OCTOBER REVIEWS FOR YOU AND YOURS

It's that pretty much best time of the year.  It's not gross hot.  It's not freezing cold.  There's pretty colors abound, and Halloween is just around the corner.  I'm going to be traveling later on this month so I'm jumping the gun a bit and posting up reviews a little sooner than I had expected.  Plus, from here on out the rest of the year is going to be quite busy.  I got another record coming out to announce soon that you ought to see around X-Mas time and I'm getting prepared for 2019 where Hex Records will be turning 20 FREAKIN' YEARS OLD.  So yeah, expect a lot of announcements about that milestone pretty soon.
In the meantime, read up on this newest batch of stuff that is all over the map sonically.  It's the best way to expand yr interests.

APPARITION ORCHESTRA, “The Noise Floor”

I reviewed this duo’s last project, which was not all that long ago, and I described it as ‘soundtrack music’.  Well, the pair of Bob Gorham (Blood Sun Circle/Engineer), and Jon Davis (Difficult/Night Owls) return with four more songs that I am now going to classify as ‘documentary music’.  Like, this is what you hear when you sit down to watch a documentary and things start off with random scenes of small town life, or a farm, or woods, and after a few minutes some guys voice says something like, “I spent 35 years of my life growing potatoes in Spit Fart, Idaho.  My dad raised potatoes, my aunt and uncle raised potatoes, my grandpa did too.”  This is that music.  Although, admittedly, some of the second half of this EP sounds a bit more stark, so it’s the part in the documentary where it starts raining and someone is heard discussing how the bank came to claim their potato farm or whatever.  Or, some slow motion footage of the aftermath of a tornado and text on the screen describes how George W. Bush obviously failed to send in FEMA in a timely manner.  So yeah, you never wonder where all that documentary music comes from because it’s so background and just sets a mood, but these should be the guys making it all.  Someone call up Werner Herzog or Eugene Jarecki ( I IMDB’ed this) and get these guys a contract.  (Drops Of Us)

BUILDING ON FIRE, “Fire Extinguisher 2000-2004” CD

Building On Fire were a Rochester-based band featuring people who went on to found Achilles and plenty more.  They are one of my favorite bands from the early 2000’s who are painfully overlooked, and yes, I released their lone full length.  However, the band did a lot of stuff that didn’t get a wide release (or any at all) and this collection covers a bunch of that including their self-released debut 7”, a song from a split 7” they did, live tracks, alternate and demo takes of a few songs and an entire EP they recorded after splitting up.  Most of this collection was initially released in a fucking metal case, like the guys cut and folded metal into a CD-sized case and made about 10 copies.  So it’s nice to actually have this for real, even though a metal case is way cooler.  But let’s get to the band- they really were ahead of the game and took a lot of chances.  They were equal parts heavily influenced by Converge insofar as the metallic nature of a lot of their material, as they were by Fugazi in terms of consistently pushing the envelope of ideas.  They always had so many plans for different records, oddball recording techniques, samples, and artwork.  They were a consistently active and creative machine for their relatively brief tenure.  I think their stuff is great and some of this final material that never really saw the light of day is some of their tightest and vicious material they had (one of the songs is even a Guilt cover!  Remember Guilt? No?  That’s OK).  A couple asshole critiques on this thing- BOF were a very visually creative band and put a lot of time and effort into their artwork and this collection has extremely scant artwork to go with it.  Secondly, the write-up on the inside of the disc makes some incorrect claims as to members’ post-BOF outings.  Just sayin’.  But I strongly encourage anyone whose interest this has piqued to explore what they did in their time.  Plus, this thing is cheap.  So give it a shot.  (Classic Core)

 

CANDY, “Good To Feel”

This band shares a name with my mother-in-law, and like her, I am mildly frightened because she’s one tough cookie.  Candy really is nothing to trifle with.  However, I enjoy a band that definitely plays hardcore, but doesn’t subscribe to many of the expected tropes that go along with it.  Not only on the outside, with their shitty 80’s gore-metal style cover art, but their music is truly vicious and rightfully threatening.  It leans on the metallic side of hardcore, and also adds some blast beats, and one very out-of-place closing track incorporating fuzzy indie rock enveloped in static.  Imagine Trash Talk at their peak and most unhinged, tuned down a step or two, and that’s what Candy feels like to me.  It’s not a bad place to be in.  It’s the sound of a burning mattress being thrown into the pit instead of just the rigor morale of predictable two-stepping and finger pointing.  (Triple B Records)

  

CHERUBS, “Short Of Popular”

Ever since Austin, TX noisemongers Cherubs decided to saddle up again in 2015, after a 20 year hiatus, and sporadically damage eardrums worldwide they have dropped an incredible full length, a pretty damn good double 7”, reissued their long out-of-print 1995 benchmark LP “Heroin Man”, and now are re-issuing this collection of odds and ends which was only available on CD until now.  It’s not that Cherubs were ever that popular (hence the title); they carved a tiny niche of some of the gnarliest, fuzzed-out destructive noise rock bliss one will ever hear, but did so in a very limited capacity and their records were lost to the buried dustbins of history for a very long time.  Those that knew remained steadfast fans.  Some, like me, knew the name, and a general idea, but only mystery lay beyond that.  Most just didn’t even know.  I’d say for the uninitiated this might not be the best place to start just because this is collection of B-sides, covers, alternate takes, most of which were recorded in an extremely bare bones fashion (i.e.- pretty shitty recordings).  It’s still quality stuff because Cherubs regular recordings push the needle into the red with fuzz and distortion bleeding over every possible edge, so it’s not a radical difference in sound.  But I will say the remastering on this reissue certainly helps things out.  The new artwork and colorful vinyl definitely makes it an attractive record to pick up as well.  And since I’m already a big fan I’m immediately sold.  But for those who never really heard these guys I’d say start with their awesome come back record “2Ynfynyty” and then work backwards.  This ought to fit in there somewhere once you’re hooked, which you will be.  (Sonic SurgeryRecords) 

GOUGE AWAY, “Burnt Sugar”

This is just miles beyond their previous material.  I enjoyed what Gouge Away did in the past, but it was all scattershot.  They didn’t have a set style, and it was rather evident.  Still, something about them showed promise, and it wasn’t just because they had a cool name.  I think on “Burnt Sugar” they have finally found their footing and have written a great collection of songs that fully realize the band’s sound.  They have discovered how rad it can be when you incorporate elements of the Jesus Lizard serpentine and rubbery bass with touches of Superchunk’s punk-propelled indie rock, and wrap it in a corn tortilla of legit post-hardcore rhythm.  The steps between their first LP, “Dies”, to the slow-burn 7” “Swallow”/“Sweat”, and to this are not just little learning-to-walk fumblings.  It’s like going from John Candy in “Stripes” to Carl Lewis winning the gold overnight.  I’m quite surprised how quickly this group has gotten their footing and hopefully they retain this lineup and continue to create exceptional music such as this.  (Deathwish)

NIET, “Dangerfield”

Did you know Italian noise rock was a thing?  Well, it is.  And Niet, from Italy no less, plays music of this variety on their new EP that recalls all the ugliness, car-wreck tone, and smashed instruments present on the more upbeat tracks of Hammerhead’s “Into the Vortex” or “Ethereal Killer”.  The band tends to keep the pace on these 5 songs pretty quick so once you got one of them Italian caffe’ ristretto’s zooming through your veins, you’ll feel at one with the high-adrenaline chaos going on here.  It’s a unique niche’ sound they’re going for and they did a pretty good job of achieving it.  (self-released)

RESTORATIONS, “LP 5000”

This might be the first Restoration record that I’m not super excited for.  Maybe it’s because it’s been such a long time between this and their last release, kind of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing.  Or maybe because I’m just not swinging as hard on that vine these days.  Restorations do what they do very well, and they are consistently inventive with their sound while keeping it distinctly ‘them’.  They have toyed around on this new record with different piano/synth sounds that on past recordings they kept relatively straightforward, and they got themselves a couple fancy new guitar pedals too that make for interesting sounds.  But the Restorations most people are familiar with remains- earnest, sorta-middle-age bearded guy rock, heavy on the melody, big on epic parts, and Jon Louden’s well-worn gruff singing.  I think part of what isn’t moving me as much on here is that I always liked how this band could make these indie/emo sing-alongs, but then drop in some total fuzzed-out stoner rock bass bombs that added a ton of character to the songs, and that seems to be lacking on this record. Closing track “Eye” uses straightforward piano with a static-laced beat and a chirping electric hum as a background before breaking into one of those big epic parts I talked about earlier.  This one feels different though as some harmonized air raid siren type of effect takes over, along with big drums and that big bass sound comes in and it’s the type of growth I’d like to see more of from Restorations if they continue down this path.  It’s my favorite track on the album, even if portions of it aren’t doing for me like they used to.  (Tiny Engines)

WINDHAND, “Eternal Return”

I like Windhand, but it feels like they have written the same record three times now.  It’s a pretty cool record, but each record pretty much starts out with the same riff.  “Orchard” is “Two Urns”, is “Halcyon”.  I’d be more upset if that guitar tone wasn’t as awesomely dense, or the vocals weren’t as hauntingly cool.  Like I said, it’s a good song/good album they got going on here, but I’m not sure how much longer they can put it on repeat before people start wondering when they’re going to change things up a bit.  Fans of stuff from Rise Above, or if you like Cathedral slowed down even more, or even Sleep with a bit more energy, and the all-encompassing Sabbath vibe than Windhand will certainly scratch that itch.  (Relapse)