Happy July folks! Anyone else found out they aren't the star sign they've spent the 45 years being anymore? What kind of name is Ophiuchus anyway?
Anyway, the blog. I've been wanting to have this Randy track as a title track since before last Summer but never really got the chance. It doesn't really seem fitting this year either what with lockdown and the dying and all that but bollocks to it. I still don't know if I should have added the ' though, neither way looks right.
There's a good mix of new and old on the blog this month with a reasonably varied selection of genres and nationalities and, I think, some really good tunes. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Luke
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Tracklisting
Randy - Summer Of Bros
Fostermother - Dark Sun
Chariot The Moon - Thousands
Little Teeth - Avondale
Bratmobile - What's Wrong With You?
Zilf - When The Cat Has Your Tongue
Elephant Tree - Bird
Pain City - I Play My Guitar When I Want
Band Of Skulls - Not The Kind Of Nothing I Know
Starbenders - Can't Cheat Time
Geist - Buried Language
Cable Ties - Tell Them Where To Go
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping
Indecent Behavior - Feels Like Home
Kayleth - Cosmic Thunder
Imonolith - We Never Forget
Gentle Giant - Peel The Paint
Thick - Mansplain
Ol' Rattlebones - Pushed It
Hell's Fire - Same Old Story
Little Petie & The Mean Old Men - Rocking Horse
Listen to the playlist on Spotify HERE
Download the mp3's HERE
Randy - Summer Of Bros
Taken from the 2001 album The Human Atom Bombs
As far as I'm aware. this Swedish band are still on the go but their last album, Randy The Band, was released way back in 2005. If you're partial to catchy Garage Punk and you're not already familiar with them then I recommend giving them a listen. Summer Of Bros is, as you might imagine, a summer party anthem. It's about taking advantage of the fact that, in Sweden, the sun doesn't set at all in June and using all that extra daylight to party with friends. It's ridiculously catchy, with a load of 'ah-ha's all the way the verses and the chorus and a great guitar line too.
Fostermother - Dark Sun
Taken from the 2020 album Fostermother
The peculiarly-named Fostermother are a melodic, psychedelic Doom Metal/Stoner trio from Houston, Texas and they released their debut album earlier this year. As you might expect from this style of music, Dark Sun trundles along on a pleasingly fuzzy, bass-heavy Sabbathian riff but the vocals are surprisingly understated and soft and the melodies in both the verses and chorus are really cool. This is up there for one of my favourite songs of the year.
Chariot The Moon - Thousands
Taken from the 2019 album Freak Of Nature
While we're on peculiar band names, here's a song by Chariot The Moon, an Alternative Metal band from Nashville. I dunno if that name is something to do with tarot cards or not but still, it's different at least. Musically, Thousands is a catchy, Industrial-tinged Pop Metal track, with big hooks and Amanda Cramer's strong vocals that all making it suitable for mass consumption. Underpinning it all though, is some meaty guitar with some occasional Djent-style stuttering riffery from Jance Walker. Lyrically it's about unrequited love and how you might ignore chances with other people for someone that, ultimately, isn't worth it.
Little Teeth - Avondale
Taken from the 2019 album Redefining Home
With their gritty Americana-influenced Heartland Punk, Cory Call's fantastically gravelly vocals and personal lyrics, Little Teeth are going to draw comparisons with The Gaslight Anthem. At least one comparison anyway, Redefining Home is a really good album and Avondale is a perfect introduction to it. I think it's a tale of uprooting and taking risks, all in the name of love. It's a pretty, life-affirming song with a melody that feels oddly familiar like this is an old classic not less than a year old.
Bratmobile - What's Wrong With You?
Taken from the 2002 album Girls Get Busy
Initially, a fake band created for fun by two women with no musical ability, Bratmobile became one of the leading lights in the Riot Grrrl movement back in the mid-nineties. Girls Get Busy was their final, and most proficient, album. While their songs are assertive feminist diatribes, they're also a lot chirpier and fun then you might expect. What's Wrong With You? is one such diatribe about an entitled mansplainer and featured the fine lyric "Maybe I don't hate men, maybe I just hate you"
Zilf - When The Cat Has Your Tongue
Taken from the 2020 album The Album
Zilf are a band from somewhere in the South of England and play a mishmash of varying Metal styles, Thrash, Mathcore, Avant-Garde, Metalcore and more, all topped off with a warped sense of humour
I don't know if their name is just a daft, made up word or an equally daft acronym for Zombie I'd Like to Fuck? Maybe it's actually a proper serious word that I just don't know and I'm doing them a disservice and making myself look stupid.
When The Cat Has Your Tongue takes all kinds of twists and turns, with the vocals going from clean to screams and some frantically yapped stuff all in Joe's distinctive accent. Despite this, it's a fun, catchy song that flows really well.
Elephant Tree - Bird
Taken from the 2020 album Habits
I really like the transition between these two songs; from the chaos of Zilf, straight into this haunting, atmospheric epic by this London-based quartet. They're a Psychedelic Stoner band but with more than a few Proggy elements. Bird starts slowly and, as I said before, hauntingly before the thumping yet subtle riff bursts in and, along with the effective but unobtrusive keyboards, sucks you in and takes you on a soothing, immersive journey. The vocals are soft and
On the face of it, Bird is about a wounded bird having to choose between trying to fly south or dying in the cold, though I think it's more of a metaphor for a personal struggle, drug addiction maybe?
There's no such hidden message or deep lyrical puzzle to unravel here. Pain City mainman, Stian Krogh likes to rock and, by Odin's beard, he's going to. This Norwegian trio blast out simple, Punk-fueled Hard Rock that guarantees a good time. Not like that. Stian's vocals are a gravelly rasp and he sounds like a Scandinavian Lemmy. The music of I Play My Guitar When I want is a bit more Rock n' Roll than other tracks on the album and comes across like a cool amalgamation of Motörhead and The Yo-Yo's. It's a storming, head-bopping track and a whole load of fun.
Band Of Skulls - Not The Kind Of Nothing I Know
Taken from the 2019 album Love Is All You Love
Another trio now, and one that I dismissed as a forgettable, Saddle Creek-esque Indie/Country band without really listening to them. A few months ago I bought a load of dead cheap CDs at a car boot sale and among them was Band Of Skulls' debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. I gave it a listen and really enjoyed it. While there are elements of Indie and Country in their sound, they're actually a lot more Bluesy Garage Rock than I thought.
Not The Kind Of Nothing I Know is a sleazy, groovy song that sees Russell and Emma trading vocals back and forth in a way that kind of reminds me of Boss Hog (the band), Russell's voice in particular sounds like Jon Spencer to me in this one.
Starbenders - Can't Cheat Time
Taken from the 2020 album Love Potions
Taking the larger than life, androgynous Glam Rock and infusing it with the dayglo Power Pop of bands like Enuff Z'Nuff and Jellyfish, giving it a modern, contemporary sheen. Love Potions is their second album and one that's excellent from start to finish, with a ton of single-worthy tracks. Can't Cheat Time is one of my favourites on there but buried way down in the second half. It's a little more Sixties-y than the other tracks, there's a great use of strings and acoustic guitar in it and vague references to drug use. Vocalist Kimi Shelter sings with a hint of an English accent though, as far as I can tell, she's from Atlanta, Georgia. It's just enough to give them a touch more nostalgic authenticity.
Geist - Buried Language
Taken from the 2019 album Swarming Season
Last month sometime a label called Cursed Monk records was offering all of its Bandcamp downloads for free Name Your Price. Being the opportunist I am, I had a shufty through and downloaded a few things that took my fancy. One of which was this brutal Metallic Hardcore quintet that also happen to be from North East (Not sure where, some say Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, others say Durham) which was a pleasant coincidence. Swarming Season is a brilliantly furious album that still has some experimentation and enough changes of pace to keep it from being one dimensional. Buried Language is a face-melting burst of crushing fury that slows down just slightly for the last half of the song with an awesome, thudding riff. I dunno why I'd never heard of this localish band before now but I'm glad I caught up eventually.
Cable Ties - Tell Them Where To Go
Taken from the 2020 album Far Enough
Cable Ties are a spiky Post Punk trio from Melbourne and Tell Them Where To Go is a defiant rant about female musicians still not being taking seriously in the scene. I love the intro, it kicks off with a cool drum intro that an even cooler bassline builds upon the groove before Jenny McKechnie's guitar gradually squalls its way in and then drops out for her distinctive vocals. As cool as that intro is, it's those vocals that are the real selling point of the song. Her angry, howling yelp of a voice is a brilliant thing and really sets them apart from a lot of their contemporaries.
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping
Taken from the 2004 album Please Describe Yourself
I'd not listened to Please Describe Yourself in years but last week, I got the urge to. I'd forgotten just how good an album it is, it's a shame it's the only one they ever released. While the whole album is quality, Godhopping is the song that I first heard by them and has a special place in my heart. that chorus stirs something peculiar in me, emotion or something?
The song itself, as you might be able to work out, is about folk of fickle faith who change Religion depending on current fads. ("Oh I hear Olivia is Baháʼí now, Phillip", "Really Margaret? I thought she was into all that Zoroastria stuff still?)
While they had similarities of fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand, they also had a big '80s Art Rock/Synthpoppiness to them too. Craig Macintosh's vocals are maybe a bit of an acquired taste but I think they suit their music well.
Indecent Behavior - Feels Like Home
Taken from the 2020 album Bright Days
This quartet are a Melodic Hardcore/Skatepunk band from Saarbrücken in Germany and Bright Days is, I think, their second album.
Feels Like Home is massively anthemic and harks back to all those bands around the turn of the Millennium and I like it a lot. It's a positive song about touring with the band, meeting all kinds of new people and seeing what's out there in the world, beyond what you know.
Instead of this track, I almost included their great cover of Into The Unknown from Frozen II but felt it was more important I showcase their own stuff. You should go give that song a listen too though.
Kayleth - Cosmic Thunder
Taken from the 2020 album 2020 Back To Earth
Another band that I've only fairly recently started listening to, Kayleth are a Psychedelic Stoner Rock band from Italy and they've released a few albums now and they're all pretty good. The majority of their songs tend to be Kyuss-influenced, Desert Rock but I picked Cosmic Thunder as there's a brilliant Disco feel to the groove of this one, particularly in that awesome bassline. There's swirling, otherworldly synths and tinkly piano wafting throughout it too. Underneath all that, there is still a pretty weighty Stoner Rock songs with great vocals and a chorus that needs a couple of listens to fully appreciate.
Imonolith - We Never Forget
Taken from the 2020 album State Of Being
When Devin dissolved his band, The Devin Townsend Project, in 2018, a lot of people were very sad. I imagine his former bandmembers weren’t best pleased either. Anyway, spirits were lifted when it was announced that a couple of those former members were working on a new project hurrah! Then, when Imonolith released their first song to the public, a lot of people were very sad again. This isn’t Prog! It’s rubbish! Too commercial! Unimaginative! Blah blah blah.
State Of Being isn’t really like anything Devy has done and I do see why some folk would be disgruntled with it as it’s fairly standard Metalcore with some Nu-Metal flourishes here and there. However, it’s well played, well written and mature. RVP’s distinctive drums are recognisable, as often are Beav’s guitars. Jon Howard (also of Threat Signal) is a capable clean and unclean vocalist and I like this album a lot. We Never Forget, a song about learning from your mistakes, is maybe one of the less aggressive tracks but also one of the standouts for me. It’s dead catchy and melodic but still has some hefty riffing in there too.
Gentle Giant - Peel The Paint
Taken from the 1972 album Three Friends
Something that most definitely IS Prog is the wonderful Gentle Giant. Even by ‘70s Prog standards, they’re very Prog. Every member Is a multi-instrumentalist and the majority of them sing lead vocals as well as partake in ridiculously complex harmonies. There are complicated and intricate song structures, incorporating Jazz, Folk, Classical, Medieval, Baroque and all sorts of stuff into their sound.
Three Friends is a concept album about three childhood friends whose lives take wildly different paths. Peel The Paint is about no matter how different everyone is, both in looks and personality, deep down we’re all the same savage, greedy beast. From its delicate beginning, Peel The Paint takes several routes as you might expect, through lush string sections, Jazzy little flourishes and right through to the incredible face-melting solo.
There was a video made for this song earlier in the year and currently, on Youtube, it has 1600 likes and 3900 dislikes, the comments are almost all negative and almost all from men. It could be that maybe the band just aren't very good if it wasn't for the fact that all their other videos have almost all positive comments. It just goes to highlight the trouble female musicians have being taken seriously, just like Cable Ties were saying in their song earlier. I don't want to be all #notallmen about it but it's an attitude I've never understood. Women have always been better than me with everything else, so why not music? If it wasn't for being able to reach high stuff I'd be completely redundant.
Anyway. The song. It's a short, sarky burst of Punk song thanking men for all their unasked for advice on how to play music. All three sing and their voices mesh well, the chorus is infectious and, yes, there's a decent amount of Riot Grrrl influence. Roll your eyes, Chad.
Ol' Rattlebones - Pushed It
Taken from the 2020 album Ol' Rattlebones
This album piqued my interest as it looked like Ol' Rattlebones might be a Stoner Rock band and they're kind of are but really they're more of a heavy Blues Rock. It's an entertaining album, full of big riffs and big hooks. While they teeter on the edge of Dad Rock, they've got enough bite and heaviness to offset that and it's an interesting mix. Pushed It being one of the standout tracks for me. Drummer/vocalist Chris Emond tones down the gravel in his vocals compared to other tracks, the verses are engaging and the chorus daft catchy.
Hell's Fire - Same Old Story
Taken from the 2017 album Rest In Riffs
Hell's Fire are a blend of Groove Metal and Stoner Rock from the unlikely source of Madrid in Spain. A lazy comparison would be Pantera or Superjoint Ritual but they really remind me of early Brand New Sin, particularly in Big Mario's impressive vocals. There's a touch of the Hetfields too, in the way he pronounces it "shit-ah!" in the chorus. The guitars throughout this whole track are awesome, from the crunch and squeals of the main to the undulating rhythm in the verses. Rest In Riffs was their third album and was released in 2017, whether there's a fourth on the way, or if the band is even still together, I don't know.
Little Petie & The Mean Old Men - Rocking Horse
Taken from the 2020 compilation PunkPierce Productions: Stay At Home! Vol. 1
A couple of months ago, PunkPierce Production released a couple of free compilations via Bandcamp. They both featured local (Santa Cruz, California) Punk bands, all of whom are pretty good. The highlight on both compilations though are the tracks by Little Petie & The Mean Old Men. They're a light hearted, Punk infused Rock band and this particular track has the Country Punk feel of Jason & The Scorchers to it. It's a bouncy infectious track that was originally on their 2017 EP Santa Cruz Speedball. It's a wry account of a failed relationship and there are a few chuckleworthy (lollable?) lines through it too.
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