Negativland - Dead Dog Records

One of their best -- hunt this down. It's available in the book "FAIR USE" and is 45 minutes of awe-inspiring, laughter-inducing, ear-cringing sample-happy splatchmalarkey relating to the U.S. Copyright Act in regard to music. Only a couple of points get tiresome. Most of it is ear candy for the mind. Mmmm. I could go for some ear candy right now.

Two other things I'd like to say about why I like this so much: (A) The unbelievably hilarious way that they keep mixing in nanoseconds of well known popular songs like "Stairway to Heaven" -- so that your mind knows that it's heard something familiar, but it just can't quite place it! And (B) the way that they present BOTH sides of the issue. Of course it's obvious which side of the fence they're on, but it's really cool of them to present the other side's arguments too. GREAT!!!!

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Oxbow - Narcotic story

Oxbow is one of the rare bands that exhibits such a glacial lack of compromise, from the start settling into a style that's harsh at best, and using music outside of their bubble as base componentry rather than outright influence. Never "metal" but nearly always "heavy,” Oxbow knows its history, having used blues conventions as crude scaffolds for cerebral noise rock of the most disturbing order. But if it's at all a hidden agenda of Oxbow's to destroy, or at least disfigure, "the blues" in order to save it, The Narcotic Story brings them one step closer to fruition. A vestige of the blues – of the sort evocative of some stinking deep-south abattoir – remains. But the record's eight songs are imbued with a desperate, film-noir quality, emphasizing orchestration beyond guitar, bass and drums. The band flirted with similar textures on 2002's An Evil Heat, but here there's less reliance on the typically "heavy.” The occasionally mathy Zeppelin riffs that stumble and slide, and stop-and-start rhythms are in shorter supply overall; the metal has largely been smelted out in favor of tension. Toggling between dissimilar themes over the course of the longer pieces continues to be an Oxbow hallmark, perhaps in more of a traditional fashion than a sudden edit-like jump. The transitions between the delicate and the bludgeoning are allowed to develop less jarringly in dynamic-laden numbers like "Time Gentlemen Time" and "A Winner Every Time.”

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Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician

Easily one of the most bizarre, nightmarish, acid-drenched albums ever to bubble up from the gutter, Locust Abortion Technician will make you redefine the meaning of "wierd." This is the Butthole Surfer's best and most avant-garde album, filled with tapeloops, slowed/sped-up/reversed vocals and sfx, sludgey distortion and chaotic song structure. It is a crazy, schizophrenic mess that will get inside your head. I love it. The Butthole Surfers prove to be masters of the studio, as they create "music" that you would think spilled out of an insane asylum from a freaky netherworld.

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The Devil and The Sea - Heart vs. Spine

Heart vs. Spine is a triumph of a debut record from start to finish. Everything about this release just punishes the senses with thick, memorable songwriting nailing it all together. TDATS are a tight unit in every aspect musically, with an ability to go from lean violent attacks to expansive, lengthier dirges without losing a bit of their edge and ferocity. I think this is a band that everyone is going to be hearing a lot more about in the near future. They’ve got all the chops needed to set the underground circuit on fire. Imagine a cross of Cavity, 16, Unsane, akimbo with just a slight pinch of early Mastodon and you’ll have an approximate mental portrait of the kind of damage this act dishes out. Heart vs. Spine is highly recommended on all counts.

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