27-03-2013

Every weirdo looks like you

There's this band called Every Stranger Looks Like You. They have a new record out. That is why I'm writing this. To tell you that they have it out and that you should listen to it and buy it.

They call themselves a grunge/hardcore mix, and upon first listen, that's basically it. Rough, mid-paced, punk-ish, with possible influences of Dinosaur Jr. and Quicksand or something. It's definitely something I don't hear a lot of, which is always cool. They're pretty cool and there's dudes on the guitar and drums and a lady on the bass. The alternative scene can always use some gender diversity, I guess. (Ask RVIVR.)

Every Stranger Looks Like You - Cursed Soul/Golden Heart
(2013, DIY (?) )


1. Deaf Ears
2. Black Eyes
3. Cursed Soul
4. Golden Heart
5. Cold Hands
6. Heavy Arms
7. Life Ender




The record starts out like it should. With a riff worth headbanging to. I could imagine myself stomp-moshing to this. Deaf Ears is an ominous tune that gets your senses tingling. Catchy lyrics, pretty dark groove. The bass tone is rad. It's really rough, deep and the bass lines really work together with the guitar riffs.  Black Eyes, the shortest song on the album at 2 minutes, has a similar vibe. The drums are really cool on this track, I have a feeling these three peepz have a genuine synergy going on and it's really nice to listen to. I've only seen them live once before but I definitely got the same feeling.
I really like how all songs have the same title structure of [adjective+body part], with the track Life Ender concluding the album and the transition from Cursed Soul to Golden Heart almost creating a breaking point. The lyrics are both really personal and direct, yet spiced with the occasional metaphor or cryptic description. And the occasional sneer of desperation. Mainly pretty clean vocals though. Sounds cool.
There's a lot of dynamics going on on this record, like contrasting heavy intros with mellowed out verses, or the guitar-only part in Golden Heart right before the outro-outburst. The riffage is pretty cool on this record. It doesn't seem all too difficult, there are pretty standard progressions (and some odd ones) but the use of a high pitch and the distortion adds a lot of dimension to the songs, and there are some pretty original chords in there, if my hearing doesn't fail me (normally it does, so don't believe me for my word).
Cold Hands is a 5-minute-long epic with a really heavy break near the middle, and then there's a weird part but I guess it kinda works? It's a cool song but that one part seems kinda forced in there, it doesn't fit together as well as other songs do. Anyway, the album is rather solid. It starts out pretty neat, it goes on just great and it ends like a bomb. Cool!

Tough review. I mean I like it and it's actually a record that'll get stuck in my head if I listen to it some more, but I can't put my finger on it, ya know? It's consistent, it's dark, yet it's very recognizable. It's kinda weird.
Pick this up.

26-03-2013

Crossing Boners pt. II

Aight! Saturday! More boners!

Let's see what went down. I got up at 12:18. We ate some pains au chocolats. And we went swimming! Hengelhoef punx invasion, rad! Always a good time, and a good way to freshen up after you wake up covered in layers of crusted beer and sweat. Syke!

Hangouts at the Bassment then, waiting til the first bands. Coma Commander was up first and they played a rocking show. Cowboy Mambo on replacement guitar, did a good job. This band rules, keep an eye out for them. They played a Dear Landlord cover and I even recognized some of their own songs. Great!
Next, Sidewalk Summer. They have really good songs but their performance wasn't really up to scratch, to say the least. I don't think they made that big of an impression. You should totally give them another chance, though! Up the West-Vlaanderen punx.
Off The Charts played a wicked show. Like, really good. Unexpectedly good, actually. Shit was tight, new songs sound promising, Basement cover was cool. Slo-mo-mosh.
Then we went for a pizza, unfortunately I missed Silver & Gold and 3/4 of Leagues Apart's set but a man's gotta eat. Pizza was great! At least better than last year, I think.
River Jumpers were late so everything got kinda mixed up. Next band I saw were The Helltons, a must-see for me, one of my favourite bands on the line-up. Solid show, I love those guys so much. And they played Give Me Some Methadone, that was rad! After their set, I went for a beer, thinking River Jumpers would play now. But someone suddenly told me 'yeah Murderburgers are playing outside right now' so I went for a dance and a shout. Great show, great band, yeah. Seeing them 3 times in a week kinda makes it less exciting but it was still cool!
Maladroit fucking rules. Definitely one of Europe's best pop punk band. I want to have their babies. Their last song was the Ramones' The Crusher. Shit was off the hook. Whoo!
Shit was even more off the hook during The Real Danger. The motherfucking Real Danger. Arguably the best set of the weekend. Couple of new songs, lots of old ones, punx mosh, lotsa dudes sing along, covers of Linoleum and Highscool Psychopath, tight as shit. New record rules, pick it up! I mean, buy it!
DeeCracks played as well. Man, every fucking band on this line-up was great. DeeCracks was no exception. Kids and Weasel covers. Kids going nuts. Beach 90. Insane.
River Jumpers played outside but I kinda needed a break and I'm not too familiar with them so I skipped. Sorry dudes.
The Priceduifkes played. They slayed. They started another World War. They did good. I decided not to dance because it would be too wild for my fragile body. Three songs in a jumped in anyway. Shit was awesome. They started out with Frogball Rockout, great idea. They were all wearing sleeveless shirts, making Armin conclude that sleeves were not punx so I tried to hide the fact that I had sleeves for the entire set. I'm a punx so I can't really risk anyone thinking that I am not punx. PDS were off the hook crazy. Man, I need more adjectives, this review is getting boring. I need to work on my vocabularity (+10 points for who gets that reference). After the PDS I told everyone in my vicinity that I just can't understand why this band isn't playing Groezrock but The Rocket, Arizona and fucking Grey like Masquerade are. Doesn't make any sense. Ain't got no sense.
The Apers got out and simply played the best set ever. Mostly because they played a lot of songs they don't usually or regularly play, like You Suck, But Then She Smiles (holy shit that was rad), Not The Only One, and a bunch of other songs. Perfect. Best band in the world. I think. Whatevz. Kevin Aper is funny.
The shows ended with Kepi Ghoulie and the Accelerators playing an amazing set of Groovie Ghoulie classics and Kepi Ghoulie tunes. The dude just makes everything so positive and I can't help but smile watching him perform and hearing his songs. Fun punx.

For the afterparty I was asked to spin records, so I did. It was super fun! I like being a punx DJ. It's just difficult cause people are all like 'play that song' and sometimes I have it with me but sometimes I don't. The British blokes interrupted sometimes but they couldn't really figure it out so yeah. punk and hardcore classics, pop punk hits, Parry Gripp, the occasional One Direction song (which made Wout very happy and Jefke very mad), an XTuningX song and some Osker, Cornflames, etc. Also Stick 'Em Up like 5 times. DJ'ing is fun. I think we shut it down at 6 am. Rad. Lenny did some crazy barstool acrobatics. I don't think anyone was drawn on with a marker, which is pretty cool. I wasn't even that drunk, for a change, which was actually pretty cool.

What a fucking weekend. I was looking forward to it for literally months and the suddenly it was over.
I wanna thank:
- Lost Youth Records, for being the best dudes, setting up the festival, putting together the best line-up of 2013 (fuck off Groezrock) and loving punk and hardcore.
- everyone who bought or took a fanzine, I got rid of a lot of them so that's good. I got some nice feedback about them so that made me feel like I did something right.
- the couple of people who bought an MC Karel shirt. rad.
- everyone who danced at the afterparty.
- everyone who danced with me (especially Nicolas, that was bordering on really weird and scary. awesome.)
- everyone who took the time to say something to me, everyone who was nice enough to give me a hug, a kiss, a high-five or a fist-bump (of which there were probably thousands).
- Jordi for asking me to rap, DJ and make a festzine.
- everyone for being rad dudes and chicks. I love everyone.
- seriously.

Let's do this again sometime, shall we?

Crossing Boners pt. I

Let's get into this.

It's Tuesday now and most of my bodyparts still hurt when I try to do something, lift something, stretch out or even wake up. That means I've had quite the weekend.
Crossbone(r)fest 2013. I loved everything about it. I loved looking forward to it for weeks. I love seeing the line-up taking shape. I loved making a festzine for them. And I absolutely loved being there an entire weekend, havong the most fun I could have.

So, what happened? First I got on the train with 2 boxes of zines (my friends would bring a 3rd one), my guitar (which didn't get used in the end), some second-hand CD's, a bunch of MC Karel shirts, my laptop, my swimming gear and a bunch of stuff to survive the weekend. Because I was so packed I didn't noticed my newly bought Go-Pass train card fell out of my pocket so I ended up losing 50 euros before the weekend even started. Well, fuck.
The train and bus ride was ok, I got there just fine. I got there a bit early cause I had those festzines and they needed to be there on time. Slowly but steadily people started arriving, like my buds in Ashes and Outline, who had to play early slots. I went to eat fries with Domien, Laura and Bram and after a fulfilling meal I went for the mosh at the Ashes show. I danced a lot during the weekend, actually. At least I tried. I'm not a good dancer.
Ashes played a rad show. They were recording new songs this weekend, I think they played a new song? I'm not sure, really. I didn't see the beginning either. I love Ashes. I love them in a lot of ways. I want to make love with them. Yes.
Next band was Have It All, Italians who play a more melodic, post-hardcore-ish brand of music. Rad. They're super energetic and are constantly running around on and in front of the stage. Fun band, and very talented. New song is ace, other songs as well. It was nice seeing them again, they're really nice guys. The drummer Simone offered to play drums for my MC Karel set again but that didn't go through because of technical problems. Thanks anyway! Rad guys.
I skipped GRIM, because I needed a break I think. Sometimes I just wanted to hang out and drink beers with buds. My friends Jeffrey and Lode, who have never been to a hardcore show before and like to listen to electro and stuff, came out as well, which was pretty rad. I drank half of a Ter Dolen beer but heavy beers mostly fuck me up pretty bad so I decided to stick to regular beers. Later that evening we got some jello shots which were better than expected and they fucked me up a bit as well. Super fun!
Cheap Drugs played 2 short sets instead of one long set, for some reason. I don't know why. But they were pretty great. Angry hardcore and stuff. I think Outline played in between. I could be wrong, by the way, about the sequence, cause it all got mixed up a bit and my memory isn't that clear. Outline rules, though. Best band. New EP slays. Fucking fuck. So good. They asked me to go on tour with them to the UK, so that should be a blast. New EP slays. Buy it.
Some more Cheap Drugs. After that A Strength Within took the stage. As a devoted fan I was eager to see their show. Dudes pretty much killed it. Great set, great vibe, great reactions. I had fun moshing and going from 'siked to siked', as Kim OTC likes to call it. Really nice, I'm excited for the new release! Should be good. They headlined the outside stage, so that was good, no need to go outside anymore to see bands!
Sex Drive played and I wasn't really into it. Too chaotic/shabby for my puny brain. Toxic Shock, however, ruled like really hard.
My friends were hungry and I was kinda having a craving as well, so we went for a bite. Apparently everything is closed after 10 pm, bummer. We went for a croque monsieur in the Sports bar, that was pretty good. We missed Violent City though, and apparently there had been a fight, pretty fucked up. Everything is on youtube. What a bummer.
Hung out outside during Blade cause I'm not a big fan. Talked to Dennis about lady business. Dennis is a nice guy. He's fat and ugly but really nice. After Blade Reproach took the stage and mayhem ensued. Fun show, I stood in the back trying out jelloshots and enjoying the show/enjoying my company. Lastly, The Priceduifkes did a cover set of Reagan Youth, which was rad. Probably better than Reagan Youth would do it today.

Finally, the afterparty. I was supposed to do MC Karel and it was gonna be really cool but it turned out regular cool because things weren't working alright. Sound guys were bums so I couldn't use my guitar or I initially couldn't even use a microphone. Fortunately someone found out how to set up a mic at the DJ-thing-monitor and after a couple more difficulties everything went pretty well. I started out by doing I Like Vegetables by Parry Gripp, I did a half-assed version of Introducing MC Karel, a rather OK cut of Cat Crush and Mayeb Women Have Rights Too, and closed with a Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air/Skee-Lo's I Wish segue. I was actually really prepared this time and it was kind of a bummer it didn't work out but maybe in the end it was better that it didn't last as long. I think it was cool. I just hate it when people start shouting my name, it makes me feel significant. Like I'm doing something right. Weird.
After that DJ Anthony and DJ Dennis played 90 punkrock jams. I danced til 5 o'clock I think. A lot of stuff probably happened. It was really fun. No markers on my face, whoo! I drank a lot of water before I went to sleep, so I didn't feel so bad next morning/noon. Syke!

20-03-2013

zine or to be zine

New zine! Issue 8!

- Interviews with OUTLINE (BE hardcore), DIVIDED HEAVEN (US singer-songwriter) and SUGAR STEMS (US power pop).
- An article on ‘songs that have a proper name as a title’
- A comic by Dinolaurus
- Acpunx crosswords
- Reviews (Shield/Never Trust An Asshole)
- Columns
- Stuff.

50 cents/piece, 24 pages, A5, black/white.

Yes, you read that right, I upgraded it with 4 extra pages! I hope that's alright for you?

#6 (Mikey Erg/Helltons/Respirators) and #7 (Team Stray/Snips/Forest Pooky/Midnight Souls) still available as well!











EXTRA:

Crossbone festzine!

Available at Crossbonefest
Features schedule, band descriptions, band picks, staff picks, columns by Gijs GRIM, Michiel REAL DANGER, Ricky PRICEDUIFKES and Anthony VIOLENT CITY and more junk.

Free at the festival, small donations are nice though (for Lost Youth Records)

19-03-2013

Feel like shit.

I'm pretty busy with everything. I have 20 minutes now til I have a meeting thingy.
I'm pretty fed up.
I'm tired of some things.
Not punk rock though. I'm not tired of punk rock.

My enthusiasm for punk rock was sparked once again on Sunday, when the infamous Bartje Punk hosted a show in his garage. After a motherload of fries (like seriously, it was ridiculous), bands started to play.

The Fellows started off the afternoon with their fun, infectious, fast punk rock inspired by the later half of the 80's and the former half of the 90's. Something like that. Fun songs!

The Priceduifkes played a set of odd songs and whatnot and this and there. It was all over the place, but it was really funny and they did a good job.

The Murderburgers raged through their set like madmen, they didn't seem too positive, but they played great. I mean, they always play great. I love seeing them. WAGBOG.

15-03-2013

I'm not in love love love just ain't a game I play.

It's been a while since I last put up a mix. But I made one today because I feel fuzzy inside and it might have to do with liking someone.
So here's a mix-file with some of the best love songs of all time.



1. The Windowsill - Mess Me Up
2. The Hotlines - The Way She Walks
3. Teenage Bottlerocket - Wasting Time
4. Masked Intruder - Crazy
5. The Queers - I Think She's Starting To Like Me
6. The Unlovables - Doot Da Doot
7. The Leftovers - Dance With Me
8. Ten Speed Bicycle - Aw Man, I Don't Know What I Did With My Dracula Bow Tie
9. Descendents - Nothing With You
10. Parry Gripp - You, Me And My iPhone
11. Team Stray - Pettin' Heavy
12. The Tattle Tales - So Wanna Kiss You
13. The Queers - Tic Tic Toc
14. Ultimate Fakebook - Soaked In Cinnamon
15. The Sugar Stems - Make You Love Me
16. I Like Japanese Hardcore - Do Do Do

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?9ftu3cgp8vwyryy 

13-03-2013

punkdancing is universal

Leftover pizza and cheap pints of beer.
AB Club.
Expensive beer.
Daylight.
Apologies, I Have None.
Make Do And Mend.

Let me start out by saying every band sounded better than in Eindhoven. Perhaps it was the sound, perhaps it was the band, I don't know.

Daylight played their grungecore songs. Some people think they're the best band ever. Some people think they're the worst band ever. (That's obvious.) They did good. they did real good. Nirvana-worship.

Apologies played yet another great set. I can not get bored with this band. Seen them 7 times now, I think, always a pleasure. Dancemoves.

I was gonna stand at the back for Make Do And Mend but then they played Transparent Seas and Domien said "you wanna go party?" and I was all "yeah" and so we did. Domien is a smart man.
Lotsa stagedives! Lotsa fun! Silly dancemoves. I had fun.

I had a lot of fun. Fun is something cool to have. Fun is pretty awesome. You should have fun sometimes, I think you'll like it.
There were a lot of friends there, as well, which made it all the more fun cause I got to hang out with those people and I love those people.

12-03-2013

Irish attack!

The Irisch invaded Berchem last Sunday. They stormed the Eglantier building with 2 troops, one consisting of 4 soldiers, the other of 5. They were relentless.

Our own troops in Cat Claw tried to defend the fort. This army of one guy and one gal did all they could to gather allies. They fired long shots of stoner/grunge-influenced rock songs and tried convincing the villagers to join their side. With just a guitar and drums as their only weapons, they were clearly outnumbered but not outpowered. They managed to hold strong for an entire set, jamming out hard-hitting drum beats and sharp riffs. The battle was over, but the fight continued.

Croupier wasn't going to let this happen. Their front man showed a bold statement of fearlessness by showing up to the battlefield in a hawaiian shirt. From the first hit on, they took over the area and made the villagers swoon to their command. With extra armor in the form of keyboards they established a sonic assault of layered melodies and mind-blowing rhythms. Their infectious strategies seemed to convince the villagers to join their side. This was bound to be a ferocious victory of the Irish.

And yes, as expected, Enemies kicked our butts. They took advantage of out lowered defenses and struck us with their incredibly well-crafted outbursts. They were strategic geniuses, it seemed, as they even switched infantry with artilelry mid song and thus double the amount of drums that were fired at us. We stood no chance. We could do nothing but surrender to their overpowering invasion. It was short, cause the war had to be over by 10pm, but it was strong.

10-03-2013

Everything is gonna be alright.

Went to watch Yelloward the other day. Yay. I went to the show, together with 3 babes. Whoa. Weird. Normally I only hang out with ugly dudes. Guess Yellowcard are chick magnets.

Set It Off sucked. Just an even worse version of Panic At The Disco. Yikes. Vocalist was a goofball.

Yellowcard ruled. Great, great set. 5-ish songs off of Ocean Avenue, and a bunch of songs of the later albums that I've never bothered to check out, but the songs sounded great! No lame songs, no acoustic shit. Also, it was in the upstairs Trix venue, which is kinda cool. Danced a bunch.
They played Believe, which was pretty fucking awesome. Encores were Only One and Ocean Avenue.
Shit ruled.
Yellowcard is a good band.

Missed our tram and had to take a cab to the train station. FWP.

05-03-2013

Fuck It Dog, Life's A Rip-Off

Sold out show at Trix club! FIDLAR, the garagepunk sensation from California is on tour and stopped by in Antwerp to give us a pieace of their mind. At least, what was left of their minds.

I arrived halfway into the Mozes & The Firstborn's set. Great band, not my thing though. Great vocals and excellent guitar riffs. The last song was dope. The song before that was kinda lame. I guess that evens out? You bet it does! Great rock and/or roll from the Netherlands, worth your attention if you're into that!

Cheap Drugs played the other support slot. I can't help but feel they were picked because of their name, although they did fit quite well in the line-up. The hip dudes next to me hated it, I liked it. It was an alright show. Singer Tom said he wasn't pleased with it, but ok. They're a great band, their demo slays the shit out of most 2013 hardcore punk and their aggression is admirable. I've said it before, I'll say it again: be angry all of the time.

FIDLAR was welcomed warmly. The crowd went nutzoid from the first distorted chord til the last. Starting out with their hit song Cheap Beer, they got everyone dancing around like crazy instantly, shouting along to the inevitably catchy chorus "I - DRINK - CHEAP - BEER -SO - WHAT - FUCK- YOU". Of course, everything about that song and the setting was ironic. For one, they were drinking Maes on stage. Maes is not a cheap beer. Secondly, Trix charges fucking €2,20 for a beer. Holy fuck, right. Cheap beer was nowhere to be found unless in the idealistic lyrics of those 4 bums playing their shabby instruments on stage. Deep shit.
Luckily, I don't go to shows to drink cheap beer, I go there to watch bands. And FIDLAR fucking shredded. Catchy, distorted, raging through the songs like madmen. Amazing live show.
Of course, there was the bass player who shouted "thankyou" in this very annoying tone after every song, and the dude in the crowd who couldn't help but yell out "FIDLAR" or something between the songs, smoking in the pit and stuff. That was lame.
On gender politics: I thought it was cool how the dude said Whore isn't a mysogynist song, cause "dudes can be whores too". Tumblr is stoked.
Another cool thing: Descendents cover of Suburban Home! Rad! Very well executed as well.
They played a whole bunch of songs, some I recognized, some I didn't,  but all were received very well and played with the passion of 4 drunk/stoned losers who spend their days listening to good music, skating, surfing and haging around. Those are good premises for a band. Even if it leaves you laying on the floor with your guitar, trying desperately to get up. That's just what happens.

Anyway, awesome show.
The only problem I have with FIDLAR is, of course, my incomprehension of how they became so popular.
It just reminds me of this:



Fuck Pitchfork. Fuck Humo. Get a clue.

04-03-2013

Hardcore sucks.

I don't think hardcore sucks. Hell, I fucking love hardcore. I just think most of the hardcore scene take themself too seriously. That's kinda lame. Peepz should lighten up. Also they have weird inside rules and weird dance moves. With their moshzors, two-steppings and their breakdownses.

Hageland Hardcore Fest was fun. The Aarschot hardcore thing is blooming, lotsa people showed up, including me. I had the weekend off and nothing else to do, plus some of my favourite local acts were on the bill.
And Jordi was supposed to come too, that's always a reason to go somewhere.

I arrived and met up with mah buds in Outline and Ashes. I got a huge hug from den Berre. You could say things are getting pretty serious between us.

After the pre-fest hang it was time to jump into the during-fest activities, which consist of watching a few bands and hinging out more.

GRIM kicked off. They're a cool band. Started off as a silly side project, but are now basically a real band. They're playing a metal-induced hardcore kinda thing. I don't think there's many Belgian bands doing that thing, but it's pretty cool. I think Gijs plays his guitar upside down. I don't know why, maybe he's left-handed or something? Doesn't really matter. He can produce some cool riffs. Krikke's got a throat to say 'you' to (dutchism) and Stef and Dirk make the whole thing sound even more evil than it already was. Great show, it was Krikke's birthday, too. He's a great dude. Great frontman, as well.
He got a warning at work for laughing with fat ladies on facebook. Apparently people check that shit and are not pleased. ACAB.

Next band was Reminders, I think. All right hardcore/metalcore. I guess they're all right. Didn't see the entire show.

Outline is probably my favourite current band in Belgian hardcore. Their new songs are freaking amazing, their live shows are great, and they're nice dudes. My foot got stuck in the microphone cord, sorry Rikkie.
Tombs is gonna break pots, dudes (dutchism). Watch out. Y'all are missing out if you're not listening to Outline.

Some other band played the big stage. Watch me care. I didn't know any of the bands playing the 'big' stage, except for The Setup, who I ended up missing due to circumstances. Guess it was more of a "cool kids/crucial dudes" kinda stage. I'm not cool and I'm not crucial. I'm a punx. I'm the punx. Hardcore sucks.

I did see World Eater, they were alright I guess. They had a cool Star Wars shirt design.

I went to the city with Jordi, Kimberly and Wouter to find the 'foefenwinkel', which was actually a fiftiesstore, rebaptized to foefenwinkel due to phonological resemblance of foefen and fifties. Kind of. We also got photographed by scouts ladies. I don't know why. I guess because we're so hot 'n' sexy.

In time to watch most of 18 Miles' set. I moshed during Hollow, which is a fantastic song. I stood in the hallway hanging out and passively checking it for the second half or so of their set. Awesome band though.

Hung out more. Watched the beginning of Ashes, then went for fries. I really like Ashes but I was also hungry, plus I've seen them a lot already, plus it was a wild show and I'm scared of wild shows, plus I was hungry. I don't think they will forgive me for skipping their show, but I sincerely hope they have it in their heart to do so.
Also best current Belgian band. Listen to Ashes or be stupid or something.

After a portion of fries and a mexicano we picked up Laura from the station and since I didn't really wanted to see anymore bands except for The Setup maybe, we just hung out in the hallway, which was fun. I like punkrock and hardcore shows cause I can hang with friends who live in other cities and stuff.

After a while we went for pizza. That was rad. I ate a pizza. Awesome. I ended up missing The Setup, but whatevz, right? I kinda wanted to see them but, then again, I'll see them another time.

So yeah, I spent most of Hageland Hardcore Fest being punx and hanging out and eating stuff and drinking beers.
Some great bands played etc. Whoo!

What a lousy review.

kwaai muziek op een arige manier

The perks of being a weblog/zine is sometimes you get a press mail thingy. As some of you might know, I've done an internship at an indie record label last year so it's funny how I used to mail stuff out to media and press for 7 weeks, and now I'm on the other end of the line. I am the media. I am the press. A very indecent, careless and irregular medium, yes, but I am the media. I am the press.

In all seriousness, I got a mail 2 weeks ago which contained the Ed Wood/Monolithian split. I feel like I have heard both those names before, and that's absolutely possible, but I've never heard their music before. Ed Wood are around since 2010 and have apparently already toured Europe, so maybe I've seen them on a flyer. Or, because they're named after a bad director, maybe I revognise their name from that. Important facts: they'll be back in April, 2nd to 13th, and will pass Belgium/the Netherlands between the 5th and the 10th! Kortrijk, Roosendaal, Antwerp, Leuven, Amsterdam. I'll be able to go to the three middle shows, so I'm siked!
Monolithian seems like a familiar name as well, though I can't imagine even hearing them. They formed in 2011 so they're a recent band. New music for me to check out, I'm siked!

So, all sikedness aside, let's review this shit
 
Ed Wood/Monolitian - split 7" (Don’t Shoot the Messenger/Atomsmasher/Made In A Meth Lab/Maximise, 2013)

Ed Wood side:
1. Talking To The Void
2. When Good Times Go Bad
3. Disconnection Notice
4. Little Mirrors

Monolithian side:
1. Sea Of Trees


I've never actually reviewed a split 7" before, I think? Have I? I don't know. Anyway, this is a real interesting one. For one, I'm a punkrocker and I like simple, fun music. Neither band is simple, nor fun. Also, I've never heard either of these bands, which is always the most fun cause I get to check out new music and that's basically the reason I do this shit. Finally, although both bands have similarities, their styles are very different. You might have noticed how Ed Wood has 4 tracks and Monolithian has 1, but they're both occupying one side of a 7" record. In fact, Ed Wood's side is only 30 seconds longer than Monolithian's. Fascinating! (Not really.)

Let's get right into this. ONE TWO THREE FOUR. That's basically how all my favourite records start out, but this definitely ain't no pop punk. These numbers are screamed at a slow rate, anticipating what is probably the apocalypse. A slow guitar/bass riff starts and the vocals come in howling/coughing/barfing, rather as an extra layer of instrumentation than anything else. Then the vocalist starts talking, talking to the void I guess. The songs picks up drums and transform into this bulldozer of desperation, that crushes your bones, starting with your toes, going up to your thighs. Then suddenly there's this part where they play fast for like 1 second. And I'm like, what? What'd just happened? How did they do that? How do you even come up with that. And then it's a rollercoaster of slow/fast parts. You want to just go with the flow, but the flow is something you've never heard before. The flow is not of this world. But it's so fascinating, and musically enjoyable, how they put together one-measure double-tempo changes without messing up the song.
The next song, When Good Times Go Bad, is with it's 2 and a half minutes the longest song on this side. It's also super cool. Ultra-distorted guitar playing a fairly standard hardcore riff, then going into a thrashy mayhemic song, back. Tempo changes are definitely an Ed Wood thing to do. Can't blame 'em. Vocals and instruments go really well together in this. Especially the drums are really cool. There's another burst of filthy guitar, angry vocals, wacky drums and rusty bass and the last song is just feedback with vocals on it. Ed Wood is one of the most peculiar and most interesting bands I've listened to recently. I'm really looking forward to see them on tour.

Monolithian is notably slower and less equipped. With just a drum kit, a bass and vocals they manage to make 5-minute long songs with influences from the likes of Cursed, Cult Of Luna and Immortal. Heavy and slow-paced, yet it kicks you in the butt like... like something that kicks you in the butt really hard. If you didn't know they didn't have a guitar in there, you probably wouldn't realise. As a 2-piece, they really do sound like a full band. Sea Of Trees is pretty straight-forward headbanging material, it has a certain addicting quality. It takes cues from black and doom metal but to me it sounds more accesible than those genres normally sound (to me). Everything about this band is heavy though. It's heavy, it's low, it's piercing. The symbiosis of drums and bass is played out very considerately. The vocals are kinda necessary though, to make this band worthwhile. Deep, grunty vocals with occasional black metal-ish shrieks really complement the song.
This band is as easy to headbang to as to slow-mo mosh to, and undoubtely have a live performance that stands as a house (dutchism).

Also, seriously, look at that artwork. Fucking rad.

03-03-2013

HEADBANGING IS UNIVERSAL

Friday night, Eindhoven.
Arrive early.
Eat fried chicken.
Read a book.
Go to Kaffee Aloys.
Punk rock.

Daylight. Cool band. Jordi thought it was the most boring band in the world. Well, that's just like, his opinion, man. I think they're pretty good, maybe better on record than live, but whatevz. Their singer looks like de Rak. They had a new song which sounded so much like Nirvana it was almost weird. Nothing wrong with sounding like Nirvana, however. Nirvana is pretty dope.

Apologies, I Have None played another set of joyous emo rock songs. 6th time seeing them, not yet bored. But yeah, I have nothing else to add. They're doing a "mix-cd competition" so I made them a mix-cd (cause I love making mixes for people) and it's really good I think.

Make Do And Mend headline the tour. I haven't heard their new album yet and I'm not really stoked on checking it either. Their show was alright, but yeah. Perhaps also better on record than live. Maybe it was the sound quality, I don't know, whatevz. They played Transparent Seas so that was all I ever wanted. The back-up vocals didn't sound so good. They mixed in a American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost lyric into End Measured Mile, from Since Always. I never had it/You never had it/We were young and the rains came down on us. That was pretty cool.
And his story about the tower of Babel and how headbanging was universal was pretty rad.

Fun show, gonna see the lot again in Brussels. Yay
I hope he tells the Babel speech again.