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January Reviews Artist of the Month: Somehow
Hollow From the ashes of the disposed Canadian punk gods Grade comes the second release for Somehow Hollow; their first album was released in 2001 on Canadian label East End Industries. Started initially as a side project for Mike Casarin, Kent Abbott and Drew Clark (well, the comings and goings are complicated), it became full-time event earlier this year when Grade crumbled. Picking up where Grade left off, Busted Wings & Rusted Halos is clearly one of the best releases of the new year. Somehow Hollow plays a very mature style of left coast pop-punk. Hence, you have the innocence and melody of Fat Wreck-type bands but mixed with quickly changing drum beats, multi-layered singing and rhythmic soloing. Besides, obviously to Grade, Somehow Hollow may be compared to Taking Back Sunday, Flashlight Brown, the Movielife, etc. Some of the guitar riffs are simply amazing, drawing the listener in and providing the goose bumps that music should be designed to deliver. This is clearly demonstrated in the opening to "Darkest Day;" among many of the other tracks. In addition to the melody, Somehow Hollow mixes in some metal and hardcore influences on the margin to give the songs some cross-genre resonance (for instance, the beginning of "Busted Stereos and Myself"). Although most of the songs rock, a few standout including "How Winter Killed Our Souls," "Broken Chords" and "The Witch of Glen Cedar Gate."
Based on this release, the music world will much better off if
Somehow Hollow hung around for sometime to come. Busted Wings
& Rusted Halos is a solid album by a group of seasoned veterans
with nothing to prove but looking to play some good music. This
record promises to be on of the top releases on Victory this season,
so definitely snatch it up.
Evanescence
This is a little teaser single by this new Windup signee out of
Little Rock, Arkansas for the upcoming Daredevil movie and soundtrack.
"Bring Me To Life" has all the hallmarks of a song destined
for a contemporary action thriller: a melancholy piano playing
with a female voice over moving to post-industrial rock. The song
could also double for some badass shooter video game soundtrack
like Dead To Rights. The Daredevil film comes out on February
14th with the soundtrack preceding the release by ten days. Evanescence
contribute another song and have a full-length coming out in the
Spring that should rock based on this single.
Holding
On
Jazz
June
After releasing one of the best albums of a few years ago with
The Medicine, the Jazz June have come back with an odd collection
of dissonant and melodious twists and turns. This is the Jazz
June's fifth release on Initial, a label notorious for introducing
the world to some of the best bands on the planet only to lose
them to other labels or to the band breaking up. As such, the
Jazz June is a novelty in a world where brevity reigns. Better
Off Without Air shrugs off the apparent random jangly indie-pop
of past albums and replaces with more experimentation in rhythms
and song structures. This is seen on purely instrumental tracks
"Hate/Bass" (containing a very cool riff a la Milemarker),
"Shots Fired" and "Benny Clarks Can." While
the Jazz June should be commended for their efforts, such experimentation
seems to misplace their place in nature. On past albums the Jazz
June were able to take a bunch of cacophonous pieces and weave
a common thread throughout; always bringing the songs back to
a common foundation. To some extent the tremendous and distinct
songs still exist on Better Off Without Air. "Drugs and Models,"
"The Uptown Explosion" and "These Pills Won't Calm
Your Nerves" encompass the diamonds in the ruff and really
bring forth the musical intuition of the Jazz June.
Little
Jeans
This is five song cdep from this foursome from Hawaii is one of
the hippest releases on the year. Although the record was recorded
in their basement, the rawness seems almost necessary. Combining
punk's flare with rock sensibilities, all of the songs exist as
their own entities and dance off of the speakers. The songs consist
of a certain smartness that hasn't existed on most material for
years. "Eskimo" comes across as a Weezer demo that would
have not floated for major labels. It's a great indie song complete
with "whoo-whoos;" as is "Oh Angel." "I
Wish I Was A Robot" has this odd folk-western twinge to it,
quietly making you forget the song is about robots relation to
society. One of the coolest songs is "Christine." It
has this crescendo thing going on as lyrics are sung and spoken
underneath the epic riffs. "Christine" has a great Dead
Milkmen theme to it; well, that is if DM were more worried about
harmonies. If you check the lyrics to the song there is riotous
cool references; for instance, to License to Drive and Army of
Darkness. The record ends with "Girl's Heart" that has
a nice layering of guitar parts that contains a hollow sound.
Hopefully, Little Jeans will have a full-length coming out soon.
Mock
Orange
After releasing some material with the California punk label Lobster
Records, Mock Orange moves to Dead Droid and releases, well, their
first EP. Surprisingly, Mock Orange have moved toward an odd jam-influenced
indie sound, which is in stark contrast to previous material.
However, as the EP progresses through its five songs the songs
progress to something closer to Braid, Superchunk and Pavement.
Most of the first song (and much of the second) sounds as though
a jam 60s rock band out for hippie blood hijacked Mock Orange.
Fortunately, the final three songs bring Mock Orange into a high
state of quality, while they demonstrate some significant indie
credentials. The final three songs make this a quality pickup
and it is very likely to be crushing the college airwaves very
soon.
The
Motion
Employing song composition that is thick and complicated, yet
harmonious, the Motion (from Chicago) produce a breakthrough album
with Cold Heroes. Formed in 1999, this is their second release
and they seem to have spent considerable thought on the unique
components of each song. This three-piece sound as though they
have employed an army of musicians to fill out their sound and
compliment their rawness; though it is just smart use of fuzzy
guitars. Hence, the Motion sound as though they laced a J. Mascis
foundation with heavy influences from across the music spectrum
and across rock space time. Due to this, they are likely a group
that will appeal to many 'rock' fans. Though at times the riffs
are a bit campy (for instance on "The Ghost, the Gunslinger
and the Priest"), they keep coming out at million miles an
hour and drown out the bad in a summarily manner. Tracks to take
notice of include "Stillborn Birth of the Atomic Finger,"
"I'm Not Going To Fight (To Make You Feel Normal)" and
"Still Running." Although I have selected these tracks,
one has to listen to the entire album to appreciate its depth.
We should hear much more coming these folks in the near future.
Chris
Murray
Acoustic ska maestro Chris Murray continues his four-track ways
on his latest release Raw. This is the second solo release for
this current LA-based former lead singer of King Apparatus. It
is consistently amazing that Murray can continue holding ground
over a composition with only his voice and guitar. Moreover, that
Murray is able to pull off recording an album on a portable cassette
player is simply amazing. Some may be turned off by Murray's quasi-faux
Jamaican ska singing style; but it comes across well and seems
almost necessary. Standout songs on Raw include "Rock Steady,"
"We Do the Ska," "I'm Ready For Love" and
"If You Wanna Do It." This is another innovative release
by Chris Murray in spite of the lack of recording quality; though
Murray wouldn't have it any other way.
No
Warning
This is the debut full-length from this fivesome from frozen Canada.
However, No Warning released a much talked about debut EP in 2001.
Adopting an old-school NYC hardcore style, No Warning blast through
twelve songs in less than thirty minutes. Notable facts about
the record are guest appearances by members of Floorpunch and
Madball. However, the main issue with No Warning is that while
they are extremely competent and have excellent execution, the
sound borders on a generic version of the ghost of former bands.
That said, they would have been the shit about fifteen years or
so ago. Therefore, for those you get down to bands such as Cro-Mags,
Floorpunch and Warzone, this is right up your alley.
Dan
Potthast
This is the second solo album for Dan Potthast, lead singer of
St. Louis ska masters MU330. Although a horrible name for an album,
the record provides some gems from a stripped-down vision with
acoustic guitar, light drums and some organ. Dan moves between
various melodies and sounds on the songs; for instance, between
Mike Park ("They're Talking"), Elvis Costello ("Clockwise")
and traditional ska mixed with pop ("I Know There's More").
Besides from these three songs other stellar moments include "How
to Suffer" (very MTX), "Tornado Joe" (with some
great western/surfer solo guitar riffs) and "Hey James."
Unfortunately, Dan includes some songs that could have might as
well been left off, as they detract from the overall quality of
the record. As the album progresses, Dan increases the frequency
of solo acoustic songs, both coming across as good and not so
good things. This is a quality release and surely fans of MU330
will dig it.
Ramallah
This debut EP from Ramallah is an absolutely amazing piece of
hardcore craftsmanship. Heading Ramallah is the infamous Rob "White
Trash Rob" Lind of Blood For Blood. And such Ramallah takes
an extremely aggressive, no-holds barred approach to their songs.
Yet, there is a great degree of separation between this EP and
the work of BFB. The eight songs here are quick and metallic with
a good variance on the depleted gruff hardcore voice. Hence, Ramallah
take a Hatebreed-with-more-metal view to songwriting. As an extra
kick in the nuts, Jake Bannon of Converge throws down some backing
screaming on a few tracks and, to carry on the Converge connection,
Kurt Ballou recorded the EP at Godcity Studios. The best part
of the songs is how Lind does the back-and-forth lyrics with the
chorus or other vocalist. These characteristics and others are
quite evident on "Sleep," "Al-Shifa" and "Who
Am I?" The final song on the EP is a strange, though well-executed,
acoustic ballad that throws the listener off, but provides some
depth to the band. Nonetheless, this is the new tough-guy, fuck-shit-up
album of the year.
Slapshot
Somehow someone convinced Slapshot that they needed to re-record
classic songs from years past to release on a single record. What
a good idea. This allows the uninitiated to be exposed to the
best of one of the original hardcore bands from Boston. In addition,
since Slapshot have decided to make another go at it, the album
allows people to get familiar with Slapshot before they invade
your town. It must have been quite fun to record the originals
with better technology, thus producing a much clearer sound. The
record includes twenty old numbers and two new songs ("Crossover
Sucks" and "Shoot Charlton Heston"). The two new
songs somewhat pale in comparison to the classics, but are clearly
in-line with earlier work. Among the old songs included are "Say
Goodbye," "What's At Stake," "Back on the
Map," "Hang Up Your Boots" and "Silence."
In addition, this is an 'enhanced' cd with a few videos of Slapshot
live. In the booklet, there is a nice commentary on the history
of Slapshot. From the discussion, it seems that Slapshot only
played in Boston and Europe, and then I remember that Germans
really (!) do like hardcore.
V/A
This is the second compilation from Union Label Group comprising
various bands and releases from the three labels (Stomp Records,
Union 2112 and Mayday Records) that make up the Group. Given that
the label is out of Canada, there a number of bands from North
of the border which provides a nice change in the standard 'American'
punk comp. Out of the twenty bands on the comp many are widely
known as excellent and amazing artists, including songs by the
Frenetics, Mustard Plug and the Planet Smashers. Other standout
tracks come from Subb, Flashlight Brown, Belvedere, Kitsch, Generatorz,
Fifty Nutz, Penelope, Reset and The Kingpins. Though it is not
explicitly stated, I assume that all of these songs have been
released previously. However, some of the material is released
by different labels in the U.S., for instance Chris Murray with
Asianman Records. As such, the comp truly serves it purpose of
introducing the listener to various bands on the Group.
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