Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Short Bits

I've been listening to some shorter things: EPs, 7 inch records, singles and the like. I'm not going to talk about all of them, but there are some stand outs:
Baroness just put out a video for one of the three best songs from their Yellow and Green LP, March to the Sea. It's a melodic thumper about drug addiction ( the trope is addiction as intentional drowning) with some of the sweetest riffing to come out of the whole Southern Sludge thing.
Also, I've been listening to the Aeges 7 inch "Southern Comfort b/w Stars". It's pretty amazing- it features some truly whacked out guitars playing very melodic riffs. Seriously, there's a point during "Southern Comfort" where the guitars are so distorted the notes are merely suggested under the noise. It's like a Pelican  track with vocals. The B side "Stars" has lyrics that, at first blush seem like Everclear type homespun homilies, so plainspoken that you might miss the poetry, but there is a twist; "distracting us from this boring life", the end result with the heavy, but pop-structured melodies reminds me of late 1990's great Hum. Then, it breaks up the rhythm in a twist, like a skipping record. Pretty awesome...
We cannot forget Torche with Harmonslaught, a crushing return to the Bomb string ( no that is not a bass, that is a guitar tuned as low as it will go. It sounds like an explosion) in service to a pop-metal-punk grinder that might just be the encore they'll play if you see 'em live. The B side has a funny title "Rock N Roll Mantasy" but this pop metal nugget is no joke. Both songs are classic ( read "first album Torche") and both rock very hard.
Then, Today, I heard the new Coliseum track "Black Magic Punks", and it just rules. It rules so very much that it's worth hearing on Pitchfork's website....

Monday, January 14, 2013

Sometimes trendy stuff has soul...

I don't care if you hate the Beatles, this should melt your heart. A flash mob does a Beatles song in a Spanish Unemployment office, just to bring some joy. Revolutions are made of this.