Album Reviews: November 2014 Week 2

The Mars Volta - "B-Sides" 2013

So, in 2012, the band announced they were on a hiatus, and left it at that. Then in early 2013, the singer, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, made an announcement that the band had in fact broken up and him and other founding member/lead guitarist, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez weren't even speaking to each other. Omar was already in full swing of touring the world with his new band, Bosnian Rainbows, and Cedric was deep into working on an album with a new group (or solo album, depending on how you look at it) called Zavalaz, that still hasn't produced an album yet. It seemed like the end of them collaborating for sure, but they did end up making amends and forming a new group together,  releasing an album recently within a new band called Antemasque, which is basically Mars Volta with Flea as the bass player. Now, back to this review- this mysterious B-Sides album appeared on all the downloading sites within a week or so of Cedric's announcement that the band was done officially. Nobody has confirmed the origin of these songs, and they all have non-sensical, barcode-like, Aphex Twin style titles, but it's generally believed that these are unused demos from as far back as 2005. The songs sound really, really good too. There's more instrumental tracks than there is ones with vocals, but it all sounds pretty good for just being demo material, just further cementing how talented these musicians are. Somebody uploaded it on youtube here, and it looks like they attempted to figure out actual song titles and places of origin for the tracks, which is cool. If you're a fan and you've got 2 hours to spare, I highly recommend checking this out.

Bosnian Rainbows - "Bosnian Rainbows" - 2013

Leading right in from the previous review, here is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's new group, Bosnian Rainbows, and what's interesting is that he seems to take a huge back seat within this band, compared to Mars Volta. The real star here is singer Teresa Suarez (stage name: Teri Gender Bender), who comes from her own band, Le Butcherettes. A band i'm CLEARLY going to have to immerse myself into now, because this Bosnian Rainbows album is one of the better albums i've heard in the past couple years. I'll just throw this statement out there right now... If you were ever a fan of Siouxsie & The Banshees, and you miss having that type of sound and aesthetic in your life as new music, then this is the band you need to check out now. All 11 tracks on this album are great, and repeated listenings only seems to make this more enjoyable. Looks like we have a modern classic on our hands. It's interesting that what I would consider the 2 strongest tracks on here weren't put out as singles at all, but have (in my mind) that exact type of appeal to be hits. Hopefully this isn't a one-shot deal, and we'll get a 2nd LP from this band someday. Checkout the video for "Turtle Neck". Also check out "Torn Maps", "Morning Sickness", "Worthless" (they should put this song out as a new single, but i'm sure they're done promoting it at this point), "I Cry For You", and "Mother, Father, Set Us Free". You can purchase the album here.

Tech N9ne - "Collabos: Strangeulation" 2014

Tech N9ne seems to have a certain cycle that he goes through with his prolific releases. He'll do a regular album, then maybe an EP, and then one of these "Collabos" albums, where he does a good job of showcasing the other artists on his label, while still giving people at least one verse from him every song, in case they don't like the other people on Strange Music. This is probably my least favorite of the Collabos albums so far. The verses are all tight, and the beats are pretty cool, but I really don't enjoy the overt poppiness of a lot of the choruses and the occasional nu-metal influenced songs with guitars. It also doesn't really seem to go along with the direction a lot of the newer artists on the label are taking, like Mayday and Ces Cru. Both of those groups have been putting out better material than this album has, and their appearances on here only give a slight indicator of what they can actually do on their own. This release also marks the beginning of Murs from Living Legends being on Strange Music, which is both awesome and weird. It's cool Tech is signing veterans to the game as well as good up and comers. It might seem like i'm being harsh on this album, but it's only because i'm a huge fan. There's some really great material on this that's worth hearing. Check out the videos for "Strangeulation Cypher"  (featuring Godemis, Stevie Stone, Murs, Wrekonize, Bernz, Kutt Calhoun, Ubiquitous, Prozak, and Krizz Kaliko) (this song is broken up into 4 parts and dispersed throughout the album), "Over It" (featuring Ryan Bradley), "Hard (A Monster Made It)" (featuring Murs), and "Fear" (featuring Mackenzie O'Guin). You Can purchase this album here.

Jeremiah Jae - "Dirty Collections Vol. 1" 2013

Jeremiah Jae is what I would consider a true modern  progressive underground hip hop musician. The beats he does and the way that the lyrics are placed on the beats is more or less unlike anything i've ever heard. Yes, it makes sense that someone like Flying Lotus put him on, and had the ear to say "hey, maybe I should give this guy a chance", but the fact that Flying Lotus uses Jeremiah Jae to make some of his beats for his Captain Murphy side projects speaks volumes. He has a weird way of filtering things, and at times it almost sounds like someone left a TV or a radio in the other room on when you're listening to his beats until it starts to make sense to you. So after a stellar album released on Brainfeeder, ("Raw Money Raps"), he was, just like Flying Lotus, signed to Warp Records and joined their illustrious stable of artists. This is the first of 3 vinyl only EP's that were limited to 500 copies each. There are only 3 songs on here. 2 rap songs and one instrumental. The instrumental is the winner here for sure. I like listening to this beat in the car a lot. Anyone that enjoys underground hip hop, but is always complaining that nothing actually "new" comes out of the scene, should check this dude out. Check out "Fun", the only song that's up on youtube from this. You can purchase this here.

Com Truise - "Wave 1" 2014

Com Truise is an electronic artist/synth wizard, hailing from New York. His songs mostly fall into a retro-synth type category, similar to artists like Kavinsky and Tobacco. The new EP from Com Truise isn't going to blow anyone's mind, or change their mind about him if you did or didn't like him before, but what it does do is give fans a taste of something new to tide them over. The title track is very familiar sounding, to the point where it almost sounds like a remix of one some of his previous songs, but it's also still my favorite track on here as well. There are glimpses of him trying to break out of his shell a little bit more. There's a track on here that almost reminds me of Aphex Twin in a way, and I never thought I would hear anything like that from him. The only misstep here for me is the song with guest vocals. I see what he's trying to do/why he's doing it, but it's just not my cup of tea. Check out the video for "Subsonic". Also check out "Wave 1", "Miserere Mei", "Mind", and "Valis Called (Control)". You can purchase the album here.

Melvins - "Everybody Loves Sausages" 2013

The Melvins put out this album full of covers last year and over that time this album has slowly weaseled it's way into my main rotation. It didn't do much for me at first (much like a lot of The Melvins stuff is for me), but then repeated listens reveal so much more, and once you become familiar with their songs, you can truly appreciate their grimy geniusness. The source of covers on here runs a pretty wide range, from Venom to Queen to The Fugs, to even a Roxy Music cover, featuring an appropriate sounding Jello Biafra on guest vocals. Check out this video of them recording "Attitude". (watching Dale Crover drum on here is pretty awesome)... Also check out this animated video for "Warhead" (featuring Scott Kelly). Also check out "You're My Best Friend" (featuring Caleb Benjamin), "In Every Dreamhome A Heartache" (featuring Jello Biafra), "Art School" (featuring Tom Hazelmyer), and "Female Trouble". You can purchase this album on amazon, I guess, according to the Ipecac Records website.