Bored of media, mainstream and of all the fake music and star-posers, politicians and quitters, couch-revolutionaries and street punks, my own shit and in less words, bored by everything, for this marvelous God-given Sunday, I dig out for you folks this pretty obscure American folk-punk (anti-folk) band, Andrew Jackson Jihad. Not quite expert of this (sub) genre, actually resuming my knowledge to the New Model Army, “Knife Man” is surprisingly breathing, absolutely alive and funny in a world which isn’t funny at all and eventually lost his very last drop of sense of humor.
The band obtained much coverage for their songs about “serial killers, cigarettes, child abuse, and a vengeful Jesus”. They were also the subject of controversy in an issue of HeartattaCk regarding their song “I Love You”:
“I like telling dirty jokes, And I like smoking crystal meth, But darling I love you. And I like laughing at retards, And I like throwing rocks at dogs, But darling I love you. I love you like the moon and stars, When little kids get hit by cars, Girl you know it’s true. Darling, I love you. I’ve been tryin’ to move on, since you left, Since you’ve been gone, but it’s so hard on me. Talked to a girl in first hour, bought her a CD, Bought her a flower, but she’s a stupid cunt. But I’ll take anything, and I’ll take anyone. I’ll take an angry lesbian with a loaded gun. I’ll take a whore with syphilis and gonorrhea too. But darling, I love you. ”
This is funny – seriously. I wonder what the “You Don’t Want to Fuck With Me” lyrics are about? 😆 😆 😆 Read more Andrew Jackson Jihad – Knife Man (2011) ›

Mark E. Smith might be considered the “father figure” of several punk rock generations. Or the stepfather figure. 😀 Figure it out for yourself. Formed back in 76, what Mark E. Smith said, still stands: “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, then it’s the Fall”. Not at all surprisingly, the 29th studio album by The Fall sounds fresh and it’s kicking, scratching and biting as always. And at age 54, Mark E. Smith proves to be much more alive than most of the nowadays kids with stupid hair cuts, sneakers, iPads and lack of personalities and perspectives. If I tell you that “Ersatz G.B.” it’s the best The Fall album, probably you will not believe me, but it’s actually their best album. Still, don’t know who plays the bongos and the other instruments around Mark E. Smith this time, but they all did a great job! 😀 Read more The Fall – Ersatz G.B. (2011) ›

I stumbled into their second album “Ressentiment” last year and it was (another) love at first listening. Matt Lupo – guitar and vocals, Kevin Conway – guitar and vocals, Chris Alfano – guitar and vocals, Brett Bamberger – bass guitar and vocals, and Seth Rheam – drums find their own special way to merge death metal intensity with hardcore rawness adding progressive and sometimes jazz elements into their complex, but breathing compositions. They use the name East of the Wall since 2007, although actually they have roots back till 1996 when they formed The Postman Syndrome, change their name into Day Without Dawn in 2006 and they are also involved in two other projects: Dangerous Cowboy and El Drugstore.
While “Ressentiment” reminded me of the contorted universe of Voivod from their “Nothingface” era, “The Apologist” seems to be more settled and balanced, but still heavy and kicking.
Cynic back in the 80’s open the path with their brilliant “Focus” and now a whole new generation grew up and delivering extremely intense and creative materials. The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between The Buried And Me, Rolo Tomassi, Called To Arms, The Black Dahlia Murder , Chiodos, Gladiator, Converge, Haste the Day, Every Time I Die, Bleeding Through, Chiodos, Asleigh Stake, Just Like Vinyl and not at least East of the Wall are few of these new voices coming through and claiming their place. And the crown belongs to them. Read more East of the Wall – The Apologist (2011) ›

I admit it right from the beginning: I never was a fan of this Metallica diluted into mainstream rock kind of shit, Nickelback never meant something for me. Sorry folks! So, I listen “Here And Now” absolutely detached, I didn’t expect anything. And well, this is almost a correct rock album. With few exceptions. For instance the 80’s disco and Sandra-like “When We Stand Together” is absolutely senseless or quite out of my sense of humor anyway. Unfortunately they choose it to be the lead single of the album. The opening “This Means War” sounds more driven, more appropriate, but probably too heavy for most of the radio listener housewives… After all these years, Nickelback still don’t realize that it is not possible to satisfy everybody and actually, it’s not even necessary. But I understand, the pressure is high after their previous multi-platinum selling “Dark Horse” in 2008. But once again: a real rock band is not about multi-selling. Or it shouldn’t be. Although, I’ve got nothing against being famous, popular and rich by selling lot of records and being rock star. But not with all and any cost. Read more Nickelback – Here And Now (2011) ›

Post rock merging together progressive explorations and kind of abstract trippings and polished, melancholic indie rock resonances. Sounds pretty American, but also have some clear, tasty European aromas, roots. It’s a pretty unique mixture of traditional (progressive) rock with contemporary shoegaze, psychedelic experiences and space rock after-tastes merged into post-rock driven indie vibes, but also including some of the gloomy, post-emo bitterness.
Formed on 31st December 2005 by Antony Lourdel, Alexis Medina and Anthony Wailly, the French Eepocampe delivered their second album on the 5th of October 2011 and they are looking at the world to conquer it. Read more Eepocampe – When Things Get Abstract (2011) ›

Progressive, technical death metal from Istanbul, Turkey of a young, talented band formed only one year ago by guitarists Ahmet Saraçoğlu and Batuhan Bekmen. Enver Yılmaz filled in as vocalist and bassist Onur Altınay and drummer Bahadır Sarp finally complete the line-up.
They planned to record an EP including three songs: “Ravenous Sun”, “Seized by Obscurity” and “Laceration”, but they actually wrote almost an hour of music, so they delivered directly a debut album. This is quite a brilliant release and well, you can download it for free from the band’s web site. Read more Thrown to the Sun – Of Oceans and Raindrops (2011) free download! ›

“Blackjazz” was my favorite album of 2010 and it was only “beaten” by very short in the very last lap by Zorn’s “Ipsissimus” ( 10 best albums of 2010 ). The Norwegian band find an extremely unique path between jazz, black and industrial metal and forged screaming saxophones with cutting edge riffs and pounding drums, howling, brutal vocals with schizophrenic melodies, grinding noises with killer rhythms. Jørgen Munkeby definitively it’s a maniac and with his band mates – Torstein Lofthus, Tor Egil Kreken, Massive Skills – Shining gets stronger and better every day. Delivering a live version of their songs reveals the true dimension of their power, rawness and merciless vitality. 9 tracks, not exclusively the tracklist of their murderous “Blackjazz”, but including also older compositions as well, “Live Blackjazz” is the promise that Shining will deliver more and more excitement in the following decades. Read more Shining – Live Blackjazz (2011) ›