Label: Warrior Records Released: September 15, 2009 Fans of Chad Smith’s other endeavors, the funk/punk of Red Hot Chili Peppers and the generic hard rock of Chickenfoot, will find his Bombastic Meatbats project to be a surprise to say the least. It owes more to 70s fusion artists John McLaughlin and Herbie Hancock and jazz-oriented prog than it does to… Read more »
Label: Virgin/EMI Released: October 20, 2009 Jethro Tull live in 1978? Haven’t we already heard that? The ill-timed Bursting Out was from European dates of the same tour and that immediately begs the question, of all the live Tull recordings sitting in the vaults, why release yet another form the Heavy Horses tour? Depending on your feelings about progressive rock,… Read more »
Label: No Sleep Records Released: August 11, 2009 I love when a record is really busy, but doesn’t get lost in the busyness. On the four song Only Boundaries, Balance and Composure fully live up to their name, balancing intricacies with listenable sensibility and remaining composed while the music swirls. “I Can’t Do This Alone” combines a tribal rhythm with… Read more »
Label: Friction Records Released: October 20, 2009 Albums that rely heavily on noisy dissonance and angular rhythms as a means of expression seldom even dabble in accessibility, but Person Place or Thing, the latest from Michigan’s mathy post-punkers Victor! Fix the Sun, is clear evidence of what’s missing from that narrow view. From the ringing guitar and wild, frantic drumming… Read more »
Label: Dancing Sasquatch Records Released: April 2009 So much stoner and doom rock tends to be an exercise in heaviness alone. While that certainly has its place, few people can take the steady bludgeoning that it offers even as it fills that need in all who really love heavy metal for the mind-numbing weight of slow, trudging riffs that take… Read more »
Label: Released: October 6, 2009 The progression of an artist from a seminal band to a solo career usually tells us more about the artist now that they’re freed from the shackles of band unity (in whatever form it existed). What’s interesting about Grant Hart’s Hot Wax is that it tells us some things about him, but more of where… Read more »
Label: Fainting Room Collective Released: October 2009 There’s no doubt that the Family Curse really like noise in general and the Butthole Surfers in particular. The opening track certainly makes no bones about it, but also shows that they don’t quite get it. It’s random and pointless and they miss that even the wild abandon of the Buttholes and the… Read more »
Label: Meteor 17 Released: September 22, 2009 Flying Machines recently won Converse’s “Get Out of the Garage” nationwide battle of the bands contest. Their music has been featured on TV’s Psych. They’re a band on the way up. So, what’s the hype? Well, their guitar driven pop rock (a la the Killers) fits in nicely with the current mood of… Read more »
Label: Bronx Born Records Released: September 15, 2009 Anomaly is the latest release from Ace Frehley, but it’s also a good description of Space Ace himself in a sense. After all, he’s the only member of Kiss to make any good records on his own. So, score one for Ace. On the other hand, it’s been 20 years since he’s… Read more »
Label: Blackheart Records Released: June 2, 2009 Coming two years after their promising debut, Trio BC shows a young band that has done some significant maturing as musicians. The album maintains their early punkish edge, but expands the sound well beyond that. Nina Diaz elevates herself to a rough-around-the-edges Patsy Cline, particularly on the yearning, tender melancholy of “El Monte.”… Read more »