Saturday To Iron Out Your Ashes

Who wants to talk about DEATH?!?  Not the band (or the band), but the actual end of one’s life.  Understandably, it’s a touchy subject for many — myself included — but it’s obviously a comin’ so eventually we’ll all have to get ready.

And “getting ready” clearly includes thinking about what you want to do with your sexy decomposing body after your sassy spirit rises up/down to heaven/heck.  One can be enbalmed and put on display at a funeral, then buried or cremated into ashy remains.  What a choice!  I might opt for a green burial myself (and btw that seems to be available as a band name if anyone’s interested), but it’s certainly a heavy and tough decision to consider.

ANYWAY, before I depress you all beyond the brink, let’s remind ourselves that we are still alive and embrace some of the joys of life for a change.  Rather than wallow in despair over your relationship breaking up, or your various band dramas, or a whole slew of potential work/school/personal issues, let’s at least try to revel in the celebratory nature of some (hopefully) inspiring tunes.

I for one have been extremely moved lately by The Wind Takes A Side, the new album from St. Louis’ self-described “4 piece downtempo-posteverything-instrumental outfit” Ashes And Iron.  I had the pleasure of playing a show with these guys on my band Family‘s recent tour, and was extremely impressed. As we all know, sprawling post-instrumetal can often be a tad (or a lot) boooorrrrinnnngggg, but this band truly delivers purposefully epic, intelligently introspective jamzzz that ebb and flow in tasty ways over and over again.

This album was unfortunately released in the mostly-dead period of mid-December, so I bet Axl won’t let me include it on my 2015 year-end list (what a naughty Nazi!), but I would be remiss if I didn’t call this release out to y’all as one of my recent favorites.

Check it out:

For those of you in the St. Louis area, Ashes and Iron will be playing a record release show for this album TONIGHT at The Firebird, so get your asses down there!  Wish I could go :(

And now that your aural appetite is whetted, here are a few more ashy, iron-y anthems to get cremated to… starting, of course, with an Iron Maiden live performance that lasts for exactly four minutes and twenty seconds!