Cue - “Handful Savants” mp3
Cue - “The Sun Has Risen Twice Today” mp3
I had already wrote a long(er) post on Cue’s two mp3s they have on their site, but I managed to delete it before saving it. That hurts.
Those two mp3s are both utterly beautiful and captivating post-rock -compositions. Too keep long story short, listen to them. They are really good.
All-female Kiss tribute band from Italy. Enough said.
Codeon - “On My Side” mp3
Necrophagist - “Seven” mp3
Kai Hahto - Drum Solo At Tuska Open Air 2005 low wmv. / hi avi
Rotten Sound - “Western Cancer” mp3
Wings - “Sunburnt” mp3 sample
Wings - “Cast Asunder” mp3 sample
Deathbound - “For The Rats” mp3
Guitarist Sami Raatikainen from Helsinki-based metal band Codeon has been added to the ranks of German ultra-technical death metal beast Necrophagist. Now, that’s interesting news. I’ve never been much of friend to Codeon’s shredding, yet, but I sure am to Necrophagist.
First Finnish death metal scene simultaneously dropped jaws after reading about the co-op between Torture Killer and Six Feet Under/ex-Cannibal Corpse growler Chris Barnes, and now this - even if not as high profile, it’s nevertheless interesting news.
Earlier this week the news arrived that grindcore masters Rotten Sound and the drum god of the universe Kai Hahto have parted ways. OK, Hahto (check the video link for the cult following he has - my membership started in 1996 after Wings’ album) must have time issues with all his other projects, but what if he’d join forces with some well-known foreign band, as a friend of my suggested. How about Slayer, for example?
The new Rotten Sound drummer is Sami from Deathbound.
It’a a great honour for me to announce that the tenth guest in Luuvitosen Vippi series is Greg Burns from Red Sparowes. Greg also played in “dark chamber folk sextet” Halifax Pier. Red Sparowes’ debut album At The Soundless Dawn was released last spring and it made a huge positive impact, gaining new friends to the band from many different musical backgrounds, from post-rock to metal fans. Follow-up to At The Soundless Dawn is recorded and waiting for a release through Neurot Recordings later this year. At the moment the band is preparing for their second European tour that will start on March 1st in Netherlands and end also in Netherlands, on April 7th.
Red Sparowes - “Alone And Unware, The Landscape Was Transformed In Front Of Our Eyes” mp3
Red Sparowes - “Our Happiest Days Slowly Began To Turn Into Dust” mp3
I’ll let Greg introduce his choices. Please leave some comments, I’m sure he’d like to hear them.
“In my opinion Grails are one of the best bands around today. Although very tight, they have this effortless, loose quality that’s amazing. They manage to capture a huge amount of energy and control it through amazing dynamics, both live and recorded.”
“For someone that grew up listening to Yes and Rush, Zombi was an incredible discovery. Intense musicianship, no pretentions at all. They manage to capture everything good about 70’s synth rock and take it a millions steps further.
“This was one of the bands that started it all. Everyone seems to forget Tarentel and yet they were one of the most important bands in this surge of epic, textural, instrumental music. They’re still around today, and pushing the boundaries more than anyone else out there. A HUGE influence on not only my playing, but my musical tastes in general.
Tarantel - “Its In You Right Now, Just Get Still, Think About It, I Am Light Filled” mp3
“Guitar for people that hate guitar. Here you have two of the founding fathers of textural guitar for indy rock nerds like me. Nels Cline turns the guitar into a fucking animal, you’ve never seen anything like this. His knowledge of the instrument and the pedals he uses is beyond admirable. I aspire to be half of the musician this man is. Here he teams up with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. What can I say about Thurston Moore that hasn’t been said? He redefined rock. This is the best collaboration I could ever hope for.
Nels Cline and Thurston Moore - “We Love Our Blood (clip)” mp3
“Jesu. This from the man that brought you Godflesh. Beautiful soundscapes with intense melodies and dark, heavy moments. I get the same feeling from this that I got when I first heard My Bloody Valentine. Just pure, emotional and intense.”
Red Sparowes photo by Bryan Sheffield
Downstairs - “Wet From Sucking Cones” mp3
Downstairs - “We’ve Got Cobras In Our Organs” mp3
Downstairs from Helsinki, Finland, sounds like as if they have some serious issues to deal with. Kind of issues that prevent you from standing still, giving you sudden energy bursts and temporary moments of everything’s fine and then dropping back down to earth - after the music stops.
Or then they’re just another band with basal hardcore sound spiced with influences from all sorts of rhythmic music - where the energy is only positive and constructive from start to finish. At The Drive-In, The Blood Brothers, Glassjaw and Refused are mentioned in their biography and they give good image of what to expect from their sound.
Their second MCD Coward Constrictor Cries For Chivalry is just recently released, and the tracks linked above are from this release.
Danko Jones’ new album Sleep Is The Enemy is available for streaming at the album’s microsite. Also the new video for “Baby Hates Me” can be found there.
Battle - “Tendency” video hi ram. / hi asx.
Battle - “Feel The Same” mp3
Battle - “Isabelle” mp3
Battle’s “Tendency” must be one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard this year. It really isn’t nothing new, it’s not completely foolish either to compare them to Bloc Party and the other hot names of the last year, but so what, the song have everything what it takes to stuck in my Winamp and my head as well. Plus there’s just a tiny bit of Robert Smith of The Cure on Battle’s vocalist Jason’s voice (think “Love Song”).
Video for the song “Tendency” can be found at their website’s media section, as well as several other songs in mp3 format. Demo version of “Tendency” can be found in this post at Music Is Not Dead. Thanks to Andy for that post.
Susu - “In The Pool” mp3
Susu - “Get Hip” mp3
Susu - “Sister Brother” mp3
Susu is (other than the name of my mother’s dog) an unsigned indie/noise rock act from New York, with a strong overall sound. Last summer they recorded a six-song EP with producer Martin Bisi who have produced albums with artists from Sonic Youth to Swans and Iggy Pop to Unsane. Indie Night School interviewed the band over the matter.
Three of the six songs are available at their site. Especially the opener “In The Pool” caught my attention with its intensive and razor-sharp energy. Also the lyrics “you fuck up - you break up - i love you - i love you” will haunt you for rest of the day. Highly recommended.
Other two available tracks are not as catchy as “In The Pool”, but nevertheless, they are also good.
There’s also one new song, “Sawtooth” (mp3), available as an unmastered version - and also produced by Bisi. The band is scheduling a release of their debut full-lenght this spring, perhaps a 12″ vinyl, finincing it out of their own pockets.
Dirty Deeds Indeed - “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live)” mp3
Špeljbl’s Helprs - “You Shook Me All Night Long” mp3
AB/CD - “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” mp3
Back In Black (NL) - “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be” mp3
OC/DC - “Highway To Hell” mp3
Bonfire - “Sin City” mp3
Action In DC - “Night Prowler” mp3
Ballbreaker - “Thunderstruck” mp3
Back In Black (USA) - “TNT” mp3
BC/DC - “For Those About To Ride” mp3
The world first AC/DC Marathon is in action at the moment, in Oulu, Finland. Starting 10 AM, bands play the whole AC/DC backcatalogue in chronological order. They should finish early Sunday morning which means it’ll be quite an overdose of power riffs. Approximately 17 hours in total. All the benefit from the show is donated to The Finnish Association for Mental Health.
I went on a crusade as well and sought out ten tracks of AC/DC covers. There are hundreds of AC/DC tribute bands (and tributes to other classic bands as well) out there, some sound good, some not so good, but most interestingly - some sound exactly alike. For example number two on the list, Czech band Špeljbl’s Helprs, I can’t tell the difference from the original. I was kind of hoping to find some really OTT cover versions of AC/DC songs, but the trend is that all AC/DC tribute bands must sound as close to the original as possible.
Of these ten bands only the first one, Dirty Deeds Indeed, performs at the marathon, playing Let There Be Rock end to end.
Dead Next Door - “Time To Fight” mp3
Neon Machine - “Heaven Is A Lot Worse” mp3
Boys Of Scandinavia - “Beautiful As A Person” mp3
Band Of Horses - “The Funeral” mp3
The White Birch - “Your Spain” mp3
I haven’t done these five-song mixtapes in so long time that it’s almost illegal. But these take time to make - and that extra time I don’t have. Anyway, here comes four new songs I’ve found today plus Boys Of Scandinavia, for which I have had no excuse to post earlier.
British Dead Next Door starts with nice and upbeat indie rock tune, though it definitely have some reckless character in it as well. Danish Neon Machine picks up with their somewhat progressive art-pop. This song is from 2003, but it still reminds a bit of their natives, Mew. Maybe it’s just the drum beat, or then I’m on my way finding the core sound of Danish pop music. Oujee. Boys Of Scandinavia’s debut album was really much hyped in Finland at the end of last year, and it admittedly have a lot of dark disco/ post-punk charm in it. They did a four-night tour in Finland in mid-January, at a time when it was around -30 celsius outside and still over 1 400 people turned out to see them altogether. Band Of Horses, then. They appeared here last March when they still were just Horses. Anyway, they have a debut album ready to be released and this song here comes from it, naturally. They sit well in this company. Norwegian The White Birch play slowly moving music for small hours, something I never can’t get enough. Oh, how comforting this song is, as if nothing ever went wrong.
