Rick's Mailbox Volume XVII: Fashion Tips, Anyone?
Posted 06/23/2010 11:26AM by Rick Gebhardt as Rick's Discoveries
Being an editor here at Decoy, I get a fair amount of mail from bands, labels, PR companies, and other random sources. Most of the mail comes in the form of packages containing CDs for bands that want reviews, coverage, or just a mention somewhere in some publication to get their name out. It would be impossible for us to review every album submitted to us, and I think many bands know that, but I sometimes feel guilty letting things slip through the cracks, especially since people no doubt went out of their way to send something my way for consideration by Decoy. In the spirit of trying to get the word out there for artists who might otherwise not get much coverage elsewhere, let’s dig into my mailbox and see what interesting submissions have come through lately.
The Blood of Heroes – The Blood of Heroes
Everyone should know who Justin Broadrick is by now. He is one of the great music pioneers of the last two decades having been a part of both Godflesh and Jesu. His latest project, The Blood of Heroes, is an ambitious undertaking that melds together Broadrick’s various musical stylings with a group of contributors. What you will find is a mix of the sounds of Godflesh and Jesu combined with some overt drum and bass and hip hop influences. You have an industrial stomp on “Breakaway”, ambient soundscapes on “Chains”, dreamy electronics on “Repositioned”, grinding hip hop on “Blinded”, uptempo BPM drum and bass on “Drift”, and everything else in between. This is the most experimental Broadrick has been in quite some time and it works masterfully. This album could be a dark horse that sneaks in to some people’s year end lists. (artist website)
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The Sunset Curse – Artificial Heart
It seems like mixing keyboards, synths, and electronics with indie and post-punk is quite the popular thing to do if you want to get noticed by the hipster crowd. The Sunset Curse do just that, sounding much like a more experimental version of MGMT or The Arcade Fire. The album has a very striking imbalance issue, however, since tracks fall either into the mellow, ambient style of synth indie or the glitchy post-punk style. There isn’t a lot of overlap, but instead a sharp contrast between the two approaches. The band appears to be at their sharpest when mellowing out with the more abrasive songs coming off as distractions. (artist website)
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Man the Ramparts – Archaic
Let’s not kid ourselves and think that there’s a lot of ingenuity in the metalcore realm. Most of the bands in the genre are doing such similar things that any single band is usually interchangeable with at least a dozen others. Man the Ramparts fall smack dab in the middle of the metalcore spectrum proudly wearing their influences prominently on their sleeves. Mix together some Misery Signals, It Dies Today, and Architects and you’ve pretty much got Man the Ramparts pinned down. The band is very capable, but they’re far from unique. So if you enjoy this genre, you’ll probably get into Man the Ramparts just fine. (artist website)
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Kottonmouth Kings – Long Live the Kings
If my count is correct, this is the 17th album (including live and compilation albums) Kottonmouth Kings have put out since 1998. Surprisingly, their style hasn’t really changed much over time. Long Live the Kings is a small bit of a stylistic change compared to past releases, though. With the addition of Dirtball to the roster, there’s some sections of more fast paced rapping. Also, there are some keys that feel very modern as opposed to the usual classic leanings of the band. There are still some punk rap jams to be found, but there is more focus on their weed-smoking hip-hop approach this time around. So if you’re still into listening to hip-hop about pot smoking with the occasional punk rock interlude, then the Kottonmouth Kings are still churning out what you need. (artist website)
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The Goodnight Loving - Supper Club
Usually when I see an album has 15 tracks, all of which are about 3 minutes or less (with many being under 2 minutes), I assume hardcore or punk. That’s not the case here. What we have are a bunch of short, quick bursts of wannabe Beach Boys, Beatles, The Byrds, and Creedence Clearwater Revival b-sides. Mixing together classic pop-rock with some country guitars and Americana, The Goodnight Loving are a throwback to a different age. It’s hard to really get into something that sounds so dated (the production makes the album sound like it actually is from the 60’s) and, at times, uninspired. Then again, there’s really not many bands putting out this style of music, so you might find yourself digging it simply because of novelty of it. (artist website)
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Guignol & Mischief Brew – Fight Dirty
Gypsy music! Clarinets, trumpets, accordions, pianos, banjos, tubas, percussion, and drums… oh my! I’m immediately reminded of a much more toned down Golgol Bodello. The gypsy style is definitely at the forefront of Guignol & Mischief Brew’s music, but there are some avant-garde moments that may remind you of early Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Much of Fight Dirty seems very experimental and exploratory in nature, with the band taking left and right turns at any given time. Music connoisseurs looking for something unique and different can’t really go wrong here. (artist website)
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Self Animation – Self Animation
This is pretty much all around terrible. This female duo churn out poorly produced pop tracks that are far from listenable. They don’t always sing in tune, the songs themselves are quite simplistic, the drums are synthesized half the time (and quite shoddily at that), and you’ll be aching to listen to something else before you even get to the mid-point of the album. This project should have been kept as nothing more than a fleeting fancy to never be acted upon. (artist website)
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Eclectika – Dazzling Dawn
Some bands can mix shoegaze and black metal successfully, such as Alcest and Amesoeurs, but many cannot. Eclectika put shoegaze and black metal together, but also throw in some straight up metal guitar soloing, ambient passages, noise, and power metal. This works, at times, but often it doesn’t. There’s just way too much trying to be crammed into this album which makes it feel like the band has no coherent direction. Instead, I get the sense that they were throwing anything at the wall and taking anything that stuck more than momentarily. There are definitely hints at interesting ideas, but everything is done so haphazardly that those ideas are never really explored. (artist website)
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The Ominous Order of Filthy Mongrels – Bastard
These guys are dirty. Take a punk/hardcore base, slather it with hearty & distorted riffs, and top off with some beard metal… get The Ominous Order of Filthy Mongrels. Even though this effort is four quick tracks, you can feel the open throttle brutality and balls out attitude. I get a distinct Disfear and Coliseum vibe when listening to this EP, which is definitely a good thing. I wholeheartedly expect to see these guys stamping out a name for themselves in short order. (artist website)
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Call the Cops! – Call the Cops!
Uggghhh… can this whole keyboard-pop-punk-crunk-crap fad end already? Truth be told, Call the Cops! are better than the likes of Kill Paradise or any of their ilk since they are catchy at times, but this genre in and of itself is so inherently vapid that it’s hard to really get into any band playing within its confines. If you really need keyboard drenched pop-dance-punk songs, then by all means check out Call the Cops!, but if you’re as sick of this crap as I am just move right on along. (artist website)
Comments
Minnesota
Everyone should listen to The Blood of Heroes. The album is simply phenomenal. Also, The Ominous Order of Filthy Mongrels are pretty rad. Bill, I'm sure you'll dig them.
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Lehigh Valley, PA
The Ominous Order of Filthy Mongrels are decent. They're from like 35 minutes aways from where I live and we have some mutual friends.
Atascadero, CA
always enjoy reading through these but not finding much i think i would be into this time around.
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Illinois
lol @ kottonmouth kings. they're pretty much in that ICP genre, whatever it is. but i guess if kids dig your music and you can make it in the industry, do whatever you want.
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Minnesota
Apparently what I had to say about Self Animation got under someone's skin. I got the following email from Nick Delonas (delonas@cultv.com) shortly after posting this:
"Obviously tunes like Swamp Funk went over your head. WAY, WAY over your head. Geez, what a musical ignoramus.The drums were NOT synthesized half the time. Nearly all tracks were played by Jim Rilko on a set of V-Drums. And the girls are not out of tune anywhere on that record you tin-eared twit.
--Nick"
Wonder why he didn't come on here to try to defend the band. I stand by what I said. Self Animation is not a fun listen, not at all.
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Lakewood, OH
http://www.selfanimation.com/aboutus.htm
Probably because he's their dad. Can't really say much about the music.. but the guitar tone on Cinderella was kind of neat.
http://www.last.fm/user/nicklovesohio
Atascadero, CA
least the parents are passionate, but being a singer/songwriter he should know how to handle criticism.
Decoymusic.com (CEO/Founder)
Blue Reef Design Studios (Web Development)
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Minnesota
Wow, that website takes me back to 1999. The only thing it's missing is a geocities URL.
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