Jurassic Penguin

Right now my favourite comics/mangas are One Piece and Spawn, i also dig their animated counterparts, only wish that Spawn was released here locally but it isn't so i have to get it overseas in Region 1. I also like tennis. Cold opening paragraph over.


I seem to have a run of writing up reviews about bands that i know nothing about till i go see them at Blackwire because of another band that I want to see, and they end up leaving enough of an impression to buy their music and write something up about them. Maybe because it's more interesting to write about bands that i have no prior knowledge of. And just like Mr. Sterile Assembly, these guys who are dubbed thee Jurassic Penguin, are also from our "wannachupbro" neighbours of New Zealand, yeah i know, i could've think up of a million and one stereotypes and i went for the most obscure one, so sue me.


I wish i had something interesting to write about their live performance, but i had a few drinks that night so here's what i remember of it...chaotic, exciting and very good, enough to incite me to buy some merch and talk to them for a while. and they are good dudes, they make all their merch, CDs, tours, everything! Thats something i can appreciate, seeing as how they are fairly young dudes as well. Okay, onto the album/EP/whatever.

I forgot how much i paid for the CD, but it must've been alot, probably, cause there are 15 tracks on this album, and maybe its my unhealthy sharp attention to detail, but there seems to be a pattern of the order with the length of the songs


1-2 is 2:10ish,
3-5 is 1:55ish, 
6-7 is 0:59ish,
then it seems like it sort of breaks the pattern with 
8 being 3:55, 
9 is 2:52, 
10 is 2:10, 
11 is 3:19 and 
12 being 3:50 
before i realised that in itself contains another sort of up and down pattern. 


Then the last 3 tracks are 5:00, 1:42 and 11:44 respectively. This EP is all in all 46.24 minutes long, but i don't think the pattens even mean anything so whatever.


You don't have to think too hard as to where Jurassic Penguin got their influences from, its basically oozing out of the speakers, however saying Converge is too easy and unfair since Jane Doe has basically started a new generation of hardcore music and millions of bands are emulating their sound and presence, so that doesn't give J.P any credit. That being said it is the sort of hardcore punk that would fit the Deathwish lineup, and whenever thats a good thing or not would be entirely up to personal judgement.


So as i hinted earlier, this is the metallic-twinged emotional hardcore that fans of Hope Conspiracy, Poison The Well and Coliseum would enjoy, and these guys sure know how to pack the punch in their tunes, further enhanced by an omission of slick production, though it seems a bit obvious that this album was recorded on different days in different settings.


One profound extent here is that Jurassic Penguin know how to write up some satisfying wall-smashing melachony hardcore hits, complete with crushing riffs and menacing vocals, but when every song they write is top quality, it can be quite counter productive.


The only thing that lets the album down here is that as many rememberable songs are here, there are some forgettables here too, but it isn't because there are filler tracks here, theres plenty of variety, doesn't fall under the trap that many bands do and drags unnecessary parts out and there's enough momentum to keep your attention. I found however that it was a problem when i had a hard time picking out my favourite songs because there was so many and together they all meld in too much with each other.Had this maybe been split up into smaller EPs the individual songs would have a bigger impact than altogether where some tunes hog up more spotlight than others, which is a shame because most of, if not all of the songs here are winners but having them all together just misteps that magic of intensity that is well captured here. 


That is my only constructive criticism though, and maybe it crawls along personal judgement i was talking about earlier with this particular sort of hardcore music, and yes i know Jane Doe was also roughly the same length, but thats like comparing your brothers small speed metal band to Iron Maiden. Maybe they put all the songs on one album because of reasons other than creative intuition. For the record I have nothing against long albums, i listen to Sunn O))) for crying out loud.


Jurassic Penguin should have more bigger exposure, and this album will lead them on the right path. It's the likeable and accessible hardcore that would win many people over. It's got everything that you want in all of its tense-drenced glory. And like i said earlier, every track here are winners and there's nothing more you could ask with a collective of music full of strength, vigour, angst and youth. If you had a mountain-pushing machine you wanted to use to push a mountain over, put this on as fuel and it will knock it down and reduce it to pebbles. Through and through it is utterly relentless, even if ofttimes a bit misguided, Jurassic Penguin can very well be the next band to take the torch of metallic hardcore.


http://jurassicpenguin.bandcamp.com/album/your-ideas-are-getting-worse 




UPDATE: I gotta tell ya, you don't get more chilled and awesome guys than Jurassic Penguin, i had a chat with Chris from JP and theres also the comment below this post from Matt. 


I had a hunch that this was more of a collective of songs than a proper written album, and to be blunt i was worried that what i said would break these guys hearts or something, maybe make for good inspiration to start a emo/metalcore band perhaps but still. 


However my fears were more than naught, they really seem to appreciate that someone has taken the time to write up a review of their material, and i still mean i say its got some amazing tunes on it, but when you buy this album, which you totally should, instead of expecting an album, instead try expecting a collection of songs written by young dudes going through this crazy thing called life and how releasing an album at all is worthy of achievement.


 So yeah thanks heaps guys. They will be coming back to Australia sometime around early next year, they also have some new songs up aswell as another release in the works. Keep an eye on it!

Aural Masturbation Vol.1: Undoom

I would really really like to get involved in composition, particularly for video games and even film, unfortunately i need equipment to hone my skills, which i need money for, which is why i hate working at macdonalds because being a 18 year old student casually employed is about as rewarding as when your teacher decides to give all the class a lolly and as excited as you are, you realise as soon as she starts from the other end of the class, you are only going to get those crappy cardboard bananas that no one else wanted, and you are pissed, yet theres nothing you can do about it.

So im going to put the few tracks i have composed up here if anyone wants to listen to it. Criticism is welcomed, praise would be a bonus.

This track is so far my favourite, its called Undoom because it was going to be a doom song, and the beginning synth was something i was experimenting with in Reason, my own original Combinator synth. The doom song was going nowhere, so i was playing on the synth when i incidentally played this happy riff, thought it was much better, scrapped the doom song, bashed out the fundamentals in under 3 hours, called it Undoom because it was a happy song.

Made with Reason, Pro Tools, a bass and a packet of chips. The cat drawing is mine, i have not picked up a pencil or a whiteboard texta in a while, which im not too proud of, hopefully that will change once i get tafe done and over with.

Dudman (live+EP)

What’s this? Another review so early? Yeah I know. I seldom ever do this but I’ve had a good run of awesome music lately and I figured since there will be yet another long absence before anything new is written and since there’s fuck all to do in Dural except play music, Half Life 2 and watch Arrested Development all day when I’m not working and suppose to be studying I may as well write some more reviews.

So this one is an interesting one, because I’m almost certain that there is not a single review of this 7” anywhere, if not at least one that is written in English. 

Dudman is a hardcore band hailing from Japan, good luck finding any information about them on the internette. I only heard of them when I saw them on the 17^th of September at Blackwire Records, which admittedly I only went to because Internal Rot and Doubled Over was playing (if you love grind and you missed out on this gig, you definitely missed out alright) and I have to say they left an amazing impression on me! Maybe its because I am a complete sucker for any hardcore band that sounds like they can fill the support slot for a Das Oath gig, but Dudman sounded so relentless and energetic, something that a lot of western hardcore bands fail to grasp. Punters that night didn’t knew any of their turbo-punk-charged material and yet they were jumping off the walls, including myself, and the whole band itself had a fun-tastic aura about them, especially when the vocalist Shuugo (names from the liner notes) was doing his rounds of the lamented “buy our merch” segment of the gig in gleefully broken english.

After seeing Dudman, I’ve decided to reinstate my mission to listen and watch as many non-western foreign bands as possible. Sure I know the big ones like Boris, Melt-Banana, Boredoms (all which the gigs were over 18 when they came over >_<) and of course some of the legends like G.I.S.M, Fuck On The Beach and Gerigeogegege aswell as the countless irritatingly addictive pop as fuck theme songs of every anime that i've ever watch (especially the theme songs of certain works from Gainax and Studio Ghilbi…TO-TO-ROOOOO) but so far I can only count all the obscure Asian bands I listen to on one hand. Musicians over there have so much to offer, and yet hardly anyone here is paying attention (except Tenzenmenn, who is a boss at this sort of stuff so ima go hassle him for some more bands) and basically im going to broaden my horizons outside the western world, cause hell, if every band over there is just as awesome as Dudman was, then I am truly missing out.

Okay enough of that, onto the 7”.

This 7” is released under the Denied A Custom label, and they made that very VERY clear…

Lets talk about self-control for a second here, now this is not a point of criticism, but when I went home to open up Dudman’s 7”, I was not prepared for this;

HOLY CRAP! what’s up with that?  Is this normal in Japan?...okay well surely I wouldn’t be complaining (I’m not but onwards) if these were all stickers..

Ummm, these are the only stickers here, real tiny ones too, that and there was another sticker on the plastic sleeve that I carefully peeled off and placed on my guitar.

Well, there are some pretty sweet stuff in here, that paper shuriken is neat, and these couple of amusing notes in broken English is cool aswell. 

It also came with the main Japanese lyrics aswell as an English translation and supposedly another set written in kanji or something, not sure. It even has a small little bio of the band and the label. Not many labels do that so thats kinda cool i suppose.

But what am I going to do with these? I suppose I should just take the incentive of checking out these bands since theres only like 7 of them on 20 pieces of paper before cutting out the drawings and the band logos and gluing them on a collage. Like I said its not a point of critisim, but I certainty did not expect this at all, I supposed it’s the labels way of advertising, which has no doubt worked.

Onto the tunes now…and this is debatable, but I don’t think there is such thing as bad hardcore anymore, there is amazingly awesome and amazingly dull, but it’s difficult to point out what makes a hardcore band great and what doesn’t….what? Buried In Verona? They ain’t hardcore and the Bee Gees are more br000talz then those wankers..okay i’m getting off topic here. I guess you can only evaluate hardcore by their motivation, individuality, their riffs of course, possibly lyrical themes (which in my books is not a massive priority, though I don’t care much for childish lyrics either),  their production, their….zazz…..and overall relevance really, there is almost no way of doing hardcore wrong if you are doing it right in the first place, just whenever you hold your own as either a unique or a mediocre band.

In Dudman’s case, they stand out as much as a explosive monster truck crashing through your ear doors before setting them on fire! It’s the blistering sound wave assault that can make Trash Talk blush. Full on all the way, no useless melodic bits or feedback drones (which I do enjoy, but has been a bit tedious as of late), does have one movie sample, but its this cool samurai thing so yeah, totally cool.

Even if there is not a single original riff left in existence (since Slayer has already thought of it) they are nicely constructed and arranged, never falling behind and always impacting, the vocals are also suit remarkably here, coarse and stunning, like they always should be. The production is harsh but not in a barely listenable one microphone way, in the proper “We are all going to kick down your speakers and punch you in the neck full on yeah” sort of way, which is the right way in my ears.

Lyrically its could’ve been typical hardcore stuff. HC represent, wondering about life, not being a square etc etc, and it is, but if I had to grade, it’s above-average from the norm, there are some real gold string of words here. Allow me to enlighten:

Like A Violent Swordsman

"Whisy-washy daily life. Half-way measures. You should think about your way of dying. Life and Death are opposite sides of the same coin. You live without any fixed aim, or you live for nothing but death? We won’t share our fate with you. While there is life, there is hope."*

Thrash Selfishit” (Exterminate your fuckin’ selfish)
"You will take care of yourself so much? Were you so angry with them for their making fool of you? You steal various things from some places so that you can assert yourself in life. You are as good as dead when you accomplished it."*

Usually not the sort of lyrics you expect from a hardcore band as ruthless sounding as Dudman, but these are some insightful lyrics, simple worded, but insightful. Most of their other songs follow along pretty well, sometimes they do get a bit imaginary, but nothing too stupendous. Of course they don’t speak these in English so I reckon that makes it better…and yes just to remind you that these are translated lyrics so of course it’s not grammatically correct, let’s see you write lyrics in another language!

The most important thing here is that it keeps you hooked all the way, it’s the kind of hardcore that motivates me to shoulder tackles down some buildings, juggle babies around and swing myself off a ceiling fan and land into a dumpster bin full of glass shards, rolling down a steep hill towards the oncoming propane truck. Dudman has created an identity and a slew of fast-packed punch-down tunes that sadly had they originated from a first world country, they would be more known. I’m not entirety sure why they chose to tour to Australia, but I’m glad they did. Goes to show that hardcore, and music overall isn’t dead, it just migrated overseas.

I assume that none of you know Dudman so this is for fans of Straightjacket Nation, Das Oath, Limp Wrist, Coke Bust, Fuck On The Beach and pretty much any liberating thrashcore with zero to minimal palm muting, drums at a BPM of one hundred million and a vocalist that sounds like he has to record his words quickly before going back into his asylum cell.

*NOTE: These are surely copyrighted lyrics, regardless don’t be a shit cunt and plagiarize them, capiche?

Actually before i go,  please read how awesome this is:

I dont; think better words have been spoken, especially the last line, i too would rather fail in originality than to succeed in imitation!

Lou Reed & Metallica

If you dont know what i am talking about, go here.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS MUSICALLY CORRECT,  QUIT IT WITH THE OFFBEATS AND PLAY IN FUCKING TIME LARS URICH!!!!!

Clips from my first house gig

 First house gig had the awesome lineup of Let Me Down Jungleman, Fat Guys Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, HK's first show, Mclovin's last show, and some band i found bumming around Rooty Hill that call themselves Ghosts.

watch this

then this 

now this

R.I.P baby chair

p.s there was titties there as well. honestly!

p.p.s.s You should go to Goatfest!

p.p.p.s.s.s You should still go to Goatfest!

Royal Headache

So yet again another long absence from this page, I’ve barely had time to myself since tafe started and I was somewhat egged on by a good friend of mine who also owns a blog to write another review. Pretty soon I might put my compostitions up aswell just so I can get people to listen to my tunes. That would be cool. Nothing else has happened much except I saw Blood Duster and got my copy of Lyden Na on double LP signed by the band, organizing another bigger house gig minifest called Goatfest! which you should definitely go to and I’ve finally completed my Space Ghost Coast To Coast collection, getting some essential albums on LP;

Boris – Pink
Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll
Big Black – Songs About Fucking
Slices – Crusing
Insect Warface/Carcass Grinder split

Man Is The Bastard/Locust split

Converge "On My Shield" single

…oh and I’ll be getting a baby brother soon next year, that’s exciting.

First I was going to review Counter/Transference by Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt but Ausgrind beated me to it and I figured we don’t need another hapless reviewer telling you how bloody brilliant it is, but hell I’ll do a short version anyways-Holy fuckballs FGWMWS is hands down right brilliant and you should get it!!!!! Redirect yourselves to a better-written article here and then if you want come back here.

Okay now im going to review a album that I haven’t seen any other reviews of, to my knowledge at least, and that is Royal Headache’s new LP.

There is something I’ve realized while I was listening to Royal Headache’s new album-what if we were to just strip back all the bullshit and just have simple, almost embryonic tunes where we can sing love songs without eyes being rolled, where playing simple chords and beats and deliciously catchy songs isn’t frowned upon. At the end of the day you can play for money, play for the love of music, but you can’t fake yourself and your abilities, and that’s why this album may very well be my album of the year, if not a lifetime.

Lets talk about the overall production first off. If you told me that this was released in the late 70’s by an American band I would have been completely convinced, but nay, its released in 2011 by an Australian band, in talking everything from the artwork cover to the sound quality, which sounds like Husker Du recorded their music in the Beach Boys tiled bathroom with one microphone, which amazingly enough the lo-fi clarity never actually stands in the way of the music, unlike many other similar bands.

The tunes here like I mentioned earlier, are all hits, its pretty rare for me to listen to an album more than 5 times in a space of 24 hours but I cant get over how criminally distinctive this album is. It doesn’t make its way to be impressive, but that counter-reacts in the best way possible, from the reverbed drenched howlings of Shogun and his boyish innocence of his words that can outmatch the early Ramones, to the well-constructed nonchalant chemistry that holds the band together. This album clocks in about 26 minutes and it  containts everything from the steady beat of “Psychotic Episode” to the more show paced instrumentals of “Wilson Street” and of course the quicker and peppy tunes like “Back and Forth”, "Girls" and “Really In Love”. 


With many songs here that goes through the sweet emotions and the bitter, but without the dramatic left-turn out of the composition itself, to make it a bit more clear you know how when bands write a sad song the whole band gets sad and everything sounds SAD to make it clear that it’s a FUCKING SAD SONG? You don’t find this here at all, there are no stereotyping false intentions here,it is the pinnacle of telling a story thought a song minus the dreary enchantment that many artists fail to grasp.Royal Headache can go through the themes of  love, hate, excitement and depression without being something they’re not and that’s why this is one of the most original album I have bestowed upon in a while.

“WHAT? ORIGINAL YOU SAY? OH REVIEWER YOU UNACQUAINTED IMPERCETIVE LOAF I HAVE ONLY HEARD THESE RIFFS AND 4/4 DRUMS A MILLION TIMES FROM BANDS THAT ARE 5 TIMES BIGGER THAN THIS ONE!”

I speak of originality in the element of the vibes of emotion and the magnetism that is offered here. sure you can string a few chords together, but can you convince me you will play them with feeling and contrast? That’s is what I don’t get anymore from the slew of punk bands that are dominating the market with their pseudo-emotional punkcore bullshit (Skyway? Bitch please) and is what I exactly get whenever I listen to this LP.

Then again now I am perhaps contradicting my self by stripping away all the bullshit and maybe im overanalyzing this.

I will say one more thing though; I find there are 2 types of albums, one that has everything face-value, quick at the start to make an impression, only for it to get weary after a few listens, then there are the albums that hardly sound amazing at first, but after a couple more turns you discover more and more beneath it and ends up growing on you

 Its just so relieving to listen to an album that has the best of those two categories, its hooks you at face-value while you keep discovering the youth of these songs over and over again. It’s the true revival of the foundations of punk music that many bands emulate, but never actually get it correct, Royal Headache don t go out of their way to make a statement, but its within their own magic that they have made something so romantic without the tacked on egotism.

I don’t know how to explain it, but I love this album, it wont ever get a Grammy, hell it wont even show up on the Triple J Hottest 100, but for those to find this gem will be more than sastified, maybe even find hope in the Australian punk scene again.

I have asked Royal Headache to play Goatfest!, heres hoping they will play it!

Battle Pope

Yo. Its been a while since I’ve updated this page, mainly cause of tafe and for a while I couldn’t be bothered to update this page, but I’m on holidays now for a few weeks so why not. Whatever. So apart from getting a spot in Diploma for sound engineering, seeing Captain Cleanoff, completing my Venture Bros DVD collection and meeting Tiffany Grant and Yuko Miyamura, the English and Japanese voice actors for Asuka of Neon Genesis Evangeion at Supanova (yes, I am infact an anime fan), nothing much else has happened really expect vigorous studying and working to watching cartoons all  day, going to gigs at night, doing some art shit and sleeping.

Well, hows bout another review just to get me back into the jist of things.

Battle Pope. Where to start? Okay I got something smart to start this off with. So, if Johnny Bravo was to only listen to one album every start of the day before he goes bones a few chicks, he would skip the Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, George Michael, Lionel Ritchie, etc. He’d rather crank Battle Pope’s new EP in the morning. And if you think that’s a bad thing, either you know a better way of scoring the ladies or you are most definitely a forever _alone fag. Of course, Johnny Bravo only hits on chicks that don’t understand his sexiness, and I could relate that. Battle Pope doesn’t commit such sins as to sugarcoat their cocks with sugar while beating around the pubic bush with craptastic pop songs, NOPE, Legend has it that every day they put cocaine and napalm on their gigadicks and so that they are supercharged and prepared for their destined pussy pilgrimage, to brigade their “dyke-destroyer” mission armed with only their reproductive organs and the salvation of the Holy Sexy God...And so the mighty Battle Pope takes a break from their journey to give their dicks a chance to cool down, for it is tired and sore, and thus, they penned down a few songs, gigged around and even preserved their hymns and sermons on tape, to spread the word of their works and to continue being spirited in their journey.

Yes I had fun with that. A lot of fun. So yeh I’ve seen Battle Pope support a few bands the past few months, and they are just so energetic and shocking live. They dress up as if the Vatican was a beach and their party skills are a force to be reckoned with. Overall they are insane live, so to finally have their songs here on my iPod is something I’ve yearned for a while because when it comes to writing  some funky-grindn'roll-licious tunes, they are no doubt doing it right.

First off, its finally nice to hear what Pontiff Benfunk is crooning, seeing as he is always jumping around. Their vicious energy is captured really well here, and their tunes are very very very catchy, they are all great so to choose a favorite here is hard, but “Psalm Of Barry Hall” gets the Best Song Title award here.  The XXX-tuned dual guitars here warrants a mention here, the stoner style riffs here are as tight as a nuns…well, yeah you can fill in the rest, but what I am most intrigued on is how they recorded such a mean and thick timbre here, Though they don’t have a bass player, its sounds like they recorded bass here as well. Oh and the drums too, I’m very used to seeing them live and usually as with all live gigs the guitars overpower everything, so to hear the drums here so clearly is definitely a good thing. For a band that is so rowdy they have put a lot of effort into making not just a listenable EP, but also a very enjoyable one too. Also, how many grind bands can you name that has harmonica in it?

Battle Pope only made a few psychical copies of Pantless Charge, but it is available to download as a “name your price” (free) on their bandcamp site. It does include a little e-booklet, oddly enough it doesn’t have lyrics. I also noticed that this EP doesn’t have that bitchin’ Little Richard cover they play, maybe for the next release fellas?

They are now currently touring around outside NSW and they are frequently playing around Sydnay as well so fi they ever bring their juggernaut near your local club, church, brothel or a church club with a brothel in it, go check em out, you might get lucky tonight!


Fun fact: When they played Hot Damn a few weeks ago, every cupcake chick there lost their virginity. True story.


Another Fun Fact: Battle Pope is also a comic, I've never read it though.


One Moar Fun Fact: That "Pope This" shirt with the giant rainbow arrow pointing down. Very sexy.

http://battlepopegrindsermon.bandcamp.com/album/pantless-carnage-ep

http://www.facebook.com/battlepopegrindsermon

This is a much better blog

http://showerbeersandrecords.blogspot.com/ Tom knows his shit when it comes to pop punk and hardcore, even maybe a few grind,metal and rock stuff to keep it varied.Hes also a top bloke, saved me a bus trip on more than one occasion.He sings in Mclovin, check out the previous post.Their demo is available as a download now so im sure you (whoever is reading this dribble) are pretty savvy on the computer yeah? just go on their facebook page.

Anyways i'm most likely gonna start ripping him off ahahahahaa, well, really I already have to an extent but i just want to brag about my record collection aswell.Why else would you have a blog?

A true story.

Fucking lil shit cunt kids suckertheft me while i was at work makin burgers for fat kids at Mcdonalds.

This was up for a good week at work before it was taken down.

Art Is Visual Masturbation Vol 1.

So millions and gazillions of people have been asking about the drawing on top...well, just a few people infact but anyways incase you are curious, its from yours truly.


Yes folks that freaky drawing up the top is my creation.I like drawing.I'll draw freaky stuff, wacky stuff, more sensible stuff and alot more.Someday i would like to write a graphic novel but i don't even know where to start, in terms of publishing and stuff.


Anywhom here is a small gallery of my drawings.I usually put stuff up on my deviant art gallery or on my personal page.I'll keep updating this as I go but i need photoshop...a graphic tablet would be great aswell...man i hate bein broke.


I have worked with others including a collaboration with my little brother a logo for some defunct christain jerking dance group (wtf is jerking?), my good pals Mclovin and currently making a design for We Caught The Kraken.enjoy.

Mr Sterile Assembly

Um yeah so its been a while.....and I've got nothing for it.no excuses just didn't have anything to write about.Well whatever i got something now so SHUSH!

Mr Sterile Assembly are a experimental bass and drum duo that hails from our lovingly neighbours New Zealand.Can't really put them in on genre.Too funky to be punk? Too punky to be alt? Too alt to be funky? (Contrary to the popular belief, Indie is NOT a real genre, but its too late I suppose) But isn't that the best kind of music though? In any case it different, its unique and it rules.

I had the pleasure of seeing them last Friday at Blackwire Records, i kinda forced myself to go because I was just getting lazy around the house and i needed to get out.The lineup also features some local bands including Yes I'm Leaving (abrasive, loud and yet simple indie rock trio), Crouching 80's Hidden Acronym (Winner of Best Band Name Of The Month.feel good hip-core.) and Ya Aha (chilled instrumental stuff).

When i first sussed out the band and checked out the album cover for Transit, the first thing i thought was "Nice album cover"…but went i got there I'd never ever think that it was their stage outfit.MIND=BLOWN.

 

So yeh as it turns out. They really do dress up like that.But only when they're playing live mind you….well, they went back to normal clothes on Friday but who knows what happens in NZ?

I don't think I've even seen a band that admits they talk a lot because they don't have that many songs to play (I later found out that may be because some of their songs have guitar, sax, etc and it was just the two of them).Is that a bad thing? Not for these fellas.They are such a delight live, seeing MSA was so much fun.The highlight had to be "Whyte" when they starting speaking some sort of syncopated gibberish before a lone bass lines creeps in and Chrissie starts singing and the tap-drumming on cymbals slides in jumping round all over the place like a tub of bouncing balls that just toppled over.I just stood there soaking it in and it felt like i was going unsane, but in a good way.Their stage antics and dressup are really awesome aswell, At one point, Mr Sterile (im talking these names from the CD liner notes) got up off his kit and started shaking everyones hands, including mine, before jumping back on and starting playing again.Awesome.They will get you dancing awkwardly and even think about what they're actually singing about.If they ever play a gig near  you, you are a fool to miss out.

                                

The new album "Transit", which is now available off the Tenzenmen label, is also pretty frickin amazing! The colourful notes, unorthodox beats and stern words just jump around everywhere smacking the clouds of your imagination, and yet they're in perfect sync with each other.There is actually a lot of variety here with a few upbeat tunes, few more steadier and some denser and wackier tunes, never a dull moment, it all works.The aerobic drums in this are awe-inspiring and its in a healthy relationship with the more settled bass notes and chords.And their nonchalant yet astounding political lyrics sung by the distinctively duo vocals are in a league of its own.Its actually somewhat very melodic for a rhythm driven album and the guitar and horns here are more of a supplement so that's a nice change.Its hard to choose some of the standout tracks as they are all brilliant but some really really really awesome tracks are "Hibakusha", "Jesus Heals The Blind", "Drought" and "Whyte".I should add that it's also mixed really well.The CD come in a neat package with some extra art and stuff in the booklets.

It's hard to say what other similar bands sound like MSA but i read somewhere about similarities to Mr.Bungle, Primus, The Mother Of Inventions, etc, which wouldn't be wrong I suppose but maybe a little more than that.Someone said they are the Anti White Stripes which i think its a lot more fitting.There's really nothing like it you know, if i really wanted to try to explain it i'd say its funky post-punk with the wackiness of Mr.Bungle, the  polarising pop feel of Devo but with the the dark political abstract of Rudimentary Peni.

In all honestly I can't really explain the music itself, it's just so diverse.Yeah its DIVERSE-CORE lololololol…*cough* well I've been listening to this album all week and I am dumbfounded about how good it is.I INSIST YOU CHECK THEM OUT! They are the best Band to come out of New Zealand since....since..uh, come to think of it, I don't really know any other NZ bands out there.Oh there is that Antagonist A.D but I couldn't care less.

Live Photos credited to Shaun Tenzenmen

Oh and a shoutout to Shaun Tenzenmen.One of the best when it comes to DIY and distro music.He introduced me to some really awesome Asian indie bands like Artless Note and The Mornings and even saved me a rare OOP Robotosaurus Sayra Bahk Vol 1 and 2 EP on tape.Suss it out.


p.s Click on the Tenzenmen link to buy the CD and shirts.

My opinion about 50 Lions

They used to be good.Their first LP was a seriously awesome hc album. The 2nd LP wasn't too shabby either, but afterwards they just went downhill and their 3rd LP sounds like they're confused about what sort of sound they're making and they end up with a dildo of an LP.Plus they're playing at fucking massive venues now.Whats up with that? First saw em supporting at No Apologies final gig and they were so vibrant and fun.Saw em again at HC10 and they seemed tired and boring yet Blkout was on the same tour and they we're rocking it (even if Total Depravity was a dull turd).

Pretty fly for a hardcore guy.*ugh*

My opinion about Skrillex

Never really dug From First To Last either.


My brother keeps playing his tunes all the time.HATRED!








but...please bear in mind that i dont hate electronic and dance music...really! cant go wrong with Daft Punk,Bloc Party, Justice, Gorillaz, Major Lazer, Deadmau5,Sia, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vanilla Ice!

Nuclear Summer

So....not sure if people dug my first review but whatever.I want this blog to be more than just a review for demos and music i would like it to be my personal bitchplace where i sulk about things, thought i do that enough on facebook, i would for once like to have a whinge without assholes talking to me about it IRL.Especially about my stance on organized religion but watever.Now without realizing I have already inadvertely had a sulk about sulking on facebook.....AH thought i was gonna say "FML" right? cocks.Plus im not good with words.I hate words.

This post will also have drawings, but i just got a new mac :D so i need to install some programs before i can bring em up here.

Alright nuff of that.

Found this demo at Blackwire, picked it up because it was free.Free stuff is good.Nuclear Summer hails from Brisbane.They've played their first gig in October last year and they seem pretty busy since then.Dont really have more to add, If i'd have seen em in action..but oh well.

I'm a sucker for this sort of post punk hardcore and anyone out there who's a fan of the likes of Touche Amore, La Dispute, Lungs and To The North (another brissy band, they prob know each other), Nuclear Summer will not disappoint.I honestly had my doubts at the start, but it slowly grew on me.I don't know why I didn't get into the tune that is "Pilot Wings" the first time round, but perhaps in comparison to "Do Unto" and "Perfect Agent", it intially wasn't the best opener, I dunno.I dont think the guy can sing very well hahahaa, sorry that was mean.But he really makes that up in a strong vocal delivery that cuts above the melodically well-formed stringed instrumentation and the jazz-tastic (yeh i made that up so sue me) drumming which all makes for some real tight compositions and rather fantastic songwriting wrapped in a more heavier vibe that makes them stick out from the pack.

If you're looking for the addictive emotional melodrama that is just drenched in some of those other bands that i have mention, then you might not get alot from this, it feels like it doesn't have the same energy that gives it the replay value that so many other bands have got nailed, and it's not because its of demo quality either.It personally doesn't bother me though but yeh it's the subtle differences yknow?

That being said I know another band that was in a similar situation that is now one of my favourite bands of all time, can you guess? Anyways my point is that I for one am very hopeful for what N.S has got to offer, I bet they would be alot more solid and awesome with their next release and they will blow everyone's socks off with giant sticks of dynamite.They didn't quite hit bullseye this time, but it was sorta close, a few inches away.They are playing a few gigs round soon so i suggest you suss em out, they sound like a band that will kick butt live!

http://nuclearsummer.wordpress.com/


Oh yeh and no one is going to guess what band i was talking about earlier but it was Fear Before (The March Of Flames).Saw em at their headline gig at Jannali,two words, fucking.brilliant!!!!! bigfoot costumes! Gatherer supported and they scared all the mosh crew scene cunts away with their stochastic-tastic (man i am on a roll with these words today) music!

Now, time to go play some Nintendo 64.

Mclovin - Demo

So i make a small rant on facebook (how sad am i?) and a good buddy of my sez i should review his demo.So why not?

Mclovin hails from around Western Sydney, where apart from the north coast, all the sloppy hamfistmoshdeathgoatsecore is inbredded, so in all honestly I haven't been this satisfied from a band that resides from my birthplace since the days of Corsairs.

The 10-song demo is like a smorgasbord of  all things punk.It's got thrash, 90's metalcore, powerviolence, hardcore,etc.It could've treaded into a confusing mess where they're just cotton picking all their favorite bits and devioding themselves of any identity.But it doesn't. They make their mixed nuts of hardcore their own almost flawlessly.The drums are seriously solid and riffs are...whoa.This is all tied together by Tom's vocals, which are throughout relentless and hostile.

I've listened to this a few times and it still surprises me how at the start you expect a song to go, say, right, but then it takes a fuck-you turn to the left and you find one more thing to appreciate.Heck even the shorter songs will take you by surprise when you least expect it.I don't really have any criticism for this except it's too short! moar plz.

This is on par with any hardcore fans out there that dig the likes of Trash Talk, Pulling Teeth and people that are sick of the plodding shitcore that the west has to offer (Hand Of Mercy? more like Hand Of Wanky! HEY-OOOOO!) and wants something a little more fucking better.

Oh yeah and they are fucking mad live.They destroyed my house for my 18th party and no pillows,ice-cubes,mattresses,chairs,cymbals,microphones,eskies,people,singers,or even my 360 and N64 was safe! And you should buy their outrageous merch, I has pedobear on mine =3.

http://www.facebook.com/McLovinSydney

http://www.mclovin.bigcartel.com/

The First Song

boredom hits me.So i make a fucking blog.Let's see how long it lasts.I am Jerry.I like to think all the underrated geniuses are christened Jerry but thats a bit shallow.Let's see how long it lasts.Guess i'll write whatever I want.I like music, so i'll write about music, I like comics, video games, art, japtoons, ameritoons, francetoons, sound engineering, gigs, other shit.Let's see how long it lasts.Hopefully i'll feel somewhat satisfied out of this so here goes nothing.

Let's see how long it lasts.