Bar Jobs and Bus Stops

Sam Russo - Storm
I first saw Sam Russo's name on the internet as an opener for one Mr. Frank Turner back in 2009. Since I had not long before developed a lasting appreciation for Frank's take on punk and folk, I decided to look up Sam and see what kind of things he was doing. I found his Myspace page (remember, 2009), and saw that he had five or six demos available to listen to. I clicked play and was frozen for the next two hours as I played those five demos over and over again. I kept an eye on Sam, and hungrily snapped up the demos and EPs he gave away for the next few years. He'd fade in and out of my mind, and every now and again, I'd see that he'd started a new website, or that he'd joined twitter, or released a few tracks on a split with Chuck Ragan. But above all, I kept playing those wonderful, scratchy, magical demo songs. It seemed a miracle that even though I lived probably three thousand miles away from Sam, I was able to access his music and know what he was up to.

Now it's late 2012, and Sam's name is becoming more visible. Red Scare Industries took an interest, and now Sam has released his first LP, entitled Storm. It's just about exactly what I'd been waiting for ever since I pressed play on that Myspace back three years ago. On paper, his songs might not sound all that notable. They're mostly just an acoustic guitar and Sam's voice, with a few flourishes of extra guitar here and there. The songs exist somewhere between folk and punk, with the usual I-IV-V chord structures, and the lyrics are about his own personal victories and losses, and living hard in modern Britain. I realize that by that description alone, he'd get lost in a jumble of other white guys with guitars, dreaming of being invited to join the Revival Tour, but it's the specific alchemy of these words sung this way with these chords that makes all the difference.

Part of what makes Sam's work so outstanding is, paradoxically, his realness. It's very easy to imagine that Sam is that buddy of yours who stops by and plays a song in your kitchen (as he does in a few Youtube videos), but instead of some embarrassing A-minor shamble, it's a perfect, fully realized folk song that puts a tear in everyone's eye. Sam's caramel-and-gravel voice is the perfect vehicle for his sad, sweet words (not to mention his particular accent...it's worth the price of admission just to hear him sing a word with a long 'O' sound), and he knows when the guitar needs to whisper and when it needs a little punk snarl in the strumming. His choice of words is impeccable, getting right to the heart of the topics he chooses. I mean, I enjoy Springsteen as much as the next guy, but it's been many a year since Bruce was capable of delivering a song about an embittered working man that was as real and true and heartbreaking as Sam's "Factory Rain." The weight of experience rests heavily in these songs, and you can feel it when he sings something like, "All hope was never lost, only abandoned/And every bridge you burn down leaves a stanchion."

Look, a stupid review isn't going to do the subtle charms of Sam's music justice, but I can say that I think this is one of the strongest releases I've heard all year, and I can't stop listening to it. You have to actually listen to his songs to understand why they're way beyond the average acoustic folky punk numbers, so do yourself a favor and give Sam a listen; about half of Storm is streaming here.

The Hidden Masters

The Sword - Apocryphon
The Sword is a band that, despite releasing consistently strong albums, have been saddled with the unfortunate label of "hipster metal." I never really understood why they of all people got tagged with that particular appellation (and understood even less why one would use such a nebulous term to try to specify what the band sounded like). I assume that it has to do with the fact that The Sword received a lot of attention pretty quickly from the music press, and since they don't have any screamed vocals or blastbeats, people who wouldn't normally listen to metal were enjoying them. But doling out such an unhelpful label for that reason seems like lazy music writing, in that it ignores all the traits that The Sword share with the rest of the stoner metal genre in general, and in particular it shines a pretty harsh light on those critics' unfortunate inability to tell the difference between a band that clearly pours themselves into their craft with great attention to detail and influence, such as The Sword, and a band that doesn't (Wolfmother, I am looking in your direction).

The Sword made a name for themselves with their first album, Age of Winters, in 2006. Like many stoner metal records, it showed a clear love for Sabbath, and was filled to the brim with earthy references to the Norse pantheon and snow-covered forests, a theme their 2008 follow-up Gods of the Earth shared. By 2010, they were apparently feeling restless, and with the LP Warp Riders, they abandoned Earth for a much more sci-fi theme, which they pulled off with aplomb, adding some Judas Priest-style riffing to their Sabbath chops. The newly released Apocryphon finds the band somewhere between those two thematic extremes, with imagery that recalls the Hyperborean world of Robert E. Howard, where magic and technology meet in strange ways. If you're noticing a trend of the kind of sixties and seventies sci-fi/fantasy concepts that most frequently show up in airbrush art, you're not wrong. The Sword know what they like, and they use it well.

Musically, The Sword have been steadily improving with each new release, and Apocryphon is no exception. The riffs oscillate between brain-twisting complex and head-nodding simple, but the song structures remain fairly lean, which keeps the whole album surprisingly nimble. Everything is nicely balanced between getting to the point and serious riff worship. The record is fun, but also clearly not a joke; the band is serious about its influences, it's just that its influences are not always totally serious. The guitar work is excellent, as you might expect from a band like this, but the rhythm section is also to be praised for knowing just what to add and where. The aforementioned lazy critics sometimes seem to harp on singer JD Cronise's voice for being overly deadpan, but once again, this opinion betrays their lack of familiarity with stoner metal as a genre. What exactly do you need his voice to be doing that it isn't? If I need to cite precedent for a drier vocal delivery still being effective, I'll just throw out the first four Sabbath records and trust that will end the argument.

Ultimately, if you're familiar at all with The Sword or what they do, you know what you're going to get with Apocryphon: a quality record that delights in both the heavy rock stylings of the seventies and the desert rock/stoner metal sound of the nineties. If any of this sounds even remotely intriguing to you, then definitely listen to this record. It's fun and engaging, and if someday I ever meet anyone who actively doesn't like it, I will be forced to question their ability to understand the point of rock and roll in general.

Criminally Underrated: Zeke - Kicked In The Teeth

There are times when you need something loud, messy and impossibly fast. For those times I turn to Zeke. Founded in Seattle in 1993, they specialize in 300 mile-per-hour, out-of-control hardcore punk, and though all of their albums are worth having, my go-to LP is their 1998 release Kicked In The Teeth. As you can see from the title, subtlety is not really on the menu here, and it's a better album for it. To give you a sense of the pedal-to-the-floor-fun of Zeke, Kicked In The Teeth has seventeen tracks, and it's over in less than twenty-one minutes.

This is not a band that comes with particular acclaim from most music critics. That's because Zeke should only be listened to by people who actually like rock and roll music. The Allmusic review of Kicked In The Teeth says, "...it's a shame Zeke feels compelled to rely on speed alone to get by." This a textbook example of someone missing the point. Zeke isn't a band that plays fast because that's all they can do (their later albums, which do throw in some less frantically paced fare, prove this point), they are a band that plays fast because A) they are good at it, and B) it is awesome. If you start this record and don't feel your pupils dilate, then this was not made for you.

In general, hardcore punk has a tendency to view any displays of instrumental prowess as mere wankery, but Zeke has decided to go the other way and regularly find space in their minute-long compositions for some ultra-fast fret-blazing solos, which only add to the high octane madness. The rhythm section is relentless, keeping the hardcore and D-beats going without breaks even between the tracks in most cases. There are a few mid-tempo numbers in there to allow listeners to assess the damage, notably a fist-raising cover of Kiss' "Shout It Out Loud," but overall Zeke's work should require a safety harness of some kind.

If you really want the full Zeke experience and don't mind running from the law, listen to Kicked In The Teeth in the car. Everything will go red for twenty minutes, then you'll snap back to normal parked on your front yard and wonder why your windshield is cracked and why there's a police helicopter overhead. Good times for an otherwise boring Thursday, so ignore the critics, have some fun, and ride with Zeke.

This Heathen Temple Will Stand Tall

Pig Destroyer - Book Burner
I'm changing the review format for this one a bit. Explaining why this record is good isn't going to work, because even if a person academically understands why this album is of a certain quality, the music may well sear the flesh from their frames. Pig Destroyer specializes in creating music which can only be described in superlatives. Fastest. Heaviest. Scariest. Angriest. Most Disturbing. This is the kind of thing that separates potential listeners into two camps: Yes Please! and OH MY GOD NO MAKE IT STOP.

I imagine the amount of people on Earth who would enjoy this kind of thing hovers around a half a percent of the total, and that's being generous to your individual staminas. I myself happen to be of that group and therefore I find this release a bracing dose of Pig Destroyer doing what it does best: short bursts of aural psychosis. For the rest of you, just hope you never come across this record (or any of PxDx's oeuvre, for that matter) in a dark alley, because it will do things to you. Unpleasant things.

If you think this might be just the sort of thing for you, then by all means, give them a listen. They're streaming their new LP Book Burner here right now.

Interview - The Great Old Ones

You might remember a recent RFF review of The Great Old Ones debut album Al Azif where I was quite taken by their blend of atmospheric black metal and Lovecraftian themes. Instead of relying solely on image or style to make their name, TGOO seem to have an intense focus on songwriting and musicianship that made their debut a grand and wonderfully dread-filled piece of art.

Now guitarist Xavier Godart has sat down to answer a few of our questions about how they build their black metal epics, their respect for H.P. Lovecraft, and where they're headed next:

Radio Free Future: You guys seem to capture the essence of H.P. Lovecraft's writings better than many of the other bands who have tried to do so. How do you approach Lovecraft as an influence that might be different from other bands?

Xavier Godart: Thanks! Well, it's hard to tell how we differ from others bands based on Lovecraft's works. I think it's more a combination of circumstances that made TGOO work. Lyrics from Benjamin, our musical influences, and Jeff's paintings seem to fit perfectly together.

RFF: With atmospheric black metal, there is a difficult balance between being hypnotic and simply being repetitive. How do you keep a long song from becoming tedious? How do you decide when a song needs to shift in a new direction?

XG: It's hard to answer that question. There is no specific recipe. Usually, one of us (mainly Benjamin) comes up with a full song structure. Then we work this song in rehearsal where we add music arrangement and we move some riffs in order to avoid the song being boring.

RFF: When you start to write a song that will likely end up being fifteen minutes long, where do you begin, and how do you know when it's finished?

XG: We usually know how we want a song to start. Then, we just develop several ideas at their maximum. We try to make the song evolve in the same way our feelings evolve when we read a Lovecraft novel.

RFF: Al Azif has a unique sound to it that makes it stand out a bit, even from other black metal records. What kind of production decisions did you have to make in order to get that sound? Were there any particular techniques that you'd never used before?

XG: We knew that we didn't want Al Azif sound like a classical metal record. We wanted the sound to be dynamic, alive, as if the sound surrounds you completely. For that, we've worked with Cyrille Gachet, who is the sound guy of Year Of No Light, another band from Bordeaux, France. The work he did with their last album Ausserwelt is spectacular.We recorded everything in a vaulted cellar. All the reverbs on this record are natural.

RFF: Some bands take a few albums to really find their sound, but it seems like you guys kind of arrived fully formed with a really impressive debut. How long have you played together as a band?

We are a full band since a year and a half, but 70% of the music on Al Azif existed before that. Benjamin started writing years ago. I think the fact that most of the music comes from one person ensures homogeneity. For the sound itself, all of us were playing in a lot of bands way before TGOO. The experience helped us to find how we wanted to sound really quickly.

RFF: Al Azif is still a new album, but looking forward, do you think that future TGOO albums will be Lovecraft-related?

XG: We've already started to work on the second album and it will definitely be based on Lovecraft's works. But for a more distant future, who knows...

RFF: A lot of the really interesting black metal seems to be coming out of France these days, especially black metal that isn't afraid to experiment with the sound and add new influences. Is there something about French music culture that creates this tendency?

XG: Difficult question. Metal in France has always been underexposed by French and international medias. Maybe it's because of this lack of interest in the French metal scene that bands like Deathspell Omega or Blut Aus Nord aren't afraid to push their music far away from classical boundaries.

RFF: What's the first thing you'd tell someone about TGOO if they'd never heard your music before?

XG: For me, it's difficult to put the right words to describe our music. I would say just relax, put a good pair of headphones on your head, and let yourself be surrounded by the sound.

Thanks to Xavier for taking the time to answer our questions, and make sure to stop by The Great Old Ones' website or bandcamp page and pick up their debut album Al Azif.

Soundgarden Release New Track

The recently reunited Soundgarden have released the first single from their new LP King Animal, out November 11th. The track is titled "Been Away Too Long," and has all the elements you'd really want in a Soundgarden track, plus some new and interesting sonic touches.

Lost Rivers and Ditch Lillies

Murder By Death - Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
Some bands make their fans a little nervous when they release an album. Will it be as good as the last one? Is this going to be the album where they lose the magic? I doubt many fans of Murder By Death have such apprehensions. MBD have made a reputation on releasing consistently strong albums throughout their more than ten years as a band. Each effort has a different flavor, but it's always the Murder By Death that their fans know and love. Their newest LP Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon is no exception to this unbroken string of success, and in fact shows the band making a larger stride forward musically than they have on any of their older works.

Part of this big step forward has to be credited to the addition of multi-instrumentalist Scott Brackett, who provided a plethora of sounds that have rarely if ever been heard on a Murder By Death album before. Brackett is ostensibly manning the piano position that Vincent Edwards vacated a few albums back, but it sounds like he's also provided organ, mandolin, accordion, trumpet, and even theremin (and probably more that I'm missing) this time out, and it's to the band's credit that they find a place in the mix for all of it. The sound is by turns grand and dramatic, or spare and intimate, but always evocative.

As much as Brackett has added to the sound with his many talents, it's obvious that the veterans of the band have all stepped up their game on this album. Adam Turla's vocals are still in their deep Cash-esque register, but he's also gained impressive control of his higher register that is reminiscent of the modulated Ralph Stanley style. Matt Armstrong's bass has always had an audible presence on their records, but here it takes on a throatier growl and really lets you know it's there, just listen to when it kicks in in the song "Ditch Lilly." Sarah's cello work has a fascinating versatility, from the expected melodic elegance, to the stuttering accents in "Lost River," to the distorted solo in "Straight at the Sun." And Dagan Thogerson continues to be one of the hardest working drummers in music, providing just the right emphasis in any situation. Drummers tend to escape people's notice at the back of the stage, but if you get the opportunity to see this band live, be sure to watch Dagan. He's doing twice as much behind the kit than you'd think by how effortless he makes it sound.

In a recent interview with Invisible Vanguard, Armstrong talked about how important it is to improve by "never missing a chance to shut up" when playing in a band, and that's really the key to the success of Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon. With this much going on it would be easy to fatigue the listener with all the excess, but if Murder By Death know anything, it's how to arrange a song for maximum effect. Why this band hasn't gotten more cinematic score and soundtrack work is a mystery, but it's apparently a future goal for the band, so keep an eye out.

Murder By Death have crafted an album here that is both beautiful and unsettling. According to the band, they were aiming to add some David Lynch-style creepiness to their already dark Americana, and they definitely nailed it. This one will be a perfect autumn soundtrack, so definitely pick it up. Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, is an impressive musical achievement, and easily one of the best records of the year.

Deftones Release New Track

The Deftones have released the first track from their upcoming seventh album entitled Koi No Yokan, which will be out on November 13th. In a recent Noisecreep interview, Chino said of the album:

"We were coming out of a tough time, obviously, and our goal was to kind of rebuild what we created over all the years. I felt like we had to prove ourselves. We'd taken so much time between records, had some inner turmoil and our records were starting to get pieced together versus really being created together, so for us it was a chance to get back to basics. We didn't have an idea of what sort of style we wanted. We just came in fired up and motivated to do something great. It was all very positive. We had more songs than ever, tons of ideas."

Murder By Death Streams New Album

Murder By Death has begun streaming their upcoming album Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, which officially comes out on September 25th. It's a definite step forward for the band, who have really pushed themselves musically on this release. Expect a full review of the album here soon, and be sure to check out my interview with MBD here.

Stream Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon HERE.

Pig Destroyer Release New Track

Pig Destroyer have released the first full track from their forthcoming album Book Burner. It's everything we've come to expect from a band whose grindcore assaults can only be spoken of in superlatives. Book Burner is due out October 22nd on Relapse Records. You can preorder it here.

Empires to Ashes

Propagandhi - Failed States
Prog rock and punk rock seem on the surface to be poor bedfellows, especially considering that punk rock formed, in part, as a direct response to the bloated musical excess of the Seventies, when prog rock filled the stadiums. But as Propagandhi have shown with their two previous albums and now on their newest release Failed States, the two can indeed be successfully combined. The bands themselves stated about the new album: “Our goal is always to create a no-holds-barred, forward-thinking, tip-of-the-hat to the giants -- Voivod, Rush, NoMean..." Those influences are certainly present on Failed States, and most audibly in the guitar work, which weaves twisted scale runs through the middle of their straight-ahead punk momentum.

The surprising thing is that even though the prog riffing, which began on 2005's Potemkin City Limits and continued on the 2009 follow-up Supporting Caste, keeps getting more complex and ingrained in Propagandhi's sound, the hardcore intensity has not been toned down a bit. In fact, on Failed States the punk rock fury has been ratcheted way up from previous releases; the songs are on average shorter and more direct, with a distinct 80's hardcore vibe. For a band combining two seemingly disparate styles, Propagandhi don't seem to have any multiple personality issues. The songs don't break from straightforward punk rock to a "prog section." The intent is fully realized and it all comes across as one solid, engaging sound. The guitars are bold and loud on the tracks, the bass is nasty and full, and the drums are up front and crisp, and everything comes together well, especially in the lockstep palm-muting used to great effect on several songs. The band has found a strange versatility in their ability to be punk rock messy and prog rock precise at the same time. They've really reached further with their vocal work, too, with everything from melodic singing to serious screams as heard in the track "Rattan Cane." An obvious highlight though is the song "Cognitive Suicide," which tells you everything you need to know about Propagandhi's intentions on this album all compressed into four great minutes.

Lyrically, Propagandhi are, as usual, hacking away at the shallow ideals that the contemporary world is built upon. They've been pegged as a political band, but that seems to miss the point somewhat. Their songs aren't about concrete political matters as much as they are sociocultural critiques. Democratic politics are only as much of a problem as the people allow it to be, and Propagandhi ultimately seem to be lobbying for a more aware, more educated populace to earn for themselves a better political atmosphere. Whatever their specific goals or messages, Propagandhi can't go wrong by releasing strong, smart albums like Failed States. For extra goodness, listen to their last three albums as a trilogy; it's an excellent crash course on what's gone wrong politically and what's gone right musically in this new century.

Murder By Death Interview

I recently got to interview Matt Armstrong, bassist for Murder By Death, about their upcoming album Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon for Invisible Vanguard. Here's a preview of what we talked about, and you can read the whole thing HERE.

It's tempting to say that if this were a fair universe, Bloomington, Indiana's Murder By Death would be a household name in American music. But anyone who knows their distinct brand of dark and eclectic music knows that, like Tom Waits' oeuvre, it's just a little too weird for broad public consumption. Like many artists of their stripe though, those who know them tend to know them very well indeed. Their musical ability is unassailable, and in their decade as a band they've shown themselves more than capable of capturing any mood or atmosphere they choose, it's just that what they choose seems to be on the stranger side of things.

Past albums have allowed listeners to meet zombie children, doomed sailors, dangerous women, wanted men, all manner of thieves, brigands, outlaws, and even the devil himself. All the wild things that roam the deserts, mountains, and plains of the American subconscious are there populating their country-tinged rock and roll.

September 25th will mark the release of their sixth LP, entitled Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, and bassist Matt Armstrong graciously took some time out to talk to Invisible Vanguard about their new album, new band member, and the new approach to marketing that Kickstarter has provided.


INVISIBLE VANGUARD: Murder By Death has built their reputation of delivering consistently strong albums that each have a distinct flavor. How will Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon stand apart from your previous efforts? Are there any particular themes that went into this release?

 MATT ARMSTRONG: Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon will certainly stand out sonically from all of our other releases. I think that's going to be the first thing people will notice when they hear the album. Thematically it isn't really a concept album, but there are some recurring ideas. A lot of it involves the idea of thinking you're in a nice, quiet town, but it turns out there's a seedy underbelly. Think "Twin Peaks" or "Blue Velvet" without the backwards talking and gas-huffing.

This is just a preview; read the full interview over at Invisible Vanguard!

Propagandhi Streaming New Album

Propagandhi are now streaming their new album! Potemkin City Limits set a new tone for the band in 2005, and the excellent Supporting Caste arrived in 2009 to keep the momentum going, and now Failed States comes out officially on September 4th, but you can hear it now right over HERE.

Winterfylleth Premiere New Song

British black metal band Winterfylleth will be releasing The Threnody of Triumph on September 25. This will be their third LP (following 2010's excellent The Mercian Sphere) and they've debuted the first track from it, entitled "The Swart Raven." It contains everything that Winterfylleth fans have come to expect: intensity, majesty, and quality composition and performance.

Check out "The Swart Raven" HERE.

...That Ocean Is Not Silent

The Great Old Ones - Al Azif
The Great Old Ones are a French black metal band that has added touches of doom metal and post-rock to their sound in order to better portray the influence of the works of H.P. Lovecraft on their music. That sound you just heard was every eye in the black metal community rolling. Granted, that band description seems a bit overused these days, even though it's confined only to this style of metal, but the surprise is that The Great Old Ones have managed to create an album with enough stylistic and compositional changes to really stand out, as well as an atmosphere capable of conveying the creeping dread and full-on terror that Lovecraft so cherished.

Black metal has a tendency to be one of those musical styles where only the fans can tell the bands apart. As such, it's sometimes difficult to describe the exact changes in style or technique that makes one black metal band so much better than another one playing something similar. The Great Old Ones have taken the template of atmospheric black metal and tweaked it in just such a way as to make their debut album Al Azif supremely entertaining. In the hands of lesser songwriters, these six long tracks would be formless piles of hyperaggressive mush, but TGOO have taken great care to use dynamic shifts in the songs to create changes in mood and keep things interesting. I admit the moods are really just different shades of bleak, but that's to be expected here. We're talking Lovecraft, after all, and while the overall tone is one of crawling horror, there are plenty of spots where the songs open up to grand, even elegant vistas before collapsing back into blastbeats and shrieks. They play with a wide metal vocabulary, using quick drums and tremolo melodies a la Darkthrone, serious power chord structures under a soaring lead like Emperor, and the foggy blastbeat murk used by more modern bands such as Xasthur, Wolves in the Throne Room, or Agalloch.

For all the changeups in tempo and tone, as well as the raw intensity of the songs, there is a surprising amount of melody that comes through from both the guitars and the vocals, and the detailed production really keeps the whole thing on the rails. The vocals are at that nice spot in the mix where they're easily audible, but are tucked just low enough to make the instrumentation sound powerful. The individual elements have good separation so that everything is present without dominating, and it manages to let things like violin come through cleanly, even though the rest of the mix might be filthy and soaked in reverb. It's also really great to hear such a wide variety of guitar tones on a black metal album, and it goes a long way in relieving the monotony that a lot of albums suffer from. There are little sonic surprises around every corner on this release.

I was going to pull out some examples of moments where this album really makes its mark, but after listening again and picking some, I realized that I had chosen something from each track on Al Azif. There's really nothing that pulls me out of this album and makes me think that something could have been done better. The Great Old Ones have leapt out of the gate with a very strong debut filled with small but noticeable flourishes that will reward a great many repeat listens.

You can listen to a few more preview tracks and/or purchase their album at either the band's website or their Bandcamp page.

Scott Kelly Premieres New Song

Scott Kelly of Neurosis has released the title track from his upcoming solo release The Forgiven Ghost In Me, which comes out on August 14th. Unlike his work in Neurosis, which usually has more of a scorched-earth-tribal-apocalypse sort of tone, Kelly's solo records are more like haunted folk music combined with his distinctive and mournful baritone voice .

Check out the new track here.

Band Profile - TITAN

Titan - A Raining Sun of Light and Love and Sweet Dreams
I read about the band Yes long before I ever actually heard their music. They were built up in print as musical geniuses. I read about mindbending progressive rock, with experimental soundscapes and touches of classical music influence. I was intrigued, and imagined the sound was like the rock bands I had already heard, visceral and exciting, only smarter somehow. But when I actually heard a Yes album, disappointment set in. It was not like the rock bands I knew. The excitement had been bled out of the sound to allow room for noodling that bordered on the dainty. At the time, it sounded to me like they were the kind of "rock" musicians who owned tight leggings and puffy shirts, and though I would eventually appreciate their efforts more, that image has always stuck with me.

The point is that Brooklyn stoner/prog band Titan is what I always wanted Yes to sound like. They craft fifteen minute long slabs of driving, exciting prog rock, and never does it sound like they might be wearing capes of any kind. True, the beginning of their 2007 album A Raining Sun of Light and Love does begin with a brief fingerpicked guitar passage and some odd vocals, which represents their nearest approach to the Renaissance Faire style of prog material. But even that bit is quickly taken over by echo and delay effects until the sound completely decays and, in an introduction to Titan's take on prog rock, you are launched full force into space by muscular guitar and Hammond organ over a driving beat. With A Raining Sun of Light and Love, Titan manages to make sprawling prog epics sound energized and vital, like you are traveling at extremely high speeds over bizarre and unfamiliar terrains, which is no small accomplishment considering that their albums are largely instrumental.

Titan's follow up effort was 2010's Sweet Dreams, which is a more manic affair overall. The virtuosity is ramped up on this release, with the guitars, bass, and organ moving in and out of sync above the jazzier, though no less propulsive drumming. The difference between the two is that while A Raining Sun of Light and Love pushes you along, Sweet Dreams tends to pull you apart. You find your attention racing in so many different directions that the effect can be dizzying. The mostly instrumental quality again does Titan many favors, though to their credit, when they do bring in some vocals (as they briefly do on "A Wooded Altar Beyond the Wander"), they manage to eschew the high-register singing and frankly embarrassing lyrical content that prog bands tend to utilize with baffling regularity. Titan lets their music tell the story, which of course will be different for each listener.

Listening to Titan, I find myself wishing that I could take their entire sound and airbrush it onto the side of a 1975 Econoline van. In the end, I imagine that's the greatest seal of approval I could give them.

Waiting For Kingdom Come With The Radio On

The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
The Gaslight Anthem have recorded a new album, Handwritten, and the world is a better place for it. There will, of course, be the inevitable presence of joyless haters who complain that it's all stuff we've heard before, but as usual, those critics miss the point completely. If you're looking for sonic exploration and progressive tendencies, look elsewhere. The Gaslight Anthem are unabashed rock classicists, and each song they write is a love letter to rock and roll history with the chord structures firmly in the I-IV-V territory. They build albums out of the elements that have been proven to be effective and then reconfigure them, adding new emphasis and charm to tell their own stories. They're obviously good at what they do, because they can evoke a sense of wistful nostalgia with a song you've never heard before.

On Handwritten, the small changes to their sound add up. There is some great lead guitar work to be found, especially the solos on songs like "Mulholland Drive" and "Biloxi Parish," which also contains some of the sweetest romantic lines that Brian Fallon has written yet. The vocal harmonies are more intricate as well, and no longer comprised solely of punk rock "whoa's." The Springsteen adoration has been scaled back, so while you can still hear The Boss in their sound, there's more room now for other influences and the band's own voice to come through. Fallon appears to have brought a few things back from his work on The Horrible Crowes debut, namely a bolstered sense of melody and a vocal style that keeps getting more and more expressive. He first broke out of his older vocal style with "Diamond St. Church Choir" on American Slang, and he's just kept improving since then.

If you already know The Gaslight Anthem, you mostly know what to expect as far as lyrical content. The writing gets more nuanced with each album, but Fallon is telling his usual stories of loves both gained and lost, lives spent working in dismal jobs, and waiting for the radio to deliver that rock and roll salvation into the wild American night. Since Gaslight spends so much time looking at the past, it's fitting that the lyrics are carefully kept just vague enough that they could have been written in any decade in the past sixty years. There is a certain timeless quality that their albums possess, and Handwritten is a perfect example of that. Exploring the possibilities of sound is great, but sometimes you need a band to reliably deliver some straightforward, memorable rock and roll songs, and for that, The Gaslight Anthem should be at the top of your list.

Handwritten will be out July 24th, but you can stream a preview listen HERE.

Propagandhi Streaming New Song

Canadian hardcore heroes Propagandhi have begun streaming the first single from their upcoming album, Failed States. It's a short burst of the progressive, melodic hardcore we've come to expect from them, and if this is just the first taste, then it sounds like the whole album is going to be pretty satisfying. Failed States is due out September 4th, so keep an eye out here for a review.

One Shall Pass

Aesop Rock - Skelethon
It's been five years since Aesop Rock last released an album, but in the time since 2007's amazing None Shall Pass, Aesop has been busy. Unfortunately, he's been busy dealing with everything life could throw at him: a friends' passing, the dissolution of his marriage, and the indefinite suspension of activity by Def Jux Records. Like any artist, Aesop put all of that into his work, and with his newest release, Skelethon, he has spun life's dross into gold.

The thing about Aesop Rock albums is that you either get it or you don't. There are no tales of guns, drugs, or ghetto violence on his records. Aesop's rhymes come more from the encyclopedia than from inner city streets, though the topics he broaches are universal. His lyrics are more abstract and verbose than most hip-hop artists, and he fills in his stories with sensory information, comparisons, and references far beyond the norm for the genre. It's virtually cut-up rap, and William Burroughs would be proud. Skelethon is no exception to these tendencies, and it's an album that is information dense, with phrases and lines that reveal multiple meanings on their own, and still more when considered in context.

Any listeners to Aesop's older albums will notice that his relationship to his beats is still evolving. He was never one to trot out an old tired breakbeat, but on Skelethon, not only are the beats and accompanying music a cut above, but the way he sets up his vocal flow on top of those beats seems more advanced. Album opener "Leisureforce" has a groove to it, but with the skittery beat and Aes's off-kilter wordsmithing, it's hard to know where that groove comes from. The album's first single "Zero Dark Thirty," with its crisp drums and murky electronics, brings the dark urgency that Aesop has become known for, and "Fryerstarter" drills into your head with its downtempo science-fiction bleep-and-grind.

There are odd surprises around every corner on this release, like the tale of a faithful beagle rescuing a drowning toddler from the family swimming pool in "Ruby '81," or the wry humor of "Racing Stripes," with lyrics that start at crazy hairstyles and get stranger from there. Rob Sonic makes an appearance and Kimya Dawson offers a childlike vocal melody on "Crows 1," but overall, Skelethon feels solitary, like it was made during late nights spent in rooms with just the man himself working the knobs. Considering the past five years, he may indeed have wanted to be alone to create this release, but if nothing else, at least he can be satisfied in knowing that he's made something great. Skelethon is a rewarding listen that will cause words and images to drift back into your head long after the last track ends.

Honey Lungs and Falling Blackbirds

Black Moth - The Killing Jar
Black Moth, a stoner rock outfit from Leeds, England, sound like a lot of things. You could fill a review with comparisons: they sound like Black Sabbath with Grace Slick singing for them, they sound like Acid King with a punk rock impatience, they sound like Alice in Chains imagined by Donita Sparks. The list could be much longer, and all of it would be fairly accurate, but all of them would miss the mark a bit. Black Moth reach throughout rock history for their influences, but in the end, the brew they concoct is their own.

The Killing Jar is built on a stoner rock template, but you only have to listen to the opening track, "The Articulate Dead," to hear just how much punk rock has made its way into Black Moth's sound. In fact, the ratio of Black Sabbath sludge to Misfits punk makes this album somewhat reminiscent of the Melvins and the heavier grunge acts of the past. The sound is low and filthy, a perfectly distorted bass-heavy grind for Harriet Bevan's bold vocals to soar over.

A clear highlight of the album is "Blackbirds Fall," a midtempo display of all of Black Moth's best tendencies. A full-on stoner outfit would take riffs as good as these and build an eight minute opus out of them, getting as much mileage out of the elements as they could, but "Blackbirds Fall" is a testament to Black Moth's punk brevity, as it only clocks in at four minutes. It tells you exactly what it needs to and departs without overstaying its welcome. This is true of the whole album really, with ten songs at under forty minutes, the album is surprisingly tight for a stoner/sludge effort. There is plenty of memorable lead guitar work, but very few flashy solos (another example of their punk/grunge influence). The production by Bad Seeds drummer Jim Sclavunos is spot on, the combination of the thick, dirty guitars with Bevan's clear, powerful voice is practically addictive.

The Killing Jar is an album refreshingly free of attempted superlatives. It's not trying to be the heaviest, fastest, slowest, or trippiest. It's a release that simply contains ten heavy, catchy, fun songs, which is a lesson that more heavy bands could take to heart. Other heavy albums will no doubt receive more attention this year, but I'm betting I won't play many of them as often as this one.

Murder By Death Announce New Single and Kickstarter

The consistently impressive Murder By Death have released the first single from their forthcoming album Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, which comes out on September 25th. This release will mark the MBD debut of mutli-instrumentalist Scott Brackett of Okkervil River.

The band has also announced the Kickstarter campaign for the new LP. Stop by and give their project profile a look, because the band has put some interesting treats up for backers.

Alive in the Superunknown - Thoughts on Soundgarden's Masterpiece

RFF is currently stuck in a 90's grunge state of mind, and with Soundgarden recently reformed and preparing an album of new material, it's worth taking a look back at their high water mark and remembering what made them the band they became.

As the original grunge bands began to cede to rock and roll attrition, the imitators began to cash in. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and especially Pearl Jam all had bands crawling out of the woodwork to try to bleed off fans looking for more of the grunge sound. But for all the interest in drawing out the fame that the Seattle music explosion created, there were very few who attempted to ape Soundgarden's style, largely because Soundgarden is the most difficult of Seattle's big four to imitate. Their specific brand of music pulled deeply from metal. There is a definite Sabbath feel, as there was with most of the original grunge bands, but Chris Cornell's wailing vocals seemed to come more from the Robert Plant school of singing, and Cornell seems to be one of the last (unironic) singers to be pressed from that particular mold.

Soundgarden's peculiar take on metal would add to the inimitable nature of their style as well. Their masterpiece, Superunknown, is perhaps the best example of this. Bizarre tunings and off-kilter time signatures abound on the record. Guitar magazine interviews from the time tell us that rather than the standard EADGBe guitar tuning, they used alternate tunings like CGDGBE ("Mailman" and "Limo Wreck"), EEBBBB ("My Wave" and "The Day I Tried To Live"), CGCGGC ("Head Down"), and CBGDGD ("Like Suicide"). Time signatures that were previously only the territory of the proggiest of prog bands were used: "My Wave" uses 5/4, "Fell On Black Days" uses 6/4 time, "Limo Wreck" uses 15/8, "The Day I Tried To Live" and "Spoonman" alternate between 7/4 and 4/4 sections, and "Black Hole Sun" makes use of both 4/4 and 9/8. The fact that these odd parameters were used for songs that were radio hits is nothing short of astounding, but Soundgarden's talent was such that they could form songs so natural and catchy from such twisted musical architecture. Not to mention that they did it all largely by accident, as the band maintains was the case. No wonder then that there were very few acts that ever wanted to try to imitate them. Sure, anyone could have tried to phone it in, but the result would never have anything near the same feel as the originals, and the effort of any serious attempt would have outweighed the profit.

Superunknown is an album that's easy to love, but hard to understand. Easy to remember, but hard to copy. The lyrics are either oblique or deceptively straightforward. There is anger and frustration in there, but there is a sense of confusion throughout. There is misery, but the lyrics come at it at strange angels compared to the upfront sort that Alice in Chains traded in to great success. Surreality is the norm on Superunknown, from the dream imagery of "Black Hole Sun" to "4th of July," supposedly a transcript of an LSD trip. The themes on the album are hard won, brought back from areas not normally accessed by the mind. Give Superunknown a spin and let it pull you back to 1994. It's worth the trip.

Memory Will Rust And Erode Into Lists

John K. Samson - Provincial
As anyone with even a cursory knowledge of The Weakerthans knows, a sort of late-Autumn melancholy is coded directly into John K. Samson's voice. Of course, the bittersweet, nostalgia-dripping lyrics and quiet melodies that he creates only cement that feeling. Samson's first solo record, Provincial, is no departure from this tone, but adds another chapter to the navel-gazing epic of Canadian life and times that his records add up to be.

Even though The Weakerthans are not exactly purveyors of burly rock sounds, the work on Provincial is still a little more withdrawn than Samson's work in his main band. The sounds get dirty when they need to, but even those moments are few. The guitars are a little quieter than a Weakerthans release, the drums a bit less insistent. The melodies, however, are still dominant, and they're easily as good as Samson's work on Reconstruction Site or Reunion Tour. Strings and piano join in with the standard guitars and drums to mellow out the proceedings. The songs are frequently painted in shades of blue and gray, but imbued with enough slivers of beauty and magic that you can tell that the sadness was worth it.

While the music is obviously important, what really stands out about Samson's body of work is his stellar lyricism. He spins tales in his songs that contain emotions and sentiments far larger in scope than you might think a few dozen lines ever could, not unlike a Tom Waits with a soft, clean voice. Rather than the third-person stories of winners and losers, Samson seems to be writing rather more personally here. The songs are filled with hockey and heartbreak and days spent without seeing the sun. The lyrics are beautiful and sad and funny, in a dead-of-winter sort of way.

None of the songs on Provincial would sound out of place on a Weakerthans release, which might make some question why they weren't simply released on one, but the fact that all of these songs exist instead on a solo record makes sense once you listen to them as a unified piece. They spell out a small life in a small city, and all the larger memories and feelings that can entail. Samson is a singular voice and an excellent writer, and Provincial is well worth a listen for anyone who remembers fifteen years ago like it was yesterday.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Blessed and Cursed and Won

The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
It's gratifying to be able to say the following sentence, as I was uncertain that I'd ever get the opportunity again: The new Smashing Pumpkins record is really good. Billy Corgan has said of the album, "...it is the first time where you actually hear me escape the old band. I'm not reacting against it or for it or in the shadow of it." Oddly, it appears that this escape from the fetters of the old incarnation of the Pumpkins has freed him up to deliver a sound that is more classic than anything he's done since the late Nineties.

Make no mistake, this is not a Mellon Collie clone. It's immediately obvious that Oceania is a different animal than Corgan's earlier efforts, but the songs here don't have the same forced quality that can be heard on the rest of the Pumpkins' 21st century output. Zeitgeist was a difficult record. It was difficult to penetrate as a listener, and I'm sure it was difficult to produce for Corgan and company. It may have been something of a disappointment to listeners, but looked at objectively, it was an understandable disappointment. It was a comeback album from a new band with an old name in a different century. Hardly surprising then, that few felt at home with the end result. On the other hand, Oceania feels natural, like Billy is letting himself be Billy, and the album became just what it was meant to be.

The first three tracks on Oceania offer some long-missed Corgan melodies with warm, fuzzed-out guitars. Fans made skittish by past disappointments should know that by the end of the first song, "Quasar," you can feel your guard coming down, and by the end of the third song, "The Celestials," you're just happy that things are back to normal in Pumpkinland. The next few songs are notable in that they're led by New Order/Depeche Mode-style electronics, which are backed with steady bass work, sweeping strings, and acoustic guitars to great effect. The last half of the album returns to more rock-oriented territory, with "Inkless" as a standout with a huge Siamese Dream-era guitar tone and passionate vocals. While the guitars are certainly still at the forefront of most of the songs, Corgan has done away with unnecessary heroics and overlong compositions, reaffirming his ability to make a tight, listenable album despite all the fuzzy dreaminess contained within its thirteen tracks.

There are legions of thirty- and forty-somethings across the world who will be overjoyed at Oceania, though its appeal should extend far beyond the legacy demographic. It may not quite reach the towering heights of Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but it absolutely deserves to be a part of the same discography. It's a beautiful album that restores the Smashing Pumpkins name to its former glory.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Weight of Days

A Broken Consort - Box of Birch & Crow Autumn
A Broken Consort is the musical brainchild of artist Richard Skelton, who works under many different names, each covering a facet of his musical explorations. I use the word 'explorations' here on purpose, because Skelton is more a craftsman of soundscapes and collages than anything else. As such, A Broken Consort satisfies a very specific part of his musical personality, a sepia-toned world of fading memories and half-remembered dreams, which, depending on how a listener feels about that sort of thing, can be interpreted alternately as awe-inspiring, comforting, or terrifying.

A 'broken consort' is actually a bit of Baroque musical terminology referring to an ensemble made up of instruments from different families, such as strings and woodwinds. This ties in directly with what Skelton creates under this name, as the sounds captured on the two records he has so far released are comprised largely of droning, looped string instruments mingled with clattering, distant percussion, meandering piano sounds, and what appears to be barely audible field recordings. The strings wail and sigh and sing, you can hear knocking against the wood of the instruments and the squeak of strings. There is no beat, no pulse, no rhythm of any kind. The sounds come unbidden and retreat when they've had their say. Despite that, the records are not ambient. The sound is very present and intimately recorded, and any attention paid to the records is handsomely rewarded with the atmosphere created by them.

Box of Birch was the first official release by A Broken Consort, followed by Crow Autumn. Both records are similarly executed, but to oddly different effects. Box of Birch tends to sound warmer and somewhat more comforting, while Crow Autumn is colder, more spare and unsettling. The first record is haunting, while the second seems haunted. On both, the music rusts and rots, the drones collect dust; it all seems impossibly old and yet somehow timeless.

It should go without saying that A Broken Consort is not for everyone. I imagine that most people, if exposed to these records, would think they sounded like a string section tuning up before a performance...for an hour straight. But there are a select few for whom these recordings will transport them somewhere else. There is an inexplicable power and charm to the sounds on these tracks that goes beyond mere strings and assorted sounds. Skelton has created something special with A Broken Consort, and the lucky ones that can access the magic therein will have found something unforgettable.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Can't Stop Thinking Big

Rush - Clockwork Angels
There are a lot of ways to look at a new Rush album, but in the end it boils down to the fact that you have two groups of people who might be interested: Rush Fanboys and Everyone Else, and you have to tailor the review to one of those groups. As a member of Everyone Else, I'll be directing my energies in that direction. People who aren't avid Rush supporters are apt to ignore most of Rush's catalog other than maybe the really memorable releases like 2112 and Moving Pictures, and as such, they'd be largely unaware of the course he band has taken since the late Seventies. Again, I fall into this camp. Unfair, perhaps, but those are the risks you face as a prog band who has been working consistently for over 40 years. The just-released Clockwork Angels is Rush's twentieth LP, though the first single has been floating around the internet for close to two years now. The news surrounding this album's long delayed delivery was what initially brought me to give that early single "Caravan" a listen. I knew what I was expecting from it when I clicked the link on YouTube, but what I heard was somewhat surprising in that it was not embarrassing.

Somehow Rush has sidestepped the pitfalls of being a Seventies prog band in the world of modern rock music. The sound isn't dated. The guitars are thick and heavy, the mix is clear but edgy, and the composition isn't overly wanky or long-winded, but it does show obvious craft and attention to detail. Rush appears to have listened to and learned from the entirety of rock history since their heyday, and yet appear to have kept their individual soul as a band intact as well. They're still Rush, they're just 2012 Rush, which is as much as a person can ask of a band in their position, really.

Clockwork Angels is a good old-fashioned concept album, involving a plot that pits individuality against a totalitarian world with elements of science fiction and steampunk. I'll be honest, I've not fully absorbed the lyrical contributions and put it together as a cohesive story yet, but I'm sure the upcoming novelization of the album (written by sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson) would help with that. I can say, though, that the music is interesting, with some inspired work from guitarist Alex Lifeson, whose and guitar tones and techniques help keep things interesting as the band travels far outside the verse-chorus-verse structure. Geddy Lee's vocals are expressive, but thankfully more understated than you might expect from a prog band, and his bass is further up in the mix than usual, which adds a Tool-esque dimension to the sound in some places. Peart's drums are reliably fascinating; the method of playing while being conducted orchestra-style by the band's producer Nick Raskulinecz has paid off. The musical ability displayed on the record is unassailable, and the only complaint I have is that after a while, things begin to sound a bit formless, but you could maybe chalk that up to the fact that prog is not, by and large, my go-to genre.

Overall, Clockwork Angels is a solid album worth a listen even for those without a serious Rush obsession, but for those with a high tolerance for proggy weirdness, this should be a feast.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

A Curse or a Blessing?

Wodensthrone - Curse
It takes a special kind of attitude to make black metal interesting these days. The strictures of the genre are fairly narrow, as such things go, and we've heard the angry guys with bullet belts do their thing for twenty years now. The unrelenting blastbeats and raspy screams are great, but bands now definitely have to walk a tightrope between "I heard this album ten years ago" and "this isn't even black metal." That's why, despite what the Kvltists would have you believe, I think the opening of the genre to more progressive, folk, and post-rock elements was a good thing. British black metal band Wodensthrone seem to agree as well, because their new LP Curse shows that they've successfully welded elements beyond spiked shinguards and facepaint to their icy Saxon darkness.

Between the release of their last album, Loss, and now, Wodensthrone lost their lead singer, but decided to split the duties amongst themselves. Since the remaining members clearly have the talent to pull it off, this was a great decision. Black metal vocals can easily become grating and tedious over an entire record player, but the multiple vocalists really keeps things interesting here. There are even clean vocals used to great effect in songs like the excellent "Jormungandr." Overall, the musicianship is top-notch, very precise and emotional, and most importantly, the extra musical elements are blended seamlessly with the scathing black metal. Wodensthrone clearly knows what they're doing, and they don't force listeners through awkward transitions. Just take a listen to how the bridge in "First Light" unfolds. The aggressive guitar and drum attack gives way to acoustic guitar and flutes, but instead of the shift being jarring, it becomes dramatic, a feeling that gets heightened even further as the electric guitars lay their leads over the bridge. All this is made possible by the clear, crisp production; this record is thankfully devoid of any tin-can recording techniques.

The best tendency to come from the expansion of the black metal genre is the downplaying of the play-acting Satanism and ridiculous theatrical overtures, and Wodensthrone is a great example of this. The music is serious and true, completely devoid of schlock, and willing to let aggression occasionally take a back seat to other colors in the emotional palette.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Dead Sun Over Black Sands

Sólstafir - Svartir Sandar
Sólstafir is a band who has come a long way in terms of their artistic ability and musical intentions. They began as a Viking metal band, then morphed, as many Viking metal bands tend to, into an arty black metal band. Since then, they've gradually added more post-rock tendencies a la Mogwai or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and now on their newest album Svartir Sandar, they've reached a new height of artistic mastery.

Sólstafir have been masters of building atmosphere since their excellent first LP Masterpiece of Bitterness, and they've always grafted that atmosphere to pummeling metal textures, making an art rock/black metal blend that sounded like no one else. Svartir Sandar is certainly heavy, but in a much different way than its predecessor albums. This heaviness is built very carefully, with nuance and fantastic attention to detail rather than speed and fury. Paradoxically, it feels like the album's passion comes from its precision, as though each chord and drum hit were carefully placed to perfectly build the drama and emotion necessary to each song, while making it all seem natural and effortless.

When considering arty post-metal, names like Isis, Neurosis, and Pelican immediately spring to mind, but Sólstafir's sound is entirely their own, perhaps owing to both their Scandanavian black metal background and the isolation afforded to them by their native Iceland. It's possible to hear the influences like The Cure, or some of the bleaker 90's rock bands, or perhaps even their countrymen in Sigur Rós, but the overall tone is so sunless and monolithic that it has to be heavily informed by the blackest of metal. The guitars range from gentle to vicious, the thundering rhythm section equals the guitars in their ability to bring the emotional content forward, and singer Aðalbjörn Tryggvason's voice pulls itself from a near whisper to a despairing wail at a moment's notice.

Words largely fail to describe the scope of what transpires over the two discs that make up Svartir Sandar. The sound is immersive, nearly cinematic. It's easier to describe the album as a place that one can go. It's like a continent, huge and dense, but with room to move. Moments that begin as just a wandering guitar line or steady cymbal beat evolve over time into a maelstrom of sound that evokes an atmosphere both unknown and somehow familiar, like a place you may have been in your more monochromatic dreams.

-Review posted by TZARATHUSTRA

King of the Dogs

Cory Branan - Mutt
Mutt is an apt description for singer-songwriter Cory Branan's newest album, as it's got a little of everything, all mixed up according to Branan's specifications. This is Branan's third LP, and he's thus far made a reputation on solid albums featuring his expressive wordsmithing and excellent guitar skills. Some fans, myself included, first heard of Cory from the Lucero song "Tears Don't Matter Much," which name-checks a number of the band's musician friends by name. Branan may be buddies with the boys in Lucero, but his sound bears little resemblance to their ragged-voiced country punk. He tends to be somewhat more varied, jumping around from sound to sound to fit each individual song, which makes it no surprise that he chose the word "Mutt" as the album title, since he's long been using it to describe his sound.

It's true that overall, Mutt has a rural feel that offers a nod to his Tennessee background, but nearly every track contains something that you didn't expect, and in many cases it's the entire song. "The Corner" starts things off with delicate fingerpicking and features Jon Snodgrass of Drag the River fame providing backing vocals. "Bad Man" finds Branan doing his best Springsteen with fine results, the track "Snowman" takes a trip deep into Tom Waits territory, and "Yesterday (Circa Summer 80 somethin')" shows that he's been giving Mellencamp a spin or two. He could be simply aping some heroes, but it comes off as more than that. Branan knows that an album doesn't have to be twelve songs that all sound pretty much like the lead single, and he intends to take advantage of that. He's trying his hand at sounds and styles that he's not used before, and though some songs here are emotionally heavy, it still sounds like he's having fun making his music the way he wants it.

Mutt is Branan's most musically accomplished record to date, and his writing has never been sharper. Check out a solo performance of "The Corner" that Cory did for a recent Nervous Energies session below:

Afghan Whigs Release New Song

The recently reformed Afghan Whigs have released their first new recording in five years. The new track, called "See and Don't See" has just the sort of creepy, slightly obsessive sort of feel you want if, like me, you've been missing the Whigs in their absence. They debuted the song live on Jimmy Fallon on May 22nd, and you can download the track for free at the band's website.

-posted by TZARATHUSTRA

Cory Branan Streams New Album

Tennessee's best kept secret, Cory Branan, will release his newest album Mutt tomorrow, but you can stream it in it's entirety here. Branan's previous releases have been filled with expressive songwriting, excellent guitar playing, and Branan's own blend of country twang and rock and roll, so expect good things from this album. Expect a full review very soon here on RFF.

-posted by TZARATHUSTRA

Darker Days, Indeed

Tragedy - Darker Days Ahead
On Darker Days Ahead, the still very underground crust/hardcore/metal/whatever unit Tragedy has expanded its usual speedy D-Beat assault to include a feeling of cinematic grandiosity and touches of outright doom metal. Actually, doom is the keyword for this entire release. Tragedy is building a world with Darker Days Ahead, and that world is dying slowly. The songs are vignettes of burned out cars, collapsing buildings, and toxic sunrises.

At one point Tragedy could be called a hardcore band, but their music has been alloyed with so many interesting sounds outside of the hardcore template that there's not really a category for them anymore. The band has a steady roar all its own, and despite the influences from so many different places, they manage to turn it all into a cohesive whole. Of course, for the most part the guitars are thick and nastily distorted, and the drums are pummeling, even at slower speeds, and the vocals might not actually be human in origin. But while the D-Beat feel, and the necessary debt to bands like Discharge that come with it, are still present, the tempos have a tendency to slow down more on this album, and clean guitar and bass tones (gasp) can be heard in many of the songs, where they create instrumental textures far more melodic than Tragedy have released before.

There's a sinister alchemy at work with these new elements, where they add up to paint a picture even more bleak than they could have done by simply thrashing away. There's shades of old Godflesh albums on this release, and it's all done to great effect to create a crushing hopelessness. There is no redemption on Darker Days Ahead. Things are not going to get better in the world that's presented here. For Tragedy, the light on the horizon is just the glow of irradiated desert. They're letting you hear what the end sounds like, and it's so impeccably crafted that you can't help but listen.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Zero For Conduct

OFF! - OFF!
Looking at the corner that hardcore music painted itself into in the first decade of this century is enough to give one pause. How could a style that was so charged, so visceral, back in the early 80's become so incredibly boring? From the chugging "metal-for-morons" one-finger chords, to the monotone barking vocals, to the sad, predictable breakdowns, hardcore became not just formulaic (even the 80's heroes sometimes fell victim to that), but actually quaint. There's not much danger in most contemporary hardcore, except possibly the danger of getting smashed up against a sweaty, shirtless fat guy at a show. The breakneck speed and manic, unstoppable thrill has gone.

OFF! wants to correct that problem. The new self-titled album from the band is a whirlwind of chaotic hardcore fun with all the energy of the glory days, and that's to be expected with Keith Morris, formerly of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, at the mic. There's no genre-splicing here, no dabbling with metal or reggae or pop. This is less than thirty minutes of pure punk rock fury, and for as dirty and violent as the music is, it's surprisingly refreshing. The nice thing about this release is that while you can hear Black Flag or Dead Kennedys in the sound, the record doesn't feel embarrassingly dated. It's simply a fun hardcore record that acts as something of a palate cleanser from all the watered down angst that carries the "hardcore" moniker these days.

In true hardcore fashion, many of the songs clock in at less than a minute, but they feel fully formed, complete with spastic lead guitar work thrown in occasionally by Dimitri Coats from the band Burning Brides. In fact, OFF! is something of a punk rock supergroup, as the lineup is rounded out by Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald and Rocket From The Crypt drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The classic hardcore pedigree is completed with cover art from longtime Black Flag collaborator Raymond Pettibon. Every punk I know wishes for a return of the SST/Dischord hardcore sound, and here's a good solid dose of it.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

A Remedy of Diesel and Dust

Hot Water Music - Exister
Gruff punk legends Hot Water Music have returned after eight years, and a lot has happened in that time. Chuck Ragan wandered off to remake himself as a gravel-voiced folk troubadour, and founded the increasingly popular Revival Tour, which showcases the acoustic talents of a rotating cast of punk rock heroes. The remaining three quarters of the band formed The Draft, a vastly underrated punk project, after which Chris Wollard released a strong solo album, bassist Jason Black worked with Senses Fail, and drummer George Rebelo spent some time behind the kit for Against Me! after Warren Oakes left the band. With everything that they've done in the interim, it's surprising that the new Hot Water Music LP, Exister, sounds like no time at all has passed between The New What's Next LP and today.

Which is not to say that the boys haven't learned anything, because it's obvious that they have. Chuck Ragan's folk interests and Chris Wollard's solo efforts have clearly informed their sense of melody, which is stronger than ever. It's just that the elements that made Hot Water Music distinguishable, the intertwining guitar lines over rock-solid rhythms with the twin-voice attack of Ragan and Wollard, are still very much intact. It's as if they slid back into their sound like a broken-in leather jacket.

Nearly every song is a highlight, and that's not hyperbole. From the charging intro of opening track "Mainline," to the classic sounds of the title track, to the huge bass groove and oscillating guitars of "No End Left In Sight," there is very, very little to complain about on this record. Perhaps it contains a bit less aggression than the records of the past, but considering the sound of The New What's Next, and the focus that the songwriters have put on melody in their solo projects, it's hard to see why that would be a surprise, and considering the quality of this record, it's hard to see why it would be a negative. It's a rare feat to pull off a reunion record that's not only good, but doesn't involve any comeback grandstanding or smarmy winks to the audience about the circumstances of their return. Chalk it up to Hot Water Music's unflagging sincerity that they decided to simply make an excellent rock record like Exister and let it speak for itself.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Hot Water Music Streaming New Album

Spin Magazine is currently streaming the entire new Hot Water Music album, Exister. It's HWM's first full album in eight years. They've even got up a track by track breakdown to the songs by Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard.

Check it out here, and expect a full review here at RFF very soon.

-Posted by TZARATHUSTRA

Three Chords and the Truth

Tim Barry - 40 Miler
"Real" is the word that most people attach to Tim Barry's music, and with good reason. In his folk-oriented solo material, the former Avail singer spins tales of heartbreak, crime, poverty, and train-hopping, all of which have been a part of his life at various points. But Mr. Barry himself apparently feels that he's not quite real enough yet, because he's named his newest record 40 Miler, which is a derogatory slang word for someone who hops trains for only short distances, a poser, in essence. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he explained, "For 20 years, I have toured and illegally ridden freight trains, but I've never been truly committed to either. I am a poser – a 40 Miler." It's hard for fans to justify that claim, though, because from the outside, Tim Barry's resume reads like that of a grizzled, road-weary veteran. He made his name with hardcore punk legends Avail, and with this latest release, he's up to his fifth solo album.

If you've heard his previous albums full of straightforward guitar playing and uncompromisingly honest lyrics delivered in his Virginia accent, you know what kind of ride you're in for here. 40 Miler is not a drastic deviation from those earlier records, but the instrumentation is more full and varied. Instead of the spare arrangements of his early release Rivanna Junction, 40 Miler is fleshed out with piano, fiddle, harmonica, drums and even some electric guitars here and there. Make no mistake though, this is not a punk record with a little twang to it, this is a bona fide folk record, with tinges of country and bluegrass to give it even more of a sepia-toned rural atmosphere.

The songs are of a wider variety of tones and tempos than we've heard from Barry before, as well. He's put some rowdier numbers in with the weepers, and as usual, he blends bitter and sweet together with a little cutting sarcasm and outright invective. Barry is also one of the few artists recording today who can record songs about hopping freight trains and not come off sounding like a rich kid with a Guthrie fetish (see the photos he occasionally puts on his twitter account for proof of his railyard adventures). The railroad song "Driver Pull" alone is worth the price of admission on 40 Miler, with lyrics so vivid that you can almost smell the rust and grease. in fact, lyrical gems abound on this record, like these lines from the title track, which may well be Barry's mission statement: "I'd rather stay broke and play fake-ass shows/Move with heart, sing from your souls/If you can't play, then dance instead/Music should sound like escape, not rent."

The extra instruments and song variety are great, but what really makes this record a winner is that at it's core, it's still Tim Barry giving you three chords and the hard truths that he's found after all those lonely highway miles.

-Review by TZARATHUSTRA

Preview - Hilary Hahn and Hauschka

Hilary Hahn and Hauschka - Silfra
Classical violinist Hilary Hahn is taking a serious creative risk this month, having teamed with experimental Icelandic soundscapist Hauschka for their new album Silfra, due out May, 23rd. It won't quite make her a lost persona of Lady Gaga, (she's not out dry humping a motorcycle), but as one of the two or three most visible performers in classical music over the last decade and a half, to abandon recording the classical back catalog in favor of locking yourself in a creative cell block with an avowed single-name Icelandic weirdo (see also Jonsi and Bjork) for a space of weeks and emerge with a largely improvised batch of abstract musical sketches and vignettes signals a significant and possibly risky shift.

Hahn landed on the scene in 1998 as a precocious teenager with her ebullient, maniacally forceful, and precise recording of Bach's Partitas for Solo Violin. She has since embodied an almost Prussian work ethic that Bach would likely have recognized and approved. She tours endlessly and has released almost one album per year for the length of her career thus far. At first she seemed happy rounding the bases of violin's established canon, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Barber, Stravinsky and still more Bach. In 2003 though, she signed with Deutsch Grammophon, away from her previous home at Sony and started looking around the library of great music for more idiosyncratic challenges. Paganini, Sphor, Schoenberg and most recently American populist of the avant-garde Charles Ives. She has presented herself as a happy promoter of the relevance of great Western music, remaining a favorite collaborator for orchestras around the world and a favorite with audiences.

And even despite her penchant for exploratory collaborations, a brief collaborative tour with singer songwriter Josh Ritter in 2008, for example, it has to come as a surprise to most that her newest release is not just a departure from classical compositions but an improvised set of minimalist spontaneous-music pieces. As a concert violinist she has long years' experience interpreting the muse for others but now for the first time she stands face to face with the Terpsichorean apparition to find from it a wholly original voice.

It's perhaps a sign of my inherent optimism that I am terrified of the result. I have the faith requisite to successfully worry, just as a man who believes in God may still fear the devil. Conquest belongs to the bold but so does spectacular failure. And since Ms. Hahn seems a courageous artist with no compunction taking these risks, I will gladly worry on her behalf...I hope it doesn't come off as just a trite, wanky mess. Look forward to a review here on RFF, pending the album's release.

-Preview by YORGOD

Listen to the first release from the upcoming Silfra, entitled "Bounce Bounce," with stop-motion visuals by animator Hayley Morris: