MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/07/2009
Post-Rock is alive and well in Alex Ward's world. Taking what made the likes of early Pil and the entire history of The Fall, Ward does the angular guitar/skewed beat/slightly random arrangement thing, and keeps the mood moody. There is always poetry lurking around in bands like this, and Dead Days Beyond Help have their sublime moments. Mostly instrumental, "Access Denied!" does feature...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/07/2009
Here's a chance to say that you own a record by an Oregon-based Chinatown dance band, and to do something good for the community. "Slants! Slants! Revolution!" is a record of remixes of the band's 2008 debut "Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts," and all the proceeds from the sale will go to fund cancer prevention research for Asian women. Musically the band was made for live performance,...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Providence keeps on giving. My hometown has produced yet another metal/noise concoction that makes the Beefheart in all of us tingle. Formed by members of Lightning Bolt, Royal Crowns and Laurels, Megasus also has the added cultural cache of having many of those members be employees of Harmonix, who are responsible for the (choose: liberating/soul-sucking) Guitar Hero and Rock Band yaya. The sound...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Polkadot Cadaver singer/songwriter Todd Edward Smith goes solo here, and makes a statement right off the bat. As El Creepo, and with a record cover featuring a skull-exposed Flamenco guitarist, you know you are heading into a twisted and dark place, but one that might have both some humor and pathos. Dreamlike, acoustic guitar driven murder ballads seems to be the focus here, though Smith (who plays...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
Four bands each from the incongruously paired countries of Japan and Israel make up this short compilation of Noise. But there is more going on here than just noise and, as the title says, there is terror also. So much of the horrific trappings of Noise is by now shtick, but here and there "What Pleasing The Lord Looks Like-Marriage: Extreme Noise...and Terror from Japan and Israel" delivers...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
Most bands that try for an epic feel usually shoot themselves in the foot by imaging that to be epic means to self-consciously try and be grander than they are capable. That usually ends in pretention, and limp pomposity. Not so with Gifts From Enola, who make epic music the old fashioned way: by kicking out the jams and letting the power come naturally. "From Fathoms" is a brisk eight song...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
"Razor To Oblivion" checks in and out in about 20 minutes, but that is enough time for metalheads to rejoice. Seattle's Black Breath, in four short songs, lays waste to the ears with brutal Slabbaths of riffs and manic drumming. The vocals may be a bit pedestrian at times, but music is such a pile-driver that who cares? The title track would raise you up even at your most listless and limp....
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
A second collaboration between electronica duo Soulsaver and Mark Lanegan, this time with some help from Will Oldham and the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes, "Broken" continues in the downbeat, bluesy, static-filled path first set down on 2007's "It's Not How Far you Fall, It's How You Land." There has always been a kind of gospel sound to the work of Mark Lanegan, albeit the kind...
Joe. My. God. (Free subscription) | 11/22/2009
Thursday night's party for Instinct Magazine's Leading Men Of 2009 issue was a blast . Editor Mike Wood and publisher JR Pratts were genial hosts, the open bar flowed copiously and the room swelled with bold face names, much to the delight of my loyal companions Dr. Jeff and Father Tony. Jeff intro'd me to some Project Runway dude (Velvet') and Tony positively squealed when Amanda Lepore arrived on...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
British 80s power pop lives! You can easily be mistaken into believing that The Rifles' "Great Escape" is some arcane reissue from 1987. Yet this band has only been around for about three years; they have absorbed far more choice rock cuts than their years would suggest. Herein are gleefully sharp riffs and slightly snotty vocals that imply that the band secretly wants to save the world...
MusicEmissions (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
White Mice give the people what they want/what they want to give regardless of the people: collages of noise, found speeches and dank, greasy vibes that force you to redefine the word "enjoyable" while listening. As a result, "Ganjahovajdose" will be seen, depending on your constitution, another glorious peek into a band's astute psychosis, or a reason to leave the room and run...
Jewellery By Shalini (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
We have two wonderful Wood Turners attending the Stamford Hand-Made Christmas Market on 6th December 2009 - Barry Windsor and Mike Dewsbury. Both Barry and Mike will be displaying a range of exclusive wood turned items created within Lincolnshire. Each piece is unique and totally hand crafted which is what makes it so special. I purchased a really well-made Charm Stand from Barry Windsor at the last...
Faithful Progressive (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
Okay, the Packers coach doesn't say squat about all of the team's penalties, but he gets a janitor fired for some good advice? The Packers need to make this right...this is America, this is the Packers. Packers management: don't lay an egg, hire Mike Wood back. MJS: Offhand remark to coach gets Packers employee sacked Wood said he was sitting in a maintenance cart in a stadium tunnel when McCarthy...
Acme Packing Company (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
Welcome to Green Bay, where EVERYBODY gets sacked! Allegedly, coach Mike McCarthy and Lambeau maintenance employee Mike Wood got into a massive brawl that spilled out into the streets and engulfed two square blocks in their flames of rage. Nah, just kidding. Wood said to McCarthy, "Don't lay an egg." At least, McCarthy thinks that's what he said. Regardless, McCarthy asked Wood's supervisor...
JSOnline (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
The part-time maintenance worker who was fired by the Green Bay Packers, apparently for an offhand comment he directed to Head Coach Mike McCarthy just days before the Packers-Minnesota Vikings game, said Friday that he still loved the franchise. "I love the Packers," said Mike Wood. "I love coach. But this has been the day from hell." Wood was reacting to the media firestorm that...
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