03/26/12: The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet (2012)

03/26/12: The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet (2012)

1. The Whip Hand
2. Aegis
3. Dyslexicon
4. Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound
5. The Malkin Jewel
6. Lapochka
7. In Absentia
8. Imago
9. Molochwalker
10. Trinkets Pale of Moon
11. Vedamalady
12. Noctourniquet
13. Zed and Two Naughts

      I'm not gonna spend much time explaining The Mars Volta. They are modern day Prog Rock gods and they keep crushing what I expect of them from album to album. Their albums have been taking the very long song approach over the last few albums. They've also been heavy on the use of Spanish lyrics and singing as well. They've made albums that are just catchy rock songs, they've made half hour Progressive rock epics, and they have warped their sounds in a ton of different directions. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has also been a music making machine over the last few years, releasing countless solo releases.
     This album is a definite departure from the approach of the last couple albums. They are stilla rock band at the core, but I believe Omar's experimentation outside of the group has had some affect on The Mars Volta's sound as a whole. "Noctourniquet" delivers classic Mars Volta rockers, some of their prettiest mellow songs to date, as well as creating some of their most experimental songs ever. This is the first album by them in a while to have fairly short and to the point songs but there are a couple longer pog gems hidden in there.
     These songs have some of the weeirdest and catchiest moments of their career so far. I feel like pieces of so many albums are here, but what sets it apart is the more prevalent use of drum machines, sampling, and looping. "The Malkin Jewel" is one of the stranger radio singles they have released. I can only compare it to really old Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. "In Absentia" is one of their noisiest and most experimental tracks yet. It is noise and strained vocals for 5 minutes that suddenly breaks into one of the most interesting beautiful and proggy moments of the album. Songs like "Molochwalker" are their to fill that classic rocking Mars Volta song void. Really the whole album is awesome unpredictable and shows a bit of everything The Mars Volta can do. (086)

03/25/12: BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNGSINGLE (2011)

03/25/12: BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNGSINGLE (2011)

1. Rotten Decay
2. Hard In Da Paint / Wow Rare

     For the most part, I've avoided doing singles on their own for this project but I absolutely had to talk about this single. BADBADNOTGOOD are a young Jazz Trio from Toronto. I reviewed their first free-for-download album BBNG earlier in the project and their career for the most part has been based on doing Jazz covers of hip-hop songs. Even not knowing a majority of the songs they've covered, I still love their music. A couple of my favorites off of that first album were their original compositions and their medley of songs from The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. They released this single in December of last year as a preview of their new full length that is coming out April 3rd.
     All of their stuff is available for free on their Bandcamp. This single includes "Rotten Decay" an original composition from the forthcoming album and the B-side that is a hip-hop cover that they tend to play live in the few live shows they've had. "Rotten Decay" blew me away and has made my anticipation for BBNG 2 go through the roof. I tend to like their stuff that uses the piano and double bass the best. The old school analog jazz sound is so impressive coming from these kids. This song is their darkest, most dissonant and most original composition to date. It is very dark overall all of the dissonant key hits really add to the doomy feel of the song. The song suddenly jumps into the doubletime refrain that adds a nice contrast to the slow trudging main riff. The cover on the B-side is just as entertaining as their other covers and makes me wonder why it didn't warrant making the main album. That song closes with a dark fuzzy guitar riff that I hope also serves as a preview of what is to come on BBNG 2. If these songs are any indicator of what is to come, than I absolutely can't wait for Tuesday to come. (085)

03/24/12: The Thermals - Fuckin A (2004)

03/24/12: The Thermals - Fuckin A (2004)

1. Our Trip
2. Every Stitch
3. How We Know
4. When You're Thrown
5. Remember Today
6. A Stare Like Yours
7. Let Your Earth Quake, Baby
8. God and Country
9. End to Begin
10. Forward
11. Keep Time
12. Top of the Earth

     The Thermals are an indie punk band. I became a fan of these guys after hearing their 3rd album "The Body, The Blood, The Machine". Their sound is pretty much punk-pop but is tilted more towards the raw punk sound. I've heard their last 3 albums and was a big fan, but their later stuff made me miss the raw sound of "The Body...". I don't know why I never took the time to listen to their first 2 releases.
     "Fuckin' A" is their 2nd full length and their first professionally recorded album. It is everything I expected from these guys; raucous distorted fast songs with the yell singing of Hutch Harris and some of the catchiest loudest punk songs. Their lyrics are religious and political without being overbearing and without affected how much fun their music is. It's a bit lower quality production wise as compared to their last 3 albums but its not to its detriment. If anything, the lo-fi quality adds to the style they shoot for. Good album, and robably a good intro before you check out their masterpiece "The Body, The Blood, The Machine". (084)

03/23/12: A Silver Mt. Zion - "This Is Our Punk Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, (2003)

03/23/12: A Silver Mt. Zion - "This Is Our Punk Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, (2003)

1. Sow Some Lonesome Corner So Many Flowers Bloom
2. Babylon Was Built on Fire/Starsnostars
3. American Motor Over Smoldered Field...
4. Goodbye Desolate Railyard

     A Silver Mt. Zion is a Canadian "Post-Rock" band that I covered earlier in the project with their album "13 Blues For Thirteen Moons". On their 3rd full-length, "This Is Our Punk Rock..." they go by the full name "The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band (with Choir)" due to the fact that they assembled an amateur choir of a few dozen of their friends as an additional element to an already interesting lineup and sound. This album is similar to "13 Blues..." in its 4 song structure. The ups and downs of this album are also comparable but in a much more mellow way. The sound is much less heavy than their later albums. There is less of a focus on drums and heavier distorted guitar parts. Using those elements less did make it much more surprising and attention grabbing. The drums would suddenly begin beating, and they'd grab you from the almost atmospheric parts and bring you into the next movement.
     This was really another great album by these guys that I wish I would have given a good listen to sooner. They make some of the most interesting compositions with an off beat ensemble. Their long epic compositions are always a good listen and they run the gamut of super chill to some epic rocking out. Though, more mellow than their later releases, this is a must listen from their catalog. (083)

03/22/12: Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (1998)

03/22/12: Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (1998)

1. Don Caballero 3
2. In the Absence of Strong Evidence to the Contrary, One May Step Out of the Way of the Charging Bull
3. Delivering the Groceries at 138 Beats Per Minute
4. Slice Where You Live Like Pie
5. Room Temperature Suite
6. The World in Perforated Lines
7. From the Desk of Elsewhere Go
8. June Is Finally Here

     Background for Don Caballero and my reason for choosing this album can be found in my writeup of their album "Punkgasm". This album is their third album and was their first after a 2 year hiatus. It includes the entire original lineup including Ian Williams who would go on to form Battles. I haven't listened to their first 2 albums yet, but this album apparently marked the first time that Ian Williams experimented with pedals and effects a significant amount. that fact alone makes me curious what Don Caballero sounded like before this album.
     The album was very enjoyable on my couple listens. The production is well done. The audio is very clear and well mixed. It is all instrumental and very much math-rock. I say math-rock in a respectable way. This album is almost 15 years old and sounds a lot like many bands I've become fans of in the last few years. There are similarities between the sound on this album as opposed to the later lineup as well as some serious differences. I think Ian Williams was very important to their early sound. They are one of the originals in a style of music I am a big fan of. If you like bands like Battles you owe these guys a listen because Don Caballero is Battles godfather. (082)

Pentagram - Relentless

You're Soon To Meet The Truth Of Death

#91) Pentagram - Relentless (1985)

 1. Death Row
 2. All Your Sins
 3. Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)
 4. The Ghoul
 5. Relentless
 6. Run My Course
 7. Sinister
 8. The Deist
 9. You're Lost I'm Free
 10. Dying World
 11. 20 Buck Spin

theme time again, for this round i chose "80s Metal"

Pentagram is another band that has a long, crazy history. i gave part of that history, up to about 1976, in my previous post about them, First Daze Here/First Daze Here Too. after this time period the band was pretty much defunct until '78 when Liebling joined a friends band. they changed the name to Pentagram, recorded a 7" and then broke up about a year later. in 1980 Liebling joined the band Death Row. they released a few demos as Death Row, changed the name to Pentagram in '84 and finally in 1985 the first Pentagram full length was released, 14 years after the band originally formed. when it was first released it was a self-titled album but later when it was reissued the name was changed to "Relentless" and the track order was changed, i'm not really sure why.
this is some great early doom. i love the fuzzed out guitar tone and Liebling has a great voice. there are too many great riffs on this album to go over them all but the opening and closing tracks had some particularly memorable parts. i don't really know what to say about this record, it's a classic and Pentagram is fuckin rad. recommended