Another year older and a lot more CDs reviewed. I hope you are staying warm (or cool down under) and listening to some great heavy rock. This week we have a touch of the odd about.
CD Reviews
Maegashira: That Stark Artic
Not quite sure what to make of this lot. There is a bloke who screams and the music behind it is heavy as hell, but with an annoying cymbal sound which gets jarring at times. (Could be my copy of the CD.) This is pretty scary doom that is meant to jar the listener. Miserable yet aggressive, these guys ain’t messing around with the normal stoner fare. Then again, they are from New Jersey so you can blame them for being miserable and ticked off all at the same time.
There is a certain level of toxicity in this music which gives its doom a far more threatening feel normally reserved for black or death metal. This is one of those bands that probably like the fact their album takes several listens to really get to grips with. I even admit that the album stays with you long after you stop listening,
If you like your twisted swampy doom tainted with some serious freaking aggression then this lot might be the thing for you. Six songs like an eternity and I mean that is a good way. Let’s just say that the track “Hi from Jersey” is the antithesis of Bon Jovi. Which is probably exactly what the band were aiming for with this release.
Plastic Crimewave Sound: s/t
Freaking odd psychedelic punk prog. Yes, I actually mentioned all those words together. There is even a touch of jazz thrown in for good measure. This is one of those band where if you are “in the mood,” it works great. At times sounding to me like the Ramones doing Hawkwind or vica-versa, it just works in ways you would not think it should.
I have to admit having visions of a band that sought inspiration from the musical abomination that was Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono band. Thankfully this is far from it.
“Shockwave Rider” is just that sort of Hawkwindish stuff that you can just see a bunch of stoned acid nuts dancing bizarrely to at some festival in the middle of some field in Cornwall or Vermont. They hail from Chicago, have been around for eons and even manage to sound a bit Kraftwerk or EN at times. There is a lot of clever stuff hidden behind the punky attitude.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
That ZZ Top live set is surprisingly good. I caught the last 20 minutes of it on VH1 Classic, I think it was, a month or so ago and really didn't expect much, but was quickly caught up in it. Fun stuff. It's pretty obvious some of the 80s material employs canned sounds (the vocals were VERY suspicious, as were the drum sounds) but when they stuck to the gritty, bluesy stuff, they were definitely on. The DVD appears the way to go here, however (which is what I did) - the price seems to be lower everywhere I look, plus you get extras like "Foxey Lady." Fire up the ol' DVD Audio Extractor and you get your audio files and still have the DVD to watch whenever you want.