Danielage: Volume I [7/6/09-7/12/09]

Hey!

So it's been 6 months and I haven't updated this WHATSOEVER. As of late I've been inspired to keep in practice when it comes to writing, thanks in part to getting an opportunity to write for SFU's paper "The Peak" which starts this week in fact. So the goal is to update this thing on a weekly basis and to *NOT* write 10,000 words each time which of course is something I've been guilty of in the past which has led to me being somewhat discourage to blog on a regular basis (because writing 10,000 words on a regular basis is somewhat daunting).

The format from this point on is as follows: Danielage, my recallings of music-related things i've experienced in the past week. It could be a new record I purchased, a music video I watched, a song that I heard online, a concert I attended... whatever I feel like really. I'll try to keep it to right around 5 items a week with a paragraph or so on each *PLUS* a link to the thing in question (be it an mp3, website, youtube video, pictures from a show) so you, the viewer, can get a taste of what I'm talking about and hopefully get something out of reading this blog. Whether it's you being turned onto a band you've never heard of before and has the potential to change your life (that'd be a best case scenario) or 2 minutes of entertainment from a youtube video... either/or works for me. So let's kick things off...

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-"I Do Not Hook Up" by The Gaslight Anthem-

For those not familiar with The Gaslight Anthem, they're an amazing punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey who play heart on your sleeve anthems and stompers that are VERY inspired by the perhaps New Jersey's favourite son, The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. They released an amazing album last year, "The '59 Sound", which I'd recommend everyone gives a listen because it's really a collection of great songs that are incredibly catchy. With all that said, I'll have to admit I was more than a tad surprised when earlier this week I came across a video on youtube of Brian Fallon, lead singer/guitar player of the group, playing an acoustic cover of Kelly Clarkson's latest single "I Do Not Hookup" on a British radio station. Intrigued, I gave it a listen and have not been able to stop listening for the better part of the week. It's not for everyone (my girlfriend hates it) but it's definitely worth checking out.

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-Narrows - "New Distances"-

Last year, a hardcore super group by the name of Narrows, featuring members scattered all over the world and having served time in such amazing and diverse bands as Botch, Unbroken and These Arms are Snakes put out a 7" that turned out to be one of my favourite released of the entire year. Fast forward to 9 months later, one west coast tour (which I attended 2 dates of) and Narrows are back with their debut full length, "New Distances", produced by Ben Verellen (Harkonen, Helms Alee). The album itself isn't news to me, it was released on CD in the spring and I downloaded the mp3s of the album when I pre-ordered by copies of the vinyl release. What is new to me this week is the actual packaging, having received 'said' pre-orders in the mail earlier this week. What was contained inside was a beautiful layout by guitarist, Ryan Frederiksen. Already one of my favourite records of the year and great artwork to go along with it, colour me stoked.

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-The Almighty Defenders-

For those who don't scan various music site/blogs, let me be the first to introduce you to another supergroup of sorts who if this tidbit of tuneage is any indication, will be the group behind one of the best debuts of 2009, The Almighty Defenders. Featuring the Black Lips, King Khan & BBQ, the group already has some serious garage rock cred, so why am I not surprised that the first song to be released online, "Bow Down and Die", is a piece of garage rock mastery. Sure it's repetitive, but I assure you that you'll have trouble getting the hook out of your head once you give this one a few spins... can't wait for this album to drop (and hopefully a subsequent tour).

The Almighty Defenders - "Bow Down and Die" (Credit: Vice Records, 2009)

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-Greymachine-

What do you get when you take Justin Broadrick, creator of some of the greatest obscure metal in history (Napalm Death, Godflesh, Jesu, about a million other side projects) and pair him with Aaron Turner, founder of self-proclaimed "thinking man's metal" record label, Hydrahead Records and lead singer/guitar player for the most predominent post-metal band of the past decade, Isis, amongst others? One of the heaviest, creepiest, extreme 10 minutes of head shattering noise or in a word... Greymachine. With a debut album due out August 4th on the previously mentioned Hydrahead, a track off that album titled "Vultures Descend" was made available online this past week and although it's going to be the type of music that'll alienate a certain (large) amount of people, it's a sign of what's to come and I for one, am excited. Check it out for yourself.

Greymachine - "Vultures Descend" (Credit: Hydrahead, 2009)

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-Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - "Hold Tight"

For those of you who have seen the film "Death Proof", you should be familiar with this song. It's used in the car crash scene and it was that scene that turned me onto this amazing, underappreciated, overlooked English group from the 60s. They came up again recently when I was preparing for a trip to England that I'm embarking on in 3 weeks time and I mentioned to a friend of mine from the Manchester area that I was going to be looking into finding some work of theirs while over there (as I imagine it'd be more prevalent in England). He said he wasn't familiar with them so I told him to google this song. What he sent me was a link on youtube to a video of the group playing the song live on "Top of the Pops" in 1965, complete with an over the top carnival set. It's a great song that people who aren't familiar with should check out and on top of that, the video is just a lot of fun and recalls a time in music that seems oh so gone and forgotten nowadays.