Tag: White Zombie

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Featuring members of Swans, Dead Heavens, twelve am flowers and Valley Lodge, Twiggy Branches specializes in swaggering, sleazy and anthemic power chord-based glam rock that sounds indebted to T. Rex, Foo Fighters and others, as you’ll hear on the EPs first two tracks “Never Gonna Be Told” and “Miss Available” off their  latest EP Waste Not, Want More. As the band told me by email, the EP was tracked live in studio, recorded by Paul Kostabi, who has worked with White Zombie, mixed by Violens‘ and Ariel Pink‘s Jorge Elbrecht and mastered by Alan Douches — and as a result, both singles possess a forceful “you-were-there” sort of immediacy that’s rare for contemporary rock.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Lysergic and Apocalyptic Visuals for Blackout’s Doom-Laden “Graves”

Currently comprised of founding members Christian Gordy (vocals, guitar) and Justin Sherrell (bass, vocals) and newest member Adam Taylor (drums), the New York-based doom metal/hard rock/stoner rock trio Blackout released two albums through renowned hard rock/stoner rock label RidingEasy Records — their 2013 debut effort We Are Here and 2015’s self-titled album — before going through a hiatus, which resulted in the departure of the band’s third founding member Taryn Waldman. Waldman’s departure from the band was a devastating blow to Gordy and Sherrell, both of whom saw Waldman as being so instrumental to their sound and songwriting approach that they felt the band’s fate was uncertain; however, last summer Gordy armed with a handful of mushrooms and a bottle of tequila set out to write new material for the band — and while being particularly inspired, Gordy contacted and recruited Adam Taylor, who had just left Ghost Punch to write and record the band’s third and latest album The Horse, which RidingEasy Records released last month. 

“Graves,” The Horse’s first single will further cement the trio’s reputation for a gritty and bruising sound, consisting of sludgy power chords and thundering drumming that reportedly draws influence from Helmet, Cro-Mags, Judge, Prong and others but just underneath the surface is a slow-burning brooding sense of menace.  And it shouldn’t be surprising as the song describes scenery from the apocalypse in such vivid terms that you can smell the sulfur and feel the debris falling around you, and feel everyone around you going absolutely mad from panic. 

The recently released lysergic-tinged video features footage of the band playing in front of a projection screen that features footage of the cosmos, nuclear bombs exploding, psychedelic sludge, exploding lava and other scenery; in some way, it’s like a White Zombie video gone absolutely insane.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Moody and Doom-Laden Sounds and Visuals of GHXST’s “Waiting for the Night”

Featuring co-founders and primary songwriters Shelley X and Chris Wild, GHXST is a New York-based noise rock/grunge rock/doom metal trio whose has publicly cited The Jesus and Mary Chain, White Zombie and Sonic Youth as their influences. And with their latest EP, Perish, the New York-based noise rock trio will further cement their reputation for crafting a noisy, shoegazer-like sound full of enormous power chords fed through layers upon layers of distortion and effects pedals, Shelley X’s bluesy croon — while being a subtle change in sound as the act employs the use of both obscured and distorted drum machine and some effects pedals on Shelley X’s vocals, as you’ll hear on the EP’s latest power chord, feedback laden, doom-filled dirge “Waiting for the Night.”

Directed by the members of the band, the video follows its primary duo wandering down a train line to a desolate, sleazy and decidedly American small town-based motel, where they broodingly sit around bored, waiting for something and nothing in their hotel room and in front of a projection screen featuring dusty, old images of the American West, before concluding with the duo driving along dirt-filled blacktop as the sun sets. And within both the song and its accompanying video, there’s a sense of restless energy and insomnia-filled, endless nights in seedy, fucked up and lonesome places.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Kazu Makino (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone (drums) and Amedeo Pace (guitar, vocals), New York-based indie rock trio Blonde Redhead can trace their origins to when the Pace Brothers met Makino — by complete chance, no less — at an Italian restaurant. Deriving their name from “Blonde Redhead,” a song by no wave act DNA, the trio has developed a reputation for a constantly evolving sound with their earliest recorded efforts drawing heavily from both noise rock and experimental rock — in particular, think of Sonic Youth and others; however, over the past 15 years the band has incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze, psych rock and other genres. And if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time, you may well be aware of the fact that back in 2014, the trio quietly released their ninth all-length album Barragan, an album that featured the shimmering and sultry single “Dripping.”

As a native New Yorker, I miss the energy, griminess and grittiness of pre-Giuliani New York — a New York that I’ll never, ever get back. And as you can imagine, Blonde Redhead’s material, along with countless other bands writing and recording in NYC during the late 80s and early 90s is full of the same teeming energy and seedy grit, while possessing an urgent carnal need. Sadly, a great deal of the band’s earliest recordings haven’t been in print for some time — and they will be seeing the light of day for the first time in almost 20 years as Numero Group is issuing a 4LP/2 CD box seat featuring the band’s first two albums, their singles, existing demos and radio performances, as well unpublished photographs and two lengthy essays on the band and their work to date. And it’s the newest installment in Numero’s 200 Line series, which has also included releases from  Unwound, Bedhead, Codeine, White Zombie and The Scientists.

 

“Big Song” is the first single off the box set and the single is a decidedly large song consisting of time signature and tempo changes, explosive blasts of feedback, angular bass and guitar chords — with the guitar chords being played through effects and delay pedals, paired with Makino’s sensual and vaguely nonsensical vocals. Certainly, as soon as you hear the song, it also sounds like the time period it was recorded in — in particular 1993 or so. Certainly if you’re a fan, there’s the excitement of hearing and owning material that had long been discontinued, as well as capturing a band in their early days, attempting to discover their own unique voice.