Ruined Tongues and Colombian Necktie

Got to admit that my writing energy is being drained by another project I have going at the moment, plus I am doing the world a favor by raising five cute little kittens and being their mom is a full time job. Since the furry critters are asleep now, I thought about merging two review requests into one, especially since both these bands asked to be hosted on the blog and later they did a split together. Don't be fooled though, this seemingly cool idea is just present to mask my inability to write properly these days. Read at your own risk.

Ruined Tongue - All Of My Bad Habits 7'' (2011)

http://ruinedtongue.bandcamp.com

First in line is "Ruined Tongue", a five piece band coming from Las Vegas which brings along some quite demented and wild tunes. The dudes got together in 2009 and after a lineup change, a demo and a split with "Residuals" here we are today. I still haven't listened to those recordings, but this 7'' was enough for me to get interested, start writing and promise to check those tunes out as well. This record bursts with seemingly typical hardcore punk, but along the way you notice a really weird twist. A combination of extremely eerie lyrics, raving vocal performance and crazy melodies promises to provide you with an intriguing ten something minutes, which is the duration of the five songs present on this release. Staying true to their description on Last.fm, "All Of My Bad Habits" catches you in a whirlwind of sound, leaving your brain boggled in its wake. 

The thing that initially caught my attention is the vocal, more specifically the lyrics.  All written words on this release are short and simple, yet really bizarre. I don't know if it's just me, but the words managed to spark quite a gloomy mood. It is probably the way the texts are written, since in essence they aren't anything spectacular, it is just that they are overtly direct and without anything holding them back. Completely in your face and the lyrics manage to create a great melancholy filled image whilst you listen. I think that just quoting a part of "Daylight Wastings" will be enough as a preview: "I live my life like a piece of shit, running through bowels of our youth".  What further adds to the overall atmosphere is the vocal performance itself, since the singer sounds like a raving maniac. Once again, it is nothing spectacular or revolutionary, just a scream, bit it is the way he howls and wails, combined with the above mentioned lyrics that make this excellent. At this point you realize how this band is great at sculpting an amazing song with typical tools, since this simple/effective clause applies to the instruments as well. The riffs are flowing excellently, but are cut with unexpected outbursts of violence or nutty sections. A good example is the opening song, "Son of a Biker/Ghost Rider", which is slowly building up only to explode in the last couple of seconds in a completely unexpected fashion. 

This album was really a neat surprise and I really enjoyed it. Needless to say this release is actually old news, since this year has been quite productive for "Ruined Tongue", the band releasing a live album recorded in "Texas Toast Haus" and a split with "Colombian Necktie", about which you will read in a few moments. In the meantime, follow the band and get in touch via their website found here. One last important note, the band is collaborating with three labels, those being "Reckless Minds Collective", "Radical Friends" and "Irish VooDoo Records".

Colombian Necktie - Self Titled (2011)

http://colombiannecktie.bandcamp.com

Yet another band from Las Vegas, "Colombian Necktie" is a quintet or much rather a sextet if you include Tim, the band's "spiritual advisor". Much like their mates from "Ruined Tongue", this band is also signed to "Irish VooDoo Records" and "RMC", through which they plan to release three upcoming splits (one of which is the split at the bottom of this post). Prior to this self titled record, the band has yet one more split release behind them, done with "Pariah" from Southern California. You can take a listen to those tracks on the band's bandcamp page, which I am also yet to do.
The self titled recording brings us five songs with roughly eighteen minutes of tunes, during which "Colombian Necktie" manages to lash out some truly excellent metallic hardcore punk. I was reading some tidbits about the band online and several times they were compared to acts such as "Converge" and "His Hero Is Gone" and I can definitely say that they rise up to those names. Their influences are easily recognized, with a trace of technical playing and some start-stop rhythms of "Converge" and the dirty, unpolished aggression of "His Hero Is Gone", though the band successfully transforms the sound into something rightfully theirs. These eighteen minutes are full of constant violent pounding on the ears, with a minor break in the form of the piano song "Lirit", the aggression taking various shapes. The sound is constantly morphing, one second you have a fluid, melancholic tune and the other second a massive breakdown-like beat which pummels upon you...after which a sluggish tune crawls away and finally turns into an almost gentle harmony. The songs have great twists and turns and really keep the listener under tension and eager for more.

One great addition to all this mayhem is the very production of the release. As I said before, the tracks seem as if not polished, thus you have a constant crunchy sound which goes perfectly with this kind of music, since it gives the instruments a deep, menacing growl. I really had the pleasure to just sit and listen to a specific instrument, being amazed at how I can easily discern every part of the band, despite the chaos of the songs. This extremely added to the overall enjoyment, since you can find some really interesting melodies inside...or just forget about the philosophical stuff and let yourself loose side by side with the aggression unleashed by "Colombian Necktie". Get in touch with the band through their facebook page found here and thank them for an amazing release.

Ruined Tongue & Colombian Necktie - Split 7'' (2011)

This seven inch split, which you can listen to on the above posted bandcamp pages, came out this July. It features four songs, two per band, and I have to say that both names continue doing what they do best.

The two tracks from "Ruined Tongue" come rushing in with that cool eerie style which they imprinted so well in my mind. Their songs dedicated to this split are more punkish in comparison to their "All Of My Bad Habits" and the tracks are both shorter than two minutes. Additionally, I think that here there is a bigger accent on the clash of melody tempos and much less on that unexpectedness trait which their previous release had. Both songs start fast, but moving toward the end they get dramatically slower and dragging. In any case, if you enjoyed the above posted release, you are bound to like their side of the split for sure.

As for "Colombian Necktie" side, their songs are much longer, not just compared to the "Ruined Tongue" side, but to their self titled release as well. Like their split mates, they pretty much remained good at what they do, so if you liked the previous recording you will like this one as well. However, the two songs present here bear much less tension and sudden melody shifts, those being replaced by either flowing and greatly melded melodies (like in the song "Gemini part 1") or the constant effort of producing as much noise as possible (song "I can feel everything......"). Where the former song is in the vein of their self titled release production wise, the latter song took the crunchiness on a whole new level and we have just a giant buzzing wall of sound in front of us.

Either way we get to hear some slight changes in sound and cool details from both bands, which makes this split quite interesting. Both bands are pretty much active today and I am really eager to hear more from both projects, hopefully they will continue pumping out releases like they did so far. Check them out, you won't regret. Enjoy!

[Fan the Flames] Records - YOUWRETCH & Lord Green

Today is promotion day and this time we have "Fan the Flames Records" on the platter. The label hails from Minnesota, Minneapolis and is of course an independent one. Born in 2011, "Fan the Flames" is still a very young record label, having only these two releases under their belt, but that fact is not to be underestimated simply because the records deliver a serious punch to the ears. Before I review the bands, I'd just like to point out a fact which I read on the label's facebook page, which you can find here, and that is that only recycled material is used for packaging, quite a cool and useful thing if you ask me. So without further ado, let me introduce you to "YOUWRETCH" and "Lord Green".

YOUWRETCH - YOUWRETCH (2011)

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Coming from "Fan The Flames" neighborhood, "YOUWRETCH" is a quintet formed in Winter 2009 and hitting the scene with shows in Summer 2010. The very beginning of 2011 saw the release of this debut EP through collaboration work between "Fan The Flames" and "Forward!" Records. 

In any case, the sound of "YOUWRETCH" has been described as "ambient hardcore punk" and upon listening to the EP I can definitely say that the genre tag is well justified. When I saw the list of tracks and the duration of the release, four songs with somewhere around nine minutes of music, I thought that this will be quite fast and chaotic. Believe me when I say that it is in fact like that, but there is also something unique here that doesn't dip this band into the plain hardcore punk bucket. First of all, despite the songs being rapid and short, they possess buildups of sorts which are highly diverse per track. For instance, there is a post rock/sludge-ish intro to the "The Rider", while "Failure and Worship" has a near "Electric Wizard" on speed like beginning. This was a really interesting composition maneuver by the band, since they throw at you fast and explosive outbursts of sound, but each with its own little twists, making you feel like you are listening to more songs than there actually are on this EP. Also, there are many interesting things happening in the songs apart from their intros, with many crescendo like moments, sudden tempo and volume drops, rushing and pounding hardcore riffs, all actually contributing in such a way that there is really an atmospheric trait to their music. Everything is molded very well into one whole, so despite all these various ups and downs in the tracks the flow is excellent, thus you listen to the EP in literally one breath. 

As for the very sound and the quality of this release, nothing to say but praise. This is just one of those records when every tone is where it should be and nothing is astray. The sound has some crunchiness and a buzzing, brooding trait, so sometimes you have to concentrate a bit to discern guitar and bass playing, but here it simply didn't bother me. This is probably due to the fact that the EP just grabs your attention instantly and takes you for a turbulent ride and there is no getting off the roller-coaster until the damned trip is over. I would, however, like to praise the vocal a bit, since at times it reminds me of the vocalist of "Fall of Efrafa" and I have "Efrafa" raping my speakers these last couple of days almost nonstop. Basically, Jordan, the vocalist of "YOUWRETCH" has a raw, coarse scream and it goes exceptionally well with the instrumental section.

Overall, I really enjoyed this EP and it came as a very nice surprise. Currently the band is writing songs for an upcoming full length and I am very eager to hear in which direction they will take their music. The EP definitely has an experimental notion to it and it was great to listen to what the band is capable of creating. So until their next release sees the light of day, you can check out "YOUWRETCH" on their bandcamp page here or get in touch via their facebook page here.

Lord Green - Last Demo (2011)

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Here is another band under the care of "Fan the Flames", though this one is rooted in Quad Cities, Illinois. There is not much information on the web about this trio, other than the fact that this is actually a re-release of their demo and it came out in February 2011. Ok without anything left for me to say in the introduction, let us get right to the point.

Wow, just wow! Much like to "YOUWRETCH", the amount of amazement came as a great surprise, so officially this day is an excellent one, two completely stunning bands discovered in less than an hour. In any case, "Last Demo" packs eight songs into thirty minutes of tunes, quite a long release as you can see. It comes natural actually, since they play a combination of stoner, hardcore and even some psychedelic rock on top of it all. The way you are introduced to this amalgam of genres is just superb, coming in the form of the song "Spitting Blood (Resuscitation)" which I first heard on their website found here, the song actually not featured on "Last Demo". It starts off with a stoner like tune, quite slow and dragging, the guitar playing with the distortion, the bass kicking the groove a bit and some background drumming to spice it all up. So you sit there and just chill out for the first minute of the song and then in the moment when you just completely relax everything picks up the pace, the screaming ensues, shit goes completely nuts and you are just shaken up with speedy, rending hardcore riffs. And once the hurricane of sound passes right by, you are left listening to some amazing instrumental parts, the band providing near improvised tunes and you feel like in the midst of a storm. This type of unexpectedness in their tunes is almost omnipresent and for the duration of this near half an hour trip you literally never know with what you will be faced next. The skill of the band when it comes to song composition is just excellent and it takes you quite a lot of listens to actually remember songs, simply because they have a very turbulent soundscape. 

The fact that we are dealing with a trio here really adds certain compliments to "Lord Green", since they manage to create quite a lot of chaos and energy coming from only the basic band instruments. Much like "YOUWRETCH", they also have a certain dose of buzzing sounds and distortion filled tones, so the sound gets splashed around you in all directions. A similar thing is happening to the vocal, which is extremely raspy and chaotic, so it fits with the rest of the band in a great way. The recording quality is perfect and that "splash" effect of the sound is superbly captured. 

Needless to say, I enjoyed "Lord Green" as much as the previous band and I can already sense that it will be spinning in my player a lot in the future. I am unaware what the band is up to recently, but as much as I see on their official page they have a show coming up which means they are still alive and kicking. Definitely looking forward to hearing more of their work, there is some heavy felt potential here. Until then you can also get in touch with them via their myspace page found here.

Gig review: Nux Vomica, Helltard

This was supposed to be written and posted yesterday, but I was under so many impressions and emotions about this gig that I just couldn't sit down and scrabble some words for a review. Yes, I was so blown away by what I saw and heard that I really needed to take some time and recollect everything appropriately.

The concert took place two days ago on Friday 13th (evil date for a crust gig, fuck yeah) in the "small club" of  "Akademija" ("Academy"). I already mentioned this club when I wrote the review for the "Went" gig, so you should be familiar with it and my feelings for it (if you didn't check out that writeup, you can check it here). I'll repeat myself a bit as far as the club is concerned, since I really hate the place for its bad sound and horrible acoustics. When I remember the "Went" gig, the very venue crippled the band quite much and I was hoping that the same won't happen to this show. Luckily it was the exact opposite, but I'll get to that later.
Anyways, me and my mates got at the club somewhere around 10 PM, on time just in case it actually starts on time. Unfortunately, the gig was extremely late, beginning around 11:30 or something like that, I can't quite remember since I was just dying to get inside. Once we got in and managed to grab a fine spot amidst a fair number of people present at the show, "Helltard" kicked off. I was talking a bit with my brother and his mates at the time, so I sadly didn't pay much attention to the band (yeah, I know, I suck at local band support sometimes), but from what I managed to hear they play a combination of thrashy grindcore and punk. Quite frantic and fast tunes within extremely short songs, so their part of the gig wasn't very long. Their music was interesting, though I think that I wouldn't really enjoy them at home if you know what I mean. Needless to say, they were good live, despite attracting some audience hate with random jokes between songs. Don't do that shit guys, just rend next time. You can check their tunes out on their myspace page found here.

When "Helltard" finished, I grabbed the chance and went to the distro section and drooled a bit before actually buying a shirt and the 2x LP "Asleep in the Ashes" from "Nux Vomica". I'll say it now, if you love their tunes definitely buy their merch! The design of the shirt is great (and yes, my cat already succeeded in destroying a part of it). But oh my, the "Asleep in the Ashes"... whole different meaning of the word "awesome". Beautiful artwork, colored vinyl, great package, just amazing. So, as I said, support the band, they really do an excellent jobwith their releases, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor!

But back to the gig... After a short pause, "Nux Vomica" took their instruments and literally killed the audience. I have to say it right away, this is the best concert I have ever watched and listened, without a single doubt. Up until this Friday, the "In Flames" gig I attended was my number one show, but now it definitely shares the first place with "Nux Vomica", simply because both shows struck me in two quite different ways. "In Flames" performed superbly and the show was full of energy, me and my friends just dancing, jumping, screaming, moshing and making fools of ourselves constantly for the duration of the gig, a really beautiful memory in my mind. But with "Nux Vomica" it is completely the other way around. They managed to impact hit me so hard and I just remained pinned down in one place, totally stunned and in a catatonic state. I was just standing there amidst everyone and just stared and absorbed every visual and audio stimulation coming from the band. Somehow, even the venue obeyed and aided their music, since the sound was so powerful and chaotic, but every instrument remained decipherable. Never before did I attend a show where the band succeeded in creating such a massive sound, you literally feel swallowed by it. Everyone was so close to the stage, since the club is small, so the sound just bounces off of you, as if you can feel it materialize on your skin. This all probably sounds like a load of bull to the readers, but I still can't believe nor explain what I experienced that night. Even now while writing this and looking back to the show I get shivers at how amazing it was. Every second of their performance was just perfect, full of energy and radiating with passion. The ambient went along well with the music, since there was a minimum amount of light, everything was dark, so the movement on stage was visually entertaining.
Their repertoire contained two of my favorite songs, "All The Clocks Have Different Times" and "Room Silencer", amongst many others. I thought that those two will be the peak of the show for me, but the band surpassed even those expectations with "Walk Through The Ashes". The song itself is an epic piece with a clash of gentle and highly aggressive tones, but the way it was performed live... completely outstanding. With the additional drums being played by the singer, they created such a monster sound, every note just stomping you to the ground and this was definitely the climax of the show. Each song just furiously pounded toward the audience and witnessing that was sensational, the sound engulfing everything in its path.

I guess that this amount of flattery on the band's account is quite enough for you to realize that this really is the BEST fucking show. It was my initial thought to provide a more technical, rather than emotional, review yet somehow I'm unable to do that due to me still not being able to believe that I witnessed something like this. I was so frantic after the show, that I had to approach the singer and tell him in person how much I was impressed. Even this amount of praise seems to little to express my feelings for "Nux Vomica", they completely sealed my liking for their work with this performance.
In the end, let this review be a reminder for all of you who follow "Natures With No Plagues", if you ever get a chance to see this band play live, just go. Don't think about it, just go. This will be a truly loved memory and I sincerely hope that I will get to see them again sometime in the future.

Move the Island - EP (2010)

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This month has been extremely scarce with posts for various reasons. At the moment I acquired two writing jobs, one already in motion, one waiting to start next month and just the preparations for those are really draining my energy for writing. Since I'll keep the blog running of course, you should probably expect more interviews and a bit shorter than usual reviews. But enough rants, let's get this one going.

"Move the Island" is a hardcore/punk band coming from Birmingham, Alabama. This four track EP was recorded in November 2010 and as much as their blog (found here) suggests they immediately went onto writing and recording some new stuff for a full length. There are just a few posts over there and for a second I thought the band stopped existing, but luckily they have several shows in line, so all is well.
So, what do you get in this neat little EP? The majority of sounds in the four songs present here are surprisingly, for this genre, mid tempo. I was actually expecting to hear some maniacal rampage or something similarly wild, but was actually greeted with an easy going record. Don't get me wrong though, this is not a flaw at all, the tunes are very well composed with a lot of shifts in melody and the band is exceptionally well presenting its skill and talent. In the sea of mid tempo playing, there are some faster peaks and it is quite interesting how they literally spice up a song. Thanks to great recording, the sound is completely superb and you can hear everything. At times I was literally forgetting a currently playing song as a whole and was just focusing on a particular instrument. I was very surprised with how well you get to hear the bass and how good the lines actually are.
It's all good and nice, but what does it sound like? Yeah, this question was bugging me during my initial listening, since I really couldn't put my finger on it, a definite seal of uniqueness for this band. In the end, I kinda managed to find some similar projects, but thinking about it now I don't know if it will make sense. "Move the Island" swings on the line of "Bright Calm Blue", creating a bit more punk version of "Asymmetry Set" and at times morphing slower bits and pieces of "La Dispute" into more hardcore. Lyrics are also written in such a manor, bouncing between social criticism and emotional dilemmas. Don't take my words for granted though, it sounds strange, but it makes perfect sense in my crazy mind.
But forgetting influences and all that for a second, the fact that you should take for granted is to just take a listen to this band. I was stupid enough to really delay listening to them just to be in the right mood, yet once I took a listen I realized that I would love their music despite the moment I initially listened to them. So don't make the same mistake as I did and just check them out. If you are not into downloading music at the moment, you can take a listen to "Move the Island" on their bandcamp page found here. Enjoy!

Shat Shorts - Seersucker and Sundresses (2010)

http://shatshorts.bandcamp.com/

Woke up today and felt extremely charged and excited about doing some writing for the blog. Morning sleepiness, some coffee, my cat blocking half the screen and an extremely interesting band to top it all...small things make life fucking great.

"Shat Shorts" is a quintet hailing from Washington, DC, consisting of former members from quite a lot of past projects, including "Dawn Treader", "Mop Attack", "The Summer We Went West", "Bezout's Identity", "Hobis" and "Monument". The dudes got together in last April and by the following September they already recorded this six song tape. In the mail that Andrew from the band sent to me, he mentioned that they play hardcore/punk, but once I took a listen to their material I realized that it was so much more than just plain hc punk. My excitement about writing today was further increased once the tape ended, since there are all sorts of elements flying around in their music which really make "Shat Shorts" your atypical band.

"Amateur Hour" opens up first, comically starting with the whole band just playing some random (warming up) tunes. Drums get in line to get things serious, after which you are greeted with a deep, guitar screeching, evil melody, quite an eerie feel to it. After some time, drums go at it again and kinda separate the song into several repeated sections, a near start stop style if you please. By now you are are still in the so called hc/punk genre, but already drifting away from it, since now bass comes up front with a rather simple line which completely blew me away with how much it sounds great. Seconds later guitar comes above the bass, this repetitive melody going on for some time.

Ok, so I'll stop with the description here, hoping that you got my point. This is about half a song and as you can see there is so much going on. Not only are the melodies diverse, but the instruments sound vastly different from your standard hardcore. Call me crazy, but the bass has a sort of post punk tone to it, a bit distorted but quite solid at the same time. It really sounds great this way especially because it seems to both perfectly fit in with the rest of the band and to be extremely out of this world. The vocals are also raspy and you get a feeling like the singer is performing through a bunch of static, which exceptionally fits in with the overall chaos. Generally, the whole recording seems crunchy and raw, with a lot of crackles going on around in the air and it fits perfectly. My readers probably know how much I praise "clean" recordings, but this just blew my head from my shoulders, I instantly fell in love with this. One would think that this crunchiness would drag along some slow, sluggish tunes, but "Shat Shorts" just bursts with energy. Yes, they have some slower song sections, but there are also extremely fast and melodic parts which are just stunning.

The fact that I wrote this review in one breath, without turning back and after the initial listening gives quite a lot of praise to this band by itself. They really managed to impact hit me so fast and really left a mark in my head. There is really an interesting and unique experimental edge within their music and it grasps your full attention. I definitely recommend "Shat Shorts" to everyone, they are bound to attract your liking. If you are still uncertain whether to give them a try, you can read an interview with them which was done by "dcist" here or if you found my review retarded you can check out their one song being featured in a local city paper here. You can also get in touch and follow them on their tumblr page here. So, what are you waiting for? Go and just enjoy!

Interview:Bâton Rouge

Very proud to present to you the interview I did with the new, wonderful sound coming from France under the name of "Bâton Rouge"! I didn't get the chance to review their "Fragments D'eux Mêmes" release, so if by any chance you haven't been introduced to this band then this is the perfect opportunity to do so. Members of "12XU", "Daitro" and "Mihai Edrisch"...what to say more?! Enjoy!

1. First of all, thank you so much for taking your time for this interview. Please introduce yourself (yourselves) and the rest of the band.

Gwen: I'm playing bass and I sing as well in "Bâton Rouge"

Julien: hi, I'm julien and I play guitar and sing in "Bâton Rouge"

Samuel: Hi, I'm Samuel and I play guitar. There's also Benoit who plays drums.

2. Some of you guys know each other from previous bands, but how did the idea to form "Bâton Rouge" come along?

Julien: We knew each other more or less from childhood actually. We hung out with each other before playing together and learning how to play an instrument. 2 years ago, Benoit was kinda fed of playing "Daitro" songs but wanted to keep on playing music together because we were still all living in the same town and also because we're the best friends ever. So we kept on playing together under a new name and a new direction for a band.

Gwen: I met these 3 guys in 2001 and I saw their first show when they were playing with "Daitro". I joined them in 2004 and I never left them because they are really cool. "BâtonRouge" is the following of this friendship, with another kind of way to play music.

3. France plays a big role when it comes to both European and worldwide emo/screamo/punk sound. What are your personal impressions about the French underground scene?

Sam: I don't really know what French screamo is... maybe the lyrics in French make something very special, I don't know. About underground scene in France, there's still some nice people in many places that are involved into that, playing bands, makings labels... But I have the sensation that there's less and less good places to makes shows.

Gwen: Everybody says that French screamo is very typical, but even if we were playing with "Daitro", we are not very involved in screamo stuff so we don't really know what is this French specificity. About the French underground scene, we can say that many people are working in the way of DIY in different cities even if we cannot keep our squat open more than 3 month.

4. And how about your local scene in Lyon? Anything particular you love or hate about it?

Gwen: I think Lyon is one of the most active scene in France because there are many people from there involved in underground stuff, because a lot of people from outside are coming and leaving all the time, because this city is well located on the French map, I think that's why there is a perpetual activity. Of course, we love and hate our city for many reason, that's what we were singing with "Daitro" in "Y".

Sam: Since a long time there's a big and interesting activity about alternative music in Lyon. There are always some new bands, new people, that are involved into that. There are different persons who organize events, shows, play in bands,... in a DIY spirit, but in different kind of style. That makes something interesting and rich. At this time most of the shows, events, happened in place called "Grrnd Zero". It's also where we have our practice room. I'm really attached about local scene, in music or in art, and I think it's important to keep it strong. I'm always very curious to see what happened in the city, see new bands from here playing...

5. Some members of your band have played in a plethora of other bands, all being strictly diy. What originally managed to draw you into the movement?

Gwen: When I discovered diy stuff, I was playing in "Simfela", a powerviolence band from a small city close to Lyon and we discovered "Daitro" in the same time, so we were both new in this big city full of underground stuff and we decided to do things together.

Julien: 12 years ago I've been to a small show here in Lyon and the band kicked my ass. Friends from SK records were organizing the show and they were also doing a small DIY label. They showed me it was possible to do things on their own for great bands. Then we started to organize our shows with our good buddies from "Simfela" and "Mihai Edrisch" as well (for our bands, but for touring bands as well) and go to play together in other cities altogether too. We saved and collected all the money we got to put out our first releases because it was obvious nobody will do it for us. Eventually we realized what we were doing was starting a DIY label. It started like that... very naturally, with close friends.

6. Do you consider that your involvement in such music defined you on a personal level?

Gwen: For my part, I don't think so. Life is a mix of many things and I am the product of all that things, so not only defined by a musical involvement even if I learned a lot on myself with playing music with my friends.

Sam: Not really... of course it contributes to build my personality, like everything you do in life. I think the most important thing I learn with that, it's that you can do something that really works by your own and don't wait the others to do it for you.

7. In the same sense, what have been your experiences with diy thus far, good ones as well as bad ones?

Gwen: I think that good experiences came with the bad ones. A tour for example is done with cool evenings and shity ones, and the cool ones are becoming cooler if you compare with the crappy one you had the day before. Spending 8 hours on the Turkish border was a nightmare during this 8 hours, but it became a very good recollection because of this unlikely situation. But a rainy Monday in Switzerland cannot be more than a rainy Monday in Switzerland...

Sam: Good things are to met nice people in many different places. Discover cities and places, travelling... to see how many people and places are connected by the simple idea to do constructive stuff in an alternative way. The things that get me tired are all these persons that consider themselves as very radical and politics, but only speak to same people that always agree with what they say... what a fight!

8. What are your thoughts when it comes to diy and internet? Do you follow/participate in some webzines or blogs?

Julien: Any! I personally use internet to check my emails and look at some cool vintage guitars and records I want to get, that's all... I also check some message boards out (mostly the one in Lyon) but I don't post often. I'm not really an internet person and not very at ease with that modern way of communicating, besides email of course...

Gwen: I don't know how to do an attachment with my computer, so...

Sam: I most use internet for emails and classic stuff. I'm not an "active" person on internet.

9. What inspires you most when it comes to writing and which themes do you like to grasp with your lyrics? Does only one member write the words or are more of you involved?

Julien: No, we're all in the process of writing lyrics. Someone comes with rough sentences and we build this up together on vocal melodies, with everybody giving his point of view and approvement on them. Writing lyrics is a hard task. Especially because we don't want them to be like "Daitro", where Aurelien and I were sharing them...

Gwen: Lyrics are always the last thing we are doing for a song, this is not our favorite time when we are writing music...

10. "Daïtro" has been famous for being both romantic and revolutionary. Do you plan to sculpt "Bâton Rouge" in a similar fashion? And how much experiences from previous work do you actually carry over to new projects?

Gwen: One of the reason of the hiatus of "Daitro" is that we made things to much complicated, especially in trying to make sense for everything, that's why we are trying now to be more in emergency.

Sam: "Bâton Rouge" must be more simple in many ways, it's what we want.

Julien: Not really. We're still the same but we need to say different things in a different way. "Bâton Rouge" is more spontaneous, more simple. More straight forward.

11. Before your album came out you did quite a few shows. Which show under this name has been your most memorable thus far?

Gwen: The two most memorable was the first one because it was the beginning and the last one because we were playing only the record songs for introducing them.

Sam: Yes the first one was nice and quite strange in the same time. It was fun to play together other songs than "Daitro" ones. At this time we don't play so many shows with "Bâton Rouge". So it's hard to say which one is the more intense... in general I liked the last shows we played in Lyon.

12. Care to share your favorite releases of 2010 and some of your overall favorites?

Julien: I loved 'Plain Language' by "Delay". Awesome record. I listened to it all summer long.

The new "Daniel Striped Tiger" is great as well, but it's not out yet... I got the MP3s from Seb/Purepainsugar... I listened to a lot of the "Heratys" LP, a swedish band playing raw and fast punk a la "Totalitar"... really good. "The Good Damn" from Lyon released a fantastic album called "I Can Walk With My Broken Leg". They remind me some "16 Horsepower" / "Black Keys" stuff... Still from Lyon, the first full length from "Reveille" is great too. I listened to a lot of the "Obits" 7"es as well. The new "Old Growth" LP as well, but it's not out yet as well... "Mass Hysteri" last LP is great too. "Thou" "Baton rouge..." LP and that incredible "Nirvana" cover! 2010 was a good year... I might be forgetting some though...

Gwen: For my part, I spend half of the year to listen "anchronous" from "Tubers", so I think I missed a lot of things, but that one was so so so great.

Sam: From 2010... I really like the "Yrsel" album. The 2 "Obits" 7" also, I listened to them a lot ("put it in writing", best song ever!)... I probably forgot a lot of stuff.

13. Time for you to interview me!

Julien: Ok...

Where were you born?

Born in Belgrade, Serbia. Always lived here, basically never moved to live somewhere else.

Do you have any brothers and sisters?

Nope, I'm the only child of my parents.

What did you enjoy doing as a child?

Spending as much time outside as possible, had many friends in the neighborhood, so we all used to play outside and have fun. I liked to spend a lot of time with my cousin, with whom I'm playing in a band today. He and myself used to to all sort of crazy stuff when we were kids haha, fun times.

What's the first rock record you enjoyed? And last one you bought?

Tough question. My initial interest in music was sparked thanks to my already mentioned cousin. He got into music quite young, so I presume it was natural that he radiated that onto me. If I remember the first bands I heard from him were Metallica, GnR and Iron Maiden, which records and which was the very first I can't really recall. As for the last record I bought it was actually a batch of records: "Army of Flying Robots" - "Life Is Cheap" LP, "The Spirit of Versailles" - "In Line For Halos" 7'', "A Fine Boat, That Coffin" - "Second Nail" LP, "Dazd/Order of Vulture" split.

What are your favorite places in Serbia?

Hm, another tough one. I can't really name a specific few places because I am sentimental about a lot of spots. I have a vast number of great memories which are linked to hanging out with good friends on a specific place in the city, or even a whole city section due to long walks I used to take with my girl. I am a dude who finds love in small details, so even the tiniest thing can make me love and remember a certain place.

Also there are some things I want to ask you, but maybe it's too rude, I don't know... you'll tell me... as a Serbian, you obviously didn't have the same peaceful youth as we had in France because of that horrible conflict which happened in ex-Yugoslavia in the 90s. I'm really sensitive to the fact that we're not that far from each other, maybe 1500km or so but we didn't have to experience the same things during our youth. Is it still a taboo / painful topic to talk with your friends and family over here? Or still taboo to speak about it in the news etc, even though the government recognized Srebrenica? Do you feel any unconscious guilt, pain or whatever as a Serbian, like for example German people felt years after world war II?

Despite living in such a hostile environment, I never really felt that since I was a kid when those conflicts were active. I guess that my parents did an excellent job with isolating me from all of that. I was aware that stuff is bad, but I was too small to actually have an opinion about anything and I even have extremely hazy memories from that period. I do however remember the NATO bombings, since it was much later. But generally, despite my friends remember all that, we never actually talk about stuff like that. It was horrible, but it is also behind us, no point in talking about it nor reflecting upon it. Same thing with Srebrenica and all that. People are either indifferent or pissed off and fanatical about our past, luckily for me I am in the circle of people who don't give a crap about stuff like that. I can't blame nor am I interested in blaming my (or whose ever) stupid ancestors for fighting each other or other nations. I mean, you also can't blame every German person for the things Hitler did so long ago right? Only thing we can do is make sure nothing like that ever happens again.

I'm aware these are not the happiest questions ever... don't reply to them if it brings back too bad memories... Maybe these bunch of other questions will be easier though... here we go :

Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath? Black Sabbath

Pavement or Smashing Pumpkins? Smashing Pumpkins

Pearl Jam or Nirvana? Nirvana

Fender or Gibson? To be honest I don't make much difference here, but lets say Fender.

Stooges or MC5? Stooges

Queen or David Bowie? David Bowie

Ebullition or No Idea? Ebullition, but it is a tight decision.

Daitro or Mihai Edrisch? Both, shoulder to shoulder, they fall together into my "best band ever" category.

Television or Talking Heads? Talking Heads, since I don't know about Television haha, shame on me.

12" or 7"? For some reason I prefer 7'' more, I really dig smaller records. Don't know why, maybe because my first record was a seven inch.

Blur or Oasis? Oasis

Black Flag or Minor Threat? Minor Threat

14. What do you enjoy doing outside of band work, any hobbies or past-times?

Julien: Doing artwork... shoplifting books in big libraries... hanging out with my girl... listening to music and reading books. I don't really have other hobbies besides music. Old vintage guitars maybe and documenting myself about music in general and punk and hardcore...

Gwen: Travelling, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, watching football games, talking hours, watching mafia movies, screwing around.

Sam: Watching football and talk about it with Gwen! Art stuff and exhibitions, reading books, drinking beer on a bench with friends when it becomes hot outside.

15. Do you have some plans for the future as a band? More releases, splits, tours?

Julien: Recording our new songs and do a 7" that we were to release first and playing shows.

16. I usually don't like asking matters of previous projects, but I guess that a lot of readers would go nuts if I don't do that now. Do you have some plans you wish to accomplish with "12xu" in the future? And are there any signs of "Daïtro" coming back to life?

Julien: With "12XU" we just finished the 10th new song supposed to be on our first LP that we'll record in june 2011. We're spending a lot of time in the practice room to arrange the details on all these new songs... We have a 7" split with "Abject Object" which may be out sooner or later, we're doing our own version of Green Day's "Coming Clean"! I don't think "Daitro" will be back to life to write new songs or doing new tours. Writing new stuff with "Bâton Rouge" is more exciting for us now... We still might play shows again if it makes sense... if good friends of ours come and tour here and ask us to play for example... or in a cool festival where the 5 of us would be into it, that kind of stuff...

17. Thank you very much once again for this interview and for the interest in "Natures With No Plagues". Do you have some final message for the readers?

Gwen: Congratulation for the Davis Cup you won against us, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

...So Yeah, We're Werevolves - Werewolfs

This will be pretty short boys and girls. I already wrote a more in-depth review of this project back in October, so if you are interested you can read it here. This is more of an update post, so no reason for me to be philosophical about it.

Somewhere mid December, Eric from "...SY,WW" wrote to me about some pretty interesting news concerning the band. They are demoing tracks for their upcoming debut self-titled LP which is due to come out this year. Extremely excited about that. But, while we are waiting for this new wolf pack strike, they are throwing at us something sweet. They will be Re-releasing the "Cadavers" ep from 2009 along with some additional demo tracks. This Re-release goes under the name of "Werewolfs" and it contains nine tracks.
The main reason that I'm posting this is that the "Cadavers" release I reviewed is actually not an official release. Seems like my network of music gathering is more underground than I thought. Needless to say, the wolves were pleased with my words for them, but I just felt it right to update the readers on this. So, the download link in the previous review will be removed and a link to the band's bandcamp page will be added. You can find the download link for "Werewolfs" over there and the page will most likely be quite important for updates considering the upcoming LP. Check it out!

http://soyeahwerewerewolves.bandcamp.com/

Saturday's Kids - s/t 7''

Ouch, long time since the last post. Well, as I already wrote in the screambox, my pc is broken at the moment, so now I'm using a laptop until I either fix my old pc or get a new one. Until then, I'm stuck with this and it sucks since I don't have any of my shit here, so I end up listening to music over youtube and whatnot. It's a shitty laptop, yeah. Ok, enough random rants, let's get this rolling.

"Saturday's Kids" hails from South Wales, UK and formed in 2008. I was contacted about posting his band here by Sion like a month ago and it was just yesterday that I managed to take a listen. He described the band as being "weirdo experimental punk" and to be honest, I took that with a raised eyebrow. I already discussed my thoughts on the "experimental" tag in one other post, so I held back my expectations about being amazed by this. Well, my mistake, since this band struck me completely off guard. And it struck hard and directly.
First of all, this 7'' brings three songs with nearly ten minutes of tunes. The thing that pokes your eyes almost instantly is a kind of uneven distribution of song length, already a hint that something crazy is happening here. "Three Days" kicks off with a sound which resembles a machine of some sort, followed by a guitar with an eerie tone to it. So you think "ok, cool, kinda atmospheric, I'm digging it", but you are so fooled since soon everything goes insane and you get pounded down by aggressive drumming, seconds after which bass also joins the fray. You get stuck in this tornado of sound and then out of nowhere vocals also jump at you. I don't know if it's just me, but the vocals remind me of Geoff Rickly from "Thursday", but a bit younger and a lot more aggressive. Don't know if the descripiton made sense, it does in my head at least. Anyway, as the song progresses, you realize that this projects is going to have a lot of aces up it's sleave. The first minute and a half is a repetitive, aggressive, fast tempo melody with a slight variation in sound being introduced somewhere around 1:40, which leads into the pinacle and crescendoe of it all with amazing drum playing. The next twenty or so seconds really did it for me, still quite fast, but a bit more flowing and with an amazing post punkish tone introduced by the bass. At this point when you take a listen, you will reallize why I am analyzing this so thoroughly. Due to excellent recording of this material, you are able to witness and enjoy a song's every milisecond and focus on anything you find attractive.
After the amazing bass line and again the repetitive section, everything just drops down and becomes something on the verge of slow and mid tempo, until it drifts away at the end. The five minute monster is over and you move onto "Spider's Legs", a fast one minute track with a sort of alternative, punk, rockish tone. Quite catchy and it really swings you up and around. In the end, "A Dirty Dream" is an absolute pleasure to listen to. The opening part is a stunning bass line with a pure post punk feel to it, so amazing. The rest of the band enters soon after and yes, a complete post punk wonder is in front of you. Despite the fact that there are sections of aggressive outbursts on this song, the track is generally gentle and slow.
In the end, this band pretty much blew me away. My thoughts proved correct with assuming that various song lenghts mean different playing styles and that trait of "Saturday's Kids" is what makes them enjoyable. You can find a lot in these ten minutes and everything that you do find is extremly good, especially with the top notch quality of recordings. That also is one of the great traits of this project.
I didn't upload this record since you can download everything on their bandcamp page, actually on the "Art of the Blind" page, which I presume is their label. Check them out there, as well as on their myspace page here.
http://artforblind.bandcamp.com/album/saturdays-kids-s-t-7

Theme Of Laura - Demo (2010)

Download

Before I even knew it, my inbox on gmail became really cramped with a lot of submissions and I'm due to do a lot of promised reviews and posts. And I will actually, not a single band will go unnoticed, since every submission was great. This release arrived to me yesterday and it's the newest one in, but I just had to post it right away. So sorry for all the others waiting, but this really blew my brains away.

So, what do we have here? A trio playing screamo (non-intentional rhyme) in the vain of the legendary "1000 Travels of Jawaharlal" and the newer wonder the "12XU", carrying the sound under a name inspired by a Silent Hill reference...and they are French. I just have to take a moment and praise glorious France, there isn't a single bad screamo/emo band which came from that country. Not only are the bands not bad, they are incredible and I have an extremely soft spot (edit:addiction) for French screamo. The country exceptionally keeps the European screamo scene firm and strong, basically making that into a tradition rather than an effort.

To try and be a bit more serious now, "Theme Of Laura" justifies well the successful line of French bands. As mentioned above, the band brings forth sounds which are on the border of screamo, emo and punk. The first track instantly greets you with exploding and rending guitar riffs, heart-pounding drumming and an excellent ambient like filler in the form of bass. It is a fast and rushing song, but what is most interesting is that it has a certain something that Akira Yamaoka implemented into the Silent Hill soundtracks. It is very hard to explain, but if you took a listen to the soundtrack you will know what I mean. Basically on every turn of this song you expect something from SH to jump at you, sound wise. The track has some mid pace elements, but those just explode and beat your chest into a pulp near the end. Fast song tempo really dominates on this release, but considering that you have five songs and around 18 minutes of music, you are in for some long yet fast songs.

So there we come to a trait this band has that really astounds me. Several bands which I heard before that had the "long fast songs" composition are rather dull and repetitive. Here it's different for 180 degrees. Their songs literally flow due to the speed, but there are constant changes in sound, the smallest shifts of pace which really stand out and an ever present unpredictability of melodies. It is almost a whirlwind like experience, you are carried high with the very speed of the demo, but are further tumbled around by all the unexpected elements which hit you constantly.

As for the instruments and vocal performance, I'm without complaints. Guitar bears minimum of alterations and effects, so you have a really pure and natural sound with a very light and high tone. Drumming is perfect, a bit raw in contrast to the guitar, but very melodic and greatly adds to the unpredictability trait. Bass also carries a standard sound, but the style of playing is quite rad, since it plays an amazing part as the mood-setter for the songs. As far as vocals go, they are in the form of constant raspy screams, sometimes followed by pack screaming.

Is you haven't figured it out yet, I really liked this project. French screamo is yet to fail me and these guys are really making that task harder. This is a pretty young band and this demo is due to be released soon on 100 cd-r with screenprinted cover art. It is worth mentioning that they are part of the "Dreams Come True" association and are friends with "Emotionally Unstable Records", labels which were already introduced to us by a much respected person by this blog, Ianik from Chaos Is... . You can get in touch with the band on myspace here or bandcamp here. Enjoy!

In the end I would like to thank Stephane from "Theme Of Laura" for contacting me about his band and for having to say some very nice words about the blog. Hope this band flourishes in the future!

For Want Of - Self Titled 7'' (2010)

Download

Despite that this is mostly a skramz blog, in the last couple of weeks I have been getting requests from various genres, which you can actually see if you scroll down a bit and there is a lot more left to be posted. Don't really know how it got to that, I'll consider it a compliment or something. It has been quite a while now since I posted some screamo, so it is time to go back to the roots.

This will definitely be a short writeup, since this release has been around for a while now and there is no need for me to be all philosophical about it. It is already up on a lot of blogs, but Brian from this band asked me to post this here and I'm happy to do so. "For Want Of" is a four piece project from Austin, Texas playing thrash-fused screamo. They have been playing together for two years now and this is their first release, containing four songs with roughly seven minutes of tunes. Yes, this is quite a "fast" record, so much in fact that you have a feeling that you are listening to one song instead of four. The tracks are very well connected, which gives you the feel of continuity and constant aggressiveness.

A lot of people have been associating "For Want Of" with "Hot Cross", the best way to describe their tunes would definitely be "an angry version of Hot Cross". This comparison is definitely not a bad thing, since when you think about it, if HC had a release like this one they would absolutely have more "fans". I'd also add "Wolves" to the basket with influences for this project, several times while listening to this st you can sense some chest pounding melodies like this legendary band had. Of course, being together for two years allowed "For Want Of" to dress all of that into a suit of their own. I really enjoyed hearing three members being on vocals, which very much adds to the overall chaos, as well as the fact that there is literally no stopping for this band, their songs a constant rush and just charge from start to finish. The last song "The Orchestrated Decay of Self Sufficiency" is an excellent example of that (and the whole record actually is), a three minute song that is just flowing with speed and melody change, a track you listen to in one breath.

Overall, definitely a project worth keeping an eye out for. Brian told me that they are doing a tour in the Midwest USA with The Reptilian this December, so if some of you lucky bastards get a chance to see them, do so. You can also get in touch with them here. Hopefully it won't be too long until they release some new material, but until then enjoy this excellent seven inch!

...So Yeah, We're Werewolves - Cadavers (2009)

http://soyeahwerewerewolves.bandcamp.com/

Seems to me that this will definitely turn out to be a non-screamo week, but why the hell not. You see, there is this band Colors from Colorsland and they turned out to be a well of infinite wisdom, since through them I found out about two more bands that are going to be posted on this blog. This happens to be one of those bands and I'm quite excited about posting it!

Back when I did the Colors interview, I hanged out on their myspace page for some research and stuff, and I saw these guys on their friends list. And as you all know, I am such a sucker for band names that include the words wolf, wolves, werewolf, werewolves, fucking werewolf and so on. One click after I got on their profile and boom, instant love. Even better, Eric happens to be ubercool, so he approved of their posting here and gave me a download link.

There is not much information online about "...So Yeah, We're Werewolves", despite the band having both a myspace page and a bandcamp. They hail from Colorado and judging by their myspace pictures, they are a three piece. No matter their numbers, this pack of wolves makes a lot of noise playing some very interesting punk/post hardcore in the vain of "From Ashes Rise", just less crust and more melodic. I usually don't like comparing bands, but I guess that is also a part of criticism. Anyways, vocals backed up by bass and drum playing, as well as occasional keyboards make the base of this band to be quite unique. The songs they unleash upon your speakers are very hard to describe, since it is a combination of very deep tones, but at the same time the sound has a splash effect and is not focused onto a specific spot, but it's everywhere. That virtue reminded me of the above mentioned "From Ashes Rise", namely the song "Concrete and Steel", just with Werewolves it's minus the d-beat moment, as I wrote already. In addition, their tunes are extremely chaotic, but also melodic at the same time, absolutely creating rushing and chest pounding music. Of course, there are slow tempo instances here and there, but not even long enough for you to rest, the band exploding quickly yet again. See what I mean that it's hard to describe?

One major contributer to the overall chaotic nature of this band is the fact that there is a lot of pack screaming and singing and sometimes you have no idea who is saying what and when. This combined vocal effort really compensates for the lack of a guitar player. Don't be fooled though that a bass alone is not enough! Bass playing here is absolutely stunning in it's own right, really serving well to the whole deep-splashing sound. On several occasions you get to hear the bass almost alone and you actually see that it has a very buzzing sound, but once mixed with both vocals and drums you realize there is a lot more to it. Drumming is, of course, very aggressive, fast and exceptionally pounding, highly enjoyable, especially if you just focus on it.

I am very glad I found out about this project, basically I loved them from the moment I took a listen to them on their myspace page (found here btw). The fifteen minutes on this release really fly by you, one of those albums that you listen to in one breath. As far as I heard, they had a little break, but now they are back together and ready to tear your ears apart once again! Highly recommended band, be sure to check them out.