Dreamy soundscapes full of tweaked tones meet driving guitars on the newest album from Carcrashlander. This nine-track album rides like an audio road trip taking the listener through scenic ambient lows full soft tones, only to turn the corner and become thrown full-throttle into a raging instrumental barrage of guitars and effects.
The title track opens up the album with a mellow beat and feel but ends in a hectic guitar solo full of twisted peddle effects, all while the mellow beat plays along until the end. The vocals throughout this effort remain calm, even haunting. This remains the case during some of the heavier tracks like “Quoting Dead Comedians.”
One of the simpler but equally impressive songs was “Bone Noose” with its quasi-vintage surf sound, definitely a highlight of the album. Besides the use of peddle effects on guitars, there’s also the cleaver use of electronic feedback and even some trumpets, vibes, and flutes. I was impressed with the fact that even as the members of this band improvise into instrumental chaos on several of the tracks, it all comes to an end with the very mellow beat that started the song. It’s as if the beat survives the madness and continues on into the next track in order do it all over again.
Mountains On Our Backs will take you on a rollercoaster ride of sounds and leave you wanting more. Even through all of the intense musical intervals that dominate this album, you will be left feeling calm, yet musically satisfied.
(Jealous Butcher Records, PO Box 14306, Portland, OR 97293-0306
Sweet Sweetness indeed! Usually an album title doesn’t give much insight to the music contained within its contents, but in this case New York City’s Tiny Animals bring the sugar with their debut album. Unfortunately, it lacks the spice but does come through with everything that is “nice.” The 12 tracks featured on this album are highly polished and over-produced in their sound, giving the album a very plastic feel. The effects laid over the vocals of Chris Howerton makes him sound like Weird Al Yankovic (no joke). Musically, the material presented is very straight forward in its structure. They definitely stayed within the lines and refrained from any musical improvisation or exploration. This gives the album a simple and safe feel; safe for mainstream acceptance. Lyrically, there isn’t much depth here; a lot of teen angst and stories of growing pains. They do strip down the super-pop sound with the string driven song “Avalanche”, a moment that provides some flesh to this very synthetic album. If you are a fan of pop rock genre, you might want to check these guys out. As for me, my musical sweet tooth can only take so much manufactured material.
(North Street Records, 88 E. 3rd St. Suite #1, New York, NY 10003)
One of the most beautiful things about the World Wide Web is the fact that pretty much anyone can self-publish their art and expose it to the masses. Be it audio or visual, the internet allows artists to connect to a world which would have been unattainable in the past.
In the case of Daniel Francis Doyle’s new album, We Bet Our Money On You, it’s a double-edged sword. With Doyle on vocals and drums, the tracks on this album play like an out of tune music box. The majority of the songs featured here end up sounding repetitive, with oddly timed drumming set to a marching beat and random guitar plucking that verge on the boarder of being annoying. There seems to be an attempt by Doyle to style his vocals to that of David Byrne from Talking Heads, but it falls flat from the start. Softer tracks like “Your Baby Is Speaking” actually give some much needed heart and body to this mess of an album, but it doesn’t redeem it enough to be worthy of a recommendation.
By the seventh track entitled “How Can You Work?” I was asking the same thing of my ears, as the same repetitive musical formula was being played once again. Honestly, I’m only one person, and understandably one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but I just don’t see the attraction here.
(We Shot JR Records, PO Box 720291, Dallas, TX 73372)
Factory 515
17 min., dir. by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn
Time capsules allow us to relive the past through artifacts preserved in time and space. Someday a DVD and an iPod will represent life in the 21st century and will be laughed at by those who will create the technologies of tomorrow. Fashions of 2009 will be considered “retro” by generations to come, and as bad as it may be, someone will cover Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” as it will then be considered a “golden oldie.” We all will likely be in adult diapers, complaining about pretty much everything.
Not to bum you out on what’s to come — let’s take a trip back to the not so distant past. It’s May 31, 1986 and you are in the parking lot of the Capitol Centre in Landover, Maryland anxiously anticipating the doors to open so you can bang your long, flowing hair to the heavy sounds of Dokken and Judas Priest. In anticipation of opening the doors for this epic event, you witness shirtless underage burnouts pounding Budweiser and babbling nonsense in a drunken stupor. You witness Aqua Net queens in high heels and outrageous outfits claiming they want to jump Rob Halford’s bones (how ironic is that?). To top off this experience, some teenage boy dressed like a zebra proudly proclaims that punk rock “belongs on fucking Mars man” and that “heavy metal rules.”
If you believe this experience can only be described in the words above or from those who were there, you would be 100 percent incorrect. In that parking lot, guerrilla filmmakers Jeff Krulik and John Heyn filmed the tailgating madness that became what is known as Heavy Metal Parking Lot. This 17-minute documentary captures the images I describe above in all too vivid detail. You might have seen scenes of HMPL featured in the Less Than Jake video for “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads.”
For many years it was only available on VHS, and was almost impossible to find an original copy due to its cult status. In 2007, the feature was finally released on DVD and can be purchased at Amazon.com or rented from Netflix. Features on the DVD include the original documentary, as well as a commentary track. A very cool “Heavy Metal Parking Lot Alumni” feature is included here as well. The filmmakers track down individuals from the parking lot to see where they are today. Amazingly, most of them embrace their HMPL celebrity cult status. Jim Powell of Metal Grind Records in Maryland gives a tour of his “Heavy Metal Basement” where he gives the viewer an in-depth lesson of the history of Judas Priest and heavy metal in general.
In some of the most amusing bonus features, John and Jeff pull off sequels to HMPL by filming the parking lot of the Capitol Centre for a monster truck event, as well as a Neil Diamond concert. They also film the events at a local Maryland bookstore for the release of the latest Harry Potter book and title the feature Harry Potter Parking Lot. They also feature the closing and demolition of the Capitol Centre, which took place in 2002. Now a mall stands where The Capitol Centre once stood. What a shame.
Heavy Metal Parking Lot may be short in length, but its lasting effect on pop culture will last for generations to come. It’s not only a piece of heavy metal history, but it’s also a testament to those who were in that time and at that place in history. Priest Rules!
Hailing from San Diego, hardcore act Lewd Acts is at it again with their new full-length Black Eye Blues. At first listen, it may sound like a typical hardcore album, but interestingly enough the lyrical content (at least what I can understand) falls closer to something much more emotional than the run-of-the mill hardcore stuff out there. The lyrics of “Who Knew The West Coast Could Be So Cold” could be dropped into any emo band’s catalogue of material and pass with flying colors.
At times, Tylure’s vocals come across sounding a bit like Tim Armstrong of Rancid, although only on a few key tracks. One of the more creative intervals of this album comes four tracks into the 11-track disc with the song “You Don’t Need Me”; this 42-second cut is filled with emotional outcries of obvious love lost and is immediately backed up with “I Don’t Need You.” No complaints musically, as these guys sound fairly tight throughout the effort. Hardcore fans should really enjoy this release. Black Eye Blues hits the streets on September 1st.
Somewhere deep behind “The Orange Curtain” (a term we use here in southern California to describe Orange County) live the members of electro-punk band Intro5pect. These political punkers have been stirring up trouble since 1997 and are celebrating the release of their new EP, Record Profits, due out August 25th on A-F and GC Records.
“Originally, Record Profits was supposed to be released as a full-length a few months back, but a lot of negative stuff happened — both in people’s personal lives and with the band,” states front man Dave Small. “At some point, we realized that we weren’t going to be able to get the songs done in the way we wanted them to sound by the deadline we had set.”
What seemed to be the main factor in preventing Record Profits from becoming a full-length effort was the departure of bassist Gregg Arman. Arman left the band shortly after returning from tour in the United Kingdom, citing creative differences. Filling in Arman’s shoes on bass was LandonHell.
“This past year has been quite difficult for the band,” says keyboardist Sara Zaidi, “with the absence of Gregg and the growing pains that come with finding a new member.”
Intro5pect completed their second UK tour in 2008, even fitting in a performance on BBC Radio One with Mike Davies, a feat certainly worthy of praise, especially for an independent punk band from California. Experiencing the British punk lifestyle in comparison to those in the United States proved to be a moving and eye-opening experience for the band.
“I think it’s fantastic seeing these old 50- and 60-year-old punk rockers around England,” states Zaidi. “I think it lends to some validity to their points of view and encourages kids to really research and pay attention to the world around them.”
As Dave also points out, the youth are also much more in-the-know when it comes to political and social issues in the UK than they are here in the United States.
“It does seem like most of the fans are more politically aware and active than they are in the States, but also because punk or alternative lifestyles are taken much more seriously over there. Whereas in the US, it seems like punk is viewed by most people as a teen phase that everyone is expected to grow out of. In Europe, it feels like it’s viewed as being a permanent lifestyle and is taken much more seriously.”
Considering Intro5pect’s home base is considered to be among the most conservative areas in all of California, it’s clear their environment has influenced their music lyrically. Nearly half of Orange County’s registered voters are Republicans — not necessarily a hot bed for socially conscious punk rockers who happen to sing songs like “Fuck Your Flag.”
“While it is heavily Republican, I also feel it is quite apathetic down here as well. I suppose that many of these people live in the Orange County ‘bubble’ and are somewhat insulated from the socio-economic turmoil that the rest of the country feels,” comments Zaidi.
As bright as the California sun, the future plans of Intro5pect are also blazing brightly. In addition to the release of Record Profits, they are looking to release a full-length album by this spring and hope to make a third trek out to see their fans in the UK in the coming winter. Don’t fret, all of you U.S. fans — they also will be touring nationwide at some point next summer.
Mixing the spasmodic sounds of The Mars Volta and the tranquil interludes of Pink Floyd, Sound & Shape give us their unique brand of prog rock with The Love Electric, a five-song EP marking their second release to date.
The title track starts off the album with hectic guitar passages backed up by harmonious vocals. These harmonies carry throughout the album in several tracks, which provide some relief from the musical chaos that drive this album in a great direction. There’s something about Ryan Caudle’s vocals that reminds me Elvis Costello – but what took me by surprise was the unexpected use of saxophone by guest musician Jim Horn (who has worked with Steely Dan and Frank Sinatra) during “And We Begin As Two.”
This album has a level of unpredictability that definitely held my attention until the very end. The musical ability here is on point, especially the dynamic drumming of Jerry Pentecost during the last track, “The Solitary Journey.” I only hope these guys grow more and more experienced with each album they put out. What’s a shame is that odds are most progressive rock fans have no idea this band exists. Perhaps this album will open some ears and change that.
(Engineer Records, 210 William Street, Boonton, NJ 07005)
