speedqueen - big leaves on a small tree

avant-garde / experimental

Speedqueen (or SQ, as they would alternately call themselves) were the duo of Joe Tunis and Marc Faris based out of Rochester NY back in the 90's; at their core they were a guitar and drums duo, but they also utilized keyboards, effects, and a lot of noise in their longform jams. Big Leaves On A Small Tree is a much heavier and more varied collection than this bands' other recordings.

song description snippets:

... spastic noise metal riff and busy, percolating drumming locking in on a crushing groove-loop .... skittery improv-drone piece, with strange conversations overheard in the background behind quiet free drumming, scraping guitar noise, amp hum and room ambience..... metallic math workout, sludgy and spastic, somewhere in between Godheadsilo and Melvins with wild howling vocals, eventually breaking down into a cacophony of freeform noise and feedback.

.... going from brutal heaviness to Slint-y math rock workouts to those weird improvised dronescapes and spoken word conversations..... a huge amp drone freakout a la Total or Earth as rumbling loops of guitar distortion tumble into the void surrounded by streaking feedback, and screaming cable noise..... sounds like what Godheadsilo might have sounded like if they had started messing around with avant-garde improvisation and heavy free-drone.

.... a deep dronefield, pure floating heavy tone that sounds like Speedqueen are summoning up clouds of black smoke out of rumbling amplifiers and Tibetan prayer bowls.... like Melvins stomping through a stoned free drone jam. The last half of this track morphs into a massive psychedelic feedback drone jam on par with the more recent stuff from Zaimph, Hototogisu, Skullflower, and Double Leopards.

drone/math rock stuff.... a gorgeous rippling melody propelled by layers of guitar loops, a girl's voice appearing in triplicate panning around from speaker to speaker as a krautrocky drumbeat kicks in and the whole song lurches forward, angelic female singing drifting over the clockwork Circle-like hypno rock jamming.

.... brutal and noisy math-sludge beating, spastic riffing grappling with the pounding drums while gritty, crackling drones hum in the background... krautrock type jam but way heavier than anything they've done before..... a trippy mess of manipulated tape heads and loops of droning guitar chords swimming in pools of shimmering drone that all becomes more and more distorted and loud until it builds into a crushing, grinding roar of Total-esque white light feedback and distortion.

Big Leaves On A Small Tree is just amazing, combining crushing arty math-metal with blasts of heavy free drone, krautrock, and avant-improv soundscaping, a radioactive mix of Godheadsilo, Circle, Melvins, Dead C, Hototogisu, and free improvisation.

big trees small leafs

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leopold - the wreck of hope

out of Los Angeles, Leopold's "the Wreck Of Hope" CD is ten tracks of bone crushing noise/art rock. Recorded by Alex Newport, Leopold crushes the listener with good noise rock/sludge mayhem which was influenced by such bands as Unsane, The Jesus Lizard, Helmet...

riyl: helmet, melvins, the jesus lizard, the locust

hope wreckers

whitford - whitford whitford

Indie rockers playing the soundtrack for a samurai film

Whitford Whitford is both structured and boundless. These 14 instrumental tracks sooth and scald, offering the listener a dynamic, satisfying ride. Whitford's resonant tones, winding song structures and occasional blasts of colossal guitar noise converge here to deliver an inimitable aural extravaganza.

Features 8-string bass, guitars, saxophone and percussion... and rototoms.

whitford (x2)

whitford - orson welles: planet devouring robot

dark-jazz-math-rock

Dancing on the line where jazz and rock collide. An album's worth of the moment before a storm.

Orson Welles: Planet Devouring Robot is Whitford's dynamic, hauntingly beautiful debut album, an instrumental immersion in eight string bass, electric guitar, saxophone and percussion. Recorded live and without overdubs in a small home in Pittsburgh, PA, the fourteen tracks of "Orson" oscillate between composition and improvisation, tension and sweet release.

planet devouring

the psychedelic river chickens - half dozen over easy

The P.R.C. formed in the early 21st century in Sonoma County California. After a bizarre incident involving a chicken, a banjo, a wood chipper, and a large amount of alcohol, this four man freak fest emerged on the music scene with a sound unheard by most. Coalescing rock, country, blues, metal, and perhaps a touch of polka, they pioneer their way through new musical horizons. Downtrodden, yet uplifting, their clever songs touch on all emotions. They actually formed by accident when their alter ego heavy metal band STOMACH was asked to perform an "unplugged" set at a local event.

The strong positive response was unexpected. In 2003 they released a live CD, LIVE AT THE TRAXX. Again, the response was overwhelming. After releasing their first studio recording, HALF DOZEN OVER EASY on MOHAWK AND HEADBAND records, they have continued to snowball through Sonoma county and beyond with their unique brand of music, capturing the attention, and endorsements, of fine companies like EMG pickups , MESA-BOOGIE amplification, and DRAGONFLY clothing to name a few. A double cd/dvd is in the "chicken smoker" at this time, along with legendary live performances both locally and regionally. One of the coolest things about the P.R.C. is that their diverse musical abilities enable them to play for a wide range of audiences, both young and old.

1/2 dozen over ez

me infecto - death errand

Slow metal/stoner rock meets Chicago style Shellac and Melvins. Two piece bass and drums band that sounds like a full band.

death errand

stomach - sacrificial microscopic eternity

Watch your back, Dimmu Borgir. It looks as though the North Bay’s Stomach are out for your “Most Syllables in an Album Title” crown.

This album has two personalities.... in one corner is pure, undiluted thrash—the kind high school kids wearing Venom shirts would have made circa 1986.... some tracks charge full steam ahead with intensity rivaling some of the finest material from those denim-vested, shaggy-haired glory days.

Sitting opposite its irate twin is the seemingly more thoughtful side, represented by slower, more plodding riffs....

Leads and catchy double-bass runs are found in abundance, and Judd Mason impresses quite mightily as a lead singer, while Kent Varty possesses a death growl as effective (and intelligible!) as has ever been heard.

sme

leval blessing

The debut full length from Milwaukee's Leval Blessing combines blistering grindcore and power violence with mathy tech/death acrobatics and violent sludge/metalcore riffs, fronted by a monstrous two-vocal assault. Fierce ogre grind for fans of Cephalic Carnage, Despised Icon, Pig Destroyer and Bodies In The Gears Of the Apparatus.

level blassing

singers ruin perfectly good bands

Seattle based GRINDCORE duo featuring PIANO (run through Marshall Guitar amplification and DRUMS-combines Speed/Thrash, Math Rock, Weird Jazz, Punk. Highly Technical and unpredictable. Mike Peterson also plays drums on tour with THE ACCUSED.

SEAN is a Seattle based GRINDCORE duo featuring Luke Laplante on Keyboard (on piano preset through noise gate pedal and into Marshall guitar amplifications) AND Mike Peterson on drums. (Mike is also playing drums for THE ACCUSED on their Sept. Tour). This speeding GRINDCORE music is a combination of Speed/Thrash/Math/Weird Jazz/Punk

autobio by Luke Laplante of SEAN:

Sean formed out of the remains of the grindcore three piece "TION". That name came from the fact that there are so many death metal bands who's name ends in tion. there for we figured why not just be that. We played a bunch of shows in Seattle and then finally went on tour at the time with Burke Eglington on guitar. Eventualy we had to let go of Burke due to the fact that he was way too busy for the band. He left and continues to play with "AKIMBO". A couple years later we went on tour with Seattle boys "THE ABODOX"

So after a few months of practice we played our first show with THE ABODOX and DOOMSDAY 1999 at Graceland in Seattle in June 2004. I chose the name "SEAN" because I had gotten a phone call from Ben Wah in L.A who told me that he thought of the name "TION" and that I should find a new one. I decided that "SEAN" would be a funny alternate way of saying "TION" in a SoCal accent kind of way.

ruining good bands

echo hawk - stitches [ep]

Due to circumstances beyond the control of this finite world, the summer of 2007 left the three piece rhythm section of local L.A. rock band The Distants without a singer. With The Distants being on a temporary hiatus David Arthur Kelly (guitar) returned to L.A. after having spent a month at Wauzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation Indian Reservation at Lake of the Woods, Ontario. He brought with him a host of unfinished songs and ideas.

Thankfully drummer Jamie Douglass and bassist Ben Jindra were eager to collaborate and help David finish the tunes adding their own unique signatures to the skeletal ideas. Things came together rather absurdly fast and in three, three hour jams the five songs that would make the EP were arranged and demoed (Opposites Attack in under seventeen minutes). All bed tracks on the EP were recorded at Ben’s house on a Yamaha 4 track, the guitars and vox being completed at David’s on a computer.

stitches

good god - doorway to hell

In September 2003 when former Belijerens members Josh, Ben and T.J met and began collaborating with Corpse Fondler/Second Class Citizen's drummer Eric at Barn Owl Studios in Wallingford CT. Good God was born.
With a line up consisting of Josh: Guitar/Vocals, Ben: Guitar/Vocals, T.J.: Bass and Eric on Drums, they began writing songs and playing shows in CT. In July 2004 the band began recording their first album "Doorway to Hell"

After recording the tracks, in the winter of 2004 Ben and T.J. decided to leave the band for personal reasons leaving the post production duties to Josh and Eric. After completing the album in the spring of 2005 and despite all the set backs, Good God continued to grow and evolve their unique brand of metal.

The addition of long time friend and fellow metal fanatic Matt (ex.BBR/Transiency) on bass in the winter of 2005 further intensified the vision that is Good God

Although open to the idea of another guitarist joining the band they continue to write and perform regardless. They emerge once again focused and driven towards something new while maintaining the original vision.

riyl: mastodon, melvins, today is the day

doorway

same-sex dictator

... the new band from Justin Straw of Tundra and Gods Among Men.

now Justin finds himself in the strangely named band Same-Sex Dictator.... this is probably the most accessible band that I've heard from this guy so far, the hardcore is still heavily mutated and there's a big psychedelic vibe to the six songs on this disc, but the jams are shorter, more concise than his previous bands, and the band belt out some killer hooks behind their burly prog-crust-noise rock.

It has a heavy prog influence, and reminds me of bands like Tarantula Hawk and Human Anomaly, like heavy crusty hardcore informed by Magma or something. But then there are deep death metal vocals, and skronky riffs a la Microwaves. Very interesting. Very heavy. ---- crucial blast

same-sex dictator

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