My love of the new Hate Eternal album has inspired me to go back and re-listen to all the other Hate Eternal albums. And you know what? This band was always awesome… but they just keep getting awesomer and awesomer. And this song has to be some kind of goddamned masterpiece.

Especially when you add weed.

-AR

Howdy pardners!!  This recent run of warm weather has us NYCers perplexed about what done happened to the Winter…..???

Not that we’re complaining, but in order to keep things coooool while Vince & I are shuckin fit up in sunny Austin this week, here are some ice-related tunes for y’all:

this one’s for Burley O…..

and this one is for Big Mac….

-KW

We all remember that lost era of yesteryear.  Stolen glances.  Hushed whispers.  Fleeting touches that left us longing for more.  Makes you just wanna reach out and lolz where the sun don’t shine.  Alas, let’s have a moment of silence for that one super-special ex in our lives…

I’m speaking, of course, about the prog metal supergroup Exivious (featuring members of Textures and Cynic), who supposedly threw in the towel last May.

I say supposedly because when our very own Axl Shmosenshmerg reported this past December that Cynic’s guitarist and bassist were leaving the band, he mentioned a tasty morsel of info about said players now talking about working on another Exivious release.

This is good news for those proggateers among us who have been patiently awaiting some new jamz from the almighty Textures; bad news for your ex’s new beau.

Bring it on…

Let Exivious warm your earholes on TheirSpace and go see them LIVE on April 30th in Switzerland!!!!!

-KW

WARNING: non-metal below!!!

One San Francisco Summer day in Los Angeles some eleventy years ago, this guy wandered into Amoeba Music in search of new sounds.

Have you ever been to Amoeba?  This “chain” of record stores (there are two in the Bay area and one in L.A.) seems to defy the impossible — it’s basically an efficiently-run, ginormous warehouse filled with CDs, vinyl, movies and books, expertly organized into careful categories (the L.A. store has a frickin “Black Metal” section, fer chrissakes! Check out the store map)……one could get lost for days in there and come out significantly lighter in the wallet, carrying a CD-filled fanciful tote bag (y’know, the kind that some lovely people seem to love).

At least that’s what it would be like if we didn’t all steal music via the internet.

Obviously such a huge type of store lacks the personality and distinct character of a place like SF’s own magnificent Aquarius Records, but Amoeba manages to offer up a blend of service and product availability that is pretty impressive and frankly hard to beat. Like if Tower Records had ever been cool. Knowledgeable music nerds await your banal questions about Ryoksopp or Hawkwind, Sufjan or Satyricon — chances are someone in the store knows somethin bout whatever it is you wanna know**.

**not a guarantee……the world can be a cruel place

Anyway, on this particular day I was driving my rented convertible (that time around I think it was the limited-edition super-slick sporty ride whose model unfortunately escapes me presently — as opposed to the standard Malibu or Sebring) through the smog, fake tits and hatred that is the city of Lost Angels, and decided to go to the record shoppe for some tunnes.  And when I mentioned that I really dug that new Mars Volta album (De-Loused had come out that same Summer), asking for additional proggy rockin recommendations, some delightful music-mongering twerp led in me in several unexpected directions, one of which was to the lush, dulcet tones of The Fire Theft.

At the time I didn’t know that this was basically Sunny Day Real Estate minus one member, but regardless something about the songs cried of a delicate newness and evolved maturity.  Of course even when he’s screaming Jeremy Enigk’s voice could still put a newborn to sleep, but this time around the band seemed to play right alongside his precious timbre, rising and falling with every ebb and flow (as opposed to Sunny Day often playing against the bloody gorgeous-ness of Enigk’s singing, which yielded a different kind of power in their musical success).

The band only put out one album, which my heart and ears instantly fell in love with.

They’re defunct now, but their music lives on in AllOfOurSpace.

-KW

Soundgarden continues to be one of those legendary bands that defies pure pigeonholing.  Sure, they rose to the top against the early 90s grunge backdrop, but could you really call them “grunge”? Lest we forget that way back when, they were often touted as the forerunners of “alternative metal” (whatever that means), in addition to grungesters.

SIDEBAR: Remember when “alternative” was a genre? Nowadays when people say they are into “alternative” music (and yes, it does happen every once in a while), I feel compelled to inquire “alternative to WHAT???”  Back then the genre label actually meant something, but today everything just seems to be the alternative to everything else.

From the beginning, the band’s songs were sludgy enough, but always had at least a tinge (usually a boatload) of melody, largely thanks to wailer Chris Cornell but also to the inventive guitar stylings of Kim Thayil.  Add the proto-rumblings of bassist Ben Shepard and thumping pocket-chop grooves of drummer Matt Cameron, and we had a truly unique rock n’ roll band that created their own sound. Five albums strong, Soundgarden broke up in 1997.

After some recent unfortunate solo Cornell material and plenty of rumors of reunion, the reformed Soundgarden finally played a couple of shows last Spring & Summer (the first of which under the anagram pseudonym Nudedragons), and it was recently announced that they will release a live album entitled Live on I5 on March 22nd (tracklist here).

Furthermore, just this past week it was mentioned on their website that the band has written some new material and hopes to release a new album later this year (!) ….

“OUR GOAL FOR 2011 – LET’S MAKE A RECORD.

Over the past few months, we’ve been busy jamming, writing and hanging out together – exploring the creative aspect of being Soundgarden. It feels great. We have some cool new songs that we are going to record very soon. Thank you for all of the support!

Loudest of Love, Ben, Chris, Kim and Matt”

We shall see.

-KW

I wonder if Lars could follow such a recipe…..his drumming and general je ne sais quoi has me thinking he’s pretty much mentally retarded, but could that perhaps translate to wizardry in the kitchen?

I’m guessing Hetfield mans the grill at any band barbecues…

-KW

No other band rips quite so massively, and this track off of seminal Leviathan only supports such a claim with flying colors.

Our esteemed panel of industry “experts” even named said album the best metal offering of the millennium thus far.

Accept no substitutes…..this is Mastodon.

-KW

Last night’s stellar Lake of Blood/Castevet show has me respired to get atonal, abrasive, dissonant, and LOUD.

Here’s a couple of my favorite screechers from yesteryear:

-KW

In this here year of 2010, when the fit hit the shan and life took a sharp turn into crazyville, at least we could all have the holidaze to look forward to…….BIG BEARDED SMILE :)>

And even the scroogiest among us have to recognize the significance of Christmas, and how just four short years and twelve hours ago on this very day we lost one of our greatest heroes.

The hardest-working man in show business….

The Godfather of Soul….

The one……

The only………

JJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMEEESSSSSSS BBBBRRRRRROOOOWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNN

So I would like to propose a toast and a moment of silence for the man with the golden groove…

(SILENCE)

(SILENCE)

(DEEP ADORATION/RESPECT)

(A LITTLE MORE SILENCE)

Okay, thank you all very much…………now let’s check some tasty grooves out!

In keeping with the seasonal spirit, I have selected two JB Christmas gems, as well as two of my personal faves from back in the day…

Enjoy, and happy holidaze :)

-KW

Mmmmmm…….2009….

-KW

Whoah shun, it’s The Ocean!!

-KW

We’ve talked a fair amount as of late about the side projects/comings & goings of the riconkulonk Dutch band Textures and its offshoots.

First we got sexually excited about the proggalicious side project Exivious featuring members of Textures and Cynic…..then we lamented the demise of said side project.

Said side project.

Said side project.

Said side project.

Then we got saddy-poos about Textures’ stellar vocalist Eric Kalsbeek leaving the band…..then we rejoiced in the news of a new vocal stylist entering the fold.

Then we empathized over the trials & tribulations of CiliCe, whose vocalist Daniël De Jongh left the band to join Textures.  Some time passed, and then they found a new frontman.

But where does all of our love for this extended musical family come from, you ask?

Right here:

-KW

Oh, hi there!  Are you still paying attention to leel ol’ ME?  If so, then let me graciously wish you a very Happy Spanksgiving and much love from the bottom of my cold gray heart :))))))

This year Weegro Wingerschmidt traversed to smelly New Jersey to eat some of the region’s finest turkey.  I suppose you did too.

But turkey ain’t just a big bird we eat this time of year — it’s also an exotic land with its own unique style of coffee, splendiferous bazaars to satisfy your handicraft-purchasing itch, dervishes that whirl at lightning-quick speeds, the Jawas’ huts, and yes…..they have metal too!!

So get stuffed, rub some cran sauce on yourself, and check these turkeys out…

-KW

My man Jeff Mueller has had three seminal bands that were/are all vastly unappreciated: Rodan, June of 44, and the still-active Shipping News.  Each of these groups had their own individual sound, but in a way one can trace the evolution of common member Mueller from one to the next.

Save Everything, Shipping News’ excellent 1998 debut album, seemed to culminate and refine the angular indie-aggressive sound the two bands before had begun in various rawer forms.  You can almost hear Mueller growing up from one outfit to the next.  How quaint.

Shipping News’ latest album One Less Heartless to Fear was released a couple of weeks ago; here’s the press description:

This is the band s first new full-length album since Flies
The Fields, and a helluva lot has happened in the last
five years two weddings, fatherhood, serious illness,
a presidential election, multiple wars, city moves, two
Batman films, and lots of time with friends playing songs.
These things seem to have inspired the band to make their
most aggressive and adolescent album to date. Shipping
News has jettisoned the long songs (and glacial tempos)
of the past to concentrate on energetic blasts of noisy
rock with a little gallows humor thrown in. While slipping
into a slightly more sympathetic mood once or twice, the
new songs are stripped down and pretty much nasty.

Woof.

-KW

On the recommendation of a couple of my best enemies, I finally listened to Nine Inch Nails‘ The Fragile from start to finish.

If you’re a somewhat regular reader of this god-awful website, you surely know the respect and man-love both Axl & Vince seem to share for one Trent Reznor, and in absorbing their consistently laudatory analyses of Reznor’s music and savvy business decisions, I will admit I’ve been repeatedly intrigued along the way.  But until now my experience with the Nails was pretty much limited to a couple of their singles, most notably this (which I was always a huge fan of).

And now, having heard what many repute as the best NIN album, I can safely hypothesize that Reznor is a severely masochistic, battle-scarred, honest artist who isn’t afraid to let the pain come through.  The industrialicious musical style is not always my cup of Twinings tea, but there are certainly several solid grooves throughout, and the raw, candid nature of the lyrics offers a precious look inside a tortured soul who’s doing good with his suffering.  I’m not surprised one bit that so many people have connected so deeply with homeboy’s cannon (even though Pitchfork inevitably ripped The Fragile a new one way back when).

A couple of my fave lines from the (Right) album:

“I tried to save myself, but my self keeps slipping away…”

“All I do….I can still feel you.”

No doubt many of us can relate.

Say hello again to a couple of old-school NIN videos after the jump…

Happy Saturday!!

Click to read more…

It’s the eve of All Hallow’s, and Satan himself is fearful for his life tonight.  Saturday night’s alright for fighting, but this one is gonna be different.  This one is gonna be murderful.  This one is gonna be spookalicious.  This one is gonna be naughty and nice and brutal and beautiful.  This one is gonna be forrrrreals.

This is the night to say goodbye to decency and sanity and all things fuzzy and warm, and make way for the reality and danger of ghouls and goblins and dark things that go bump in the night when no one is there to hide behind…

Yes, I’m talking to YOU.

-KW aka The Last Monster

In honor of my first-ever time seeing Helmet tonight (following the MS afternoon show at Fontana’s, of course), I’m reposting an oldie but goodie….first published on Nov. 26th, 2007

Helmet perfectly exemplifies where backbone groove finds its place into the world of metal. True — guitarist/monotone vocalist Page Hamilton has always provided the overall vision of this outfit, but it is mega-thick pocket drummer John Stanier that people usually seem to remember the most about NYC’s Helmet.

As far as I’m concerned, Meantime is one of the greatest heavy albums from the 90s, and I still rock that joint several times each year. Every song is a gem, and the style perfectly melds with both the melody and the fury throughout. After I discovered the awesome might of this record back in the day, I went on to check out subsequent release Betty and previous offering Strap It On, and both of these albums truly have their strengths but at the end of the day, Meantime is the one. Fierce and incendiary and yet pretty accessible for a hard pocket aggressive blend.

Click to read more…

My introduction to Canadian blues rockers Big Sugar was this cover of the BTO classic “Let It Ride,” and I guess it was sorta my outro-duction too; it’s the only song of theirs I’ve ever heard. But damn, what a doozy it is! That guitar’s got some of the meatiest, thickest, most ballsy sounding tone in the history of ever, further underscored by the super-dry drum production underneath and the emphasized by the keyboard crunch on the intro riff. Is there to more to this band beyond this most excellent cover? Is there a particular album of theirs I should seek out?

Love, love, love this cover. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

BIG SUGAR – “LET IT RIDE”

BIG SUGAR – “LET IT RIDE”

-VN

After tonight’s Mastodwho/Defwhats/AIC show at MSG, I’m feeling inspired to dust off an oldie-but-goodie…

Back when I was a 16 year-old pothead growing up in New York Fucking City, I used to put on this song, lean out my bedroom window, puff the fattest of bowls, and wonder what heroin felt like. I guess it had a lot to do with Layne Staley’s infamous addiction to the drug, and a little to do with my own self-destructive leanings, but more than all that, the song itself reeked of smack. And not just snorting or smoking heroin, but some serious needle-jabbin’ hijinx.

Now I ain’t never shot nothin’ into my veins, but after revisiting this song for the first time in over a decade, I would still put it on my perfect heroin mixtape (along with “Venus In Furs” by The Velvet Underground, “Riders On The Storm” by The Doors, and “My Favorite Things” by Coltrane). Y’know — if it ever comes to that.

Keep yr fingers crossed for me!

…and while I’m hyping this album, I find it very hard not to post its fiery opening track:

Okay, fine — let’s just go for the hat trick with Dirt closer “Would?” (although th’old-school among us may better remember this one from the Singles soundtrack…)

-KW

How does it feeeel?

The Rolling Stone I read at the gym the other day sure taught me quite a lot:

-the new John Lennon documentary focusing on Lennon’s life in New York, LENNONYC, will premiere on PBS on November 22nd.  This year would have been his 70th birthday (and is sadly the 30th anniversary of his death), and the film serves to trace the final decade of the artist’s life.  Of Lennon’s relationship with New York, Yoko Ono says, “It is a very strange city….it was his love and it was his death.”

-George Clinton is making an album with reclusive soul legend Sly Stone that will be released by Christmas.  Clinton’s proposed title: Beat the Pink Up: Hump It Till It Hiccup. Classy!!  Clinton persuaded Stone to return to the studio after Sly appeared at a couple P-Funk gigs in 2008 and 2009, and the duo recorded with members of P-Funk and the Family Stone in L.A. and Sly’s home in San Francisco.  As a lifelong funkhead, I am extremely curious to see what this collaboration yields, but given Clinton’s output in the last decade, it’s hard not to be somewhat skeptical.  Sly coming back is a big one though.

-Jason Bonham will hit the road in October with a Zeppelin tribute band.  Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience will be a combination of Jason playing his father’s music with a yet-to-be-announced group of musicians and the drummer sharing stories about touring with Zeppelin as a kid.  This comes three years after Jason played drums at the 2007 Zeppelin reunion concert, which I wish I could have been at.  Still the best rock n’ roll band of all time.

-Rolling Stone praises Queens of the Stone Age’s reissue of Rated R excessively.  Something to the effect of this album saved/resurrected 2000s metal, which is highly debatable but okay Rolling Stone, dare to pretend like you know something about heavy music.  Apparently with this record filled with “refined stuff”, “Josh Homme introduced excess to a metal landscape lousy with mook thumb-suckers”, and thus “many winking headbangers owe QOTSA a bump.”  You mean a fist bump?  I don’t get it, Rolling Stone….you’re too cool for this winking headbanger.

All sycophanterie aside that is a pretty damn good album and was a pretty damn good band, so let’s check out the first and last tracks, shall we?

-KW