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Local Reviews August 2004
Reviews of Local albums for August 2004! … read more
Local Review: Ichor – Metal Bigotry
Ichor Metal Bigotry The lo-fi sound recording and instrument playing of Ichor’s unrefined, jugular-choking death metal is about at Mayhem-and-Burzum level (sometimes the guitars and drums need to make friends more), which is just fine with me, because what Mayhem and Burzum lacked in $100,000-studio recordings and target-market interviews in metal magazines they made up
Local Reviews: The Fantazmic Four
The Fantazmic Four Self-titled Ha Style Records The Fantazmic Four = Run DMC + Fu-Schnickens If one is specific enough to label some DJs turntablists, then The Fantazmic Four (Ben Grimm and Mr. Fantazmic) are straight lyricists. More specifically, they are MCs’ MCs (to quote 50 on Eminem,”rappers’ rapper”). The Fantazmic Four are the type
Local Review: November Tide – Jargon Sunset
November Tide Jargon Sunset Nova One Productions November Tide = Ron L. Hubbard + Roses & Exile It’s amazing the variety of projects Chris Alvarado takes on, from the black industrial of 23 Extacy to Twilight Transmissions to Roses & Exile to now, the delicate, mellow tracings of November Tide. Lying underneath the multiple layers
Local Review: Gerald Music – Take Part of Group Activities
GERALD MUSIC TAKE PART IN GROUP ACTIVITIES Gerald Music = Temporary Residence Records + William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition + yin-yang My favorite part of Gerald Music is the silver, fawn-soft bells that seem to rise like multi-colored bubbles above the heads of a dreaming, silhouetted crowd in a club infused with magic, if only for
Local Review: Curious Birds – The Wheel Turns
CURIOUS BIRDS THE WHEEL TURNS Shapeshifting The Curious Birds = Stevie Nicks + Yanni Usually I don’t like neo-new age folksy acoustic stuff that mentions nature with every third breath and sings about “Persephone,” “midwinter,” “harvest time,” obscure pseudo-Celtic-Irish-Scottish mythological references and above all, a “crossroads” that is a doorway to another realm. However, like
Local Review: 23 Extacy – Brutal
23 EXTACY BRUTAL Nova One Productions 23 Extacy = Ministry (but darker) + Error (but darker) The first time I got my mitts on old, unreleased and unavailable Red Bennies tracks from the bands’ first four years, it felt like panhandling a gold chunk. Fans of 23 Extacy should feel the same way with the
Local Review: The happies – Meet the happies
THE HAPPIES MEET THE HAPPIES The Happies = Nick Drake + Brian Jonestown Massacre The questions you should ask yourself right now are: Why haven’t I heard of this band before, how has my life been incomplete without them, are they still around, and why did this stupid reviewer wait several months to write them up?
Local Review: When Cars Crash – All Kinds of Comfortable
WHEN CARS CRASH ALL KINDS OF COMFORTABLE (2002) Hibiscus Zombie When Cars Crash = Jade Tree Records + chutzpah One of the hardest things for me to do when helping out with Death by Salt was having to cut When Cars Crash’s track, “Shattered Smile”, from the comp after finding out it was previously released
Local Review: McFalls – Self-Tittled Demo
MCFALLS SELF-TITLED DEMO McFalls = Pearl Jam (Ten) + Soundgarden (Superunknown) + Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin) McFalls, or Rune, as they are currently known, combine classic rock/grunge-laden guitar riffs with Jim Morrisson-like vocals that can really wail. Added to that grunge base are three main additives: A bluesy, almost jazzy strut (best illustrated in “summerday”);