Minus the Bear "Menos el Oso" - PLUS download the new Hold Me Down ep from Minus The Bear at their Website

Minus the Bear
"Menos el Oso"
Suicide Squeeze Records
www.minusthebear.com



"Menos el Oso" is an album of great movement and energy, it is catchy and smart, and
beautiful.It is a subtle rock record, filled with electronic and jazz tendencies, and intelligent and touching lyrics.
A Seattle-based band, with ex-members of Botch, Kill Sadie and Sharks Keep Moving, the five guys in Minus the Bear have previously released 2 full-length albums and a few EPs, as well as appearing on some compilations. Their sound has always been a mixture of bands like Tortoise, Red Stars Theory and Archers of Loaf, a mixture of dark cold afternoons and brand new toys, a perfect melding of powerful, graceful rock and sparse, singer/songwriter songs - with a dash of experimentalism.
Of their previous bands, Minus the Bear probably sounds most like Sharks Keep Moving, but they are more fully developed, able to dive in and out of small dark places, but also completely fill grand ballrooms.
The 11 tracks on "Menos el Oso" - which simply means Minus the Bear in Spanish - begin with gentle, George Benson like, guitar chords and vocalist Jake Snider sings in his matter-of-fact way
"We don't have money/so we can't lose it/ but you touching me like piano keys/you can't buy that movement."The song titled - wonderfully, like all Minus the Bear songs - "The Game Needed Me" is a smooth rock song with an arsenal of background sounds, some sounding like the backwash of a Space Ship. Snider asks "What does it cost for/this life of excess?/Would you ever miss your desk's caress?"

The next song, "Memphis and 53rd" opens with a muddy drum beat and some lean guitar
pickings, then it riles up a bit, the guitar picking becomes happy and catchy, and Snider reveals the song's story of a couple on the road, in love. The other guitars whip out some power chords and the bassline dances a jig, and the song bows at the end, very politely.

Track 3 - "Drilling" - starts of with a bit of an electronic feel, then the guitars jangle happily as Snider spouts "Is this a dream/you ask and I don't say anything/because it may be a dream."
The lyrics tell a story of a couple madly in love, who only live to be alone with each other. The powerful guitars and drums lay out a bed of mellow rock, decorated wonderfully with bending notes and winding rhythms, as Snider says "You know tomorrow comes like disease to us."

The upbeat sway of your hips continues with "The Fix" as Snider reminds "The distance between our bodies/is a problem that we can fix." A couple dueling guitar solos guide us through a breakdown and then combine - like the two people in the song - from "we to them/."

Action slows down though, as "El Torrente" begins. A lazy rhythm, like a faucet dripping, and a strong marching band like drum beat, guide us through this song of a police detective who is investigating the murder of a young girl. The investigation reminds him of his own daughter and he pleads "Please let my girl go/without knowing what I know/don't let her read this day/on my face when I come home."

With a slightly eerie echo, the next song "Pachuca Sunrise" creeps up and starts dancing, with more jangling and bending guitars, as Snider says "Don't cry I'll bring this home to you/if I can make this night light enough to move." The amazing powers of Snider's character's continue in the next song - "Michio's Death Drive" - espouts his ability to "drive too fast at night/because accidents happen to other men/and not me"

".. Death Drive" is the most relentless song on "Menos el Oso." It burst out of the CD player and keeps moving along at a blistering pace, it certainly changes up tempo - like all Minus the Bear songs do, to keep fresh and move properly with the story - but it is the most consistently driving song on the disc.

The only song that rivals its continued determination is the next track- track 8 - "Hooray" - a tale of returning home. The driving force does continue to keep your head rocking with the next song "Fulfill the Dream," although the themes return to relationships. Snider spins a tale of reminiscing on a beautiful woman he had a chance to talk to, but once. "She was alone in a back room," he says. "Smoking like she was waiting for someone/me stealing glances as she stole my breath."

The 10th track - "The Pig War" - is another that begins with an electronic garble of sounds - similar to a Four Tet song - and dissolves into a sweet-tempered guitar driven tune. A keyboard pushes out some wailing in the back, and the drums continue to an intricate heartbeat, but the song is relatively quiet - except for the 2 or three breakdowns and mood changes you always here in a Minus the Bear song - as Snider says "Its been so long/that it seems like I've never/danced with anyone."

The album ends with "This ain't a surfin' movie." The guitars sparkle like stars, the bass twinklessoftly as Snider again weaves a tale of lovers living to be with each other. "I hope the weather holds/but you don't need the sun to make you shine" he says.It ends the album perfectly, dwindling into a single guitar note.
The entire album is like a nice day with a musical breeze. It's a disc of interesting, well-played,beautifully told, excellently engineered and comfortable songs. An extraordinary album of life and movement that will never get old, no matter how many times you listen to it.

Visit www.minusthebear.com for more information on the band and to download the new Hold Me Down ep from the band for free.

FREEWOOD ALBUM "TALANZIAS" AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD

FREEWOOD ALBUM "TALANZIAS" AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD

Freewood is the solo project of Los Angeles musician Micah Lashbrook. Micah, a guitarist since he was 15, first played in the band The Agro Puppet Show and is currently working on the sophomore album for his group The Laughing Man, to be released before the end of the world (a.k.a. 2012).

Having grown tired of tracking parts separately – drums, bass, guitar, keys, whatever else was lying around the studio – Micah tracked all of "Talanzias" singing and playing at the same time to capture each songs’ raw emotion, stating how crucial it was to record “the interplay between voice and instrument.” No more than 10 takes of each song were laid down, then he'd pick the take that conveyed “the most sincere interpretation of the lyric and melody” instead of the one with the best note-for-note delivery. First track, “Common Goals,” ended up being the first take all the way through.

Freewood's influences vary from Bob Dylan's solo covers album "World Gone Wrong" and Portugal. The Man's falsetto voice styling to Tim Fite’s hybrid folk-hop, all the way to Olu Dara's southern swagger. Sunshine tinged and bittersweet, the songs on "Talanzias" are a refreshing blend of lo-fi acoustic and subtle hi-fi instrumentation.

As for themes, it's not uncommon for artists to have tragedy inspire their work. When Micah’s mother passed away a few years ago he promised her an album, and The Laughing Man’s "A Palace for Alice" is what came out. But he had several songs lingering in that same mindset, and when his girlfriend’s father passed away unexpectedly last year, Freewood was his opportunity to revisit those old songs with newfound fervor and purpose. As Micah puts it, he “worked through some pretty depressing material to hopefully find a light at the end of the tunnel with this batch of songs.”

However, "Talanzias" isn't an exercise in morbidity by any stretch. There are also stories about love triangles gone awry with “Layne Staley,” Big Brother paranoia in “Satellites,” and creepy playground crushes with “I'm Waiting for You.” There's even a hokey country tune called “Time,” complete with rattlers and mouth-clicks to emulate horse hooves because Micah couldn't find any coconuts. Let the album play out and you'll find a hidden track of infectiously rambunctious gibberish called “This Is How I Feel Today.” In essence, "Talanzias" is soul music that runs the entire gamut of human emotion.

The goal for Freewood is to have it heard and enjoyed by as many people as possible, which led to the idea to give away "Talanzias" for free on freewoodmusic.com. Micah explains, "commerce can destroy the sentiment sometimes, after all, how could someone sell an album called Freewood?"

A free download of Freewod's debut album is here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7xl4gv5f5rat984.

Website:
www.freewoodmusic.com

Ben Davis "Aided and Abetted"

Ben Davis
Aided and Abetted
Lovitt Records


Although it bounces a bit between pop ballads, slow heartbreakers, and upbeat rockers, Aided and Abetted is a fine, and cohesive, effort from Ben Davis, of Bats and Mice, Sleepytime Trio and Milemarker fame.

Aided and Abetted is an old school album, with Davis at the controls as a group of almost 20 musicians and 4 producers come together. Musicians and producers used to work this way years ago. When producers were locked into a specific label, and just produced whatever they were asked to; and artists used a plethora of studio musicians as the stars on their albums.

The problem with the multiple project, and musician, approach is that sometimes producers couldn’t work as well with a certain artist or genre, and musicians, even if they were all greatly talented, didn’t always make good music together.

However, the producers and musicians on Aided and Abetted sound like they’ve always worked together. The production is gentle and understated, and the musicians step into Davis’s songs like their favorite pair of pants. The record has a warm feel, with songs often based around piano and soft guitars, and Davis’s singing and songwriting is generally impressive.

The album begins with the piano driven “Departure Warning,” a soft rocker, with a little Stevie Wonder and Hall and Oates sound. Next, comes “Time a Bind.” It’s a song about moving on, moving past mistakes, and has kind of a psychedelic/jangly guitar play base, reminiscent of a Sonic Youth ballad. Aimee Argote, of Des Ark, lends Davis some vocal help, singing the refrain “Don’t file/ the blame/ across the states/ that were blinded by winter now.”

Track 3, “Old and Played” is less impressive than the first two, with Davis’ voice going all falsetto – his pure vocals, as opposed to the sound manipulated ones, are always better on this album - and the bassline just falling asleep. But, track 4 “Blue-Hearted Sleeve” is the best thing on the album; the second best being “In Either Words” and third being “Forced Escape Canoe,” all more rocking songs.

“Blue-Hearted Sleeve” is the second longest track on the album, it’s the tale of a character that finds a ring, and contemplates heartbreak. The track is big, swelling with some string sounds and guided by a catchy guitar riff from Argote, and wonderful piano work from Davis and Eddie Sanchez, of Fing Fang Foom.

“Underdawg” comes next, feeding off of “Blue-Hearted Sleeve” and stepping it up a bit with big distorted power chords leading into some more catchy guitar sliding work from Argote. The track sounds kind of like a melancholy Interpol tune, and jumps into “Crawler” another piano steered track, that is a little more “elevator music” than it should be.

Anyway, all 11 tracks are nicely done, they lack any incredible “ummph” or http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifinspiration, but they are easy on the ears. The mixture of male and female vocals lends some nice variety to the songs, and the musicians – Argote, Cornbread Compton, of Engine Down, Jonathan Fuller, of Denali, and Dave Laney, of Milemarker, among them – fit into Davis’ subdued rock schematic excellently.

Now, if I had to see this band live, I’m not sure that I’d stay, because of some of the slow parts and a couple tired songs, but Davis - his singing, guitar/bass/piano playing self - has put his name to a decent album that could go up in a CD collection near the Mendoza Line or maybe some Aloha or Faint albums, and receive a spin or two each year.

Listen to Green Forestry Ranger from Aided and Abetted HERE.

Dillinger Escape Plan interview from Burning Angel

Dillinger Escape Plan
Dec.4, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio
by Mike Hammer



Dillinger Escape Plan is a dynamic metal/hardcore band. Their music is screamy noisy violence, degrading to nasty pillow talk, then going back to violence. The band just released a brand new record – following their acclaimed albums “Calculating Infinity” and “Miss Machine” - called Ire Works on Relapse Records. The 13-track disc started out with all angry, fast ‘beater’ songs, guitarist Ben Weinman says, but the album expanded and became a dynamic album of ebbs and flows, an album that softly whispers, then punches you in the mouth and throws in some garbled love and noise. The album is a bit schizophrenic, like a DEP song, and people seem to either love DEP and their frenetic ways, or hate them, Weinman says.
DEP hit the road to tour in support of “Ire Works” and I crawled onto their tour bus in Cleveland Ohio and talked with Weinman, the last original Dillinger Escape Plan member.
The first song Ben ever played on his guitar was “Sunshine of your Love” by Cream. Ben says he grew up listening to rock and hard rock, then got into metal – like Napalm Death – then he got into punk rock and post-punk – like Minor Threat and Drive Like Jehu and Splitlip – then he heard some prog rock from King Crimson (Robert Fripp of King Crimson has voiced his fanhood of DEP) and he took all those influences, mashed them up and got together with some buddies in Northern New Jersey, to form DEP.
New Jersey gets a bad rap, Weinman says. The media focus on 10 miles of the state around Newark, but it’s a nice place and a good music scene, and there are no ‘toothless, topless whores’ like there are in Cleveland, Weinman says.
But… Ben ignored the toothless whores and was happy to do an interview for Burning Angel, because he helped program and design the Burning Angel Web site, years ago – before doing DEP full-time (although the band hasn’t made a lot of money off record sales yet, just $75 that they had to give back because it was given to them by mistake. They make money on tour though -people love their thrashing, body flinging, throat tearing live shows, Weinman says).
Burning Angel still has a special place in Weinman’s heart, and he says his version of the ideal DEP fan is still one who listens to DEP while jerkin it to Burning Angel.

When I stepped onto the DEP tour bus, Ben was warming up on his guitar, playing some scales, getting ready to shread, and I said……


Hammer: What are you jamming out there?

Ben: Just a run.

Hammer: I remember pounding out scales in Catholic church on the back of the pews, keeping my fingers limber.

Ben: You’re not supposed to talk about PEWS with Burning Angel. You’re supposed to talk about PUBES. It’s all about Pubes.

Hammer: Just pubes, no peeing or other P stuff?

Ben: Just pubes.

Hammer: How many pubes should we expect to see at a Dillinger Escape Plan show?

Ben: A lot of pubes, but no nipples.

Hammer: No?

Ben: Pubes are the new nipples?

Hammer: Who are you?

Ben: I’m Ben from the Dillinger Escape Plan. I play the trumpet.

Hammer: Trumpet?

Ben: No. I play guitar.

Hammer: What is the new Dillinger Escape Plan album called?

Ben: It’s called “Ire Works.” It just came out about a month ago.

Hammer: It’s the 4th day of your tour for it. What is making the tour special so far.

Ben: Well, we have 2 new band members, so that’s pretty special, we haven’t toured in a year and a half, so that’s pretty special, we have a new record out, so that’s special, and makes it special playing new songs. And maybe we’ll be able to pay some bills when we get home.

Hammer: What’s special about the new record?

Ben: Absolutely nothing. It’s terrible.

Hammer: Really?

Ben: Yes. No. It was a tough record to make. Our drummer left the band, kinda unexpectedly, so we had to find an amazing drummer to fill his shoes, which we did. It was a lot of obstacles going into it, a lot of people getting sick, or producer’s best friend died in the middle of the thing, his back went out and he had trouble working, and I got sick and was in the hospital throwing up for some reason. So it was just one thing after another. So it was a very triumphant record to get done.

Hammer: The making doesn’t sound very sexy though. Let’s get onto the sexy. What is the sexiest part of Dillinger Escape Plan?

Ben: Well, one young man who is on the tour, and I’m not gonna mention any names, we brought him out from California with us, to help us engineer and tech, and now he’s a guitar tech for us, and we brought him to Vegas one night, took 200 bucks out of an ATM and got him a hot black whore.

Hammer: OK, nice.

Ben: Yeah. It was a really good experience.

Hammer: I thought what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas though.

Ben: Herpes doesn’t stay in Vegas.

Hammer: Herpes know no borders?

Ben: Herpes don’t give a shit about the rules. Our friend Adam was involved too.

Hammer: Really, how was that?

Ben: Well, our friend Adam, who used to play in the band, and is paralyzed, the hooker tried to fuck him too, and that was an interesting experience. He tried to crawl away.

Hammer: This is all on video tape I’m assuming.

Ben: Some of it’s on video tape. They went into the bathroom and I put the camera up to the door with the microphone and there were some interesting noises coming from there.

Hammer: Will that make it onto the tour DVD?

Ben: I don’t know. It may just wind up as a hidden track someplace.

Hammer: When I lived in New Orleans there was a guy who wanted to put out a “Sounds of Fucking” CD. Just lock people in a soundroom and have them go at it.

Ben: That would sell.

Hammer: So that’s the sexy part of DEP?

Ben: That’s about as sexy as it gets. Other than, my penis fell out one time when we were playing.

Hammer: That’s the ‘pubes’ part of the show.

Ben: Yeah. My pants were ripped and my whole dingdong fell out and hit a girl in the front row. I didn’t even know. I wasn’t wearing underwear. I just had pants on - I didn’t wanna get sweaty - and when we were done playing I realized my dingdong had fallen out and I got terribly embarrassed and the whole crowd got quite, then out of the back of the room some guy yelled “Penis!!”

Hammer: I will definitely not stand in the front row tonight then. I don’t want that kind of extra concert experience.

Ben: It’s interactive experience.

Hammer: Do you guys have much fan interaction?

Ben: Not really.

Hammer: Maybe invite some fans on stage.

Ben: Last time we did that a guy jumped on stage and punched me in the balls.

Hammer: Is it hard to play guitar when getting punched in the balls?

Ben: You start playing the high notes.

Hammer: But, maybe fans could be on the Vegas video tape, next time you’re out there. Are your own porn videos your favorite? You watch the porn on Burning Angel obviously, what’s your favorite video on Burning Angel?

Ben: My favorite video on Burning Angel is one that I was actually there when they were filming it. It was Jeff Wood of Shet, who stared in one of the early Burning Angel porno videos. Called “Adventures of Shet.” And he actually barked into a girls vagina.

Hammer: Was it a cavernous vagina? Did he get a nice Echo?

Ben: It was interesting. It did bark back, I believe.

Hammer: Did he get paid?

Ben: No. God no. He would have paid any amount of money to do it.

Hammer: Well, unfortunately that won’t be your favorite part of Burning Angel anymore. Now your favorite part will be this interview.

Ben: It shall.

Hammer: And you will tell everyone, while you’re on tour, to check out the Burning Angel I’m sure.

Ben: Of course. We are very supportive of the Angel.

Hammer: And you’re telling everyone when you’re on tour that they should buy you new album, because…..

Ben: Burning Angel could sell the record on the site.

Hammer: You could work that out maybe. I’m not gonna speak for the site, I’m just a freelance writer, but I think it could happen. I’ll put in a word for you though.

Ben: Cool. I appreciate that.

Hammer: Until you work that out though. You guys are on Relapse Records and the album is available through them. How is Relapse? How are they treatin ya?

Ben: It’s a weird industry right now. Things are changing every day. We don’t know where we will be tomorrow. Some bands don’t have labels anymore. Some bands are signed to promotions… to Live Nation, who Madonna just signed with, some bands are on Starbucks records, it’s a new world. We have grown with Relapse and they’ve grown with us. So we have had a pretty good run and we’ll see where the future takes us.

Hammer: Would you guys ever go without a record label?

Ben: Possibly. Right now though we put out a record that we really like and we know we will be touring on it and in a couple months I think the answer will present itself. Maybe we will sign to Hot Dog Cart Records and every hot dog cart in the city will sell our record.

Hammer: That would be good. You’d get nutritional value with the album. Or you guys could put your own record out on the Internet like Radiohead just did.

Ben: I’m kinda interested in the possibility of putting the record out for free and selling advertising.

Hammer: Would you do that while you’re on stage too? Sell advertising on your ‘dingdong’ as you whip it out.

Ben: That’s a lot of advertising.

Hammer: Oh. I’m sure. You could sell it by the centimeter … I mean … by the foot.

Ben: Oh yeah. 100 grand per foot.

Hammer: That’s not a bad price. It would go all over the country and make appearances.

Ben: Right. I’d whip it out in the front row, and it would say Pepsi down there.

Hammer: Burning Angel, Pepsi and Dillinger Escape Plan could put together the next tour.

Ben: Burning Angel should just put out our record.

Hammer: I think maybe if you tattoo Burning Angel on you dick, Joanna might put out your record.

Ben: Why not.

Hammer: I’m sure she can front ya 5 grand to record for a few months. How long did it take you to record “Ire Works?” Did you do it big studio style or…

Ben: No. Our producer has a little home studio out in Orange County in California, and we shacked up out there. All of us in one hotel room for a couple months.

Hammer: Did you draw a bunch of inspiration from the O.C. then? I imagine you guys fit in well with the O.C. and Hills crowd.

Ben: Oh yeah. Fuck yeah. Actually I didn’t talk to anyone for 3 months. We were just in the studio for 3 months straight. Except for that day we went to Vegas and got the Herpes.

Hammer: And you brought them back for everybody.

Ben: Yep. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for Herpes. Herpes know no borders.

Hammer: But. We should point out there are absolutely no Herpes on Burning Angel . com.

Ben: I don’t know about that. I got some bumps on my fingers when I was typing. When I was trying to get into the url there.

Hammer: I don’t know if you can get a refund for that or not. You know Joanna though. Call her up and ask.

Ben: Maybe I will. Maybe I will.

Check out a track from Dillinger Escape Plan HERE.

Le Tigre movie - Le Tigre Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre On Tour

"A Feminist Riot That Still Inspires"
- New York Times

“…an endearing portrait of a seminal-feminist trio who, more than six years later, are phasing into roles as public intellectuals.”
- Village Voice

“Speaking of kick-a-- docs … I loved this one, and now you can experience the joy for yourself.”
- USA Today

“…hysterically funny, shamelessly political and musically intense…”
-Rolling Stone

Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the film Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre On Tour on DVD. The film, which has been championed by the New York Times, RollingStone, BUST Magazine and more premiered at 2011’s SXSW Film and Music Festival. It follows electronic feminist icons Le Tigre on the This Island tour across four continents and ten countries. Check out an exclusive clip from the film of the band’s live performance of the iconic song “Deceptacon” which is featured alongside an in-depth interview with Kathleen Hanna on AOL Spinner.

Supported by a community of devoted fans and led by outspoken Riot Grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill), Le Tigre confronts sexism and homophobia in the music industry while tearing up the stage via performance art poetics, no-holds-barred lyrics, punk rock ethos, and whip-smart wit in this edgy and entertaining documentary. Directed by Kerthy Fix (Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields) WHO TOOK THE BOMP? LE TIGRE ON TOUR features never before seen live performances, archival interviews, and revealing backstage footage with these trail-blazing artists.

Le Tigre took over the world with their “electronic feminist punk.” What began as a fun project became one of the most relevant bands of the last decade. Ignoring the constrictions of both the mainstream and the underground, the band has never believed that fun and intelligence couldn’t coexist. They have demystified electronic music, critiqued government policies, and celebrated female and queer artists all while dropping roller-skate jams that make everyone dance. The film is a look into their world and a document of their thrilling multimedia performances.

Upcoming film screenings:
06/17: Salt Lake City, UT @ Damn These Heels Film Festival
06/18: Washington, DC @ Gold Leaf Studios
06/26: New York, NY @ Ace Hotel
(Q&A w/ Johanna Fateman, Kathleen Hanna & Kerthy Fix to follow)
07/01: Davie, FL @ Geek Film Festival

Pedro the Lion - Achilles Heel review

David Bazan has a new solo album out.

Here's an old review of some of his stuff.



Band: Pedro the Lion
Album: Achilles Heel
Label: Jade Tree
Release year: 2004


David Bazan has returned with Achilles Heel, his fifth CD, another intimate troubadour album, which is a little less intense than his last effort, Control, but perhaps his best release to date.

Bazan and his Pedro the Lion moniker have carved out a following in the indie rock singer/songwriter section using confessional lyrics and a folk rock feel, and Achilles Heel is more of the same, but better.

There are 11 tracks about life and death, and love and loss built upon gentle guitar strumming, and Bazan’s vocal straining. Achilles Heel opens with the song “Bands with Managers” bringing brooding keyboards, modest guitars and rock solid drumming. Bazan sings in his rather uninterested tones “Bands with managers are going places… vans with 15 passengers are rolling over.”
“Bands with Managers” is a somber track about coming to your final destination, and that low-key mood continues throughout the album, with a few well-placed sparks of aggression and fits of frustration thrown in.

The second track “Forgone conclusions” starts up a little bit peppier, with a nice thrust from the full compliment of jangly guitars, bass and drums popping right up. The lyrics touch on the religious a bit – which Pedro the Lion is loved and lamented for at this point – but the songs on this album do not seem focused on a particular religious subject or any concept for that matter. The songs stay broad enough to touch on many nerves, which is the strength of Achilles Heel. It touches on the giddy and the hopeless without falling too deep into either, and comes out as Pedro the Lion’s most even keel and successful album to date.

Songs vary from a slightly funky 60s feel, like “Keep Swinging,” to an uptempo electronic-based dancer, like “A simple plan,” to a nice alt-country slow-rocker like "The Poison." Subjects range from horrible to exultant, and the stutter stops in between are what makes them worthwhile. Bazan knows that the horrible and exultant work perfectly well together, and have for centuries, so he doesn’t try to separate them, just harness the good and evil in every situation.

Although Bazan’s voice strains, the songs on Achilles Heel always seem in the right place, shifting perfectly to let his stories work up their steam and then play themselves out in a soft, or abrupt, denouement.

Bazan’s lyrics “I can’t sing it like I think it, and I can’t think it like I feel it… who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble,” are bittersweet and offcenterly appropriate, as usual.

With backing from TW Walsh and James McAlister of Ester Drang, Bazan has made a wonderfully accessible, but still introverted in a Pedro style, album that moves the brain synapsis and the hips.

Listen to debut album from Nader Sadek, and see a video

The new album from Nader Sadek features Members of Morbid Angel, Sunn O))), Krallice, Cattle Decapitation and More and is available now on Season of the Mist Records. (Season of the Mist has a horribly bad Web site)



Stream "In The Flesh" exclusively @ DecibelMagazine.com!

* Nader Sadek speaks w/ The Village Voice's Sound of the City Blog, read the interview here! ("Q&A: Nader Sadek On Wearing Deicide T-Shirts In Cairo And Humanity's Oil-Fueled Pursuit Of Its Own Destruction")

Egyptian-born, New York-based conceptual artist Nader Sadek is well-known in the metal world for his impressively twisted sculptures, masks, and installations. He has created visual landscapes that have greatly enhanced the overall performance of bands such as Mayhem and SUNN O))). Sadek is now venturing into the recorded music realm with his first album, In the Flesh. A collaboration between Sadek and some of extreme music’s most talented artists, In the Flesh stands to be one of this year’s hallmark metal albums. The album features a core band consisting of none other than Steve Tucker (vocals), Flo Mounier (drums), and Rune Eriksen (guitars). The massive album also features guest appearances by Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O))), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Tony Norman (Monstrosity, Terrorizer), Mike Lerner (Behold... The Arctopus), Descructhor (Morbid Angel), and Nick McMaster (Krallice).

In the Flesh centers on the notion of humanity’s relationship with petroleum and how this exhumation of ancient life forms serves as a self-destructive fuel to society’s greed. The album was recorded in New York, produced by Sadek, and co-produced and mixed by Tucker.

"In The Flesh" Album Concept

Nader Sadek invites you on a journey to the depths of the earth, where substances of a repulsive nature dwell. Beneath the earth’s crust, over millions of years creatures have disintegrated and decayed until taking on ghastly new life as petroleum. Like a return of the undead, petroleum and its derivates have wrought cross-cultural conflict, environmental pollution, and economic distress. With a visual and aural assault, Sadek's new work "In The Flesh" re-interprets petroleum's sinister insinuation into our everyday lives. Nine songs and a series of original drawings video works explore several aspects of the commodified resource we find ourselves fatally dependent on.

"In the Flesh" exploits the sonic links between death metal and gasoline-dependent heavy machinery such as automobile and airplane engines. These links shaped the process of musical composition itself: The album opener, "Petrophilia", kicks in with a sound evoking an engine starting up. Another song, "Of This Flesh (novus deus)", follows the sonic structure of a car shifting gears. While continuing to link musical composition to mechanical transformations, other songs depart from engine-based references. The outro to the album, "Nigredo in Necromance" which is already accompanied by a video, dwells on an individual’s recognition that he must die in order to reunite with his deceased lover. The song riffs on the life-in-death of an oil-drenched society, as the lovers’ reunite in their decomposition and rebirth as petroleum. This theme also drives the track "Mechanic Idolatry", which channels the uncanny thrust of Sadek’s recent artistic output, as live human beings provide the fuel for machines transforming themselves into flesh.

* "Petrofilia" was written by Rune Eriksen and Nader Sadek, lyrics by Steve Tucker, "In The Flesh" was written by Tucker, Erisksen and Sadek.
Sadek will be premiering videos for each new song on "In The Flesh," beginning w/ "Nigredo in Necromance" available here.



Stream "In The Flesh" here!

"In The Flesh" Track List
1. Awakening
2. Petrophilia
3. Of this Flesh (Novus Deus)
4. Exhaust Capacitor
5. Soulless
6. Rusted Skin
7. Mechanic Idolatry
8. Sulffer
9. Nigredo in Necromance - watch the video here.



For more information, visit:
www.nadersadek.com
www.season-of-mist.com

New track from from Amor de Días (featuring Alasdair of The Clientele) debut album,"Street of the Love of Days"

Amor de Días (Spanish for “love of days”) is the name of the until-now secret supergroup formed by Alasdair MacLean of the Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas. Their debut album, Street of the Love of Days, was released May 17 on CD, LP and digital download.

Over the course of three years, Alasdair and Lupe quietly put together their debut record during evenings and weekends as they called in local friends (Louis Philippe) and visiting musicians (Damon and Naomi, Gary Olson) for sessions, building up the songs’ multifaceted arrangements and vocal harmonies with harps, bouzoukis, strings, recorders, and brass over the core of dual Spanish guitars and the dream imagery of their bilingual lyrics.

The result is a focused, cohesive jewel of chamber pop that reflects a little of Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso’s elegant brand of bossa nova, a bit of Erik Satie’s haunting night music, and a large dose of spooky psychedelic folk. But the beautiful harmony that sings throughout the record makes it all their own.

At times spare and empty, at times rich with instrumental texture, and at times jazz-tinged and hypnotic, Street of the Love of Days rivals anything either Alasdair or Lupe has recorded before.

Download to listen & share “Bunhill Fields” from Street of the Love of Days.

Members of The Measure [sa] and Night Birds form WORRIERS. Give free song away and release info on 7” for No Idea Records

WORRIERS, the new group featuring Lauren from the Measure [sa], Mike from Night Birds, Jonathan Johansen and DanO are giving away the first song the new group recorded for free via the band’s Bandcamp page.
Download “Made to Mend” for free here.

“Made to Mend” was recorded this past Febuary by Phil Douglas (Latterman/Iron Chic). WORRIERS recorded four songs at that time. Three of which will be on an upcoming 7” for No Idea Records.

WORRIERS will be touring this summer and have plans to hit the studio again to record a follow up 7”.
We will keep you posted when we have more details.

WORRIERS- “Past Lives”- 7” – No Idea Records
Side A - Past Lives
Side B - Promise Me (You'll Never Say That In Front Of My Friends) / Deconstruction Site

CRUCIAL LINKS:
http://www.noidearecords.com
http://worriers.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Worriers/103772013038470
http://www.themeasuresa.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Night-Birds/170314763047

Listen to new The Wonder Years track of their new album Suburbia, I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing

The Wonder Years Streaming New Track (“Coffee Eyes”) on www.Altpress.com!


The Wonder Years and their label Hopeless Records have teamed up with www.Altpress.com to bring fans a exclusive stream of “Coffee Eyes” a track off the Philly band’s long awaited new album, “Suburbia, I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing” which comes out June 14. Head over to www.altpress.com/features/entry/exclusive_stream_the_wonder_years_coffee_eyes to hear the tune and be sure to catch the band on the entire Vans Warped Tour starting June 24 in Dallas, TX.

“Suburbia, I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing” is now available for pre-order at: http://hopelessrecords.com/thewonderyears.



www.thewonderyearsband.com

www.twitter.com/twypoppunk

www.hopelessrecords.com

www.twitter.com/hankthepigeon