I’ve been a fan of Portland’s Danava for some time now…..the band fuses heavy rawk riffage, ripping guitar solos, tripped-out keyboard mayhem, thumping boogie-stomp grooves and more together into an amalgam of awesome.  Bringing a new sensibility to yesteryear’s sounds in spades, Danava’s new Kemado Records album Hemisphere of Shadows is a scorcher that knows when to wail and when to lay back, with guitarmonies, fuzz and moogs aplenty.  Think Hawkwind, Thin Lizzy, Zeppelin, Deep Purple……..but don’t think, just rock out.

The band has old stuff on its TheirSpace page, and a few new tracks can be found on MeTube:

The band is currently on the road; remaining tour dates (with Thrones) after the jump.

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This Friday, the one-and-only Melvins kick off a 25th anniversary celebration at New York’s Webster Hall, where (as I’ve mentioned before) the group will perform the classic Houdini LP in its entirety, followed by a set of tracks from the founding 1983 incarnation featuring original drummer Mike Dillard. The talented Trevor Dunn, who played some shows with his new band MadLove a couple weeks ago, will fill in on bass duties as the Big Business boys are currently touring in support of the just-released Mind The Drift album. Yet incidentally there’s another former Melvin who just happens to be in the Big Apple this weekend: Joe Preston.

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Typically, I’m not very interested in or even impressed by the majority of the acts that perform at the New York’s annual No Fun Fest, now a three-day event showcasing multiple noisemakers from around the world. On the occasions that I’ve actually attended, it has only been for a single night and typically to catch a single act. Though I read about this year’s lineup some weeks back, I’m still surprised and impressed just how many of these acts are actually exciting me–in my pants.

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