Mix CD #43 - Keep It Rollin'

I've written you a blog. The best blog. All the other blogs wish they were this blog let me tell you. I don't know where I'm going with that, sorry.

So yeah, finally, here's the second blog of 2019 and the first of non-themed music. Bit shoddy of me that. For those of you that are reading this via the Facebook will have seen my post about the delay but those that didn't, I've just not been properly online that much for the majority of February so I've not been writing much. I've done it now though, you can read it if you like.

There's a wide range of stuff on the mix this month, all of it is very good so please give it a listen. There's artists from a load of different countries this time too, it's all very multinational. There are bands from, obviously, the UK and the US but also Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany, possibly Canada? I dunno. Anyway, enjoy!

The Holy Goats - Keep It Rollin'
Division of Laura Lee - Endless Factories
Kelly Buchanan - Slow Watches
The Menagerie - Slangorangutang
Bjorn Berge - Zebra
Neverland - Take Me Higher
Better Days - This House
Night Demon - Dawn Rider
Emme Phyzema - GEM
The Something Somethings - Dining On The Dead
Burn Our Hometown - Oh Donald
Vashti Bunyan - Window Over The Bay
Perkele - One Day
Deever - Only Enemy
Vredehammer - Spawn Tyrant
Electric Sensei - Aphrodite, Your Electric Sexiness
Diggeth - Let The Ancient One Sleep
Codename Colin - Friday The 19th
Super Zero - Nothing Done
Antibody - I See Them
Flummox - A Bundle Of Styx
Elder Devil - City Of Infinity
Blackbriar - Cry Of A Banshee

You can fill your heart with joy and enlightenment HERE

Cheers,
Luke
x

The Holy Goats - Keep It Rollin'
Taken from the 2003 album The Holy Goats

I do appreciate a band name containing a great/awful pun and The Holy Goats is a particularly fine one. Keep It Rollin' meanders about for a little bit before kicking in properly and it's a glorious blast of Southern Boogie that comes across like a mix of The Black Crowes burning through an energetic Status Quo cover. Lead vocalist Todd has a great voice and the harmony vocals from Daphna work really well too.

Division of Laura Lee - Endless Factories
Taken from the 2004 album Das Not Compute

I've had this CD for years and never really paid much notice to it. I've been giving it another spin lately and it's really sunk its claws into me this time around. It's the kind of Garage Punk you'd expect from a Swedish band on the Burning Heart label, but it's tempered with some Post Punk and Indie Rock influences. It's a great album full of hooks and melody, the keyboards are a welcome addition too, I love the keyboard melody that flows through this song, it's really effective and catchy

Kelly Buchanan - Slow Watches
Taken from the 2008 album Kelly Buchanan

For a long while, the only songs I've had by Kelly have been low-quality rips from Myspace but fairly recently I managed to track down this CD on import and was very pleased with myself. I love the variety of her stuff, from Folk to Pop Rock to full tilt Punk. Slow Watches is a mid-paced, Grungy Alt Rock track with wry lyrics that are a list of all the useless, broken things she should hate but can't help having a soft spot for. You can see where she's headed with that...

The Menagerie - Slangorangutang
Taken from the 2005 album Wild Kingdom

As the name suggests, The Menagerie is a gathering of various MC's and rappers, mostly from the Nerdcore and Chap Hop scenes. It's a cheery collection of inoffensive tunes that I was originally drawn due to the involvement of Professor Elemental (he's the one that blurts out the title of this song halfway through it) but this is one of the tracks that stood out to me on the album. I don't actually know who takes the lead on this one, I've had a right old google to no avail, but I really like his lackadaisical style. I'd like to know if only so I can hear some more of his stuff. This song is a sprightly, uplifting track that has an early 90's Hip Hop feel to it.

Bjorn Berge - Zebra
Taken from the 2019 album Fretwork

Bjorn is a Norwegian Blues guitarist that I stumbled onto a couple of weeks ago. His earlier stuff seems, like this song, seems to be mostly acoustic but his current album, Who Else? is with a full band. While he definitely deals in the Blues, there's a dark, Gothic/rock feel to it too. Possibly just because he wears a lot of black...
I guess I prefer the acoustic stuff but Who Else? is a really good album too and well worth a listen. He has several other albums that I'm looking forward to tracking down.

Neverland - Take Me Higher
Taken from the 1991 album Neverland

As far as I'm aware, this quartet from Los Angeles only ever released this one album and then slowly disappeared into obscurity. It's a real shame as it's full of confident, well-written songs with big choruses and a mature attitude. Tracks like this, Drinking Again, Lean On Me, My Opinion etc should have made them huge. Maybe they sere another casualty of Grunge, like so many other Hard Rock bands? I only heard of them thanks to their inclusion on a Bill and Ted soundtrack, that song, Drinking Again, was one of the best songs on it and my reason for hunting down this album.

Better Days - This House
Taken from the 2018 EP What You Did To Me

Better days are a young band from the North East of England, There's is a Punky, Emo-ey style of Indie Rock with big, anthemic choruses. They released their debut EP at the tail end of last year, though a lot of the songs o it were released as stand-alone singles over the previous couple of years. This House is a perfect example of their stuff, an upbeat, rocking track with a strong chorus that infuriatingly stuck in my head long before I learnt the words. It's about taking a look at your life and seeing how you measure up. It's a cool little track and hopefully, their debut album will be out soon.

Night Demon - Dawn Rider
Taken from the 2017 album Darkness Remains

This Californian trio are right at the forefront of the rising tide of bands harking back to the glory days of NWOBM and classic Heavy Metal. Meaty riffs, big choruses and lyrics draped in cheesy occultism and fantasy etc. Darkness Remains is a glorious, fun album that harks back to the naive enthusiasm of those 80's Metal bands. It's full of evil anthems like Dawn Rider and I can't recommend it enough.

Emme Phyzema - GEM
Taken from the 2019 album Dispelling Differences

Emme Phyzema is a Finnish, one woman band currently living in Ohio, While that's not her real name, I don't know what her real name is so, for now, Emme it is! Emme offers up a particularly weird style of Avant-Garde Metal. In fact, it's not really metal, though there are riffs and screams, it's kind of Steampunk but not really, it's maybe Dark Cabaret or Chamber Pop, though it's too harsh in places for those. It'as most definitely Proggy and a challenging though rewarding listen. It was hard to select a track for this mix as Dispelling Differences is quite clearly intended to be listened to as a whole so I just went with the first one. The album is Name Your Price on Bandcamp so go give it a listen.

The Something Somethings - Dining On The Dead
Taken from the 2008 album The Crab

The Something Somethings were a riotous Punk band from Devon. They only released the one proper album, The Crab and that came out about a year after they split. It's a short angry record with 11 tracks scooting by in less than 22 minutes. There were elements of both Ska and Surf to their sound that gave them an extra bit of depth and character, they remind me of a heftier Zombina & The Skeletones sometimes, maybe The Cramps too. Dining On The Dead is one of the longer tracks on the album at a whopping 2:07 minutes long. It's a frenetic, snarling beast of a song and if Reel Big Fish is how you think of Ska Punk then you're in for a shock. 

Burn Our Hometown - Oh Donald
Taken from the 2019 Mini-album Canyons

I've been listening to the debut release bu this Swiss Metalcore band quite a bit lately and it's pretty decent. It definitely veers more into the hardcore side of their genre bracket and Canyons is full of grooving riffs, harsh, barked (with occasional clean, melodic) vocals and stop-starty breakdowns. Oh Donald is about the depressing state of the current world and we seem to be repeating past mistakes, war and aggression in particular. You can figure out who the titular Donald is. He's the best Donald.
I dunno if it's just a coincidence or not but seeing as the band are from Bern I can't help but wonder if their name is a play on Bern, Our Hometown? I'd like to think so. 

Vashti Bunyan - Window Over The Bay
Taken from the 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day

Window Over The Bay is a short, almost acapella, Folk song about yearning for a simple, relaxing life in the country. It's a really pretty melody and I like the song a lot. Vashti Bunyan was a name I'd see mentioned a lot but I'd never really heard any of her stuff. I bought this album when it was re-released on CD in 2000 and wondered why it took me so long. It's odd to think there's a 35 year gap between this and her second album, Lookaftering. Nobody really bothered with Just Another Diamond Day when it was first released so she gave up making music in a huff. Almost a four-decade huff which is pretty impressive.

Perkele - One Day
Taken from the 2019 album Leaders Of Tomorrow

Whilst band hopping on Youtube, I stumbled across the video for this song, it intrigued me enough to investigate further as I'd not heard of the band before. It turns out they've been around for a couple of decades and have a ton of albums out, whoops! They're an Oi! Punk trio from Sweden and their name is a Scandinavian expletive, It's got a rolling R in it. I'd try and pronounce it for you but, well, you can't hear me.
One Day kicks off with a choppy guitar riff that reminds of The Hives, After 10 seconds or so the bass kicks in brilliantly. It's a really cool bassline in general, it's mixed nice and high too. The chorus is catchy and addictive and the whole song kind of feels like it's an old classic rather than a new tune.

Deever - Only Enemy
Taken from the 2019 album You Need This

There's been a lot of excitement about this band in the NWOCR circles, which is where I heard about them. formed by Billy Taylor, ex-guitarist of, the Hard Rock band, Inglorious. With Deever, he's moved away from the retro sound of his previous band and into a more Alternative field. He's also added vocalist to his duties, something he's more capable of handling. You Need This is a fair assumption of the album as it's packed with quality songs with big choruses and hefty riffs. Only Enemy, a big riffing song about self-worth, is one of the standouts for me but there's not a bad song to be found.

Vredehammer - Spawn Tyrant
Taken from the 2016 album Violator

Vredehammer are a Blackened Death Metal from Norway, originally conceived as a solo project by Per Valla, it eventually became a fully fledged band and Violator is their second full album with a third due shortly. Swamp Tyrant is a frenetic, brutal track with enough hints at melody to make it memorable. At a mere 33 minutes, there's no room for any filler on Violator and it's a solid album. The new one should definitely something to keep an eye out for.

Electric Sensei - Aphrodite, Your Electric Sexiness
Taken from the 2019 album  A Mindless Meditation

I stumbled across this band from New Jersey whilst searching the bowels of the internet for something else. A Mindless Meditation is a hotchpotch of Indie Rock, Psychedelia, Steampunk and Prog. There are smatterings of Electronica here and there too. It's a disparate collection of songs but, conversely, one that works as a whole. They're a hard band to pigeonhole but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Aphrodite, Your Electric Sexiness is a good introduction to the band; from its haunting intro through the pounding, Vaudevillian mid-section and tumultuous finalé. There's a strong, memorable chorus too, I like this song very much.

Diggeth - Let The Ancient One Sleep
Taken from the 2019 album Gringos Galacticos 

Diggeth sound somewhat like I was expecting to Electric Sensei to, Slow, groovy, Stoner/Doom Metal. This excellently-named Dutch trio have not long released their third album, that this song is from, and I'm been playing it loads, it's a quality album. It's full of head-nodding riffs and tons of melody, all with a faint whiff of pot and/or patchouli. Let The Ancient One Sleep (something I tell my kids, to no avail) has kind of a Trouble feel to its speaker-rattling melodies. The quiet, Western-tinged verses are cool too, I guess that ties into the album's title somewhat?

Codename Colin - Friday The 19th
Taken from the 2017 mini-album Outgunned

Something else I've been listening to quite a bit recently is the debut mini-album by this UK Ska Punk band. It's a genre that's widely derided these days but there's still a small, parpy niche of bands and fans keeping the dream alive and Codename Colin are one of them. There's not a single duff track on Outgunned (Even the hidden Feeder cover is good) and I was stuck for one to pick. In the end, I went for this lively track about a having a shit old day. Outgunned is available as a CD/Tshirt bundle for a measly £7.00 on their Bandcamp, which is a bargain. 

Super Zero - Nothing Done
Taken from the 2001 album Hogwash

I've had the debut CD, Attack Of The Air Monkeys, by this Bostonian band for years but not listened to it for many of those. It's yet another one that I dug out in The Great Attic Sort-through of 2018, gave another listen to and fell in love with all over again. I was struck with how good the songs were on that album, there's a good half a dozen tracks that deserve to be classics and it's a shame that there's hardly any info on the band online. 
I was always intending to include the track Jinx but one thing I did find out about them is they had a second album called Hogwash and that I could get it on eBay for a couple of quid. Which I promptly did. It's as good, possibly better than Attack Of The Air Monkeys. Both albums are knocking around on all the usual sites for cheapsies so if you're of the mind to enjoy some Power Pop influenced Hard Rock (think Enuff Z'Nuff without the dayglo) then I recommend you give them a try.
This track, Nothing Done, is one of their harder tracks and that urgent, frustrated chorus made me laugh the first time I heard it, partly because I can relate and also because it's silly good.

Antibody - I See Them
Taken from the 2018 album Revolution Dance

Antibody is the work hat of a mysterious German chap known only as Jan. I'm not massively knowledgeable on a lot of electronic music but I like a few bits and pieces. I stumbled onto this song somewhere I'm unsure of and loved it. It's dark, twisted and thumping and the sample from The Others is very effective.
Antibody apparently classed as Power Noise, though it reminds me a lot of EDM, EBM, Darkwave and all that Cybergoth malarkey from around the turn of the Millennium. Music has far too many pigeonholes. Anyway, this is a creepy, unsettling track but also very danceable. The whole album is worth an investigation.

Flummox - A Bundle Of Styx
Taken from the 2018 album Intellectual Hooliganism

A Bundle Of Styx is a  profanity-strewn diatribe about Homophobia and how, if you're not directly involved, it's none of your business so why get all het up about it?  I particularly enjoyed the line "You're not scared of the faggot, you're scared of yourself". Musically it flits about through a selection of genres including a Ska-esque verse and a big Classic Rock inspired riff that crops up from time to time. I wish I'd discovered Intellectual Hooliganism when it was actually released because it would have definitely been in my top albums of last year. It's a bright, eclectic, challenging collection of Avant-Garde Metal that's both fun and intricate. 

Elder Devil - City Of Infinity
Taken from the 2019 album The Light Dimmed Eternal

I first heard of this Grindcore band when a member of a  Facebook group posted a link to their debut EP, Graves Among The Roots, saying something like "Check out my son's band, I'm so proud!" I did indeed check it out and it's pretty good. Short bursts of crunchy Grindcore that eschew the typical genre themes of shit and vomit for more of a Black Metal/Satanic theme and it's cool. The Light Damned Eternal is their debut album and it's currently Name Your Price on Bandcamp. City Of Infinity is one of my favourites on it, just check out that groovy, mammoth riff. It's kind of like, and I mean this in a good way, an evilled up Mötley Crüe riff or something. It powers madly along, taking your nodding head with it. Not literally.

Blackbriar - Cry Of A Banshee
Taken from the 2018 EP We'd Rather Burn

Blackbriar are a Gothic/Symphonic Metal band from The Netherlands that have, so far, released two excellent EP's, 2017's Fractured Fairytales and We'd Rather Burn in 2018. I've been listening to both loads lately and not remotely bored of them.
There's everything you'd expect from this style of music: hefty guitars, swathes of epic keyboards and strings as massive hooks and choruses. There's a couple of things that set them apart from the throng of similar sounding bands though: Their lyrics tend to be based on actual historical incidents or Medieval folklore. This along with some haunting melodies and atmospherics means a lot of the songs are pretty creepy feeling. The most important trick they have up their sleeves, however, is frontwoman, Zara Cock. She has a wonderful voice that's a shrill keen at full pelt and often reminds me of Kate Bush. In the softer, quieter sections, she reels it back in and is equal parts sultriness and vulnerability.
Cry Of A Banshee concerns itself with the ancient Irish spirit in the form of a haggard woman whose mournful weeping meant someone was about to die. It's a theme that fits the band well and this song sounds like a forgotten classic, that line in the chorus "She weeps, oh she weeps. And it's death that she foresees" gets me every time. Such a cool, haunting melody to it. There's actually a nice, stripped back performance of it on Youtube that you can see HERE if you want.