Fred Lefranc – Guitar, Vocals and Ben Delacroix – Drums formed Meredith in Paris, France and this four track free release available through their Bandcamp page is an excellent mixture of raw (garage) Punk – in the vein of The Stooges – , dark, contorted post Rock with roots back to Joy Division, adding some heavy (Post) Hardcore energy and not at least their own originality with cutting edge experimental taste. As they describe themselves perfectly: “Meredith are the bastard child of a drunken encounter between Dave Grohl and Shannon Wright, the duo Meredith was born on a moonless night, in the back of a filthy cab. Bearing the gifts of raw, uncompromising ruthlessness, with some siblings in Barkmarket, Fugazi and Trail of dead, their lineage is extensive and impassioned.” Read more Meredith – Debut, EP (2012) – free download!
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brushvox
Mental Architects – Celebrations (2012)
Mental Architects are a math rock trio from Sofia, Bulgaria, formed in 2001. Tony- guitars, Niki – bass/ keys and Max – drums/ electronics delivering a very intense, but refreshing cocktail of Math Rock and Progressive Rock, heavy riffs and very technical parts, rapid passages and slow, sometimes meditative moments are smartly build together in a flowing, beautiful hurricane of music.
They reminds me of Valerian Swing and their brilliant 2011 album “A Sailor Lost Around The Earth”. “Celebrations” consist of eight songs, each one of them being a small masterpiece, a little joyful ride. Read more Mental Architects – Celebrations (2012)
Fear Factory – The Industrialist (2012)
At two year distance, following “Mechanize”, Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares are back, they still using the Fear Factory name although the other former half of the band, drummer Raymond Herrera and bass player Christian Olde Wolbers still did not give up on their right of using the name and still pretend they are, legally and morally, still part of the band, so, there are – at least – some “legal complications”.
“Mechanize” was a very intense one, but not the best Fear factory album so far, this time Burton described the new material to be another concept album “sonically, conceptually, and lyrically”. And getting through the album for two-three times only confirmed that they definitively delivered an excellent product this time, and this is the perfect mixture of everything what Fear Factory have been. Read more Fear Factory – The Industrialist (2012)
Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell, EP (2012)
I have hundreds of albums to listen and eventually write a review, but when a band are back from the dead almost literally after 16 years, and this band really rocks the socks off once upon a time, I leave everything aside and focus on their release. This is only a six track teaser, probably the guys want to know if there are still headbangers out there interested in real Rock and worth the effort to come back full force. 16 fucking years! It was like yesterday when half of the rockers love them, the other half hate them for their success in 1992 with the single “Everything About You”, which peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart and made it into the Billboard Top 10. Later in the year the song was used in the movie “Wayne’s World.” “As Ugly As They Wanna Be” went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone becoming the highest selling debut E.P. of all time. But this mixture of satirical humor and Heavy Metal really got me back then, and till they disbanded in 1997, Ugly Kid Joe actually proved they are quite a serious and heavy band, well, keeping a good sense of humor is songs such as “Sandwich” or “Bicycle Wheels”. “Stairway To… Hell”? Are you kidding, don’t you? 😆
Their current line up is the last line up of the band crystallized in the mid 1994. Read more Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell, EP (2012)
IAMEVE – Throw Me A Line – Only the Wicked [Remix]
When everything is gray and predictable, prophecies are pointless. When life becomes routine, we don’t need crystal balls anymore to see the future and Magic fades away and dies. When we’ve got social networks, we can forget about real life… “Throw Me A Line” – my first intercourse with IAMEVE – sounds like an exile on planet Earth. Tiff Randol is half way between Kate Bush and Tori Amos while her music was best described by The Huffington Post as “if Alice took Ziggy Stardust’s hand and followed him down the rabbit hole to a world guided by the twists and turns of Randol’s ethereal and colorful vocals”. Randol is hypnotizing, she have the Magic.
IAMEVE’s debut album, “The Everything Nothing” is a 12-song concept album which explores the journey of Eve Ami from self-destruction to self-love. She explains: “We live in a world encumbered by a desire for instant gratification. Patience is a virtue that has been discarded by many of us pursuing big ideas, dreams, and love, often skewing our perspective with sensory overload. We are addicted to the next ping, beep, vibration, fix, or passing fancy. And none of this is a bad thing. I think the Universe is in a constant state of balancing itself. And that must be what’s happening now. Read more IAMEVE – Throw Me A Line – Only the Wicked [Remix]
Iggy Pop – Apres (2012)
I was afraid of this and eventually I’m right. On the other hand, this is almost like a trip back to my childhood and back to some of the songs my mom and dad danced on. So, the brand new link between Joe Dassin, Serge Gainsbourg, Harry Nilsson, Yoko Ono, Edith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Henri Salvador, Cole Porter, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra is Iggy Pop. Since January 6, 2009, when original Stooges guitarist, and Iggy’s self-described best friend Ron Asheton was found dead, Iggy acts…. different. Meantime – on March 15, 2010 – The Stooges were included into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Iggy released “Préliminaires”, his less rock-oriented and deeply sad album, flirting with Blues and Jazz, inspired by a novel by French author Michel Houellebecq. And Iggy keep on hanging to this… French connection. “Après” (After) definitively would delight my parents and bring me back some memories, but honestly, I’m not a nostalgic at all and can’t really feel this. 10 sad songs are a little bit too depressing for me right now when the whole world seems to sinking… Read more Iggy Pop – Apres (2012)
The Hunting Accident – Trees And Parks (2012)
“Every human being, even the youngest, is already old – that is, so close to death that he or she does not, in any case, have time to efface the accidental quality of the accidents of which his or her life is composed… We human beings are always more our accidents than our choice.” – Odo Marquard “In Defense Of The Accidental”
The Hunting Accident are a band from Los Angeles and their music is an excellent mixture of the 70’s pulsing heaviness with good sens of punk edginess and some tasty psychedelia and the tight and pounding modern sound and approach of the nowadays Indie and Post Rock. It’s almost like sending David Bowie to 2069. This music is ageless and without frontiers, they have both roots to American and Brit bands, in one moment you definitively will hear some The Beatles influences while in the very next moment there is something which reminds you The Stooges. And all these dualities I think are the strength of The Hunting Accident.
And more, they release comes for FREE, you can grab it, share it, listen to it and if you enjoy it, make a donation, they definitively deserve it! Read more The Hunting Accident – Trees And Parks (2012)
Hakan Ludvigson – July, EP (2012)
Producer, songwriter, DJ and record label owner; at 27, Håkan Ludvigson has already begun to make an imprint on the electronic music scene. In September 2011 he is taking the big leap as an original artist, releasing his debut artist album “Soulroom” on CD on his own Substream label.
He is living and breathing electronic music. Up to 2011, his productions have been mostly house and techno, engineered for DJs and clubs, released on vinyl.
“July” is a beautiful, romantic dream of a deep house track taken from Håkan’s debut studio album “Soulroom” , released last year.
Clubers and lovers will dig this seriously. Read more Hakan Ludvigson – July, EP (2012)
The Cult – Choice of Weapon (2012)
It’s definitively one of the most expected albums of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, The Cult are back! And they are back with some hard as a rock solid Rock. Kind of merging of two different eras of the band. One one hand we’ve got some real pounding classic Rock themes which lead us back to “Electric” (1987) and “Sonic Temple” (1989), on the other hand the album is filled with some dark, hypnotic tension which was characteristic for some of their more recent albums as “Beyond Good and Evil” (2001) and their previous “Born into This” (2007).
Bass player Chris Wyse describe it as a “Zep/Stooges mix of energy” – and the shadows of Iggy and Page are definitively hidden there. Read more The Cult – Choice of Weapon (2012)
The Constellations – Do It For Free (2012)
With a cover which reminds me of Sex Pistols and a sound which might result from the (imaginary) collision of the tour buses of Jefferson Airplane and House of Pain, The Constellations are back. Soul, 70’s Rock and 90’s Hip Hop is mixed up and pulsing around in their music.
Their debut album, “Southern Gothic”, released in 2010, is about what happens in Atlanta from 2 AM until noon, while the centerpiece, a delirious nine-minutes track, “Step Right Up” is a direct tribute to Tom Waits. “Atlanta is strange,” they said, “because we’re all basically pushed together. The hip-hop heads, punk rockers, and indie kids all rub shoulders and mix it up. “Southern Gothic” reflects that inclusive diversity in its far-reaching sound.”
Two years later, they are back with “Do It For Free” and the same flavor. Eventually less rapping, more soulful, kind of vintage spiced sound. Read more The Constellations – Do It For Free (2012)
