Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Clawhammer


Clawhammer are a somewhat unusual band. Although this could be expected as they take their name from a Captain Beefheart song. However this album was released on Epitaph records in the mid 90's when it seemed every band on that label was designer pop-punk for ESPN's extreme sports segments. There is a Captain Beefheart feel on this album but it seems to be filtered through the spirit of Dread Zeppelin. Remember them? Oh, by the way, Dave Naz, the Chemical People drummer plays the guitar and fiddle on Pablum.

Go to it!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Read this blog now

While looking for reviews of albums I already own I stumbled across this great album review blog written by an ex-music critic with a passion for music and writing. Michele was a reviewer who wrote for a local weekly and lost her job straight away due to giving Sugar Ray a bad review instead of giving the album a big push. She describes her posts as "more like sensory reactions than reviews; it's about what the music did for me, not what it should do for you". So the reviews in her blog are brief, personalized and to the point with minimum bullshit.

The reviews are of her personal music collection and goes from the quirky cool of Steel Pole Bathtub and Nomeansno to the metal of Metallica and Pantera and then to Neil Diamond and Steely Dan usually with no sense of shame. You know you're in for honesty and decent writing when the reasoning behind it is: "Just once I would love to see a smug critic put something totally mainstream amongst on his list amidst all the earnest and self aware bands. Like right in between Songs Written in a Bleak Afternoon in Prague and This Album Title is Really an Obscure Reference to a 13th Century Philosopher, there would be the latest offering from Papa Roach, with the explanation that it makes the critic feel like a pre-pubescent boy just discovering his dick, and he likes that".

Read it.

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...