Music Meridian

Just got some info from Ipecac in my inbox:

Oh my! Seems that Peeping Tom fever is spreading. The folks at Lollapalooza have asked the band to join the 3 day party in Chicago! Look for our crew at 2:15 on Saturday August 5th on the Playstation stage right before Lyrics Born and Blackalicious!!! Get your sunscreen!!!

Awesome!!!! Can't wait for Lollapalooza!!






My buddy Q informed me that the Guitar Center in Lincoln Park was having a drum clinic last night. It would be showing off the new Trick Drums (http://www.trickdrums.com) and there would be a raffle and other fun stuff.

A few of my favorite drummers play Trick drumsets (these would include jack-of-all-trades Dave Witte, insane death-metallerJohn Longsteth and Weird Al's very own John "Bermuda" Schwartz) so I was definately interested in checking it out.

The major unique thing about the drums is they're not made of wood. They're made of Aircraft Grade Aluminum. So they have a huge amount of projection (AKA they're LOUD!) and they're pretty much indestructable. They're also not effected by cold/warm weather so that's another bonus.

Another thing I didn't know was that their factory and HQ is nearby in Schaumburg, Illinos! The guy at the clinic invited me to stop in for a factory tour, so I'm going to take him up on that offer soon.

Anyways, while at the actual clinic I got to play on a customized Trick setup that the VP uses. It had a crazy $8,000 pricetag on it. But it sounded great. If only I had money to burn.....

Hard rock drummer Gregg Potter played some songs and did a cool drum solo to show off his kit. What I liked about his setup was a gigantic bass drum and the fact that he had cymbals behind him that he struck frequently, which had a cool visual effect.

As far as the raffle goes....I won the Grand Prize!!! Unfortunately it wasn't anything outrageous like a Trick drumset, but it was a very cool Sabian 16" XS20 Thin Crash Cymbal! Very cool! I can't wait to try it out.

I'll write more when I head to the factory for the tour....

Over at The End Records they have details of the new Estradasphere CD coming in September, including tracklisting, artwork, tourdates and an MP3!!

Read the story at The End Records Here

The track sounds pretty great. It has shades of Fanfare Ciocarlia. Freakin' fast.

They're hitting Chicago in Oct. and they're planning to play the new album in it's entirety w/ added bonus of multimedia! I can't wait.

Last nite I went to see instrumental prog group Dysrhythmia at Nite Cap. I was one of the few people in Chicago that deemed this a good idea, because they played to a small crowd of about 20 people.

Why is it an amazing group that's on Relapse Records and currently touring with Dillenger Escape Plan gets such a small turnout? Is it because everyone is saving up for Pitchfork Fest this weekend? Whatever the case, everyone missed out except for the lucky 20.

Opening the evening was Bruce Lamont from local psychedelic metal freaks Yakuza. He played a solo set of spaced out improv. Playing multiple instruments like Saxophone, Harmonica, Guitar, Clarinet and more. Looping them and adding strange effects. It was really cool and helped drive out a couple meathead metal dudes out of the bar, to my amusement. During the last bit of his set, he was joined on guitar by Kevin Hufnagel of Dysrhythmia for a short piece of wild free jazz. Very enjoyable.

As a side note, I've been actually enjoying the latest Yakuza CD "Samsara" as of late. It's WAAAY better than their last album. Includes lots of good guests too like Fred Longberg-Holm, Troy Sanders (Mastodon), and Jim Baker. Worth checking out.

Anyways, next up was (Lone) Wolf and Cub. They're on He Who Corrupts label so I expected some crazy grindcore. I didn't get it. It was pretty sloppy and lame metal. Parts of it sounded like they were trying to be Mastodon and not even coming close to the mark. They had three vocalists, but none of them seemed to sing at the same time and they all had the same generic shout, so I'm not sure what the purpose of that was. The drummer was pretty decent, so it saved their set to a degree, but they were basically standing in the way of me and Dysrhythmia.

This is the first time I've seen Dysrhythmia since they aquired the new bass player Colin Marston (who also plays with favs like Behold...The Arctopus, Infedel?/Castro!, Byla, Memoirs of a Trilobite) and I gotta say he's a huge part of the power and success of the band now. They came out and leveled the place. Incredibly tight playing with lots of starts/stops on a dime. People's jaws were on the floor. The drummer was so powerful he was in danger of actually drowning out the other instruments at points during the set. And he was ALL OVER the kit. Like a madman.

Even through all the craziness, you could hear every interlocked part. They were so tight it was sick. They played lots of stuff off of their brilliant new CD "Barriers And Passages", which everyone should run out and buy right now, plus some classics. I actually left feeling really tired from the listening workout. It's like a mix of the best stuff from Rush, Magma, and tech-metal. Yowza.

Bruce came back on stage and added some Saxophone to their last song in the set and it was actually a good mix and a fine idea. Maybe they'll do more of that in the future...

I highly suggest catching them next time they come to town.

Online Magazine "Xtreme Music" has put out a new MP3 sampler here:

http://www.xtrememusic.org/samplers/xtrememusicsampler.html

It includes rare and/or unreleased tracks from MusicMeridian approved artists like Sir Millard Mulch, Willim Winat, Don Salsa, God Of Shamisen, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Deserts Of Traun and more!

Well worth checking out.





For those of you staying in RIGHT NOW on Saturday night:

This is on WTTW channel 11 right NOW:

Soundstage: Bill Laswell: AXIOM SOUND SYSTEM: Musical Freezone

Bill Laswell and revolving band members. Pharoah Sanders and Hamid Drake are currently playing...Buckethead and Bootsy Collins are coming up!!

A new song from The Mars Volta is streaming over at their myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/themarsvolta

It's called "Viscera Eyes" and it's off of their new album 'Vicarious' which is coming out Aug. 22.

My first listen to the song, which is a slow-to-mid-tempo deal with lots of synths brought about a kind of "meh" response.

Billboard has more info on the album...

That article gives me hope that the song on myspace isn't the best thing on there. And I quote:

"The album then moves back to familiar expansive musical territory on the nearly 17-minute "Tetragrammaton," and also features two other tracks that clock in past the 11-minute mark, "Meccamputechture" and "Day of the Baphomets." The disc itself runs more than 76 minutes in length."

Sounds promising......

An Albatross - Blessphemy (Of the Peace Beast Feastgiver and the Bear Warp Kumite)
Great new record from this east coast noise-proggers. Finally releasing a full-length record (well, it's almost a half hour). Lots of it remind me of a even more crazed Blue Meanies circa "Full Throttle". Tons of unique changes and even a multi-part song Suite. There are also some Mars Volta-like spacey breakdowns, but unlike the aformentioned band they zoom by and never wear out their welcome. Great stuff.

The Flying Luttenbachers - Cataclysm
Awesome new release. With Mick Barr as well as Ed Rodregiuez playing the guitars, this thing is a dense cachophony. There are a couple old songs redone ("The Elminiation Of Incompetence" and "". But they are quite different from their original counterparts. The new songs totally slay, especially "Regime Pt. 1" which was composed and performed completely by Weasel Walter. Another complex lengthy prog piece that is similar "Rise Of The Iridescent Behemoth". Also included on the album is a cover of Olivier Messiaen's "L'Ascension". It's a very unique interpretation since it's played by the standard "rock" instrumentation. Very cool stuff!

Johnny Cash - American V
So cool. The last stuff Cash recorded, including the last song he ever wrote. Haunting, scary, beautiful stuff. A must (especially if you're a Johnny Cash fan in any way).

DrumMachine Gun
Totally over-the-top compilation that Relapse recently put out with all kinds of grindcore influenced bands that utilize a drum machine. At over 70 minutes it's quite a lot to take in, but it's all pretty great stuff. Sadly there's only 1 track apiece from Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Genghis Tron, but tracks from one of my favs Dataclast as well as a bunch of new stuff from Octis (Mick Barr of Orthrelm fame) definately make up for it.

Kaada - Music For MovieBikers
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the new Kaada CD. Slow, quiet, orchestrated pieces. Stunningly beautiful. It's an album you need to crank up to fully feel the music and the power. Let the music wash over you. Brilliant.





I caught a few shows recently and figured a summary was in order.

A couple weeks ago, I caught the Slayer show @ Aragon.

Opening band Thine Eyes Bleed was terrible hardcore cliches for 20 minutes. Nothing to speak of there.

Next was Children Of Bodom, who I last saw maybe 5 years ago. They're still a fun live band. Their lead guitarist is totally over the top with lots of skilled shredding. They definately have their nitch, but after a while the shred-theatrics got old. And their keyboard player did next to nothing. But he still felt the need to position is keyboard so that you could see what he's doing. Why?

After that was the mighty Mastodon. And they totally blew the roof off the place. Drummer Brann Dailor is still an absolute powerhouse monster who seems to get more intense and complex each time I see him (and I've seen them tons of times, since the release of Lifesblood). They played a few songs off of the upcoming CD Blood Mountain that has me waiting with baited breath because they were quite great. They also played a lot of their "classics", but sadly didn't play one of my favorite songs "Battle At Sea". Maybe next time. Still easily the best set of the night.

Following Mastodon was Lamb Of God. They also played new material, but I wasn't as jazzed about it. They are a very machine-line, tight, professional sounding metal band. I love their stuff in the studio but they come off a little too crisp and macho live. Their singer is a big part of the problem. But they play in a lot of knotty time signatures and it comes off sounding like it's in 4/4 which is always a cool move. Plus their drummer is great to watch as he effortlessly pushes the band through all the changes.

But they were wiped away my the stunning Slayer. Ever since Dave Lombardo came back into the fold I think Slayer has upped the ante on their shows and new material. Sure, they still sound like Slayer and their set is pretty much a run through of their "greatest hits" (except for the solitary new tune they played..."Cult") but it was like a unstoppable train in your path. They totally mowed you down. Lombardo even brought things up a notch playing full-on blast beats during a lot of the songs, vastly increasing the tempo and brutality. Glad to hear they still got it.
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Last night I went to see Jello Biafra speak @ Lakeview Theater. If you aren't totally pissed off about the state of the world today, just go see Jello and you'll be convinced otherwise. Everyone was a target in his sites, yet he came off very informed and insightful. Lots of data to comprehend as facts rattled off between jokes and skits to keep things lively and entertaining. He literally talked for HOURS and it felt like minutes.
He's also a terribly nice guy. He did a meet-n-greet at Reckless records a little before the show. While I didn't get there in time for the "official" meet-n-greet, I went into the store and saw him browsing the record racks. I went up and said "Hi" and he was very friendly. We chatted for a couple minutes and I let him continue browsing. He also mentioned that he should be coming back through town this fall playing with the Melvins, and if it's anything like the CDs they recently released, it should be a show not to be missed.
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Tonight I'll be seeing Wilco. Can't wait.