Russian psychedelic punk rock in the vein of Rudimentary Peni, early True Sounds of Liberty and other artsy/insane punk bands. this is a rather lo-fi demo consisting of what sounds like six classic 80s (death)punk tracks, with a prominent bass, filthy vocals, mostly repetitive and static drumming, a distorted guitar and a lot of noise. though not inherently complex, it is definitely different. there are no real apparent structuring that follows the album from start to end. it’s all rather free form spastic deathpunk. thankfully, Useless Words of Sasha Grey are not just commendable for being different, but also for making pretty awesome tunes that are well worth your attention. the stabbing guitar, crazy howling and generally epileptic seizure feel of the music is – what I would refer to as – cool. so if you’re a fan of deathrock/punk and artsy/insane tunes, you should quickly learn to appreciate this band. and in 2009, *everyone* has like several terabytes of space either way, so there’s no excuse for not downloading this, honestly.
archive for December, 2009
Useless Words of Sasha Grey – Demo
Thursday, December 10th, 2009Castevet – I Know What A Lion Is
Monday, December 7th, 2009imagine the skilled American Football math emo with Cap’n Jazz’s raw energy. now throw in The Appleseed Cast’s grandiose sense of harmonies and carefully building up songs… then finish it off with small touches here and there of Small Brown Bike, whose vocals share a lot with Castevet’s. the intricate twinkling of the guitars also draw comparisons to Mineral, Texas Is the Reason, Cross My Heart, Knapsack and so on – but while those bands are mostly mid-tempo, Castevet are usually either running around like a crazy carefree three year old high on sugar (Cap’n Jazz), or carefully placing one foot in front of the other, keeping their balance perfectly (The Appleseed Cast). and no matter the approach, they always make damn sure to succeed. hard. this is a highly interesting and promising Chicago emo band with no boring tunes whatsoever. check them out. you won’t regret it.
FORK – Harlekin
Sunday, December 6th, 2009FORK are a Norwegian band that according to themselves play «some kind of punk». this modest declaration does however not even begin to describe this musical force not to be reckoned with that is FORK. a punk power house with furious music and highly articulate lyrics, FORK are equally ambitious and powerful. it took them two years to record their début album, but it definitely justifies the wait with the hard-hitting absolutely amazing punk rock akin to Propagandhi in more than one way. borrowing both from the “skate punk” bands as well as thrashcore bands (Propagandhi fits both, so I don’t think they will be upset with me guessing that early Propagandhi is the biggest influence on this album), FORK are extremely melodic, but still fairly hard-thrashing. the guitars interchange between interacting harmonically at the speed of light, and playing mind fucking guitar solos. the band knows how to slow things down when needed, but most of the action on Harlekin takes place with the intensity of high speed car chases down the wrong lanes. filling every song to the brim with energy and passion, FORK proves to be one of the most interesting punk rock bands you’ll ever hear. Harlekin is >50 minutes of being beaten to death by the violent force that is FORK, though with a few calm parts in which you might be lucky enough to get to pick up your clothes and bones, before they finish you off with impeccably driven drumming and angry yet melodic and beautiful guitars. all with optimistic though realistic invitations to change the world and rid ourselves of greed; a message as beautiful as the music. this is an outstanding album. download it.
Ryan Harvey – Give It Time: Reflections on Change
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009this will give you goosebumps, no matter how into folk you happen to be. please give this album your attention. there’s a reason for all the people citing Ryan Harvey as their favourite folk artist since before the days when Bob Dylan went electric. with honesty and frailty, this album goes on to really touch its listeners. it certainly does not leave you unaffected. it might be simple folk rock, but it’s 100% effective. all it takes to get your point across is heart and sincerity, and nothing is more evident in Ryan’s fragile voice. nothing is more apparent. this boy is begging you to listen to what he has to say, and it’s impossible not to lend him some time, because not only is he talking about very important things – he also does so with some of the most perfect acoustic guitar-based folk rock you’ll ever hear.
Ryan Harvey – Iraq: Songs of Life and Death
Thursday, December 3rd, 200921 new songs about Capitalist greed and injustice. inspired by war and perhaps more importantly the awful consequences of war. Ryan Harvey asks you to «educate, rebel and penetrate» the disgusting system. he basically launches a full scale attack on so-called “free” trade, Bush and many other things. all with his fragile yet firm voice and tight melodic chord progressions on his acoustic guitar. epic and marching forth. in these days of revolution, get this! it’s bigger than a war, it’s bigger than life!
Ryan Harvey – Ryan Harvey
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009question. what do you get when… (this should be pronounced like Dwight on The Office would pronounce it, by the way.) cross a voice akin to Daniel Johnston’s with anarchist beliefs, intelligent lyrics and an acoustic guitar? Ryan Harvey of the Riot Folk collective. waving the flags of liberty, equality and solidarity – Ryan Harvey’s sharp and direct criticism of American war policy, the Capitalist economy system – among lots of other things far too deep to sum up in this here little paragraph. you should instead take the time to listen to what he has to say for yourself. you’ll be singing «I don’t wanna I don’t wanna go to no war» before you know it! I promise. though a lot of the words uttered on this album aren’t very joyful, it’s not going to make you feel down at all. just encouraged to go out in the world and do something! so get this, listen to it, then go out and make a change. :)