THE MORTON REPORT – Bentley’s Bandstand: The First Half – Favorite Albums of 2014 – HOLLIS BROWN “Gets Loaded”
By Bill Bentley, Columnist
June 30, 2014
Hollis Brown, Gets Loaded. Defying the odds of gravity and greatness, the Brooklyn-based Hollis Brown band records all the songs on one of the perfect rock albums, Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and still manages to hold their head high. So what may have looked like a long shot on the assembly line turns into an inspired piece of music-making. When the Velvets’ fourth (and last) studio album was released in 1970, it finally looked like the ultra-boundary-breaking New York outfit would get their due. Except for one small problem: the Velvet Underground had already broken up. So soon-to-be classic Lou Reed songs “Sweet Jane,” “Rock and Roll,” “New Age” and others were left in the cold light of winter to die, only to live now and see another day.
Now that Hollis Brown has decided to do their own take of the entire album, it’s clear this is rock that has never been surpassed. By anyone. As much as what Hollis Brown has accomplished by putting their own life into these ten songs, it is also a mighty display of courage to even attempt such a thing, proving that lives are still being saved by rock and roll — and Lou Reed.
JOHN THE CONQUEROR’s interview for The BLUES Magazine (UK)
CELEBSTONER review of RADIO MOSCOW “Magical Dirt”
Serving up some of the finest retrograde stoner rock imaginable, Radio Moscow’s fourth studio album, Magical Dirt, continues to build upon the vintage power trio exhilaration that such respected ’60s legends as Cream, Blue Cheer and the Jimi Hendrix Experience brought forth. Formed in Iowa in 2003, heavy metal-leaning frontman Parker Griggs provides Radio Moscow with well-executed and completely focused originals full of brooding tension.
Griggs’ keenness for unbridled six-string freneticism, decisive fleet-fingered pyrotechnics, primal garage-punk spunk and fuzz-toned psychedelia advances even his most derivative inspirations. A few diligently performed acoustic respites add contrast to the boisterous venom. And there are no extraneous notes to confound the steadfast flow of Magical Dirt’s entirety.
Tempering scathing hard-rock jams with narcotic mantras and borrowed blues, this ambitious 10-song set has a loose, opus-like schematic. Combining fast and slow tempos, and soft and loud timbres with the greatest of ease, Griggs’ limber outfit (also featuring newcomer Anthony Meier on bass and Paul Marrone on drums) never gets caught in a rut. But it’s the raucous moments that sizzle best, dominating and ultimately galvanizing the frantic head rush.
Aiming straight for the stratosphere, molten psych-blues opener, “So Alone,” revels in its stinging Hendix-derived wah-wah riffage and responsive full-tilt boogie rhythm. Demonic rampage, “Death of a Queen” (play audio above), crosscuts its scurried Hendrix bluster with wiry Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired glissando licks. Blazing cryptic scorcher, “Before It Burns,” may be the best intergalactic firestorm Radio Moscow’s ever constructed, once more waking the ghosts of Hendrix and Vaughan with siren sonic epiphanies.
Reminiscent of Cactus (another glorified ’60s metal progenitor), the rudimentary “These Days” goes into hyperspace, drifts back to earth, then finally implodes. Griggs’ ile-driving guitar flails wildly above a wickedly stammered drum-cymbal attack on “Rancho Tehama Airport,” a thrashing sendoff to the rural Northern California terminal that’s apparently got the band flustered. Scathingly seared snarler, “Gypsy Fast Woman,” bludgeons the mind like a hellishly wicked Black Sabbath requiem.
When it’s time to get mellow and convey sensitivity, Griggs relies on the haunting Leadbelly-inspired folk-blues moaning of “Sweet Lil Thing” and the similarly backdated acoustical auspices informing the portentous closer, “Stinging,”
Throughout Magic Dirt, Griggs hurls phlegm-throated baritone wails against the insistent musical mass. It’s one thing to just scream and shout, it’s another to be meaningfully expressive while maintaining true defiance. Lashing out with a cataclysmic blast, Griggs gives his darkly penetrative sentiments deeper provocation than the usual head-banging metallurgist.
Radio Moscow appear to be formidable inheritors of a distinct legacy left by some of the greatest hard rockers ever. It’s doubtful any psychedelia-induced metal fan would try to resist them. – John Fortunato / CELEBSTONER
http://www.celebstoner.com/reviews/music/2014/06/16/radio-moscow-magical-dirt/
ROLLING STONE review of RADIO MOSCOW “Magical Dirt”
Radio Moscow: Magical Dirt (Alive Naturalsound) I would be lying if I did not say I have been completely taken with this, the fourth album from lovingly/freakishly retro combo Radio Moscow—a fabulous trio from Iowa including the amazing guitarist/singer Parker Griggs, bassist Anthony Meier and drummer Paul Marrone. With an album cover that absolutely evokes another album I have seen in my lifetime but simply can’t remember—must be the font, you’ve got to love these guys—the band actively evokes all that was great about hard-rock trios of the ‘60s, the Blue Cheers, the Creams, etc., but does it with such gleeful abandon you’ve got to admire both their spirit and whatever time capsule they rode in on. Great fun, and more info here. – By DAVE DIMARTINO
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-arrival-of-sam-smith-20140617#ixzz34xjCAZjS
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POPMATTERS 8/10 review of MOUNT CARMEL “Get Pure”
POPMATTERS
Mount Carmel: Get Pure
By David Maine 12 June 2014
Mount Carmel rocks. That’s all you need to know.
You want details? Fine. The three-piece based out of Columbus, Ohio, plays a stripped-down, high-octane form of bluesy rock, as befits their inclusion on the excellent label, Alive Naturalsound. Vocalist Matthew Reed’s voice is gutsy and raw, his guitar playing thickly distorted and unadorned, while the rhythm section of brother Patrick Reed on bass and drummer James McCain bash out the jams with the best of them. Track number two on the album, “Back On It”, is a stone-cold classic, a masterpiece of crunching riffage whose three minutes fly by all too quickly – it could easily extend into a 10-minute jam (and in concert, let’s hope it does).
Other strong tracks crowd the album, like “One More Morning” with its crunchy guitar riff and its Cream-era Eric Clapton-esque vocals. “Whisper” then has an anthemic chorus and gritty, frenetic guitar line, while “Hangin On” offers some serious midtempo blues-sludge. Even the 98-second instrumental throwaway “Bridge to Nowhere” is stuffed full of Roy Buchanan-ish guitar squeals. Sure, not every track is a masterpiece, like “Swallow Me Up”, which has off-kilter rhythms that never quite click into place, but these interludes pass quickly, and it’s on to the next riff. Long live rawk, y’all.
DAVID MAINE is a novelist and essayist. His books include The Preservationist (2004), Fallen (2005), The Book of Samson (2006), Monster, 1959 (2008) and An Age of Madness (2012). He has contributed to The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Esquire.com and NPR.com, among other outlets. He is a lifelong music obsessive whose interests range from rock to folk to hip-hop to international to blues. He currently lives in western Massachusetts, where he works in human services. Catch up with his blog, The Party Never Stops, at davidmaine.blogspot.com, or become his buddy on Facebook (or Twitter or Google+ or whatever you prefer) to keep up with reviews and other developments.
I-94 BAR review of RADIO MOSCOW “Magical Dirt”
Magical Dirt – Radio Moscow (Alive Natural Sound)
Written by The Barman on 14 June 2014.
Radio Moscow’s “thing” is pretty easy to get your head around: Meandering but economical psychedelic guitar jams wrapped around bluesy vocals. Loud and comparatively clean with a dash of funk in the bottom end.
On Album Number Four this Iowa power trio don’t diverge from the formula. There’s some gated vocals, a little steel guitar undercoat visible through the riff-heavy exterior (“Sweet Lil Thing” and “Stinging”), but it’s mostly ball-out, see-you-at-the-finish-line rave-ups.
The term “jams” doesn’t do the songs justice because they are well-realized with no filler. Guitarist-vocalist Parker Griggs is well versed in his classic rock. Something like “These Days” with its rolling bass rumble and cascading riff simply out-Creams Cream before spearing off into space rock territory.
WASHINGTON POST (AP) review of LONESOME SHACK
Lonesome Shack, “More Primitive” (Alive Naturalsound)
More than anything else the blues is meant for dancing. The guys in Lonesome Shack seem to know this deep down in their bones.
These three middle-aged white dudes from Seattle surely have little in common with Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and the great bluesmen of north Mississippi who developed the distinctive and influential Hill country blues sound. But they share knowledge of the same truth: Nothing soothes the soul like boogie music.
Lonesome Shack’s new 10-track album, “More Primitive,” is the group’s first for Alive Naturalsound Records, the label that discovered The Black Keys and released that now platinum-selling group’s first album. It has an authentic, lived-in feel. At the same time it’s more accessible than the group’s previous work, and you could see it appealing to fans of blues miners like The Keys, Jack White and the North Mississippi Allstars.
Ben Todd lovingly recreates a sound that’s mostly disappeared with the deaths of Kimbrough and Burnside with vocals that are high and plaintive in the old style and yet lyrically modern. His acoustic and electric guitar work creaks and crawls (“Old Dream,” ”Evil”) or builds to a ramshackle sprint (beat tracks “Big Ditch,” ”Wrecks”), depending on the mood. Everything’s driven along by a tirelessly bouncy groove provided by bassist Luke Bergman and impressionistic drumming from Kristian Garrard.
On the title track, Todd sings, “I want to live, I want to live more primitive” to a Pied Piper beat, and not only do you believe him, but you also want to join him in the pursuit. Dancing all the way.
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SOURCE: AP
BUFFALO KILLERS on LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY
CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE BUFFALO KILLERS ON LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY (TRAILER)
LONESOME SHACK “More Primitive” in The DAILY EXPRESS (UK)
How an American trio are changing the sound of blues
NEW Mexico-based blues trio Lonesome Shack are captivating blues lovers and making converts with its evocative, emotive take on the genre. By Paul Stewart
FOR those who love the blues, this could well be the album of the year. Seattle’s Lonesome Shack have called this More Primitive and nothing could be closer to the truth.
The trio has produced a raw, stripped-down album that explores the depths of boogie and country blues while having a modern sound. There are lots of people who “play the blues” these days – its kind of “hip” and there are the old timers, who still do it brilliantly and there are those who slavishly try to recreate what they had.
But there are a few blues musicians who are taking the blues forward to the 21st century. Make no mistake, they are the real deal but they plough their own furrow and move the musical genre forward. A prime example of this is new blues guitarist, Stephen Dale Petit.
Lonesome Shack are part of this rarified group. The trio’s sound is raw, immediate and engaging and Ben Todd’s introspective lyrics are in the American blues tradition but to a new level and show a desire to get to the primitive core of life.