Roomrunner‘s Super Vague EP will be released on vinyl on May 15 by Fan Death Records. Thanks to Fan Death for trying us out on this release!
Roomrunner is currently on tour, so check their schedule to see if the Super Vague Tour will be stopping near you! Also, be sure to stay tuned to Fan Death to grab a copy of this new EP.
Take One Car is a group of good friends and family, from Upstate, NY, brought together by some collective desire to make music. They spent the last 4 years performing, traveling, writing & recording in some form or another. On Record Store Day, they will be releasing their second full-length album, It’s Going To Be A Nice Day, on wax.
While the record does not officially street until RSD, you can actually pre-order a copy starting tomorrow (April 13)!
A little over a year ago, local artists John G and Jake Kelly collaborated on an art show called TEN IMAGINARY MOVIES. For the show Jake created ten full size posters for made up films: z-grade horror flicks, 70’s sci-fi trash and giant monster movies. John was responsible for creating the phony ephemera that heightened the illusion of reality: movie stills, VHS boxes, action figures and comic book adaptations.
The fake comic book adaptations were for the Cleveland-set THE LAKE ERIE MONSTER, and once the show was over the pair decided to continue their collaboration and turn this imaginary comic book adaptation, of an imaginary film, into a reality. Jake scripted a toxic waste monster story set in 1970’s era Cleveland and John created appropriately dark and compelling artwork. They are serializing the epic tale over the fist five issues of the ongoing series, each also containing brand new supplemental horror stories by the artists. The result is a Rust-Belt horror anthology, complete with a cackling host (a zombified Commodore Perry) and presented in full, eye-gouging color.
To celebrate the release of the first issue, the duo are having a party at Blue Arrow Records (16001 Waterloo Rd.) on Saturday, March 31st from 6-9pm. There will be a limited edition art print for the first 30 who buy the book. John Neely (of “the BIG O” radio show, as heard on 89.3 WCSB) will be spinning Cleveland and greater Ohio punk rock records.
The Lake Erie Monster #1 will be available in area stores and for mail order online at the Shiner Comics Store in April.
When Kristin Diable says she plays “roots music,” she is as much describing an approach as a genre.
You can grab a copy of her new LP, Kristin Diable & The City at any of her many tour stops, and soon on her webstore as well!
From Kristin: “This album was recorded in our loft apartment in the historic Upper Pontalba building, overlooking Saint Louis Cathedral and the mighty Mississippi River in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter. From our vantage point atop this ever-enigmatic corner of the world, we make this note on life and times: the City. The core of these songs was tracked live in an attempt to capture the integrity of spirit that arises when music is played in a room where the focal point is the joy of the moment, nothing less or more. Music, at its very best, is truth. Truth offered up in a new context that allows for the beauty to be revealed in the cracks of our perception. You cannot summon Truth at will; you can only set the table, make provisions and hope this honored guest stops by to break some bread. Truth usually slips in once you’ve turned your head the other way. She cleans her plate and goes about her business. You’ll know she was there as your cup overflows. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to our table.”
Another new band on the Six Feet Under roster, CURRENT hails from Syracuse, NY. After several sporadic gigs in upstate NY opening for Polar Bear Club, Harvest and some others they got it together to write this 7″ for SFU entitled Peace, Love; and it is finally ready for preorder! Six songs clocking in at almost 13 minutes, sonically appealing to fans of everything from Burn to Quicksand to Bane to Modern Life Is War with ex members of Meltdown, Forfeit and Unholy and current members of Reign Supreme.
Available for pre-order now from Triple-B Records! 6 tracks from one of Wilkes-Barre’s best on 7 inch wax. Three colors are available for purchase at a first come, first serve basis. You can stream the title track, Surviving the Times, over at Triple B’s Bandcamp store….check it out!
The Spanish Suite was written to magnify the contribution that Moorish Spain made on the European Rennaissance. The relationship of music to cosmic rhythms and harmony was altered from the original state of Spanish music, and eventually distorted down to the 12-tone equi-temperment system of tuning. The Artistic Heritage Ensemble was taught to play outside of the 12-tone system and to recognize natural tone relationships. The musicians had to be dedicated to music for life in order to reach the level they obtained. The Spanish Suite was written in 1965 and first performed in December of that year at an AACM performance at the St. John Grand Lodge located at 7349 S. ingleside in Chicago.
This particular performance was at the Afro Arts Theatre at 3900 S. Drexel in February of 1968. The album is available now from Tizona Records.
It has been said before that Stanley Kubrick seemed like a classical composer who created films instead — that the images played out more like arias and overtures than a matinee movie. The inverse of that is probably the only way to approach Selenelion, the debut LP from Vaura. Less a collection of songs and more like an expedition into an elegantly foreboding universe, the eleven tracks that comprise the latest release from Wierd Records sound as if they were each crafted to evoke unearthly scenery and monolithic events.
From harsh distortion and aggressive screams to cold and shimmering clean guitars and vocals, the spectrum of sound on Selenelion is both varied and atmospherically cohesive.
The album title refers to a horizontal lunar eclipse: the moment at which the sun and the eclipsed moon can be seen at the same time. With song titles referencing everything from an Etruscan demoness to a Luciferian take on the conversion of St. Paul, and with artwork by the German photographer Alexander Binder, the unifying thread is an unmistakable sense of shadow-drenched enigma. “Drachma” refers to the coins that bought passage for the dead into the underworld, suggesting that everything following that track is part of an Orpheus-like journey. But repeated nods to the occult literature of Jorge Luis Borges, in particular to “The Aleph” and “The Zahir,” two stories that deal with infinity and vision, suggest that beyond the the dark hallucinations there is also a serious meditation taking place on the limits and paradoxes of seeing. Approaching such subject matter by way of something as invisible and intangible as music, Vaura invites the listener to share in a visceral, yet intimate ceremony of sensuality and destruction.
Available for pre-order now from Wierd Records.
Caustic Casanova is a hard rock power trio operating out of America’s proud capital city (of rock!), Washington, DC. The CC, as they are affectionately known by their fans, has been tearing up stages and studios alike with their unique brand of diverse, heavy music since their inception on the campus of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2005.
Caustic Casanova has gigged extensively in DC, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts since returning to live performances in summer 2008. They have been described as “riff royalty” (Submission Magazine) who possess “…an air of optimism and freshness…that’s been lacking from the music scene for well over a decade now (Voltcase).” They recently finished second in The Deli Magazine Readers’ Poll for “Best Emerging Artist from DC/Baltimore 2010,” out of over 40 nominated artists. In summer 2011 they headlined on the big red stage at the legendary Fort Reno Summer Concert Series music festival in Washington, DC, bringing their “original brand of off-metal, slight psyche, quirky and powerful rock music” to their biggest live audience yet (DC Rock Live). Their latest record, Someday You Will Be Proven Correct, recorded and produced by J. Robbins and mastered by Bob Weston, is now available for pre-order as a very limited 2-LP set with hand-engraved artwork etched into the 4th side of the record.
The story of Magic Box:
Ed Anderson and Scott Tipping have been making music and mayhem together since the late ’90s, when they hosted an open mic featuring drunken jazz artists, angry poets and puppeteers.
Ed moved on to found roots rock trio Backyard Tire Fire in 2001. Through the 2000s, the band toured relentlessly, recording 5 albums and 2 EPs.
Scott went on to become a mainstay of the Chicago music scene, playing and touring with bands like Mighty Blue Kings, Peter Himmelman, The Steak House Mints and Dayna Malow.
Their paths crossed again in 2008 when Ed asked Scott to join Backyard Tire Fire on tour to round out the band’s sound. BTF’s album Good To Be, produced by Steve Berlin, saw them touring the country, headlining shows and opening for the likes of Los Lobos, Buddy Guy, ZZ Top and Cracker.
In back alleys, dank hotel rooms and a van that at least once tried to kill its masters, a new music partnership was formed, and when Backyard Tire Fire decided to take a break from touring, Scott and Ed chose to bring together some of their favorite Chicago musicians to work on new songs: Steve Gillis (drums), Scott Stevenson (keys and vocals) and Matt Thompson (bass).
The new project features songs by both Ed and Scott, staying true to the rock-and-roll tradition of BTF while transitioning into a more dynamic, harmony-oriented sound.
