Revenge of the Quick Ripple Bursts - The Stoned Out Edition: Featuring Monobrow, Snail, and Firelord

Grab your bong, turn on the black light.  Gather the boys.  We got some riffmania for you.

 Monobrow - Bennington Triangle Blues

My bias:  I'm not a real fan of instrumental rock.  I tend to cling to melodies and hooks, and those are usually conveyed in lyrics, not musical passages.  I'm even less a fan of instrumental doom/stoner because the plodding nature of doom riffs gets real repetitive without the singing.  Monobrow are making me re-think that strategy.

Bennington Triangle Blues is the second album from this instrumental stoner/doom three-piece and it is one monolithic achievement of swirling, fuzz-laden heaviosity.  Forget lyrics, these guys mix in enough dynamic time changes, blistering guitar, and chest-crushing riffs to make the album obliterate all my reservations.  Side one alone, through it's three songs "Starship Holodecks & Chicken Soup," "This is Herman Nelson" and Stone High in Transit" create an aural journey of stellar seeking exploration.  Paul Slater may just be stoner rock's first true guitar hero, whipping through riffs and effect laden melodic passages with ease before tearing into some true doomed out shredding.  With any three-piece, especially an instrumental band, the bass and drums have to be amazingly tight to carry the extra weight of awareness, and Brian Ahopelto and Sam Beydoun are as tight and locked in as a sealed rocket door.

A killer album of mood and atmosphere and sonic exploration of acrid haze and distant galaxies.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Snail - Terminus

I dig what Snail are doing.  Take the foundation of stoner groove, but play with it.  Toss in some 80's metal drive, some 90's grunge, some retro-2000 psychedelia, smother the whole concocton with a layer of doom, let ferment, then unleash upon an unsuspecting public.  Nice formula.

Apparently Snail have quite a history that spans back almost 2 decades.  I know not of this, nor their last release, Blood.  All I know is that Terminus is bludgeoning my skull right now, particularly the retro-riffy pure rock of "Galaxy's Lament" with it's staggering riffing and just too-sweet melody.  "Recurision" is an onslaught of post-Ozzy bliss, while songs like "Matchbook" come on heavy and slow as tar before mixing it up (1:36 in) with a perfect breakdown to 6 impeccable piano notes.  "Hippy Crack" tears it up with a grunge ferocity while never losing it's heavy fuzz or groove, while "Burn the Flesh" is a certified, 5 star heavy psych freak out.

A vast multi-textured journey through the stratus of metal from eons past til now.  

Firelord - The Burning E.P.

This isn't a new one, but definitely worth talking about.  Firelord are another power trio, this time hailing from Italy.  And let me tell you the emphasis here is on the word power.  These guys use bulldozers and all sorts of heavy equipment to move earth and mountain under the mass of their riffs.  5 songs here, the last being a slaying cover of Earthride's "Fighting-Devil's Inside You."

Like the best of stoner rock, this one is laced with the PCP of doom bludgeoning, and amped up with the crystal meth of fierce riffing and a heady groove.  Way fuzzed out riffs come from all angles and merge into one TCA haze of burning intensity.

I'd easily put these guys up on the same shelf of the other leaders of stoner riffery from the undergound, like Borracho.  Not as much dynamic shifting as SuperGiant, not nearly as much modern metal influence as Snail, and not not as bluesy as Hong Faux, Firelord like their stoner rock straight up, Sabbath-inspired and growled out with honesty and ferocity.  I could listen to a track like "Riding with the Death" forever.  Definitely check it out.

--Racer

Kat Parsons - Oh! EP

I've slowly grown to be a fan of pop music, especially female singers who eschew electronic excess, pitch correction and the incessant note trill warbling that permeates the voices of female contestants on American Idol.  Give me some nice hummable tunes with a playful female voice and I'm hooked.
Kat Parsons must have been reading my mind when she produced her five track EP Oh!.  She makes female pop a soothing and fun experience.  Kat reminds me of Colbie Caillat and the first song on the EP, "Love Changes Everything", reminds me of Caillat's "One Fine Wire."  It is catchy, witty, pleasant and optimistic.  In other words, a whole lot of fun and, unlike the slew of female pop singers gracing network television, Parsons writes her own material.

Music has permeated Kat's life since the day of her Austrian birth.  Her father was an opera singer with the Vienna State Opera.  Her mother was a professional musician.  Her aunts were involved in folk rock music in the United States and, when Kat was very young, Kat and her family moved to Maryland.  Parsons first debuted as a solo artist in 1999. 

While "Love Changes Everything" is a fun and upbeat pop tune, "Oh" is a pop love ballad. There is circumstantial evidence that it arose from a personal experience as the lyrics start "I took the keys and drove to Harrisburg".  The song displays Parsons' classically trained piano skills, is infused with introspective emotions and is written around the chorus vocal hook -

Oh!, It's so lovely when you smile

I glow, in your presence all the while

Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!

Kat merges genres in "What's Wrong?" to create a reggae pop tune. A heart beat of guitar upstrokes merges with a better vocal range than that of most Rastafarians.  To top it off the chorus is littered with great harmonies.  Parsons melodically asks "What's wrong?", but from what I hear I am ready to respond "nothing, nothing at all."    

"Let's Not Be Scared" is an absolutely theatrical, insipid and syrupy piano love ballad.  If it had been the lead track on the EP I might not have paid heed to the EP at all.  However, upon reflection, Parsons has a degree in theatre from Northwestern University and "Let's Not Be Scared" is the sort of tune you might expect in an Andrew Lloyd Webber production, not on a pop EP.  If Kat chose to include the track on the EP to show her ability to write songs for musical theatre, she has succeeded in displaying that talent.

The final piece is a pop song with a mid-70's vibe - the type of thing you would have heard alongside The Hues Corporation's "Don't Rock The Boat" back in 1974.  The name of the cut is just how the EP left me and, may leave you, "Happy." 

-  Old School

“Love Changes Everything”


“What’s Wrong?”

Killerball - Good Memories, Good Morning

“…In may 2011 Killerball released their debut-EP ”St. Epone” through their own record label. They got good response from Swedish newspapers and blogs and ”St. Epone” subsequently got air time on national radio stations. The band got excited and took off on a 3 week's tour through Europe.  In their stuffed Ford Focus they cruised down the continent playing only acoustic gigs on the streets. They played their way through Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland and literally sold every single copy of the EP.

Instead of ordering a new pressing of ”St. Epone,” Killerball started recording their new material based on the acoustic street setup. In late spring of 2012, Killerball armed themselves with acoustic guitars, vocal harmonies, saws, and some other homemade acoustic instruments. They were about to finish off the new acoustic EP with only one ambition: to make their moms cry.  The EP ”Good Memories, Good Morning” includes five raw acoustic tracks. Three brand new songs and two new versions of their favorite songs ”Force Fed” and ”I Can’t Find It” from their previous EP St. Epone.

 Their mothers did cry tears of joy, and BOOM - Killerball decided to release the EP Good Memories, Good Morning.”

…normally I don’t start off my review of a band by including parts of their bio, but this band has such a sweet endearing story, it had to be included.  Altruism at its best, these buskers set out only to bring tears for joy to their mother’s eyes.  The single “I can’t find it” is a fun song that will no doubt find its way to your mp3 player or vinyl-spinning turn table over and over again.  The single was recorded live…MTV Un-plugged style.  With characteristics of Jack White (ala’ White Stripes & Raconteurs) and Train, their sound is relevant and makes the case for the fact that you don’t have to be electrified…wired in, if you will, to rock!   These guys understand dynamics and good songwriting.  With every wang-chung of the acoustic guitars and the way in which the bass and drums seem to drone behind the beat…you feel as if you are dancing on a dream...the vocals swell during the choruses, you find yourself bopping your head and singing along…”I can’t find it,” but you can…you can find it…the mesmerizing melody swirling around your head like the dancing smoke of an enchanted cigar as you exhale a breath of tobacco sweetened satisfaction…

--The Fish

REVIEW     I give them 4 out of 5 Fish!