LP33: New Music - Discover, Enjoy, Share 

The Ripple Effect’s Friends (55)

• 28 Sep '09 08:25am

  Die Kreuzen - October File

  The same year that Metallica was releasing their ground breaking album Master of Puppets, there was a little ole band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who released a disc that latched onto my heart like one of them face sucking bastards from the Alien series. The band is called Die Kreuzen, and maybe you’ve heard of them. Then again, maybe you haven’t. Back in the day, they were never one of those bands that sat at the tip of everyone’s tongue, but they were influential to a varying degree to a number of avant metal and grunge-era bands. How I stumbled on October File is beyond me. I’ve always been pretty adventurous with my musical finds, so I’m not terribly surprised that this album found its way into my life. I just don’t actually remember the act of purchasing said album like I do so many of the other essential albums in my collection. I don’t remember how I met my wife either, but that’s another story for another time. more . . . http://www.redgage.com/blogs/TheRippleEffect#rf:/blogs/therippleeffect/die-kreuzen--october-file.html
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• 27 Sep '09 08:34am

  A Sunday Conversation with Bad Afro Records

  As a slight diversion from our normal fun-filled Sunday mornings chatting with bands here at the Ripple office, we're going to spend the next few weeks digging deep into the world of the independent labels. We're going to lift up the hood and check into the brains of the cats who sacrifice their lives to put out the music they love. Risking financial losses, changing marketplaces, technological evolution, and a downturning economy, we at the Ripple want to raise a beer mug in salute to the indy Labels who continue to supply the world with fresh music. Along those lines, we spoke recently with the main man at Dead Beat Records, today we're turning our eyes across the Atlantic to Scandinavia, the world of all things music and hockey. Specifically, we popped over to Denmark. There, we stopped by the office of Bad Afro Records and had a sit down with their resident creative force, Lars, and the legacy of indy music he's helped to create. more . . . http://www.redgage.com/blogs/TheRippleEffect/a-sunday-conversation-with-bad-afro-records.html
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• 24 Sep '09 07:33am

  Musical Martyrs - The Vilified Albums - Black Sabbath - Born Again

  Everyone loves Black Sabbath. A lot of people only like the Ozzy era while some prefer Dio. Then there are the freaks who love this album. I am a combination of all three. It’s probably because I love Tony Iommi’s guitar playing so much, but I really do enjoy just about everything by Sabbath from 1970 to 1983. Volume 4 might be my all time favorite, Technical Ecstasy is my least favorite and I think Never Say Die is extremely underrated. Born Again is not a classic album, or even a great one, but it does have some truly great moments. It also has some pretty lame ones, too. more . . . http://www.redgage.com/blogs/TheRippleEffect/musical-martyrs--the-vilified-albums--black-sabbath--born-again.html
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• 23 Sep '09 08:14am

  Oceansize – Frames

  You like prog-rock? Personally, I tread very carefully on the frozen lake that is prog-rock. Some forms of the genre are my absolute favorite discs of all time, and I feel like I could safely cut a hole in the ice and fish to my heart’s content. Other forms . . . ach! That was the sound of me crashing through the thin layer of ice and suffering, once again, from a severe case of hypothermia. All I’ve ever asked of my music is that it have some soul, some element of spirit that flows from the musicians, through the speakers and then to me so that I’m inspired to do something . . . anything! Well, Oceansize has done just that with their latest epic outing entitled Frames. Epic outing? Yes. Absolutely. Read on, friends. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/oceansize-frames.html
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• 20 Sep '09 09:29am

  A Sunday Conversation with Gala

  Fusing 70's and 80's pop rock sensibilities with a modern vibe, Gala dropped a fiesty and fierce piece of pop perfection on my desk with Tough Love. We were able to coerce the lovely and talented Gala Rizzatto to break away from tearing up the stage and breaking young boys hearts just long enough to take a breather on the Ripple Red Leather Interview Couch. Find out what made Gala decide to become a musician, how she tackles songwriting, and what keeps her focused on success in an industry that is notorious for chewing up the weak. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/sunday-conversation-with-gala.html
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• 17 Sep '09 08:02am

  Field Report - Stone Axe and Sun Gods in Exile Invade Brooklyn 9/04/09

  It was an evening of regressive rock in Brooklyn. That means lots of dudes drinking lots of beer talking about speaker cabinets and the women who put up with them. Brooklyn was one of the few east coast cities lucky enough to get a show from the Stone Axe/Sun Gods In Exile tour in preparation for the final Stoner Hands Of Doom festival in Maryland over Labor Day weekend. The show took place at the Charleston on Bedford Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. In case you don’t know, this is ground zero for ridiculous hipster trends and the trust fund sheep that follow them. more . . . http://www.redgage.com/blogs/TheRippleEffect/field-report--stone-axe-and-sun-gods-in-exile-invade-brooklyn-9/04/09.html
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• 14 Sep '09 07:15am

  Ernie Halter – Live

  For years, Racer and I have waxed on (and off) about the splendors of music in a live setting. After all, the live setting is the most natural way to catch a musician bearing his or her soul. On a good night, that soul will be felt with the heat of a thousand suns and will have a lingering affect on how you listen to music for years to come. Capturing these momentous occasions can be like capturing the proverbially lightening in a bottle. Musicians have their off nights. They’re bound to err a time or two in their performances, and you know what? That’s okay too. Just don’t release those performances to the unsuspecting fans! For me, a live release needs to show the artist not just playing the songs that I expect to hear, but to perform them with a different nuance than that which was recorded in the studio. I want to hear the voice quiver a little, but not completely break down to the point of shit. I want to hear a different drum fill or a change up in the intro to my favorite jam. Speaking of jam, I’m not opposed to an extended jam in the middle of a tune that turns into a medley of classic rock tunes. Basically, give me the structure of the songs that I know and love and add some flavor to them. A little nuance. Some people might even call it soul. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/ernie-halter-live.html
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• 13 Sep '09 08:38am

  A Sunday Conversation with Dali's Lama

  Riff mad, fuzz-crazed stoner madness from the inner desert of California, Dali's Lama have been plying their trade amongst the sand, stone, and scorpions and releasing blistering rock like their last album, Full On Dunes. After melting our eardrums with their riffing, we asked the quarted of Zack Huskey (guitars/vocals), Erica Huskey (bass), Jeff Howe (drums), and Joe Dillon (guitar) to squeeze next to each other as tightly as the could and join us on the red leather Ripple interview couch. Here's what they had to say. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/sunday-conversation-with-dalis-lama.html
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• 11 Sep '09 07:58am

  Ripples Around the World - A Night in Africa - Amadou & Mariam and Aphrodesia

  My love affair with African music began one summer night, after a beach party in San Diego where some (once) legal substances were ingested with a group of friends amongst the crashing waves of the Pacific. Back at a friend’s house, he introduced me to my first African sampling, King Sunny Ade’s Synchro System, and I was instantly transported to a nether realm of rhythm and texture, a place I’d never been before. Mesmerized by the undulating guitars interplaying with the talking drums, I was hooked. One thing led to another and soon King Sunny was joined by Fela, Toure Kunda, and Mory Kante in my musical my world. Now I won’t pretend to be an expert on all the African genres, instruments, and styles, (I don’t even know the proper words used to describe these styles) but I do know my juju from my Zouk, my Afropop from my Soweto jive. And I also know what I like. I’ve seen tons of great concerts in my life, but let me tell you, nothing compares to being on the floor when King Sunny or Toure Kunda are conjuring their magic onstage. Swirling bodies, lost in the rhythms, fuse and meld into one swaying mass of joy-filled, dancing humanity. It’s the closest feeling to complete freedom that music has ever provided me. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/ripples-around-world-night-in-africa.html
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• 10 Sep '09 08:40am

  Subhumans - Classic Punk Re-issues

  Always being a fan of punk, particularly classic U.K. punk, we got pretty frothy at the mouth when we received a smoldering package of classic Subhumans re-issues for our overworked postman Sal. Digging in, we were greeted to six beautifully designed, lovingly created homages to a lost punk legend. Barely giving time for the drool to dry on the corners of our mouths, we got the discs into the quivering hands of our reviewers. Our esteemed punk-meister Woody responded first with his thoughts on three of the discs. Here's Woody . . . more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/subhumans-classic-punk-re-issues.html
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• 09 Sep '09 08:10am

  Fen - Congenital Fixation

  Nobody loves a musical freak out more than me. When a band comes along and throws some off time, bone rattlin’ into a mix of razor sharp guitars, thick low end grooves and manically majestic vocals, well . . . odds are, you’re gonna’ get my attention. Make the whole thing sound crisp with an experienced knob twirler or a sound engineer who calibrates his own microphones for giggles, oh boy . . . my pulse is increasing. Take all of the elements of experimentation and confine those same elements into a concise capsule of time to eliminate senseless noodling, exceeding five minutes only on the rare occasion . . . uh oh, the sweat is starting to bead up on my forehead. Make the songs dark little epics that let the imagination go wild and inspire one to pick up an instrument for their own artistic creation . . . if you haven’t called the paramedics by now, I really wish you would. I’m gonna’ be in need of medical attention in about five minutes. Thank you. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/fen-congenital-fixation.html
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• 07 Sep '09 04:27pm

  Flashback to Tomorrow - Shark Speed and Erase.Release

  Last month, my esteemed Ripple colleague, the Pope, started a new column titled "Flashback to Tomorrow," to drop some praise on a couple of bands that were bringing familiar sounds from the past kicking and screaming into the present day. Loving the idea, I decided to jump on board with two more bands, steeped in the sensibilities of days of yore, but updated with a modern edge for 2009. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/flashback-to-tomorrow-shark-speed-and.html
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• 04 Sep '09 07:58am

  Killing Lazarus - S/T

  Don’t you love it when music does that special something like evoke an emotion, whether by calling up a memory or hitting a nerve that causes reflection? I mean, isn’t that really the whole point of the art. Back in May’s edition of Rumors Heard in MySpace, I wrote about an Irish band that we stumbled on called Killing Lazarus and I described the music that they had posted on their site. In the weeks that followed that posting, the band was kind enough to send a completed copy of self titled disc and the thing has gradually become part of my being. Sure, all of the songs are posted on their MySpace page, but I find it a complete and utter nuisance to lug my PC with me in the car or on a backpacking excursion just to listen to the music. The extension cord alone makes it impractical. To really grasp the depth, and breadth, and whole wonderful scope of the music, I needed to have a physical copy of the disc to pop in and out of the CD player. It’s quirky and old school of me, I know . . . but it’s how I operate. But this isn’t about me. The whole point of this post is to talk about the music . . . the subtle complexities, the artistic expressions, and the soulful creativity behind seven songs that very easily could have been lost amongst the billions of cyber songs streaming across the internet. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/killing-lazarus-st.html
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• 03 Sep '09 08:50am

  From the Depths of Electric Earth

  I knew there was something wrong when I came home from work the other night. Why was the postman still in front of my apartment building at 6PM? Why was he clutching his lower back and cursing my front door? The Ripple return address on the package on my doorstep couldn’t have anything to do with it, could it? I pushed the exhausted mailman aside and tried to lift the package but could not. I got a neighbor to help me lift the small yellow mailer into my pad. The cats ran away in fright and the baby started wailing. I couldn’t believe that the postage was almost $3000. What the hell was in this thing? My wife said she smelled something horrible. I grabbed a cleaver and opened carefully. Three advance CD’s came crashing to the floor. I checked the paperwork – Electric Earth Records. That explained everything. Electric Earth only puts out the heaviest shit imaginable. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-depths-of-electric-earth.html
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• 02 Sep '09 06:02am

  Proto-metal Report - Poobah - Steamroller

  One of the things I love most about the early period of metal, was the electrifying energy and passion that these bands poured into their craft. Most of these bands were nearly D.I.Y in their ethic, pumping out dark and heavy music that was shunned by radio as if it carried disease. Few fans lined up to greet these bands, yet they kept on coming, one after another; Sir Lord Baltimore, Bang, Hairy Chapter. The list seems to be endless as new bands, like my discovery of Iron Claw, keep popping back into the public consciousness. And then there's Poobah. During the early '70's, Poobah and their resident madman guitar wizard Jim Gustafson put out three molten platters of guitar-fired, sizzling metal and roll. With guitar solos shooting off the vinyl like lasers bouncing around the Planetarium, Poobah mined their own devastated wasteland of early searing metal. Most of those albums, long out of print, can be found for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars at collectors stores. A while back, some were re-released by a company that long ago went out of business, leaving those discs about as obscure as the originals. Time passes, and even though Poobah continues to rock out monsterous psychedelic guitar histrionics to this day, those older classics just continue to fade away, deeper and deeper into the recesses of the past. Then along comes Rockadrome. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/proto-metal-report-poobah-steamroller.html
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• 02 Sep '09 06:02am

  Proto-metal Report - Poobah - Steamroller

  One of the things I love most about the early period of metal, was the electrifying energy and passion that these bands poured into their craft. Most of these bands were nearly D.I.Y in their ethic, pumping out dark and heavy music that was shunned by radio as if it carried disease. Few fans lined up to greet these bands, yet they kept on coming, one after another; Sir Lord Baltimore, Bang, Hairy Chapter. The list seems to be endless as new bands, like my discovery of Iron Claw, keep popping back into the public consciousness. And then there's Poobah. During the early '70's, Poobah and their resident madman guitar wizard Jim Gustafson put out three molten platters of guitar-fired, sizzling metal and roll. With guitar solos shooting off the vinyl like lasers bouncing around the Planetarium, Poobah mined their own devastated wasteland of early searing metal. Most of those albums, long out of print, can be found for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars at collectors stores. A while back, some were re-released by a company that long ago went out of business, leaving those discs about as obscure as the originals. Time passes, and even though Poobah continues to rock out monsterous psychedelic guitar histrionics to this day, those older classics just continue to fade away, deeper and deeper into the recesses of the past. Then along comes Rockadrome. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/proto-metal-report-poobah-steamroller.html
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• 31 Aug '09 08:55am

  Rumors Heard in MySpace, Vol. II, Episode 8

  Happy end of August, Waveriders! The kids are getting their fresh new haircuts and being prepped for the return to school, the summer nights are a little more chilled, big men in pads and leotards are chasing around other men holding an oblong object of sorts, all of these events just leading to autumn. Sigh . . . that means hockey season is right around the corner. You can’t see my smile right now, but ever see a picture of the Cheshire Cat? Yeah. I think you’re getting the picture. Anyway, I digress once again. This has been a super quality month in music and I’m pleased to pass on the word to y’all. We’ve got rock, we’ve got vocal performances, we’ve got metal, we’ve got acoustic music. In essence, we have it all. As always, if you’ve already heard of the bands, great! Go tell a friend. If you haven’t, sit back and read up on ‘em here, then swing by their MySpace pages (I’ve included links,) and then . . . go tell a friend. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/08/rumors-heard-in-myspace-vol-ii-episode.html
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• 28 Aug '09 07:39am

  Grand Atlantic - How We Survive

  Sometimes you just know. It doesn't take more than a second. An instant. One note, one beat, or in this instant one mutated guitar tone exploding into a spectacle of crashing chords and resounding bass. That's all it took for me to know. Grand Atlantic have produced one of my favorite albums of year. Coming from Brisbane, 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. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/08/grand-atlantic-how-we-survive.html
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• 27 Aug '09 07:39am

  Dozer - Beyond Colossal

  Dozer’s been around for about 14 years but I never paid any attention to them. Probably because Killdozer is one of my favorite bands I figured that just plain Dozer couldn’t match the herculean efforts of the Madison mad men. Turns out that was a dopey move on my part. Dozer’s 2008 album Beyond Colossal lives up to the title and makes them worthy to share the second syllable of Killdozer’s potent name. Hailing from Sweden, Dozer sound like if Union Carbide Productions worshipped Pentagram and early Alice Cooper instead of The Stooges and MC5. In reading some other reviews of this album I was surprised to see the band compared to Clutch, Fu Manchu and Kyuss. There’s definite similarities with those bands, but Dozer has a much darker and original sound. Maybe their past records are more generic, but Beyond Colossal offers a refreshing change of pace from the usual 3rd rate Black Sabbath rip offs usually found in the derivative “stoner rock” genre. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/08/dozer-beyond-colossal.html
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• 26 Aug '09 10:27am

  Ektomorf - What Doesn't Kill Me

  Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Ektomorf - What Doesn't Kill Me Y’know, there’s that fine line with angst ridden metal. On one side of this line, it can be insipid, self gratifying, meathead music. On the other side, it can actually be honest, vibrant, and a snapshot of one’s mental anguish over deeds done wrong. From that line, the drop to negative is an incredibly steep drop to the bowels of derisive mockery. The reward from walking this treacherous, corpse ridden line is that those who survive and do it right, come out with a product that can excite and inspire all who believe in it. A Hungarian bunch figured out the proper steps along the path. They call themselves Ektomorf, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting too much from this offering (I’ve been feeling negative with submissions of late.) What I got when I dropped the needle on the record was an overwhelming sense that these guys were pissed off about something and I too suddenly wanted to run amok and break shit. What has come over me? I’ve heard angst-y music before and most times I find myself thinking, “Really? Is it all that bad?” With Ektomorf, I finally felt the angst that these other bands so fruitlessly tried to pass off. I felt the bitter resentment of physical, mental, and emotional persecution. I felt the pain, and the hatred, and the violent need to react with force. What Doesn’t Kill Me is a cathartic release of demons that possessed a group of guys from a small, impoverished nation, and frankly, I’m buying what they’re selling. more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2009/08/ektomorf-what-doesnt-kill-me.html
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