The Book of Knots - Drosophila Melanogaster

Dub Trio - IV

(ROIR, 2011)

 

Exciting news from Dub Trio with the band set to release a new album, entitled IV, on October 25. It's been a while between releases for Dub Trio after touring extensively with Mike Patton in Peeping Tom and then as the backing band for Matisyahu.

Druumer Joe Tomino describes the album; “When listening to IV you can hear that ‘dub’, as a concept and less as a genre synonymous to reggae, is at the core of the music, and while listening you’ll hear every thing from metal to dubstep….there’s even a prepared piano track,” says Tomino.” As always, we aspire to create a visceral experience for the listener, and IV is no exception. Our intent is that you listen to this album from start to finish. While this record is heavy, in more ways than one, there are a lot of subtleties inherent in the music. IV is a snapshot of where and who we are at this moment in time,” Tomino explains. “There are a lot of twists and turns sonically, emotionally, and stylistically on this record. Play it loud!”

Watch the evolution of Dub Trio below and check out my review for their previous album Another Sound is Dying here:

Casting Out the Nines - Exploring the Dangers of (2004):

Illegal Dub - New Heavy (2006):

Mortar Dub - Another Sound is Dying (2008):

Fantomas - The Director’s Cut Live: A New Year’s Revolution

UPDATE: It looks like the Fantomas live DVD will now be released on September 6th.

Judging by the title it will be from Fantomas show at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on 31st December, 2008, where they played The Director's Cut in its entirety, along with Simply Beautiful and Chariot Choogle. Disappointingly, I don't think Dave Lombardo played this show (as he wasn't on the tour which followed) but Dale Crover does a great job filling in.

Soon after they played the Big Day Out festival's in New Zealand and Australia. Here's some footage from that tour:

Melvins - Sugar Daddy Live

(Ipecac Recordings, 2011)

 

Weezer put out a song recently called I'm Your Daddy. Man, they suck these days. The Melvins, on the other hand, have been around for centuries longer and certainly don't suck, continuing to produce quantity and quality. Sugar Daddy Live is their latest release, a live show recorded with the Big Business duo but before The Bride Screamed Murder album.

Here's a short review I did of the recording, it's fairly tame and short, but it's straight to the point, just like the Melvins live:

It takes approximately sixty seconds for the Melvins, these days made up of Buzz, Dale, Coady, and Jarred, to warm into their work on Sugar Daddy Live; then the foursome up the ante and proceed to melt the listeners’ brains for the next hour. 

The (A) Senile Animal and Nude With Boots albums get a heavy workout as the Melvins provide some thunderous and crunching versions of what are already booming tunes. In classic Melvins fashion, or lack thereof, there is no filler, no banter, no bullshit, just straight up monstrous riffs which sludge the senses. 

Fantomas - Alice in Wonderland

Brilliantly creepy video featuring Fantomas music being played along to some ancient looking Alice in Wonderland footage. Seems pretty appropriate.

Tomahawk - Ameoba Records

Tomahawk playing instore at Ameoba Records in San Francisco, July 10th, 2002.

The show starts at about the 3 minute mark.

Zu - Carboniferous

Video for the song Soulympics with features Mike Patton on vocals.

(Ipecac Recordings, 2009)

Gangpol & Mit - The 1000 Softcore Tourist People Club

Preview of the album which came out earlier this year:

(Ipecac Recordings, 2011)

Fantômas – Suspended Animation

Due to his role in Faith No More and his massive array of other projects since, and also because he's a complete genius, Mike Patton is the most well known member of Mr. Bungle. While he played a large part in making Faith No More and Tomahawk what they are/were, they were never solely his responsibility. Fantômas is his baby, his creation, his warped point of view.

(Ipecac Recordings, 2005)

Fantômas have released four studio albums to date; their self-titled debut was (and still is) unlike anything I’ve heard; experimental to say the least, with Mike Patton using his voice to frighteningly great effect. Next came an album of horror movie songs, The Director’s Cut, which was surprisingly accessible. The masterpiece in Patton’s entire library would have to be Delìrium Còrdia, a 74 minute mind-fuck where the listener overlooks a surgical procedure. However, for me, Suspended Animation best sums up Fantômas – playfully evil.

The album retains Fantômas dark and twisted way of looking at things. Patton is once again screaming, squealing, and making any other sound effect he finds appropriate; his support cast of Buzz Osborne (Melvins, guitar), Dave Lombardo (Slayer, drums), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, bass) as precise as ever. The difference comes with the abundance of samples, but they’re not just any samples; they’re all linked to children. Cartoons, toys, and kids laughing and playing; not exactly what you associate with music of this variety.

Each track represents a day in April, and by 04/10/05 Saturday there’s an overload of samples and a myriad of "uh oh’s", "bye bye’s", and "boing’s" thrown in. 04/24/05 Sunday is a prelude to the work Patton did on the Crank 2: High Voltage soundtrack and 04/14/05 Thursday somehow stands out above the rest, its production simply superb.

The end result is total meltdown of your senses best listened to on headphones; disturbing yet cheeky, sinister yet merry. It’s pure Patton; you’re unable to tell if he’s just plain evil or if he’s got tongue firmly planted in cheek and is just fucking with your head. 

MadLove – White With Foam

Next up from the Mr. Bungle clan is bassist Trevor Dunn. Although Dunn is probably most well known in his post-Bungle days for his role in Fantomas, he has become pretty much a hired hand performing with everyone from Sean Lennon to the Melvins to former Korn member Brian "Head" Welch (an album which Dunn says, despite being on it, he has never heard). His latest project is rock group MadLove.

(Ipecac Recordings, 2009)

Punchy and bass/guitar-centric, MadLove combines driving bass with classical instruments less associated with rock to produce heavy melodramatic arrangements.

White With Foam is all Dunn’s work, and his attempt at writing rock music. While the album is much more standard in terms of song structure to other projects Dunn has been involved in, there’s a bit too much variation and subtle nuances for it to become all that popular. This is a good thing because the subtle use of more traditional instruments is what sets Dunn apart from his more popular counterparts.

Korean songstress Sunny Kim handles most of the vocals; her distinctive vocals, at times, have a very vulnerable feel to them. The combination of Kim’s vocals and the use of vibraphone, harp, cello, violin, and viola produce a classical effect and another reason why it is unlikely to hit the “mainstream”.

Kim sounds more assure of herself on Absence & Noise, the strong vocals and heavy bass giving it real guts. A few songs do lack guts but for the most part Dunn’s focus on bass and Icelandic guitarist, Hilmar Jensson’s power chords keep this firmly somewhere in the rock category. Simple, punchy riffs give songs like As Sad as it Was Beautiful a foot-stomping like quality.

Dirty is very… well, dirty - gritty may be a better word; the bass being very prominent, even more so than the rest of the album. Left With Nothing sees Dunn take a turn on vocals and, in my opinion, it’s probably the standout track on the album. His vocals are a little more soothing and give a somewhat trippy effect; certainly an entirely different mood is conveyed. It would be interesting to hear the whole album sung with a different vocalist.

Goon Moon – Licker’s Last Leg

(Ipecac Recordings, 2007)

A horrendous screaking sound greets the listener on Licker’s Last Leg, an album as disconcerting as it is alluring. Goon Moon sees Chris Goss (Masters of Reality) and Jeordie White (Twiggy Ramirez from Marilyn Manson) come together to produce an album which displays a collage feelings and emotions. The riffs and vocals are somewhat catchy, however the feel of the album is delightfully eerie with some disturbingly beautiful lyrics.

Bake the children in the pies.

Licker’s Last Leg is a mix of experimental, eclectic, industrial, and gothic rock, but despite this is very accessible. All this is not too surprising given the ingredients which see Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails) join Goss and White on this “lovingly crafted journey”.

Sat at the bar with a skull mask on.

Chatty Cathy hasn’t spoke for weeks.

A few songs here could quite easily have appeared on QOTSA’s Era Vulgaris which was released the same year and, like all QOTSA releases, produced by Chris Goss. My Machine and Feel Like This in particular have the same feel about them and underline the impact Goss has on both Josh Homme and QOTSA. This album proves just as catchy, possibly even more so, however the dark tone is not so radio friendly and perhaps too misunderstood for Goon Moon to fully take off.

Toss the sisters in the ditch.

Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You is a cover of one of The Bee Gees early, pre-disco tracks. In this instance the song seemingly floats from its psychedelic upbringing into the loving arms of Goss and White where it becomes sharp and mature. Both this and An Autumn Which Came Too Soon could possibly be described as electro-folk, illustrating just how diverse his album is, all the while staying somewhat uniform.

I’ve got a pocket full of gum – Yum!

The album culminates in eight-part The Golden Ball which could be an album on its own and demonstrates Goss and White’s skill in seamlessly hopping from one style to another. This truly is a masterful blend where the boundaries of disturbing and dark experimentation have been pushed closer to a more popular form of alternate rock.

Mashed potatoes, Uncle Sam, apple pie, honey baked ham.

Mini Mansions – Mini Mansions

(Ipecac Recordings/Rekords Rekords, 2010)

On the face of it Mini Mansions is a modern take on playful pop music of the 60’s and 70’s. However, it has some creepy and sinister undertones making it delightfully compelling.

Queens of the Stone Age’s Michael Shuman is the brainchild behind this project, and along with Zach Dawes and Tyler Parkford, they produce a sound which most have compared to The Beatles. The album also contains a psychedelic element reminiscent of Pink Floyd, an artful playfulness reminiscent of David Bowie, and a modern touch reminiscent of Arcade Fire; putting it somewhere towards the back end of The Beatles existence, possibly even a indication of what The Beatles would have gone on to become.

Right from the first track, Kiddie Hypnogogia, the tone of the album is set with a lighthearted and upbeat opening quickly giving in to slow melancholic chords which create a sense of mystery and fear of the unknown. The Room Outside introduces a Beatles-esque tone and with lyrics about astro-psychical realms points more towards their progressive side. Majik Marker later continues this and is possibly the strongest track on the album, providing a wonderful throwback into the world of 1960’s psychedelics.

Mini Mansions maintains a strong piano element throughout which give tunes like Crime of the Season and Girls and lighthearted and at the same time worryingly dark feel. Monk stands out as the creepiest track on this chilling album. Lyrics such as “If I promise that my hands don’t move, you wanna tuck me in? No touching or feelin’ anything / If I promise that my lips stand still, you wanna run your mouth? No touching or feelin’ anything” stand in stark contrast to the catchy beat and vocal harmony of the song.

Wunderbars is slow and brooding, Seven Sons is upbeat and uplifting, and mixed in throughout are Vignette #’s 1, 2, and 3 creating a range of moods and emotions and a something quite unique from what is around right now and what has come before.

Mondo Generator – A Drug Problem That Never Existed

(Ipecac/Rekords Rekords, 2003)

Nick Oliveri has a penchant for pissing people off. This is clearly evident on A Drug Problem That Never Existed which was inspired by Oliveri’s divorce, substance abuses, and the death of his father. The opening track Meth I Hear You Calling sets the tone for the album and is filled with abusive messages from a fuming (ex) girlfriend, before Here We Come (“We’re coming to get you!”) signals Oliveri’s intentions with his signature screams.

So High, So Low displays a collection of feelings ranging from love to regret, and was later re-produced for the 2006 Dead Planet album but became over polished and radio friendly which nullified the raw emotion seen here. Do The Headright is my pick off this album, it chugs along violently with Oliveri screaming throughout but a bouncy, fun vibe comes across.

Mondo Generator is largely Oliveri’s work; however he does call up some big name friends to help him out. Josh Homme features on Detroit and gives it a real laid back Queens of the Stone Age feel, a welcome respite from Oliveri’s screaming. Brant Bjork, Dave Catching, Josh Freese, and Alain Johannes also make an appearance or two and Mark Lanegan puts his stamp all over Four Corners, a slow, retrospective way to wind down the album.

Jr. High Love is a fun track from the past coming off Volumes 3 & 4 of the Desert Sessions while Girls Like Christ is the reworking of an old Dwarves track and, although interesting, does not really fit in with the rest of the album.

All I Can Do and Day I Die are sombre acoustic numbers and a prelude to later years when Oliveri undertook an acoustic tour. When I saw him in 2009 he seemed appreciative and humbled that the small crowd had come along to hear him, just happy to be playing music; a far cry from the intense and, at times, brutal delivery of A Drug Problem That Never Existed.

The Essential: Melvins

 

The Melvins are headed for the upcoming Soundwave Festival across Australia, but before then will be stopping in New Zealand for a whopping five shows! So I thought I’d do a quick little guide on them in time for their first show of the tour tomorrow night at the Kings Arms in Auckland.

The complete schedule for New Zealand, with Oakland’s High On Fire supporting, is:

February 19 – The Kings Arms, Auckland

February 20 – ReFuel, Dunedin
February 21 – Al's Bar, Christchurch
February 22 – Bodega, Wellington

February 23 – Whammy Bar, Auckland (w/ Kylesa)

Formed in 1983, with an original lineup consisting of Buzz Osborne, Mike Dillard, and Matt Lukin, the Melvins are still going strong almost 30 years later with at least 18 full-length albums and countless other releases to their name. Buzz (guitar) was joined in 1984 by Dale Crover on drums while a long list of bassists have come and gone. The current lineup features two drummers after a merger with Big Business members Coady Willis and Jared Warren (bass).

Here are a few albums to check out (if you don’t have time to sit down and listen to all 20 to 30-odd releases): 

Houdini 

& Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust

(Atlantic, 1993 & Ipecac, 2005)  

 

The definitive Melvins album, Houdini is straight up heavy sludge/grunge from start to finish. Songs such as Hooch, Night Goat, Lizzy, Hag Me, Set Me Straight, and Sky Pup remain amongst the best of their kind. The lineup had Buzz and Dale joined by Lori Black on bass and Kurt Cobain adding guitars for Sky Pup.

A Live History of Gluttony and Lust came about after repeated calls from fans to play the Houdini album and proving its legendary status. They updated the tracks giving them a live yet very polished feel with Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Fantomas) providing the bass.

 

Stag

(Atlantic, 1996)

Stag opens with The Bit, a thunderous beast which generates momentum for the rest of the album. What follows are a real mixture of styles; Bar-X-The Rocking M includes a trombone and turn-table like effects making it feel ahead of its time, Black Bock is almost Melvins unplugged sounding more like Blind Melon, Skin Horse has some downright freaky helium vocal effects, and The Bloat is just classic Melvins sludge.

(A) Senile Animal

 (Ipecac, 2006)

(A) Senile Animal marked the start of the current formation of the Melvins; half Melvins, half Big Business. After over 20 years together, the band gained a new edge with the two drummers providing extra crunch and a somewhat more cohesive feel. The addition of Jared Warren’s vocals to accompany Buzz gives extra force to an already powerful sound. Standout tracks include; The Talking Horse, Blood Witch, Civilized Worm, A History of Drunks… shit, I could just name the whole album.

    

The Maggot, The Bootlicker, & The Crybaby

(Ipecac, 1999-2000)

 

I was going to put Honky here as it is considered the Melvins most experimental release, however putting out three albums in the space of a year to help kick start the Ipecac label is a more Melvins type thing to do and these three albums are pretty strange in their own right.

The Maggot starts off with two tracks called amazonAMAZON, telling you all you need to know about the Melvins; they don’t operate like other bands. The move to Ipecac Recordings allowed them the creative freedom to do whatever they wanted (although they seem to be doing this anyway). and

The Bootlicker is the best of this trio of albums; it’s typically slow, and at times haunting. Up the Dumper and Lone Rose Holding Now are great but the centerpiece is Let It All Be which is almost two tracks joined together by ambient noise creating 10 minutes of brilliance.

A distant hint of Nirvana ends The Bootlicker and The Crybaby runs with this by opening with a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit and then adding covers of Jesus Lizard and a couple of country artists. Mike Patton also makes an appearance on G.I. Joe.

  

There is a lot more Melvins to check so go and do so. Here’s their latest video for Electric Worm off last year’s album The Bride Screamed Murder:

Dub Trio – Another Sound is Dying

(Ipecac Recordings, 2008)

Brooklyn dub rockers Dub Trio, consisting of DP Holmes (guitar), Stu Brooks (bass), and Joe Tomino (drums), have got progressively heavier in sound since their debut album in 2004. Their third studio album, Another Sound is Dying, comes out of the blocks sounding like it could be a heavy metal album, that is until we are reminded of the groups original dub origins.

The lead track Not For Nothing starts off with a heavy sludge metal feel to it before giving just a hint of their dub influences and then adding an atmospheric, post-metal layer to the mix. From there the band seamlessly shifts between hard, heavy rock sounds and relaxed reggae/dub grooves throughout, allowing the listener the opportunity to both rock out or sit back and relax.

Mortar Dub is the one track which holds it shape from start to end, paying respect to the styles of King Tubby. This is quickly wiped away however by the machine-like start to Regression Line, its power reinforced by a laid-back bridge two-thirds of the way through.

Mike Patton provides the only vocals on the album for No Flag. This track proves more dark and sinister than their previous collaboration, Not Alone, for Patton’s Peeping Tom project. Whilst the vocals from Patton are a welcome addition to the album, they also demonstrate that having no vocals is what makes Dub Trio sound unique. There’s a real focus on minor effects and variations in sound, something that a vocalist would distract from.

Dub Trio have fused post-metal and dub together much like Bad Brains managed to mix reggae/dub with a punk attitude. This album is an experience whereby listeners can sit back and enjoy or really concentrate and pick up little nuances with each listen. 

2010 (...part 2)

More stuff from 2010 (with a little more to come):

Tub Ring – Secret Handshakes
(The End Records, 2010)

 

Tub Ring’s sound changes from album to album with Secret Handshakes continuing this trend by having a slightly electronic feel to it. The early Mr. Bungle-ish/punk feel is still there but there’s a tinge of cheesy 80’s electronic/new wave about it. This is a good thing. There’s plenty of energy and the cheesiness shines through in Gold Finger; the tongue-in-cheek cockiness from vocalist Kevin Gibson this song wouldn’t be out of place on an Eagles of Death Metal record. The electronic/cheap 80’s computer sound takes over in Touching the Enemy while Cryonic Love Song sounds like a couple of dying  computers crying out for some love before heavy crunching riffs, a few more whimpers, and an abrupt end to the song. I Shot Your Faggot Horse Bitch sounding more like it should be somewhere in Trent Reznor’s back catalogue, is strangely placed in the middle of the album before the rest of the tracks are business as usual for Tub Ring.

Throw in a brilliantly updated cover of Queen’s 1984 hit Flash and, with the exception of I Shot, it’s a action packed album from start to finish. Apparently there’s a remix album on the way too.

 Mike Patton – Mondo Cane
(Ipecac Recordings, 2010)

Everybody loves Mike Patton performing covers (except maybe Anthony Kiedis); and here’s a whole album of them! On Mondo Cane, Patton has taken his favourite Italian pop songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s and put his own, over-the-top, spin on them. In typical Patton fashion, he is backed up for a 40-odd person orchestra. It is project which had been a long time coming, inspired by the music he heard while living in Italy. Barring Deep, Deep Down it features Patton singing (yes, singing) entirely in Italian; my Italian is non-exsistent so I won’t judge how well he did here, but he is, for the most part, a perfectionist when it comes to his musical projects. He does manage to pull out a few of his famous screams for Urlo Negro, making it the standout track on the album for me.

Patton finally got around to recording the album last year after a few live performances in 2008. The recorded versions have lost a bit of the power of the live sound but it remains a solid and passionate performance from Patton. A live dvd would be a nice document of Mondo Cane but hopefully he gets back to work on more Fantomas and Tomahawk.

Fireball Ministry – Fireball Ministry
(Red Distribution, 2010)

 

Californian stoner rock group Fireball Ministry’s fourth album is perhaps their most commercial release. It seems a lot more work has gone into the production with the album sounding very polished. Gone are the deep, grunting vocals of earlier releases with vocalist James A. Rota coming across as more refined and smooth. Followed By A Fall and Common Enemy are very much like former Fireball Ministry releases, however overall there is a real Fu Manchu feel to his album. It comes as no surprise seeing it is produced by Andrew Alekel who has worked with Fu Manchu numerous times, and given Fu Manchu bassist Brad Davis spent a brief period in Fireball Ministry.

Fireball Ministry seem to fly under the radar a little, which is surprising given they have a sound comparable to Fu Manchu with hints of Queens of the Stone Age and Metallica thrown in. 

2010

So it’s been 2011 for over a month but here’s some stuff from 2010. I heard a bunch of good albums; here are a few (with more to come):

Look What I Did – Atlas Drugged
 (Modernist Movement, 2010)

 

I’ll start with these guys as I’d never heard of them before. Look What I Did are based in Nashville, Tennessee, with Atlas Drugged being their third album. I’d loosely describe them as; part Helmet, part Jesus Lizard, part punk. They describe themselves as info-punk, that’ll do. What is info-punk? I have no idea, but they look like a group of young guys mucking around (check out the video for I’m Majoring in Psychology), and sound, for the most part, wild & chaotic. Vocalist Barry Donegan alternates between singing and screaming however the lyrics seem largely intellectual and/or satirical. Donegan, a political activist/candidate, not only has a general distaste for the state of the music industry but is also actively working on better ways of sharing music (hopefully we hear more).

There’s not a bad song on the album; Fade to Daft, Holding Pattern, and the closing track Baby Darwins, standout. You can listen to Atlas Drugged in full, and buy it here.

Melvins – The Bride Screamed Murder
(Ipecac Recordings, 2010)

The Melvins continue to put out music and the music continues to be good. Since the addition of Coady Willis and Jarred Warren from Big Business in 2006 they have had a more booming sound (possibly the result of having two drummers) and this album is no different. It’s hard and heavy with patches of strangeness thrown in; Hospital Up being a good example. Their darkish, creepy sound is still apparent, most notably on I’ll Finish You Off with its organ-like sound and high pitched vocals. Electric Flower and Inhumanity and Death are classic Melvins, while they also cover The Who’s My Generation in the same vein as they did with Going Blind and God of Thunder back in the day.

The Melvins always deliver, and just enjoy rocking out it seems, five shows in New Zealand is testament to that.

Kids Eat Crayons – Kids Eat Crayons is For Lovers
(Kids Eat Crayons, 2007)

(This actually came out in 2007 but I didn’t realise so it makes this list)

Hmm… where to start with these guys? Jazz metal. Mr. Bungle meets Frank Zappa. Nonsensical lyrics. A tempo that changes every fifteen seconds. A song called Masturbation Day Parade. This all seems a little out of control and the album sounds like it has ADHD, however it is somehow accessible and listenable. The first track Eat it Or Wear It is two minutes of jazz/metal/mayhem and things go from there. The Dying at Home Song is somewhat melodic and sad in contrast to the chaos that surrounds it.

This album is brilliant if you’re in the right mood. Kids Eat Crayons is probably not for lovers.