Blackbird raum

Blackbird raum plays acoustic anarcho-punk or contemporary folk punk music with  anarchist themes. Since it gives a good idea of what the band is about, I'll cite one of their internet page : "Blackbird Raum formed out of the nucleus of a squatter community living in abandoned buildings and greenbelt treehouses in Santa Cruz, CA, in the early 2000s. Finding themselves living without electricity, they began to learn to play folk instruments from each other and other members of the travelling punk/folk culture. They all grew up playing in anarcho-punk, indie and ska bands and then, knowing next to nothing about traditional music, slowly gathered together the skills to create a new genre of music, based somewhere right in the middle of punk and folk.
Refusing the retro clichés of many of their contemporaries, they write entirely original music (in both senses of the word) that is reflective of the world they live in: a realm of abusive police, ecological devastation, creeping ambiguity and vague fear, but also a strong sense of community and a deep love of a natural world constantly on the verge of collapse. They toured the country in a tiny truck, playing mainstream folk festivals, punk houses, squats and all ages clubs. When they aren't touring, they play various American and European traditional music, hang out in the woods, raise children and read a lot of library books".

But what's also really important to add is that their music is really cool, very good acoustic songs played with a true punk vibe and energy.    

They released a few records, among which "Swidden" (2009) is really good, and you can listen to it on Bandcamp.                                                                                       

Livstid

Livstid is a band formed in 2006 in Bergen (Norway). they play of kind of really radical and relentless crust/d-beat often bordering on grindpunk (blastbeats here and there among other things). They released in 2011 a really good self titled record, one of the more merciless and intense record you can have in that style. they also released a good split with Human error (really good powerviolence from Hungary). They play fats and angry, with furious vocals in norwegian, good riffs, cool punk basslines, and above all a fast and pissed off execution that's hard to match (reminds me of Impaled nazarene at times).

but check it by yourself : Livstid bandcamp

Dead End Alaska / Dead End Sons-Family and friends vol.1

Cool split (out in june 2012) between Dead end Alaska and Dead end sons, two american bands (CA and GA) playing a kind of screamo, a bit more punk/hardcore for Dead end Alaska and a bit more post rock for Dead end sons, both really good at doing what they do.

A strong point for both bands is the vocals, the singers having a good ability at passing emotions and intensity through their singing. Both bands are also really good at writing simple, memorable and good songs in a good and honest staight to the point rock fashion.

The split is five good songs, ending with a cool acoustic one. recommended! 

you can listen to it on Bancamp.

Josh from Dead End Alaska kindly agreed to answer to some questions so you can read it below : 

-can you present Dead End Alaska, how did the band formed and its evolution up to now?

DEA formed in the Summer of 2010 after the disillusion of most of the members former band. I know this is said a lot but this band really does consist of good friends, 4 out of 5 of us went to the same high school and have known each other since well before that and have only had one member change.  We formed with a very unclear vision of what we wanted to be, torn between different influences and a stylistic change that was occuring in most of us. For the first year we really just wanted to play a lot of shows, not really knowing where we fit in musically we just played every type of show that was presented to us. In a way this was good because it let us mature and figure out what we wanted to be and now we have a pretty clear vision of where we want to go musically.

-how would you describe your music?

Too mainstream for the non mainstream and too non mainstream for the mainstream

-do you feel like being part of an emo/scremo scene?

We think that this scene has some of the most amazing people in it. People who actually have something to say, or have something emotion they want to convey with their music. People who actually want to do something other than get facebook and play huge shows. There is something very special about this breed of music.

-how did you get in touch with Dead end sons and decided to do a split with them?

We actually found them by googling our own name through facebook. Our guitarist Kyle showed us them and we thought they were awesome so I (Josh) decided to send them an email and talk to them about joining us for the first part of Friends and Family.

-what about the making of this split, how the songs were written, recorded, etc.?

 The songs came together fairly fast for the split actually, which was really surprising because usually we work on something for 2 weeks then throw it away and that process repeats until we get something we all like. Our guitars usually come up with the general framework of the song and then we come together to write and fill in the blanks. Once we got them all hashed out we went to Easy St. studios in Simi Valley where we recorded our last demo "American Made Bastard Boys" in Nov. We just took one day to knock out both songs and a bonus song. We always have a blast there because the owner Jules, rules. He has some creative ideas and is just a hilarious dude in general.

-what can you say about the lyrics of your songs?

In our music we really like to focus on lyrical content, we think it is the most important thing about a song. Both Kyle S. and Josh write lyrics and in Friends and Family we decided to write about just what the title suggested. Wasp Wars is a follow up to the acoustic bonus track on the split, "acoustic Koala" which was a remake of a song on our last demo. Both songs having to do with a family struggling with substance abuse and the personal conflict and realizations that come along with having parents who have substance abuse problems. One song being about a mother and the other a father. Forest Fox was a beautifully written song about a close friends who joined the military and started encountering self doubt. The song is a reminder of the strength friendship can give you and how bonds like family and friends are what matter.

- the split is called Family and friends vol1, are you preparing a volume 2?

Yes, we are planning a part 2 now which we hope to announce soon. We have not yet found the perfect partner for the split but the general concept of Family and Friends is to have two parts, the first focusing on the more melodic side of our music and volume two will focus more on the darker side of what we can convey. With this split series we are attempting to explore both sides of the post hardcore/screamo spectrum and really see what areas we can touch and pull off.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?

SO MANY! Troubled Coast, Love American, Wolves, Life For A Life, Trap Her Keep Her, City Somewhere, Bad Days, Spirit Fangs, Stay Wild, My Iron Lung, and so so many more!

-want to add something?

 Biggest thing you can do to help the music scene is support live music. I know there is a lot of music out there and it can be exhausting to try and support everything you like but it means so much for the scene for people to go to shows!

Thedowngoing-athousandyearsofdarkness

Athousandyearsofdarkness is the new 12 tracks 10 min record by aussie grinding band thedowngoing (HERE's a review of their previous record with an interview). It will be release the 20th of july. They managed to keep their "furious maelstrom of chaotic and noisy as fuck grind nightmare" sound while at the same time writing songs that sounds a bit more like songs, maybe because it's maybe more focused on guitars and more straight to your face (or maybe I'm just getting used to the amout of violence they deliver!). anyway the damage done is still huge and awfull and it's great! I think it's my favourite thedowngoing record yet.

You can grab it on slim CD or just listen to some songs on their BLOG and also on their BC. Highly recommended for sonic apocalypse lovers!

Mathias Huxley answered to my questions about this new record, the tours and the next thedeowngoing releases :

-you’re releasing a new record called “athousandyearsof darkness”, what can you say about it?

ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS is 12 tracks, ten minutes and change. Big noisy guitar, blastbeats, screaming and of course samples. We worked with Jono Boulet on ATYOD, and he really pushed us and our sound further, and i think it shows with the final product, as it takes the foundation laid down with 2011's Untitled EP and builds from there.

-seems to me that the songs, even if it still sounds really chaotic and noisy as fuck, are more guitar/riff s focused, is it just an impression?

We've been together as a band for a few years now, and feel that, with regards to song-writing, that we have taken some bigger steps this time round. There was more focus on each song, and trying to work with the structure and pacing to create some unique moments, while still trying to maintain the cohesiveness across the entire record.

-the lyrics (printed on the record booklet) sound a bit like desperate/apocalyptic poetry, what can you say about it? How was it written? Do you write only for thedowngoing or not only?

The lyrics are written with the song, and start forming and taking shape as a song moves from the creative process into the recording process. I suppose the lyrics are an extension of the music and noise, offering some personal insight into the aural suffering. Apocalyptic poetry is quite fitting, really. I only write for tdg and personal enjoyment.

-have you already played the new songs in live shows?

We're playing the majority of the new songs on tour at the moment, and are having a blast watching the reaction from our fans. The new songs are so much fun to play live, and roll along with an intensity that keeps both of us on our toes.

-apart from the tour what is planned for thedowngoing?

thedowngoing is doing an Australian tour through July and August. In the coming months we will be featured on Blastbeat Productions Monomaniac 7" Compilation series, and are planning a split cassette tape with WATER TORTURE for our USA tour with them and CLOUD RAT in November and December.

-have you discovered cool bands recently? Which is your favourite record for 2012 yet?

There has been some sweet new grind dropping in the last few weeks, but my top release for 2012 would be Shlohmo's Bad Vibes... perfect laid-back tunes for driving down the freeway on a beautiful day.

-something to add in conclusion?

Swing by THEDOWNGOING.BLOGSPOT.COM from JULY 20th to stream/purchase/pirate ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS, or check out GRINDCOREKARAOKE.COM where it will also be available.

Black cowgirl

Black cowgirl is a band form Pennsylvania and they're about to release their first and self titled full lenght (in july). Their music has all the qualities of good stoner rock, so if you're into Stoner or heavy/fuzzy hard rock I recommend you lsiten to what they play. On their Bandcamp they write "The band originally created riffs as servants for themselves but freed them when they became too much to handle", and indeed they master the art of wild rocking riffing! but it's not just cool riffs but also cool songs, with good groove and melodies, and the vocals are great, meodic but still hard rocking.

The coming record will feature 6 songs from their EP, that you can listen on their Bandcamp.
and also 5 new songs (of the same quality), you can listen to the new song called "weight of oblivion" HERE. Enjoy!

Ben McGuire agreed to answers to my questions (and did it in a humourous way that seem to be a trademark of the band!) : 

-can you present the band, why did you form it, how it evolved, etc…? and why the name Black cowgirl?

In March 2008 Ben (me), then aged twenty something, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Chester County. We briefly called ourselves the Beatles, before changing our name to Black Cowgirl after discovering that a respected group from across some pond was already using the name. Twenty some-year-old Nate joined as a guitarist shortly after he and I met that July. In February 2008 we invited our friend Mark to watch the group. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for me, and we were impressed by his playing but initially thought him too young for the band. After a month of persistence, Mark joined as drummer. The three piece, billing ourselves at least three times as Benny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever we could find a bassist. My brother in law friend Chris, who had recently sold one of his nude paintings and purchased a bass guitar, joined in January 2009, and it was I who suggested changing the band's name to Black Cowgirl as a tribute to my fantasy of a female version of Yul Brenner in the movie Westworld. We used the name through May, when we opened for English band Viking Skull.......

- How would you describe your music? Stoner rock with some classic rock roots?

I would describe us as rock. I feel like “stoner rock” is pretty much just people playing classic rock now..... which used to be called just “rock” when it was new. I guess that would make stoner rock from now viewed from the future “classic stoner rock” and first generation rock “oldies” and the futures name for “rock” will be another term that will cram in more words than nessary to describe it’s sound......something like “naked lady future drugs hoverboard rock”. I guess we will go with that.

-how did you get into this kind of music? And do you play or have played in other bands?

I was raised on a greasy diet of classic rock (if you are reading this from the future you will know this style to be oldies rock). Luckily my parents had pretty good taste in music and there were always records around for me to listen to. 

I was in bands since high school, ranging from punk to metal to doom, Aston Family Reunion (guitar/vocals), Fisticuffs (guitar), and Electric Horsemen (guitar/vocals) to name a few. Our drummer Mark played in Backwoods Payback and Nate also plays guitar in Unkle Matt and The Shitbirdz. Chris also played bass in Electric Horsemen. I am sure there are other bands they played in but I hate to dwell on the ex's. Just thinking of other dudes crawling all over them with their riffs and whatnot.......makes me sick.

-how was your new album written and recorded?

We had the chance to do the vinyl release that comes out this August and needed more songs than our 6 song Ep to fill it out. So we recorded 5 more songs for side B of the vinyl. The newer ones were written around the same time as the Ep but we did not have time to record them last year.

We self recorded songs 1-6 last year in a couple of evenings at Westtown Lake Studios so we could have something to bring along for a tour we did. The second half (7-11) were recorded a couple months ago at The Dome with Rich Gavalis. Rich had also mixed the ep so when we went in to do the new ones we were able to make them blend together pretty decent, especially considering they were recorded a year apart and in totally different rooms.

-what about the lyrics of the songs?

Very rarely do I have a idea for lyrics before the music is written. Once there a rough draft of a song I tend to just let whatever I feel come out without thinking about it at all and work from there. I think if you go with what words come out naturally they are usually more honest and reflective of the feel of the song. It seems to work for me, I always end up blurting out a line that surprises me and gets things rolling for the rest of the lyrics. Until the song is done I don’t really know what it is going to be about. Whenever I sit down and try to write lyrics they come out pretty cheesy, using my lightning rod method on the other hand works, and if they come out cheesy that way at least I did not try too hard!!

-you told me that you’ll be playing in the east coast with The company band in july, I guess you are exited to play your new songs?  What else is planned for the rest of 2012?

Yes! We are very eager to get out and play, we wish we could tour much more often!!! Hopefully we have the chance to hop on some other tours this year and we hope to be back in the studio toward the end of the year as well. We have about 60% of the next record written and are already looking toward the record after that one!

-with which band would you dream to play?

I would love to play with, Clutch, Neil Young, Down, Wovenhand, Graveyard (again), I could go on forever.....if I had a time machine my keyboard would catch fire from the list i would create.

-in your opinion, what is the best part in being a musician?

I will get back to you after I ask one!

-Which band from your area would you recommend?

Bill Haley and His Comets are good, Backwoods Payback, The Hooters.

-something to add?

pepper, smoked sea salt, fresh garlic.

Warfuck-The weak and the wicked

Warfuck is a duo from Lyon (France) and their first full lenght called The weak and the wicked (out in april 2012) demonstrates that it's a really serious new player in the grind game. Rooted in the grind tradition with the relentlessly fast and straight to your face songs, the drum sound and playing, the vocals, etc., but also influenced by grind modernity (looks like they did a good job in learning the Nasum or Rotten sound lessons! the grindpunk parts, the clean and powerfull sound) their record is really promising and a good surprise. They know how to blast mercilessly and groove in the same song and that's the key to good grindcore! (their song "innoncence" for exemple is a good proof of that!).

so if you're in the mood for frenetic blasting music I recommend you to take your dose of grind by listening to Warfuck. mandatory listen for grind fans!
you can also check their blog : www.warfuckgrindcore.com

read below the interview (in french! but maybe I'll translate it one day) :

Est-ce que vous pouvez revenir rapidement sur la naissance de Warfuck ? Est-ce que le projet à la base était bien défini ?

Warfuck est né il y a environ 1an, pendant l'été 2011. L'envie de faire du grindcore à été mutuel entre Nico et moi, ce fût plutôt simple et rapide à mettre en place car nous jouions déjà ensemble dans Obnoxious (thrash death metal). Du coup nous avons attaqué tranquillement, comme un side project, puis nous avons pris ça un peu plus au sérieux fin 2011 avec l'enregistrement de l'album « The Weak and the Wicked ».

Je dirais que votre musique est typiquement grind avec tous les ingrédients qui définissent le style, dans une version influencée par la scène suédoise des années 2000. Vous êtes d’accord avec ça ? Vous avez une meilleure description à proposer ?

Nous sommes parfaitement en accord avec cette définition, nos influences étants principalement Nasum, Rotten Sound, Magrudergrind, Afgrund. Mais nous puisons aussi dans le métal plus old school comme Pantera.

Comment les morceaux de The wicked and the weak ont été composés et enregistré/produit ?

Au niveau de la composition nous ne nous sommes pas vraiment posé de questions, ce fût très naturel. Nico est venu répeter avec quelques idées de riffs et de structures, ça tenait sur un post-it : « Intro, blast, groove, break, blast ». Et des fois il n'avait rien. De mon côté je plaçais quelques plans et rythmiques à ma guise, sachant qu'on reste ouvert à ce que propose l'autre, faut que 100 % de Warfuck soit d'accord! Comme nous ne sommes que deux ça facilite grandement les choses et nous pouvons composer très rapidement.

L'enregistrement à lui aussi été très rapide et bien DIY. En effet la batterie a été enregistré chez moi avec de bons vieux micros pourris, tandis que les guitares se sont faites dans notre local de répète, Nico avait choppé un panaris scandaleux au pouce gauche la semaine d’avant ce qui n’a pas facilité les choses. Pour le chant c'était assez magique, Nico à apprit à gueuler 2h avant d'enregistrer se niquant la gorge à souhait. Nous n'avions pas pris de casque du coup l'instru repiquait dans le micro et pour finir, le PC sur lequel nous enregistrions avait des problèmes d'alim et s'éteignait de temps à autre... Mais on en garde un très bon souvenir !!

Le mix ainsi que le mastering ont été fait par Jérèm, un ami (chanteur de Lovgun et ancien ingé son live d’Obnoxious).

De quoi parlent vos textes ? vous avez cherché à « coller » aux thèmes habituels des groupes de grind ou pas particulièrement ?

Je ne sais pas si ça colle à quoi que ce soit, on a écrit la plupart des paroles juste avant l’enregistrement voix sans se poser de questions. Finalement je crois qu’on a réussi à faire un lien entre le nom de l’album, les paroles et le visuel. Je veux dire « The Wicked » serait notre côté sombre, haineux envers les gens et le monde qui nous entoure et « The Weak » les victimes qui subissent gratuitement cette haine qu’on peut retrouver dans les paroles. Pour la pochette c’est la même chose si tu regardes.

Pour vous c’est quoi le grindcore ?

De la vitesse, de la violence et du groove ! Et sur scène il faut que ça envoi !

J’ai vu que vous avez fait vos première dates de concert il y a moins d’un mois, ça c’est bien passé ? quels ont été vos impressions? (première date en France au pinky bar de Montbé, rien à dire, bravo ! paroles de franc-comtois !).

Tout s'est parfaitement bien passé, nous avons eu la chance d'être booké à de super dates, nous avons joués avec de très bons groupes (Wormrot, Tachless, Whoresnation et Fubar pour ne citer qu'eux) et nous avons bien fait la fête. Cerise sur le gâteau, les retours des gens étaient bons !

La date à Nommay était bien cool, à la bonne franquette avec une Gigi radieuse!

Quelle sera la prochaine évolution pour le groupe ? des changements à prévoir pour le prochain disque ?

Aucun changement à prévoir, nous allons rester dans cette ligné, toujours à deux, peut être que nous travaillerons plus les compos, mais pas sur car nous aimons le rendu brute de nos premières chansons. Peut-être plus de chant en français sur les prochaines.

Qu’est-ce qui vous a attiré dans le grind à la base ?

La vitesse, étant batteur ça m'a toujours impressionné. Puis ce savant mélange de punk, métal et hardcore est juste parfait.

C’est qui les groupes de grind français qui vous inspirent ou vous ont inspirés ? vous avez l’impression de faire partie d’une « scène » ?

Personnellement il n'y a pas vraiment de groupe français qui m'ait inspiré au niveau musical, par contre j'ai adoré le bordel que foutait Herpès de Crachat de Fillette sur scène. Et dernièrement les mecs de Whoresnation et Chiens m'ont bien impressionné.

J'ai l'impression qu'on commence à mettre le pied dans la « scène » grindcore, en effet depuis 1 mois nous avons joués dans quelques pays d'Europe et nous avons vraiment sympathisé avec beaucoup de gens. On ne veut pas se limiter au « grind français », nous faisons simplement du grindcore.

Qu’est-ce que vous avez de prévu pour la deuxième moitié de 2012 ? et ensuite ?

On va participer à deux compiles françaises, une produite par Neandertal Prod sur un concept  « Coverviolence », il faut qu’on fasse 2 reprises de chansons connues et non-violente et une autre avec plein de groupes français sur une idée de Kaotoxin.

Nous allons aussi faire quelques dates sur la fin de l'année dans plusieurs pays : France, Hollande, Allemagne... Pour plus d'info je vous invite à checker notre site pour les dates, les releases, les vidéos, download…

Mais le plus important reste de bosser sur un 2ème album ainsi que de booker toujours plus de dates.

Quelque chose à ajouter ?

The weak and the wicked sortira chez Trendkill recordings en vinyle coloré avec poster & aussi en CD. En attendant vous pouvez télécharger l'album gratuitement sur www.warfuckgrindcore.com

Merci pour cette itw, pour la chronique et pour le soutien c'est vraiment cool!

Black shape of nexus-Negative black

If you like your music deep black, heavy and noisy you'll be more than pleased by Black shape of nexus (B.son) new record called Negative black (for good reasons!). The first instrumental track starts with distortion, then heavy guitars arrive, and you're in for a long slow sludge/doom torment for the whole record. A torment made of hypnotic droning rythm, heavy and noisy lowwww tuned guitars, a bit of electronics to add more noisy sounds, and a few screamed vocals here and there. between the more hypnotic parts you also have some heavy groove moments. All that makes an impressive record. Highly recommended!

Black shape of nexus BC

Black shape of nexus website

The band agreed to answer to my questions so thanks to them you can read it below: 

-had you a precise idea of the music you’ll play when you formed B.son ?
how do you see the evolution of the band since the first days up to now?
JAN: The idea for forming B.son was to play slow and heavy stuff, nothing
more nothing less. First we had no drummer and no singer, therefore the
songs tended more towards drone. With Marco and Malte joining, the
possibilities grew and until today, we are constantly experimenting with
sound, atmosphere and dynamics.

-do you play or have played in other bands?

STEF: I guess most of us played before in other bands. I have another band
at the moment, which is called GHOST OF WEM. The next release planned for
later this year is a split 12" with SHADOW OF THE TORTURER.


-what about your new record Negative black? How was it written and
recorded/produced? Have you done things differently this time?

JAN: Songs were written through countless rehearsals and recorded by
ourselves. Luckily Ralf, who also plays guitar in B.SON, knows how to get
our sound tracked on tape and therefore we don´t have to enter a studio to
record. I think to only difference in terms of recording is, that Ralf
grows more experienced from recording to recording, so that we are getting
closer and closer to capturing our live sound on record.

STEF: Some of the songs base on riffs that are very old, which have
finally been worked out and arranged. As for the recording process, we
first thought about the opportunity to record in a studio, but then
figured this wouldn't do it for us for serveral reasons.


-how do you see Negative black in the evolution of the band?

JAN: In my opinion the songs are the most "listenable" one we recorded so
far. Still they have a dark edge, which is somehow lurking in the songs.

STEF: Since I joined only one and a half years ago, I just can tell you
about the old songs from a listeners point of view. And i loved the old
stuff and I still really love to play VI or VIIIe which we still do
sometimes live. I guess we moved on, not saying forward or backward. Just
changing in the direction some.

-what about the artwork of the record?

JAN: The artwork was done by our local fellow Sahba Yadegar. He is close
to us for ages, so it seems natural to ask him to do the artwork. Beside
doing art stuff, he´s also active with his band Whalerider. Check them out
at http://www.facebook.com/whaleride.


-how are your live shows? Do you focus more on playing your songs as well
as you can or on trying to make your shows a special and unique sonic experience?

JAN: Haha, when it comes to playing live we are more like Punks. Live
shows are not about playing as good as we can, but living the songs and
creating some kind of emotional catharsis.

STEF: I totally agree with Jan, it's just about realising the energy. Very
punk in many ways!


-with what kind of bands do you play usually? Do you prefer playing with
bands playing music in the same vein or with bands playing something completely
different? Or just playing with cool people no matter what’s their music?

JAN: So far we played with all kind of bands ranging from Hardcore/ Punk
to Metal. Personally I enjoy playing alongside bands I also want to see
for myself. Nothing is more boring than playing with bands, that sound
like 128473rd Isis/ Neurosis clones. YAWN!


-what do you think of the evolution of the doom/sludge/drone scene these
days? exiting...or not that much?
JAN: As in other genres there are good bands and bands that tend to bore
me. Ones I like recently are Magic Circle or Lazarus Blackstar. In
addition I´m looking forward to the new Samothrace LP!!!


-on you site you state clearly that your are anti fascist /anti sexist in
order not to be confused with some fascist bands. Is this a big problem in Germany
these days, or is it just in the area where you’re from? (edit :  my question wasn't clear enough. I meant  : is it encountered more often than usual where you are? I also think that everywhere it is a problem).
JAN: It´s not about it being a problem or not, it´s about making a stand.
Politics are a part of all our lives and we don´t want to be part of any
right-wing activities. So if you are a nazi dumbass, don´t come to our
shows, don´t buy our records, because we hate you!

-what is planned for Black shape of nexus for the rest of 2012 and for the
future?
JAN: Playing shows, having fun, staying untrue.

-which bands from your area (or not) would you recommend?

MARCO: Venom!
JAN: Orcus Chylde, Salvation, Hoax, Bitterness Exhumed, Slump and A Place
To Bury Strangers
STEF: Dark Tharr, Attention Armageddon, Crowskin, Gunmob, Planks, Glasses!

-want to add something?

JAN: Thanks for your interest!