Myasishev from Myasishev by Yosa Buson, Travel by Train, Rockstar Astronaut

The Drunken Draculas - 7 Inch Vinyl Release

The awesome folks at Totally Wired Records are about to release my band's first record on the most evil material known to man: vinyl! Yes folks, next week you will be able to get 3 new monster jams from the Drunken Draculas on 7 inch.

If you happen to be in Vienna, Austria you should drop in to the release show, where a slew of bands will be covering the almighty Draculas in an attempt to conjure their spirits and deliver them to the old country.

Buy it now, and the chances of us appearing on the next Eurovision will exponentially increase!

Great Shots of DC's Punk Underground

Lucian Perkins is a world renowned photographer these days, having documented some of the most important events of the last few decades, but he got his start taking photographs of the up-and-coming punk scene in Washington DC in the 1980s. Mother Jones has a selection of those photographs that will be published in a book.

Best Band Ever?

You bet. Fugazi - The Instrument

Kisses - The Hardest Part

The first Kisses records was one of my favorite releases a few years back, and I am eagerly waiting for their new full length that is expected to drop later this year. Here is a track from said release, capturing the disco drums and shimmering synths the band is known for.

All Them Witches....take my headache away

Got sick this weekend, and have been nursing myself back to health with the power of rock and roll. The sludgy, blues psychedelic jams of All Them Witches absolutely helps my aching head. They are surely not the only band around with this sound, and while some of their stuff recalls much larger groups, the band has got the sound down tight. Well worth your time.

Yosa Buson - Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya Sūtra

My label has just released the new digital EP from California's Yosa Buson. Check it out, and download it for free.

坂本九 has the best song I have heard this year

Kyu Sakamoto died three years after I was born. I don't know where his soul went, but his music has filled me with such love that I can not speak of it. I did not hear his music until 2012, when my beautiful girlfriend's father gave me a lot of 7 inch records he acquired. You see, he has two exquisite jukebox machines in his home and an extensive collection of records from Mexico. He did not have a place for Japanese and German records, and handed me a wealth of beautiful songs that I had never heard prior. One of them was from Kyu Sakamoto.

Both may parents worked on the horse race track for years, and thanks to their profession, heard this song often. Apparently, it was a popular tune with Japanese race aficionados, and my mother and father were subjected to it frequently. They may not have appreciated it, but I see the gold in this track. It reminds me how easily new generations throw the old to the dustbins of history without appreciating the greatness of what came before them. 坂本九, you are a musical hero in my book.

 It is free to hear and download below.
The song live... The video with translation... Yet another great live version

San Kazakgascar rock the entire Free World

This was already reviewed by a compatriot at another music site I write for, but I thought it was so good that it required me own review here. San Kazakagascar come from the greater Sacramento area but their musical influences surely do not stop at the borders of this little cow time. Someone in this band picked up a Sun City Girls record at some point, or is well studied the releases from Sublime Frequencies. Or maybe they have never heard of both, and it will be a surprise to them that they were compared to such novel acts.

This is a great release from a group that mixes rocking psychedelic music with riffs and rhythms from around the globe. I had to pick it up on CD once I heard it, and I only wish they had some analogue version of this music available (tapes and vinyl would be great guys).

Pawcut - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (2012)

Pawcut is from Germany, but you wouldn't necessarily know that from listening to their music. Their new record, The Stuff that Dreams Are Made of, is a choice bit of downtempo hip-hop that could accompany a late night drive through a headlight illuminated city.

Just knowing that this was a German act brought to mind groups like 13 and God, which contained members of the Notwist and the Anticon crew. With its gentle piano lines and driving basslines, Pawcut have created a nice slice of instrumental music that should reach a larger audience. Thus far, my favorite track is Elegy, but since the whole record is free to download, there is no reason not to hear the rest.

One Man Metal - The Black Metal Fringe

I might be a bit late to the party, but One Man Metal is a really fine look into the world of solo Black Metal performers. There are three parts to the film, and the first is below.

Black Metal Tapes 2: Aetheres and Apati

I picked up these two Black Metal tapes from the excellent European label/distro Cold Void Emanations. They have a slew of tapes and records from across the BM spectrum, and shipping is pretty decent to the U.S., so check them out if you have even the faintest interest in this type of music. The two tapes are from acts I had never heard of before, and bought them solely based on the description provided at the aforementioned website. Both are on the atmospheric side of things, and have interesting builds and instrumentation, putting them squarely in the melodic end of the aisle.

Apati is from Sweden. This is mid-tempo work, with some distant ghostly wails coming from the vocalist. I have no idea what is being said, but this is well mixed and has been a fine soundtrack to the morning paper. The other tape has been issued on CD and vinyl in the past, but BM always sounds best on tape to my ears, so I was pleased to pick up Aetheres' Łaknienie Misterium Nocy in this format. This is some pretty nice heathen material from Poland, but apperently they really hit their stride with their next record, Dark Wisdoms Domain. The Metal Archives had this to say about Łaknienie Misterium Nocy:

Now, while the production isn’t great, it still cannot hide the fact that the music is excellent. These tracks are filled with melancholy, plenty of good sad guitar melodies/ harmonies and Warterz also pulls off many nice solos. The music emanates a strong mystical mood and no, there are no blast beats at all on this album. Mostly it’s mid-paced to slow well-composed stuff, yet still with lots of variation within the songs. Both keyboards and acoustic guitar are used quite a lot to enhance the atmosphere and they certainly succeed in doing so. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of keyboards, this is still overall a guitar oriented album.

Anri Kumaki 熊木杏里 from the Dollar Bin

I picked up Anri Kumaki's single 春の風 a few months ago at a little Japanese music shop in San Diego. Since I am relativity ignorant of Japanese pop-music, I bought this CD from the dollar bin solely based on the cover. It wouldn't be the first time a pretty girl on a record has gotten me to spend hard earned cash, but as only a dollar was lost in the transaction, I figured it was worth the risk. 

Anri sings pretty traditional J-pop, although heavy on the ballad end and relatively absent from the dance side of the equation. It is the touching stuff that would sit well within an emotional moment in an Anime program about the challenges of school life. I enjoyed it, and while this type of thing might not be for everyone, what in the world is?

Black Metal Tapes 1: Blakulla and Aberrant Path

I dropped into Amoeba Records in San Francisco yesterday to sell some wares I am distributing, and of course, do a little record shopping myself. I picked up some good Bay Area hardcore 7 inch records I had been looking for in the dollar bin, as well as a few Black Metal tapes on the cheap. I figured I would start up a running series here at this blog to share them.

I was unfamiliar with both artists before buying these tapes, but they were both pleasant surprises. Blakulla is a one man act from France that plays some classic BM, and clearly took a great deal from Burzum's bit. This is what Metal Archives wrote about the record:

"Original released as a limited edition cassette last year on Cold Void Emanations, it has been picked up again for a reissue through Poland's True Underground Productions, who a few of you might recognize for releases by groups like Dark Fury or Thoth. I mention this connection primarily because the sound of the tape I'm reviewing is pretty common for the label, in that it represents the 'true black metal', primitive and highly aggressive and not really giving a fuck for the conventions of variation or accessibility for a wider audience. Blåkulla lives and dies on its hellish energy, a candle burning quickly on both ends with no pretensions of elegance or comfort, and while I might very well cite an influence of early Darkthrone, Burzum or Mayhem, Darkened by an Occult Wisdom is quite determinedly sinister even by those primal standards."

I picked up the tape for 2 bucks, and have played it a few times through since obtaining it. I definitely enjoy the longer song length that Blakulla employs (most tracks are around 6 minutes in length), but you have to really love the style to see much in this release and won't pull anyone closer to this type of music. Not that that was the intention of this release. 

The other tape was from a group called Aberrant Path. The tape was self released on 200 produbbed tapes, and is accompanied by a nice Jcard that transcribes the lyrics and helps set the tone for the music. As far as I can tell, these guys were American and recorded this tape in 2005. I could not find a lick of information about the band, but a fine effort on their part.

The Drunken Draculas - Dead Sounds

Shameless self-promotion, but my garage rock band The Drunken Draculas just released our first full length cassette tape. The title and cover should give you an idea as to the sound we were alluding to, but we still keep it rocking. You can download it for free, and if you are so inclined, buy a professionally dubbed cassette tape to put on your shelf to show your friends just how cool you are.

Creepy folk with Mountainhood's "Shine Shine"

It’s nearing Halloween, and as it is one of my favorite holidays, I have been busting out music that reminds me of the essential occasion. Mountainhood’s “Shine Shine” may not exactly be horror music by any stretch, but it is folk music for places tucked away and absent of light. Mountainhood has a recorded a slew of records in Northern California over the years, but this tape released by Spookytown Records remains one of my favorites. Everything about this release seems distant and ominous, right down to the excellent B&W Xeroxed cassette insert. If this is folk music to sing around a campfire, it would surely be played at that abandoned summer camp in Friday the 13th. The tape has long since sold out, but you can buy a digital copy of the recording at Mountainhood’s bandcamp page.

 

Over on the other side of America...

Just as a heads up, while I will continue to post at this site (as well as the other writers to the right), I am also posting at the great Detroit-based SpaceRockMountain under my Drunken Draculas moniker, Elvis Dracula. Here are some recent pieces.

The Gory Details - Killer Waves
Henry Spenncer - Saturn
The Kramers - ST
Irureta - 100% Pure Sport

Federer - Easy Breezin (2011)

I picked up this tape on a whim after reading a review at Space Rock Mountain (a site I also write for as of this week), as it sounded like very little else being released at the moment. These guys really do sound like an early 80s smooth poop band, with ample amounts of keys and saxophone to accompany the deep, baritone-like vocals. I don't get the sense that there is anything ironic about this act; it sounds to me like they legitimately like this type of music and wanted to make some of their own. What they have produced is a great set of pop-songs that you may enjoy even if the band's style is something you have run from in the past. Thanks to the folks at Emigrate Records for putting together these professionally dubbed cassettes.

The Lowdown: When it hurts, and yet feels so good

The Lowdown were a staple in the Santa Cruz underground scene when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz in 2000. Many of the band's members put on shows and lived in houses that acted as venues for music that would not sell tickets at the larger clubs and venues in town. I threw a few shows in my basement with the help of Hugh Holden, the front man for this band, and shared the stage with his more well-known act, Whysp.Some of the members from this group went on to work with Comets on Fire, one of the greatest bands to emerge from the previous decade.

No doubt about it, the type of music the Lowdown creates is not for everyone. Disjointed, chaotic, explosive; they have their share of detractors. But so does any band that is trying to develop something challenging and interesting. I have always found their records to be both danceable and fun, and their Y is a Crooked Letter is the best physical representation of the group's work.

 I'll Turn Your Blood Into Ants
  Sfdario

Absent Without Leave Represents Greece. Greece Responds with more Bouzouki

Absent Without Leave was submitted to me a few weeks back, and while a write-up did not show up here immediately, I have been dwelling on their beautiful recent record, Faded Photographs. I was a big fan of long, moody, instrumental music in the early 2000s, but with the release of the new Godspeed record, I have been pulling out some old post-rock records as of late. Absent Without Leaves fits well next to a group like Rachel's, as they provide enchanting, lush arrangements that could easily fit into an independent film score.

It is not a free download, but help the guys out. Times aint great in Greece, and I know it would be great to see more music like this out of the birthplace of democracy. There are a few CDs left as well if you like those digital discs, released by the folks at Sound in Silence Records.