The Harmony have released 2 video edits this weekend for your viewing pleasure. Click on for some footage of their trip to Greece and more here…
Author: Crossfire
I-Path get Blazed and Confused
The I-Path team will be heading over to the UK very soon, look out for the dates on here next week but in the meantime enjoy this East Coast tour mission with Fred Gall, Matt Rodriguez, Jaws, Ben Raybourn, Danny Dicola, Bob Burnquist, Ryan Lay, Kenny Reed, Steve Nesser and Jack Sabback.
Subway World
Torkel Sjostrand
(Dokument)
The title of the book says it all and that’s why this is such a great book to flick through. The trend that began in New York has quickly been taken all over the world and turned into integral parts of the graffiti landscape. Whilst many authorities are doing their best to clear the subway cars of this amazing art, this book allows you to see just how far the movement has spread, regardless.
As the introduction informs, there are more than 140 subway systems across the world and many of them differ from each other, but what binds them is this art. Indeed, as the author states: “In the world of graffiti, there is no end station; instead, individual cities are interlinked, as if in one global subway system. A subway world.”. What better way to prove this statement than by showing trains from 75 cities in full colour shots with information on the city beside each one.
From Yerevan in Armenia through Caracas in Venezuela to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, the art shines brightly and the anecdotes certainly raise a smile. For example, in Lille, as Derick from SPK-Mutants says, you can work on the train without fear of a driver catching you, as the trains are driverless and in Warsaw, Bitch from EWC says there’s only one line on their subway system, so more progress has been made in the bombing than on the actual trains.
There are many interesting facts strewn throughout the book and they sit nicely alongside the brilliant photography. Well worth picking up!
Abjekt.
Off With Their Heads
In Desolation
Epitaph
www.myspace.com/offwiththeirheads
‘In Desolation’ is OWTH‘s debut for Epitaph, with Mr Brett himself personally endorsing these Minneapolis Punkers, and with good reason.
I’ve seen OWTH a couple of times (they’ve toured the UK twice) and liked them a lot. As for their recorded output, I have a couple of seven inches, and the previous LP ‘From The Bottom’, which although quite good, did not exactly blow me away. So, I stuck this disc in the player, and was ready to be… well… entertained. Here’s hoping!
Hey… wait… the opening number ‘Drive’ is fantastic! And song # 2 ‘My Own Medicine’ has literally grabbed me by the throat… “if your looking for a reason, you got one in each hand” – yeah! Jeez, not just entertained, blown away!!! Wow! By song # 4 ‘ZZYZX’ I’m rocking to the OWTH sound, big time, all the way through to closing number ‘Clear The Air’. This is bloody excellent!! It’s been on repeat in my stereo for days…
This is a magnificent collection of rough edged melodic Punk, and Ryan Young’s craggy vocals cut through like a power saw. This hits me with a wave of general feel-goodness, as when I heard Avail, Dillinger 4 and Hot Water Music for the first time. And the songs Ryan sings might dwell on loss, loneliness and separation, but are anything but downbeat. And that’s the point; to cure the heartache and elevate the spirits through the music. Oh, they did mine!
A highly recommended album that’s a definite for my year-end Top Ten. OWTH are back on these shores in August, go see ‘em, sing your heart out…
Pete Craven
Roky Erickson With Okkervil River
There are few musicians that genuinely deserve the ‘legendary’ tag that is so often banded about, but Roky Erickson certainly does. Having almost single-handily created true psychedelic rock music in the mid-sixties with Texan freaks The 13th Floor Elevators, their utterly heroic embracement of psychedelic drugs saw them not only create some of the finest shifting out-of-synch rock music ever set to tape, they also blew their brains to smithereens in the process. The Texan authorities came down hard on the Elevators, who openly flaunted their drug use.
Keep in mind that being caught with one joint in the mid-sixties in Texas could land you with a ten year stretch so these psychedelic warlords were not only out of their minds, but incredibly brave. Every gig they played, they played on acid. Every recording they made, they were ripped off their tits. They wanted to ‘play’ the acid like an instrument and did just that. It was only a matter of time before the authorities would catch them.
However, rather than going to prison, Roky chose to enter a psychiatric ward instead where his genius brain was subjected to months of electro-shock therapy and mind destroying drugs that turned him into a zombie and unleashed a series of mental problems that would see him out of action for most of the 70s. Despite returning to the music scene in the 80s with some grand garage horror film influenced rock, he was obviously still in bad shape and soon disappeared to his own mental hell for most of the 90s.
So, the fact that there is a new Roky Erickson album to talk about is a feat in itself. And the fact that it’s really fucking good is testament to Roky’s over-riding natural talent and sheer triumph over adversity. ‘True Love Cast Out All Evil’ is comprised from songs, some dating back to the sixties, that Roky has crafted over the years and never finished and they sound incredible. Backed by friends Okkervil River, they provide the perfect backing to Roky’s painfully honest and heartfelt songs. Tracks like ‘Good Bye Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Please Judge’ come from dark places in Roky’s mind but are played with a joyous spirit that he is well and performing again.
A true survivor. A true legend. True love.
James Sherry
Tubelord are back!
Tubelord have announced they will release a new EP called Tezcatlipōca.
The self produced effort will be released on August 16th and you can check out one of the tracks from it, Ratchet, below. The band will also be touring extensively as well as curating their own ROTA art exhibition and show at the Notting Hill Arts Club on August 7th. Winners.
Tubelord ‘Ratchet’ by Hassle Records
June
26th Queens Head, Glastonbury Festival
30th Berkshire @ Wellington
July
16th 2000 Trees Festival, Cheltenham
25th Birmingham @ The Flapper
August
01st Y Not Festival, Derbyshire
07th ROTA @ Nottinghill Arts Club, London FREE ENTRY (4pm-8pm)
15th Moor Music Festival, Skipton
20th Castle Calling @ Richmond Castle, Yorkshire
21st Morton Stanley Festival, Redditch
September
21st Leeds @ Cockpit
22nd Sheffield @ The Harley
23rd Manchester @ Sound Control
24th Northampton @ Labour Club
25th Lincoln @ SCY
27th Norwich @ The Marquee
28th Nottingham @ The Central
29th Reading @ Face Bar
30th High Wycombe @ Nags Head
October
01st Brighton @ Freebutt
02nd Cambridge @ Portland Arms
03rd Cardiff @ Buffalo
07th London @ Water Rats
08th Portsmouth @ Kraken Awakes
09th Chester @ Telford’s Warehouse
Deshi’s Traffic Report
Today’s Traffic Report comes from Yoshihiro Ohmoto who shreds Philly for fun!
In Podium’s own words: Daewon attempts to recreate his World Industries “Love Child” part and failed. So he filmed some new shit to promote his DVS x Almost collab shoe. Check out the shoe at the DVS site
Them Crooked Vultures have announced details of a one-off show at London’s Brixton Academy on July 5th.
The band will donate any proceeds from the show towards the treatment of Eagles of Death Metal bassist Briaon O’ Connor, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Tickets went on sale this morning, so be sure to snap one up while they’re still available.
Mother Mother upload tour blog
Fresh off the back of a UK tour and the release of their latest album “O My Heart”, Mother Mother have uploaded some of their own footage from the road.
This two part video blog features the band talking on camera, as well clips of the band performing on stages (and beaches!) across the country. Check it out!