Here's some of that new stuff I've been looking for for the new year. Kind of.
I've written about The Ongoing Concept and their album Saloon before, back when I featured their song "Cover Girl". Well, I've just seen today that they've got a new video out for yet another energetic track from Saloon and I'm taking it as a sign from the gods that The Ongoing Concept are due for another minute or two in the spotlight.
So have a listen to "Failures & Fakes", check the new video for same, and see if The Ongoing Concept's raucous post-hardcore kinda thing gets your money maker movin'.
I keep trying to think of something ultra-modern to use today to sorta kick off the first full week of the new year, but my mind keeps wandering back to things not so super modern.
Today's song, "Aqua Dementia", is from Mastodon's seminal Leviathan, a record that's ten years old this year. But despite their age, both the song and the album stand up to anything that's come out recently. In fact, I would argue that Leviathan may well be the apex of Mastodon's creative powers, the high water mark that they'll never best. What do you think?
Remember how we went to see Headstones here in Kingston last Saturday night? Here's the story of that fabled evening.
The opening act was a local one, Kingston's The Glorious Sons, a blues-rocky/classic rocky kinda band that's been getting a fair amount of local radio airplay lately. They weren't bad, and their singer has a decent set of rock pipes on him, but they don't yet quite have the chops required to captivate an audience that perhaps they think they do. Emblematic of the kind of thing I'm talking about was the aforementioned singer's repeated exhortations that the audience should sing along, as they knew the words.
I know I'm probably just being picky, and that's probably just some stage banter, but I don't think anyone should expect an audience to eat out of the palm of their hand, so to speak, just because they've gotten up on a stage in front of said audience. Stage presence doesn't just happen, it has to be earned.
Which brings me nicely to the evening's main event, the Headstones, whose frontman Hugh Dillon could give classes on commanding a stage. Not one but two roadies spent the majority of the set chasing Dillon's mic cord or stand around as Hugh alternated between ranging from one end of the stage to the other and hurling the stand between verses. Of course, it likely didn't hurt Dillon's energy or persona any that Headstones too are a Kingston band, and have had the status of local legends for more than twenty years.
That's a long time in rock and roll, and that's a deep catalogue too, even taking into account Headstones' lengthy hiatus in the early 2000's. Dillon and company mined that catalogue well, striking a balance between tracks off their latest, Love + Fury, and classic tracks from throughout their career. "Smile and Wave", "Cubically Contained", "Tweeter and the Monkey Man"... Headstones covered all their classic Headstones bases.
If alternative rock with a punky edge sounds at all appealing to you, you should check out Headstones. And if you're already a fan of the band, you should make the effort to catch them if they head back on the road at all. After all this time, Headstones have still got what The Glorious Sons are only just forging: the ability to thoroughly rock a crowd. Take some notes, boys. Professor Dillon's class is in session.
This certainly does seem to be a shit time of year as far as my keeping on track with Loud Noises goes, doesn't it? But rather than spinning some yarns about the tag team of work life and personal life conspiring against me to prevent other shit getting done, let's just knuckle down and get caught up, shall we?
First off, a song for Friday. We're going to go with something a little under the radar, a little less well-known perhaps than some of the stuff I post about, but something that's still tasty all the same. I've posted about British band Visions before, but their techy 2011 disc Home is too cool to only acknowledge just once. They've had a couple of hurdles thrown at them, including their current search for a new drummer, but I'm hoping that their chops and a little bit of perseverance and elbow grease can see them through. Check out "Machines" for some idea of the kind of chops I'm talking about.
Next is Saturday. We're going deathier for Saturday with a track by one of my favourites, The Black Dahlia Murder. Sometimes, immediately after the release of a band's new record, you can't wait for their next album because the new one didn't impress, and sometimes you can't wait for that next album because this new one kicked so much ass you're still thirsty for more. The Black Dahlia Murder definitely fall into the latter category, and their last couple of records (Deflorate, Ritual, Everblack) have kicked ass and left me thinking "why couldn't this be a double album or something?" Listen to "Necropolis" from 2009's Deflorate and see if you get the same feeling.
Finally, it's Sunday song time, and for today we're going with the spastic energy of Exotic Animal Petting Zoo. The song is "A) Translations" from the band's 2008 debut LP I Have Made My Bed in Darkness. They too leave me wanting more, even though their second LP Tree of Tongues only came out in 2012. Just like with Visions above, I hope line-up changes don't wreck Exotic Animal Petting Zoo's momentum.
For our last catch-up song, the one for the second of January, we're going something more modern than the last couple of days. First 1998, then 2009, and now 2013.
Your song for today is Northlane's "Masquerade" from last year's Singularity. They're not reinventing the djent wheel, but they are managing to craft some cool tunes with both good djenty grooves and some interesting texture. If you're a fan of that sort of thing, Singularity and "Masquerades" are above average examples of the genre.
Next up we have a song to start the year off with a bang, even if it is a belated one.
Your New Year's Day song is "Blessed Infection" from 2009's The Eternal Return by Darkest Hour. Period posts appearing in my Facebook feed would have me believe that new Darkest Hour material is in the works, and if this is indeed the case, this longtime fan would be one happy camper.
Hopefully 2014 will bring us some new Darkest Hour, but for now we'll have to settle for this quick blast of "Blessed Infection".
Oh hey, 2014. You're here already? I didn't see you come in... Time to catch up a couple of days, starting with New Year's Eve.
Your song for the last day of 2013 is/was the appropriately titled "12/31" from the 1998 debut LP Fallout by a band called The Mayfield Four. Never heard of them? I'm not surprised. The band has been defunct for a while now, and they were never as big as they deserved to be, but you might have heard of singer Myles Kennedy's more recent project Alter Bridge, which sees him singing with the Scott Stapp-less former members of Creed. But don't hold that against Kennedy and The Mayfield Four.
"12/31" is a powerful song that isn't heavy in the traditional sense of the word but that still carries a lot of weight with its earnest and impressive vocal performance. The Mayfield Four is a solid, turn-of-the-millenium alternative rock band that you really should be aware of, so check out "12/31" already.
