Category: REVIEWS

New Album Review: Jacco Gardner- Hypnophobia

Brent Smith June 30, 2015

I could talk about the baroque baroqueness of the Jacco Gardner electro-prog aesthetic. I could talk about how his sound puts you in Kubrick’s psychedelic record store scene from A Clockwork Orange. I could talk about how his near-prodigious use of retro, ornate, and esoteric instruments like Wurlitzer electric/Steinway upright pianos, harpsichords, Optigans, and Mellotrons would send anyone over 60 into a kaleidoscope time-warp back to the ‘Me Decade’ that flaunted things like paisley shirts, shag cuts, hip-huggers, mood rings, and bunk weed. Sure, I could talk about all that 10-Reasons-Why-Some-Particular-Decade-Is-Back drivel you read on popular sites, but truth be told, the Jacco Gardner sound is his own, and his time is now. His new LP Hypnophobia out on Polyvinyl Records is more than just a cool word about fear of sleeping. It’s a trip with anesthetic effect. I don’t mean anesthetic like physical numbing, I mean like what anesthesia does to the mind—puts you into a tripped-out state between waking and sleeping. Its 10-track reverie doesn’t veer off on tangents. Your mind may wander, but the sound stays true to its whimsical between-space. Don’t confuse that with the recent sleep paralysis horror that’s spreading across the internet. The first track

Cayucas Record Release Party for “Dancing at the Blue Lagoon”

Janky Smooth Central Command June 26, 2015

With the June 23rd release of their sophomore album, “Dancing at the Blue Lagoon,” Los Angeles natives, Cayucas, threw a private, invite-only album release party and Janky Smooth was fortunate enough to get the invite. Head North up Fairfax Avenue and there, sandwiched somewhere between the multiple bars and restaurants you will find a hidden venue. Or maybe you won’t find it because there is no name for the place. Literally meaning, your Instagram geotag will show up as “No Name.” Not that Instagram is actually relevant considering photographs were forbidden even though we got approval prior to our arrival at the venue. Fortunately for us, our stealthy and badass photographer, Taylor Wong, managed to snap some shots. This “No Name” venue contains exposed white brick walls and rugs that looked like they were directly imported from India — a hub for hipster elitists. It seemed as though the interior designer was devoted to purchasing anything that slightly resembled an avant-garde piece, and the hipsters are appeased with walls embellished with records by The Grateful Dead and The Beatles. The Edison bulb chandeliers and exposed piping that veined through high wooden ceiling was quite impressive, I must admit. However, as

New Album Review: Deaf Rhino – Dirt, Rust, Chaos

Brent Smith June 10, 2015

New Jersey bro rock band Deaf Rhino has released their debut LP Dirt, Rust, Chaos. If you’re an east-coaster, you may have caught them at Arlene’s Grocery or Webster Hall sharing bills with bands like The Ataris and Teenage Kicks. I say bro rock, but I mean inclusive bro rock with a little soul you can dance to, not self-masturbatory bro rock like Creed or Nickelback who ruined radio and were single-handedly responsible for every teen suicide when I was in high school. (Okay, maybe not, but radio is still trying to recover.) Also, unlike Creed or Nickelback, Deaf Rhino is rambunctious, they kick any moral authority to the curb, and they like to have fun. Rhino’s definitely the first likable bro rock band ever, or at least the first likable bro band since, like, Metallica (even though I don’t like them), and on par with mainstream acts like Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, and Eagles of Death Metal. An Ernest-Hemingway-staring-down-the-double-barrel- of-a-shotgun-at-a-charging-Rhino analogy is in there somewhere, but evoking Hemingway in any sense isn’t something I do lightly. Dirt, Rust, Chaos oscillates between whimsical and agro. There’s as much distortion as there is emotion, and it demonstrates Deaf

New Album Review: Damaged Bug- Cold Hot Plumbs

Danny Baraz June 4, 2015

Of course you can expect the typical, justified hype around the release of Thee Oh Sees’ 9th full length studio album, “Mutilator Defeated at Last” on Dwyer’s, Castle Face Records. It is the kind of work we’ve come not only to love but EXPECT from the mind of John Dwyer. Thee Oh Sees continue to be one of the most exciting and high energy acts in independent music but what about that Damaged Bug album that dropped this week? What the hell is Damaged Bug, you ask? Damaged Bug is an experiment in musical isolationism. It is a collaboration of ones own individuality and an intimate, private party amongst ones own multiple personalities. Damaged Bug explores time and space in a broken down space ship. John Dwyer seems to be cruising the nebula in search of new elements of sound and song structure and what he finds is both unique AND accessible. Cold Hot Plumbs is Damaged Bug’s second full-length release. It is a rescue dog that is adopted just moments before being euthanized. Dwyer’s use of both analog and digital sound design, sequenced programming and of course, melodic storytelling gives fans a new and dynamic spin on Lord Dwyer’s songwriting

New Album Review: Metz II

Brent Smith April 30, 2015

Every time I think I’ve heard the best of what today’s rock has to offer, I get sucker-punched by a band like METZ. If you haven’t heard their 2012 self-titled debut album, then Spotify that shit right now and relish in true noise band glory. With the axiomatic smashing and crashing of the ‘music industry’—that oxymoron that continues insisting upon itself—we’re getting exposure to a lot more bands who no longer have to compromise their sounds for vanilla marketing schemes, and who now have the freedom to continue pushing boundaries and challenging their audiences. METZ’s sophomore album, II no doubt attests, and convinces me that I’m going to be keeping tabs on these Toronto-based hellcats—doing the Canadian image justice in the destructive wake of Bieber Fever. Sub Pop, that label “up there” where it’s always wet, that label that’s kept us radicalized and on our toes for the last three decades, has done it again. They’ve given a great rock band the space and the faith necessary to maintain and cultivate their own vision, which is as loud and unwavering as any fan could hope. Like the preceding album, there are no frills, no bullshit, they don’t let up. No

New Album Review: Courtney Barnett- “Sometimes I Sit and Think…”

Danny Baraz March 20, 2015

For all intents and purposes, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit” is Courtney Barnett’s first full-length release. 2013’s “A Sea of Split Peas” combined two previously released EP’s into one epic debut that garnered international praise and attention but it was a musical relay race that connected two short stories into a novel. Let’s face it though; You only have one chance to catch the audiences attention as an “unknown” and after “Split Peas”, Courtney Barnett is a known and beloved musical commodity. Sophomore releases are so important. The pressure is so high to prove to the audience and most of all, yourself, that you weren’t just a fluke and Courtney Barnett is most definitely, NOT a fluke. “Sometimes I sit and think…” builds on the achievements of the first two EP’s impressively. Barnett’s spoken word lyricism is once again on full display but there is just enough more melody so as not to be repetitive or mired down in the apathetic melancholy that is prevalent in her vocal tone and lyrical content. There is also more dynamism from track to track. The song, “Small Poppies” is full of down tempo blues guitar mastery and shows

Tod Seelie’s “Outland Empire” opens at Superchief Gallery in LA

Danny Baraz March 11, 2015

Tod Seelie– A New York based conceptual photographer opens a gallery show in L.A. with L.A. as his subject. One might think that you would see images of glamour, celebrities and sparkling oceans and gentrified neighborhoods. Too many have come in to this city with their lens to act as some sort of proxy paparazzi and half heartedly walked amongst the more obvious landmarks and landscapes to capture a cliche. I knew, even before viewing his work at the Superchief Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles that that would not be the case with Tod Seelie. Tod Seelie’s show, “Outland Empire” captures Los Angeles and it’s outlying territories in a sort of post apocalyptic glamour. The glamor of tweekers and flamethrowers and the glamour of beer and sweat soaked teenagers in the midst of an angry slam pit. Non obvious landscapes and non obvious people as subjects seems to be what catches Seelie’s eye. Eaddy from Ho99o9 mentioned that they would be playing a show at the Tod Seelie opening the other week and I drew a blank on the connection between the name Tod Seelie and his works. Once I started doing some digging I came across his Bright Nights book and

Salad Days: The DC Punk Revolution Documentary

Salad Days Punk Doc is a Deep Dive on Dischord Records

Danny Baraz March 1, 2015

For decades, the music industry has found ways to exploit and capitalize on homegrown music scenes. Organic movements of pubescent and pre pubescent children, finding their voice and by proxy, the voice of the other kids in their neighborhood. Whether it was grunge in Seattle, hip hop in Brooklyn or punk in Orange County, the music industry sees a devoted legion of rabid consumption and immediately moves to find a way to make money from it. It seems like corporations have never failed to corrupt the purity of art except for one exception; Dischord Records in Washington D.C. Last night I went to the L.A. premiere of Salad Days: The D.C. Punk Revolution at The Regent Theater and I learned so much about one of the most influential, uncorrupt able, DIY music scenes that has ever existed. Salad Days is most definitely a chronicle and an ode to Dischord Records. There was very little in this movie about the Bad Brains outside of the acknowledgment that they influenced the entire scene. The movie was complete enough to mention other bands that influenced the region like The Cramps, The Clash and The Ramones and even a decent amount of time

New Album Review: The Birth Defects- First 8 Mistakes

Danny Baraz February 26, 2015

I’m having a hard time remembering the last time I’ve been this stoked about a debut album. The Birth Defects first release, “First 8 Mistakes” is an abrasive, in your face, drink till you puke, punk rock masterpiece. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a bar fight and the type of music that will make your parents worry about your well-being. Somehow, First 8 Mistakes manages to be raw and refined at the same time. If you are thinking those descriptions are mutually exclusive then just think about the term, Pop-punk. A classification most fast paced, power chord pioneers probably never envisioned to be possible but yet here we are, drowning in melodic, bubble gum bands. The Birth Defects are a breath of smoggy air in a genre that has been gentrified and made palatable to the masses. The raw represents the music and the refined represents the albums producer, Ty Segall. But The Birth Defects musical pedigree extends beyond it’s Indie King producer. Members of The Birth Defects are made up of Petey Dammit from Thee Oh Sees, Jonathan Safley, former drummer of the band Bleached and Jason Gerkin of Shiner. But the true personality, charm and parent cringing reflexes

Girl Band: Noise Rock Outfit Release A Video And First US Dates

Danny Baraz February 20, 2015

Noise Rock has made quite the evolution over the decades and nowhere is that more apparent than with emerging, Irish Noise Rock outfit, Girl Band. Girl Band take all the chaos and aggression of it’s predecessors and turn that foundation into a highly groovable and danceable expression of rage and frustration. If you’re not familiar with Girl Band, their new video for the track “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage” is a great place to start. I have to warn you though, it’s not for the squeamish. Autopsy’s, dancing cadavers and necro frontal nudity are the theme and a chaotic, distorted and sort of organic techno/dub step is the sound. Girl Band are releasing their first EP, The Early Years on April 21st on Rough Trade and it will feature a compilation of their rare works that have only been sold via their merch tables or mail ordered through their website. You can pre-order The Early Years Here. Girl Band are certainly a new act to watch out for. They are making their way stateside for the first time in March. They will start in Brooklyn, make their way to SXSW and then to California. With a gig at