garage
Jam On It! New Jams by Summer Cannibals, The Julie Ruin, OBN IIIS, Metz and Swami John Reis, and GOAT
If Sleater-Kinney were the female Fugazi and Summer Canniabls are the new Sleater-Kinney, that would make Summer Canniabls the new female Fugazi with one dude? I don't know man, but what I do know, is that there isn't enough metal in punk today, not enough musicians ready to plug in and aim for the arena rafters.
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Rad Jam Wednesday with Car Seat Headrest, Nothing, White Lung, and The Liminanas
Why didn't anyone tell me Car Seat Headrest shreds? Fans of the Cloud Nothings' heavy era and Built to Spill will be asking themselves the same question once they play, "Vincent," the first single from the band's upcoming, second album on Matador Records.
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The Rockometer: Total Freedom by Spacin’
Let's talk about this Spacin' album, Total Freedom, 'cause to be honest, Total Freedom, and the previous Spacin' album, Deep Thuds, are pretty much the only things I've been listening to the past two weeks. Total Freedom shreds. It choogles. It's the work of jam masters. It's a jam monster.
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The Rockometer: Worth a Lot of Money by OBN IIIs/S/T by Snooty Garbagemen
When you trade in '70s style riff rock, like the OBN IIIs do, there's inherent risk. One hackneyed rhyme of "Rock 'N' Roll" and "soul" and all good will is lost. You get labeled as the kids who never left the Camaro and the high school parking lot, whose best and blurriest days all had two things in common: Budweiser cans and stank weed.
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The Rockometer: High by Royal Headache
If musicians were subject to rules of an NFL-style draft, Royal Headache's vocalist, a man who goes by the name Shogun, would be a first round pick. His voice has the wear of a life that hasn't always been an easy one to live. He's got soul. He's got effortless range. If he came in the age in the late '60s he could have fronted the Faces. In the '70s it would have been The Nerves or The Jam. And, if he came of age in the '80s, and really, really liked his booze, he could slide right into an outfit like the Replacements. In the grunge era, he would have sung like he had marbles in his mouth. Let's be glad Shogun is not active in 1995, but in 2015, where he sounds right at home in this scrappy four-piece, garage band from Sydney.
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Top Jam: “Carolina” by Royal Headache
From the first time I heard Royal Headache's lead singer, Shogun, open his mighty pipes I've contended he's a star, as in network TV performances, gossip mags and paparazzi, trapped in an indie-rockers body. Dude has a classic, soulful and scruffy voice like Rod Stewart, and in the right setting, like, say this video for the mid-tempo strummer, "Carolina," from the band's new album, High, out this Friday, it positively stuns.
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New Jam City: Hear New Jams by Deafheaven, Destruction Unit, My Disco, Blank Realm, and Deerhunter
Deafheaven's "Brought to the Water," isn't a total reinvention of modern heavy into some overwrought philosophical work, like that of that other heavy-as-holy-hell, but totally not a black metal band, Liturgy. Rather, it's a refinement of the visceral thrills which made Deafheaven's debut so compelling.
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Play Me: “Look to the Sun” by Obnox
Bim don't quit. Clevelander, Lamont "Bim" Thomas writes, records, and tours as Obnox as often as other musicians tweet their lamebrain opinions on shit they don't know shit about, which is all the damn time. 2015 has already seen to Obnox albums: Boogalou Reed and Know America, and today, we get the first taste of Bim's third release of 2015 in the form of "Look to the Sun" from Wiglet, due out later this year on Ever/Never. This one is a slow, purposeful crusher with deliberate, doom metal guitars rendered in static, and vocals, half spoken and half sung, blurred by the rumble. It's not a happy song, in the least, but damn am I happy Bim keeps doing his thing.
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