Guilty Connector - Beats, Noise, and Life.

imagine you come to find yourself dazed, in the middle of what appears to be an ever-expanding field of corn. you're lying on your back and with each subtle movement, the sun flickers directly into your eyes. you spot a black bird, and then another, and another, and another, until the sky slowly (yet frantically) becomes a sea. their wings wave to the beat of an alarm that sounds violently inside your stomach, but to your ears is faint and possibly delusional. a thought; the birds are either pulling a capsule over your perceived world behind them, or your body is not registering its own decision to stand.

the stalks that surround you begin to rust, and a piercing sound rings incessantly. just then, what you can only imagine to be a railroad spike is driven straight through the center of your skull. almost immediately after the shattering impact, you experience a euphoric moment of serenity as it seems the same black sea that covered the sky begins to run like tar over your brain. the clarity isn't fleeting, but is still complicated by the painful sound of ill-fitting gears struggling to rotate.

is industry coming or going? what part do i now play in this event? can i move (with intention)? do i care to change a thing? the sea is everywhere, and you are no longer able to discern whether you are the lonesome vessel or the rapidly flowing force sent to swallow it whole. you come to realize that your/the world's cyclical gestures and any semblance of pattern has been broken, and everything - including your own sense of self - is ripped to shreds and dispersed in every imaginable direction. you explode, but only to find your (true) self set in permanent motion and everything is experienced in singular moments. whether or not they are remembered is theoretically questionable, but you don't think to wonder. you're moving.

...that's what the opening track, "New York Shibaki Terror Conversation" is like. have fun with the other thirty minutes.

last.fm, Planet Mu Records, myspace in the title.

MOTIONLESS.

Gasp - Drome Triler of Puzzle Zoo People

to the handful of you who actually maintain interest in this blog: i do apologize for the wait and commend you for your patience. hopefully i'll be back to doing this on  the regular now that my life is (a little) less crazy. onto the monotonous ramblings!

gasp (pretty sure they preferred lowercase spelling, as i do, but sometimes it's capitalized for the sake of consistency and organizing...) was a noisy, atmospheric project which, without being formulaic, played spazzy powerviolence and/or heavy sludge. though only active for a brief period in the late 90's, the band appears to have had a lasting impact on other artists that are trying to push the limits of what punk rock can and should consist of. listening to this release in particular calls to mind the efforts made by bands like REFUSED, who seamlessly tied together an album that contained an array of styles, sound clips and samples, varying dynamics, etc. in a definitive and cohesive manner. in short, it shatters people's perceptions and expectations, and one can only hope it does so for the better.

in terms of the way it sounds, i'd put it much more on par with something like if GRIEF were to perform a live album underwater while tripping and forcing all the majestic sea creatures who come in contact with the sound waves/acid to get hella existential...which is just kind of what i envision rather than what it objectively sounds like. maybe i'd describe it as "bubbly" in this sense. if it helps, i'd also say the vocals remind me a lot of the later CHARLES BRONSON releases, and that the record was put out by Slap-a-Ham. no? alright. you should probably just listen to it for yourselves. it's really cool and miserable and stuff. i highly recommend listening to it alone on the subway or on rainy, introspective nights. you'll probably discover (if you haven't already) that a lot of things are "wrong" with you, but that's why we're "here" in the first place, isn't it? ANSWER ME.

instead of over-hyping it or going into useless details i'll let it speak for itself, as it has done so quietly for the last decade or so.

personal favorites include: Silk Orbita, Sky Flowers Through Horse Eggs, Auroren, and Trippy Dead Zone.

last.fm in the post's link, myspace here.

Full of Hell - Roots of Earth are Consuming My Home

UHHH 9.6/10 SERIOUSLY OLD NEWS I KNO GUYS BUT OMG I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO IT ON REPEAT FOR ALMOST A MONTH NOW AND IT'S BASICALLY THE BEST SO GO BUY IT DOWNLOAD IT GET SOME MERCH SEE THEM ON TOUR I DON'T CARE JUST FUCKING APPRECIATE THIS SHIT BECAUSE IT COMES ONCE IN A BLUE MOON GOD LORD WILL SOMEONE LET ME JOIN THIS BAND IS IT TOO SOON FOR A COVER BAND I DON'T KNOW SO MANY QUESTIONS IS THAT A CATERPILLAR NOPE JUST A CIGARETTE I LEFT IN MY WINDOW SILL WHOOPS.

eff this crowd, srsly. i'd be murdering everyone >>>

Drainland - And So Our Troubles Began

once again, i will attempt to describe an irreducible band in one simple post. i apologize in advance. Drainland are, for starters, "5 angry people that live in Ireland who keep getting compared to crust and metalcore bands [they] don’t listen to" - last.fm. i would say it's more along the lines of dark hardcore, sludge, noisy doom metal, and a pinch of post-rock thrown into a blender. but who's to say that's objectively any more accurate or helpful? i've only very recently been turned on to this band, and i regret having not immediately checked them out. (i've gotten over the habit of completely neglecting bands with what i feel to be terrible names, but that in turn has made bands with names that aren't great but don't outright suck be able to fall by the proverbial wayside. (longest parenthetical ever.)). to be honest, i came for the cover art, but i stayed for the substantially unique jams.

i can't honestly say that the record is cohesive, or that Drainland has developed a new sound that is all-their-own, but it's kind of interesting in that sense. it's more of a challenging listen than a lot of bands who have a very well set and defined brand of music and simply follow that script. and while there is an "atmospheric" (for lack of a better term) presence throughout, no two tracks bleed together/become indistinguishable. maybe it's because i'm not up on my Irish punk/crust/sludge, but there's something about this band that strikes me as different. while trying to sum up their sound for my pal Brendan (new KRANG 12" coming soon, whaaat?), i could only manage to say "it's kinda like CURSED, but...not at all...".

vocals consist of decipherable yells which can, depending on the song, have a screamo-ish wave to them or reach bellowing depths. it's pretty neat. the drums are all quite punchy, with the exception of the popping metallic snare. cymbals - particularly the ride - are very well balanced and bright, of which the latter is typically unusual when it comes to heavy stuff. also neat. the bass is also hella metallic but has that crusty-distorted factor. fuzzy, but not sloppy. guitars have almost a black metal quality about them, in that it sounds like many of the riffs were recorded in barren caves and abandoned alleyways. in addition to the constant riffing, the guitars also create a lot of indiscernible noise, which serves both hi and lo end purposes. it's all just very, very neat.

favorite tracks: Jellyfish, Sominal Hex, Weakness, Luxophage.

i'm really tired, so i apologize once again for this half-ass review. but i do sincerely suggest you people check these guys out either on myspace, facebook, tumblr, or bandcamp (linked in post title). these dudes know how to utilize the web.

GIMME GIMME MELATONIN.

Full of Hell - The Inevitable Fear of Existence

not an impressive band name, i know, but the music they write and - perhaps most importantly - the intensity with which they perform is incredible. brutal, grindy, shrieky, unstable, sludgy, chaotic, pukey, tortured, noisy, just plain fucking pissed. the only band i can readily compare them to is MAGRUDERGRIND, but that's really only in terms of the high-end vocal work and the occasional blastbeat on FoH's end. aside from this 7", which i find to be their best work yet (both in terms of song-writing and production), they have: a split with GOLDUST, a demo EP entitled Savages, and a few random demo tracks floating around. a full-length is also being pressed soon and will be released by A389 Recordings some time in August.

The Inevitable Fear of Existence kicks off with a beautifully simplistic guitar riff (reminiscent of TRAGEDY), which is soon accompanied by bass drum kicks and cymbal crashes powerful enough to make a whale's head explode. get it? because they use sonar. anyway, they hammer out the intro, let the notes hang, and then "Lead Tongue" just punishes you with relentless thrashy blastbeats, only to break back down and get super pissed, grunt, and bring the destruction right back for the last 15 seconds or so. it's honestly a damn near perfect song. from here, the album definitely falls more "into place", shall we say, as the band demonstrates that they can in fact play a consistent beat and groove for a minute. the thrashy drums and lyrics in "Black Iron" rule. trust me. and i don't mean thrashy like 80's crossover hit the drums light but fast DRI style or anything. i mean it sounds like this dude is just flailing his appendages at the kit as violently as he can while still maintaining a tight beat. rules rules rules. next there's "Horus" which features some nice double bass work and some stoner-inspired riffage. but then they end the 7" with a title track. this one is more of a doomy sludge song with hallway effect vocals. honestly kinda makes me think of DYSTOPIA because of how tortured and miserable everything sounds. its excellent. i cannot fucking wait for their upcoming LP.

*Random Disclaimer - the reason why i'm not being as creative or descriptive as far as this band/release goes is because i've just been too damn excited about them. all i can do is play them for people and be like, "see?! it's just fucking, like. FUCK!". so i apologize that this review or whatever is basically just saying that using a lot more words.

i don't really know what else to say about this band. they're fucking furious. and if i were to start my ideal band, it would sound pretty fucking close to this. they're in the middle of a huge US tour RIGHT NOW so check out their facebook, bandcamp, and all that good stuff. also if you catch them on tour, buy me their merch. one of everything. then email me and i'll send you my address. kthanks.

this is what you'll have to reckon with. enjoy.