Friday, February 14, 2014

FEBRUARY - RACE OF DOOM



INCOMING: THAT'S HOW KIDS DIE REVIEWS I DIE SMILING

My internet buddy JOSH HAUN has honoured me with a fantastic summary/analysis of all things I DIE SMILING. He is the one and only contributor to one of my favourite music blogs - THAT'S HOW KIDS DIE and he tears it up with the words and the sentences and observations and whatnot. Once you're done reading the TSTAT piece from top to bottom, check out his piece on the lesser-enjoyed portion of METALLICA's discography (a series he's doing in collaboration with Jordan Campbell of LAST RITES). He's assured me that LULU will not be covered, which actually lets me down a little since it's an album I genuinely enjoy/am intrigued by (parts of it, at least, for I AM THE TABLE).

CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

CLICK HERE FOR THE METALLICA ARTICLE

The other half of it can be found at LAST RITES. Just follow the links provided. Who am I, your dad?

Saturday, February 1, 2014

2 MORE IDS REVIEWS

Just got back from a terrific show. 2 local (to Ottawa) bands ripped it up this snowy Saturday evening. CRUSADES and ALASKAN, both of whom have brand new albums out. Check em both out, you may or may not be disappointed! I mean, how the hell do I know what floats your guys's's boats????

2 new reviews of I DIE SMILING have come through. The first comes via LAST RITES. This review initially left me scratching my head but I've come to decide that it's pretty great. I mean, this in particular - "This is self-indulgent sound made for Neutron and Neutron alone to enjoy"....I can't exactly argue with that! Good call, Mr. So-and-so! Good call (I just wish I knew who the hell Luke was!?!?). Anyways, here's the review in question (about halfway down the page): CLICK HERE

The next is featured on DESTROY THE BRAIN! and is, by far, my favourite review so far. The diamond in the rough for me has to be a breakdown of some of the song titles: "Sent Back Dead From Pepsi Part IV (Fucking really, dude?)" I know, I know! Again, I'm not arguing!!! I won't for a second deny the ridiculousness of that title! The thing is, I think music in general (and metal in particular) could stand to be a little more ridiculous. Like the other night, I was scrolling through pictures of NEUROSIS on LASTFM and it's like - Hey fellas, how bout a smile? NEVER THE LESS, the bottom line is this: DESTROY THE BRAIN! was one of many blogs to which I sent out my own personally prepared press-releases and they came through (where doing absolutely nothing would have been infinitely easier). I can't respect that enough. I'm also a huge fan of tearing things I strongly dislike a new asshole so it's not as if I don't get it. Here it is. Enjoy! CLICK HERE
This is self-indulgent sound made for Neutron and Neutron alone to enjoy - See more at: http://lastrit.es/articles/694/four-to-score#sthash.gqjINAq3.dpuf
This is self-indulgent sound made for Neutron and Neutron alone to enjoy - See more at: http://lastrit.es/articles/694/four-to-score#sthash.gqjINAq3.dpuf
This is self-indulgent sound made for Neutron and Neutron alone to enjoy - See more at: http://lastrit.es/articles/694/four-to-score#sthash.gqjINAq3.dpuf

Getting back to music by people other than myself - There's this band PORCH that I used to LOVE back in my last year of high school. Fronted by a delightfully spastic guitarist named TODD HUTH (he was a member of PRIMUS during their early, early days), the band released one self-titled album of razor-sharp noise rock that was right up my JESUS LIZARD/SLINT/SHUDDER TO THINK/BIG BLACK/UNSANE loving alley. They seemed to disappear pretty quickly and I filed them away with the rest of the great unsung bands of the 90s (GROTUS, LONG FIN KILLIE, PHLEG CAMP, etc etc). Turns out, they've been quietly pressing on as a band for quite a few years now (possibly they never even stopped?). I stumbled upon their bandcamp page the other night and there are several albums available there (including the aforementioned self-titled one from 1994). If you're into the likes of KEN MODE, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, MOGWAI then this could be for you! Here's their BANDCAMP PAGE.

And this is a WIKIPEDIA PAGE FULL OF UNUSUAL DEATHS. An extraordinary amount of these are due to laughing. Fucking really, dude?