I used to have a science teacher that would tell me the anomaly proves the rule. Let’s accept that he was accurate for this piece. If that is the case then Terror proves that as a rule I do not like hardcore music.

Interestingly enough I made that exact same post with an mp3 on a message board I read and watched the next 30 posts go on and on how that was not hardcore music…..It basically became a huge circle jerk about what was and wasn’t hardcore and who could place themselves into the most relevant HC scene from back in the day and who could name the most obscure and now defunct/OOP HC band of the 80s or 90s or whatever. Really, it was pretty fucking embarrassing. I call the kind of music Terror does hardcore and if you don’t, so what. We are talking about Terror.

My first exposure to Terror came via the Fuse network one night when I was drunk and eating something before crashing after a long night at the bar. They played a video for a song off of Lowest of the Low and I was into it! Next morning I promptly downloaded the cd and fell in love. Two Weeks later it shows up in the mail. Since then they have released 3 other cds including the latest, Always the Hard Way.

So, as a rule, I do not like hardcore music and Terror is the anomaly that proves the rule.

I am not gonna bother to go into any efforts to describe Terror’s sound. Just hit play on one of the mp3s below and you will know what their sound is in about 30 seconds. It’s one of those things, you either like it or you hate it. I happen to dig it when these guys do it.

Terror - Always the Hard Way
Terror - Dead End
Terror - Smash Through You

Terror’s Official Site, Terror on myspace, Buy Always the Hard Way

Here comes another band from my goth/industrial youth. I came to know Consolidated via their mega (at least in the Tampa clubs) dance floor hit; “You Suck” featuring The Yeastie Girls. A track with a female rapper tellin the male populous it’s time to go on down, if you know what I mean….if not, just listen to the track down below (pun fully intended). While that song is what Consolidated is best known for in Tampa, they were a lot more than that. Allow me to quote from their Wiki entry:

Consolidated was an American radical activist recording and performing group, formed in 1988 and best known in the early 1990s as an alternative dance/industrial music band. They were distinguished by left-leaning political activism and radical lyrics, as well as their innovative sonic collages which blended industrial and hip-hop styles.

For a year or two Consolidated dominated the the cd player in my car. Their hybrid mash up of hiphop and industrial was pure genius in my mind. All the while their left leaning political preachings were taking root in my political belief system. I would request Butryic Acid on a regular basis at the club and then punch and kick (read: dance) with a complete reckless abandon if it got played. One night I even managed to pull the muscle on the back of my arm and could not pick anything up for 2 damn days.

Now when I think back, I wonder if they were before their time. Years later the hip-hop hybrid sound became all the rage and much less talented acts made a boat load of money. So, on this Friday I raise a pint of Bass to Consolidated and vow to put No Answer for a Dancer on every mix cd I make next month.

Consolidated - Butryic Acid
Consolidated - No Answer for a Dancer
Consolidated - You Suck (featuring The Yeastie Girls)
Consolidated - You Suck (Jack Dangers mix)

Whiskey blues with a southern rock beer chaser!

Too Slim and the Taildraggers recently released their 14th album, Fortune Teller. Despite numerous best-of awards and hall of fame inductions from three Blues societies, this was my first encounter with them. There seems to be a lot of Internet chatter about these guys in the blues genre. Personally, I don’t hear it on Fortune Teller. Fortune Teller is a straight forward rock and roll record that mingles seamlessly between southern, swamp rock, Americana, and even a slight calypso-ish sound in Mexico. In the cd booklet Too Slim says that the making of this cd was a very difficult process. You certainly can not tell that from listening to the album. Fortune Teller is a great “sitting on the front porch with some friends drinking whiskey” album, and I say that having test driven it on just such an occasion. This cd will appeal to fans of Skynyrd, The Drive-By Truckers, and electric blues acts such as the North Mississippi All-stars. I really look forward to diving deeper into Too Slim’s more bluesy back catalogue and you can look for them to be featured on ninebullets more in the future.

A quick note about the title track, Fortune Teller. Apparently it is based on a true story about Too Slim having a “strange encounter” with a real fortune teller named Yogi, in a town square in Oslo, Norway, who seemed to know too much of Too Slim’s past and present for comfort. Turns out he was equally accurate in the future area as well. Say’s Tim Langford, “It was quite unnerving. My conversations with Yogi led to some serious life changing decisions for me. I know it sounds like I am making this up, but I promise you, it really happened.”

Too Slim and the Taildraggers - Fortune Teller
Too Slim and the Taildraggers - Big Guns
Too Slim and the Taildraggers - Cowboy Boot

Too Slim and the Taildraggers’ Official Site, Too Slim and the Taildraggers on myspace, Buy Fortune Teller

So, you saw my review of the Radio Moscow show and felt like you missed out (you did) and you don’t want it to happen again. I understand. It’s hard to get away from VH1…shit, I’ve lost many many hours to it…..but it’s time to break the vicious cycle. This is the perfect week. We got a lot going on in the Tampa Bay area this week so stop picking your nose and get out on town. Here are the highlights, per me:

Thursday night @ New World Brewery: The Weary Boys w/local favs The Diviners opening

Here we go. The moment of truth. What will The Weary Boys sans Mario be like? I haven’t seen any bad reviews from other shows. I imagine it will be a tad awkward for the crowd at first seeing as how most of them probably don’t know Mario has left the band yet. I am maintaining a positive attitude towards the whole deal. Plus, the remaining Wearies added a banjo player and there is nothing like a banjo to amp up the energy of a good show. These guys pull a huge crowd that drinks their fill and then dances it off every time they come to town. I would advise each and every one of you to not miss The Weary Boys when they come to your neck of the woods.

You can see my review of The Weary Boy’s last cd, Jumpin’ Jolie, here.

The Weary Boys - Jambalaya
The Weary Boys - Baby Have No Fun

The Diviners - Remember the Beatnicks

Saturday night @ Tampa Theater: Kenny Wayne Shepherd w/Bryan Lee

Kenny Wayne Shepherd brings his Ten Days Out tour to the Tampa Theater. He is also bringing Bryan Lee (sings Tina Marie) with him. This show promises to be a shit ton of fun and I know the ticket price is enough to scare some people off but if you got the money to spend you should go to this show. As a taste of what this is gonna be like I am posting a few mp3’s from Bryan Lee’s cd “Live at the Absinthe Bar” where he is performing with Kenny Wayne. I defy you to listen to these and not think this show is gonna be one of the best of 2007.

You can see my review of Ten Days Out here.

Bryan Lee w/Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Going Down
Bryan Lee w/Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Look on Yonder Wall

Kenny Wayne Shepherd w/Bryan Lee - Tina Marie (from Ten Days Out)

Saturday night @ New World Brewery: The Dark Romantics

Yes Yes Yes….I know, I am posting about 2 shows on a Saturday night. Basically, the plan for the wife and I is to bust ass to New World after the KWS show in time to see Lakeland art-rockers The Dark Romantics. The last time these guys played Tampa they basically played a show for me, my wife, ninebullets site master Trevor and his wife. To say it was embarrassing would be quite the understatement. So come on Tampa. Get out and support your local talent. You can see my review of The Dark Romantic’s debut cd here.

The Dark Romantics - Baby Boy Baby Girl
The Dark Romantics - So Confused (and we like it)

This weekend and all the events listed above are Autopsy IV approved and I hope to see some of y’all out!

Okay, the moment I read the Miles of Music description of this cd I wanted to like it. I mean, look at it:

Ten grisly tales based on historical deaths. Bob Frank and John Murry, who co-penned the tracks, have weaved together a haunting folk-country collection of murder ballads. The tales are not for the faint. The details are grim. The stories are compelling like a Matthew Brady photograph. Glimpses into the lives of the dead. If a collection of music could be consider a page-turner, this might be it. — Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music

Come on, murder ballads about real murders? Unbeatable subject matter. I was so excited when the cd arrived I had to let it sit for a few days and prepare myself for the possibility that I wouldn’t like it.

So you have these two guys, Bob Frank, a 62 year old fella who once released his now infamous self-titled debut and was promptly dumped by his label for letting his feelings regarding the label president be known at a New York City press conference for the debut. He promptly dropped off the radar…oh, about 30 years. Then you have a 27 year old John Murry, former member of The Dillingers and The Glass, as well as occasional Lucero stage addition. They were brought together by a mutual friend and after playing a few shows together as Los Gueros they decided to pen an album of murder ballads together. Quickly realizing that the traditional murder ballad thing had been done, redone, remixed, and undone many times before them, they took a different route. They decided to start researching stories about real murders and write about them as they happened, sans the morality and rationalization commonly present in such songs.

So, does it all work? In my opinion the guys hit a home run. There is nothing bad for me to say about this cd so it will head to the essential listening list. You should pop over to M.O.M. and pick up a copy for yourself.

Before I drop the samples on you guys I want to leave you with a quote from Dustin Wells since he does such a marvelous job of summing the cd up:

Without shame, World Without End looks unflinchingly into the history of racism. Without moralizing, two of these songs look right into the past and own up to it. One song lets a Klansman speak about lynching. Another song lets the man who was lynched speak. The lesson of each ghost is that this could happen to you. From being on the receiving end of mob violence, to being caught up in the mob that unleashes the violence. The warning is that the grotesque and horrible is never far off, and is, truly, in each of us.

Bob Frank and John Murry - Bubba Rose, 1961
Bob Frank and John Murry - Jesse Washington, 1916
Bob Frank and John Murry - Doc Cunningham, 1868

Bob Frank and John Murry’s Official Site, Bob Frank and John Murry on myspace, Buy World Without End

When I initially wrote about Radio Moscow I said it could be an early contender for show of the year. Boy was I right. I don’t mean to toot my own horn but: WOOOWOOO! I hit the nail right on the head and I’m guessing that the 50 or so people who made it until the 1:15 am start would agree with me. I have no idea how many people at the show knew who Radio Moscow were, but I’m guessing that damned near every single one of them will be bringing a friend to the next show these kids play in Tampa.

You see bands described as primal all the time. Hell, I’ve used the term, but at the Radio Moscow show you could see it. People everywhere, goose-necking, feet-stomping, hands clapping, motherfuckers playing air guitar, one dude dancing, and this one fella was going all Joe Cocker and shit. It was awesome. All of this mind you, by a crowd that I’m gonna guess was largely unfamiliar with band. While trying to tell you people what the band was like, I kept coming back to the reaction of the crowd. They were infectious. The drummer seemed to be beating his kit into submission as much as playing it, and fucking singer/guitarist? Forget about it. They are a huge, loud guitar orgy just waiting for you to give them an ear. And Tampa did. In all the shows I’ve seen at New World I have never seen a band play an encore and Radio Moscow was not planning on playing one either but the crowd demanded it. I ain’t exaggerating either. The crowd seriously demanded it and the band couldn’t hide the smiles when they came out to play it. So, if you can imagine it, the bar is closed, the house lights are on, and none of the people present at the beginning of the show have left and furthermore, they are begging for more. And all of this from a band most had never heard of an hour before.

Radio Moscow made some fans in Tampa. I hope Tampa made some fans outta Radio Moscow.

If these kids come to your town don’t pass on it. Trust me, you’ll thank me the next day.

Radio Moscow - Mistreating Queen
Radio Moscow - Timebomb

Radio Moscow’s myspace site, Radio Moscow on Alive Records, Buy Radio Moscow’s debut cd
Sadly enough, I forgot to take the camera and therefore have no pictures for you.

I am a member of the International Mix Tape Project.  For the uninitiated, The International Mixtape Project is a global community of music-oriented souls that exchange monthly compilation tapes and CD-Rs. You can visit the site at www.InternationalMixtapeProject.com, then click on Rules to find out more about IMP. Well, some months are busier than others, and it stands to reason that some month’s mixes are better than others due to the amount of time I get to spend on them. If I have the time I do some sort of theme, and if I’m too busy I just throw together some highlights for the material I’ve been listening to that month. This month I’ve had a lot of time to work on the May mix. My theme is Devil Music and basically consists of songs that have “devil” in the title or have the devil as a large focus of the song. I started by collecting every song I could think of and collecting some mighty fine suggestions from some of the message boards I frequent. At the start of this I had over 4 hours worth of songs to sift through.  Needless to say a lot of songs had to hit the cutting room floor. I figured today would be a good reason to post up some of the songs that had to get whacked. Some were whacked for being too quiet, some for not fitting the overall sound of the disc and some for having a sound that was already overly represented on the disc. Sometime next month I’ll offer you the devil music compilation but today I present to you the devil’s rejects:

Beck - Devil’s Haircut
br549 - The Devil and Me

Charlie Terrell - I Dreamed I Was The Devil

Danzig - Devil’s Plaything
Danzig - Heart Of The Devil

INXS - Devil Inside

Jason Boland & The Stragglers - Time In Hell
Jay Farrar - Devil In Disguise

Old 97’s - Up The Devil’s Pay

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
The Legendary Shack Shakers - Devil’s Night Auction

Willie Nelson - Devil in a Sleeping Bag
Willie Nelson - You Look Like the Devil

Work has been a complete bear this week. Couple that with a new puppy in the house and you get nothing accomplished. So, I haven’t had a chance to write anything at all for the site and it sucks. However, work is slowing down and the puppy gets a new home tonight so life should be back to normal next week. This is a band that was gonna slip through the cracks. I had started writing about them a few times and scrapped it and I had given up on doing anything at all. Today I saw the mp3’s I had chosen and decided to put something together real quick.

The Steepwater band is a bluesy roots-rock outfit out of Chicago. Their current cd, Revelation Sunday, was released in August of 2006 and has gotten regular play in my car ever since.

The Chicago-bred trio’s organic, hard-driving synthesis of gutsy hard rock, gritty Delta blues, soulful backwoods boogie and down-home psychedelia has taken its hometown by storm. The frenzied power of the band’s live shows has won them a fiercely loyal fan base, and their last CD Dharmakaya (produced by Sean Slade & Paul Kolderie – Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo, Hole, Warren Zevon) received substantial airplay across the Midwest, including Chicago’s influential WXRT.

The Steepwater Band (guitarist / vocalist Jeff Massey, bassist Tod Bowers and drummer Joseph Winters) have played together since their teens in various rock and blues combos. The three musicians united to form The Steepwater Band in 1998, taking the name from a barge Massey spotted in Lake Michigan.

Steepwater Band - Dance Me a Number
Steepwater Band - Slow Train Drag
Steepwater Band - Mercy

Steepwater Band’s Official site, Steepwater Band on myspace, Buy Revelation Sunday

I added a page for listing the info of shows I am planning on going to and shows I actually made it to. I dunno if this will have much use for you, the reader, but it will work wonders for me keeping track of where I am supposed to be. Check it out if you are interested.

I figure a  little site news is as good a reason as any to post the song which gave this site it’s name so here you go:

Drive-By Truckers - Nine Bullets

Last month I wrote about the band Radio Moscow and mentioned that they were coming to town soon. Well, Friday night is that soon. They will be playing at the New World Brewery. Cover is $7.00 and the whole she-bang starts around 9 o’clock. I predict a really good and fun show. You should try and make it. I wanted to get this back up early in the week so you would have plenty of time to make plans to be there. Below is a repost of my post about the band. Check it out and I’ll see y’all at New World.

—

I have to thank Dan Auerbach(The Black Keys ),and if you are a fan of that bluesy garage rock sound currently being popularized by The Black Keys, then you need to thank him as well. Frontman Parker Griggs gave Dan a copy of the Radio Moscow demo after a Black Keys show in Colorado, and Dan liked it so much that he called Parker up and offered to produce their debut cd in his Akron, Ohio base me…..ERRRR…studio. Dan also took it a step further, leaning on former Black Keys home, Alive Records, to sign the band.Over the years, there has been constant turnover in the band, and Radio Moscow is, for all extensive purposes, Parker Griggs. He is the guitarist/drummer/singer/songwriter on the debut cd. The current touring lineup is Parker on guitar and vocals, Keith Rich as drummer, and Zach Anderson on bass. Parker claims this is the most dedicated and tightest line-up to date.

The self-titled debut is 10 tracks of “garage punk filtered through the blues, with“. What does all that mean? I am not entirely sure but I like the way it reads. In my own words, I would have to say Radio Moscow’s debut cd is electric guitar fueled blues rock that can find a groove and ride it so hard it’ll scar your speakers. Think Wolfmother meets The Black Keys, and you’ll probably have the worst analogy in the history of music reviews, but I’m gonna use the fucker. For real though, this is a cd that forces you to stomp your feet and play air guitar from the second the opening bass solo of “Frustrating Sound”starts.

Radio Moscow will be bringing their monster sound and heavy grooves to The New World Brewery on April 20, thanks to the fine folks over at aespresents. Something tells me the guys will put on an early contender for show of the year. I’ll be there, beer buzz intact and you can bet your ass I’ll be wearing my foot stomping shoes.

Radio Moscow - Frustrating Sound
Radio Moscow - Deep Blue Sea
Radio Moscow - Whatever Happened

Radio Moscow’s myspace site, Radio Moscow on Alive Records, Buy Radio Moscow’s debut cd