Top Releases of 2011

1. trap them - darker handcraft
2. beneath oblivion - from man to dust
3. lee bozeman - giftmouth b/w the moment is gone
4. lee bozeman - the secret's always safe with  me b/w soft sins
5. pj harvey - let england shake
6. washed out - in and without
7. justin ww - ...of arches ep
8. vaccine - crimes in blood ep
9. enabler - year one
10. jay-z and kanye west - watch the throne
11. jedi mind tricks - violence begets violence
12. rise against - endgame
13. drainland - and so our troubles began
14. today is the day - pain is a warning
15. waka flocka flame and gucci mane - ferrari boyz
16. gigan - quasi-hallucinogenic sonic landscapes
17. radiohead - the king of limbs
18. custodian and gnawed (collab)
19. cloud rat/oily menace/wolbachia - split lp
20. cloud rat - fever dreams
21. nukkehammer - soviet rust belt ep
22. pusha t - fear of god II: let us pray
23. tyler, the creator - goblin
24. authority - stone craft cs
25. discretion - the scrubbing hole cs
26. vacation - s/t
27. rank/xerox - rank/xerox
28. dead north - spot remover (demo)
29. nukkehammer - demos lp
30. trophy wives - old scratch
31. white lung/nu sensae - split ep
32. disma - towards the megalith
33. hatred surge/mammoth grinder - split lp
34. negative plane - stained glass revelations
35. exit hippies/asocial terror fabrication - split ep
36. solstafir - svartir sandar
37. northless - clandestine abuse
38. warning//warning ep
39. fuck the facts - die miserable
40. immolation - providence ep
41. peter j. woods - songs for nothing
42. iceage - new brigade (came out in the US this year)
43. from ashes rise - live hell
44. oathbreaker - maelstrom
45. authority - protect us, o lord

reissues:

nirvana - nevermind super deluxe (disc THREE only...)
no comment - downsided ep
no comment - common senseless ep
dishammer - vintage addiction
general surgery - necrology ep


honorable mentions:

witch mountain - south of salem
brody's militia/breathilizor - split ep
austra - feel it break
heartless - hell is other people
brainoil - death of this dry season
gucci mane - the return of mr. zone 6

(Local bands are bolded.)

The Best British Pop You've Never Heard... from America?!??

"Vanity" by Luxury

The sun and the air loved her best, so buried at sea,
we couldn't take the mirrors, there were too many.

Drown like you mean it,
I said, drown like you mean it,
I said, drown like you mean it,
It's vanity.

That's vanity.

Can you see her floating?

That's vanity.

Can you see her floating?

I closed up the bottle with a note to read,
said, "Who is there that you would love to see?"

Drown like you mean it,
I said, drown like you mean it,
I said, this time with some feeling,
I said, this time with some feeling,
I said, drown like you mean it,
I said, drown, drown, drown, drown, drown.

It's vanity.

Can you see her floating?

That's vanity.

Can you see her floating?

I bet you can,
I bet you can,
I bet you can,
I know you can,
I bet you can,
I bet you can,
I bet you can, 'cause you're a foxy man.


Luxury, from Toccoa, Georgia was on Tooth and Nail Records in the mid-to-late 90's.  This was during the early days of the label, when they were releasing good, relevant music (mewithoutYou and Starflyer 59 were a couple of the only good bands to have survived that period).  They played a style of British Pop influenced by The Smiths and 70's glam-rock.  Virtually everything they've written (as well as their side projects) is timeless.  A number of their releases, including this, their debut album, are available for FREE on a Bandcamp site that their lead singer runs.  He and his brother, who is also a member, has a side project up there, too.

While they started out as Evangelical Christians, the brothers Bozeman ended up converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and became priests.  For those of you who aren't aware, Orthodox priests are allowed to marry.  Which both of them did before going to school and taking their vows.  This is obviously a much healthier stance than the one that their counterparts, the Roman Catholics, took during the Middle Ages (and unfortunately have continued with today...).  I cannot recommend this band enough and I URGE you to at least give them a listen.

Rank/Xerox (San Francisco Post-Punk)

Official Site:
http://rnkxrx.tumblr.com

Free Downloads and Streaming Audio:

http://soundcloud.com/ros-records

Here's a review of their recently-released self-titled LP (on Make a Mess) from Maximum Rock’N’Roll

An urgent, desolate sound that evokes collapsing modernist architecture, awkward photographs and polyester trousers. Post-punk nausea for those that would rather reach for Soma Holiday than anything out of Leeds in 1982. This is my favorite local band. Their music is constantly moving, a million parts in action creating a picture that’s stark and powerful, and there’re only three people in this band - one Australian accent and two American ones. Former members of HC acts BURNING SENSATION and JUMP OFF A BUILDING now making out of place music for desperate times. They are excellent live, propulsive energy and power to flatten all dispassionate audiences. I’ve heard people compare them to ZOUNDS, I think they are more in like with the PROLETARIAT with some MIDDLE CLASS aggro snot injections. At any rate, this LP is a totality of nervous energy and dark movement, it sort of makes me think of the KEBAB song "We Live In A System", that paranoid force. It’s hard to write about a band you love sometimes, it’s easier to dismiss things than to explain what the secret ingredient is that makes something rule…Listening to this on headphones in a dark review corridor it feels like a transportation device. Lyrics are incisive surgical cuts, evocative and nightmarish constructions. It’s stark, dark music with underlying currents, PETER HOOK-ish basslines and scratched out guitars and the drums are like a more organized PALMOLIVE! For real, if you like skating around town with WARSAW on your headphones, this is your sound. (LG)

WARNING/WARNING (French "Raw Punk")

November 14, 2011Witler House
4114 Witler St
Cincinnati, OH
45223


WARNING//WARNING (Bordeaux, France; ex-Gasmask Terror)
Noisy hardcore Japanese style a la Confuse, Frigora, GAI, Framtid
http://punkislove.free.fr [Site currently down]

GREY HOST
Local stoner/doom
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grey-Host/115821031812813

SILO
Ohio raw punks

+ more sick ragers TBA

ALL AGES
8:30 pm. $5.
BYOB (and the door money)

Heavier Than Sabbath and Existed the Same Time...

Mokoka (Basque Punk from France)

Egin zazu zure lana
Mokoka | Myspace Music Videos

http://www.myspace.com/mokoka

Via Google Translate...

"The sound of Mokoka revolves around a punk-rock-core direct where the melodies are as catchy as the choruses heady! .. And if singing in Euskara, the Basque language, is already is a commitment, do not forget all his companions. The group then turned into association to help families of Basque political prisoners and meet their financial needs. .. The Euskara, therefore, to denounce the repression in Franco-Spanish Euskal Herria. Words and melodies to carry the fight beyond the artificial boundaries of politics. .. Also, if etymologically means Mokoka Barney, the group is also the symbol of the claims he wants to get in his texts. In addition to the Basque cause, more generally Mokoka tackles the problems of society today (unemployment, individualism, illiteracy ...). .. But the group does not lose sight of the sense of fun and knows how to combine text with thoughtful and serious themes lighter, always punctuated with music and pogotante. Their concerts are all tense moment, shooting stretched as time of derision and humor. Their recovery, in Breton in the text, Tri Martelod is an example !.... Mokoka occurred in nearly one hundred and fifty concerts in Paris (Fahrenheit, Euskal Etxea, Reflex-CICP, Guinguette Pirate, Dial Omnibus, Vendémiaire and bars), in Britain, Iparralde (Baiona, Itxassou, Senpere, Baigorri) and Hegoalde (Irun, Gernika, Bilbao, Gasteiz), the festival Euskal Herria Zuzenean 98 ... .. And played with Fermin Muguruza, La Polla, Etsaiak, Anestesia, Betagarri, Skunk, Ten Little Indians, Kargol's, The Sheriff, Brigada Flores Magon, Rude Boy System, P4 to Attack ....... .. The group was arrested in 2000. But the struggle continues ....."

Doktor Bitch/Billy Crystal Meth - split CDr

Live footage of DOKTOR BITCH (ex-Sockeye, Schnauzer, Minch, Boulder, Breathilizor, The Lettuce Vultures, Poopy Dys, The Snack Food Association, etc) can be viewed HERE.

You can hear a BILLY CRYSTAL METH song off of this on youtube HERE.  The split is available on BCM's webpage and probably elsewhere.  I don't care enough to look further, though, because I just ate an entire bag of Swedish Fish.  Oh man, be right back...

This is pretty good...

NEW RELEASE BY CAUL UP FOR FREE DOWNLOAD!!!!!!!!!!!

More darkwave for your enjoyment!  Check out the new album, Lacuna, which he put up for FREE DOWNLOAD here:

http://soundcloud.com/caul

Here's some other links for Caul:

http://caul.org
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Caul

http://www.last.fm/music/Caul

The Spirit and the Bride

I came across this group on facebook.  They're from San Francisco.  Self-described as a mix of darkwave, goth, and dream-pop.  I hear some Dead Can Dance and British pop influences in it.  It's very mature and well-written, so I'd strongly recommend checking it out.  Here's some links for them:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spirit-And-The-Bride/230191209886?sk=app_178091127385

http://soundcloud.com/spiritandthebride