Mastodon - Blood Mountain

MINE

No.

God, no.

But it made me wonder if guys like this lead singer will be due to lose their vocal cords in years to come.  Better lay in some serious medical insurance - don't you think?

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

YOURZ

I'm not a big metal fan.  Generally, I like my music to be more fun and less serious than a lot of metal takes itself to be.  But in a few instances, a band jumps out, grabs me by my skinny neck and shakes me like a motherfucker.  Mastodon is one such band. 

It is a combination of the blisteringly fast riffs, the rapid time changes and the seemingly higher intellect of their lyrics that does it for me.  The double pronged attack of twin guitars, riffing over the top of a machine-gun-fire snare and fat-as bass are like aural sculptures.  Sure, not everyone appreciates such sculpture, but thankfully, I get this.

The other thing I like about it is they don't mess about with over-long lead guitar breaks, eschewing these for smart, whip-crack riffs that leave the listener breathless.  I fucking love it!  And it seems I'm not the only one, with the band gaining some big names fans in people like QOTSA front man Josh Homme, Cedric from At The Drive In and Neil Fallon from Clutch.  They've toured with Metallica, Slayer and Slipknot and have garnered accolades from the metal and wider music-loving community right around the world.  As they should.  Blood Mountain is a metal fan's wet dream come true.

Mine, however, is probably bleeding from the ears right now...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Spinnerette - Spinnerette

YOURZ

Okay, Ms Brody Dalle has rock credentials oozing out her skin like her many and varied tattoos, starting with Sourpuss in Australia when she was 14.  By the time she was 18, she had married Tim Armstrong from Rancid, moved to LA and formed The Distillers.  Four albums later, both band and Armstrong were no longer.  Enter Josh Homme, more marriage, a sprog and domestic bliss, of a sort.

While not owing anything to the QOTSA sound, access to the growing collective of musicians associated with the Queens meant all she had to do was write the songs and let them be recorded.  Unfortunately, what we end up with here, for a major part of this album, is fairly derivative sounding, with a number of tracks that would most certainly not have made the cut for her husband's various projects.

But this self-titled effort is not without its moments.  Openers Ghetto Love, All Babes Are Wolves and Cupid set the bench mark high before the cracks start showing.  It isn't until 6 tracks later she partly redeems herself with the quite splendid Driving Song followed closely by Impaler and the closer A Prescription For Mankind.


This should have been an EP is all I'm saying.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN


MINE

OK, the gremlins got in and deleted my comment.  How did that happen?  Grrrrrr, I can't even remember clearly what I said!  Apart from, it's not really my thing.  Well-done and all that but generally just - ordinary.  Notwithstanding the babeliciousness of Ms Dalle....

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information:  http://www.spinnerettemusic.com/

The Dead Weather - Horehound

MINE

I have to preface my dissing of Jack White by giving you a bit of background.  A few years ago I was employed by a company who made radio programs, and as such I spent a large part of my time in a recording studio.  While we didn't record music as such, it gave me an insight into how music is mixed - and it gave me my own view of how each mix "feels".

As a musician and producer, YourZ understands this somewhat - although he has the disturbing talent of being able to isolate items in a mix and listen to them by themselves (weirdo) (YourZ sez: not weird, just incredibly talented, indelibly relevant, brilliantly handsome etc).  I just listen to the whole thing, and describe the mix according to where I feel it's coming from.  So, listening to Parliament involves a sound that wraps around my hips and wiggles my shoulders.  Most hard rock starts in the guts and involves the neck (they don't call it head-banging for nothing).  Jack White sits right in front of your eyes and says "LOOKATME LOOKATME LOOKATME".

I actually had to come home and put on Elephant to confirm that it's him, not the new combo that's responsible for this.  He pushes the percussion way up in the mix too, so it's like he's hitting that cymbal RIGHT NEXT TO MY EAR. (BTW Jack?  sounds a bit cheesy like that)

I really really wanted to like Horehound as I've not really given the White Stripes a fair go in the past and I've read so much about his love of analogue recording (my kinda guy!)  But listening to this made me wonder if every rock guitarist just wants to make his own Led Zeppelin album.  I'd classify this CD as "intellectual rock" - more of an exercise for those with the time and money to do so.  It's very clever, with an annoying number of time-signature changes (YourZ sez: I think you mean tempo changes as opposed to time changes but then, I am incredibly talented etc...) and some go-to-the-top-of-your-class syncopation.  What it's NOT is a bunch of rock songs, crafted and performed by a group who've worked on them over and over till they can't help but play them right.

I read in a review that the album was recorded in three weeks.  It sounds like it.

Also, the Mosshart-penned song So Far From Your Weapon sounds remarkably like a Michelle Shocked song dating back to the 80's - When I Grow Up.  That bothered me for days till I worked it out.  Ever have that happen to you?  Infuriating, isn't it?

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ 

Every generation has its pop stars, its movie stars and its icons, these days even more so, given how incredibly pervasive the cult of celebrity has become.  But true legends, ones who affect multiple generations are far less common.  In contemporary music, names such as Lennon, Bowie, Dylan and Marley, for example, are continually cited as being of such influence.

So if I had a time machine and I took a 50 year leap into the future, which names would future stars be lauding.  It would be fair to say there may be a few artists from the last few decades on the list and, if this is fair to say, then Jack White might well be one of those names.  Given Uncut recently named him Man Of The Decade, I don't have a problem with my speculation. (Mine says: but remember how many music magazines still fawn over Oasis, and we both know how talented THEY are)

But all this Jack White adulation aside, The Dead Weather comprise of three other very fine musicians: Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens Of The Stoneage and Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes.  In the strictest sense, this is a supergroup as it comprises members of other established acts.  Often times this can be a recipe for something less than ordinary, but in this case, thankfully it proves to be more than the sum of its parts.

White's duties as drummer show yet another amazing weapon in his arsenal of awesomeness while Mosshart's voice, a favourite of mine for a few years now, sounds dirty and sexy and snarly all at the same time.  Coupled with the duel attack of Fertita's guitar and Lawrence's bass, this quartet's take on post-modern blues is simply fabulous.  In another blog, I'd named this album as one of my picks for 2009 and I stand by it.  From the infectious riff at the start of the first track, 60 Feet Tall to the final throes of the final track, Will There Be Enough Water, it never disappoints.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.thedeadweather.com/