Partner‘s newest EP, Time Is a Car, is both a throwback to their love of fellow Canadians Rush and a drive into the future of their careers as rock icons of their own.
The title track, with its danceable bass from Lucy Niles, brings in post-punk guitars by Joseé Caron and existentialist vocals from both of them such as, “If you’re part of the fabric, do you know you’re a thread?” “Boundaries (No Offense)” has a country twang to it that accentuates the theme of leaving a relationship and putting up a metaphorical fence so you won’t return because you know it would be bad for both of you.
After the lovely, almost ambient “Rest Stop Interlude,” we floor it with “Fear That Closes the Heart” – a track in which Partner happily wear their Rush influence on their sleeves. On it, Caron and Niles sing that they’re “Scared to let go of the fear, scared of what might take its place.” The ego is a tough bastard, and it will go all it can to keep its hold on you.
Partner encourages us to finish the race on the closer, “Not Today,” with powerful lyrics like “Not today, but one day, the world won’t be the same…The things that we believe in will evolve and they will change…When illusions turn to dust and institutions rust, maybe that’ll be the day truth will light the way.” It’s a strong example of how Partner have grown as songwriters, and it has Caron’s fiercest solo on the record.
It’s more good stuff from Partner, who seem to get a hit every time they’re at the plate.
Forty years after its release Motörhead classic Iron Fist album is given a stunning reissue that includes enough bonus tracks for two full albums.
The album sounds harder than ever with the new remastering. The title track opens the record with furious drumming from Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, and the album rarely, if ever, lets up. “Heart of Stone” is just as angry as it’s always been, as is the raw “Go to Hell” – a song you’ll want to send to your boss at that job you hate as you walk out the door. “Speedfreak” sums up Motörhead’s lifestyle, really.
After the send-off of “Bang to Rights,” we’re treated to six demo tracks from 1981: “Remember Me, I’m Gone,” “The Doctor,” “Young & Crazy,” “Loser,” “Iron Fist,” and “Go to Hell.” Seven more bonus tracks follow on the CD and digital versions of the album: The wonderfully grungy “Lemmy Goes to the Pub,” “Same Old Song, I’m Gone,” a crushing alternate version of “(Don’t Let ’em) Grind Ya Down,” “Shut It Down,” and three instrumentals – “Sponge Cake,” “Ripsaw Teardown,” and a barely recognizable cover of the “Peter Gunn” theme.
As if all this wasn’t enough, there’s also a previously unreleased live album recorded at the Apollo in Glasgow, Scotland on March 18, 1982. It’s a stunning, fuzzy, eardrum-blasting recording that opens with a version of “Iron Fist” that sounds like they’re playing it while the Apollo is on fire. LemmyKilmister barely takes a breath until they get to “The Hammer” and he encourages the Glasgow crowd to shout throughout it.
The live version of “White Line Fever” sounds like getting punched in the face by an ogre – multiple times. Kilmister’s raspy growl on “Go to Hell” is the match and Fast Eddie Clarke‘s guitar is the gasoline on the track. Kilmister chastises Glasgow again before “(We Are) The Road Crew,” saying their cheering is so lame that they “sound like Leo Sayer,” which only gets the Scots to go crazier. Of course, this live version of “Ace of Spades” is liable to set fire to your face. They close the main set with venue-shattering versions of “Overkill,” “Bomber,” and “Motörhead.”
It’s a stunning reissue of an already stunning record. Don’t miss this if you’re a fan of Motörhead of NWOBHM.
The Stooges, who would become known for their fierce punk garage rock, could’ve been one of the greatest psychedelic rock bands of all time if they had chosen to go down that road.
Take the opening track (“1969”) of their debut album, for example. It’s loaded with psych-fuzz guitar from Ron Asheton that sounds like he just walked in from San Francisco instead of Detroit, and Iggy Pop‘s vocals are almost spoken word poetry rambled from a dingy coffee house. “I Wanna Be Your Dog” almost induces bad acid trip panic.
The third track, “We Will Fall,” is over ten minutes of floating down a lazy river while monks wearing saffron-colored robes chant and play hand percussion instruments along the banks. “No Fun” brings back the grungy fuzz with Dave Alexander‘s distorted bass leading the romp. “Real Cool Time” has Asheton jamming like a damn sawmill of sound tearing through your house.
Pop’s vocals on “Ann” blend right into Asheton’s guitar squalls while Alexander and Scott Asheton lay down a hypnotic rhythm to further trip you out of your headspace. “Not Right” has Pop feeling frisky, but his lady friend isn’t “feeling right,” so he’s stuck again frustrated, and then even more so when she’s finally in the mood and he isn’t. “It’s always this way,” he moans while the rest of the Stooges proceed to melt our faces. The album closes with “Little Doll” and its swirling, scratchy, savage guitars fading the album, and us, into oblivion.
Everyone knows how important The Stooges are to music, but their debut album is a forgotten psychedelic rock classic.
It was the end of the first leg of Earthless‘ U.S. tour, and it turned out to be guitarist Isaiah Mitchell‘s birthday. It also turned out to be another stunning performance by them.
My friend and I go to the venue too late to see the first opening band, Ancient Days, but we did catch The Heavy Company (otherwise known as THC) play a blues-infused rock set that impressed the enthusiastic crowd.
The Heavy Company
Earthless played for a little over an hour, and that set was three songs. If you’re new to Earthless, you need to know that two of those songs were over twenty minutes long, and the third was nearly fifteen minutes long. They don’t skimp anything during a show. They give all every time. I yelled, “I can’t feel my face.” after the end of the second track.
L-R: Isaiah Mitchell, Mario Rubalcaba, Mike Eginton
It’s difficult to describe how much heavy power they unleash. I was reminded during their performance of an analogy my wife heard once about a full jar. Take a large, earthenware jar and fill it with rocks. Is the jar full? No. It may seem like it is, but you could fill the space between the rocks with water. Full now? No, because you could slowly add sand to the jar to absorb the water and take up all the remaining space. Now the jar is so heavy you’d need Hulk-like strength to lift it.
Now change the venue to a music venue that holds about 200 people and change the rocks to Isaiah Mitchell’s bass riffs, the water to Mario Rubalcaba’s drum fills, and the sand to Mike Eginton’s heavy bass riffs and you’ll get the idea.
I’m going to listen to your record if your band is described to me as “Black Sabbath meets Portishead.”
Such is Cleveland, Ohio’s Frayle and such is their second album, Skin & Sorrow. The album is as dark and haunting as its cover image of lead singer Gwen Strang, who apparently has walked off the set of a lost Hammer Studios film from the early 1960s. Ms. Strang, and the rest of the band (Sean Bilovecky – guitar, Jason Knotek – bass, and Jon Vinson – drums), immediately give you a sense of, “Do not fuck around with these people. They can be your cool friends who will help you through a lot of stuff, though.”
Which is what Skin and Sorrow does. It’s an album about processing grief and heartbreak. It’s a haunting record, but it does seem to offer hope and beauty. Again, the cover image of Strang dressed as mournful ghost conveys death and dread, but she’s holding white roses. Yes, they’re wilted roses, but they haven’t lost all of their color and pedals. They’re still a bit hopeful.
Bilovecky’s opening riff on “Treacle and Revenge” is almost a Godzilla-like roar and Strang’s voice is like smoke curling around your ears as she sings “You promised to love me.” It sounds like the beginning of a curse. The song goes from doom into a brief tear of stadium rock, showing they have serious chops. Knotek’s bass seems to hit extra hard on “Bright Eyes” while Strang sings lullaby-like vocals drifting from an abandoned hospital that’s overgrown with ivy. The title track starts with Link Wray-like guitar chords from Bilovecky, and Vinson’s drums sound like they were recorded late one night / early one morning in the store room of a bar run by warlocks.
It’s interesting how “Ipecac,” a song whose title is the name of medicine that purposefully induces vomiting, is one of the loveliest on the record. Strang sings about purging past wounds and things that are slowly poisoning her, but does it with a sensuality you can’t ignore. The heavy, cosmic “Stars” is a crushing track, both lyrically and sonically.
“Roses” and “Sacrifant” are equally heavy and mesmerizing. “Sacrifant” also has this buzz to it like an angry queen hornet following you around the room. “All the Things I Was” has the queen hornet turn into a raven flying away from Strang and carrying her past trauma on its back to eventually cast into the sun. You’re fully expecting “Song for the Dead” to be creepy and guttural, but it’s more like emerging from a mausoleum as a lovely sunrise has begun. Yes, you might be emerging from it as a ghost, but you’re realizing that it’s going to be okay. The closing track, “Perfect Wound,” reminds me a bit of Nirvana‘s “Something in the Way” with its guitar strums and subject matter, but it’s far more otherworldly than Nirvana’s song, and Strang’s vocals come from under a bridge guarded by sirens instead of trolls.
Skin & Sorrow is beautiful and dark, lovely and sad, uplifting and haunting. How many other bands could pull off a sound like that on just their second record? Not many.
The first thought I had after hearing Flasher‘s new album, Love Is Yours, for the first time was, “They could change their name to Lusher.” because they’ve crafted a lusher sound from their previous work, but not lost any of the post-punk fuzz or angular guitars.
Opening track “I Saw You” combines these fuzzy guitars from Taylor Mulitz with sci-fi movie ray gun synths as drummer Emma Baker asks, “Do I sound sincere? Do I make myself clear?” The title track brings out dance floor beats in a song about embracing peace that’s right in front of you (even during a pandemic, as the lyric of “I’m seeing 20-20.” seems to take on a different meaning now). Speaking of lyrics that take on new meaning, Baker’s lyric of “I’m spinning out at home.” on “Little Things” is, on its surface, about a bout of vertigo she suffered, but, through the lens of the pandemic, describes pretty much all of us for a period of about two years.
Mulitz is back on lead vocals for “Nothing,” layering them with spacey synths and sizzling beats from Baker. “I’m on fire. You’re underwater,” he sings on “Still Life,” one of many examples of witty lyrics about the complex nature of romance on the whole record. “All Day Long” has a nice chugging guitar sound to it. “Living is so hard lately,” begins “I’m Better.” You’re not sure about the truthfulness of the title after an opening lyric like that, but the peppy nature of the track can’t be denied.
“Sideways” is a stand-out on the record, with its breezy, bouncy guitars and that lushness I mentioned earlier. It sounds like friends roller skating down the street while eating bomb-pops they just bought from an ice cream truck. “Damage” gets a bit darker, mainly through Multiz’s warped guitar strumming, but Baker’s beats keep your toes tapping. Baker mixes beats from her kit with electro-beats from Owen Wuerker on “Dial Up,” with Mulitz singing about how he can barely stay awake, yet he can’t bring himself to get offline. The closer, “Tangerine,” sends us off on a lush note, but with a bit of a tart edge.
Love Is Yours is a good album from Flasher, even more so when you consider they went from a three-piece to a two-piece after former bassist Daniel Saperstein left the band, Mulitz moved to the west coast, and, oh yeah, there was a pandemic when they recorded it.
Death Valley Girls‘ third album has an interesting title – Darkness Rains. It’s not“Darkness Reigns,” as you might think if someone told you the name of the album. After all, DVG are known to be explorers of oddities, the unexplained, and things the prowl in shadows, but they chose “Rains” instead. Does it convey an image of environmental disaster, a heavy thunderstorm overpowering a bright summer sky, or impending death?
My guess is on the last one, as the album starts with the hard-hitting “More Dead” and flows right into the heavy fuzz of “(One Less Thing) Before I Die.” The latter reminds me that I need to keep de-cluttering my house and the trend of “Swedish death cleaning” that grows more popular each year. Why burden ourselves and our descendants with our crap? Why live a life unfulfilled? If you’ve seen DVG live or had the pleasure of meeting them, you’d know they were living in a way that would produce no regrets. They encourage us to do the same before darkness rains upon us, like we know it will but try to forget that it will.
“Disaster (Is What We’re After)” is great Stooges-style skronk meant to shake things up wherever you are, and “Unzip Your Forehead” is 60’s horror-psychedelia that makes me imagine Frankenstein’s monster opening the stitches on his square head and literally opening his mind. “Wear Black” could be the dress code for a DVG show. It also has these cool organ chords throughout it that make it hypnotizing (as does Larry Schemel‘s echoing guitar work).
“Abre Camino” is one of DVG’s biggest hits, and often the opener for their live sets. Each listen seems to unveil more layers you hadn’t heard before then, much like finding a book with strange scribbles and arcane symbols that reveal power messages to you after falling asleep. Laura Harris‘ drums hit hard on “Born Again and Again,” driving you to a near panic at one point. “Street Justice” is almost a punk rager with some of Bonnie Bloomgarden‘s most frantic vocals.
“Occupation: Ghost Writer” makes me want to write at least a short story based on the title. It has a dreamy quality to it, like a spirit floating around you while writing a blog post. “We’ll be together, somewhere forever,” they sing on “TV in Jail on Mars” – another song title that deserves an entire short story. The vocals repeat and echo like a trippy mantra or a broadcast from the red planet sent by things living deep within the canals there. It’s the sound of darkness raining down in a slow shower rather than a pounding torrent.
Darkness rains all over this record, but there are moments of sunlight that peek through the clouds to remind us that what lies beyond the veil is something we can’t comprehend, but shouldn’t fear.
Toledo’s System Efe has released a killer EP of Detroit techno-inspired music, Carpetania. The title track fills you with slow-burn energy with its swelling synth-bass and perfect electro-beats. It’s like a bowl of steel cut oats served by a robot waitress at a diner that’s playing house music. It prepares you for a lot of dancing to come.
The bass drops on “Primitive,” immediately turning up the heat and your pulse. Put it on your workout playlist and proceed to shred your routine. “Steppe” builds with radar bleeps and simple, somewhat muted beats into an almost frantic track that leaves you a bit breathless.
The EP’s afterparty is the Raul Alvarez “360 Primitive Edit” of the title track, which takes on a slightly dangerous edge with beats and hooks that sound like something that emerges from the futuristic car full of cyborg hitmen from the year 3045 who’ve come to kill you so your ancestors won’t stop them from being created in the first place.
One of the many fun things about The Chats‘ new album, Get Fucked, is that its title can have at least three different interpretations: 1. The Chats (say), “Get fucked.” to all their critics, ticket inspectors, tobacco sellers, stuffed shirts, politicians, and anyone who doesn’t like a good pint or a party now and then. 2. The Chats get fucked over by those mentioned in option #1. 3. The Chats get laid. My theory is that the first option is the closest to their original intention, judging from the album cover and the middle fingers being flipped to everyone – including those of us picking up the album. The cover is supposed to shake you out of your current reality, and the whole record pretty much throws a pint of lager in your face.
The album’s opening track, “6LTR GTR,” gets us off to a gas pedal-stomping start as they rip off a track about a hot rod being driven by a douchebag idiot who doesn’t deserve it. “Struck by Lighting” is even faster and brings to mind both AC/DC and The Ramones with its punk ferocity. You’re almost out of breath by the time we reach “Boggo Breakout” – and that’s only the third track. “Southport Superman” is barely over thirty seconds and feels like a mosh pit erupts in your head.
The build-up of “Panic Attack” gives you a brief respite from the chaos, but soon the vocals are coming at you like a belt-fed machine gun. “Ticket Inspector” has the band railing against a jerk who flaunts power he doesn’t really have. “The Price of Smokes” starts off with blues-like lyrics about not having enough money for rent and smokes and slowly builds into a rager about the Australian economy in general. “Dead on Site” and “Paid Late” keep the fire burning, and “Paid Late” has some of Eamon Sandwith‘s funkiest bass licks. “I’ve Been Drunk in Every Pub in Brisbane” is a great track that we can guess is based on true events.
Not much of your face is left by the time you reach “Out on the Street,” because most of it has been shredded off you by now. New guitarist Josh Hardy has a burning solo on it, and across the whole record. It’s difficult to choose which is best. “Emperor of the Beach” could be an early King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard track with its groove that evolves into a wild, psych-surf punk banger. Matt Boggis‘ cymbals wash over you like ocean waves by the end. The album ends with “Getting Better” – a pep talk of a track that turns into a drag race between nitro-burning hot rods that have time bombs attached to them.
Get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on with this album.
The Beths present the new single, “Knees Deep,” from their forthcoming album, Expert In A Dying Field, out September 16th on Carpark Records, and announce a 2023 North American headline tour. Expert In A Dying Field is a capsule of The Beths’ most electrifying and exciting output, a full spectrum of their sonic capabilities. “Knees Deep” was a last minute addition to the record and features one of Expert In A Dying Field’s best guitar lines, courtesy of guitarist Jonathan Pearce.
Liz Stokes adds: “I’m the kind of person who wants to go swimming, but takes like ten minutes to get all the way into the cold water, slowly and painfully. I hate this about myself, and am kind of envious of people who can just jump straight in the deep end. In a shocking twist, this is also a metaphor?! For how I wish I was the kind of person who was brave and decisive instead of cautious and scared.”
Expert In A Dying Field, the third LP from the New Zealand quartet The Beths, houses 12 jewels of tight, guitar-heavy songs that worm their way into your head, an incandescent collision of power-pop and skuzz. With Expert, The Beths wanted to make an album meant to be experienced live, for both the listeners and themselves. They wanted it to be fun – to hear, to play – in spite of the prickling anxiety throughout the lyrics, the fear of change and struggle to cope. Expert is an extension of the same sonic palette the band has built across their catalog, pop hooks embedded in incisive indie rock.
The Beths Tour Dates (Tickets available atthebeths.com) (new dates in bold) Sat. Aug. 20 – Covington, KY (Cincinnati) @ Madison Live Mon. Aug. 22 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall Tue. Aug. 23 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry Thu. Aug. 25 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar Fri. Aug. 26 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes Sat. Aug. 27 – Portland, ME @ Portland House of Music Sun. Aug. 28 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB Wed. Aug. 31 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall Thu. Sep. 1 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar Thu. Sep. 15 – Melbourne, AU @ 170 Russell Fri. Sep. 16 – Sydney, AU @ Metro Theatre Sat. Sep. 17 – Brisbane, AU @ The Triffid Tue. Sep. 20 – Adelaide, AU @ The Gov Wed. Sep. 21 – Perth, AU @ Magnet House Fri. Sep. 23 – Wellington, NZ @ Opera House Sat. Sep. 24 – Nelson, NZ @ Theatre Royal Fri. Sep. 30 – Christchurch, NZ @ James Hay Theatre Sat. Oct. 1 – Dunedin, NZ @ The Glenroy Fri. Oct. 7 – Auckland, NZ @ Auckland Town Hall Thu. Feb. 16 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Fri. Feb. 17 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos Wed. Feb. 22 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue Fri. Feb. 24 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sun. Feb. 26 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre Tue. Feb. 28 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair Thu. Mar. 2 – New York, NY @ Brooklyn Steel Fri. Mar. 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Sat. Mar. 4 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club Mon. Mar. 6 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel Tue. Mar. 7 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Heaven Wed. Mar. 8 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Fri. Mar. 10 – Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn Sat. Mar. 11 – Dallas, TX @ Tulips Tue. Mar. 14 – Denver, CO @ Summit Thu. Mar. 16 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Fri. Mar. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Sat. Mar. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
