Red Meat Reviews » Punk Rock

Melvins Killing It at The Velvet Jones 9/16/2010

Haaris Ahmed — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:01:54 +0000

Before I get into the Melvins show quick shout out to the Velvet Jones. The club decided to do some remolding and it paid off in a huge way. They basically knocked off the awning above the bar, which opens up the entire space. It looks 10x bigger and you can hear a vast improvement in the acoustics, and the Melvins is a great band to showcase the now incredible sound that Velvet Jones houses. The owner decided to restructure some of the glasswork throughout the club as well, the entire place looks fantastic.

On to the show, it was AWESOME. The Melvins have played this venue before, and in true Melvins form, blasted the doors wide open. Coming out in Space Suits and matching capes King B and the rest of the band took the small club patrons on an audio journey that would be with you the next day, yeah it was that loud. Quick note, the openers were Totimoshi and they were awesome, I bought their 7inch, best $5 I have spent all year. Is there really anymore to say, we are talking about the FUCKING MELVINS. They were on point and it was a great show, end of story.

I may have had too much fun at the show, not only did I buy the wrong poster (i bought the slo poster not the Santa Barbara poster) i left the poster and a 7inch at the show. Lucky for me the people at Velvet held onto it and my lady picked up. Don’t mess with that brown liquor kids.

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New Music Review Bites – The Black Angels, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, The Vasalines, Interpol, Of Montreal

Haaris Ahmed — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:21:26 +0000

The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream

Why have I never heard of this band? The Black Angels rule and so does their new album Phosphene Dream. This album could have come out in 1967, it definitely has a psychedelic sounds of bands like the Mamma’s and Pappas and Cream. Combine that throwback sound with elements of garage rock and some serious dissidence and you have the Black Angels. Tracks like Rivers of Blood, Telephone, Entrance Song and Yellow Elevator #2 are just some of the many great tracks on Phosphene Dream. Also worth noting is the packaging, its cool and tripped out. Buy this today.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – Buzzard

Honestly I don’t know if I like or dislike this album. It’s a dilemma, so you can tell me what you think. Its random, fun, haunting, weird, random sound bits, folky, heavy, light and straight up strange. I dig the confusion. My favorite track is Tiny Vampire Robot, its one of the slower tracks on Buzzard but it’s a keeper. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s get 3 cant make up my mind meats outta 5.

The Vasalines – Sex With an X

They are back years later on the Sub Pop label and I dig this record. If you haven’t heard of The Vasalines time to start your homework, just start with this album and work your way back to 1987. One of the few band from the late 80’s that are still kicking, and they are from Glasgow. If you like rock give these Scottish cats some love.

Interpol

This new self titled album is nothing new from Interpol. You would think that a band of this caliber would push their sound to somewhere new but much like most things from the past, they don’t hold up to the present. This is not to say the new Interpol album isn’t good, it is if you like Interpol. Its nothing new, all these songs could have been any Interpol record. If you like Interpol the pick this album up, if you have already got your share of Interpol in your collection it is not necessary to add this one to the group.

Of Montreal – False Priest

“You look like a playground to me” is a line taken from the song Sex Karma off the newest album by Of Montreal. This album rules. False Priest is all about fun, you can feel the happy take over your synapses. This album should come with a warning cause the funk level is so high it will cause permanent damage. Every track stands out in its own right yet are perfect when listened cover to cover, so I recommend pressing play on the first track and letting that motherfucker ride to the end. There are some guests on False Priest, Solange Knowles (Beyonce’s little sister) sings on Sex Karma, and Janelle Monae lends her vocals on Enemy Gene and Our Riotous Defects. Miss Monae is currently on tour with Of Montreal. I would love to go in detail on how much I like this album, but this is meaty bite so find a girl named Hello pick up this album!

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Anger is a Gift Time to Rally Rage Against the Machine at Hollywood Palladium 7/23/10

Haaris Ahmed — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:12:27 +0000

Before I start, milestone in Red Meat Reviews history, this is my 100th Post!!!! To commemorate this monumental moment I have picked a show to review that is near and dear to my heart. In true meat fashion lets get into it.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE played the Hollywood Palladium last Friday, I can stop right there, but you know I wont.

Needless to say this show RULED. The set list was more like a greatest hits album, plus they covered the Clash’s “White Riot” and during the cover song Rage turned on the house lights, the spectacle was like traveling back in time to when people moshed around and no one in the place was standing still. It is very very VERY rare that LA get down, it felt like an east coast show, it was awesome to come out of the show bruised, aching and soar, but unlike my youth it took my 30year old body days to recover rather than a good night’s rest.

The show itself was amazing. the band did a great job of mixing up their set list and playing a raw, uncut, super metal show for its home town in Los Angeles. The sell out show consisting of 4,000 people got a treat of seeing a stadium band playing one of their smallest venues since their break up. I havent seen them play a show like this thins 97 at the electric factory in Philly. Conor Oberst opened, but I missed his entire set which is a bummer.

There was some serious police presence at the show as well. Lots of cops, undercover and even some officers in riot gear just waiting for something to happen. I will get into that in a little bit.

Here is Rage’s set list, it speaks volumes over anything else I would say about this show.

1. Testify
2. Bombtrack
3. People Of The Sun
4. Know Your Enemy
5. Bulls On Parade
6. Township Rebellion
7. White Riot (The Clash cover)
8. Bullet In The Head
9. Calm Like A Bomb
10. Guerrilla Radio
11. Sleep Now In The Fire
12. Wake Up

Encore:
13. Freedom
14. Killing In The Name

There was a reason Rage was there. It wasn’t cause they wanted money, it wasn’t cause they were doing some reunion hoopla, they were there to raise money and awareness about the purely racist law that Arizona is about to pass and the Racist FEDERAL Law that Arizona’s law is based on. It is rare that a band can combine both art and awareness and pull it off. Rage excels at this, having seen them 11 times now this show was one for the books. The only thing that sucks is the fact that they had to throw a show in order to rally people, especially the kids, to raise awareness and to boycott the shit out of Arizona.

Boycott ARIZON. Don’t visit there, don’t see sports that involve Arizona, don’t perform in Arizona, if something is made in AZ don’t buy it. If you live in Arizona, move now. Basically Fuck Arizona.
On a personal note I cant believe that I live in a time where this is even a topic of discussion. Anyone who agrees with what Arizona is doing should take a good long look at themselves and the history of the United States of America. Remember what is inscribed into our Lady Liberty’s book, and I quote “”Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

The show gets a good ol fashion 5 meaty rating

Your Anger is a GIFT

Shout out to Christian aka the Asian Opera for snapping this rugged ass pick on his iphone while getting thrashed around with yours truly. Big ups yo.

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New Music Review Bites- Ariels Pink Haunted Graffiti, Fools Gold, British India

Haaris Ahmed — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:43:00 +0000

Ariels Pink Haunted Graffiti- Before Today

If you are into Lo Fi abstract genre questioning music than this is your dude. I don’t even know if I like what I hear, but I cant stop listening to it. WARNING this is not for everyone. The subtleties and details may be missed by the casual butt rocker, but the indie kids will love it. Go out and buy this album, file it under weird shit that’s cool.

Fools Gold

This self titled album is pretty good. It has super long songs and a world sound to it. Vocal harmonies paired with fun upbeat music all around makes this a great record for long drives and sight seeing. This could be the album for your summer montage of 2010!

British India- Avalanche

WTF! This album started out fantastic. Killer riffs, aggressive attitude and pretty good lyrics. But midway though I think someone just said fuck it I am done cause the album just loses all of its flair. If this was an EP I would rate this real high, but its not, so British India you must suffer the raw consequences.

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New Music Review Bites – How to Destroy Angels, Johnny Foreigner

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:38:23 +0000

What happens when you combine Trent Reznor(the motherfuckingman), Mariqueen Maandig(Lead singer of West Indian Girl, super hot, and Trent’s wifie) and Atticus Ross(producer of many NIN projects)? You get a great project called How to Destroy Angels.

Since it’s a Trent Reznor Project he made their EP available for FREE!!!! So I recommend downloading it and formulating your own opinion but since this you are reading this I will tell you what I think. Its fucking awesome. 6 Tracks, all of which are stand alone singles in my mind, and defiantly worth at least 1 listen to. There have been some that say that this sounds too much like Portishead, to those people I say, so what? Portishead is a GREAT band and to compare Trent Reznor’s new project to Portishead is a complement. And for the records it has hints of the UK triphop’s finest but HDA is not a copy of Portishead, far from it. I can’t wait for the full length to come out and am crossing my toes and fingers for these cast to go on tour. I have seen NIN on every tour since the fragile and have checked out West Indian Girl 1 time at the Velvet Jones, which by the way was real good. I can only imagine how this would look like on stage.

Download this shit now!!! Oh and their 1st music video is pretty disturbing.

howtodestroyangels.com

Johnny Foreigner- Every Cloakroom EP

This band rules. They are from the UK and their sound is super fun, aggressive and all out amazing. They are currently going on tour in the USA blindly, its pretty crazy of them but they are putting a lot on this North American tour. This EP was given out to fans for a very special reason. This is actually a limited edition vinyl that they did for their fans, which I participated in. If you ordered the EP within a certain time frame the cover art will contain your name, that is if you bought the vinyl. I haven’t received mine yet but when I do I will be sure to post a picture. They shipped out the records today and sent everyone who ordered this special personalized EP a digital download of Every Cloakroom EP, which I have already listed to at least 5 times. Is it good? Are you reading this article? I just said I listened to it, back to back at least 5 times. Fuck yes.

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New Music Review Bites- The Dead Weather, MGMT, Male Bonding

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:02:30 +0000

The Dead Weather- Sea Of Cowards

I have nothing bad at all to say about the sophomore release of the new Dead Weather Album. Its really simple, every track is AMAZING. If you like your rock n roll aggressive, brash, sexy, smokey, heavy and unapologetic then this is the album for you. Every track stands out and has its own style, Die by the Drop is a great radio friendly track that gets your blood pumping, Hustle and Cuss is funked out, Old Mary is just something else. I can go on on about this album. It’s a monster, hopefully you can handle it.

MGMT- Congratulations

So people are raving about this new album, but I have no idea why. There are a couple of standout tracks, but the album on the whole is a melodic wave that puts me right to bed. You may like that kind of audio, but I sure as hell do not. That said if you’re an MGMT fan pick it up, but be prepared to for some unimpressive back seat elevator type experience.

Male Bonding- Nothing Hurts

This sub pop band is super dope. Short sporadic noised out fuzzed up tracks make any experimental punk rocker giddy. Hilarious song titles and trashed sounds make this album on constant repeat on my iPod. I might get sick of it in a couple of months, bit as of right now pick this up!

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Contra the Non 8bit Album Review

Haaris Ahmed — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:55:41 +0000

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A SELECT START is the code for 30 lives for 2 players in Konami’s Contra for the NES that came out in the 1980’s. Contra by Vampire Weekend is an album that came out today that features a Polaroid of a chick from 1983 as the cover art.

Vampire Weekend is playing a sold our show tonight at the Henry Fonda in Los Angeles to support their newest album, Contra. I am bummed I am not going to the show because the new album rocks. I was a closet fan of their first album, it took a while for their sound to grow on me, but they def hit a home run on their follow up.

The reason I like this band is because the music is fun, period. They have no problem creating happy, carefree melodies with upbeat lyrics which gives us the listener a “pick me up” from all the other garbage that is out there. Cousins and Horchata have all ready received radio commercial success but that can be said for almost every song on the new album its that good. Its rare that there is a band that you can listen to with your mom in the car that you both will genuinely like. Some of my favorite tracks off Contra are California English, Give Up the Gun and Holiday. They use a wide variety of sounds and instruments to create their signature sound, they even have fun with autotune. On the track Diplomat’s Son you can hear a sample taken from M.I.A., STRONG!

This album makes me feel like its x-mass, and I am a Muslim. Go out and buy the album, and if you have time try to beat Contra while listening to Contra.

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Unlock Cage the Elephant LIVE

Haaris Ahmed — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:52:25 +0000

Down south twangness just got amped up for this new band that has a major kick ass show. Cage the Elephant took the stage at the El Rey and with a little help from their guitar tech, Jordan “themotherfuckinman” Powell, got yours truly a ticket to the show for some beers and some rock.

So how were they? Super kick ass sweet thats how. If you heard any of their music you can gather that their live set was going to be aggressive, and it sure was. The crowd was into the show, which is always a plus, and the band took note. The lead singer couldn’t stay out of the crowd for most of their set. In fact at the end of the show he pulled a method man/redman and got the audience to prop him up by his feet, very rockstar.

Their set obviously consisted of maternal of their album, but they did a number of new joints that have not been released that were pretty damn slamming.

If you’re a fan of drinking, loud music and chain smoking than Cage the Elephant is the band for you. If you don’t like doing any of these things why are you even reading this blog?

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Fishbone is Still Red Hot

Joe A. Melendez — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:03:24 +0000

You know that a concert is good when it takes you two days to recover both physically and mentally enough to be able to sit down, process one’s thoughts and write a review on it. On Friday, August 14th at Joey Harrison’s Surf Club in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, I once again had the pleasure to see this great funk, punk, soul, rock, metal, ska band from Los Angeles, California. I have seen Fishbone so many times over the years that while hanging out before they went on, Angelo Moore, the lead singer, looked at me as he made his rounds of the crowd and told me, “I know you from somewhere.” Yes Angelo, you do. Your shows.

The reason that I became a Fishbone fan so many years ago was a result of their live shows. I have been to many concerts and seen many bands but nobody rocks a small or mid-size venue better than “The Bone” does. It gets rowdy, it gets hot, it gets out of control. Remember, this band has been doing this for over 25 years and they haven’t lost a beat, a few original members yes, but not a single beat. I have a selfish viewpoint on the band. As a fan and witness to the greatness that they are capable of, I do wish them great success and hope that they would fill stadiums, but as that very same fan, I am more than happy to always experience them in small venues. If you like to have a great time at shows, this is the band to see, hands down.

Fishbone setlist August 14th, 2009

In 1987, a cheesy movie called Back to the Beach exposed Fishbone to me for the very first time with the scene posted below.

It wouldn’t be for another ten years until I would get the pleasure of seeing them live and become hooked. Now, your resident Fishbone “Souljah” even sports a Fishbone tattoo on his wrist. Another ten years or so, and once again I found myself viewing Fishbone live. Over those past years, I have seen several band members come and go. Their current lineup is Angelo Moore on Vocals/Sax/Theramin, John Norwood Fisher on Bass/Vocals, John “Wet Daddy” Steward on drums, Rocky George on guitar, John McKnight on Trombone/Vocals/Guitar and Dre Gipson on Keyboards/Vocals.

This lineup is fun and adds to the energy of the band. Where once all the nuttiness of stage-diving and crowd surfing was only Angelo Moore’s domain, Dre Gipson has been more than happy to contribute to the nuttsacktified madness that is Fishbone, not to mention his great reggae-esque singing and keyboard playing. Norwood Fisher continues to be the greatest rock bassist that no one knows about. Rocky George, once a member of Suicidal Tendencies and Cro-mags know rips the lead guitar and does it very well. John Steward is a beast behind the drum set; and John McKnight, who has played for Ben Harper and been an off and off member of Fishbone seals the freshness of the band and preserves the aroma of the nut.The only person that was really missing was Dirty Walt, but the world isn’t perfect.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and even came out with the bloody shirt to prove it. Fishbone is Red Hot and always will be.

No, it’s not my blood. No, I have no idea whose it is.

http://www.myspace.com/fishboneisredhot

http://www.fishbone.net/

http://www.fishbonelive.org/

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The Giraffes – Union Pool, Brooklyn 7/25/09

Joe A. Melendez — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:50:41 +0000

It had been almost three years since I had seen The Giraffes play and I was itching for my rock n roll fix. Luckily for me, I was back in the country, on the east coast and in Brooklyn, the fine borough where these four fellows hail from. The night was warm, the whiskey was being poured, I was in the company of some excellent human beings, the Yankees were back on top of the AL east and all seemed to be in its place. The night carried all the elements that were required to make it a great one. And it was.

I had seen this band several times in the past, and never do they fail to rock. I mean, we all have our favorite bands and groups that we each strongly attest to as being truly a great live show; but please understand most of those people, yourself possibly included, have never seen The Giraffes perform live. Their music is forged from the sperm of metal gods as they play their self-proclaimed “Cock Rock.” The Giraffes don’t make sweet love to you with their music, they fuck you hard and leave bruises. I just found a really nice one under my left arm.

The show was recorded for a live DVD; knowing this, I probably should not have attended. The Giraffes seem to tickle everything that is debauch within me and release it publicly, not a good thing to have immortalized until the pending apocalypse melts all copies of the DVD. Regardless, this had been The Giraffes sole purpose and they played as hard and fast as ever – the crowd loved every moment.

This is THE band to see live. THE band whose album to buy. And THE only band whose lead singer (Aaron Lazar) might die at any show, whose guitarist (Damien Paris) has been shot at by a marshall, whose drummer (Andrew Totolos) eats live babies for a living (I might have made this part up, but his haircut reeks of baby-eater – BTW Drew congrats on the baby boy, remember don’t eat him) and whose bassist I know nothing about.

Good show boys, I might need another 3-year break.

http://www.thegirafffes.com

http://www.myspace.com/thegiraffes

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