Thursday, June 28, 2007

I’M GONNA DIE IN A PLACE THAT DON’T KNOW MY NAME



Unkle have got a new album coming out and I have high hopes for this for a few reasons. One is that the last album was pretty poor so in theory they (or James Lavelle) should work a bit harder on this one. The second is that it is produced by Chris Goss, he of Kyuss, Desert Sessions and Queens Of The Stone Age name/fame.

Finally, two songs have to be good because they feature Gavin Clark on vocals. Clark is one of my favourite singers of all time. He was vocalist with Sun House who initially did three songs for Shane Meadows’ TwentyFourSeven film and then formed a band. The album is amazing but sadly unavailable, but you can hear a few tracks at his myspace page apparently. He then went on to be in Clayhill who, although good, never had the same effect on me that Sun House had.

Anyway, below we have a video to watch which features Ian Astbury on vocals. He starts sounding like Jim Morrison, probably due to his recent Doors work, and then remembers he is Ian Astbury. The video has Luca from ER in it and has the same feel as Rabbit In Your Headlights and Muse’s Hysteria.

There are also two tracks to download from the album, Chemistry and Persons & Machinery, which features Autolux. (These songs are left click to download and the second is a large aiff file, but can be converted in iTunes. The video is also left click to watch)


Video: Unkle – Burn My Shadow

MP3: Unkle –
Chemistry
MP3: Unkle –
Persons & Machinery (ft. Autolux)

Buy Unkle

Sunday, June 17, 2007

NO WORDS, JUST PHYSICAL ACTION

The Beastie Boys are back, and like their previous album they have decided to stick to one style for an entire album. Whereas To The 5 Boroughs was all NY hip hop, their latest album, The Mix Up, is all instrumental jams. Why they couldn't have mixed them up (no pun intended) to create an album akin to Check Your Head or Ill Communication I don't know. But we leave them to it, they are the Beastie Boys and they deserve at least that after all the good stuff they've given us over the years.

Anyhoo, here's two videos they've knocked up for a couple of tracks, Off The Grid and The Rat Cage. They are pretty lo-fi, shot on cine camera with no real synchronisation to the music (well not much). These are also just streaming I'm afraid, but you can watch them for as long as you want. They certainly remind me of the really good instrumental stuff from Check Your Head and Ill Communication, and we all remember how good Futterman's Rule was.


Off The Grid: Windows Media/Quicktime

The Rat Cage:
Windows Media/Quicktime

(For those with ZX Spectrums click here, here, here or here - it's a lottery what you get because your computers are too slow)


Buy The Beastie Boys

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

STANDING IN THE CHURCHYARD SINGING HALLELUJAH


Due to the acts I was first introduced to, I always thought that Equal Vision was a hardcore label that dabbled in a touch of melodic post hardcore, the examples of bands I knew on EV were Bane (hardcore), Bear Vs Shark (math rock) and Converge (possibly the heaviest band you’ve ever heard). After doing some research I now see this is no long the case (if it ever was the case). I can’t say I’ve been through all the bands on this label but what I have found is a good variety of music styles. These three below are case in point of a sound so far removed from what I thought Equal Vision represented.

The Snake, The Cross, The Crown’s first album sounded to me like a prog Smiths, but this track from the new album Cotton Teeth has more of a Wilco flavour to it. I know very little else about this band except I like what I hear. Their bio ends with the lines: ‘They played to be honest. They played to be heard. But most of all, they played songs to be with each other, because the world simply sounded better that way’ which is a little pretentious but I bet they didn’t write it.

MP3: The Snake, The Cross, The Crown – Behold The River



Dear & The Headlights are listed as indie rock on AMG, and I suppose that about sums it up. This song has a Brand New feel, and sounds decidedly British (although the band are from Arizona): acoustic guitar, tortured vocals, but it is much cooler than that, and with a touch of Buffalo Tom thrown in – watch out for the guitar solo near the end. This is taken from their debut album, Small Steps, Heavy Hooves.

MP3: Dear & The Headlights – Run In The Front



Dustin Kensrue is the lead singer of Thrice, but his solo material is anything but Thrice. His solo album, Please Come Home, comes from the Nebraska school of music. That’s Nebraska as in Bruce Springsteen. Stripped down, soul bearing acoustic music. There may be trite moments of self saviour on the album but this track, Pistol, is a poignant dedication to his wife.

MP3: Dustin Kensrue - Pistol

Buy The Snake, The Cross, The Crown
Buy Dear & The Headlights
Buy Dustin Kensrue