Blog Archives

February 10, 2011

The Daily Choice: Sreong Santi – Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng

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Mr. Andy Votel and the rest of you psych detectives over at Finders Keepers, I salute you.  It’s been a hard fought battle to find any sort of obscurity compilation I enjoy more than the recently released (and DCed) Persian Underground, but I think those gods of rare at Finders Keepers may have just slipped it under my door.  Thai? Dai!: The Heavier Side of Luk Thung Underground is a collection of Thai rock and roll that emerged in the wake of the Western World’s musical avalanche.  It’s one part psych-rock, one part folk rock, one part marimba, one part jazzy horn – all tied together by a culture that eats parmesan cheese flavored ice cream in hamburger buns.

“Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng” sounds almost exactly like “Iron Man” in riffage, but the body of the song is light and jangly, a delightful breather before it kicks back in to its Sabbath-soaked interior.  Everything about this compilation is amazing.

The album is out now on Finders Keepers.  Raven Sings The Blues also recommends their Well Hung and The BYG Deal collections.  I’m scrambling to find them already.

Sreong Santi – Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng

April 1, 2008

An Invitation to Abbey’s March Listening

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As you can see by the bizarre mix of music below, March was a weird month for me. Luckily there were lots of great new releases to get lost with… 

Black Eyes & Neckties – Apparition! Land of Talk – Applause Cheer Boo Hiss Dead Confederate – Dead Confederate EP Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground The Whigs -  Mission Control Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant EP Thee Emergency – SOLID Wild Orchid Children The Racounters – Consolers of the Lonely The Kinks Built to Spill – Keep it like a Secret Black Sabbath – War Pigs The Antiques – Nicknames & Natives Shy in Sunshine – “Storms” and “Rawk” Eric Howk’s Latest Mi-Fi Myspace Song, currently “The Move”

March 3, 2008

An Invitation to Abbey’s February Listening

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February was a great month for local music, but an awful month for my music. The external hard drive I stored all of my music on crashed beyond repair or recovery, at the same time the lone working cd player in my house went kaput. It was eerily quiet at my house for some time, unpleasantly so. I still got some quality listening time in February – this is what I was loving.

* Thee Emergency – SOLID (oh god guys, the new Emergency record is amazing) * The Hands – Wade in the Water/Lords Gonna Trouble/Knife (this seamless trio of songs ends the new album flawlessly) * Dead Confederate – Dead Confederate EP(prepping for SXSW, I am so excited these guys are head-lining our day party!! …. and opening for REM’s official SXSW Showcase Show.) * The Kinks – A Well Respected Man (just like every one else who saw Juno, I bought the soundtrack…this Kinks tune has been on repeat ever since.) * Shy in Sunshine – Patriot Music (Sneezy of Hopscotch Boys surprising side project, a perfect companion for grey Seattle days and minds) * The Swell Season – Falling Slowly (the song that won the Oscar) * Hole- Miss World and Doll Parts (oh god shoot me. During the crashing of my computer I went through Itunes and searched a bunch of their playlists and bought old, teenage favorites of mine…. the following few selections can be chalked up to that.) * Candlebox – You (can you see me blushing through your screen?) * Temple of The Dog – Hunger Strike (I grew up in Seattle in the late80′s-90′s, I have a “get out of jail free card” for grunge music I once loved) * Black Sabbath- War Pigs (I don’t feel embarrassed about Sabbath at all.) * Black Eyes & Neckties – Apparition (channeling the best of old school Cursive, these guys are at the top of my list of local bands to see live.) * Cursive – Domestica (after listening to Black Eyes & Neckties I had to listen to my old Cursive albums, I think Domestica is my favorite) * The Black Keys – anything and everything (of all things right now, I can’t get enough of the fuzzy perfection of the Black Keys blues)

January 10, 2008

Oooh Mountain Goats News

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Few things in the world excite me more than Mountain Goats news. (this is pathetically, very true.) So my first peek at a new album cover, would have been the best news of any average day. Check out the ominous cover:

I can’t wait!!

But that was just icing on the cake. The oft whispered about John Darnielle penned chapter of the 33 1/3 series has an official release date, April 15th. The topic? Black Sabbath’s – Master of Reality. Darnielle + Sabbath + short novel = major geek out.

thanks Pitchfork for making my day!

December 24, 2007

Holy shit…a metal column!

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Before I dive into this, hello Sound on the Sound, I’ve missed you guys! Prepare to hear more from me, but for now, ho ho ho, it’s heavy fucking metal time.

You know what’s great about being a metal head during Christmas time? Most if not all of your music is neck snappingly irreverent and a bona fide recipe for suppressing holiday cheer…fuck yes. Though this is usually quick to delight a metal head tired of the incessant red and green that has been displayed since the day before Halloween, at times it can be difficult interfacing with family members or old friends who aren’t of the metal ilk. This can create a huge problem: getting a ton of either crappy and/or duplicate CDs as gifts. So this list is for you metal head with crappy gifts (and/or for a family member searching for ideas on a late or last minute gift).

Must haves for a 21st Century Metal Head:

Okay, so I’ll preface this by admitting not all metal heads share my tastes, but if you headbang and enjoy doing so, you’ll find something on this list you can get into. So here it is 25 albums spanning three decades for the metal head in your life…unless it’s me, cuz I have them. Oh, and don’t be confused, these aren’t in order of my favorite or anything…making that list would take a helluva lot longer.

Slough Feg- Hardworlder One of San Francisco’s diamonds in the rough it’s amazing that Slough Feg has not gotten the attention a band of their talent deserves. Sharing members with San Francisco’s Hammers of Misfortune, Slough Feg offers up a progressive and eclectic approach to the light black metal derived thrash that is currently tearing up the SF scene. Hardworlder is a sci-fi/comic book superhero influenced album with intensely sung vocals (imagine the guy from Creed, except good) and intricately arrhythmic guitars.

Yyrkoon- Unhealthy Opera If you read any of the old Metal Mondays you might remember these guys. Brutal French death metal quartet Yyrkoon is easily one of the heaviest bands I have ever come across. With HP Lovecraft influenced lyrics and incredible gutturally growled vocals, which sound as if it were the Old One himself (followers of the Cthulu mythos know what I’m saying) was calling out to you.

Wolf- Black Wings So basically if you took Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and AC/DC and crammed all their sounds into one band, you’d get Sweden’s Wolf. Needless to say, they fucking rock and are bound to get any head banging and some fists pumping. Their musical talent provides for technical thrill rides on each of their albums, yet their last two albums (2004’s Evil Star and 2006’s The Black Flame) have been rather inconsistent in the quality songwriting department. Their second release, Black Wings is a track-by-track kick in the face, well worth every dollar.

Vio-Lence- Eternal Nightmare With humble beginnings in the early 90s Bay Area thrash scene which brought us Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus and others Vio-Lence took the stage with these bands offering some of the fastest metal around. Over the top vocals and crazy fast guitar licks bolster the album’s solid song structure. As many know, the dual guitar talent from Vio-Lence is still around as the front men for Machine Head, proving that their talent is ageless. Also, it’s nice to wow metal head friends by having an early thrash album that isn’t Metallica’s Master of Puppets.

The Ottoman Empire- Way of the Blade So I guess Ottoman Empire has a new song up on their myspace page. Considering how awesome their first full-length release The Way of the Blade is, this new song must be killer. Combining both melodically sung and devilishly growled female vocals provided by lone vocalist Mary Zimmer, and eargasmically intricate guitar, bass, and drum interplay, Ottoman Empire offers a unique, creative and just plain old kick ass sound. Employing elements of thrash with a heavy influence from power metal there is really nothing about Ottoman Empire not to like.

Neurosis- The Word as Law For any who get in the mood for dark, slow, churning, doomy riffs accented with cold and hollow samples to create a richly textured depressive atmosphere NEED some Neurosis. The Word as Law is one of my favorites for the mind-fucking lull it can put on a sunny day. With drony guitars and oppressive vocals, it’s hard not to have a good time while listening to these guys!

To Read the Rest of Metal Monday – Follow The Jump (more…)

September 25, 2007

Metal Monday…er, Wednesday. The Fucking Champs and Danava

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What’s up Seattle?! Oh how I miss the Sound and the rain! Needless to say it’s been far to sunny on the Bay as of recent, perfect time for a metal show…which is just what I got this Sunday at the Great American Music Hall. The show, featuring Danava from Portland, Oregon (big ups to the Northwest!) and The Fucking Champs (local boys here in the Bay) was an excellent way to begin my concert going in San Francisco. The show was phenomenal, accented by the incredible ambience of the great American Music Hall. For you Seattle-ites, the Great American Music Hall has the classy decor of the Paramount but is the size of Neumo’s. Incredible acoustics and an ass kicking sound system provide for incredible sound that makes one want to pull out their earplugs no matter how loud the amps are, but enough about the venue, on with the show!

First up Sunday night was ‘The Makes Nice’. All that I can really say is…meh. Despite being musically talented and good performers, ‘The Makes Nice’ suffers from sound like a poor carbon copy of the Rolling Stones, such a copy that during a very familiar sounding intro to one of their songs I heard a person next to me start singing “I cant get no…” and we all know the rest. Musical talent can in no way make up for a complete lack originality, and sadly, that is the fate of ‘The Makes Nice’.

Danava on the other hand, was incredible. I first heard of this band after reading an article on them in the Stranger at some point last year. With comments alluding to them sounding like Black Sabbath I was eager to pick up some of their stuff, only to find most of my Seattle record purchasing haunts never had it in stock. As of Sunday, I totally see why. Danava is explosive. A crazy cross between the golden years of Black Sabbath and the Di’Anno era of Iron Maiden, Danava delivers skull splittingly doomy licks buffered with skin tearing speed lines. As the drummer/singer/occasional guitarist for The Fucking Champs very eloquently said, Danava ‘…took my fucking head off.” Suffice it to say, spending any money on Danava is well worth every penny, whether it’s on concert tickets or CDs, you need to get yourself some Danava.

Closing out the show was The Fucking Champs. An incredible power trio made up of two guitarists and a drummer who occasionally sings and/or plays guitar, The Fucking Champs put on a flawless show Sunday night. Through combinations of intricate bends, arpeggios, scathing speed lines, and insane and multiple tempo changes, The Fucking Champs are an incredible band on disc, live, they are absolutely explosive! First off, it was amazing to see such ripping licks (arpeggios, bends and all) played on a twelve string electric guitar. That combined with an unwieldly powerhouse of sound being pounded out of just a pair of guitarists made for an incredible show. I am without a doubt eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to see the Champs live.

So how’s October looking for you all? If you’ve got some time for some kick ass metal, Ludicra will at Slim’s on October 2nd and Arch Enemy and Machine Head will be at the Warfield on October 12th! See you there dear reader, and as always, keep it gloomy.