IT’S A BIG DAY TODAY…

May 302008

I am about to go do the final walk-thru on the house and then it’s off to the title office for closing. Nothing like incurring a mountain of debt with a smile on your face and everyone you know patting you on the back. And! and, we are buying a house 3 blocks off the beach 2 days before hurricane season starts. Yup, we’re brilliant…but seriously, I’m excited about it.

See y’all Monday.

Tennessee Ernie Ford – Sixteen Tons

Tampa/St. Pete: Don’t forget Jason Isbell is playing Crowbar tomorrow night. Come out and help me celebrate my first home purchase with a whiskey drink and a rock show.

Jason Isbell – Try

Edit: It is done. I am officially a homeowner…I celebrated by taking the wife straight (in a, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars) from the closing agency to the furniture store to buy a couch and chair she’s been stalking for a month. Followed by the first of what will be (i’m told) many trips to Lowe’s for home repair shit.

THE LANCASTER ORCHESTRA – NEVER CRIED ONCE WHEN I COULD HAVE (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER)

May 292008

Oh shit! Two days. Two Swedish bands. If it weren’t the fact that over the two years of ninebullets existence this might be the fifth Swedish band I’ve written about you could mistake me for Swedesplease. Well, there’s that and the little things like the fact that they wrote about Lancaster Orchestra’s cd, Never Cried Once When I Could Have, back in 2006 when it was new. New or not, ninebullets.net’s goal is to write about good music not just good new music…and to say Never Cried Once When I Could Have is good is an understatement.

Swedesplease called it “(a) blend of Neil Young inspired Americana music married to American Music Club’s lyrical moroseness”. Jason Molina and his Magnolia Electric Company was the first thing to jump to my mind while I was listening to it…but then, everyone compares Magnolia Electric Company to Neil Young so I guess it’s six in one hand, half dozen in the other. Essential Listening in both. Check it out.

The Lancaster Orchestra – Pocketchange
The Lancaster Orchestra – Rocks, Spits and Cries
The Lancaster Orchestra – I Wish We Never Met

The Lancaster Orchestra’s Official Site, The Lancaster Orchestra on myspace, Buy Never Cried Once When I Could Have

HELLSONGS – HYMNS IN THE KEY OF 666

May 282008

Sometimes, you just see a band name or an album name and you paint this picture in your mind of what their music is gonna be like. Such was the case with the group Hellsongs. I saw the name HellSongs and the album title Hymns in the Key of 666, and right there I decided this was gonna be some serious Doom Country, in the vein of Those Poor Bastards or Sons of Perdition. I really didn’t even spend enough time on the emusic page to notice the cover art or the “rock/pop” genre classification, hell, I didn’t even bother looking at the track listing. All it took to pique my interest was Hellsongs and Hymns in the Key of 666, and I just knew that it was going to be Doom Country. I was sure of it. Furthermore, not only was it Doom Country, but by the time it made it to my thumb drive and got plugged into my stereo, I had decided it was awesome Doom Country.

I could not have been more wrong.

Hellsongs fashion themselves as “LoungeMetal” and what they do is reinterpret metal classics as acoustic/electronic songs more fit for a coffee shop. Remember when Tori Amos released that cover album which featured a cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood”? Yeah? Well, it’s exactly like that, except that Hellsongs actually pulls it off and manages to make the songs their own, ala Richard Cheese minus the Vegas lounge kitch. Over 10 tracks these Swedes manage to reinvent Metallica, Sabbath, Slayer, Iron Maiden and others, including a particularly interesting remake of Megadeth‘s “Symphony of Destruction”.

I’m not saying this is something you’ll put in heavy rotation, but it is a fun listen. It also makes for an entertaining album to put on when you have company and watch as they have an internal struggle trying to figure out just what it is they are listening to.

Hellsongs – Symphony of Destruction
Megadeth – Symphony of Destruction

Hellsongs – Paranoid
Black Sabbath – Paranoid

Success: Hellsongs – Seasons in the Abyss
Failure: Tori Amos – Raining Blood

Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss
Slayer – Raining Blood


Hellsongs Official Site, Hellsongs on myspace, Buy Hymns in the Key of 666

DAVE INSLEY – WEST TEXAS WINE

May 272008

Dave Insley’s path to country music seems to be another version of a now fairly common story for many Texas honkytonk musicmakers: Blue collar working parents with an extensive country/western vinyl collection, skip forward to a kid playing in various country and rock bands, then and at some point finds himself trying to mesh punk rock and country into something he could call his own. Somewhere along the way the rock fades and the pedal steel swells aaand another punk rock vet turns honky tonk hero. It’s an odd progression, but it happens so often it has to be natural in some fashion. Hell, here I am as a listener…another punk rock refugee turned country/honky tonk/blues blogger.

While the punk rock sounds have faded away, the DIY ethos are still front and center with Dave. There’s no Nashville address, no New York publicist, and if you send an email to Dave you’ll get a reply; from Dave. West Texas Wine is his third solo release with his backing band, The Careless Smokers. It features 10 tracks with a mix of upbeat originals and obscure covers that range from classic honky tonk to tongue in cheek, but always tight and familiar without feeling worn out. Check out ol-what’s-his-name.

Dave Insley – Beatin’ Ya Down
Dave Insley – Exit 93

Dave Insley’s Official Site, Dave Insley on myspace, Buy West Texas Wine

IBWIP TURNS ONE YEAR OLD…

May 232008

Wanna see some seriously awesome segue skills? The post below here contains a Split Lip Rayfield track and now I am gonna post about the new episode of It Burns When I Pee which features an interview with Wayne Gottstine from Split Lip Rayfield…

BOOYAHKASHA!

Folks, it’s that kinda shit right there that separates the blogging boys from the blogging men.

They also feature music from a little band out of Atlanta we recently discussed and are great fans of, Missy Gossip and The Secret Keepers.

Go have a listen.

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