Archive for November, 2009

Gifts From Enola – Full Fathoms
The Mylene Sheath

When The Mylene Sheath released a record last year from Gifts From Enola, I was duly impressed and looked forward to more from the band. I got my wish in the form of a brand new full-length album titled Full Fathoms.

For their second full-length, Gifts From Enola picks right up where it left off with their last one and keeps the momentum going. The band craft somewhat lengthy post-rock instrumental songs filled with complex rhythms, heavy riffs, quiet passages, and plenty of mood inducing emotional shifts. Each song sounds completely different from the previous and it is like each one is a self contained story with no words. The real standout for me is the song, “Trieste” which is an eleven minute epic with a bunch of different tempo changes and some powerful parts that make the song feel like a mini-movie.

The album contains eight songs and is a great listen from beginning to end. The pacing of the album was really well done with lots of ups and downs, an instrumental roller coaster if you will. On top of the standard instruments, there is the addition of some ambient sounds, vocal samples, and even some cello. It is every bit as good as their previous effort, if not better and after listening to this a huge handful of times, it still left me wanting even more from this band and hopefully they’ll continue to deliver such fine albums on a regular basis. Now I just need to catch them live someday!

True to the label’s reputation, the packaging on this release is top-notch. The record comes in a full color gatefold sleeve and the record is pressed on two colored vinyl discs. The records are half opaque blue, half translucent green, and limited to only 300 copies. The record also comes with a code to download the mp3s of the album for free which is something I hope the label continues to do for all future releases, it also came with a sticker.

Gifts From Enola managed to avoid the sophomore jinx by releasing an amazing follow up to their amazing debut and I hope things continue from here as they’ve easily reached the upper echelon of their genre with this release.

Related links:

Gifts From Enola on myspace

The Mylene Sheath

Buy the album from iTunes (for those without a turntable)

Two long running heavyweights of heavy metal, Slayer and Megadeth, have announced they will be touring together at the start of 2010.

“American Carnage” is the first time that Slayer and Megadeth will have toured the U.S. together since 1991’s epic “Clash of the Titans” tour.  To celebrate that, and in recognition of the tough economic times that many of their fans are having, Megadeth and Slayer have decided to roll back the price of a chunk of tickets at every U.S. show to the “1991 price” of $10.00.  These specially-priced tickets will be limited and when they’re gone, they’re gone.  Megadeth has also teamed with iloveallaccess.com to provide an Ultimate Fan Package including premium seats, meet and greets, pre-show parties and more.

In addition, Testament, who was also on the ‘91 “Clash of the Titans” bill, will be Special Guests on the entire tour, marking the first time that all three bands have shared a stage together in more than 18 years, and making this a “must see” metal event.

Both Megadeth and Slayer will hit the road supporting new albums:  Megadeth’s 2009 album, ENDGAME, and Slayer’s World Painted Blood, the band’s 10th studio venture, which hit stores November 3.  Testament’s The Formation of Damnation:  Special Tour Edition, will be released on February 23, 2010 with special unreleased bonus tracks.

Confirmed dates for “American Carnage” are as follows:

JANUARY
18 WaMu Theatre, Seattle, WA*
19 Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR  (tickets sold via www.rosequarter.com )
21 Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA*
22 Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA *  (tickets on sale 11/21)
23 Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ**
25 Magness Arena, Denver, CO*
26 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM*
27 El Paso Coliseum, El Paso, TX*
29 Verizon Wireless, Houston, TX**
31 Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN*

FEBRUARY
1 Gwinnett Arena, Duluth, GA*
2 Broadbent Arena, Louisville, KY*  (tickets on sale 12/4)
4 Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN*  (tickets on sale 12/4)
5 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL*  (tickets on sale 12/4)
6 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI*
9 Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford, CT**
11 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ*
12 Glens Falls Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY*  (tickets on sale 11/28)
13 Susquehanna Center, Camden, NJ*
14 Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA*
16 Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Quebec City, QC  (tickets sold via Billetech.com)
18 John Labatt Centre, London, ON  (tickets on sale 11/27 via JohnLabattCentre.com)
19 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON  (tickets sold via Ticketmaster.ca)
20 Bell Centre, Montreal, QC  (tickets sold via Admission.com)
22 Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, NB  (tickets sold via MonctonColiseum.com)
23 Metro Centre, Halifax, NS  (tickets sold via TicketAtlantic.com)

* tickets sold through Ticketmaster
** tickets sold through LiveNation.com

Check out the American Carnage tour announcement below.

Channel Three – To Whom it May Concern LP
TKO Records

Channel Three (or CH3 for short) has been around for well over 25 years now and amazingly are still alive and well and even still making good music which is pretty rare in the world of punk rock. Sure there was a time that they “went metal” but who didn’t back in the late 1980’s? That speed bump aside, the band left a legacy of fine punk rock behind them and the world of punk rock was better off for this group that started on a friendship having formed.

When people think of CH3, the main things they think about is their three records on the legendary Posh Boy label, which were the first releases for the band. The first two are viewed as punk rock classics these days and contained the band’s best material hands down. I pretty much wore through them playing the song “Manzanar” over and over when I was a teenager and had to replace them with unworn copies at one point! Did you ever wonder what the band sounded like before they recorded those Posh Boy records? Well I know I did and now thanks to someone having the good sense to save a tape of the band’s first experience in a studio recording some demos in 1981!

To Whom it May concern features thirteen tracks recorded over two different sessions way back in the summer of 1981. It contains the first recorded versions of such great songs as “Mannequin”, “You Make Me Feel Cheap”, “Manzanar”, and “I’ve Got a Gun” among others and really is a wonderful artifact.Playing this record is like going back in a time machine!

The songs are a lot rawer than what the “official” versions ended up being and they sound great. Some of the arrangements are a bit different too and it is really neat to see this snapshot in time and how the songs evolved from this recording to what the finished products were on the Posh Boy releases. They discovered punk rock gold with this tape and had the thing come out back when it was recorded, I have no doubt in my mind the band would have still easily been as popular as they ended up being. For being their first time in a studio, they sounded really good and this thing is a great listen from start to finish.

The LP contains some nice liner notes on the back cover from Mike Magrann which gives a little history on the recording and the band itself. The LP is pressed on half purple/half white vinyl and it even comes with the CD version of the album inside so you can make your own mp3s of it for your iPod! It’s a great package overall and a damn fine service to old punk fans that they made these recordings available. Fans of Channel Three need to have this in their collection, as well as any fans of early SoCal punk rock in general. TKO Records should be commended for a job well done on this one!

Related links:

TKO Records website

CH3 official website

Constants – The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension LP
The Mylene Sheath

For a label that at the beginning was only putting out records by instrumental post-rock bands, they sure have expanded quickly and in a big way to include bands with actual vocals and much like their taste in instrumental bands, The Mylene Sheath’s taste in traditional bands is just as good.

Much like the last release I reviewed, Constants is another band that is new to me and turns out they had a couple of releases out prior to this one. Constants take the foundation of a modern day post-rock instrumental band and adds the element of vocals to it, making for a good answer to the question of “what would it be like if someone sang to this kind of music?”

The instrumentation leads the pace and sets the tone for each song. Layered guitars, occasional electronics, occasional repetition, and building  intensity are the ingredients to these complex songs that are equal parts emotional, driving, and diverse. The vocals are melodic and almost atmospheric at times, which comes across as another layer to the intricate songs. It’s easy to focus on one aspect of any given song and enjoy just that part of the song, then on the next listen find another layer to latch on to,  which makes listening to this record feel like you have a constantly evolving sense of discovery. The music is far from simple, which means it won’t be something you’ll grow tired of quickly by any stretch of the imagination.

The packaging of this record is the label’s most ambitious yet. The record is housed in a triple gatefold sleeve and the album is pressed on three colored vinyl discs. It also comes with two stickers and a coupon with a code to download mp3s of the album! The full color artwork looks stunning on such a large sized package and the entire thing is top quality from cover to cover, disc to disc. It comes on cream colored vinyl limited to 300 copies and there is also a mail order exclusive edition of 100 on brown/gray/clear vinyl.

This album will easily be making my list of best releases of 2009, everything from the music to the packaging is wonderful and is well worth picking up for just about anyone.

Related links:

Constants on myspace

The Mylene Sheath website

Buy the album on (for those of you who are don’t buy vinyl)

Actors & Actresses – Arrows LP
The Mylene Sheath

The Mylene Sheath has been on a roll lately putting out quality releases and instead of stopping to catch their breath, they have kicked it up a notch and are keeping the momentum going with a whole bunch of new releases. The first one being from a relatively new band called Actors and Actresses. Until this record came in my mailbox I had never heard of this band before, but apparently this is their first full length record, having only released an EP prior to this one.

Actors and Actresses play mid to slow tempo indie rock. The songs have layered guitars peppered with ambient sounds that help set the mood and melodic vocals. There’s hints of a shoegaze influence in some of the guitar parts in the songs and the songs are equally catchy and soothing at the same time. The music is really quite mellow overall but it’s the  intricate song structures that make them stand far above the hundreds of indie rock bands out there today. I found it a really nice change of pace from the usually very aggressive music I typically play and was surprised by how often I reached for this record in the stack of records I have to listen to for repeated listens. It also makes me want to pick up their previous EP to see what I’ve missed thus far from the band.

True to form for the label, the packaging for this record is top notch. The record comes housed in a full color gatefold sleeve. The record comes on gray and clear swirled vinyl which is limited to 300 copies. There also exists a mail order exclusive edition of 100 on gold vinyl. The record also comes with a sticker and a coupon code for a free digital download of the entire album! This addition of the download code is a wonderful addition to the label’s already great packaging because now you get the best of both worlds with a beautifully packaged vinyl record to play at home and the mp3s to put on your iPod for when you are on the road. More labels should adopt this trend if you ask me!

Actors and Actresses turned out to be a wonderful discovery for the labelm and for myself now that I’ve heard them and not only will this album be receiving continued plays around here, but I look forward to future material from these guys.

Related links:

The Mylene Sheath website

Actors & Actresses official website

Actors & Actresses on myspace

Buy the album on iTunes

When Devo released their first album in 1978 I was nearing the end of my run in grade school and would be a couple years away from discovering punk rock, that didn’t prevent me from discovering Devo though thanks to their single, “Whip It” which I spent my $1 allowance on one week to buy the 7″ vinyl of back when I was in sixth grade.  I eventually got around to picking up some other Devo records in the years that followed and soon came to appreciate their quirky synth-driven new wave style of music. Devo were kind of a bridge between punk and new wave that both sides of the fence seemed to enjoy and appreciate, myself included. I never got a chance to see them play however, back then I was too young and then as I got older I missed their shows for one reason or another. I finally got to make up for that last night and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to see them.

After a lengthy hiatus, Devo returned to Chicago to do a pair of shows at The Vic Theater. These weren’t just regular shows, they were special shows to honor the reissues of the first two Devo albums, Q: Are We Not Men? and Freedom of Choice on both deluxe remastered CDs (or digital downloads) and colored vinyl. The first night they’d play the entire first album and the second night, they’d play the entire second album.  Since their first album was my favorite of all their material, that was the one I had to see.

When I got inside the venue, JP Inc was about halfway through his set. He was a musical comedian who sang goofy songs while he had images corresponding to them being displayed on the screen above his head. It was amusing for a few minutes but a full set of that would have been too long to hold my interest so I was glad I came in half way through.

After a lengthy preparation and setup which included 20 minutes of trying to get their video screen to work, Devo ended up taking the stage sans-video introduction (just the audio worked).  The stage was covered in black plastic and surrounded by flashing light rigs that formed a circle around the middle of the stage. The drums were off to the left side of this and a platform of keyboards was off to the right.  The band came out in their trademark yellow jumpsuits and wearing 3D glasses and as the opening notes of “Uncontrollable Urge” started the people in the crowd (quite a few donning their own energy domes) were cheering and bouncing up and down and shaking their heads with delight.

As they played through the entirety of Q: Are We Not Men in order, they eventually tore away their yellow jump suits piece by piece until they revealed the band members to be wearing the trademark black Devo t-shirt, wrestling shorts, boots, and knee pads. As they continued to play through the rest of that album’s songs, the crowd were bopping around happily, a crowd which consisted mainly of people at least my age if not older which is a big difference from most shows I go to!

The band would talk to the “spuds” in the crowd often between songs and everyone seemed to be having a really good time. It was amazing how great the sound was that evening and this had to be one of the best sounding shows I’ve ever heard at The Vic. The band played flawlessly and faithfully re-created the Devo of 30 years ago without coming across as being old or dated, they still played with lots of youthful energy like it was just yesterday when the album was released. A pretty amazing feat for a band that has been around for three decades now! When they finished played the last song from the album, “Shrivel Up”, the band left the stage and that was the end of their main set.

After a couple of minutes the band came out and played an encore that consisted of “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”, and “Gates of Steel”, the latter which had even a good portion of the balcony dancing. When they finished the lights came on and the crowd was clearly a bit bummed there wasn’t any more. I was too if only for the fact that the band was so entertaining and spot-on in their performance that I’d have happily listened to them for the rest of the night if they would have stayed on stage. On my way out of the theater I walked by the merch booth and saw a huge line of people lining up to buy energy domes and Devo t-shirts as a souvenir of a fine evening and a little memento of their youth.

You can see a few more photos over at my review for Chicago Examiner.