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Three Songs From: Wax Fang

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True confession: The first time I listened to Wax Fang’s tunes, it was totally because I had to find out what kind of noises a band called “Wax Fang” was going to make. I was expecting them to be either gothy and overwrought or possibly gothy and making-sly-commentary-on-subcultural-ridiculousness.

What I found is that they are neither of those things. The best way I can think of to describe it, after listening to their three new stand-alone singles, is to say they are masters of building tiny rock ‘n roll universes.

Here are the songs. Each one contains a fully formed world, built out of bold guitars and augmented by piano, strings and steady drums.

The Blonde Leading the Blonde: The opening riff is the one that hooked me and drew me in, but the whole song serves as an introduction to the depth and verve of their sound.
 

 
Hearts Are Made for Beating: A meditation on how sometimes love is a bomb that goes off in your chest. Goes well with walking around the city alone on a dark, cold night.
 

 
King of the Kingdom of Man: One minute you’re rolling along, doing the grocery shopping, thinking casual thoughts about how many eggs you might need for poundcake, and the next you have been caught in an undertow of feelings and are on your way out to sea where “out to sea” means “suddenly verklempt in the dairy section because of a fictional character.” It’s also the one where every time it starts up I think Ziggy Stardust? Is that you?
 

 

For their next trick, they’re making a space opera. I am not making this up. It’s called The Astronaut and if you’re an American Dad! viewer you heard a big chunk of it during the 150th episode. For the rest of you, be prepared to appreciate the complete work when it arrives in mid-January.

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Mumblr, White Jesus/Black God

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Mumblr is: Nick Morrison (vocals, guitar), Scott Stitzer (drums), Ian Amidon (guitar) and Sean Reilly (bass), and they are from North Philadelphia. White Jesus/Black God is their first record.

They have made up their own genre – fuzz punk – which at first I thought might be a new way to say grunge, but no, this is definitely fuzzed out and distorted punk rock. It is gloriously obnoxious and exactly what I needed after several weeks of floating in a dream pop / electronica haze. Here are three tunes I especially liked:

Holy Ghost: This may be the most aggressive song about making out and grammar arguments that you will listen to today.
 

 
Puke: The first 20 seconds of this song sound like a rock n’ roll accident, like someone swung a wrecking ball into the middle of the band and knocked everyone into the speakers and amps. The rest of it sounds like they all managed to stand up and find their guitar picks and drumsticks and sing a song about being really angry at someone and not quite knowing why.
 

 
Good Cop, Dad Cop: I picked this one mainly because I’m amused/impressed that they managed to wedge the phrase “fornication magazine” into the lyrics and have it not sound clunky.
 

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Postcards from the Pit: The Architects / DeathSpells / The Scandals, the Knitting Factory, 11/19/13

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I went to see the Architects, DeathSpells and the Scandals at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn this past Tuesday, and it was awesome.

The Scandals are from Bayonne, New Jersey, and they play Jersey punk at breakneck speed.
 

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DeathSpells is a new venture from Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) and James Dewees (Reggie and the Full Effect, The Get Up Kids) and is more pop-industrial than punk.

And by “pop-industrial” I mean it’s weird experimental noise you can dance to – well, stomp-sway and headbang and bounce a little – which the crowd and I did, enthusiastically.

Sadly Frank Iero’s voice got a little bit lost in the mix; this may have been because I was right up on the rail and too close to a speaker. But their songs worked great as instrumental pieces, too, so that was okay.
 

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The Architects are at a transitional period, musically; up until now they’ve played thrashy punk mostly – to quote Brandon Phillips – “about drugs and law enforcement.” Their most recent record goes in a little bit of a different direction – I’ve already written about how much I like it – and has more of a punkabilly vibe, which in practice means they now sing some songs about girls.

They still play the old songs like bootleggers outrunning the law: fast, but nimble and focused. But I’m pleased to report the new songs were seamlessly integrated into their set. And that their set is still a glorious, exhilarating torrent of punk rock.

Also, yes, that is Frank Iero on bass and possibly specifically on Mikey Way’s sparkly bass, at that; their regular bassist is temporarily absent and Iero is filling in.
 

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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink: Charm Taylor, The Honorable South

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

The Honorable South of New Orleans, Louisiana, and their heady stew of rock, funk and jazz are a long-time favorite of mine. As I noted the first time I wrote about them, the best description I can give you is that they’ve found a way to bottle the spirit of New Orleans.

Faithful, Brave, and Honest, their second record, is due next year. But they have just put out a video for the first single, St. Charles Parish. It’s one of their slower numbers, and it is lovely.
 
http://youtu.be/Y72RxsU5z24
 
And now, here is lead singer Ms. Charm Taylor, to tell us about her favorite book, record and drink:

A Good Read:

A library the size of an industrial sized refrigerator, must mean I own books that I have yet to read, haven’t finished reading, don’t belong to me, and can’t remember I own right? I think the last piece of fiction I read in it’s entirety was Oil! by Upton Sinclair, before that it was Black Music by Amiri Baraka, which made me realize I didn’t know half as much about jazz as thought I did.

I read one or the other in conjunction with a social history of The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans: Origins, Beliefs, and Rituals of an African-American Religion by Claude F. Jacobs a little bit ago.

I immediately followed those up with Herbal Medicine translated from the original German text. Ok, I’m cheating here and not really abiding by the parameters of the blog. NO Rules! Right now the good read in my life is Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine all about the mysteries of the universe and leaves of the world.

A Good Listen:

Mongo Santamaria: Afro Roots (1972 repackaging of Yambú(1958) and Mongo (1959))

Jazz cats fusing Latin Rhumba, Soul and music from the continent. Outstanding record with everything you need: intense drummer…smooth melodies.
 

Mongo Santamaria - Afro Blue

 

A Good Drink:

African Colada featuring Rhum Barbancourt, Haiti.

It’s sort of like a private cruise in your mouth, which means you’re playing yourself if you decide to substitute for Bean.

2 spoons muddle pineapple
1 1/2 shot Rhum Barbancourt
1/2 shot simple syrup
large pinch cinnamon
splash heavy cream

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Video: death., the HARTEBEEST

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The HARTEBEEST are duo from the island of Guernsey, and they have made the most cheerful sounding song about death that you are going to listen to today.

I decided to share it in video form because the video both illustrates and clarifies the song. “Death” doesn’t necessarily mean actual death; it could just be a reference to some of the more soul-killing aspects of modern life, and how different people have different escape valves. Places to go to feel alive, even if that place is in their head, or a track, before dawn.

 

H A R T E B E E S T - death. (official video)

 

In non-musical news, the HARTEBEEST also post amazing pictures to their Instagram; check it out if you like dramatic views of island coasts and/or graveyards in the snow and don’t mind the occasional dead mouse.

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Introducing: Blitz//Berlin

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Blitz//Berlin are Martin, Casey, Dean and Tristan, from Toronto, Canada. Martin sings, they all play multiple instruments, and several of them have beards. They grew up on punk shows and sci-fi movies and when not rocking out, make scores for independent films.

They have recently released a three song mixtape, which you can listen to at Soundcloud and then download for free here.

All three songs are quite good; I picked Outside to share because of a lyric that reached out and hooked me: There’s a barroom in the belly of the war machine / and they’re serving cheap American beer all night / There’s a bedroom in the bottom of the sinking ship / it’s where I love you where I love you where I love you on the outside. As soon as I heard it I wanted to know the rest of that story. Also, I love the surging, driving beat.
 

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Shelf-reading at bandcamp: Co. Armagh edition

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Shelf-reading has two purposes: one, to make sure everything is in its right place; and two, to discover works you would not necessarily have though to look for, left to your own researching devices.

I decided to take purpose #2 and apply it to Bandcamp’s tagging system, generally, and the Irish music section, specifically, partially because I can and because why not, and partially because I had been ruminating on net-grumbling I had seen related to popular (trans: American) understanding of “Irish music” as being rock (U2, The Cranberries), traditional folk (the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, etc) or folk-rock hybrids (The Pogues, Black 47, Flogging Molly) with no in-between or other options.

I then decided to use the counties of Ireland (North and South), arranged alphabetically, as a framing device for the experiment.

I started this a year and a half ago (!) with County Antrim and then I guess I got sidetracked.

I’m back at it now, though, and today we’re visiting the County Armagh section.

The first thing I learned is that there is not a lot of music tagged “County Armagh” and also Bandcamp’s search function might be a little bit wonky and/or broad because what did come back didn’t seem to have any obvious connection to Armagh.

So I switched to just searching for “Armagh” which brought back more options, though some of them were still not quite right.

In any case, here is what I found that I liked. Note: the connections to Armagh might still be a little bit loose or non-existent, but they are all at least from Northern Ireland.

Waylander, Once Upon an Era, “Born to the Fight” (demos, 1994) from the Irish-Metal Archive.

My reactions, in order: 1) there’s an Irish Metal Archive??!! and 2) did this song cause ceilidhs to break out in the pit? I bet it did. Also some classic ogre-roar vocals in there.


 

The Bonnevilles, Folk Art and the Death of Electric Jesus
These dudes play heavy punk blues. The search I used actually leads to their first record, Good Suits and Fightin’ Boots, which is also quite good; Folk Art and the Death of Electric Jesus is their second record and the one that landed them on the short list for the first ever Northern Ireland Music Prize.
 

 
Oh No! Ulster’s Hidden Reverse, Shuck, “Whitewash Asbetos Whitewash”
And in conclusion, a bulletin from the underground’s underground. I am not sure if I should believe the liner notes, here, but they certainly are entertaining reading.
 

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MGMT, MGMT

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MGMT is MGMT‘s third record.

One of my professors used to say, “Some books you read. Some books read you.” I think this is a record that is going to read a lot of people. It certainly read me.

Honestly, the reason I picked it up was I saw so many reviews that were basically “what is this weird quarter-life crisis nonsense??!!” which as it turned out were right, in a way. The songs are more introspective – there is actually a song called Introspection, which I love – and do grapple with more adult topics, specifically, the alarming sensation of being an adult, and all of it is filtered through a musical fun house mirror.

Or: MGMT’s answer to “What do you do after you become super-famous, then make a record your fans kind of don’t like because it wasn’t the same as the first one?” is “Become aggressively weird.”

Here are three songs from the record, all of which are very good. I decided to share them in video form because the videos are also aggressively weird.

Alien Days: colonial-era alien abduction as a metaphor for how your most precious things are sometimes caviar for unfeeling creatures. (Ooooh subtle, MGMT!) Also, aliens doing ballet.

MGMT - "Alien Days" (Official Video)

 
Your Life is a Lie: A bit of a modern echo of Once In A Lifetime; the moments after you have realized you have let the water hold you down and you don’t know where you are and you have to tell this nice lady next to you that she is not your beautiful wife.
MGMT - Your Life Is a Lie

 
Cool Song No. 2, in which Michael K. Williams engages in some skullduggery and then a dude slowly turns into a tree.
 
MGMT - Cool Song No. 2

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Greenhouse, The Last Shred of Night

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Greenhouse is Ryan Torres (drums, synths, guitars) and Rex Hudson (bass, synths, guitars) and they are from Denton, Texas. The Last Shred of Night is their second record.

It is a very long record – twenty-nine songs! – but this is, surprisingly, neither oppressive nor tedious, mainly because it is the kind of electronica that I think of as “companionable.” It’s good to put on while working on other things, because it’s complex and interesting enough to occupy a restless mind, but unlikely to cause a distracting dance party.

Also, they have the very best song titles. Reading the track list feels like a cross between skimming titles in a short story anthology and eavesdropping on text messages between friends.

Here are some examples:

 

 

 

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Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones, Long Time Gone

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File this under: unlikely musical collaborations. Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and Norah Jones have teamed up to make Foreverly, which is complete reinterpretation of the Everly Brothers’ Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (1958). The results, so far, are unexpectedly sweet.

Here they are with Long Time Gone:
 

 

The rest of the record is set to emerge on November 25th, 2013.