A video for ‘Senator’ – a track from the 2011 Stephen Malkmus release ‘Mirror Traffic’ has been released.
The clip stars actor and Tenacious D frontman Jack Black in the grubby title role. Keen eyed viewers may spot other cameos. The single edit also replaces the word ‘blow-job’ with ‘corn dog’…
Watch the clip below.
Read a review of the album here.
Although they’ve never had a huge breakthrough outside of their home country, Belgian metal band could now be considered stalwarts of the scene. Active throughout the early-mid 90s, they gained a strong cult following before announcing their break-up in 1997.
The reformed band were signed to Roadrunner Records in 2010 with whom they released a live album. 2011’s ‘Feed ‘Em With a Brick’ (also issued by Roadrunner) is the band’s first full studio release in fourteen years. The band has also released a single, ‘In The City’, for which you can view the video below.
Channel Zero’s current line up features: Franky DSVD (Vocals), Phil B (Drums), Tino De Martino (Bass) & Mikey Doling (Guitar).
Alt-rock icons Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have announced they are divorcing after 27 years of marriage. The couple have a seventeen year old daughter, Coco.
According to an official statement issued via Matador Records, Gordon and Moore – both founding members of alternative rock pioneers Sonic Youth – would like privacy at this delicate time: “Musicians Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, married in 1984, are announcing that they have separated. Sonic Youth, with both Kim and Thurston involved, will proceed with its South American tour dates in November. Plans beyond that tour are uncertain. The couple has requested respect for their personal privacy and does not wish to issue further comment.”
Beyond the planned South American tour, the future of Sonic Youth seems uncertain. The news comes just after Moore announced his short run of UK solo dates (details here).
According to an interview given on Fox news on Thursday, Billy Corgan plans to start his own professional wrestling company.
Says Corgan of the new venture: “I’ve been involved sort of behind the scenes with pro wrestling for about a decade and made a lot of friends in the business,” he said. “It’s a very insular business and it’s a long story, but I essentially got involved with some brothers who had a wrestling promotion. We decided to form our own promotion and we’re going to try to bring back to the glory days.” [Source: Blabbermouth]
The company, Resistance Pro Wrestling will take part in its first even on November 25th at Excalibur in Chicago.
Meanwhile, the band’s new album ‘Oceania’ is scheduled for release sometime during the same month, having been delayed from an original September release date.
Anyone like The Soviettes? With each album those Minnesota punkers got better, finally perfecting their sound on their third release (‘LPIII’) before throwing in the towel. After their break up, vocalist/guitarist Annie and drummer Danny formed a punk/garage band called Awesome Snakes and their record was cool in an uber-trashy sort of way, but it was The Soviettes’ other vocalist/guitarist Maren “Sturgeon” Macosko who took the band’s truest spirit away with her.
Maren now fronts The Gateway District [sometimes “The”, sometimes not], whose debut full length 2009’s ‘Some Days You Get The Thunder’ sounds mostly like you’d imagine The Soviettes’ fourth album to sound, if only they stayed together and taken a small step backward to something a little rawer. Released two years later, their second full length ‘Perfect’s Gonna Fail’ works very much on the old maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Driven by the buzzing rhythm guitars of Maren and Carrie (who also shares singing duties and solid drumming (courtesy of Brad, also of Rivethead), ‘Run Away’ sets the tone for the record, featuring a sound which -although hugely comparable to The Soviettes – has a similar carefree energy as the band’s label-mates The Copyrights. Carrie’s lead voice is tuneful and user friendly in punk terms, but when in tandem with Maren’s sounds even better. ‘Macy’ is tighter, faster and manages to be even more like The Soviettes, due to Maren taking the lead vocal role. The bass (played by Nate, also of Banner Pilot) has a much bigger presence too; his playing brings a superb rumbling edge. The band then take all of these great features and blend them perfectly on ‘Leaving Me Behind’, which features some great harmony vocals (from all band members) set against what is perhaps the band’s finest arrangement. This is punk-pop as it absolutely should be: two minutes of hard rhythmic chords with a strong chorus and no padding whatsoever.
‘Blue Halls’ couples Maren’s distinctive vocal against some buzzsaw guitar work and a rally cry of “worthless piece of shit” while ‘I’ll Take The River’ works well due to a bouncier mood, and a superb combination of ringing and staccato guitars. Despite a few of the vocals being noticeably wobbly in places, it’s still incredibly strong. After a brief moment of guitar work that’s reminiscent of The Jam’s ‘Billy Hunt’, ‘Let It Ride’ reverts to what Gateway District are best at: simple chords played at full pelt. This number captures the punky brilliance of ‘Leaving Me Behind’ with the addition of a playful guitar lead, which puts the band in the same frame as the likes of Pinhead Gunpowder.
Across 26 and a half minutes, the four musicians barely stop for breath, with ‘Fishman’s Story’ coming closest to the band “slowing down”, as the band chop in their high energy punk-pop for an alternative jangle, along with a few longer stretches of vocal with Maren and Carrie joining in harmony. But even then, the slightly more restrained moments are interspersed with a dose of typical punkiness, so it’s not too long before things return to normal.
If you haven’t discovered (The) Gateway District, then put them at the top of your list of punk bands to check out. Tunes delivered at the pace which often made The Soviettes so enjoyable, combined with great playing and plenty of sing-along choruses make ‘Perfect’s Gonna Fail’ a must have disc.
August 2011