Attack of the Ripple Bursts - Featuring The Cold Beat, Cancer Killing Gemini, Daniel G. Harmann & The Trouble Starts, Shades of Rhythm, Dragontears, and Shuteye Unison

So much music to catch up with:

Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s spinning in the Ripple CD player.

The Cold Beat  - Get Safe

Hailing from Allston, MA, The Cold Beat could be defined as a sleeves-rolled up, working class, roots-level indy rock band with an arm full of punk tattoos.  Having delved deeply into their recently released split 7”, I eagerly anticipated Get Safe, the trio’s first long player, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Think of the Replacements as your starting point, throw them into a beat up 1957 Mercury driving through the heartland of the USA, toss in some punk spittle and snot and a touch of emo energy and what arrives at its destination is a rousing album full of urgent modern anthems.   Melodies are never overlooked amongst the clashing guitars and wild-eyed bass and drums.  Never is this more clear than on the album stunner, “Copper Green,” with it’s clear Replacements-spawned verses and sing-along chorus.  There’s even a chunk of the Gin Blossoms here, if they’d grown up with a love of punk.   Nothing safe here, just good rock and roll.


Buy here mp3: Get Safe

Cancer Killing Gemini – It Only Hurts When We Breathe

In this post-Nine Inch Nails world, it’s hard to be an industrial band without falling upon the common comparisons.  Trent Reznor cast such a long shadow.  But Cancer Killing Gemini are just the band to crawl out from underneath that shadow, forge ahead, and create shadows all their own.  Sure we got the requisite percolating synths, the synthetic throbbing bass, and walls-upon-walls of distorted guitars.  But CKG don’t stop there.  Mix in some truly captivating melodies, a sense of drama and cinematic scope, a willingness to experiment with tempo, and a dirty grunge edge, and you’ll get a feeling for It Only Hurts When We Breathe.  I can think of no logical reason that lead track “Christcontrol,” shouldn’t lead-off every Industrial compilation or radio station for years to come.  The song is absolutely addictive.    The rest of the album follows suit, with gems like “Prescription Drugs.”  Industrial fans, check it.

Buy here mp3: It only hurts when we breathe
Buy here: It only hurts when we breathe

Daniel G. Harmann & The Trouble Starts – Risk

Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Japan, particularly their later period stuff, which coincidentally put me into a perfect frame of mind to enjoy Risk.  Daniel G. Harmann & The Trouble Starts delve into moody, lush, atmospheric pop with the same aplomb as Japan or Blue Nile, never sacrificing listenability or becoming too full of themselves.  This is serious music, not because it dwells in its own self-importance but serious in the intent, the rigor and the craftsmanship.  Ambient passages collide with noisepop, breathy vocals bleed into delicate piano chords.  Crashing guitars explode and disappear at a moments notice.  Moody, atmospheric drone,art pop at it’s finest.  Japan’s been gone for far too long now.  Nice to have Daniel Harmann & the Trouble Starts here to fill the void.

Buy here: Risk
Buy here mp3: Risk

Shades of Rhythm – Shades of Rhythm (Extacy Edition)

Another killer reissue from the vaults of ZTT, sure to please even the most hardened dance/club fan.  Right around the late 80’s and early ‘90’s, the dance, club, warehouse rave scene exploded in London.  I was there, living near King’s Cross for a spell in 1989, and it was impossible not to get caught up in the frenzy created by some of these dynamite dance-music collectives like Soul II Soul.  Shades of Rhythm jumped into that fray releasing platter after platter of rave-inducing, dancefloor madness.  Hyperkinetic rhythms, inspired piano, and a generous helping of joy fueled Shades’ rise up the charts.  Here, you’ll relive those heady days when a happy face, a thumping bass really were the sign of a loving race.  “Sweet Sensation is here as are some true dance, proto-lounge masterpieces like “Shakers,” and “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights.”  If you’re a dance fan, this two-disc deluxe edition is sure to put a smile on your face.

Buy here: Shades of Rhythm (Extacy Edition)



Dragontears – Turn On, Tune In, Fuck Off!!

Another demented masterpiece from the heavily fuzzed mind of Lorenzo Woodrose, mastermind behind Baby Woodrose.  Here, the THC’d-one cranks the fuzz quotient up to ‘11’ and unleashes 6 masterful garage-psych fuzz sunbursts.  Both hands dip deep into the candybowl of multi-colored pills as Dragontears unleash this 40-minute headtrip, the band’s farewell statement.  If you find that guitars simply can not swirl enough to satisfy your tastes, if garage rock can’t crunch enough to fill your belly, have we got a treat for you.  Huge looping bass runs, crunchy guitars, crackling percussion and enough left over, second hand smoke to light up the nation.  Turn on, tune in, fuck off!!

Buy here mp3: Turn On Tune In Fuck Off [Explicit]



Shuteye Unison – Our Future Selves


It’s fitting that Shuteye Unison’s killer new disc arrived on my desk as the autumn rains began their torrential attack.  Two years ago, I included Shuteye’s amazing self-titled debut in my Autumn Listening Guide.  Then, the delicate, dreamy, indy pop reminded me of a pensive walking through a changing colorful landscape.  But this autumn is different.  Winds are blowing, rain is pounding.  And seeming to match that, Our Future Selves finds Shuteye Unison taking a far more aggressive stance.  Crunchy guitars kick off  “Be Kimball,” with a violent sense of foreboding, bringing in a charging post-punk, post-Fugazi groove far and away from the introspective self-titled debut.  But rest assured, Shuteye Unison aren't content to leave it there.  Our Future Selves acts like a reconnaissance mission though the badlands of indy pop.  At times lush and atmospheric, at times dense and mean, and at times sprawling and droning, Our Future Selves is and album for listening.  Don’t think about putting this one on by the fire and ignoring it while you play monopoly.  Our Future Selves demands your attention.  It grabs your inner ear, your brain, and your imagination and insists you go on the journey with them.  What waits around the next corner is a mystery until you actually approach it, and still, it seems to change with each listen.  A remarkable album.

Buy here mp3: Our Future Selves

The Single Life - 7" of Fun - Featuring The Vinyl Stitches, Chrome Spiders, The Cold Beat, and Movers & Shakers

The Vinyl Stitches - Beautiful Mistake, Panther Sex b/w I Said Alright, Runaway Baby

Coming from Death Pop Records, those fine purveyors of maximally fuzzed out garage trash, comes this absolute gem of a 4-song 7".  And without a doubt, this is the finest piece of underground garage fuzz that I've ever heard coming from the Deathpopsters.  Absolutely soaked in the oil-stained concrete garage floors of the Stooges, 13th Floor Elevators, The Velvet Underground and any one else you want to throw into the mix, this is an absolute bliss of primitive surf nirvana.  These songs don't just rock, they positively percolate, rummaging across a thunderously heavy bottom end layered with a heady dose of screaming fuzz psychedelia.  Fun, fun, fun.  I defy anybody who claims to be a fan of garage rock to not get their groove on to any one of these cuts.  Rightfully, the Stitches declared the 7" to be an A side and a double A side, cause their ain't no B cut songs on this baby.

Take every garage band you've ever loved, throw in a dozen lava lamps, some mod haircuts, and a wall of sliced-to-stitches amps, toss it all into a blender, put it on puree, and the sound that comes out is The Vinyl Stitches.  And the sound is good.  Oh, so good.

http://www.myspace.com/thevinylstitches




Chrome Spiders - Black Butterfly b/w TheWhip Hand

While we're on the topic of garage trash . . . let's take that theme and weld to it some truly classic rock riffmeistering, and a nasty bit of psychosis and what you get is the Chrome Spiders. Calling their sound Primal Sophistication, the Chrome Spiders were formed when Detroit ex-pat Thomas Jackson Potter (Bantam Rooster, Dirtbombs, Detroit City Council, Seger Liberation Army) moved to the lovely lakeside resort of Muskegon, MI. Unable to stand musical retirement for long, he hooked up with Kalamazoo native Sean Barney (Menthols, The Breaks, Deconstruction) Marc Savage (The Bitters) and Michael Sheneman (The Bitters) and launched themselves down the road to almost certain destruction.  With the band raging with a mania that verges on psychosis, Chrome Spiders are more addictive than a mainline of narcs right in the brain.  I haven't been this caught up in a raunchy, scratchy groove since the first time I heard the Angels.  And that's what "Black Butterfly" sounds like, Doc Neeson and his band of cretins, dirtied up, roughed up and raging on after an all nighter.  Huge riffs, manic vocals, undying beat.  Great stuff.  "The Whip Hand" dirties up the garage with a face wash of The Cramps eerie intensity.  Perfectly done.  Don't miss it.


http://www.myspace.com/chromespiders

The Cold Beat/Movers & Shakers - split 7"

Keeping the garage rock intensity but adding in their own touches, flips, and twists, we got us a tasty split 7" featuring two Boston bands definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Starting off on the Cold Beat side, we get the passion of garage indy rock married to the darker textures of post-punk bands that followed in the old Echo and Joy Division vibe.  Not that these cats sound like that, but they do favor the same huge, looping bass and angular guitar runs, fusing that darkness to a roughened post-Replacements ragged glory of mid-America indie rock.  And let me tell you, this is my kinda gig, and I knew that right off the bat.  Give me some vocals that bleed with intensity, while that massive bass rocks my ass in the background.  Add in some Andy Gil-esque guitar flares with touches of a hefty crunch, and put that package together with some serious songwriting chops and I'm hooked.  


Movers & Shakers comes next adding a touch of Elvis Costello to their Paul Westerberg-inspired roots garage.  Featuring some dynamite finger picking guitar and some nicely weathered vocals, Movers & Shakers cut a wide swath through the homespun, rustic world of indy americana.   Still raw enough to encompass that gritty garage vibe, there's some serious songcraft going on here, from the more complex song structures to the drill-it-into-my-head infectious choruses.  This is kinda what we all wanted The Gin Blossoms to sound like, once upon a time.  Thank God, it's here at last.

Toss in the fact that this split 7" comes on a gorgeous platter of light blue marbled vinyl and it's a treasure find for any serious indy rock fan.  Gobble this one up.  They only printed 500, I really don't expect it to last for long.

www.myspace.com/thecoldbeat
www.myspace.com/moversandshakers