."

The use of black-and-white film stock lends "Lord, Don't Slow Me Down" a hazy, timeless feel. Even more interesting, given that the subject matter is gonzo anthem factory Oasis, is that the camera work of director BaillieWalsh is subtle, non-linear and strangely beautiful. But then again,wasn't smilin' Paul McCartney the Beatle who introduced the rest of the group to tape loops and avant-garde music? It ain't all appearances, pally. The editing jumps from scene to scene, the camera blurs out the principals to focus on one small seemingly inconsequential detail in the frame, there are beautiful landscape shots from every country they visited, nighttime becomes magical, airports look like alien realms, backstage green rooms look like small fishbowls, their fans drunkenly stumble about, and the closing scene is a voiceover of Noel expressing doubts about their future of a touring band juxtaposed against an endless sea of audience. But when the members of Oasis do the long walk onstage, they look every bit as iconic as that famous walking shot in "Reservoir Dogs."

Oasis is a very lucky band, while it's clear they'll never recapture their initial rush of creative energy and commercial fame, they're in no way tethered to a particular song or album. Oasis are still a productive band, and despite their apparent stodginess and obstinance, they're able to change and adapt to the times every so subtly. And beyond that the Gallahaghers give great interview. Approximately 70% of the fun of this film is listening to Liam and Noel banter and belittle each other, anyone within a twenty foot radius, and every rock band ever. Their delivery is so unforced and deliciously deadpan, it's like "Zelig" by way of Roger Daltry and Stephen Fry.

The package is an essential one for the Oasis fan. Included is the documentary film, a commentary track featureing the entire band (priceless), and a full live set from their home city of Manchester, filmed in sharp, cinematic color. Even if you're not an Oasis fan, you'll get a kick out of all the surreal indignities of the entertainment-industrial complex writ large upon a group of mouthy Brits, without actually having to put up with any but the best bits of their music.

- Matthew Moyer

OhGr

2008-11-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

Devils In My Details
Musebox/SPV

Nivek Ogre reunites with long time partner Mark Walk to bring us Devils In My Details. Ripe with gripping orchestral moments, sharp samples and a darkness as creeping and menacing as classic Skinny Puppy albums Too Dark Park or Last Rights but all the while these many devils remain signature OhGr tracks. Originally conceived as one massive musical piece then dissected into the individual details, Devils departs from the previous two offerings from the demonic duo leaving the more expected dance tracks to the wayside for more surprising esoteric device. Stepping into unlikely territory on offerings like "Feeling Chicken" which lends whimsy but remains no less sinister then the rest of the album which starts off running and continues to build track after track to a brooding triple climax with the first single "Timebomb," followed by "Smogharp" and finally the soaring "Witness." Devils is another stunning opus in the ever expending history of one of music's most prolific performers.

RELEASE DATE: 11/18/08

- Max Michaels

Empire Auriga

2008-11-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

Auriga Dying
Moribund Cult

Michigan duo Empire Auriga (Boethius on vocals and 90000065B on machines) continue the American mutation of black metal with their intensely individualized take on the core materials of the genre. To wit, "Auriga Dying" is just as reminiscent of early Swans, Death in June and Non's "Total War," as metal oddballs like Burzum and Xasthur. And a sprinkle of Godflesh and early Swamp Terrorists' masochism. Face it chum, "Auriga Dying" is going to be VERY tough going for the corpsepainted doppleganger wearing an Immortal shirt. Hell, they're probably going to hate Empire Auriga. Fucking good, I say. Isn't one of the hallmarks of extreme metal supposed to be that it's not for everyone, that it purposely bucks movements? No blast beats, no headbanging, shit, nothing even resembling a rock beat, no solos, no goblin vocals. The sound of Empire Auriga is a malignant brew of post-industrial sonics and machinery, lashed to rusted radios, the occasional hint of gothic grandeur and the ground-down hopelessness of a Grief or a Khanate. Mournful guitar, martial, fascistic beats, and decaying electronics all presided over by vocals that sound like Ian Curtis's personality encoded into a Commodore 64 computer. Wave after wave of ghost-in-the-machine funeral doom and elegiac 8-bit paranoia come pulsing at you. Hotly tipped, I should hope.

- Matthew Moyer

Battlelore

2008-10-28T06:24:00.001-07:00

The Last Alliance
Napalm Records

I seem to remember not being overly impressed with the last Battlelore release, so as you can imagine my hopes were not high for this one. Well, it's nice to be wrong occasionally. "The Last Alliance" seems more grandiose than last time, a more epic feel to it all perhaps.... well, you get the point. The guitars are massive and the female vocals seem more prominent. Maybe they were before, but I can't really recall. Still I liked the overall feel of this album, and it still revolves lyrically around J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth. Not the most original idea to be sure ( and not the first band to mold their songs from his works) , but Battlelore seem to have a knack for it, and while I tend to rant about bands lacking originality, I couldn't help but really enjoy the powerful and majestic tales they wove into "The Last Alliance".

- Craig Harvey

Iced Earth

2008-10-28T06:23:00.002-07:00

The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part 2)
SPV Records

Now here was a sight for sore eyes (and hears) a Florida based band who has been paying their dues for many years on the metal scene. Iced Earth are one of the best American metal bands that originated in Tampa Florida back in the early nineties under the original band name Purgatory. Jon Schaffer being the founder, songwriter and rhythm guitarist has kept the band going through thick and thin. Members have come and gone (and come back again) but through it all the band has still kept it's core sound, which drew inspiration from thrash, progressive and power metal along side the new wave of British heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Lyrically the songs revolve around fantasy, science fiction, horror and true history as well. All finely crafted and intelligently written by Schaffer himself. Vocalist Matt Barlow is back again (taking the lead after Tim "Ripper" Owens departed) to add his powerful pipes to Schaffer's larger than life songs. However, the most exciting aspect is Jacksonville's very own Brent Smedley who is once more behind the drums to give Iced Earth his massive double bass skin pounding attack. I used to hang out with Brent a few years ago when he and his brother Kent were in a local band here called Prodigy. He was a fantastic drummer then and he is nothing short of phenomenal now. He has been back with Iced Earth since the last album, "Framing Armageddon" but it's still cool to have someone I know in such a great metal band. This is metal they way I like it, great guitar riffs and songs that have the imagination and power to make you feel invincible as the metal maelstorm rolls over you and takes you up in it's fury.

- Craig Harvey

Artas

2008-10-28T06:23:00.001-07:00

The Healing
Napalm Records

When I read one of the song titles was called "Gangsta's Paradise" and Artas music was labeled as "modern metal" red flags went up everywhere. The red flags were justified, because this is one bloody, awful, goddamn mess. These Austrians should go back to the drawing board and get some new influences. Typical metalcore, down-tuned, un-original garbage. Yeah, sure they can play their instruments, but until they can come up with a shred of originality, please put them down, get day jobs and spare us all the horror of listening to this.

- Craig Harvey

Kampfar

2008-10-28T06:22:00.002-07:00

Heimgang
Napalm Records

The eerie opening track "Vantro" starts off with semi-distorted guitars and a mid tempo beat that sets the stage for "Inferno" where the guitars are cranked up a notch (well everything is ) and moves into a raging, venomous onslaught. However, what set's Kampfar apart from the large black metal community, is their thrashy melodic riffs, a more high end sound on the guitars, and lack of blast beats. It somewhat harkens back to earlier times, when this style of music was very primitive, (but you can actually hear the bass on this! ) Another thing is the pagan influence which makes the songs almost "catchy", except there are no traditional folk instruments playing those parts, just guitar, bass and drums. The vocals are pure bile and darkness, but not that different from many other bands in this genre. Still, this was a breath of foul air, that proves there is life left crawling up from the black metal realms.

- Craig Harvey

Omnium Gatherum

2008-10-28T06:22:00.001-07:00

The Redshift
Candlelight Records

I was sure after the first couple of tracks, that this was a Swedish band. I was close; Finland. Anyway, I had them pegged for Swedes as they had that Gothenburg metal vibe similar to bands such as "Soilwork, In Flames, Scar Symmetry, etc..." Great power grooves and thrash elements unfold as these guys move seemlessly through each track. The twin guitar riffs, leads and harmony parts are flawless, the singing is, well.... typical I suppose for this style. Growling alternating to a "semi-clean" vocal pattern, but the singer doesn't have quite the pipes to qualify as a great "singing" vocalist. Growling, well, he does that spot on. To categorize these guys as death metal is off base I think, but they have enough aggression, power and talent to carry them far in the metal world.

- Craig Harvey

Nocturnal Fear

2008-10-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Code of Violence
Moribund Records

I recently opined that death metal - in order to compete with the black metal that is increasingly stealing its thunder - needs to sound like an explosion of blood right out of the gate. Gratifyingly Detroit shock troops Nocturnal Fear have gotten it right. Nocturnal Fear realize that death metal, at its best and vilest, needs to sound completely fucking weird and spazzy and violently messy. So to fashion the off-kilter noise bursts that populate "Code of Violence" der Fear look to the likes of Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness," along with Sodom and Destruction's early work, for the language they use. But it's not like all that naff retro-thrash, just by dint of the conviction and abandon with which they throw themselves into their material.

And this material is a dizzy, vertigo-laden brew of sloppy thrash with pristine chugging riffs, grindcore "fuck it" charges, early death metal's (think "Scream Bloody Gore") extremity and the crazed time changes that the likes of Morbid Angel used to employ. Not only that, but Nocturnal Fear turn their back on the occult with lyrics and themes that explore a far more horrifying day to day reality of war, murder, serial killers and man's everyday violence. Though it's more than a little tough to tell whether Nocturnal Fear are embedded reporters or if they've gone native a la Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now." Check out all of the hardware/ammo displayed proudly on the back cover. In the end, maybe the album does overstay its ideal running time a bit; it's an exhausting experience after track, say, six, but I love how it's just crazy, messed up, evil racket from 0:01.

- Matthew Moyer

Celestial Bloodshed

2008-10-21T11:11:00.001-07:00

Curse, Scarred, and Forever Possessed
Moribund Records

For a music genre, black metal, that in its purest sense has such a narrow sense of parameters, obviously there is going to be the need for occasional purges. Hence, somewhat absurdly, Celestial Bloodshed claim that Norwegian black metal is dead... um, long live Norwegian Black Metal. Looking back to the likes of Burzum and Gorgoroth for inspiration, and to this reviewer's ears, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the likes of Corpus Christii and Glorior Belli, Celestial Bloodshed concoct a fervently devotional homage to the spirit of OG black metal. No thrash influences, no death influences, no melancholy passages, just cold unyielding surges of ill-feeling; that curious mix of depression and imperious rage that makes for compelling listening. On it's face, yes, that's what "Cursed, Scarred and Forever Possessed" is. Then why isn't it paper thin pastiche like so many bands who claim to evoke the one true spirit of black metal? The production on "Cursed" is compelling and ghostly: the rhythm section is amped-up and pit-deep, bludgeoning echo instead of clacking typewriters, the vocals are a clean and low unrestrained roar - often panning back and forth between the two speakers, the guitars are an inexorable wall of barbed wire with whirling solos that sound like a bag of broken glass, and I swear to god you can hear chains clanking at several points during songs. It's a tomblike, ambient, airy production where you can't trust your sense of depth perception. "Cursed" is THIS close to being a headphones record.

The album length hearkens back to classic thrash and grindcore days - thirty minutes and we are so fucking out of here - and that's another reason why I'm perhaps more positively inclined towards "Cursed, Scarred and Forever Possessed." It doesn't overstay it's welcome. This is a an album of hollow-eyed, raw, black metal that comes in just fucking blazing and then is gone lick a flash like a black cat brushing by your leg. Just much, much louder.

- Matthew Moyer

Nastrond

2008-10-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Muspellz Synir
Moribund Cult

This Swedish black metal duo marks the tenth year of their restless journey with the release of new album "Muspellz Synir." Nastrond - Norse for "corpse shore," that factoid was far too juicy to lay fallow - have cast aside the electronics and atmospherics of their last album for a harsher, more manic sound. "Muspellz Synir" is like a hybrid of the unrelenting assaults of Gorgoroth and Watain combined with the padded-cell atmospheres and lo-fi outsider weirdness of Xasthur. Heavy as hell, with spry riff-heavy sections that almost recall classic Sunlight death metal seamlessly melding to fierce howling winds of dissonance and depressive trudges.

"Muspellz Synir" feels physically weighty and dublike, their sound originates in the stomach deep in your guts and then burbles its way up; a black bile you can taste in the back of your mouth.

- Matthew Moyer

I Shalt Become

2008-10-14T06:55:00.001-07:00

Requiem
Moribund Cult

Emerging after ten years of shadowy silence and other projects, Ilinois''s I Shalt Become, aka S. Hoffman, has returned to take his rightful place amongst the increasingly creative and idiosyncratic US Black Metal elite - specifically the "holy trinity" of Leviathan, Xasthur, and Judas Iscariot. I Shalt Become's Burzum-inflected debut was an influential but overlooked milestone in "solo" US black metal - standing out by dint of its overwhelming sorrow but now the times have caught up with this sort of insular, personal, chilly, blackened ambient exerimentation. "Requiem" is a follow-up very much in tune with the vibe of outer-reaches black metal. This album completely (belays) the frantic surges and manic blastbeat speedscapes of most black metal - indeed abandoning all rockist and thrash textures - for extended meditative waves of pure phase sound. "Requiem" is like a soundtrack to suicide by overdose of valium and sleeping pills. I Shalt Become conjures up grey and dark purple clouds of symphonic, multilayered drone. Beguiling, calm and beauitful with a deep, unsettled darkness underlying every note every synth chord.

With no discernible metal influences except for perhaps Burzum - just in terms of Count Grisnacht subjugating metal's aehstetics to his own will - I shalt Become denies an audience easy headbanging and moshing thrills to instead use the tools of black metal to express a dark but melancholy personal visions. This is dedication to creating art over any slavish and unthinking homage to heaviness. I Shalt Become is more easily connected to the Cure circa "Seventeen Seconds" and "Pornography," Lycia's "Cold" (?), early Cocteau Twins and Joy Division's Atmosphere. Each "song" is a deliberate and meditative elegy; lush, choral waves of synths ebb and flow over corruscating waves of fuzz(ed) guitar (atmospherics) and delicately discordant lead guitar lines and fourishes pierce through the placid meres of synth orchestration like sharp crystal knives. Percussion is unfeeling and mechanical, minimal clicktracks like a flickering pulse, Hoffman's vocal lacerations, self-loathing roars and murmurs, feral and goblin, dart in and out of the more delicate corners of the music - just out of earshot. Each song is a gorgeougly composed hymn, all long protracted swoons and tears with an equal mix of foreboding and regret. Lullaby as much as warning. Shoegazing, mirrorgazing, furtive whispers, secret promises broken, fingernails scratching on your windows. As black metal oft evokes a sense of place, "Requiem" calls to mind deserted, rain drizzled streets, lakes at the end of autumn right before the water freezes and vast snowswept forests where every sound is absobed, leaving you with a ringing, taunting silence.

- Matthew Moyer

Abigail Williams

2008-10-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns
Candlelight Records

Is there a book out there entitled "How To Play Symphonic Black Metal For Dummies"? If there is, it should be burned and banned from publication. Because, after the first five minutes of this cd, I could have sworn I had just reviewed it a few weeks ago. Oh wait, that was another band that sounded just like this one, that sounded like another very prominent black metal band etc.... What is it with bands these days? Again, I completely understand that it's very difficult to achieve something that truly says "we are unique, nobody comes close to what we are doing". I get it. I really do. Still, you could try a little harder couldn't you? Ok, now that I have vented that out of my bowels, is there anything good I have to say about Abigail Williams? Absolutely. These guys play with a driven skill and conviction that takes extreme metal to another level. Fucking great musicians, everyone of them. If it weren't for my previous issues I would give this album a "ten" for just about everything. The only ten about this, that really is great, is track ten. The best song on the album, hands down. Why? They actually did do something a tad different with that one. To bad they waited till the last song to say "look we can step out of our pre-conceived formulaic style" and take a risk.

- Craig Harvey

Midnight Syndicate

2008-10-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Dead Matter - Cemetery Gates
Entity Productions

Just in time for Halloween, the boys from Midnight Syndicate (Gavin Goszka and Edward Douglas respectfully) have dug up (Get it? Dug Up? I crack myself up sometimes!) some new material to frighten the daylights out of us. Before we sink our fangs into this new delicious dish of sonic scare-fest, I just want to throw a bone out (ok I'll stop, seriously) for all of you who don't know about these two talented lads. This is their tenth release of gothic/horror soundtracks that can be heard all over the country in Haunted Houses, Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, computer games, mainstream television shows etc... Their music could best be described as soundtracks for the imagination; to films and stories that you dream up even if the album has a theme to it. Many of my RPG (role playing game) buddies love to use Gavin and Edward's music for horror-themed games.

On "The Dead Matter - Cemetery Gates" this is original music inspired by the themes from (now stay with me on this) the upcoming movie "The Dead Matter" which they are also scoring as well. To make it more interesting, the film is an updated version of the same name, which Edward directed and did the score for several years ago. Some of the music from the original film went on albums such "Born of The Night and Realm Of Shadows". Throughly confused? Don't be. "Cemetery Gates" is the new album and not the soundtrack to "The Dead Matter" (however, there are three songs from the soundtrack included on this disc.) Anyway, now that we have that all laid out on the table and everyone's completely straight with this, (Right folks?) we can move on to what this review is really about, the music.

As you can imagine, Ed and Gavin have mastered the art of creating fear, suspense, and chilling atmospheres in their music after all this time, and "Cemetery Gates" is no exception. It's a delightful terrorfest of what awaits in the dark. One of the things I would like to point out, is how several of the tracks have a similarity to John Carpenter's early film scores. The minimalistic piano lines with the underlying keyboard passages payed homage to his work so well. Maybe it's just the first time I could really describe a part of their work which has always been there, but could never put my finger on what it reminded me of. It shows how much you can do with very little. Then there are the more dynamic, bombastic parts to counteract the quiet moments coming at you when you least expect it. As with most of their albums, each piece is a part of a bigger picture, and best listened to on dark nights, in the quiet gloom when the full effect of the music can take you to places that you dare not venture normally. I can see why so many Halloween attractions use Ed and Gavin's music, it's just that good. So, if you don't have any of their music, you can find it at Hot Topic, and several on-line stores as well. The dead have arisen, they are walking, shambling, full of hunger, coming through the cemetery gates, coming for YOU!

- Craig Harvey

Behexen

2008-10-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

My Soul For His Glory
Moribund Records

If the Moribund label isn't enough to clue you in on what to expect, then news of a European tour with Archgoat and a split LP with fellow Finns Horna (!!) might just clue you in to the fact that every member of Behexen has surely taken the oath of the black blood, etc. etc. Not a new band at all, Behexen have been plying their careening, out of control black metal - exulting in the same speedfreak thrill-kill loss of control that the likes of Bahamiron, Horna, Corpus Christii, Watain, are in thrall to - since 2000. Behexen are a good deal more sonically focused, but that discipline only makes their music more viciously unpredictable and effective.

"My Soul For His Glory" has a deep gutteral undertow similar to early gorecore but with the will-to-power of Morbid Angel's first album. The guitar tone is thicker and fuzzier than usual for this strain of cult black metal, instead of rapier thin treble; it's a smothering downtuned wall a la Carcass or Today Is The Day's electro-power violence. The bass, jesus, you can actually hear it, for one, and it sounds like a rain of hammers. The vocals are just complete unleashed madness, with tormented screams and venomous retches building and echoing back and forth like a marauding goblin horde. There are some early thrash influences (Sodom, Destruction), variations in tone and texture and speed a la Burzum, and more than a passing similarity to the superpowered warstomp of Marduk and Immortal. They have just enough clever riffs and enough blood-throated conviction to make their own stamp on a genre that thrives on ever more vile gestures. A fine balance of the cult and the killer.

- Matthew Moyer

Bahimiron

2008-10-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Southern Nihilizm
Moribund Records

Jesus fuck Texas, what kind of reprobates are you letting run loose? I'd just gotten done absorbing the gooey vileness of Brown Jenkins' newest album - and then I get hit with this! It's a fucking shambles, a wreck that goes from thrilling to absurd at the drop of a a very evil hat.

Every stringed instrument is distorted and downtuned to the point of a serrated edge, the vocals are a tangle of subhuman agony - high shrieks, low roars, gasps - the guitar solos are rusted and accidental, the drums are just schizo arhythms. "Southern Nihilism" is an album that takes the manic inexorable charges of AngelCorpse but beats the shit out of the precision with baseball bats and broken bottles - ending up with a bruised atonal thrash-and-writhe - akin to labelmates Hacavitz, Avsky, a messier Carpathian Forest, and old Nuclear Death. There're some very American noise and sickpunk influences rearing their head too (check out the Crimson Ghost tattoo one member sports).

That said, listening to "Southern Nihilism," I'm amazed that somehow Bahimiron have managed to get a reverb switch to go up to 80,000 and that the drummer sounds like he's in time with the rest of the band maybe twice a song. In fact, more often than not it sounds like each band member is trying to draw-and-quarter the song away from his/her colleagues. But this is the sort of foot-on-the-gas, ribcage-impaled-by the gear shift madness that separates out good black metal from just mere pseudo-orc posturing. To wit, the album sounds like a warped tape of an exorcism playing in a metal drum full of rocks and scorpions, rolling down a very steep hill. No pause for reflection or perfection. Pure adrenaline and what-the fwooshing by so quickly that you can't comprehend the awesomeness/awfulness of their hyperspeed gutcheck, a million directions at once, roar of pillaging antisocial metallics. Almost avant-garde by accident.

- Matthew Moyer

Android Lust

2008-10-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Devour, Rise And Take Flight
Projekt Records

The latest offering from Android Lust is a powerful foray into dark, emotional territory, fueled by the one-woman industrial mastermind known as Shikhee. This is her second album on the Projekt label, which for the most part, has been known mainly for releasing darkwave/ethereal styles of music. Well, Shikhee may have elements of that in her songs, but it's not her main focus. She channels the essence of Reznor (Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails) quite a bit in many of the songs on Devour, but make no mistake, this is Shikhee's playground, Trent's just a spirit guide. She loses herself in the music, almost like she is on the edge of falling apart, crumbling into chaos, but holding it together with a surge of emotional strength building from inside her. Pain and beauty, light and dark, it's all here in these musical outpourings. Her electronic compositions are a blend of dark synths, crossed with thick heavily processed guitars and vocals, screeching, distorted bass and drum lines and noises galore. Then there are the softer elements, when her natural (and quite lovely) singing voice takes center stage. She lulls you into a calm, lush, environment giving you a haven of tranquility, if just for a few moments, until it all comes crashing back into a maelstrom of electronic brutality. If her live shows are anything like her albums, it will leave you breathless, drained and begging for more.

- Craig Harvey

Celebration

2008-10-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

The Modern Tribe
4AD

Baltimore's Celebration create a sound that is heavy on dramatic flourishes, bold colors and swollen hearts for new album "The Modern Tribe." Every song on this Dave Sitek-produced (TV On The Radio) album is an overload of primary-color holy psychedelic soul. Glorious explosions of technicolor church organ (thrillingly the guitar is pushed to the rear pews), polyrhythmic, surging waves of forward-marching drumming, and Katrina Ford's iron-lunged vocals- more in the PJ Harvey school of darkblues power- form the building blocks of this album.

"Pressure" echoes some of the vibe on TVOTR's "Return to Cookie Mountain" with its chugging groove, off-kilter vocals and an able assist from TVOTR vocalist Kyp Malone (other members of that ensemble make appearances elsewhere, as do other worthies like Nick Zinner), but other than that any thoughts of Sitek's hand being too heavy are way off base - this trio have their own confident, joyous sound. Check out how "Heartbreak" reaches to gospel-esque heights of transcendence, assisted by JB-esque horns and funky tightness, call-and-response vocals and buzzing "Whiter Shade of Pale" organs. "Pony" brings in elements of disco and Quintron's twisted revival show for a white-hot, cabaret gasp and moan.

"Hands off My Gold" is gonzo, hilarious lounge insanity with all sorts of Esquivel-meets-Spike Jonesisms - dig that crazy tin can percussion, hear those horns chase around the vagabonds who've made off with the vocalist's gold - like some speedfreak tiki lounge bartender is mixing drinks and grinding his teeth in a fast-forward blur. "In This Land" has a loping hazy groove like the Stone Roses and John Barry's orchestra collaborating on an all-night rave. All the extra flourishes and players really flesh out their sound sumptuously. the glockenspiel traces the melody line, the horns sound like an old soul sample, the drums are perfect for dancing, the Stax-ish organs, the freakout geeeeetar solo - this is the big showstopping number no doubt. "Our Hearts Don't Change" is an intense freakout prayer with the organs and drums just burning burning burning and an incantation of "I'll be right there/ I'll stand by you."

Heavy, raw, and ecstatic. "The Modern Tribe" is one of those strange, rare things which can exude light and hope and and exultation without fear of being called foolish or naive. More brighter now!

- Matthew Moyer

M83

2008-09-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Saturdays=Youth
Mute Records

With "Saturdays=Youth" M83's Anthony Gonzalez has attempted a painstakingly alchemical tribute to youth- all hedonism and hope and fearlessness and false beauty and impulse and love and sex. Saturday nights with no Sunday morning even in sight, to wit. With that mission statement, M83 is occasionally successful.

"Saturdays=Youth" is an album in thrall to the most epic of new wave, the most soaring of shoegazing and the most majestic of classic alternative music. Of fucking course it's pastiche - it sounds ten miles high with a size zero waist and the longest eyelashes you've ever seen. Gonzelez knows his pop history well, cribbing from the best; so sometimes the keyboards sound like ten Depeche Mode, the hooks are sweeter than six "Don't You Forget About Me's" or "Lips Like Sugar," the guitars shimmer like an army of Robin Guthries or Johnny Marrs and the vocals are sweet whispery nods to Liz Frasier or Tim Booth.

"Saturdays=Youth" is all melancholy, bittersweet swoons or punching the air fuck-yeah-we're-alive communal dancing. And what's wrong with that? Well the schtick wears thin after awhile. The period piece roleplaying starts to become a little too exhausting to keep up and the album starts feeling more like a Branford Marsalis-esque exercise in musical archivism. It's just a little too perfect. A little too (lips like) sugary sweet. Too big-budget movie It's like, I challenge you to stay awake through "Too Late" - too big. Or "Dark Moves of Love" where nothing really happens at all except for one big buzzing riff and insulin shock female vocals. Even (obvious touchstone) Depeche Mode inserted some dirt and grime and sweat and desperation into their songs. I don't feel/hear that in this album. You just want to leave the club, go home, listen to some Swans or rap - change it up. Everyone knows that the best part about going out is getting dressed and dolled up, anyway. The rest? Cotton candy letdowns.

- Matthew Moyer