Health and Sport by Luxury
Luxury’s 2005 release starts out soothing, warming and softly engaging… with minimal guitar, cymbal and drum work. Lee Bozeman’s vocals come into play and that distinct Luxury vibe takes over. The distortion bleeds in with a soft and casual stream and the vocals accent the sounds that permeate my listening space. Luxury is a one-of-a-kind band with a very distinct sound that draws on different elements of post punk and shoe gaze genres, definitely know that when listening to these guys they turn distortion into a beautiful sound. Northern released this record a few years back and I think it is probably their best effort. It’s one of those records that I can’t find any fault with, I love the drums, guitar work, the vocals, percussion, piano, everything about this disc screams quality and the band elicits a broad range of emotion throughout the entire disc. I give this one two thumbs up, check it out and purchase a copy if you haven’t already.
Detonation by Bloodgood
The fine folks are Intense Millennium Records have re-mastered and re-released this landmark Christian metal record. In the late 80’s when hair metal was the rage, Bloodgood drops this second release and makes a name for themselves. If you remember these guys when they were first around, they looked more like a hair metal band, complete with doofy spandex gear and big hair. In actuality they were merging the sound of traditional metal with a fairly heavy influence of thrash/speed metal guitar work. Michael Bloodgood and company really paved the way for more acceptance of thrash bands to come. The music can best be compared to Judas Priest, maybe even Iron Maiden, but Bloodgood was something new and fresh to the Christian metal market. Les Carlsen’s vocals could hit the high notes and carry a rapid pace. David Zaffiro’s guitar work was one of a kind, full of solos and sharp guitar work, he led the charge and brought a speed and depth into the genre that was new and needed. This release comes complete with two bonus live tracks that showcase the tightness of the band playing live. These guys are still going and still making news with a induction into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2010. (bloodgoodband.com)
Infrablab by Trip Wamsley and Steve Lawson
As a former bass guitar player myself (no time now!), I have followed Trip Wamsley for a while. At one point, he was somehow connected to Caedmon’s Call – but if that is a bad thing to you, don’t worry. Trip’s music is spaced out bass jams that even non-bass players love. I can’t tell you how many people tell me they love Trip’s music even though they hate instrumental albums of any kind. This ep has him teaming up with bassist Steve Lawson, and the results are cool, trippy, and awesome.
Easy By Dann Gunn
Dann Gunn, formerly of R.E.X. Recording artist Velocipede – is still active in music. This ep is his latest release. Dann is still loud and in your face, but a bit less rough around the edges. This also sounds a bit more industrial than past recordings. Dann has a strong voice that tends to set this music apart. Think powerful, well sung vocals over a bed of distortion. I keep coming back to the title song – it has a nice, driving rhythm and pace. Short but rockin’ ep.
Thunder Beach by Crumbächer
I chose to review this Crumbächer disc, but it should be noted that Escape From the Fallen Planet should be re-mastered and available by the time you read this. I wanted to cover Thunder Beach simply because although it might not be their most popular piece of work, it was the first Christian album that I got when I was growing up. I still remember my aunt purchased Thunder Beach for me as a Christmas present. I also got some Twila Paris cassette at the same time (woe is me!). Anyway, I love the packaging on this disc, the silhouetted outlines of the band members are really cool. This is one of the best pop discs that came out at the time. This release saw the band progress away from the synth pop sound and incorporate a more pop rock feel with edgier tracks like “Once In A Heartbreak” and the title track “Thunder Beach”. There are also straight up pop tracks here that are a lot of fun, an instrumental track and a couple of ballads thrown in for good measure. I’ve never been a big fan of ballads, but I absolutely love “Tough Act To Follow”, the words are timeless and the sentiment is deep. Check out iTunes for this release!
Butterfly by Ric Alba
Ric Alba released this single track a couple of months ago and it flows perfectly as if he never stopped making music. This could have easily fit on Holes In the Floor of Heaven. It sounds remarkable in its degree of emotion and the depth of what he is trying to communicate. One of the things that has always been so satisfying to me about Alba’s solo work is his ability to not only communicate the complexity of emotion that he is conveying through his lyrics, but also through the music itself. He does that on “Butterfly” as well. The music sounds immediate, the piano brings a fresh urgency to what he is saying and the lyrics are familiar in theme and in Ric’s style of writing. One of my favorite lines is:
“How many hearts, no one knows
Are buried under streets of gold
No one asks, no one told
And I had no other place to go”
Ric’s music is consistently touching and compelling. It becomes a mirror that we hold and look back at ourselves. Ric was inspired to write a song after Brian Healy shared the Lonnie Frisbee documentary with him. This is part of what Ric said to me, “This isn’t just a song about being gay and closeted—not by any stretch. It’s about having wonderful, special, or unique qualities of any kind that we hide, or feel pressured to hide, so that we fit in. What the documentary inspired in me was that some of us, hopefully most of us, find our way to let our wings fly open and without shame, whether we realize it or not. Lonnie did it with his charismatic ministry, maybe I kinda did it a little in the context of Altar Boys and Holes. Everybody can probably site one way or another how they broke out of their caterpillar drag from time to time.” For those wondering where to get this, you can just swing over to iTunes and purchase this track.
[2010 Independent | Purchase: iTunes]I Don’t Need A Lot of Love by Sungrazerr
Sungrazerr has released three more tracks of sonic brilliance. This little E.P. is titled I Don’t Need A Lot of Love, Just A Steady Supply. The first track up is “They Listen” with a hearty dose of tense and vague wondering as we listen to the fuzzed out communications of what appears to be air controllers in communication with someone reporting a UFO sighting. Whatever it is, it sounds best through the headphones and is a great track to ease into the new recording. Up next is the song, “de respirer dans”, which is French for “breathe in” and the layering of this track is absolutely beautiful. The music seems to be climbing and descending at the same time, all while carrying on this softly distorted ambience of ebb and flow…stunning indeed! Track three is “Alligators,” and this one clocks in at a fuzzy 6 minutes and 11 seconds. I love this music and this band, it’s like listening to a landscape in another world, good news is there is more to come soon! (http://sungrazerr.com/)
The Insidious Lie by Craig’s Brother
Been waiting along time for this one – the bands third full length – worth the wait. Epic melodic Punk Rock, great production, layered vocal harmonies, technical guitar parts, drummer is always amazing, all that you’d expect from these guys by now. Still have the Bad Religion meets Lagwagon vibe, but lyrically way more heart on the sleeve than the aforementioned bands. Craig’s Brothers lyrics are always cut deep in the heart, songs of loss, betrayal, let downs, life’s stresses, if you are a caring person you can relate to what Ted Bond writes about in such a poetic fashion. I like every song on the album, heck, I’ve liked every song I’ve ever heard from CB. Man, I really missed this band and am so glad to have them back! Let’s hope the next one doesn’t take so long to come out. Get it at craigsbrother.com
DTL Live Report: Aunt Betty’s Ford 9-14-2010
…“all I ever wanted, was a good job”…
If you guys follow Knott or Aunt Bettys on Facebook I’m sure you have heard all about this show… but I’m gonna spill on it one more time. This was the first time that I have ever seen Aunt Bettys live, and actually the only time I have seen Knott with a band period. My wife and I live in Atlanta, GA completely on the opposite coast from where the Bettys were playing, but as soon as I knew the details we had tickets booked and travel arrangements made! It was one of those things that I couldn’t afford, but I had to figure a way to get there. It was a good choice!
Aunt Bettys were playing with 3 other bands that evening and they were third to go on. The venue was Detroit Bar: a good sized little club where the band and the audience can be close enough to interact and feed off each other. By the time the Bettys took the stage, the place was packed. It was wall to wall with fans that were anticipating the show.
Up to the stage walks Cummings, Carter, Doidge and Knott. Knott says, “Alright boys, let’s do this,” and the mayhem ensued! You can see the set list from the picture, and the guys were dead on the entire show. The set was only about 35 minutes long so the in between song banter was at a minimal, but they raged through 9 songs in an admirable fashion. They played fan favorites like “Kitty Courtesy” and “Rockstars on H,” but for me the best song of the night was definitely “Rocket and A Bomb”! Rocket was so emotional and charged, and there’s something about a couple hundred people screaming a chorus together that just turns the adrenaline on.
Rumor has it that there will be another show sometime in November – you can stay tuned into the Aunt Bettys Facebook page for details on that. Thanks to Carl Spacone who had a limited run of t-shirts made up for the show – that was a definite plus. If you can catch the next show, do whatever you must to make it, it was awesome! On a side note too, this was the first time Doidge has played live in 13 years which made the show that much more memorable. Also in attendance was Rick McDonough of Hidden From Blackout and Struck Last May, Brian Healy of Dead Artist Syndrome and Chris Brigandi from The Lifters.
The Aunt Bettys Ford show was a blast! I was lucky enough to be right up at the front for the show, right underneath a speaker that surely was trying its best to destroy my hearing. I was filming the show so I didn’t have a chance to take pictures, but I was right beside a lady that was snapping pics with what looked like a professional rig. A couple of weeks later some pictures of the show turned up on Facebook and I contacted the photographer who I found out to be Kim Loy. I asked her for permission to use a couple of pictures and she sent me what she took since she wasn’t sure which two or three to pick. We thought the pictures were great and deserved their own little pictorial spread in this issue as a tribute to a great show and a fantastic band. Check out Kim’s face book page, she is a great photographer and has several different photo albums up for viewing with some other notable music acts like The Altar Billies.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Orange-County/Kimloy-Photography/156618447735
Black Thorn by Flatfoot 56
Finally these guys nail it! I’ve liked this band since 2007’s Knuckles Up. Celtic/Street Punk with a little Oi! in the same vein as bands like Dropkick Murphy’s and Flogging Molly without sounding like them. High energy, anthem filled, and tough. This has been in my top ten of 2010 since its release in March. Produced by Johnny Rioux of Street Dogs, he really brought the best out of this band. Song after song this album rocks, Black Thorn, Courage, Born For This, and Way Of The Sun are favorites of mine. Solid lyrics throughout. Highly recommended album.