Red Meat Reviews » Rock

New Music Review Bites – Autolux, Bear in Heaven, M.I.A., Best Coast

Shogun00 — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:25:30 +0000

Autolux – Transit Transit

6 YEARS!!!!!!! Thats how long it took Autolux’s sophomore album to come out. Who do these cats think they are the, Wu Tang Clan? Despite the incredible gap between albums Autolux has continued playing kickass live shows and are essentially a live band. Both Autolux albums translates an idea of what they sound like rather than an actual blueprint of their music. Transit Transit reflects this feel of freedom. I will be honest, the first time I listened to Transit Transit I did not like it at all. They are only a couple of overpowering in your face jams and the rest just seemed like noise trash filler, but then I gave the album another listen, then another, and now I cant stop listening to it at all. Subtle sonic tunes like Highchair, Spots and The Bouncing Wall are complimented by aggressive Autolux tracks like Supertoys, Audience #2, Kissproof and Census. You quickly realize after a couple of listens cover to cover there is a LOT of stuff going on you just don’t pick up on it on the first run, like using xylophones, I LOVE xylophone’s. The real fun is seeing these 3 live and it will be interesting to see how they work this new material with their old all the time incorporating their signature live sound. This new album gets 4 meats, and Autolux please don’t make us wait another 6 years for a 3^rd album ridiculous

Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth

Where did this band come from? How did they acquire such a rad name? None of this really matters cause this album is pretty dope. This is their second album but my first experience with this Brooklyn based band, and it’s a good one. The music is fun and will put a smile on your face if you are into experimental rock with harmonious jams and catchy baselines. Don’t let the hipsters turn you away for this band or this album, both are cooler than any hipster’s opinion, you know who you are.

4 ½ Meats

MIA – / \ / \ / \ Y / \

Do I need to do this review? I waited until the hype faded and to be honest with you I thought there would be more. Diplo who contributed to this album is talk shit and long time pitchfork supporters gave this album a 4.4. I guarantee in like 10 years they are gonna re score this gem of an album. I have a huge bias to great music and this is great music. Total revamp of sound and style from her previous work / \ / \ / \ Y / \ is a blast of everyday sounds and crunchy noise all married with M.I.A. distinct style and creativity. Get on your grind and pick up this 4 meaty approved album.

Best Coast – Crazy For You

If you are from Southern California or California you should pick up this album. Crazy For You sounds, well like California. It has a great lo-fi garage rock sound and hints of surf rock from the 50’s and 60’s but not corny at all. The longest song is 3 minutes, which is great for kids with short attention spans and weed smokers. Front woman Bethany Cosentino uses cliché subject matters like relationships, summer, love, hate and partying to create catchy tunes great for your next summer BBQ. Bethany’s cat is also talked about in her music as well on the cover and actual CD, lucky feline. 4 meats for this Katy Perry hater.(I support the hate)

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Pack Your Heart You Might Need It – Deftones at the Ventura Majestic Theater 8/6/2010

Shogun00 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:55:50 +0000

Another night in Southern California and another kickass show, this time by the Deftones.

These dudes always manage to come through to Ventura Majestic Theater and blast the doors right off. Yes this was a sell out show and looking at the set list you can see why.

1.Needles and Pins
2.Dai the Flu
3.Risk
4.Beauty School
5.Knife Prty
6.Digital Bath
7.Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
8.Lotion
9.Hole in the Earth
10.Diamond Eyes
11.Rocket Skates
12.Prince
13.You’ve Seen The Butcher
14.My Own Summer (Shove It)
15.Elite
16.Sextape
17.Lifter
18.Change (In the House of Flies)
19.Bored

Encore:
20.Caress (Drive Like Jehu cover)
21.7 Words

I TOLD YOU. Deftones have a large enough library of awesomeness that they could have played anything I would have been happy. As you can see the set list was super aggressive and they were on stage for quite a bit. The jams were tight and the acoustics were surprisingly crisp. Ventura Majestic Theater is an awesome venue, but it can be tricky on sound but lucky for me and the rest of the sold out crowd that was not an issue.

Chino was having way to much fun, smiling, screaming, running around and talking shit. Smack in the front center they constructed a raised level so Chino can be elevated so everyone could see him as he would rock the fuck out. The lights were pretty cool as well, they had these spot lights that looked all fragmented like in a comic book or something, you had to see it for yourself.

The only thing I didn’t like was the merch dude who wouldn’t sell me a limited edition poster print, he said it was for people that bought VIP tickets, damn that dude for doing his job!!!!!

4 Meaty Meats

Oh this is me talking with Chino outside the show. Funny story I met him at my first radio promotion for 89.5 WSOU Seton Halls Pirate Radio, we were doing the midnight release of White Pony at a Menlo Park Mall and I was lucky enough to me Chino and the rest of the Deftones and they were super nice. Thats what I told Chino outside, and although he doesn’t remember our 30 second encounter 12 years ago he does remember the midnight release and was still super nice. Big ups to Jen and her ninja camera skills for taking this candid shot.

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Right Ear Permanently Damaged – Boris at Casbah in San Diego 7/24/2010

Shogun00 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:53:35 +0000

For reals, my right ear has not been the same since. I should have worn ear plugs to the show, especially because of all the brutality I have but my poor eardrums through this past week, (Rage, Dead Weather and Tool) luckily the ringing has stopped. Oh the show? Out of all the shows I saw this past week this one took the feedback cake.

First off the drive to the venue and back was totally worth it, the Casbah (that is how they spell the name of the club) barely held 250 (rough estimate) plus it was Comic Con so there was a healthy presence of people from all over the world, I met 9 kids from Australia. There was 1 chick wearing a penguin costume, she was sweating and bouncing around like she was on “e” and smelled pretty bad. Oh the show….

HOLY CRAP BORIS IS AWSOME LIVE. 2 years ago I had to fly all the way to Ohio to see these 3 open for Nine Inch Nails in Ohio, and they killed it then, so when I heard about this being their 1st show on their North American tour I had to check it out. I got up right in front, my knees were touching the stage dead center.

As soon as that fist cord got pulled my ears and body got blown the fuck out!!! This show was LOUD, and loud is good in my book. They might have only played 13 songs, but the set actually clocked right around the 1 hour 45 minute mark. The set list was AMAZING, covering most of their recent work and throwing it back. Tracks like 16:47:52 were 8 were really nice low fi breaks where as the rest of the set was just exploding with blaring experimental rock audio. Since I was so close I was able to see their tricks/talents up close and personal. Atsuo is a MAD MAN on drums. He was one of the greatest drummers I have EVER seen, and his rock face was super duper awesome. In fact he was the most animated on stage, he was mic’ed upped for vocals and throughout the show as he was drumming he would belt out some shouts in the middle of songs just cause, AWESOME. Wata was the only one on stage not to break a sweat, she seemed like a statue, almost like a delicate piece of porcelain with that signature Japanese beauty, but then I noticed her fingers, wtf!!! She is an AMAZING guitar player, she was picking, soloing, feedbacking, plucking and just plain killing it, but all with that modest persona that the Japanese are known for. Takeshi played with his double neck the entire time, he was much like Wata on stage, but every once in a while he could not contain himself at times and rocked out. They were joined by a 4^th band mate on stage, I didn’t know who he was, but he loved the feedback and pulled some serious metal solo’s as well. There was no bullshit encore, just one awesome set. During their last song Atsuo jumped on his kit and threw up both his hands up the metal way \m/ \m/ and stood their looking over the crowd for what seemed to be a good 3-5minutes, then walked into the middle of the crowd to retire, there was another 5-10 minutes of just droned out feedback until the rest of the band exited into the middle of the crowd, fuck yeah….Here is the Set List

Set list
1. Farewell
2. Rainbow
3. 8
4. Lungs
5. Floor Shaker
6. Statement
7. A bao a qu
8. 16:47:52
9. Akirame Flower
10. PINK
11. korosu
12. 1970
13. untitled

Like I was stating before, the set was incredible, it was like a hurricane, started subtle then all of a sudden it was chaos, sounds bleeding in and out of your brain, chords clashing with non stop drum progression, then a clam cool slowdown, is it over? Oh no no, your just in the eye of the storm, and then before you know it your in that same world wind ride then spit out the other side, forever changed by this experience known as BORIS.

5 Metal Meats

Also…

The Merch was pretty awesome, no poster prints, but a shit ton of imported vinyl

Also this was the only picture i could take, in fact this was the last picture my Mytouch camera took, the camera no longer works, fucking technology.

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

Shogun00 — 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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Got Hung at Dead Weather at Hollywood Palladium 7/21/10

Shogun00 — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:04:30 +0000

Wednesday night, Hollywood Palladium, sold out show, blue motifs, whiskey smells and a whole lotta cigarettes describe this ultra rock show that Dead Weather put on. Allison came out looking like she was lost in 80′s rocking a Axel Rose hair cut looking super sexy while smoking and flicking madd cigs. Jack White was talking crazy amounts off shit having fun and even handing out some beer to some of the sweat soaked crowd press up in front. Dean was also doing his thing, at some points he was so into his performance he was literally rocking his keyboard back and forth, I thought he was going to toss it into the crowd. I wasn’t on Ben’s side, but he was playing like a mad man.

So yeah I thoroughly enjoyed this particular show. Dead Weather played a solid 2 hour set, all of which was good old fashion American rock n roll. check out the set.

60 Feet Tall
Hang You From The Heavens
You Just Can’t Win
…So Far From Your Weapon
I Cut Like A Buffalo
No Horse
A Child of a Few Hours Is Burning To Death
Die by the Drop
The Difference Between Us
I’m Mad
Hustle and Cuss
New Pony
Will There Be Enough Water?
Blue Blood Blues
Gasoline
I Can’t Hear You
Treat Me Like Your Mother

My rating, come on this was their best performance to date. Plus the poster art was SUPER DOPE

Madd props and and shout outs got to Kelly for taking these awesome pictures.

And this was too good to be true, and i got it on FILM!!!!

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

Shogun00 — 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

Shogun00 — 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- Karen Elson, LCD Soundsystem, Sleigh Bells, Lazerproof

Shogun00 — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:29:54 +0000

New Music Review Bites- Karen Elson, LCD Soundsystem, Sleigh Bells, Lazerproof

Karen Elson- The Ghost Who Walks

There is something to be said with timing. This album came to me when I needed it the most. The Ghost Who Walks expressed what was going on inside myself internally and helped me work out what I needed to, and for the Karen I am indebted to you. With that said, this album is real good. Tracks like, “The Ghost Who Walks”, “Mouths to Feed” and “Lunasa” will tug on your heart. Even though this is new music, there is an old soul that resides in between the groves of this record that you must meet. This is a must have in my book.

***special tid bit, third man did a limited vinyl pressing of this album, not only was it peach colored, it was peach scented! I am part of the vault (Jack White’s record label’s fan club) and tried many many times to get this, but I didn’t. Sad Face.

LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening

Hell yes it is. LCD is back and better than ever. This is Happening is great, I think there is 1 or 2 tracks that are under the 4 minute mark the rest are 8 minutes +. This is Happening is all about fun, never taking itself that seriously but dropping some serious noise. I saw these dudes perform at Coachella this year, and a little band called Them Crooked Vultures performed before they took the stage and they gave LCD a shout out, yeah that happened and you should pick up This is Happening.

Sleigh Bells- Treats

This is one of the first bands that are signed with N.E.E.T., M.I.A.’s label. Mrs Arulpragasam has great taste in Brooklyn based noise acts cause this one is a keeper. Treats is a bunch of fun fill fuzzed up audio and the hardest bass drops this side of the globe. After listening to this band you might be consider a hipster, you will start logging onto pitchfork.com and wearing a whole lot of American Apparel, but this side effect can be counteracted when you look in the mirror and you realize that you are 30 and you hate all that shit, except for the music cause that rules. I am going out on a limb and saying Treats is going to be in my top 10 albums of the year.

Lazerproof- Major Lazer & La Roux Mixtape

There is way to much awesome going on with Miztape. Both artists are stand alone great but when they combine they create the super group “Lazerproof” an over the top mixtape for the masses, and the best part, ITS MOTHERFUCKING FREE!!!!!! Do you see the cover? How cool and illegal is that? Don’t be a lazy internet surfer, download this shit.

All Albums get the 4 Standard Slabs of Excellence.

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New Music Review Bites- Black Keys, The Claps, Ganjasufi, Gospel Gossip

Shogun00 — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:07:48 +0000

The Black Keys- Brothers

There is a reason that this album is called brothers, cause each and every track sounds like a Motown revival mixed with that black keys style. Instead of sounding like recycled soul these dude pulled deep into their own American history and pulled out a phenomenal piece of work. The only thing I don’t like is that I didn’t get this slice of audio greatness on vinyl. Tracks like “Sinister Kid”, She’s Long Gone” and “10 cent Pistol” will make you wonder why this isn’t a double album. If you like that classic American music sound but need some current styles to not throw you way back then this is the album for you.

The Claps – New Science EP

Ok I only got the EP, but what an EP. True I have never heard of these cats, but if their full length is anything like this EP than its gonna be a winner. It was only 3 tracks, with another 3 remixes. So far so good

Ganjasufi

Ganja- slang term for marijuana
Sufi- a Islamic sect that follows the ways of Jesus more so than the Prophet Mohammed. Hafiz was a Sufi Muslim.

Ganjasufi, an explosion of world sound and a conglomerate of genres crunched into an entity of awesomeness. There is a LOT going on, and your ears will pick up something new on each play. I don’t know if I like it because its weird as all fuck or because it assaults my brain much like an epileptic bird that flew into a Daft Punk show. Check with your doctor first, then cop this. Did i mention this album was produced by Flying Lotus Gaslamp killer and Mainframe? Fuck Yeah…

Gospel Gossip- Drift EP

I have a special place in my heart for these guy. They always come with out with subtle difference from their previous works. Unlike other bands they improve and tweak their sound ever so slightly and this new EP reflects that. With that said do I dig it? Of course I do. Is it their best work, eh the jury is still out. But you i love that trash garage rock sound, stupid!

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

Shogun00 — 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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