Saturday, May 5, 2012

Hosoi Bros - Wine Witch 7 inch

Here is The Smalltakeover's facebook page.  The link in the sidebar is more screwy than facebook.






Hosoi Bros, Wine Witch 7", 2011
(Typhoon Killer records)

All longtime music bloggers start to question why exactly they are spending their time in front of a computer typing out words and sharing music with an audience that they often haven’t even met. Most of the audience often doesn’t offer any interaction other than to ask, anonymously and without any contact details,  “Can you upload this again?”.   The anonymity is my pet peeve as I have a life outside the blog and if I can’t get something uploaded for a while, how on earth can I let the requester know?

Then there’s the band and labels.  These are a mixed bunch as there are some great ones out there that really do appreciate the blog and have taken time to look at the content and work out whether their music fits the context.  Then there’s the ones that take the scattergun approach and shoot their spam and newslinks to any website stupid enough to list their email address.  There’s a reason rap doesn’t get written about here and it’s not really because I don’t like it but because you’re better off sending it off to someone that has deeper knowledge than just the mainstream.  It’s highly possible will be only compared less than favourably to Ice-T, The Beastie Boys or Public Enemy because that’s about the extent of my hip-hop genre knowledge.

Anyway when a band or label notices the blog and the music fits like a glove , it is easier to write about and ultimately a more pleasurable experience for all involved.  Memphis band, Hosoi Bros are one such band and they found the blog through a review of the Absolute Monarchs album and through emails received my postal address and mailed me their glow in the dark debut 7”.   Looking at the cover made me wonder how much Hosoi Bros know about me as there’s clearly a shared love of B-grade horror.

The A-side  “Wine Witch” is an energetic  punk and roll number with a heavy metal tinge, which more or less guarantees the thumbs up around here.  The band’s musical barrage, accompanied with humourous lyrics and Severin shouted vocals with a chorus involving vino tales of woe and telling Satan where to go, comes across as tight as a certain part of a nun’s anatomy.  The B-side, “Yellow fever” of course, isn’t a tribute to the fanbase of New Zealand’s only professional soccer team or about guys who have become addicted to Asian girls but a similarly fast paced swaggering tribute to golden showers.  I’m hoping to hear more from Hosoi Bros.  The vinyl is limited to 300 copies and comes with a download link so contact the band for a copy at Hosoi Bros666 [at] gmail.com or through the links under their “Wine Witch” video.

The video is probably NSFW due to the language used.



4/5

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Happy 50th Ian Mckaye





A couple of days late but it's not as if he reads this blog anyway since he can't tell if people using the internet are stage diving.

Here's some pictures of Ian's surprise birthday and he's competing for a prize with Kirk Cameron.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Black Pyramid - Black Pyramid






Black Pyramid “Black Pyramid”, 2009



The heaviness just oozes through the stoner rock fuzz mixed with a ploddingly heavy doom metal.   It’s not unlike being trampled by a herd of elephants, which then go into reverse and repeat the process. There’s so much psychedelia here, it’s easy to hear the acid tabs and mushrooms being passed around the room during Black Pyramid’s creative sessions.  A warning of imminent doom sounds in the instrumental opening“…And The Gods Made War”.      While there’s a Candlemass semblance in “Visions of Gehenna”, the fuzzed out guitar in the foreground ensures a more unique sound is encapsulated.

There’s a communal kneeling at the hallowed altar of Black Sabbath in “No Life King and “Twilight Grave”. The vocals of Andy Beresky can’t help but add to the overall worship effect as they fall somewhere between Ozzy and Eric Wagner.  “The Worm Ouroboros” broods slowly with tasty twisting bluesy guitar leads and sparse near shouted parts before the guys get into a cutting groove jam.  “Wintermute” deceives by beginning as a tranquil ballad but then the guitar kicks in and lifts the track from a potential quagmire.    The combination of sub-genres works well as Black Pyramid stamp their sound into each song.  There is no doubt that this is is an album that will be enjoyed more with subsequent listens.

3.5/5

Black Pyramid on myspace

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...