While most people will associate trip-hop with its formative years in the 1990s and the breakthrough artists Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky, the electronic subgenre never really went away. Italian band Ophiuco break an eight year silence and have a new release out this week via Seahorse Recordings entitled ‘Hybrid’. Canadian blog Northern Transmissions says this release “pays homage to classic trip-hop sounds” and you can find out for yourselves by visiting the link below.
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ANGRY SNOWMANS – What Makes An Elf Build Toys? EP
Angry Snowmans are potentially the funniest thing to emerge on the punk scene since Butt Trumpet released their debut LP in the mid 90s. This Victoria, BC based band have been dropping festive EP releases with tunes satirising Poison Idea, Adolescents and The Germs and reworking familiar punk tunes for yuletide amusement since 2008. There has been much to enjoy, but their twisting of Buzzcocks ‘Orgasm Addict’ into an ode to the Toblerone was particularly inspired. You’d think they’d have run out of steam after six years – let’s face it, most of Me First & The Gimme Gimmes stuff after album three is either pretty shoddy or just plain tired – but the Angry Snowmans’ 2015 release ‘What Makes An Elf Build Toys?’ could be their one of their best yet. While Brian Setzer is the undisputed crowd-pleaser when it comes to snow, sleigh bells, guitars and all-round xmas jollity, your holidays aren’t complete without this.
MERCY BROWN – Mercy Brown
Mercy Brown’s debut album is a sledgehammer of a release. This Washington based band clearly aren’t keen to mess around; while not always the easiest of listens, this first full-length comes loaded with riffs the size of juggernauts, a production value so entrenched in bottom end that even the biggest riffs sound bigger still and their pneumatic rhythmic assault that’s like being repeatedly slapped in the mouth. They’re very much advocates of metal with a capital M and appear to have no time for the moulded and more mainstream bands that have so often filled the metal TV channels like Scuzz during the previous couple of years before this release.
MEGA – May The Force Be With You
On their 2012 mini-album ‘May The Force Be With You’, Italian punks Mega blend hooky choruses with a garage rock charm. Whereas their label-mates The Snookys focus their garage chops on upbeat rock ‘n’ roll, these eight tracks show the Milan-based four piece to have a bigger fixation with the Ramones. The raw sound of these recordings, however, ensures there’s always a stronger DIY element compared to the results from your average Ramonescore outfit, particularly in relation to many of their US counterparts.
SAVAGE GOTH – Savage Goth EP
Savage Goth is concrete proof that you can’t judge things by name alone. Such a judgement led to one of the band’s first gigs being support to a tech metal band – their choice of music somewhat lost upon the receiving audience. Led by songwriter Matthew Kenworthy, the name was a tongue-in-cheek throwback to a slur dating back to his school days in the north of England, where anyone who admitted to liking guitar based music was labelled a “savage goth”.