We did a bid of clicking around to see what to look ahead for in 2009:
- Tortoise is releasing a new album! Title and date is still TBA.
- Maserati has a new split coming up in February with Zombi. Track preview on myspace sounds amazing… Holy Fuck meets From Monument To Masses or something. 30 minutes long and available in 1000 copies on Temporary Residence.
- Jesus Lizard reunites and joins ATP vs. The Fans. At approximately the same time as the festival, Touch & Go will re-release Head, Goat, Liar, and Down.
- The Redneck Manifesto should be in the studio around these days, previously saying that they’re very excited about what they’ve written.. so am I… before even hearing it.
- Belgian band Frank Shinobi is working on a self-released album for late 2009. 3 tracks from their previous live set will be included and supposedly 7 new.
- Another Belgian band, Hitch, pretty experienced guys, are releasing Clair Obscur on January 26th and posted 3 new tracks.
- Quatre Tete are releasing Art of The State on Sickroom on January 13th.
- Fordamage are releasing in March and subsequently touring UK, NL, BE and FR.
- Future of the Left – Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires is out on January 26.
- Robotic Empire’s Gods & Queens are touring Europe extensively and will probably be in a town near you. They namedropped some of my personal favorites (Rodan, June of 44, Unwound, Lungfish) so I’m definitely checking them out ASAP.
- The new Mono is coming out on March 24
- Austrian instrumental outfit Valina has been signed by Joyful Noise and will release a-tempo in spring. Btw. pickup their 2009 free sampler.
- Alarma Man is waiting for the mastering of their album to be called “Love Forever”. Guitarist Calle Fredrikson gave us some words on it, being a bit disappointed that masterings seem to take forever these days.
The new album sounds, like the way it was created, loose. Comparing to the previous it’s soft. It is easy to follow along in the songs and you will not get lost in it if you don’t want to. Bass and drums is easy. Guitars is a bit more sofisticated but still not hard to get. Vocals are nice, clean and not irritating at all. The lyrics are deep, I guess. I should probably mention that those comments about how the record sound will only make sense to people familiar with our previous work, others will find them overexaggerated.
First time I heard the record, all of it, I got a very strong feeling for it. It sounded very dark. I felt proud and a bit sad at the same time. I was very exited about it for weeks. After that, I decided to not listen to it before the master is cut.
Earlier the long-forgotten year of 2008 they posted a preview of what’s to come.
As you might have heard, Ron Asheton, the guitarist of rock legend Iggy Pop and the Stooges and Destroy All Monsters has died. A few years ago at the lowlands festival me (Ralph), Falco and thousands of others had the privilege to see the stooges live. It still is the greatest show i’ve been too till this day. Incredible how a bunch of dudes in their 50’s and 60’s could rock all the younger bands into oblivion. The ‘now i wanna be your dog’ riff is still one of the best riffs the best, played on a guitar… ever!
His guitar playing turned out to be very influential on almost every genre of guitar music. And it certainly has had it’s influence on me.
There is going to be a well deserved tribute to him in Detroit this saturday. A radio station also had an interview with an emotional Iggy on the phone. Check it out here: http://dd.wcsx.com/?p=256
Nantes label Kythibong has an interesting menu these days, judging from which there should be no hesitation acquiring what they put out. This one is a CD release of 250 copies all in cardboard and with an impressively clear silkscreen print featuring the 4th Baboon, a wise-looking elderly baboon with beautiful white hair made by label-mate The Healthy Boy.
Komandant Cobra sounds a lot like 31 Knots, but they are far more a rock outfit, with a flair for moving from quiet guitar sessions to hard-pounced drums all nicely put into effect by a well-fitted production. The track Moi Le Rouquin begins with a pretty hefty guitar riff instantly being backed up with some of the most crispy drumming, I’ve heard for a long time, reminding me of how the new Papier Tigre and Shellac sounds, too. They keep playing like that for a few minutes until slowing down and adding lyrics. And this part might sound surprising at the first listen, because singer Emmanuel Ligner puts a lot more effort into beauty than aggression — done too by 31 Knots and Frank Shinobi, but K.C. dares to sound even sadder at times.
In general it’s a really nice effort, and maybe they slow down a bit too often for my taste, but heck; Tracks like Fish, Moi Le Rouquin and We Get Astray reveal a strong outfit, and let’s hope to see them finding their way around Europe.
Komandant Cobra - Baboon Qu4tre
Kythibong, December 2008
This is beautiful! Single State of Man sounds a bit like Explosions in The Sky did in the beginning, using 4/4 drives with beautiful clear finger-strummings building up to noisier distorted sequences and then more quiet, more loud… but everything moving naturally and incorporating distant screams. They don’t generally sound like City of Caterpillars, but because of their touch of screamo I find that comparison reasonable, since CoC has a lot of post-rockish melody in their quiet moments, but still retaining some pace, that makes it less meditative than post-rock. It’s like CoC’s quiet moments are other band’s loudest moments, and what SSoM does is to play very dynamically so the monumental parts don’t arrive with long buildups, making it all less predictable, but at the same time nonetheless monumental.
Currently they’re gearing up for a Europe tour with Men As Trees in August.
Single State of Man - Single State of Man [LP]
ape must not kill ape / Synalgie Records, June 2008
So as somewhat opposed to drinking, smoking, snorting or injecting them: Eating them. Artists are getting pretty creative. Record and song title. I hope it’s on purpose. Sounds like a punk anthem to me, but of course they play the vulnerable indie card, too… they’re afraid of drugs.
To start off with, and true to their old style is something up-tempo, the album is happy, instrumental and without lyrics.. carrying this prog-rock sound with added pace. Melting keyboards and fast guitars with interesting rhythmic signatures that’d make most people agree that they’re mathTM-inspired. But we’re being taken in very different directions, sometimes more electro and sometimes more punk. File under party-music, and then try to keep an open mind and remember that when you’re having a party, a compilation always works better than just playing the saaaaaaaame. This is a compilation made by 11 different bands with the same name and the same people. It makes for an interesting listen and a guarantee that you’ll find something in the mix that suits you.
For me the highlight comes with the closing song, the 5:45 one, which is a bit more straightforward, but really shows a versatile band owning and sharing many properties, and mixing these in a way that finds them fit for entertaining any party.
Bad Dudes - Eat Drugs
Retard Disco, April 2008
We need information! And if you happen to come across something newsworthy then please confess to news@pinnaclemagazine.tv.
Here’s some examples of news:
- Sinnbus released the debut album from Ter Haar titled Delta. In 2009 they’re rolling on a tour of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Germany and some more Germany. They continue building on their old sound, adding lyrics and changing the compositions consequently.
- Distile Records promises to bring us one of 2009s most inspired records when they’re releasing the third by Untied States. It sounds promising…
- Instrumental math-rock from Copenhagen, Obstacles, out with their debut EP are marked available for touring in February, so far adding Berlin on 8/2.
- Mutiny on the Bounty (fresh youngster math) has posted songs on their myspace for their album scheduled for early 2009.
- Dischord has remastered+released the Fugazi classic 7 Songs (not 13 Songs, but containing the same first 7 tracks). The 12″ comes along with a nice free MP3 download, so yeah… Dischord is not some old dinosaur.
- Last but not least, the debut by Komandant Cobra, “Baboon qu4tre”, is out. Grab this track free, I know I would.
Let’s face it, after listening to Zu-pa! of the Finnish band Fun, you’ll know what their favorite bands are. Schizophrenic hooded madman singing, evil bas playing, dissonant guitar, weird but powerful rhythms… Fun plays noise rock like the Jesus Lizard and Shellac. Even the production of the album is a like. No surprise with Steve Albini himself as the record engineer. But frankly, I couldn’t care less, ‘cause they do it well, very well indeed.
The album starts of with incoherent rambling and ravaging, just to make things clear. After 10 seconds it’s followed by the almost completely instrumental “Get in There, Frank!â€. It’s the soundtrack of hyperactive bouncing nut jobs with rabies-induced foam spilling from their mouths. And yes, that’s a good thing.
One of the best songs is “Hold it Closeâ€. Damn I love this song. The nervous and fast drum playing, the driving bass, the madman singing… It all just begs for a white isolation chamber with cushioned walls.
It’s not just hyperactive bouncing though. A lot of the songs are much slower and Shellac like. But it’s just as insane. Instead of a raving madman, you’ll get a cold, calculated, serial killer mumbling in himself. Or that weird guy who keeps staring at you with that grin on his face. The bass is plain evil, especially in “I’ve Got a Truckâ€, the drums are twisted, the guitar is dissonant, and the singing is the voice of insanity. As it should be. If you like twisted, unsettling, noise rock… If you are a fan of Steve Albini’s music and the Jesus Lizard… Or you ever wondered how psychosis sounds like… Then get this album!
FUN - Zu-pa!
If Society, 2007
After a great show at the Effenaar, The Melvins decided to play a gig in a bar close to it the next day. Pinnacle Magazine was there and had a little interview with the guys.
Nothing like a fresh, young sound. Nothing beats the fact that we’re young and can be so for as long as we want to.. just play the right records, and you’ll still be having babies at 80. Play the right music, and you’ll be recording a two great EPs and touring almost nonstop within the first year of your band life.
Second one was just re-released as CD and LP on Sargent House – probably because it’s so great. Take label-mates Maps and Atlases, lump in some Foals, a greater portion of something else (let’s not try too hard to define them) and you have Native. They play with an equal amount of young skill and an elderly patience for building songs into longer instrumental dramas, and though their yelling lyrics can seem like play at times, there’s also a pure energetic, passionate statement in there. I like Marvins Revolt and their democratic solution to figuring out the singer. Let’s all yell in harmony.. and play brilliant music at the same time. My only dissatisfaction about Native, I guess, must be the single yelling sessions. If you wanna compensate for not being loud enough for screamo you’ve gotta have at least 3 guys yelling.
Native - We Delete; Erase
Sargent House, November 2008
Let’s just say that competence might actually be the most relevant criterion in a genre where innovation is left as a rather hard task due to the number of contesters we’ve seen trying to go everso heavy, slow and monumental. Screamo played at half the speed.. should I call it sludge? Post-rock? Who cares. If you know Envy, you know where I’m going. Opener Mort Mort Mort is very sludgy. It’s a storm blowing massive sonic waves at your bay. You get caught, hang on and wait for the eye of the storm to arrive and remind you just how precious those moments of calm beauty can be. The storm sets in again, does its routine and finaly leaves. You see the sun just before it sets.
I’ve been looking forward to this debut album for some time now due to the beautiful artwork and tracks posted a couple of months ago, and finally getting down to business with it, I’m left quite satisfied, but also a little disappointed of the fact that it might not be album of the year. It has some very strong moments but also recalls Daitro and Amanda Woodward too much at times — or maybe that’s a good thing. Up to you. Sounding very similar to Envy, they didn’t create a similar album, but instead chose to go in a little more refreshing direction with more grooves and more distinction between the moods of their songs.
Aussitôt Mort - Montuenga
Level Plane Records, November 2008
