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OBN III

OBN III
‘Third Time To Harm’
(Tic Tac Totally)

Austin garage rockers OBN take their name from frontman Orville Bateman Neeley, and take no prisoners on record. At first, ‘Third Time To Harm’ is a fairly straightforward beast, with the likes of ‘No Time For The Blues’ and ‘Uncle Powderbag’ barrelling along on surf guitars, squalling solos and an almost tangible sense of urgency, not to mention the man himself drawling like Iggy Pop’s bastard son. It’s enough to make you feel mightily envious of the good rock n’ roll lovers of Austin, who probably get to see these guys tear up local stages on a regular basis.

However, OBN III are just as effective when they’re not going hell for leather. Centrepiece ‘Queen Glom’ is a great slow burner, building from a languid chugging riff to a stomp-along chorus, whilst the organ-laden ‘Beg To Christ’ recalls the best work of much-missed Swedish crew The Hellacopters.

There’s something semi-evangelical about Neeley’s sneering delivery, and as cliched as this might sound, his is a band that seems to believe in rock n’ roll not just as music, but as religion. Here’s hoping you also see the light.

Alex Gosman

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Music News

Wu-Tang Clan’s secret box opened in Marrakech

wutang_box

The Wu Tang‘s momumental wind up continues this week with a writer for Forbes being sent out to Morocco to open the box. Hear 51 seconds of new music from Once Upon a Time in Shaolin with the album’s producer, Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh in between a tonne of top grade bullshit. Even Cher is in the mix…

Read our analogy of this entire concept once you have waded through this mud.

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Chain & The Gang

Chain & The Gang
‘Minimum Rock N Roll’
(Fortuna Pop)

Ian Svenonius always does good party manifesto. I first heard his “13 Point Plan To Destroy America” with Nation of Ulysses then got to interview him as leader of Gospel influenced MAKE-UP for my old grunge fanzine Velvet Sheep when he said “the only reason we make music is cos what can poor people do to fight against the context they’re forced to live in, in terms of capitalist society? The great promise of rock & roll is the idea of self-creation”. And he’s created yet another brilliant band Chain & The Gang who return after a triumphant MAKE-UP reunion (I was there, I testified as Ian repeatedly smacked a microphone into his Steptoe-esque teeth) with the brilliantly understated “Minimum Rock & Roll“. To call it lean is an understatement.

On the brilliant teaser Ian intones that this record does not contain the following: “Extraneous words, unnecessary sounds, frivolous notes. Fewer Words — Fewer Notes — Fewer Beats. You’re tired of hearing them, we’re sick of making them”.

Like The Cramps this is cut to the bone. Still funky, still sexy, still incandescent. But made from rubbing two sticks together rather than with a flame thrower. If politics is about personality these days, I say we should all clamour for Ian’s immediate election.

Nick Hutchings

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Music News

Opinion: Let Kurt Cobain Rest in Peace

kurt_cobain_wallet

Another week passes where Kurt Cobain‘s tragic suicide in 1994 has left a stain on the music press across the world. The various photos of his body laying on the ground after shooting himself in the head have been plastered across many publications and social networks, alongside his personal possessions, drug paraphernalia and last moments thanks to the Seattle Police Department. It doesn’t make for fun reading whatsoever, but merely adds more reality to the obsession that the internet generation, be it journalists or public, want to know everything about everyone, despite its tragic content.

The partially-revealed ‘wedding vow’ letter that was released this week, allegedly found in Kurt’s wallet regarding his wife Courtney Love, was yet another blow of sadness. People seem to forget that his daughter Frances and wife are still out there trying to push their lives forward 20 years on, but essentially with the huge amount of chit chat that has been generated from an ‘OK’ Magazine reaction to his personal belongings, his family are never allowed to rest.

Today, that letter, that has been reported worldwide as though Cobain was mocking his wedding vows, has been made public in full, revealing that the note could well have been written by Courtney Love herself. The full letter reads:

“Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife, even when she’s a bitch with zits and siphoning all your money for doping and whoring. Will you promise to fuck her at least once a week, O.K.,”

The fascination surrounding his death has reached critical mass and hopefully the press will now be able to take a step back and realise that this constant bombardment of lack of privacy to his family and friends should come to rest now like Cobain himself.

Listen to our Nirvana interviews from yesteryear and remind yourself that these were, and still are, good people, who made incredible music that changed a generation. The world is so desperately in need of another Nirvana right now…

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J Mascis sings on new Fucked Up track

Fucked Up have welcomed none other than J Mascis to their new track Led by Hand. The Dinosaur Jr frontman joins Damian and co for the choruses in this more-mellow-than-ever new song.

Look out for the new album Glass Boys which is due out at the beginning of June via Matador Records.

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Eagulls

Eagulls
‘Eagulls’
(Partisan Records)

eagulls_albumFor all intents and purposes, Leeds’ Eagulls are a hardcore band playing post-punk. Where many bands loosely lumped into the genre opt for po-faced melodrama, Eagulls inject a snotty snarl into each track on their self-titled debut.

Opener ‘Nerve Endings’ is a statement of intent, driven by pulsating drums and vocalists George Mitchell’s desperate wail. Despite his vocal approach sitting somewhere between speaking, singing and shouting, there’s a weirdly discordant melody which makes the track all the more alluring. Often employing repetition throughout the album, he manages to create tracks that are as aggressive as they are catchy – see the verses of ‘Nerve Endings’ as a perfect example.

Like many bands who take a influence from the 80s, there’s a big emphasis on the bass tones, however the lighter guitar work laid over the top ensures that there’s never one component which rises above the rest of the noise, giving each Eagulls track a sound that is their own. The album consistently balances brash aggression with pure pop melody – if you pull the tracks apart, they’re genuinely noisy and weird, but always palatable. ‘Possessed’ is the perfect example of this – if this track was stripped of some of its jagged discordance and given to a less adventurous indie-rock band, it could easily be a festival sing along track. Thankfully, Eagulls clearly don’t care much for arenas and their uncompromising approach makes the album of the most truly exciting debut records of 2014.

Throughout the record, there isn’t a huge palate of different shades but this doesn’t make it any less remarkable. This is the sound of a band marking their territory and delivering a unique album that keeps its varied influences at arm’s length. This is post-punk with its sights set squarely on the future.

Joe Parry

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Music News

Hear new Slayer track ‘Implode’

slayer_logo
It’s not often that Slayer release a new track but a freshly recorded song titled “Implode” has been posted online this week, the first since 2009’s World Painted Blood album.

This features new drummer Paul Bostaph who replaced Dave Lombardo (and used to drum for Slayer a while back) and of course, Jeff Hanneman, who tragically passed being replaced by Exodus guitarist Gary Holt with founding members Kerry King and Tom Araya.

Grab a free download and let us know if this is a Hit or miss?

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Watch Soap the Stamps UK hardcore scene documentary

Crossfire’s very own James Sherry (above, centre) features in a 20 minute documentary on the UK punk and hardcore scene from back in the 80s filmed in the Crossfire office.

Sherry discusses the importance of trading zines, attending squat parties and the original shows at the William Morris Club in Wimbledon where the likes of the Stupids, Crass, Napalm Death, Heresy and many others played early shows.

There’s way more than this of course so get the teas on and enjoy this.

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Thin Privilege

Thin_PrivilegeThin Privilege
‘Hex Charmer’
Struggletown

Thin Privilege are a four piece noise-rock band from Glasgow. Born out of the close-knit, underground scene up in Scotland, this band unites members from Hunt/Gather, Salò and Billy Ray Osiris. The result? A relentless single.

Sharing a simple ethos of bass, drums, vocals and more bass. To say that this four piece make an absolute fucking racket is an understatement. ‘Hex Charmer’ steams in at just over two minutes of grinding, sub-frequency fuzz. Driven by the throttling hold of two blasting bass guitars, this is post-punk turned up to 11.

‘Hex Charmer’ is just a glimpse of what’s in store from Thin Privilege’s upcoming self-titled debut album. Hit play below for a good ear blasting and head to their bandcamp to for a name-your-price download of this stonking track.

Thin Priviledge is due for release May 7th via Struggletown Records.

Dave Palmer

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Music News

Parquet Courts announce new album

Parquet_Courts_Sunbathing_Animal(photo credit: Ben Rayner)

Parquet Courts wowed us all last year, exploding out of nowhere with their slap in the face of a debut, Light Up Gold, an album still firmly glued to record players the world over.

With the dust far from settled, Brooklyns finest four are ready and waiting with a follow up album, Sunbathing Animal, due this summer via Rough Trade Records.

The title track and lead single of this sophomore is streaming online now. The video for which is filmed in singer/guitarist Andrew Savage’s apartment, starring his beloved cat, Frida. Watch below.

Catch them on tour in the UK through June and grab your pre-order of this hugely anticipated 2nd album here.

June UK Tour
21st – Glasgow @ SWG3
22nd – Liverpool @ Kazimier
23rd – Birmingham @ Birmingham Institute
25th – London @ ULU
26th – Oxford @ Oxford Academy 2

Sunbathing Animal is due for UK release June 2nd via Rough Trade Records.