Graveface Records has finally gotten through all of its
court proceedings regarding the flood that happened three years ago. It was
about the old office/warehouse that the owner was renting. The company that he
was renting from was required to have flood insurance but didn’t. It took three
years but the owner has finally gotten the stocks that were in the warehouse.
In an attempt to recoup the lawyer fees he has set up a fundraiser. It is a
multitiered buyin but most of the stuff that is up in the tiers has been out of
print for quite a while. Every level of the buyin gets a special Marshmallow
Ghosts single. Check it out here.
Slumberland has just announced that they will be releasing
an album from a reciently formed group called Black Hearted Brother. The group
features Neil Halstead (Slowdive , Mojave 3), Mark Van
Hoen (Seefeel, Locust, Scala) and Nick Holton (Coley Park).
It promises to be a space styled shoegaze foray. You can listen to the first release,
(I Don’t Mean To) Wonder, from the upcoming album, Stars Are Our Home, over at
spin.com.
Here we go...
This is the fifth album from The Faint. It was released in
early August of 2008. This is the groups first time that they put out an album
on their own. It was released on blank.wav records. I bought this album on CD
when it was released. I was very excited about it because of the amazing sounds
that they created on their previous album, Wet From Birth. I thought this album
was very good but didn’t quite measure up to the previous album. I was a little
let down really. It was just recently that I ran across this album new, still
sealed at one of my local record stores for seven bucks. Even though it was not
my favorite album from them I couldn’t say no to a double vinyl at that price.
I haven’t listened to the vinyl yet but plan on doing so soon.
There were only two tracks from the album that were released
as singles. The first single is called The Geeks Were Right. This was a fun
single that I recall my local radio station played when the track was new. What
I really like about this single and some of their previous singles is the
distortion on the bass guitar parts. This bass line in particular is so
distorted that I can’t tell if it is a synth sound or a bass guitar with a
distortion pedal on it. I know that they aren’t afraid to use samples and synth
sounds though so it very well could be. The guitars are standard rock
distortion and sound good too. The drums keep the beat but are nothing to write
home to. The vocals are very cool and along with the bass make the song what it
is. It is a good song and should be listened to by rock lovers and electronic
lovers for sure.
The second single is called Mirror Error. I didn’t even know
that this was a single released from the album until I did a bit of research
for the album. The vocals are what make this song any kind of good at all. They
are double tracked and seem to be sung as part of a chord to the song. The bass
on this track doesn’t really stand out as much and is a sign wave sound that
rolls off for the most part. The drums are more interesting as they have added
an electronic snare sound instead of the real thing. It is a good song but I
don’t understand why they chose it for the second single.
A track that I really liked from the album is called FulcrumAnd Lever. It is a story song about a group of kids that put together a
launcher of some kind. The protagonist gets into the slingshot mechanism that
was placed in a tree. He is launched up in the air higher than the houses in
the area. When he lands the story gets weird, as does the music. It is not
expressly said but I assumed that he has at least broken a leg possibly worse
as he ends up in the hospital as the lyrics tell us. The vocals are double
tracked on this track as well adding to the slight creepiness to the song. The
bass follows the vocals for the most part adding to the odd sound of the song
too. If you like the first single then I would recommend this track too. It is
one of the coolest tracks ever.
This is the second album from STP. The album was released in
early June of 1994. While Purple
still features strong elements of hard rock and grunge like its predecessor, Core, the album displays the band
developing a more unique sound influenced by other genres, such as psychedelic
rock, country vibes and ragtime elements. This was a very influential album
from when I was a senior in high school up to when I graduated from High School.
It seemed to me that the singles from the album were spread out through that
whole time period. When the album was released it was revealed by the band that
the album was called Purple. The name was never printed, in English, on the
album. Some called the album untitled because of this. I can’t remember where I
heard or read that the album was called Purple but I always seemed to know this
fact. I later learned that the Chinese character on the cover is the symbol for
the word purple.
There were five singles released from this album. The first
was Big Empty. The first time I heard the song was in the movie The Crow. It
was played during the car chase scene in the middle of the movie. The song is a
slower song so I am not really sure why they put it in the car chase part of
the movie. The song can also be picked up on the soundtrack for the movie. It
is one of the best soundtracks of the 90s in support of a film I think. It was
also played live for the STP MTV Unplugged series. It is a good song and follows
the loud soft loud style.
The second single released from the album is called
Vasoline. The song's odd sounding intro was created by Robert DeLeo, who ran
his bass through a Wah-wah pedal to get the said effect. After this intro the
song kicks in with a cool sounding distorted guitar. I would love to make this
sounds but have not yet found it with the equipment that I have. The vocals
have that cool Weiland sound that really matches the guitar sound that I like.
This is my favorite song from the album for sure.
The third single from the album is called Interstate LoveSong. This song has some very cool country styled riffs mixed with the standard
rock sound. It is very unique in that way. Weiland had stated that the song was
about honesty or the lack there of and relationships with girls and drugs. The
song is probably one of their best ever and was in the charts for weeks upon
its release.
The fourth single from the album, Unglued, was actually a
promo single with no physical release. This song was more like the music that
was on their first album but not quite as hard. I like the song but it just
didn’t have the hook that grabs you and makes you want to keep on listening to
it over and over.
The last single from the album was also a promo single with no
physical release. The song is called Pretty Penny. It is a stripped down track
with bongos and acoustic guitars. This is a major departure from the music that
they had previously made. Weiland had said that this was his favorite song from
the album. It is such a stark contrast from what they had created in the past
that it really sticks in your head after listening to the track. It is also
good enough that I want to listen to it for quite a while. I would have totally
bought a half hour jam version of this track if it had existed somewhere.
This is a fantastic album that everyone should listen to. If
you haven’t already then do so soon!
This is the fifth release from Icehouse. My local record
store had this album in stock for the past year or so. I did not want to pick
it up because of a visible scratch on one side of the record. Every once in a
while I would go into the store and pick it up look at the scratch and put it
back. I finally decided to pick the record up. I was very surprised to find
that the scratch is silent. The record itself has noise but the scratch is
silent. I bought the record for the single Electric Blue. I later found that
John Oates co-wrote the song with the lead singer of the band, Iva Davies.
The album put out five singles, mainly in Australia, but
five singles none the less. The first single released from the album is called
Crazy. It has a good bass line with drums that follow along. The guitars are
simple but help support the song as well. There are also some synth keys
floating around in the back ground. The vocals are dated 80s style. It is a
good song but not quite good enough for the US charts.
The second single is called Electric Blue. This is why I got
the album. John Oates had said at one point that if Icehouse didn’t use the
track it would have been a Hall & Oates track for sure. I had a piece of
metallic blue plastic on a band trip at one point and I had wrinkled it up so
that the light would refract interestingly. I did this, obviously, to
commemorate the song. It looked really cool to me as a teen-ager.
The third single from the album is called My Obsession. It
is a good song but just doesn’t have that hook that makes me want to listen to
it like Electric blue does. I guess it is similar to the fluff that Hall &
Oates wrote before the 80s. It is good but not quite good enough.
That is all I have for now...
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