Lapse/Eddie Brock - Split 7”

I got my hands on this split just a few days ago. I am glad I did. Both of these bands come from the Baltimore area and place wickedly fast hardcore. Both of these bands are killer. Killer riffs, the vocals kill and killer fast beats make this under eight minute split awesome….err killer!!

The first half of this slit belongs to the boys in Lapse. They start things off with the track, “Bonehead”. About a minute long, this songs starts off with an intro about aliens and then immediately kicks you in the balls…or lady parts, with such ferocity it feels like they are in your chest. This is one intense minute.

“Fall asleep. Sink subside.
So much to do, such little time.
Work is shit. Still I grind
Fall apart - overtime.”

Flip that son bitch around and it’s Eddie Brock’s time to shine. First of all, let me just say I love Spider-Man and fucking Venom is my favorite character in the series. I love when bands have awesome names.  Anyway the music, it’s as  fucking as awesome as the name. “Pointer Thumb Pinky” starts off their side but I really think the song “Absol” is the song that shines. Brutal, fast and angry. I’m in love.

“Why am I still here because I fear nothing
Negative thoughts plague my mind born
Fucked up life is dry so tell me what your
Life is like when the wall around you burn
And everything you had mixes with the dirt
I do not know what to feel no I do not know
What to say I have never held to faith when
My life is in disarray I know pain I die I’ve
Danced with the devil bit I’ve never seen God
It makes it hard to believe when negativity
Is all you got”

Get on the internet…well stay on the internet and point your mouse to the link below and get this split. Support independent and DIY bands. It’s $4, no excuses!!!

Lapse and Eddie Brock go good with: Infest, ACxDC, Crossed Out, Torn Off, Weekend Nachos, Wicans, Retox, Full Of Hell, Mind Eraser

-Cicatriz

Buy this Split here:  http://lapsenoise.bigcartel.com/product/lapse-eddie-brock-split-7

An Electrying Edifice of Ebullient EP's - Featuring Frost Hammer, Aaron Zimmer, Prevenge/Dig It Up, and Bacchus Baracus

Frost Hammer - Live at Reeds

Sometimes you just get lucky.  There I was, minding my own business, sharing a club sandwich with my father-in-law, when an email pops across my iPhone.  Nothing too unusual.  At the Ripple we get over 400 band submissions a month.  But something about this email caught my eye.  First, they were local boys, coming from San Jose, and I always want to support local music.  Second, this wasn't a demo or a first ep, or some fine studio recording.  What came across were 3 tracks, all recorded live at Reeds Studios, the first of many to come from these guys.  Now, that takes balls. To introduce yourself to the world through three songs cut live.  No overdubs.  No glossy production.  Just guitars, bass, drum, and occasional vocal.  Yes, we have balls.  Welcome to our world.  We are Frost Hammer.

And fuck if they aren't!  Forget the overdubs.  What we got here are three searing tracks of guitar fury, detuned and bottom end heavy.  We're mixing the root of Sabbath with some retro-70's Nugent guitar histrionics and groove and tossing in a hint of NWOBHM riffing.  "Master of Weapon" is my off the cuff favorite.  But that's not to say the others aren't killer.  "Void" and "Wizard Tooth" both decimate with earthquake inducing doom riffing and guitar work that comes across like a cross between Iommi and Satriani.  In other words, the cat can shread when he wants to but knows the value of keeping it simple and clean.  "Wizard Tooth," is just a monster of post-Sabbath riffery that tosses in some furious NWOBHM finese, and stop-start time changes.  "Void" is an instrumental that never loses focus and simply terrorizes.

This isn't really an EP. More songs from these sessions are coming and a full length is due soon.  So keep your eyes open.  But I just couldn't wait til then to give these guys some press.  Retro-riff rockers, seek them out!

Hear them at the Frost Hammer Band Page.

Aaron Zimmer - This Time Next Year

It was last year sometime that we at the Ripple fell under the spell of earnest singer/songwriter Aaron Zimmer, and his full throttle pop.  Now after spending a year playing in the NY area, Aaron comes back with his first new EP, This Time Next Year, and the maturation in song-writing is like a new day dawning.  Playing it a bit looser and rootsier than most of the debut album, This Time Next Year is a knock out of a follow up.  Aaron seems to be a bit more relaxed, some loose strumming of his acoustic guiding most songs like the erstwhile "Broken Records."  The single "Honey, Give Me a Hand," we'd already reviewed in these pages after we got wrapped up in its giddy with spontaneity, and it's still my favorite song here.  "Cab Fare," a languid ballad, brings out some of Aaron's more country roots while "Conspiracy Theorist" surprises with its horn-section accompaniment. 

Just as he did with Live Wires, Aaron has crafted an EP of indy rock perfection.  As with all Aaron’s songs, the melody is right in the forefront, bringing me in, letting me know I’m in good hands.  The casual rush of the song sweeps over me in a moment of shear pop delight.

Aaron Zimmer band page

Prevenge/Dig It Up - Split

Hyper-adrenalinized punk from Montreal.  We got us two bands fresh from the recording studio after pounding six cases of Red Bull and tossing in a Rockstar chaser.  Jittery hands and flailing hearts avoid the Emergency Room by burning off that chemical concoction pounding away on buzzsaw guitars and pulverized drum skins.

It just doesn't get much better than this.  Prevenge's two tracks, "Berry'd Alive" and " Wicked Mess," combine old-school punk chops with modern pop-punk melodic chops and enough blister-riddled fingers and knuckles to make it all work.  Guitars chug and spit and slobber and it's all f'ing perfect.  Vocals that dig into the punk larynx without ever becoming annoying or whiny are a major plus.  I just may have found my new favorite true punk band. 

Then comes Dig It Up, spitting and shouting, generally causing a ruckus and setting a bad example for youth everywhere.  Slightly choppier, definitely dirtier.  Dropping the melody for an extra dose of spleen venting, Dig It Up are the perfect foil for the slightly more polished Prevenge.  "Move My Way," is a chaotic blast of poor impulse control in all the best ways.  Drums are attacked with no signs of mercy.  Guitars leap and jump seemingly at random but altogether forming a cohesive whole.  Less pop.  More punk.  Bring on that big bass line 3/4 in and I'm in heaven.  "Cops on Horses," adds even more hardcore intensity with some seriously surprising musical chops.  What the hell are they doing when the crunching chords drop out?    Punk with a touch of crust?  Don't know what to call it.   I just want to hear it.  Again and again.

Punk rockers look out.  This split is for real.

Get it here for free (but please donate)  Juicebox Recording Co.

Bacchus Baracus - Growler

Another find from the brilliant musical minds of the Soda Shop.  Here comes a four-song, double whiskey shot of blurred, alcohol dazed retro-stoner power.  Massively heavy.  Detuned to the point of rattling spleens out of their audience's bodies.  Bacchus Baracus bring a lacerated larynx to the tobacco and weed stained proceedings.  Going way beyond any Sabbath influence, these cats jump deep into the puddle of Nazareth, spit out the fluid of a sweaty Nugent, and ride the riff waves of Mountain.  Thick, ropy chords propel this smoke-fest ever onward through the fuzzy haze.  Named after the God of wine, Bacchus and whatever the hell Baracus means, these cats are not content to wallow in the doom misery of much fuzzed-riff rock. They want a party and damn it, if there ain't one, they're gonna get it started.

"The Longest Day," simply terrorizes, ripping through it's riffs with an orgy-feeding frenzy.   "Dr Chu" marries a post-Fu Manchu fuzzmania to a serious beat.  Damn, this song cooks.  The pummeling, dirty, and bottom-heavy blues riffs of "Rock and Roll Man," probably serves as the band's morning mantra.  And by morning, of course I mean three in the afternoon when they finally get their asses out of bed to deal with the hangover from the night before.  This song even sounds like a Roman chant to me, getting the testosterone burning as the gladiators are paraded out for a night of pagan delights with the wives of all the old and frigid senators. 

Seriously cool stuff.

Listen and get it here:  Bacchus Baracus

Hot on the Heels of Their Critically-praised Ripple Music Debut, Grand Atlantic Light Up the Soundtrack of Gossip Girl

Following hot on the heels of the success of their Ripple Music debut split 7" single, Grand Atlantic keep the pedal to the metal, building momentum and converting the uninitiated to the Grand Atlantic ranks.

Taken from Grand Atlantic's massively praised second album "How We Survive," the hot single "Used to Be the Sensitive Type" was remixed and remastered for inclusion on the Ripple Music split single which also featured the KEXP Top 20 hit by Sky Parade, "I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down."  Since then, things have only gotten busier for the Australian band.

Locked in the studio working on songs for their 2011 third album hasn't kept Grand Atlantic from touring Japan and readying another US tour in 2011.  With dates already set from coast to coast, including a four-day stay at SXSW, fans will have plenty of opportunity to catch Grand Atlantic's heady, trance-inducing psychedelic pop single.  And the US audience is definitely catching the Grand Atlantic wave. The first episode of season 4 of the hit TV show, Gossip Girl featured Grand Atlantic's Until it's Gone," bringing in tons of new fans.  The video for "Until It's Gone," featuring footage from the recent Japanese Tour garnered thousands of hits after the band's Gossip Girl debut.


Check out the video and hear the song that captured the hearts of Gossip Girl fans everywhere.





Pressed in extremely limited quanties, the Ripple Music s 7" split single (pressed on glowing orange vinyl) is still available through www.ripple-music.com and can be found everywhere on Grand Atlantic's tour. 

For Fans of: Oasis, Dolly Rocker Movement, Stone Roses, Big Star, Baby Woodrose, Dandy Warhols

“Gives Oasis a run for their money.” (Courier Mail, AUS)

"Grand Atlantic molds the psychedelic post-punk ethereal moods of their countrymen, The Church, with the shoegazing swirling madbeat of The Stone Roses, and toss in a touch of garage crunch a la Ripple favorites The Thieves just for kicks. The results of this combination of psychedelic distillery are intoxicating…”(The Ripple Effect, USA)

“…This is the excellent album Oasis should have done after What’s the Story Morning Glory but didn’t…”(Lucid Culture, USA)

“Grand Atlantic sure know how to write songs choc full of guitar driven rock/pop dynamics…” (thedwarf.com.au. AUS)

"Grand Atlantic has a sound masterfully blending driving modern rock riffs with smart pop hooks and spot on harmonies…”(Bill’s Music Forum, USA)

“Grand Atlantic’s second full-length album is chock-full of pop rock, with big sounds, singalong hooks and catchy melodies… How We Survive is a masterfully crafted record.” (Time Off Magazine, AUS)


www.ripple-music.com

Ripple News - Ex-Brian Jonetown Massacre's new band, Sky Parade, Soars Up the KEXP Charts

KEXP Top 20 song, “I Should be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down) by Sky Parade featured with Grand Atlantic on this split 7” of psychedelic pop perfection.
                                      
Just in time for their World tour in support of their Top 20 KEXP song, the heady, trance-inducing psychedelic pop of Sky Parade is on full display with their highly infectious tune, “I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down)”.  Produced by the Dandy Warhol’s Courtney Taylor and released in hot anticipation of their upcoming World Tour, "I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down)" has been lighting up the switchboard where the single has already climbed to number 20 on the KEXP Radio Chart and the Top 10 on KKBB.  

Check out the video and hear the song that’s tearing up the LA clubs right now.




The split single will be available world-wide from the bands on tour and through www.ripple-music.com



"A joyride of dense, churning guitars that sounds like Primal Scream getting Spiritualized!" – L.A. Times

"Sky Parade have found Psych-rock's sweet spot" -- Buzz Bands LA

"Hook-laden genius" -- 90.3 FM

"KKBB Top 10 single!" -- KKBB

"Quite simply, this is a prime slice of psychedelic pop that you can dance to." Terrascope UK

Praise Pours in for the Stone Axe/Mighty High split 7" Single

Ok, here's the conundrum.

We got on our hands one of the coolest pieces of split vinyl to come around in ages.  But we're much too shy to write about it ourselves, and we wouldn't want anyone to think we were illegally tooting our own horns on this release.  But we wanna spread the word.

So what we decided to do, was let others tell the story of how killer this split is.  So let's go--

Stone Axe/Mighty High Split 7"

"Impossible not to crack an illegal smile when you hear this.  Stone Axe are one of the best retro-metal acts around.  Kiss might've sounded this good if they'd learned to play their instruments.  There's no one better than Mighty High at making fun of wretched metal excess.  It's priceless."  -- Lucid Culture

"Stone Axe is pure old-school metal played with a power that is sadly rare these days.  Will leave you lusting for more if an ounce of rock and roll spirit throbs in your veins. Mighty High kick off a stoned punk squall that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age playing Rancid Covers.  Both tracks are well worth your time and money and it’s hard to imagine rock fans not wanting to track down at least one of the albums by these fantastic bands. Either way, with two bands of this quality on one release this is something of a must-have."-- Sonic Abuse

"Newcomers Ripple Music managed to get two highly explosive bands onto a 7".   Stone Axe's "Metal Damage" has me thinking of pre-Stained class Judas Priest, the kind of mid-1970's metal where band's took their time and built up the sound with a steady boil of activity. Mighty High's "Don't panic, It's Organic" is even better. The main riff is huge and dripping with 1970's fuzzed out goodness. This is the perfect tune for playing about two minutes after 5:00 on a Friday. Both bands deliver the goods on this album." -- Metal Mark, Heavy Metal Time Machine

"Ripple Music have a gem on their hands. An awesome set of tunes. Stone Axe delivers the goods once again.“Metal Damage” is a throw back to classic Judas Priest from the later 70′s to early 80′s. The best duo around to preserving music from the 70′s. Mighty High really rock with their contribution “Don’t Panic, It’s Organic,”a fast paced, almost punk-like rock song. Get yours today." -- The Soda Shop


Produced in amazingly limited supplies.  The only way to get this is to catch Stone Axe or Mighy High on tour, or get your copy at www.ripple-music.com

The Single Life - 7 Inches of Fun - featuring Fuck Knights/G-Biz, Cheap Freaks, Mojomatics, Empire! Empire!/Football, etc.

Fuck Knights/G-Biz – Split! 12” EP

Kinda cheating here adding this one to the Single Life column, but go with me.  It works well here.  First up is the Fuck Knights, about as idiotic and amateurish a band name as you’re ever gonna find.  And no surprise, the Fuck Knights play an intensely sloppy, lo-fi, fuzzed out splatter of garage punk.  Oh, were my expectation set low when I dropped the needle on this spinning licorice pizza.  Then --woah and behold!-- the Fuck Knights blew me and my pretentious judgments right out of the fucking water.  Two cuts here and there’s no delicate way to say this, so I’ll just jump right in.  “i/primitive” is a certified, bonafide, undeniable garage rock classic.  From the intensity of the primitive pounding percussive beginning, with it’s sonic disaster production, spare-muffler-part guitars, and shrieking headhunter vocals.  Dig right into that lost-surf rock guitar solo.  Latch your horse onto that primal groove and beat.  This song is an absolute blast.  Then, just when you think you got it figured out –wham –bam—the Fuck Knights blow your mind with the drum breakdown leading into a post-blues whammy riff.  The song plays out that way, guitars rolling along the Mississippi in an extended garage-blues jam.  Freaking dynamite! 

“Teenage Wasteland” recorded live on a portable cassette recorder is another retro-blast of oil stained rock and roll, complete with howling harmony vocals.  The Fuck Knights are the real deal.  Not to be missed for fans of the fuzzed, the scuzzy, and the garage-bred.

G-Biz failed to impress with the side of quasi-haze garage hip hop, shriek and roll.  Not my cup of 10-40.  I’ll just keep the Fuck Knights side on my turntable and wait for their next primitive treat to come my way.


buy here: IkonikRecords.com.

Cheap Freaks – Play Four Songs

Speaking of garage fuzz, the Cheap Freaks come along right on cue.  Coming from Dublin, the Cheap Freaks add a touch of quasi-psychedelia, a la the 13th Floor Elevators to their sonic attack.  “Caesar the deceiver” tosses some odd guitar touches into the guttural pulp mix and a hefty dose of “Hurly Burly” chops.  1984 rocks with a caveman-pounding-his-mate intensity.  “Nowhere to Go,” revs up the speed-inhalation with a nasty dose of poppers, whiskey and cheap wine. Guitars go in furious circles while the vocals chop through the fuzz.  “Something Wrong,” sounds like an outtake from some 1960’s beach movie on really bad speed and acid.  It’s all enough to give Annette Funicello hives.

Total lo-fi, garage slop noise.  It’s punky.  It’s fuzzed.  Of course it’s from Big Neck Records.  A definite hit for the like minded.  Call me one.

The Mojomatics  - Love Wild Fever b/w Heavy Dose of Sympathy

Brandishing a cleaner assault than the Cheap Freaks, Big Neck Records comes right back at cha with this charger of a 7” splatter-fest.  The Mojomatics play it hard and fast and bring some downright dirty harmonica into the mix.  Vocals are definitely a step out of the garage, can actually carry a tune and be heard here.  That’s a plus.  Mainly, this is a speed romp through pounding fields of bluesy garage beauty.  “Heavy Dose of Sympathy,” follows suit, barreling down the road the boys plowed on side A. 

A twosome, with The Mojomatics have been tearing it apart for ages. MojoMatt plays guitar, harmonica and vocals, while Davmatic destroys the drums.  It may all seem so simple, but trust me, these cats can rile up quite a ruckus.  They're a truly professional unit.  Don’t think the White Stripes, think the Standells on uppers, the Monks on crank.  Think whatever you want, then buy it.

Buy Cheap Freaks and Mojomatics here: www.bigneckrecords.com

Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely State)/Football, etc. – Split 7”


The value of a split 7” is the opportunity to check out two different bands, offering up their top cuts.  It’s like the previews before a summer blockbuster film.  A taste of what’s to come.  A hint at what you may want to track down.

In that regard, this split succeeds admirably at bring two up-and-coming alt-emo bands to the surface.  Following on the heels of their critically-acclaimed debut full-length, Empire! Empire! Demonstrate why their at the head of the pack of the current roster of emo-revivalists.  Emotive singing will either catch your ear or turn your stomach, but theirs no denying the craft here.  Guitars layer and bleed into each other while the rhythm section creates all sorts of syncopated havoc.  All carefully crafted, expertly put together.  Not necessarily something you’ll hum on your way to work, but at the top of the heap as far as emo goes.  Football, etc. toss their hat into the ring with their expressive ditty, “Fightin’ Phoenix.”  Plowing a similarly fertile field of chiming guitars, huge looping bass and alternating rhythmic and pounding drums, this three piece show they’re no slouches.  Guitarist/singer Lindsay Minton adds a new texture with her languid, lazy vocals.  The whole affair brims with earnestness and warmth, something often missing in the emo world.  Definitely a group to watch.

Buy here: www.cylsrecords.com
.
--Racer

Ripple Music Announces a Killer New Split 7" with Stone Axe and Mighty High - Released as a Tour Single for the Saint Vitus/Stone Axe Tour

We couldn't be more excited about this.  In fact, we're so thrilled, we're giddy.  Like kids in a candyshop.

Ripple Music is proud to announce that last week we sent in the art and fully-mastered tracks for a killer new 7" split vinyl single featuring the masters of retro-70's rock, Stone Axe and stoner cretins Mighty High.  The single should be ready for your consumption mid-June.

Featuring some mindboggling, fold-out, Mighty High inspired artwork, this 7" is sure to leave em stunned.  Stone Axe contributes a monster rock burner, "Metal Damage," featuring Tony Reed's blistering guitar attack and staggering vocals from Dru  Brinkerhoff.  Mirroring 1978-1980-era Judas Priest, this song is everything that Classic Rock Magazine has been raving about when they declared Stone Axe to ". . . conjure a guttural, soulful hard-rock cauldron. "

Mighty High contributes "Don't Panic It's Organic" with a blistering high energy feel that sounds Rose Tattoo in bed with MC5.  Quite possibly the best thing to come from Mighty High yet.

The split will be extremely rare, limited to 500 and each one hand numbered.  Stone Axe will have some for their West Coast Tour this summer with Saint Vitus and Mighty High will be displaying some at their gigs as well.  The rest can only be bought here, at Ripple Music.  Don't miss out.

Go to www.ripple-music.com for more details.

Here's the Saint Vitus/Stone Axe Tour Schedule

6/25 - EL CORAZON - Seattle
6/26 - SATYRICON - Portland
6/27 - DNA LOUNGE - San Francisco
6/28 - ORIGAMI VINYL -Los Angeles(no Vitus)
6/29 - VIPER ROOM - Los Angeles
6/30 - THE CASBAH - San Diego
7/01 - WASTED SPACE @ HARD ROCK HOTEL - Las Vegas
7/02 - THE ZEPHYR - Reno(no Vitus)
7/03 - THE ALIBI - Arcata(no Vitus)