Jesu - Silver EP

Jesu is the post metal droneage of Justin Broadrick, former member of industrial band Godflesh. After suffering a nervous breakdown in 2002, Broadrick disbanded Godflesh and formed the one man band Jesu, taking on all guitar, bass and programming duties. Silver EP is a wonderful journey through some seriously loud metal drones and occassional crunching electronics. Silver EP, considered to be one of Broadricks' more melodic releases, has gained comparisons to MBV and bands such as Pelican and ISIS. This music, however, more than speaks for itself. Enjoy.

Tracklist:
1.Silver
2. Star
3. Wolves
4. Dead Eyes

Buy It
Download

Banjo Or Freakout - Bootlegz

Banjo Or Freakout is the solo psychedelic fuzz folk of Alessio Natalizia, an Italian based in London. I'm really excited about this guy.....instead of gloomy shoegaze we have ambitious bedroom swathes of guitar and optimism. It's pretty incredible for one guy, and even more incredible given the code by which he records: everything must be done in one take. I'm still trying to get a hold of his latest Upside Down E.P., but these tracks should be enough to keep us going. He also has a penchant for covering other people's songs....I've taken two officially released songs, (Mr. No and the DFA approved cover of LCD's Someone Great) and a handful of cover versions that I could find.

1. All I Need (Radiohead Cover)
2. Archangel (Burial Cover)
3. Atlas (Battles Cover)
4. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend Cover)
5. Mr. No
6. Someone Great

Download

This is soaring stuff. Archangel in particular is turned from the moody, rainy at 3am sounding twostep shuffle into a humble fuzz folk effort, and his psychedelic tendencies translate especially well on Atlas. Nothing really compares to the last two tracks however, and I would urge you to listen to them first. I'm waiting frustratedly to get a hold of his latest E.P. Until then, this should tide you over, and one thing's for sure; we should be seeing a lot more of this fellow in the future.

Mastodon invade Yank's homes

Whilst not really showing off the boy's vocal abilities, this performance of Oblivion from Letterman really, really makes me want to see these guys live. Whether that's a testament to their music or the fact that this isn't all that good, is another matter.

They frighten an old man though, so that can't be bad.

New Modest Mouse Video - Satellite Skin

Following on the age old MM tradition of truely.....terrible videos, Satellite Skin arrives as the upcoming A side from the new E.P., a collection of B sides. ABCD LOL.

Satellite Skin

Anamanamadness

Some new/old tracks from dose chiptune freeks. First is a cover of lo-fi star Wavves tune, So Bored. The second is a minute long cover of Mariah Carey's, All I Want For Christmas Is You. Absolutely daft, and refreshingly inappropriate for the middle of May. Right click to download. Enjoy.

So Bored
All I Want 4 Xmas is U

Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and Another

Travels with Myself and Another

Last.fm
Buy It

Download






1. Arming Eritrea
2. Chin Music
3. The Hope That House Built
4. Throwing Bricks At Trains
5. I Am Civil Service
6. Land Of My Formers
7. You Need Satan More Than He Needs You
8. That Damned Fly
9. Stand By / Your Manatee
10. Yin / Post-Yin
11. Drink Nike
12. Lapsed Catholics

Wooooeuuughharrrgh. I dismissed these guys as long haired beer swilling louts (lol hypocriseez) back when I saw them at Belsonic. They had a few decent tunes, but more often than not it just appeared noise. A bassist that terrorizes the audience is all very well....but music's good, too. This album however, is a stomper. Arming Eritrea grabs you from the offset and doesn't let up, it's snarl of "Come on Rick, i'm not a prize/I'm not a cynical one of those guys" will probably cause me to associate it with my da, but it's a fucking beast. The arrogance of the verse splurges into the At The Drive In style chorus/rest of the song, it's truly wonderful. Instead of dumb ballsy rock there's some actual emotion here, and it's a tune as well. Off to a good start.

The Hope That House Built is pretty much a damned march into hell, "Come join come join our lost cause". Class. It's one of those ones that slowly but surely gets into your head, maybe not on first listen.....but it'll happen.
Another indication that this isn't just another letspickupguitargokk album is the sense of humour throughout. I can't imagine someone running these lyrics past bandmates. Throwing Bricks At Trains, for example; "Slight/bowel movements/preceeded/the bloodless coup" Indeed.
You Need Satan More Than He Needs You builds up tension and angst like a group of youngsters being told they can't go into Indianaland juuuust yet. FUCK. Genuinely menacing, with a Jesus Lizard style bassline and atmosphere, it's....distburbing. Great fun.

Drink Nike takes the energy of bands like Drive Like Jehu and At The Drive In and adds red bull. It's tense and jittery, and a tuuune. It's always on the brink of being noise, but it's actually very clever rock. It's all delivered in 2 or 3 minutes bites of catchiness, and before you can linger on the last one, the next one's begun. You're being sonically raped, but i'm sure you've been sonically raped before. You whore.

Lapsed Catholics.....haha. This is genuinely funny. It isn't particularly contrived, it's just very random and funny. Hands up who was busting to correct him at the Morgan Freeman bit....(you need to listen for this to make sense). Also, the line, "A Justice of sorts if you listen to fools who have dressed in the dark for a bet" has to be one of the lines of the year so far. It's not very deep or meaningful....it's just funny. And not cheesy, and before the witty bant has outstayed its welcome, we get some more razor sharp guitar lines to see us out.

Travels with Myself and Another is brief at 12 songs in 32 minutes, but it ensures that Future of the Left don't outstay their welcome. The only downside of this may be that this will take a few listens for particular songs to sink into your head, one listen will usually leave you going "Wow, this first song's class" and not absorbing much else. It's great fun though, some pretty arrogant rock in a pretty short space of time.

In the end, everybody wins.

8.4/10

It's the beef.

Just an update.....andy beef is going legit! Well, sort of. I shall now be devoting portions of my sarcastic bastard time to Pinpoint Music, writing about musicky things. So, updates here may be less frequent than they once were (Who am I kidding......i'll still have time for both). So yeah....have a look at that site, check me out, but i'll still be writing on this one. Cos i'm still beef from the block.

Burial & Four Tet - Moth/Wolf Club

Moth/Wolf Club

Last.fm
Buy It (Lol don fink so - Gone in minutes)

Download

A. Moth
B. Wolf Club

A very mysterious and enigmatic release from the UK's dubstep poster boy, Burial, and electronic titan Four Tet. Sold out in minutes, and with a general auora of mystery surrounding the whole thing, people were unsure as to whether it was a collaboration or whether it was simply a split single. The reality is that Burial and Four Tet have contributed to both tunes here, with each others influence clearly audible on both tracks. Moth stomps along surely and is a massive tune, extremely linear and simple yet with flecks of Burial's trademark sound underpinning the Four Tet electronica. Wolf Club begins tentatively with Sweet Love For Planet Earth esque waterfall electronics. Give it time though, and it soon kicks in. An easily recognisible Burial drumbeat kicks in supported by those beautiful electronikz.

It's grown on me, and i'm sure it will continue to do so, but it doesn't appear to live up to the hype on the first few listens. The first track is extremely simple and doesn't seem a world away from something The Field might put out. Second track has the much loved Burial sound, but there isn't a whole lot going on, overall.

Still, a great idea for a collaboration, and great to see new tracks from these fellas. Plus Moth seems to kick more ass each time I listen to it.

8.3/10

Korouva - Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette

Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette

Last.fm

Buy It (This is an officially-sold CD-R and it is not, nor
ever has been available as a factory pressed or retail CD)
Download

1. Slowclub
2. dne eht ton
3. buddhist bell
4. In bed with you
5. the rain song
6. tide
7. wheat fields
8. der verlovene
9. part II
10. the martyr


Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette is a 30 minute haze of stripped down bluesy jazz by musician and photographer Miranda Lehman. The whole album seems to have been recorded using out of date production methods which add tremendously to the overall feel of the album. Background noises creak and crackle whilst the uncomfortably close sounds of rain add an eerie atmosphere to the experience. It's the sort of music you can picture seeing in a beaten down bar on a rainy night, amidst a haze of alcohol and smoke. A lot of Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette manages to maintain a balance of creepy and charming at the same time, maintaining a blues-esque whistfulness and forlorn beauty. Vocals are present but are sparse throughout, and give a layered density to what can at times be a contrastingly simple record.
Everything is done at it's own pace. The piano isn't rushed in order to get to the point of the song, and vocals aren't there to make you ponder the greater mysteries of life (most of it is aahs and oohs). Instead this is a record that takes it's time, something delightfully fresh and important in times where we tend to be quite intense, and where apparently giving 100% isn't good enough anymore. As some advert said one time......what's the rush?

It's a record that might not be everyones cup of tea for precisely that reason, there aren't any shamelessly trendy remixes and it's not likely to get the party going. Instead it's one that you should kick back and relax to and let unwind, or even just pull the duvet over yourself a wee bit more and relax to. I was pleasantly suprised at discovering this having not heard of Korouva before, and it's a wonderful ambient album. I know it's not perfect, and I don't want to have to slap a score on it and be done with it. We should all of us be able to take time out and spend too much time listening to an album every now and then, and all the better if it isn't an NME flavour of the month. I highly reccomend this and would urge anyone who feels like getting lost in an album to give this a try.

One for rainy nights, or very early mornings.