Meneguar- I Was Born At Night (2005)

In my opinion, Meneguar was one of the most unsung bands of the last decade. While not necessarily a devotee, I listen to my fair share of indie rock and I've never heard another band that played said style of music with such unbridled passion. I'm not talking about in a live setting, unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing a Meneguar show. I'm talking about on tape. To me a show will always be the preferred way to experience music and albums should strive to capture the electricity that makes seeing music live so exciting. That is exactly why I consider I Was Born At Night to be a masterpiece, it sounds like the band was having just as much fun tracking these songs as they did when playing them live. This EP was initially released by Magic Bullet and was one of the label's early forays into music outside of the extreme. It's odd to think that if I weren't a fan of Majority Rule and Texbook Traitors I never would have heard this band.

Trying to encapsulate Meneguar in a paragraph or two is a pretty daunting task. I think that's due to the fact that they manage to remind me of the best aspects of a number of bands while not actually sounding anything like those bands. Take Weezer for instance. The Blue Album is littered with wonderful sing-along choruses. Menegar take it a step further. The chorus to every single song on this album demands that you sing-along. Give it two listens and try your hardest not to, I dare you. Their rhythm section pounds like Weezer did every now and again, but really that's where the comparison ends. The energy and enthusiasm with which they play reminds me of pop punk in the vein of The Ramones or Dillinger Four and the plentiful booty shakin' bass lines are reminiscent of the latter in particular. However, Meneguar isn't a pop punk band. I hear the Chuck Berry influenced garage rock of Hot Snakes. I can spot the dancy indie beat of Q and Not U. I hear the echoes of jangly guitar-driven indie rock bands from the 90's like Jawbox. While that last one might be the best overall comparison, the hammer is still pretty fucking far from the nail's head.

Whatever they sounded like, I was always nonplussed as to why Meneguar never attained the status of a band like Minus The Bear, who, while Menegar were producing two of the best indie rock releases of the decade, were beginning a backslide that sent them down into the mire with a million other terrible indie bands (there was a brief pause with Planet of Ice). Please come back Meneguar, I miss you.

Try it
(Listen to it LOUD)

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Physical (LP)

Digital

Deathspell Omega - Drought (2012)

The Proposition is one of the best modern westerns ever made. Not only was it written by, but also features an amazing score by none other than Nick Cave. Why is this important to this post you ask? Salowe Visions. Dark and foreboding, reverb tinged twang convey a sense of longing and deep isolation before building into an ultimately triumphant crescendo, much like the first two acts of The Proposition.  And then came violence. Fiery Serpents. Blasting forth with such brutality, I can feel its sweat and rage bearing down on me, as if the song itself had been riding with Guy Pearce through the Australian Outback. Again, why is this important? With in these two songs Deathspell Omega have captured a cinematic vision so potent that it encapsulated an entire movie in my head in a mere eight minutes. There are still four other tracks on this E.P. Their ability to so completely evolve a piece of music is a true testament to their mastery. You as the listener are right there along for the journey they are unraveling in three to four minute vignettes. Some bands can’t do that in twenty! Drought is by far the most concise of  Deathsell Omega's Recorded output. There are still unbridled amounts of ballistic, incomprehensibly executed riffs on this behemoth, so don't you worry! Scorpions & Drought right through to the last chord on The Crackled Book Of Life, are just as strong, if not stronger, than the first two tracks. Drought is yet another epic masterpiece of forward thinking, awe inspiring, and most importantly, terrifying black metal.    

*I know it may come as a surprise to most of you that I'd post about Deathspell Omega. Having only name checked them in 40-60% of the entries on this site, I felt that they needed more exposure than what we were already giving them! So thank you for bearing with me on this one folks.

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CD
Vinyl

Stoneburner- Sickness Will Pass (2012)

Migration by Buried At Sea is my favorite doom record of all time, regardless of subgenre. That might seem like an odd choice to many, but I've never heard an album as unrelenting and suffocatingly heavy. I'd go so far as to call it the heaviest album of all time (and those of you who know me know that I tend to do so without the slightest provocation). Growing up a punk kid who loved powerviolence I didn't know people made music that slow and heavy or that I could possibly enjoy it so much. I remember staring agape at the car stereo after hearing that titanic crash at the beginning of Migration for the first time. The closest analogy I can come up with is when, suddenly, a gigantic chunk of glacier breaks off and slams into the ocean with a roar. Since Buried At Sea is no longer with us, I always keep my ear to their grave, anxiously listening for bands down there nibbling at their sodden corpse. At times Batillus reaches Buried At Sea levels of trudging hugeness, but they've got their own sound and are on their own path that only on occasion winds its way through that corner of the graveyard. For the past few years I've been keeping an eye on Portland's Stoneburner who feature guitarist Jason Depew formerly of...you guessed it...Buried At Sea. Thus, I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Sickness Will Pass for a number of months now.

Does it deliver? Boy, does it ever. Don't think that, based on the above, Stoneburner is a Buried At Sea clone. Far from it (though I could get down with that, I like plenty of Discharge clones). Like Migration, Sickness Will Pass starts out with a thunder clap and immediately hits some of the same lows (and I mean that in the best way possible). This album is vicious. If Eyehategod is a PCPed-out first timer stabbing wildly and making a mess of things, Stoneburner are a seasoned vet, knifing you methodically while staring you in the eyes with a completely flattened affect. But as I said, this isn't Migration Pt. 2. Soneburner has plenty of tricks up their sleeves in the form of bluesy southern sludge riffs, Yob-esque pedal driven bits, guitar solos, up tempo sections and double bass.

This album is tremendous and in addition to capturing a spot amongst my favorites of the year it's made me completely reevaluate some of the notions I had about Buried At Sea. Being the most visible member and the member whose other projects I was most familiar with, I had always attributed much of Buried At Sea's sound to Sanford Parker. Sickness Will Pass changes all that. The tones, the riffs and the malevolence I now see were the work of one Jason Depew and he's back with another absolutely killer piece of doom history.

Try it.

Buy it.
Physical (CD)
Digital

No vinyl yet, but I will certainly be making a post about it when it becomes available.

Vinyl Fetish: Whirr (Whirl)- Distressor EP

Not sure how I missed that this reissue was happening. The original pressing of this Whirr EP (they were known as Whirl at the time) was fraught with issues. I know that a number of people who ordered it from the UK based label it was released on never received their records. I opted not to order it from them based on that fact, so I've been semi-actively looking for a copy at a reasonable price on Discogs for a year now. I go to the Discogs homepage today and voila! a reissue. Comes with all new artwork and two bonus demo tracks. 595 copies pressed, 325 on clear with splatter (ugh, I know, splatter vinyl is fucking lame) and 270 on green/white swirl, which is supposedly exclusive to the Graveface Record Club (also lame). Oh well, at least I'll be able to own one of my favorite EPs in recent memory on vinyl at last

 

Graveface Records

Textbook Traitors- You Pull The Strings That Make Us Dance (2002)

Listening to Guidelines (see post below) got me all hot and bothered for some more chaotic screamo. I mentioned Textbook Traitors when I posted the Guidelines EP and immediately realized Textbook Traitors is one of the reasons I started this blog. Not them in particular, but bands of their ilk. Bands who in their time were completely overlooked. Granted, when this EP came out the screamo wave was just about to crest and when that wave broke it spilled out a slew of shitty bands, so Textbook Traitors were mostly lost in the wash, drown out by the pounding of the shitty surf. OK, I think that's enough water and poo allusions for one post.

Textbook Traitors were a screamo band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who released a grand total of 33 minutes of music in their all too brief career. The drummer went on to join Get Rad (had I known this when I saw Get Rad at Gilead Media Fest I would have gotten all fanboy on that guy). Other than that, I can't seem to find any info on the band's previous or more current endeavors. However, all you really need to know is that if you have even a passing interest in the genre, this EP contains 15 of the finest minutes of screamo you will ever hear. Unlike many of their peers, Textbook Traitors eschewed the quiet/loud dynamic for the most part in favor of an all out aural assault unlike anything I'd heard before or I've heard since. Eardrum shredding shrieks, grindcore pacing, blast beats and frenetic, dissonant, shrill guitar caterwauling make this one of the most grating listens ever and nearly a decade after my initial listen, I still can't get enough of it. This is a masterpiece of the genre, up there with Chaos Is Me by Orchid and Document # 5 and Document #7 by Pg. 99. Absolutely essential.

Punk rock will never die.

Buy it:

Digital
Physical (CD)
Unfortunately, this hot mess was never released on vinyl. Start talking about it incessantly and maybe we can get Magic Bullet to give this thing the vinyl treatment it deserves.

Guidelines- S/T EP (2012)

Whoa! This is some rad shit! I can’t say I really listen to much screamo anymore, when nearly all of the progenitors of the genre and the second wave bands went the way of the dodo so did my interest. I peek in every once in a while to see what the haps are, but these days every band I hear seems to be a Pg. 99 clone doing the quiet/loud thing over and over and over and over again. That’s cool, I’d rather listen to Pg. 99. They all seem to have become so concerned with the pretty, quiet parts and crafting the most epic build that they completely forget the payoff; the violent, unhinged, sounds like it’s going to go spiraling out of control at any second, bordering on grindcore bits of screamo songs that I absolutely adore. You know, like what Orchid and Textbook Traitors excelled at. Call it “emoviolence” if you’re one of those people. It’s those delightful tidbits where Guidelines shine. Sure, there are still the melodic sections and the quiet/loud dynamic, that’s part and parcel of the genre, but what is truly remarkable is how these New Jersey gents manage to transition into and even combine the chaotic elements of screamo with the melodic. Listening to this brings me back to a whole different era of punk rock music, but also gives me hope for the future. Thanks, Guidelines.

Digtial. Name your price on bandcamp.

Ajuna- Incomplete Circles Becoming Dead Ends & Perpetual State Of Disbelieve (2011)

Like my compatriot Pat, my tastes in black metal do not ride the rails of convention. Ajuna is not your typical black metal band and therefore perfect for me. Even calling what they do on these albums black metal is almost a misnomer. Asides from the vocals and stylistic flourishes they share more with bands like Slint, Jesus Lizard, and 90's alternative than they do Mayhem or Emperor. The eight songs that comprise Incomplete Circles Becoming Dead Ends & Perpetual State of Disbelieve run the gamut of AmRep / Touch and Go sounds. Jangly, not overly distorted, but dangerous guitar, thunderous Henry Bogdan / David Wm. Sims bass tone, and propulsive drummimg. Yeah you read that right, second post featuring a black metal band where you can hear the bass. The rhythm section in Ajuna drive the hell out of these songs. Absolutely stellar shit here! This band has been on repeat for quite a while now and probably will for the foreseeable future. 

Included in the download is their brand new demo Death In The Shape Of Winter. Having listen to it, I can say they have definitely taken a turn for the heavier in the last year. That's not a bad thing at all, but a lot of the AmRepiness that make the first albums so charming and interesting is lost a little bit. I am in no way knocking these songs, hell the video I included is from Death..., they're just different.

Try it

Buy it:
Not yet, look for it soon on Neh-Owh Records