New Releases 9/11 - 8mm, Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra, ZZ Top

Late due to weekend of anime convention (which is also why there was no Sunday Morning Blues this week, it will return next Sunday).

8MM

Between The Devil And Two Black Hearts

Label: self-released (http://8mmofficial.bandcamp.com/)
Released: 9/13 2012
Genre: Rock, Country

This was a Kickstarter I contributed to without knowing much abut the band. Later I realized half of 8mm was Sean Beavan (of Nine Inch Nails fame) and started to expect something very electronic, or trip-hop.

It is not. It is country rhythms and rock beats and very not electronic music. It is also absolutely fantastic. Easily making it into the top five albums of 2012 for me. I put this on and then it got stuck playing for the entire day. It had me mesmerized. The eight tracks of the standard album are a massively tight collection of tracks that never lose their thread.

This is one seriously amazing collection of music. Sean and Juliette trade vocals back and forth seamlessly, without falling into the rut of sounding like a duet. On some songs it's two contrasting voices, on others one starts and the other finishes (The Weight Of You - easily my favorite song does this) in a way that brings forth two sides of the same story - or two people who have the same experiences.

Just go get this album.

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra

Theatre Is Evil

Label: 8ft. Records
Released: 9/11 2012
Genre: Punk, Rock

I have been a Dresden Dolls fan, and subsequently an Amanda Palmer fan, for a long time. This is the first album I really followed (and Amanda shares everything) and another Kickstarter (it got famous at that) I contributed to. Amanda has never been afraid to explore musically. The problem is I've never been the biggest fan of Amanda's singing voice - it fit the Dresden Dolls nicely, but her solo work never grabbed me.

On this album something different happens. Her best work to date, and the first time (I think) working with a full, consistent, backing band. Unlike a lot of her previous music which feels like she threw herself at the idea without polishing it, this is completely different.

She pulled out a serious 1980s pop/rock sensibility and many tracks feel like they belong back in 1988. Her voice is more consistent than it's ever been, and stronger. The band feels cohesive, giving some solid consistency to the album. Her best work to date, beyond and doubt, and a damn good album at that. This is good music and worth checking out.

ZZ Top

La Futura

Label: American Records
Released: 9/11 2011
Genre: Blues Rock


ZZ Top haven't released an album since the excellent Mescalaro back in 2003.  Where Mescalaro felt like ZZ Top recapturing their 70s sound - all rumbly guitars and rough blues edges - this feels like it's from the same studio recordings. Nine years with no new releases, and this doesn't quite make the impression it should for that period of time without a studio album.

Which makes it a good album, but also makes it sound like they felt like they needed to put out some new music and just didn't have it in them to go further with the music. I do like this, and I love ZZ Top's signature sound - and that it hasn't changed much over the decades.

If you're a ZZ Top fan you will definitely like this album, there's no bad tracks on here. But there's also nothing that really stands out either. At ten songs it comes in around forty minutes - the perfect rock album length in my opinion, so it doesn't over stay its welcome either. If you're just a casual fan though, I recommend the previous album over this one.

Backcatalog - David J, Jackyl, Overkill

Jackyl

Push Comes To Shove

Label: Geffen Records
Released: 1994
Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock

Jackyl are a band that probably could have been a great band, at least until they fired up that chainsaw. Taking after the styles of Southern Rock and Hard Rock tinged Blues (ala ZZ Top), Jackyl have a great blues heavy rock'n'roll sound. More evident on their first album than here (their second album). But that Chainsaw gimmick both shot them to the top of the rock-charts and radio-play, and probably killed their career of anyone taking them seriously as a music act ever again. Pop Music....

Push Comes To Shove is a solid piece of work, not as daring, loud, or bold as their opening salvo, but still - this is good music. Even with that silly mustache on Jesse James Dupree's face (actually, as weird as it is, it's a style that kind of works). If your only exposure to Jackyl is "the chainsaw song" from their debut album, and you like your blues a little heavier and louder - do yourself a favor and take another look at Jackyl, they really do have a solid southern-blues sound gone wonderfully metal.

Overkill

Fuck You! And Then Some

Label: MefaForce Records
Released: 1996
Genre: Thrash Metal

This isn't an album, it's a collection of EPs put all into one nice little package, because the tracks on here are pretty hard to find individually, long out of print live EPs, some demos, and one heck of a cover. Ta

First up is a studio cover b-side, and five live tracks from, the "Fuck You" EP this takes its name from. The title track and cover song from the Subhumans, showing some solid punk roots in the thrash scene. And a bunch of live tracks from the tour for Taking Over, their second album. They have always had a solid live act, and this is a good recording too, not some badly done hack job with levels pushed too high.

Shoved in the middle are two more live tracks from 1990, one track from their fourth album and a Black Sabbath cover of Hole In The Sky. If anything their live act is even more polished. A good little additional bonus for this compilation release.

Next we get the very first Overkill EP, a collection of Demos. Four tracks that started it all. Two would be re-recorded for their debut album, one left over for their second album, and one left in the dust - personally I think they re-recorded the wrong track for their second album. The lost song, The Answer, is a massive slow number that foreshadows things put out much later.

From a collector's point of view - especially one that didn't get these when they were first put out in the early and mid-80s - this is a pretty sweet compilation to pick up.

David J

I'll Be Your Chauffeur (Promo Single)

Label: RCA Records
Released: 1990
Genre: Pop Rock, Soft Rock

After being part of the absolute start of the Gothic Rock and the Romance period in England's music scene, and then moving onto Love And Rockets - an innovating and excellent punk-pop-rock band David J put out a solo album in 1990. This was a 3-track promo released to radios for it.

Normally, I try and only review things that can be moderately easily obtained, even if only used. Since this contains only three album tracks from a still in print release, I thought I'd give some thoughts on it.

If I heard any of the top-40 soft rock crap on this without Knowing it was David J I'd slap the first person who said this was his work. It's a complete disappointment compared to his previous work. To be sure I went back and listened to the full album - and yeah, there's a reason it gets almost no play from my collection. It's really just generic soft-rock, not even innovative. I think he phoned that album in.

Week of 3/13 - Rock, Synth-pop, Metal, blues-rock

Alright, this week is almost completely full of female-vocalists from a wide range of genres and styles. We'll just jump right in.

New Releases:
The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 3/13 2012
Genre: Synth-pop, Rock
A sticker on the front claimed this as "Possibly ... the album of 2012." Well, there's a suspicious statement this early in the year. It's going to have to be mindbogglingly good, or create a whole new genre on its own. It is neither. It is good, verging on excellent. But not spectacular to a whole new level. It has the same electro feeling of Broken Bells, but bounces genres around more, a little bit of everything sneaks into this album. For all that diversity it doesn't come across as excessively schizophrenic as I might've thought. It all keeps close enough to a synth-pop aesthetic to keep the thing cohesive. The album of 2012? Doubtful. Good and definitely worth checking out? absolutely. This is good music.

Recently Released:
New Years Day - The Mechanical Heart
Label: Hollywood Waste
Released: 1/23 2012
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Another  2$ EP from the label, a good strategy. This is also some really good, solid, rock music. It isn't a female lead vocal in front of a rock band, they just happen to have a female lead singer. Subtle difference, but there they carry themselves on the weight of the entire band, it's a rock'n'roll package, unlike some bands that play music and then forefront the singer. They aren't amazing, but they are good, the kind of rock band that has a sound that can go the distance, hopefully it's enough to keep them making music for a good long time. Some punk and pop seeps it's way in, which will also hopefully keep them close enough to get a solid large following. A band worth checking out.

Adding To The Collection:
The Black Keys - Brothers
Label: Nonesuch Records
Released: 2010
Genre: Rock, Blues-Rock
Blues-Rock duo the Black Keyes  put out another drum and guitar laden album. This is the second album from them I've purchased (I don't always get in on the ground floor...), and it's a solid shot. Not as bluesy as I imagined it might have been, but not bad. A good solid groove to get into, plays well all the way through.  The thing is, here, nothing really jumped out at me, it's just an album. A good one, one I'm glad is in the mix, but that's just about it, in the mix. Really good for filling out long stretches of a playlist you need to occupy a few hours or more of time. Maybe down the line I'll fall in love with a single track, but in this first set of listen through, nothing amazing jumps out. Still, add it to your collection, it's good to have on hand.

Florence And The Machine - Lungs
Label: Universal Republic
Released: 2009
Genre: Rock
The debut album from Florence + The Machine. And you can tell, it's not quite as polished as the second album, not quite as comfortable. And some of the song content verges on a little creepy, the lyrics can make you uncomfortable as they're sung in an almost sweet manner. You can easily see why everyone immediately liked her, powerful singing, mixed with good music, percussion heavy, she doesn't drown it in guitars, but doesn't let it wallow in pop-banality either. The second album is definitely better, but only by extension of reaching further. You'd be making a mistake not checking out Florence.

Hydrogyn - Deadly Passions
Label: DR2 Recrods (Self-Released)
Released: 2008
Genre: Heavy Metal
The album opens with solid thrash-metal, Julie's vocals give the genre an extra dimension. Not the soaring female vocals of the classically trained, and not the low rumble of a female vocal trying to fit into a Heavy Metal Mold. Nope, Julie is straight forward, almost a pop-singers style, a little rough, and she can be pissed off without growling. The music is pure Metal, the kind we had back in the 80s that just pounds on at a good pace and let's the guitar go wild. Hydrogyn handily gets on with the business of making heavy metal, from slow to fast. Also, on this, is a cover of Alanis Morisette's You Outta Know, which they own. Julie sounds the supremely pissed off that the songs needs, and the heavier music suits it much better. Compared to this cover, the original is just whining. They aren't signed to a major, or even small, label yet. For good or ill, they're flying under the radar and deserve exposure - especially if you're a fan of a more raw metal sound.

Bonus Track:
Vaski - The Island feat. Sara Laske
Label: self-released Soundcloud download
Released: 2012
Genre: dubstep
Vaski put this out on his Soundcloud for release. It starts as a rather normal sounding club track with opening vocals, and just where you expect the thing to bang out a boring house beat, it drops. Like any really good dubstep track it knows the balance between the beat, the vocal, and where to drop the beat instead of picking it up. Vaski is a producer worth finding - most of his stuff is digital, with a few vinyl 12" singles around.

Next Week:
Hard and Soft collide - Industrial Rock from Germany, Hard Rock from the US, Classical music, and Flamenco by way of India...

Also, Hydrogyn has a new album coming out in April I'll be checking out for you, but I can tell you already it'll be more of the same good metal they've always made, worth checking out.

Sunday Morning Blues - Elmore James, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Skip James

Our continued adventures with the ABC Of The Blues, diving into some very old blues names this week with Volumes 19 and 20. Volume 20 is split between three artists, Tommy Johnson and Skip James split the second half of the volume with five songs each.

Elmore James
The King of Slide Guitar, Elmore was born in Mississippi in 1918, and by age 12 was making music. He is considered one of the first, and foremost, disciples of Robert Johnson. He was also a fast liver, his lifestyle in line with rock'n'rollers of a later age: women, booze, and fast cars. His sound was also louder, an amped up slide guitar. His biggest hit, Dust My Broom, was released in 1951, and there is still controversy over who wrote it- Elmore or Robert Johnson, Robert's release, I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, was put out in 1937. Elmore died in 1963 in Chicago. Elmore's slide guitar legacy would influence many musicians down the road, including Jimi Hendrix.

The collection here is as loud, and guitar heavy, as one could hope from a post-WWII blues atrist. He ranges from Delta to Chicago, West and East coasts, all of it amped up a little bit.

Lonnie Johnson
Backing up the other way, Lonnie Johnson was one of the influences of Robert Johnson, this bookend of pre- and post- Johnson Blues is an interesting mix. Lonnie is the first guitarist to play single-string guitar solos, and is considered the progenitor of both modern blues and jazz guitar. He is undoubtably one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He had a chart topping career both before and after WWII, which is a rarity. But as many ups as he had, he also had downs, through the 1950s he would drop in and out of the music business, taking menial jobs to pay bills. In 1959 he was a janitor for a radio station when DJ Chris Albertson found him, and then produced a comeback album.

Compared to Elmore, Lonnie's playing is very sedate, straight blues. Nicely, the records here are clean and clear, even the ones before WWII.

Blind Willie Johnson
Willie Johnson was born in Texas, and the story goes at age five told his father he wanted to be a preacher and made himself a cigarbox guitar. He wasn't born blind, but was so by the time he reached adulthood. Willie freely mixed blues with gospel, and used his powerful gravelly voice to great effect. He was also an accomplished slide guitar player. His songs have been covered by a number of artists through time, from pop to rock. His track Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground has been used in film scores numerous times and is a classic and timeless, if not ultimate, example of slide guitar work.

Opening his collection with the iconic track, one can't help but feel it deep in their bones. And then, you realize this is the apex of the blues I think. No words, just guitar and a hum. Everything else is excellent music, well recorded with little record hiss. His voice is amazing, able to go into a low false baritone with that growl of his, and sing at a steady tenor. The blues and gospel cross perfectly where his guitar and voice meet.


Tommy Johnson
Another old blues singer from Mississippi, Tommy actually bragged about selling his soul to the devil. Most of his fame comes from being a very hard drinker as much as his singing style, which is a yodeling style not always heard in the blues. He was such a drunk he'd even drink sterno, hence the song Canned Heat Blues. While he had a long career in music from 1914 to 1956, he never made it very big.

We only get five early songs from Tommy in this collection. He wasn't lauded as a great guitar player, but his voice could go from a lower tone to a high falsetto, making him one of the better vocalists of his time. All the recordings are mostly clean, there is some recording hiss, but it's not as bad as on other collections.

Skip James
Another early blues musician from Mississipi, Skip started his career in 1931 with several recordings, and then immediately ended his career. The next thirty years saw him drift in and out of music, an almost completely obscure musician to listeners. His unique tuning (D-Minor) and finger picking style are of note. In 1964 he was 'rediscovered' along with Son House, kicking off a deep blues revival. He's never been cited as a great influence, though he certainly was of some. Most accounts have him as aloof and not quite part of the blues 'scene' - especially in the 60s during the revival.

His finger picking style, closer to East Coast (or Piedmont) Blues than Delta, and minor tuning give his playing a deeper tone, a little darker. We only get five songs here, which is probably the bulk of his 1931 recordings (I don't have a full list handy to compare to), but they're all pretty clean as well, the collection seems to be getting better recordings from the early bluesmen.

Next Week I get into exploring B.B. King and Little Walter getting some of the best guitar (King) and harmonica (Walter) the blues has to offer.

Week Of 2/21 - Synthpop, Psychobilly, Blues, Dubstep, Industrial, & music of the Congo

This weeks new music was a blind buy, picked it up without any knowledge of the artist at all, I knew the label usually put out music I liked, so I took a shot. And won. I also dove into my digital collection that has been gathering pixel-dust on my Hard Drive and loaded up several EPs. Plus some of the CDs sitting on my shelf waiting for attention. All together a good amount of music this week.

New Releases:
Grimes - Visions
Label: 4AD Records
Released: 2/21 2012
Genre: Synthpop, Experimental
Discogs - Visions US Release
Grimes is the project of Canadian artist Claire Boucher.Visions is full of pop melodies, her voice is in the same range as a lot of pop music. But, it stops just short of actually being pop, the rhythms aren't quite right, the songs ditch the hook, liberal bits of glitch and other exerimental ideas seep through constantly. Which is the best part of the album, it's very easy to listen to, very smooth, but it's not lost in banal commonality. It's different without being jarring. As a whole the album creates an environment, it's the kind of music you can listen to with headphones, or letting permeate the room as a whole. Loud or soft, it's just really nice to listen to. Visions is absolutely and album to go out and get, and Grimes is the kind of artist that should get mainstream exposure without needing to become a media spectacle. It does remind me a lot of Broken Bells in that it's at once very familiar and completely different from other music out there.

Recently Released:
KDrew - Free EP Vol. 4
Label: Dubstep.Net (Self Released)
Released: 2/1 2012
Genre: Dubstep
Dubstep.Net - KDrew Free EP
Dubstep.Net tossed out this 4-track EP at the start of the month, which is unfortunate since if you go to KDrew's Soundcloud it's a full 6-track EP. What we have in these 4 tracks are three-vocal dubstep tunes, and one instrumental. The first is a hard hitter, with fast lyrics from a traditional Hip-hop MC. After that the next two tracks are pop-vocals with dubstep backing. And the last one is a very chill piece, good for dancing, but not so frantic as to wear you out. Good stuff, really. I don't really have a lot to say about a 4-track banger, but it's solid dubstep, hard and soft alike. And it's free, so you can get into the genre without much effort.

Adding To The Collection:
Marc Broude - Cruel Society
Label: Sirona Records
Released: 2011
Genre: Industrial, Experimental
Sirona Records - Cruel Society
This is a two-track EP sent to me. The first song is a pretty standard, not very interesting industrial-rock song. The second one, one the other hand, is glitchy and different, a dark instrumental soundscape that reminds me of some older industrial styled tracks that work with sounds in different ways beyond trying to build a dance club hit. It's two tracks, and not available in the US.

Little Axe - Champagne & Grits
Label: Realworld Records
Released: 2004
Genre: Blues, Electric Blues
Discogs - Little Axe US Release
Little Axe is some very excellent modern electric blues. From a traditional blues of him singing and a guitar, to the slightly 'techno' infused electric blues this album spans a wide range of ideas and interprettions of 12-bar. A supremely excellent guitarist, his style is classic in every sense while his thinking is very forward. There realy isn't a lot to say here beyond Go Get This Album, honestly. it's excellent and proves that the blues never fades.

Nekromantix - What Happens In Hell, Stays In Hell!
Label: Hellcat Records
Released: August 2011
Genre: Psychobilly
Discogs - What Happens In Hell US Release
This excellent three-piece band puts the gas pedal down on their hot-rod herse and doesn't let up until after the crash. Full of off kilter horror and songs about girls (or ghouls in the case of I Kissed A Ghoul), the whole thing is a little disturbing, but the bass just keeps on humming. The entire album is a standard set of rockabilly rhythms you can dance to, with the classic psychobilly left-of-center attitude. You just bop right along to the entire album, even if the song topics are less than cheerful the musci really is. Nekromantix really have got the 50s era Rockabilly sound nailed down, and have easily infused it with a modern punk attitude and styling.

Rough Guide To Congo Gold
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2008
Genre: Congo Traditional, Rumba
Discogs - Congo Gold
The Congo, like a good bit of Central and South Africa, embracing Rumba music when it came over in the 60s and 70s. They even infused it into their local traditional musics, came up with new genres, and played straight Rumba like it never left it's home. And you can hear that all over this compilation, at least half the tracks are pure Rumba, some even sung in Spanish. The traditional music to the Congo is pretty good, very rhythmic. As a whole, this is a pretty average Rough Guide - good to get into a region, but nothing really amazing is going on here, you get the feeling the Congo music scene is moderately homogenous, though.

Bonus Track:
Whitenoise - Bang Bang! Remix
Label: Soundcloud Self Release
Released: 2011
Genre: Dubstep
I found this last year and fell in love with it, and then it got lost on a Hard Drive. And I refound it after organizing things. It takes Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang and remixes it into a hard, dirty, lovely, dubstep pounder. It's just, well, it's great. Availalbe to listen on Soundcloud, go dance.

Next Week:
Industrial Rock, and plenty of it, some old school synthpop-electro, electroswing, a big dubstep mix, and a compilation of EBM/Industrial stuff.... very exciting, the whole week should just bop along.

Week Of 2/14 - Blues, Electroswing, Soft Rock, Industrial, Moombahton

This week's new release is all the way from Germany, an acoustic collection with bonus live content, some blues, and a couple compilations. I got a lot of music added in this week, so, on with the show. This week I'm starting up something new - linking directly to a Discogs page with the album in question (where possible, often the bonus tracks aren't officially eligible for the database) so one can see album covers, and other info.

New Releases:
Eisbrecher - Die Hölle Muss Warten
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 2/14 2012
Genre: Industrial, Industrial Rock, Neue Deutsche Härte
Discogs - Die Hölle Muss Warten US release
For the last couple of years Metropolis has been bringing Eisbrecher's albums over to the US, which is good. One of the many German industrial rock bands that Americans will immediately recognize as the same style of Rammstein. And as much as I like Rammstein they're on the bottom of the pile of bands in this arena. Eisbrecher is very much near the top, formed when one of the members of Megaherz left that band. They aren't as outright heavy and hard as others, which is part of what I like. The oscillate between a crunchy metal sound and a darkwave dance sound. The latest, Hell Must Wait, is no exception, opening with Tanz Mit Mir (there may be a rule about all German bands having to title a song this at some point), it delivers a few heavy punches before calming down and settling into a nice groove. Every album they put out just keeps getting better (though I missed one and have to go back and pick it up).

Recently Released:
Free Dominguez - Unearth (plus bonus Live tracks)
Label: self released
Released: February 2012
Genre: Soft Rock, Rock
Discogs - Unearth
Free Dominguez is the lead singer of Kidneythieves, an industrial/hard rock/darkwave duo. Her solo material  is of a decidedly different bent. Soft rock music, most of it just guitar and her singing. Free's voice is easy, flows nicely. She doesn't croon, shout, or attempt to make lighter music sound heavier. It's all very good, very relaxing, very smooth. Most of the tracks on this release are from her previous solo effort, but there's also some newer recordings, and one song specifically for this release. The music spans a great deal of time, and subject matter, but it's all very consistent, very strong.

The live set is available as part of a special order of the album, a three part Acoustic Live set from NYC, on December 29, 2011. It's only available digitally from her website and as part of a package with Unearth. You can hear that it's a rather small intimate setting, and a good clean recording. It's hard to tell if it's from the soundboard and the audience can be heard through the mic, or if it's recorded separately. There's no actual track listing, but she's clear enough you should be able to pick out the songs easily. Very much worth the extra few dollars over buying the CD alone.

Moombah-Thong The New Wave Vol. 2
Label: none (moombah-thong.tubmlr.com)
Released: February 2012
Genre: Moombahton

Moombah! Bass! stripped out of a lot of mid-range noise, not even bothering with breaks and drops sometimes, slowed down house music, often with Latin pieces generously laid over it. Moombahton is one of those extremely dancey genres that can easily make a club night out that much more. Not nearly as fast as the normal pop-dance, industrial, and other club cuts, Moombahton still comes hard and low, and this compilation put out by a bunch of producers is no exception (don't visit their tumblr at work, it's NSFW due to posts always coming with a pantie, or thong, shot. Very clever). The compilation flows extremely well, each song fits next to the other perfectly, a real DJ got a hold of this, not just any old producer. You could put this on and not even worry about it for an hour.

Adding To The Collection:
Joe Bonamassa -  The Ballad Of John Henry
Label: J+R Adventures
Released: 2009
Genre: Blues, Blues-Rock
Discogs - The Ballad Of John Henry US release
The Ballad Of John Henry is pretty much an American standard classic song, or tale rather. Because there are literally dozens of variations on it. Most of them retell the folk story of John Henry vs the steam hammer. But not all, like the opening track here, which is about a man who doesn't want to end up the same as John, dying by the hammer. After that the album rolls on into Bonamassa's solid blues style. Heavily guitar driven, with Joe's unique voice over it. He even does a solid cover of Tom Waits' Jockey Full Of Bourbon. Fun fact on Waits songs: even when the song is a completely unique cover, you can hear Wait's cadence behind it, Joe does a good job of not mangling this. An excellent album, good, loud blues rock. If you're a fan of the Black Keys, you'll want to be a fan of Joe too.

Electroswing III
Label: Wagram Records
Released: 2010
Genre: Electroswing
Discogs - Electroswing III
In the US it's just easier to get the compilations, and usually a little cheaper too. This is the fourth compilation of the genre I've picked up, the last of the big ones currently out, and the third in this series. This one, unlike the first two, is much more coherent. The songs fit together better. Instead of simply a collection of tracks taken almost at random, someone took a moment to make this compilation flow. And it's got some really really good tracks on it to. The now obligatory Caravan Palace ends the album. Movits! makes an appearance, as does Tape Five (twice!) - both standards on the scene.  But a few new names popped up that had me checking around for decently priced imports. In-Grid who is a French pop-star that apparently decided to go full swing for at least one album. Dirty Honkers, a three piece based out of Berlin (but from Israel, Canada, and France). So, with a bunch of compilations under my belt, now it's time to dig around and see if I can't get this stuff in the US...

Next Week:
A bunch of digital EPs I've had hanging around my hard drive looking lost and wanting into the playlist, more blues, some psychobilly, and rumba from the Congo, and some Synth-Pop out of Canada.

Weeks of 9/27 and 10/4 - country, sufi, punk, metal, industrial, blues-rock, dubstep

Two weeks worth of music crammed in here due to vacation - also due to vacation is a lack of New Releases. I'm loading up three weeks worth of those for next review before getting back into the regular swing. This week though - 10 albums from all across the board.

Adding To The Collection:

Neko Case & Her Boyfriends - The Virginian
Label: Blood Shot Records
Released: 1999
Genre: Country
This is Neko Case's first full album, and it's not very typical country. Coming right at the start of the 00's alt-country explosion, it's laced with heavy doses of rockabilly and other throw-backs to 1950s country that got close to rock'n'roll and hadn't migrated too far from the blues. The sound isn't as completely polished as later albums, but for a first effort this little number is excellent.

ZZ Top - Recycler
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Released: 1990
Genre: Blues-Rock
Moving onto a similar genre, blues rock trio ZZ Top put this out in 1990 and is last part of the Eliminator-Afterburner-Recycler triology that summed up their 1980s sound. It was a move away from some of the more straight forward blues they built themselves up with in the 70s and by this album had refined itself into an almost straight alt-rock with blues mixed in sound. Nothing particularly fast, or slow. In fact, unless you're more than a casual ZZ Top fan there's not a lot here. It does contain the massive hit My Head's In Mississippi, but the production mix isn't as good as some later remasters, I don't think.

Skream - Skream!
Label: Tempa
Released: 2006
Genre: Dubstep
Not quite early dubstep, but definitely near the front of the pack, and it's not nearly as distortion heavy on the breaks. Low key, kind of down tempo, but still hits the dance floor nice and hard. It could do with a few more really heavy beats and breaks tossed in somewhere in the middle. Still, a nice shift in the dubstep from heavy to mellow.

Overkill - Bloodletting
Label: Metal-Is
Released: 2000
Genre: Thrash Metal
The last album from Overkill's less than stellar 1990s era. They managed to get stuck in a more slowed down metal sound, less thrash and more groove, and this is them stepping back up, but not completely, into a much heavier pure thrash metal sound. Hard to find these days, but still worth it for the die-hard fans that either want to fill in the holes after skipping many albums (like me), or for new fans looking for older material that isn't as pure speed as the stuff released since.

Army Of The Universe - Army Of The Universe
Label: self-released
Released: 2011
Genre: Industrial
Army Of The Universe (AoU) are an Italian industrial-rock act. As much glam as industrial, they put out this mostly remix mini-album on their own. It's a good showcase of how well they remix in talented hands. They sound like they're having a lot of fun, and it's a nice stripped down almost under-produced set of sequences. Can't wait to hear more from these guys going down the road a few years. The bonus is it comes with a video for Lovedead.

Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole EP
Label: TVT Recrods
Released: 1990
Genre: Industrial
Head Like A Hole is one of their really big early on songs that started to get NIN mainstream attention. And just about everybody has had a crack at remixing it as well. And this... is a really generic set of remixes for the title track, Terrible Lie, and Down In It. I picked it up cheap and used and am glad for the fact, the remixes have seriously dated themselves at this point 20 years later, and the whole single comes off as what it is: one of the many (hundreds) of singles put out with too many remixes and not enough substance. Diehard NIN fans will want it, and probably already have it.

Human Factors Lab - Pap3r
Label: self-released
Released: 2008
Genre: Industrial
This is another remix album, and it's from a band that hadn't at the time put out a full album yet to really remix from. There's a lot of remixes on here from a lot of bands (some famous, some not so much). And it shows off that HFL can be remixed into something really good (or in some cases just danceable) the band itself doesn't quite impress me with this release. It needed a few more un-remixed band originals to really make it good. Otherwise, it's just run of the mill industrial dance stuff.

Dropkick Murphy's - The Meanest Of Times
Label: Born & Bred Records
Released: 2007
Genre: Punk
I'm a huge DKM fan, and they're a band that consistently puts out the same sound without putting out the same album. The overall tone of this one is pretty negative, there's a lot of the downside of life here, as opposed to some other releases that emphasize the upside or fighting back. Title appropriate, as it really does take the listener through the meanest of times and situations. And comes out sounding like a great punk-rock record. This is bare-knuckle punk here, and while they don't have as much bagpipes as normal, it doesn't need it. Great album to keep around.

Rough Guide To Sufi Music w/ bonus Sufi Fakirs Of Bengal
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2011
Genre: Sufi
There's something about religious music, done well, that both soothes the soul and energizes the mind and body. And the Sufi music represented here does just that. I don't understand the words, but I understand the ideas they represent, the sounds are familiar and at once, completely different. This is great music just to listen to even if you don't take away the messages being presented. And a double CD of it at that, which is why I really like the Rough Guides. They always deliver and sometimes they deliver above and beyond expectations.

And that's that - all the new additions I listened to over the past two weeks. With that I almost depleted my backlog of albums to load up - not to fear, I reloaded the stack (a good chunk of it with Iggy Pop, I may just do an all Iggy week). Next week I review all the new releases I didn't get to over my vacation. Listen Hard!