Old School Summer Albums

So I just recently lost my iPod (this is the fourth one I have gone through, this latest lose didn't even take me a year... sucks) and I have been somewhat forced to start revisiting all of my CD's and with summer time in the air I was drawn to all the old albums I used to listen to back in the day during this time of season.

Right now there are three albums that I'm obsessed with that kind of can be lumped into a Texas 90's country twinged grunge rock sub genre. I'm sure everybody is well aware of these albums and if your not then you need to hop on the train and get down with these tunes, cause each album is awesome from start to finish and in my opinion the best from each band. All three are definitely on my classics list. So here they are...

Butthole Surfers
Independent Worm Saloon



This album would be my soundtrack if the world was at an end and the only way to survive was too turn into a punk grow a Mohawk and surf all day long with a grenade launcher while high on LSD. Absolutely love this album. It's probably the grooviest and fastest album from BS and their first for a major label. Also it was produced by John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin so that right there makes it bad ass all by itself. Is it the best country grunge surf album of all time??...  For Sure!!

Tripping Daisy

I Am an Elastic Firecracker

This was totally my soundtrack back in 1995. I conned my parents into buying this album  for me that summer and I remember putting this on while trying to feebly kick around a sipa (Poser). Haha. I love the way Tim DeLaughter's voice sounds. He has this high pitched kinda twang going on. Easily one of the most recognizable voices out there and I feel like his singing style gets copied a lot with minimal credit back. This is the only album recorded with drummer Bryan Wakeland which is a shame cause the rhythm section is amazing and the beats / solidity on future Tripping Daisy albums could never quite compete with this.

Toadies

Rubberneck



If you don't love this album or you haven't heard it yet you obviously have some sort of mental issue that should be dealt with immediately before you cause harm to yourself or others. A classic 90's album and it just simply rocks the casbah the whole time it is on. I think I probably listened to Rubberneck  everyday straight for close to a 120 days. That has to be some sort of record and I wish I had proof of this so I could call The Guinness Book and get put in there for the most weirdo obsessed Junior High aged Toadies fan ever. This is the only album with guitarist Darrel Herbert (I think there is a trend forming with these one time pairings). I remember as Junior High ended and High School dragged on waiting patiently for the new Toadies album to come and it never did then finally in 2001 the follow up was released and it was a sore sore disappointment. Track 8 "Tyler" should be on the list of greatest songs of all time (probably at #8).





There ya have it. Seriously do yourselves a favor and check these albums out or do some revisiting, you won't regret it. Maybe if you listen to them enough you'll want to move down to Texas and buy a flannel shirt, I know its definitely one of my goals. 

Mastodon

The new video for "Deathbound" is so amazingly hilarious!!

Props to Adult Swim for their free singles thang and mad crazy props to Authority Films for making this... When the little construction worker gets flipped by the shovel loader... Classic!!

Rob Zombie... Woolite?!

I guess Rob Zombie directed a commercial for Woolite. Strange pairing.

I'm not sure if this is him selling out or just something random. Either way I'm sure it paid well.

Check it.

P.S. I'm insanely stoked for Lords of Salem to come out.

Cave In

White Silence



So I promised a review of the new Cave In album... not that anyone really gives a shit. But I figure since I promised I should write one.

Okay so I'm just gonna throw it out there. I think that Cave In gets a lot more props and respect then most bands because of where they came from and what they have been through. Which they should, I admire the band for being able to transition genres in the beginning from some serious and influential hardcore on Until Your Heart Stops to experimental space rock on Jupiter and the major label adventure Antenna, which kinda screwed them because when they turned in a heavier follow up to RCA they were dropped. But that is the reason that I respect them the most, they continue to write the music they want regardless of what everyone expects from them. Check the wiki for more of detailed history.

So all that being considered I really like the musical path the band has taken since leaving the majors and going back to Hydrahead. White Silence is a continuance of that path, the song structures are original and interesting and the vibe of the album does this kind of cool progression from being super heavy and screamed out to a more proged out psychedelic atmosphere towards the end (its like a hardcore version of Pink Floyd). The biggest indicator of the progression is the vocals which are all screams for the first two songs and slowly those screams morph into clean vocals until towards the end of the album the yelps hardly show up at all. It makes me wonder if the band was genius enough to have planned this or if it just happened by coincidence when they ordered the tracks... the world may never now.

But, the album is not as perfect and glorious as many a reviewer on the Internet is saying. I feel like listening through the album there are times when it is missing it's intensity and emotion. I was hoping for more shnazzier rhythms and a lot more bounce. So all that considered while the album doesn't tear my pants off and throw me in the sack it's still good enough to talk me into coming in for a night cap. It's definitely worth your ears and so far is the only heavy release besides Glassjaw's   Coloring Book worth listening to in 2011. The state of heavy music sucks this year... Lame

U2 - Live

Rice Eccles Stadium - Salt Lake City, UT 05/24/11

Finally Bono, The Edge and two dudes that look like my drunk uncles came back to Utah after a delay caused by Jesus himself... oh wait... Bono throwing his back out after fondling some taters while originally rehearsing for the U2360° tour in Salt Lake 18 months ago.

Tuesday morning I was so excited to drive up to Rice Eccles stadium, spend an hour trying to park, watch Mormons make out and listen to Bono talk about himself that I could hardly stand it. The night unfolded exactly how I expected.

It is insane to me that people go this ape shit over U2. While the stage set up known as "The Claw" was really cool looking and the 360° video board made the show visible from every spot in the stadium, it was not enough to make up for the contrived self righteousness that U2 has become. Bono at one point literally spent five minutes of the show talking about himself and the band. But the clincher for me was when he pulled three women on stage and read some ridiculous poem about how Utah was so great. That's all I could handle and even though I got into the show for free I had to leave.

Now, the day after the show there are several reviews confessing their undying love for the band, preaching about how amazing the show was last night and how it was such a religious experience. Are you kidding me?! If your idea of a religious experience is watching a pre-rehearsed calculated narcissistic commercial you are clearly a brain washed sheep. Strong work Salt Lake Tribune and David Burger. You Dildos.

Here's some crappy pictures and a video:

Isis - R.I.P.

A must read retrospective from the band published by Decibel. I miss the band greatly. I always made it a point to shake their hands after their show and they were always extremely nice about it. I gave them my bands CD a couple of times to listen to. Never heard from them. Guess they didn't like it. Hahaha

Click the pics for parts 1 & 2





(Photos by Mark Dawursk)

Review of the new Cave In album coming soon...

Face To Face

I'm not a huge Face to Face fan. But just saw this video for their new jam "It's Not All About You". Click the pic for the link yo!!