I know just how few people get past the beginning of these unnecessarily verbose blogs, so I'll kick off with the self-whoring and inform any readers about two releases to which I have contributed.
The first is the "Half Reality" EP by Plurals on Dead Sea Liner records, it's £3 and can be viewed here. Plurals is the drone/ambient/soundscapes-ish project I am part of alongside my friends Duncan (of Psyche Out/Xenon Codex/Horse Vomit), Mike (of Psyche Out/The Edges Fray/Pump Shark/Xenon Codex and more), Dan (Ekca Liena/Nmesme/Sakura promotions) and Pete (Masturhate). I'm very pleased with this EP because not only does it look great, it also represents the two extremes of our sound - straight-ahead drones and an altogether less linear, highly atmospheric bleak-athon. The tracks are "Air Yet To Touch Skin" and "Hanging Bar" respectively.The second is from my own solo project Me With Others. The 'Cigarettes' EP is with the pressing people as I write, and will be available through Beekeeper Records, which is the new label from Ashley of the now-defunct Division Street Records. I don't know how much it will cost, and I left the artwork entirely to Ashley and Niall so it'll be a surprise. I trust them though, and await the final copies eagerly. There will be a total of 50 copies made, I'll carry some around but most will be available from the Beekeeper site and in the distro section of the Dead Pilot Records site. The tracklist is: "The Seventh Seal" (a Scott Walker cover), "Behind a Cloud", "Gold Circle" and "No One Knows You". All of those songs can be heard on the myspace in some form or another, but the EP versions of "...Cloud" and "...Circle" have been left off there as a lame incentive for you to buy the EP. It's better, shorter and (probably) cheaper than the album anyway so I don't see how you can fail.
I moved to Brighton a little over three weeks ago and although unemployment is frustrating, mainly because I can't buy a lot of records and eat in restaurants anymore, it has been a good move. We have an awesome five-storey house near the train station and it's been a blast so far. I have decided to claim back a little of the tax I paid over the last few years to keep me going, in the guise of Jobseeker's Allowance and hopefully some housing benefits. I actually lost three grand a year to taxes in my last job, and if I claim some back then it means I haven't contributed to the shower of shit that will inevitably be the London 2012 Olympics! Double win.
Also, DCS sadly broke up within a week of me leaving town. This is despite my promise and honest intention of commuting to rehearsals. Turns out two years is simply too long for a 21st century human being to stick to his/her word. Things change, apparently. Perhaps it would've been easier if Joseph Heller had quit writing 'Catch 22' after two years...
Anyway, there are a few more musical things I feel are worth sharing. Dinosaur Jr are back in town supporting their new record 'Farm' and they're as brilliant and noisy as ever if "I Want You To Know" is anything to go buy. It's up for free download on their website and I urge you to check them out live as they are one of the loudest, earthiest and most enjoyable rock bands on the planet. Also they have a link on their website to FreeSoFree, a very lovingly-created database of bootlegs from Dinosaur Jr's entire career. Any band that will link fans with their own bootlegs deserves a serious listen. Here's a fucking storming version of "Forget The Swan" from the Rollins show a couple of years ago.
I just saw today that the hugely underrated doom trio YOB have reformed in the wake of Middian's demise. This is great news, because I reckon their last two records are absolute genius, but I can't help feeling slightly discouraged by the Middian situation. This was Mike Scheidt's post-YOB band who were forced to split up after a lawsuit was filed against them by another 'band' calling themselves Middian. The "original" band were some kind of shitty nu-metal throwback that hadn't done a gig in years, and consequently fell under the radar when the newer band researched to make sure no one else had the name. The full story is on their website, but it boils down to a horrible case of sour grapes and unwarranted self-importance that spilled over into the courts, wasted everyone's time and money and forced Metal Blade to pull all the copies of Middian's "Age Eternal" off the shelves. How can it be that someone so blessed with the art of the Magick Doom Riff could find themselves on the wrong end of all this shit? Court cases and petty little personal wars should be left to the red-tape-loving corporations that seem to enjoy the attention, and musicians should co-operate and compromise, or at least just write it off if they can't agree on anything. I feel sorry for the band, but at least we have YOB back and a new album to look forward to. I would say that you should order "Age Eternal" anyway because it's good, but no one will see a penny of whatever you'll pay for it. Here's a live version of "Grasping Air" off their last album 'The Unreal Never Lived'.
Also I managed to score an "industry" pass to the Great Escape Festival this weekend. If you've never heard of it, it's a "new music" event that hijacks Brighton for three days and there's a gig in pretty much everywhere that can be used for one, regardless of capacity. It's a great idea and the party spirit has definitely taken hold, but musically it pushes very few buttons for me. I did manage to catch the very excellent Cursive play an enrapturing half-hour set at the Ocean Rooms, followed by compelling stuff from Gentle Friendly and Zach Hill at the Freebutt. Zach Hill is the drummer from Hella, a mathy group I've yet to wrap my ears around. His solo stuff is literally baffling. I've never seen a drummer like him and I simply cannot conceive of how this music was written, created and performed. Takes a lot to do that to me these days. Check him out, he's on Ipecac now. I also went to a liberally-cushioned art space called The Basement and caught Elizabeth, who play slightly haunting Portishead-esque music, and Mike Bones. Mr Bones could have gone either way for me - his blurb described him as a Bob Dylan/Lou Reed crossover and a favourite of Vice Magazine. Take from that what you will, but for my own part I thought it could either be genius or a self-concious Noo Yawk bullshit exercise of the highest order. Typically he was neither, and came across passionate, warm and genuine. He doesn't have an unwavering aim just yet though, but some of his stuff was very good indeed. For the last night I caught Throats and Ghost of a Thousand at Club Revenge on Old Steine. There is a catwalk in this club which kind of looks like a penis. It is definitely a catwalk first and foremost though, and probably only looks like a penis because of the shape of the room and also because it's some kind of gay club architectural gag, and not a bad one at that. Anyway, both bands were vicious and very dynamic. GoaT predictably took home the honours as it's a hometown show for them but Throats were far, far more extreme. Here's Thursday night's highlight Cursive playing a new song on Letterman recently. It's weird to write that.
I was loaned a copy of the Portent CD too. This is some really excellent one-man black metal that has apparently taken a few years to complete by Dom, who also plays in Ethernal and was involved in the unfortunately disbanded and scarcely-seen Bucks group Huorn. I'm no expert on black metal, but to me it sounds like a cross between very early Opeth, some Immortal-sounding guitar tones, and the thrash sensibilities of Sci-Fi-era Voivod, all while being quite "dismal" most of the time (quote from the man himself). Of course, when metalheads say words like "dismal", "horrible" and "sickening", this means it's fucking great.
As a final note, I have been unable to buy the new Mastodon or Isis records as I'm unemployed and skint. Pity me. And thanks for reading as always.
