Category: Buzz Chart

In case you hadn’t guessed from the name, Dusty Rhodes and his southern-fried River Band are pretty well acquainted with their classic Americana. ‘First You Live‘ is the Californian sextet’s debut album, and a gloriously diverse, psychedelic beast it is too. Imagine the Flaming Lips sharing a flask of moonshine whiskey with Hank Williams, and you’ll have a rough idea of where Dusty and co. are coming from.

Incorporating accordion, harmonica, violin and mandolin into the traditional band set-up was never going to result in the most conventional of sounds, and so it proves with ‘First You Live‘. ‘Leaving Tennessee‘ is a yearning, up-tempo country stomp, whilst recent single ‘Dear Honey‘ is a drunken lament to lost love to rival the best of them. Elsewhere, ‘Street Fighter‘ boasts a gritty, guitar-laden chorus, and the closing, Beatles-esque ‘Ballad Of Graff‘ is worthy of a ‘Hey Jude‘-sized sing along.

Check out ‘Leaving Tennessee‘ on the link above. The band will also be visiting the UK for the first time, when they play three London shows at the end of this month. Let’s face it, we could use a bit of Californian cheer at this time of the year.

Live dates:

March 28th – The Luminaire (Kilburn)
April 1st – The Fly (Holborn)
April 3rd – The Water Rats (King’s Cross)

There’s a lot of great bands coming from the Emerald Isle right now but Putrefy are seriously sick, they’re from Northern Ireland and have one of the best death/gore metal sounds out there at moment.

This release on Redrum Records is their 1st album and also comes with all the songs from the former “Lust so Vile” EP making this a must have. All of the songs have been re-recorded and re-mastered for this making Cranium Smashing Brutality as brutal as it comes! It’s safe to say that Putrefy have very much developed from the last EP and serve up much tighter and more complicated arrangements which brings comparisons to heavy hitters like Gorerotted. with this release. Classic tracks such as “Drowned in Concrete” and “Tit, Clits and Hacked of Bits“, stand out for amazing timing and demonic brutality.

If you are looking for the embodiment of true underground metal featuring green zombie artwork with samples, blasting raw power, breakdowns and gutteral vocals then Putrefy have all the right ingredients for a dose of proper underground death.

French

Unless you spent last summer hiding in a remote cave, you will probably be at least vaguely familiar with Operator Please’s debut single ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong‘. A brilliantly hyperactive burst of punk-pop with semi-rapped verses and handclaps galore, it really should have been an all-conquering soundtrack to the summer. Not that there was much of a UK summer for it to soundtrack, mind you, but such is life.

However, don’t be fooled into thinking that this teenage Australian quintet are a happy-clappy novelty band, as ‘Yes Yes Vindictive‘ will put paid to such ideas. Opener ‘Zero Zero‘, ‘Get What You Want‘ and the title track are all brooding, angular blasts of noise-pop; ‘Two For My Seconds‘ shows the unashamedly melodic flipside of the OP coin, and ‘Ghost‘ is built around a beautifully simple acoustic guitar line and vocal, à la Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. Overall, it’s a record of remarkable depth and diversity for such a young band, and one that looks set to make them plenty of new friends in 2008.

Check out recent single ‘Leave It Alone‘ on the link above. The band have loads of UK dates planned for April and May (including some with Lightspeed Champion), so check their Myspace page for the latest updates.

Alex Gosman

If you ask a Less Than Jake fan what their favourite LTJ record is, there’s a good chance that they’ll go for 1998’s ‘Hello Rockview‘. Arguably one of the finest records to come from the late-90s US ska/punk boom, it effectively kick-started the band’s now-huge following on this side of the pond; not least due to the success of the single ‘All My Best Friends Are Metalheads‘ and the band’s first UK tour the following year.

Getting hold of the band’s earlier releases, however, has not been the easiest of tasks – until now. The band have recently formed their own label, Sleep It Off Records (distributed in the UK by those good folks at Cooking Vinyl), and will shortly re-release their ‘Pezcore’, ‘Losers, Kings…’ and ‘ Goodbye Blue & White’ records on said label.

‘Goodbye Blue & White‘ is probably the least well-known of the above three records, but is well worth a listen for any LTJ fan wanting to delve into the band’s past. Essentially an odds n’ sods collection, it includes some amusing cover versions (e.g. ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’; ‘Teenager In Love’), some rare B-sides, and a few 7″ single versions of then-future album tracks. There’s also a great, chilled-out remix of ‘Dopeman’ on offer. Oh, and apparently there’s also some extra liner notes and DVD footage included too!

The band’s next studio album is still a few months away (at least), so this should tide you over in the meantime. Check out the band’s cover of ‘I Think I Love You‘ on the link above.

Alex Gosman

OK, let’s start by saying that you cannot avoid the hype on this record. Sometimes that can put people off before they have even heard the bloody thing but proof is always in the pudding and before we go any further with this review, it’s best to mention that this is in fact already my fave album of the year.

MGMT is a duo from NYC and the concoction that is unleashed when singer/guitarist Andrew Vanwyngarden and keyboardist Ben Goldwasser get together is somewhat electric. Between them, the boys have taken basic songwriting skills from heroes such as Neil Young and doused them in their own infectious psychedelic sauce that bites like chili and stings like a bee throughout. This is accompanied by the fact that producer Dave Fridman, (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev etc) has stepped in to make their dreamy sounds come to life which adds mystique and beauty in droves.

Tracks such as the anthemic ‘Time To Pretend‘, ‘Kids‘, and ‘Electric Feel‘ are the so called flagship tracks but the deeper you get into this record, you realise that your favourite choon changes weekly. Take ‘Of Moons, Birds and Monsters‘ as an example. It oozes 70’s cool and then melts into one of the best musical breakdowns ever written. If you like your indie with a twist then you will not find anything this fresh anywhere else. Get it whilst it’s hot when it’s released on March 10th and look out for the single ‘Time to Pretend‘ out on March 3rd. Watch the video here and read a Crossfire interview with the duo here.

Zac Slack

If you have so much as a passing interest in contemporary metal, you should be aware that we are currently in the midst of a rather exciting thrash revival; with bands like Evile, Municipal Waste, Fueled By Fire, and SSS breathing new life into a genre renowned for its aggression, warp-speed riffing and chaotic live performances. Now welcome Warbringer; five young guys from Los Angeles, whose debut album suggests that 2008 will be a vintage year for thrash.

‘Never judge a book by its cover’, they say; but you’ll be pleased to hear that the contents of ‘War Without End‘ are as impressive as the gloriously OTT cover (see above). These guys rip through the likes of ‘Total War‘ and ‘Hell On Earth‘ with brutal speed and precision, and vocalist John Kevill is blessed with a particularly potent, rasping scream. And if you’re still not convinced, then you might like to know that legendary thrash producer Bill Metoyer was on production duties for this particularly enticing slice of aural carnage. He’s done a damn fine job, too.

Derivative? Perhaps. Invigorating? Definitely. Check out ‘Dread Command‘ on the link above.

Alex Gosman

So, it was a cold Wednesday afternoon and after being subjected to 50 Cent and Thomas the Tank Engine mash ups all day, I decided it was time for a noise revolution. I was looking for something erratic and loud and boy did I find it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you ‘‘Throats’.This brutal 5 piece from London are loud and proud. If you’re looking for a melody, some polished riffs and some sweet sweet lyrics about your emo ranger girlfriend, then I suggest you grab your Punkyfish bag and exit because these boys aren’t for you.

I whacked this on at Crossfire HQ yesterday and this was one response from ex- Kerrang! writer James Sherry – ‘This is fucking great. It makes me want to carve through a forest with a chainsaw whilst kicking small furry animals into tree stumps. I’m going to see them play live asap!’

Converge fans….get your ear ‘oles around this….and then look out for their record on Holy Roar Records soon.

Kelly Renda

The Horrorpops could certain teach Justin a thing or two in terms of bringing sexy back. Granted, you probably won’t see the Danish psychobilly trio bothering the charts in the near future (for shame!), but in third album ‘Kiss Kiss Kill Kill‘, they’ve created what is probably the sexiest, most sultry kitten of an album to grace these ears since, erm, their previous record.

The band may veer towards the more melodic, pop-oriented end of the psychobilly spectrum, but their signature sharp wit remains delightfully intact (with vocalist/upright bassist Patricia Day gleefully parodying the chorus of Madness’ ‘Our House’ for the “My fist, in the middle of your face” refrain of ‘MissFit’). Be it the ska-tinged stylings of the aforementioned ‘MissFit‘, the rollicking stomp of ‘Boot2Boot’, or the widescreen balladry of ‘Hitchcock Starlet’, the Horrorpops pull it off with an abundance of catchy tunes and no little panache.

Check out ‘Heading For The Disco?’ and smile as Patricia takes aim at would-be 80’s fashionista types in suitably sassy style. Oh, and be sure to have your dancing shoes at the ready.

Alex Gosman

Whilst gallivanting around London recently with my partner in musical crime ‘Scene Damage’, she mentioned a band that have been rocking her socks recently. Remembering hazily the next day her excitement about them, I dropped her an e-mail to refresh my memory.

The culprits…Portugal. The Man. To get straight to the point, I have had this Alaskan indie 3 piece firmly on repeat for the last two days. ‘My Mind‘ being my favorite of their tracks up on MySpace, which you can hear by clicking above.

Musically, they aren’t like anything else I am aware of. Using a fusion of drum machines, synth loops and the more conventional, guitar, these boys have managed to create a soul, indie, rock mish mash that works perfectly. Usually, the words ‘indie’ and ‘high pitched vocals’ would send me running to the hills, but they have got it spot on.

PTM have played with the likes of The Fall of Troy, The Matches, HORSE the Band and Gatsby’s American Dream. In early 2007 PTM released an E.P entitled ‘It’s complicated being a wizard‘ which contained one 23 minute long song. PTM are now officially no longer part of the Fearless Record family and plan on independently releasing a studio album and returning to Europe in February. I can’t wait!

Kelly Renda

What I like most about The Loved Ones‘ second album, is that it’s really fucking good. Yeah, yeah, very profound and insightful of me, I know. But the fact is that on ‘Build & Burn‘, the Philadelphia quartet have taken the traditional folk-punk ingredients – gruff vocals, rough-edged melodies and some good stories to tell – and blended them into something pretty darn special.

Laden with tunes that will stick in your head for ages, but retaining the band’s trademark sense of conviction and honesty, fans of The Replacements, Chuck Ragan, Against Me! and Hot Water Music really should wrap their ears around this one as soon as possible. It encompasses straight-up punk rock (‘Pretty Good Year’, ‘Sarah’s Game‘), a semi-acoustic lament (‘Brittle Heart‘) and even – gasp! – a love song (the closing ‘I Swear‘), and at just over half an hour in length, it doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Did I mention that ‘Build & Burn‘ was produced by Pete Steinkopf and Bryan Kienlen from the Bouncing Souls, and also features guest spots from various members of The Hold Steady? Not that you really need any more reasons to check it out. Have a listen to ‘Sarah’s Game‘ on the link above.

Alex Gosman