hate vacation s/t (2013)

its a sunny tuesday morning and yet another record is on my plate.......this time its the debut from the philly band hate vacation, this band consists of members of gods and queens, storm the bastille and several other bands that i cant recall at the moment......anyways its really good rockin metallic stuff with a weird slant......one part karp, two parts endeavor with maybe a little breather resist or black cross in there somewhere....i haven't heard anything like this in years and its a breath of fresh air when the "scene is currently  being smothered into oblivion by all of these 80s influenced hardcore and "noise punk" bands.....excellent excellent stuff...

hate vacation

animal lover - fundango (2013)

two days, two reviews, maybe im getting back into the swing of it........anyways this is the latest release from the st paul, minnesota band animal lover, its also my first exposure to them and their sound.......it definately harkens back to the amrep days, thick, noisy, dirty with blaring vocals, but with a little melody poking through the smog here and there.....one of the better recent bands i've heard doing this kind of thing and up there with condominium as far as good recent minnesota bands go for me. will assuredly be hitting this bands' backcatalog in the near future......top end record, top end band. check it out.

animal lover - fundango

diane rehm demo (2013)

well after a few weeks im back with another new record....this one is a demo from a brand new band from grand rapids and lansing michigan called diane rehm (named after the NPR matron with a lets say "unique" voice),  dylan from oily menace is behind the kit for these guys (and girl)......its fast out-of-breath hardcore with frantic female vocals. the lyrics are kinda atypical of the style, probably because there arent that many bands of this style writing lyrics from a female perspective...in any case its a wonderful start and i cant wait to hear more from these dudes/dudette,  6 songs that fly by and leave you wanting more........their playing the DAAC with touch and jowls (not huge on the latter band) in a few days but i wont be able to make it down =(.............highly recommended.

diane rehm demo

hollow earth / couchfort / traitor / slaves to the pavement @ loaf house, marquette, mi, 4/13/13

well im back........saturday night i went to my first show of the year.....hollow earth and traitor, both from detroit, were up to play keewanawesome fest, and played marquette on their way back downstate........this was my second show at the loaf house and just like tenement, it was fuckin fun..........locals couchfort where  first up, playing a set of their rough edged - melodic hardcore....their sound IMO, is still in the process of  being shaped and smoothed out, it came across pretty rough, but the emotive core and melodies were in place, and i see this band only getting better with time, no dissapointment for me with these dudes....slaves to the pavement were up next, i think they are from negaunee, but im not sure......anyways they play melodic hardcore on that now somewhat elusive wavelength between pop punk hand hardcore, it has elements of both, but its neither.....anyways they were proficient in what they do, tradeoff rough vocals n all.....but i cant say im a megafan.........nice dudes and good live energy in any case..........after then the first of the two detroit bands, traitor, took the floor......their sound consisted of tough metallic hardcore of the kind  played by lots of bands from the late 90s to today...kinda like gehenna if they had a strong east coast/NYHC influence.....nice dudes and pretty big sound..........lastly, hollow earth set up and played the best set of the night....this is a band whos name ive seen around alot, but who ive never seen until saturday night...i know they were heavy on the mosh tip, with an ex shai hulud member (no idea which one was in that band) n all.....was expecting something good, but i just didnt know how good.......anyways the start their set and play some thick, heavy, sonically nuanced mosh that seems to draw both from the 90s and more modern sounds......hard to make comparisons, especially live.....maybe botch, maybe black kites, maybe turmoil, anyways it was just fucking great. there was a small conflict between the vocalist of hollow earth and a drunk dude who spit on him....no idea weather it was intentional or not. but it was soon resolved and hollow earth went on to play a killer set......all in all it was a great show. marquette seems to be putting itself on the map through the efforts of certain individuals and from what i see, the arrow is pointing way up for punk in northern michigan..........

couchfort

slaves to the pavement

traitor

hollow earth

psychic blood drrrty "7 (2013)

 

 

 

new pyschic blood record here......dunno if its out in physical form yet.......anyways 2 new songs of their patented noise-drenched melodic formula, this time with a bit of hot snakes/tanner influence showing through here and there........really good stuff, i just hope they make out out here next time they are on the road. highly recommended!

 

 

 

 

psychic blood

 

 

 

 

man vs humanity s/t lp (2012)

had no idea these guys were still together...........they were from germany and active in the late 90s...had a bunch of "7s and splits and then put out a full length on troubleman (weird choice of label, but then again simonetti did put out stuff like anasazi, so...)  thick, dark, HHIG-inspired hardcore thats ugly and socially conscious.....a real nice listen, and one of the beter things ive heard in the past 6 months.....

man vs humanity

mean man's dream demo (2012)

so im back....was taking it easy, just chillin for a while....i update when i feel like it now. ive got a little backlog of stuff id like to review so maybe april will see more posts than previous months.........anyways today im reviewing the demo of a boston band called mean man's dream......this was recorded a little over  year ago and im not sure why i didn't get ahold of this then, but in any case this is some fucking intense shit.......heavy ragged dirty hardcore that has one foot in the modern crusty metallic hardcore of bands like cynarae or full of hell and the other planted firmly in that special sweet spot only a few bands in the mid 90s managed to hit....... raging yet fucked up damaged hardcore with their own unique spin........heemeyer and permanent night live in the same neighborhood musically, but they reside on breather resist ave while mean man's dream sits a few blocks away on the corner of  deadguy terrace and ice nine lane......insanely good is what id call this, especially for a demo.....you get your moneysworth with killingsworth i guess.....haha....in all seriousness, this is right up there with the gay kiss and cloud rat albums as far as good things ive heard this year and it easily would've made my top ten list last year.........despite the fact that this band doesn't play many shows, id love for them to maybe hit the midwest sometime......would be great to see how all this fucking power translates live.....A+ effort!

mean man's dream

senior fellows - ecclesiastical servitude (2013)

heres a brand new album, i was contacted by one of the dudes in this band by email, he sent me a link, and whoa, this is some good shit......its a heemeyer sideproject of sorts. huge, heavy downtuned sludge-core with  rough vocals that kinda remind me of dwid from integrity at points (which is kinda strange, cause he sings for heemeyer too and at no point would i have made that comparison for them....maybe it has to do with his vocals being buried in the noise on the heemeyer record)....lyrically it seems to be on an anti christian slant, attacking conservatism and religiously derived value systems.....thats all well and good and im digging that their politically inclined (at least thats my impression) and care about more than just being another sludge band with "dark" lyrics like so much other assembly-line doom/sludge" bands......its pretty well produced too.......that can be a good or bad thing, here, luckily, its good.....everything is clear and  intense and everything fits together perfectly. the riffs are solid, as is the drumming and the vocals can be clearly heard, which was the one tiny gripe i had with the heemeyer album, that the vocals there were  submerged under everything else.....anyways this is really fucking good and you really should buy it when it comes out in physical form, for now  the digital will have to tide you over. enjoy!

senoir fellows - ecclesiastical servitude

whitewalker - windowtalk ep (2013)

this is the first record released in 2013 im reviewing and its a jammer.........whitewalker are a new michigan band formed from the ashes of cougar problems (though that band is still semi-kicking according to the members) but where cougar problems did  bass-driven "powerviolence" on the slightly arty tip, whitewalker goes in a slightly different direction, delving into the depths of noise-slathered static core.....this shit is incredibly raw, sounding like it was recorded in a 100 ft sinkhole just above the upper levels of hell......the songs themselves are forever driving forward on some simple yet brutal riffing but are surrounded by and encased in noise.........the harsh vocals are somewhat audible, but most of the time buried in the noise, the drumming is good and propels the songs forward  with blastbeats here, a fill there.....only three songs here but their all worth it if you like the kind of extremely raw hardcore thats been coming out lately in certain circles......check it out!

whitewalker - windowtalk

permanent night demo (2012)

im back again, first multiple post month this year! yay! anyways, permanent night are a band from louisville who play dark nasty ragged hardcore in the breather resist vein, which is to be somewhat expected of Louisville bands, given BR's high profile and subsequent influence among certain sets.....everything is nice and loud and savage, just the way it should be.......i should've reviewed this a long time back, but things kept comming up and it just sorta got pushed back and pushed back until i forgot about it. in any case this is a hell of a start for any band and im looking forward to hearing more in the future.....its right up there with heemeyer  (a heemeyer/permanent night split would be perfect) in my list of top shelf hardcore thats been released in the past year.....great stuff that id recommend to anyone who loves i loud and heavy.

permanent night demo

gay kiss - fault (2012)

so this came out at the tail end of lat year.....really im counting this as a 2013 release as its impact or "buzz" will be felt this year....i reviewed this band's "7 last year and as good as that record was, this one tops it in every way possible...........if your not in the know, gay kiss are from arizona and play loud fucked up hardcore with manic vocals.......its pretty fuckin unique....midpaced and abrasive with echoey riffs here, blastbeats there and those harsh, almost vomited vocals over it all.....they've carved out their own niche in hardcore and im lovin it.......along with the new cloud rat lp, this is already the co-record of 2013....pick this up while its still hot.......they just toured the east coast (not the midwest, unfortunately for me....fuck) look for them to hit a town near you sometime soon......this record is the motherfucker.

gay kiss - fault

cloud rat - moksha (2013)

so i figure id get off my ass and do the first review of the year finally....and its a doozy.....if you know me, then you know how i feel about cloud rat. one of the absolute best bands going today....ive been with them since 2010 and i don't see that changing anytime soon.....as for this record, its the patented cloud rat formula of  thick charging riffs and huge sounding blastbeats with madison's gnarly vocals splattered across it like so much venous blood spurting from a ripped carotid artery.......this time they add a few layers, some new tricks on top of their tried and true recipe and branch off into some interesting directions, both chaotic and surprisingly melodic at times..."infinity chasm" could almost be an outtake from a welcome the plague year or joshua fit for battle album .. there's even some singing on a couple tracks, including a neil young cover  ("needle and the damage done").....this monster is growing, maturing, but without the artistic shittiness alot of bands go through in the name of "growth".  they remain savage and  loud and feral and emotional. no need to resort to trend hopping, polished production (although  their production has always been top notch) or going in a totally different direction....cloud rat are who they are and i hope they will continue being that for the forseeable future because its a great thing to hear and behold......i can foresee after their imminent european tour (march-april) that they will be an internationally recognized force to reckon with, that is if they aren't already. these people mean the world to me and seeing them progress and move forward like this makes me proud  that something this good has arisen from my home state, even if there's not much else to be proud of around here.........this band is connected to so many great recent memories....even little ones like stopping in big rapids at meijers on my way home from seeing them to get something to eat  and reading through the liner notes of their split with republic of dreams on an 80 degree morning with not a cloud in the sky and the sun blazing full tilt.....those are the little things that keep me connected to these people, that keep me coming back,  now its seriously a whiteout blizzard outside right now but im still so stoked to get down to mt pleasant next month and see my favorite people again, and get some crucial hang-time before they head off to conquer europe......if you are in their european path of destruction, i urge you to take a day off and go see them, you'll be a better person for doing so......album of 2013 so far.

cloud rat - moksha

Cloud Rat @ the suicide garage, grand rapids, mi, 7/18/12

best set of the year.

Tenement @ the loaf house, marquette, michigan, 12/17/12

second best set of the year.

Shoppers @ the DAAC, 1/28/12 (Pt 1)

3rd best set of the year

oily menace @ the commons, marquette, mi, 7/13/12, (sekoitus)

4th best set of the year

two sunrises. merlot mansion, marquette, mi, 6/22/12

the 5th best live set of the year.

my top 5's of 2012

2012 was a year of mediocrity with a few highs here and there…at least for me….the excitement and shine wore off of some bands i loved, i felt shitty more often than not, some people weren’t who i thought they were and left my life, lots of bands toured, few played within driving distance of me…..i developed the worst sleep habits ever, thus fucking up my metabolism/bodyclock…….i started the year strong with my blog, but tailed off sharply  towards the end of the summer…updates are down to a trickle now………my energy level is in need of a serious tune up…..lost medicaid and have to get back on it……first governor snyder fucking the unions over with that “right to work” bullshit and then that little asshole shooting up the school in CT alternately pissed me off and had me on the attack against all the bubble brained soccermoms who are crying about more gun control because their little white angels bit it, not to mention making everyone with aspergers (a group which includes me) a target for fear and rdicule for the rest of our fucked up society…….im ending the year stressed, high strung, tired and emotionally jacked……..maybe getting a few things straightened out and exercising/sleeping more in January will lift this pall of emotional/physical bullshit off my shoulders at least a little bit.


anyways now that my rant is over, ill get right into my top 5's



top 5 records of the year:

5.

globsters: rock n roll misery "7

i didn't review this for whatever reason, but its a hell of a record! adam does it again! blown out punk jamz about whatever subject thats on adam's mind at the time.......loved it.

4.

panzram/shoppers split "7

the first record of the year that i was totally sold on......shoppers mean and meant alot to me and these songs were as great as anything else they recorded.....its just too bad it ended up being their unintended swansong as a band............panzram are a band i'd never heard before and suprised me with their abrasive rough style of hardcore that harkened back to the 90s.......

3.

ulises lima  - waiting for the summer

this  spanish band put out one of the best records of the year......great melodic hardcore as it hadn't been done in years......a nice breath of fresh air from most of the stuff i'd been hearing this year.

2.

cloud rat / republic of dreams split lp

this record was amazing.......both bands came hard, combining to make this masterpiece of a record.....cloud rat's cerebral diverse grind  vs  republic of dreams' noise slathered  reversal of man-esque emo bursts.......excellent all around.

1.

heemeyer s/t ep

record of 2012 for me.....just a monster of an album..........thick, dark, suffocating, everything a good hardcore record should be.  cant wait to see these dudes live.

top 5 live sets of 2012

5. two sunrises - merlot mansion, marquette, mi, 6/22/12

4. oily menace - the commons, sekoitus fest, marquette, mi, 7/13/12

3. shoppers - DAAC, grand rapids, mi, 1/28/12

2. tenement - loaf house, marquette, mi, 12/17/12

1. cloud rat - suicide garage,  michigan meltdown, grand rapids, mi, 7/18/12

hopefully 2013 will be better than 2012........looking forward to new experiences, new people, new bands and new friendships.

tenement/gray beast/redettes/sycamore smith show @ the loaf house, marquette, mi, 12/17/12

well its been a week and a half since this happened and ive been busy/tired since then, but im back........anyways this was the first show at the sugarloaf house, a new venue in marquette......not sure whats up with merlot mansion, anyways it took me a little while to find the place, overshot it a couple times, got talked to by a cop who apparently had talked to the dudes in tenement a little while before............anyways i found the house, went in, hung out for a while, talked to a few new kids (whose names ive forgotten) and then tenement started playing and the energy went through the roof......ive heard alot about these guys, and they delivered live and then some.....pure rock n roll fun, excellent dudes to boot.....kinda sucked that they only played 5 songs, but their drummer had to be at work at 5 the next morning......we were on the tail end of a  minitour  they did up to winnipeg and back.......next sycamore smith  did his weird singer songwriter folk punk thing........it was ok, but i wasn't really feeling it....then the grey beast played.....never heard or saw this band....it was members of redettes/witches tit/couchfort, ect.......musically they were kind of a more subdued version of tenement with a weird "folky" edge to it.........the same could be said of the redettes who were basically the same band as the grey beast but with a different drummer (the dude from sah if i'm not mistaken)........thus the sound was extremely similar for them too.....all in all it was a good night, tenement blew everyone away and the rest of the bands ruled as well.......nice way to start the life of a new showspace, one that will, hopefully continue to exist for years to come.........




tenement.

the redettes

the grey beast

heemeyer s/t (2012)

what you are seeing here is the album of the year.......fucking dark destructive smogcore from the depths of oklahoma..............bulldozer riffs over a busy rhythm section. simply the most crushing shit ive heard this year.....its got that "breather resist/louisville" feel to it, but with its own special twist.....dirty, ornery and savage, maybe with a little silver lining of emotional reflection poking through the clouds here and there......but mainly just a punishing almost mechanical throb.........the true sonic equivalent of their namesake's rampage through a small Colorado town......i need to hear more of this shit and i hope these dudes can make it up here on tour sometime.......12 out of 12 for me......goddamn this is great.......

heemeyer

cloud rat/yeung/bruxism/water torture/thedowngoing, grand rapids, michigan, 11/22/12, show review

hey! sorry ive been off and on on this thing for a while......just alot of shit im occupied with........anyways im gonna talk about seeing the cloud rat/downgoing/water torture tour kickoff show on thanksgiving night a couple weeks ago.........i was down in south bend visiting my sister and had planned on being at this show a while in advance.....it was at the new grenada rec center right nextdoor to bartertown cafe (where thunderdome used to be)  when i got into grand rapids, it was raining and i ended up waiting outside the venue for an hour before the doors opened with some drunk punk dude who kept asking me to drive him to the ATM so he could get money fro the bands...(i offered him $5 for the door but he refused to take it) anyways the doors finally opened and we sat milling around for another half hour before the dude (chris) in yeung set his stuff up and proceeded to rip through maybe 5 or 6 songs of him playing blastbeats and shouting over samples......one man sample grind....not bad, but not really my forte either, his set was short, maybe 5-10 minutes and then he moved his stuff to the back while bruxism set up........bruxism is a name ive seen on alot of flyers but had, until then, never experienced live....their set was decent, long rockin sludgy songs interspersed with shorter grindy ones.....they were decent, but IMO, nothing to write home about....maybe it was just that i was feeling shitty that night and i wasnt really "on" (meaning i wasn't feeling the energy like i usually am at shows) but their set just didn't catch me.......the drunk dude i talked about earlier seemed to be enjoying himself and was ambling around back n forth, sometimes shouting random things......that was kinda funny.........i think he might have been the one who puked all over the ground outside the door later.....not sure though.......anyways water torture was up next....talked to madison for the first time that night just before their set too....always love talking to madison.......anyways they added another bassist since the last time i saw them and their sound was alot fuller and more intense for it....they were much better as a band this time around and i was into their set......good stuff........the only way their set could have been better was if they did the song with madison on vocals..................anyways the aussies in the downgoing were up after WT and surprised the hell out of me with some burly dirty fucking tech grind ala early pig destroyer or discordance axis.......so much noise was produced it was hard to believe it was only two dudes makin all the racket.........first aussie band i'd ever laid eyes on too....good dudes to boot! hopefully they are enjoying their tour and selling as much merch and records as possible......a band everyone should watch out for in the future.........finally cloud rat set up to end the night with their patented brand of  spatial beautiful grind.......madison's fiery oratory combined with rorik's scorching chords and adrian's superb skin-pummeling is a sight to behold at all times......never a dull moment with cloud rat, even when i was feeling less than enthused much of the night, they injected me with a much needed energy boost and saved my night.....half a dozen times ive seen them and they NEVER let me down, even if the night starts out slow, just being with them means that it will end magnificently.......rorik asked me what song they should play to end the set, like a dumbass i got tongue-tied and came up with nothing... (they ended with powerlines) i made a promise to myself that next time, they will end the set with "sinkhole", hahaha! anyways their set was great, my night was saved, we talked for an hour or so after the show and i was re energized for the drive back to my sister's place in south bend.......cloud rat/downgoing are currently on tour together on the west coast, playing oakland tonight (for the second night in a row) to be precise...... they've already hit western canada and gone through the lions share of the west coast, but you can check the remaining dates here: http://cloudrat.blogspot.com/...............even though i got to see the kickoff show of this tour, im still jealous of everyone who will be seeing them on tour....... appreciate my friends people, seeing them live is almost a semi religious experience........easily the most excellent people i've had the pleasure of building relationships with in the last 5 or so years of my life.......




and now for the pictures:



yeung

bruxism

water torture

the downgoing

cloud rat