Fu Manchu - Signs Of Infinite Power

Southern California’s Fu Manchu began creating heavy, psychedelic-tinged rock in 1990. Fast Forward to 2009 and their latest record, “Signs of Infinite Power”. Delivering their characteristically sounding heavy fuzz riffs they once again return to fry your brain with the band digging deep and finding new ways of proving that they are still forefront in the stoner rocker camp, this side of the Mojave Desert.

They seem to have put their generically uninspiring album, “Start the Machine” behind them and they’ve also knocked out their comeback album, “We Must Obey”, now they are back into their comfort zone doing what they do best.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that they are now complacent as they have cranked the amps up to 11 as their track ‘Steel Beast Defeated’ makes sure to prove that this old dog still has a bite and snarl ready to rival the youngest of pups. If youre a Manchu fan, you will not be disappointed.

Highly recommended!

1. Bionic Astronautics
2. Steel.Beast.Defeated
3. Against The Ground
4. Webfoot Witch Hat
5. El busta
6. Signs of Infinite Power
7. Eyes x 10
8. Gargantuan March
9. Take It Away
10. One Step Too Far

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I had the honour of seeing the Pixies for a second time around yesterday evening. You were also able to order their concert of that night on CD, which is a pretty cool concept I think. So I did, and here's the result. A very recent live show with the band in top form and in very high audio quality!

Enjoy!

1. Intro (Un chien andalou)
2. Dancing The Manta Ray
3. Weird At My School
4. Bailey's Walk
5. Manta Ray
6. Debaser
7. Tame
8. Wave Of Mutilation
9. I Bleed
10. Here Comes Your Man
11. Dead
12. Monkey Gone To Heaven
13. Mr. Grieves
14. Crackity Jones
15. La La Love You
16. No. 13 Baby
17. There Goes My Gun
18. Hey
19. Silver
20. Gouge Away
21. Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
22. Into The White
23. U-Mass
24. Vamos
25. Gigantic
26. Where Is My Mind?

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Cherry Choke - Cherry Choke

Guitarist/vocalist Mat Bethancourt, also of Josiah and The Kings of Frog Island, now joins bassist/backing vocalist Gregg Hunt and drummer Dan Lockton in Cherry Choke, a garage rocking power trio whose self-titled debut album revels in its simplicity and rootsy flavor.

Split even on CD into sides one and two, Cherry Choke offers ten straightforward tracks wherein the fuzzy tone that’s come to be expected from Bethancourt in Josiah and The Kings of Frog Island mostly takes a back seat to a cleaner type of distortion akin to the ’70s-inspired indie that’s dominated the party rock ideal for the better part of this decade. If I said Cherry Choke takes inspiration from Hendrix, The Stooges, MC5 and T-Rex, it would be the same as saying “they play garage rock,” but there it is.

There are some hits and some misses throughout the album, but the memorable “Ride My Black Balloon,” at track three, is the first real showing of Cherry Choke at their best. Somewhat less frantic than “She Turns Me On” and “The Lie,” which come right before it, the repetition of the title line drills it into your head so that you start repeating it, mantra-like, without even realizing. Though “Reflections in Black” is both more distorted and more aggressive, “Ride My Black Balloon” still remains the strongest number on the side one. The short psychedelic instrumental “Jezebel” helps to divide Cherry Choke and set the tone for the album’s broader-reaching second half.

Side two begins with “Cheetah,” which fits well alongside side one’s more forthright cuts, but it’s with “I Can See the Girls Grow,” with a further back vocal from Bethancourt and a deeper guitar sound — one that still bounces along at a fairly good clip — that Cherry Choke commences its expansion. The last three tracks, beginning with the most Hendrixian “The Need,” are unmistakably the highlights of the record. “The Need” balances the fuzz with the swagger and is the first real instance since “Ride My Black Balloon” in which Cherry Choke’s songwriting seems to be in focus. While other tracks have a frivolous, spontaneous, jammed-out appeal, there’s no denying the solo in “The Need” is well constructed and immaculately executed. Leading into the faster “In My Mind” and instrumental closer “Fridays in June,” the album’s close presents its brightest moments.

Cherry Choke has enough of Bethancourt’s s t y l e and sound to please fans of his previous work, but pushes in a direction altogether different. Nonetheless, they are an organic-sounding trio with Hunt and Lockton offering much in the way of striking classic rock rhythms and a couple genuinely remarkable tracks on their debut, well suited to whatever outdoor chicanery you might be getting up to this summer.

1. She Turns Me on
2. The Lie
3. Ride My Black Balloon
4. Reflections in Black
5. Jezebel
6. Cheetah
7. I Can See the Girls Grow
8. The Need
9. In My Mind
10. Fridays in June

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Big Business - Mind The Drift

After two albums as a bass-and-drums duo, Big Business has added a guitarist, Toshi Kasai, for its third release, "Mind the Drift." The group's two original members have quite a pedigree on the noise-rock circuit: Bassist-singer Jared Warren (ex-Karp) and drummer Coady Willis (ex-Murder City Devils) have supplemented the rhythm section for Seattle grunge band the Melvins since 2006.

In Big Business, Warren always used to play his bass like a guitar, adding tremendous power and volume to Willis's thunderous percussion. The addition of a guitar has surprisingly softened the group's sludgy sound but only a little bit. On "Gold and Final," Warren's typical howl has relaxed to a bellow, and Kasai's guitar work makes those dexterous bass lines less audible.

It's like they've become more of a rock group and less of a metal band. Warren's booming bass is still there (it's particularly audible on the roaring "Cats, Mice"), but the spotlight has shifted to guitar. Kasai's squealing guitar flourishes supplement the boisterous low tones of "I Got It Online," while the staggering energy of "Found Art" shows a cohesive new three-instrument sound.

Over its nearly nine-minute duration, the album closer "Theme From Big Business" changes from a pulsing drone to a heavy-rock melody to a faint guitar murmur. The shape-shifting shows that although Big Business might not have ironed out all the kinks in its new sound, it certainly hasn't lost its noisy edge. It is all a bit different though.

1. Found Art - 3:34
2. Gold and Final - 3:32
3. Cats, Mice. - 3:52
4. I Got It Online - 3:59
5. The Drift - 3:40
6. Ayes Have It - 4:17
7. Cold Lunch - 3:33
8. Theme From Big Business II - 8:43

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