Review: Stinky Wizzleteat - Teat Law

Birmingham's Stinky Wizzleteat create a brand of sludge and hardcore-flavoured heaviness which they have perfected in this debut full-length album, compiling a supreme selection of tracks brimming with fury and menace; an audio catharsis channeled through the power of killer riffs.

From the ferocious kick of opener 'Julia Louis Dreyfus' through to vitriolic closer 'We Are Kenyans, Not Phillistines', Teat Law is driven by heavy-as-hell grooves and embellished with angular rhythmic twists and lead lines, while vicious screams and growls punctuate the maelstrom. The prevailing feel of the album is a mixture of malevolence and desolation, each track awash with suffocatingly thick distortion while still maintaining a punk-like high energy level. This onslaught lets up slightly for the album's slow-burning centrepiece, 'Ironic Veneration of Tyrants', a punishing lesson in the invocation of despondency. Elsewhere, there's doom riffs and Melvins-esque chugging ('Robohymen and Persuadoboy'), T.V and film samples throughout that range from abstract to absurd (the brilliant lead-in to 'Wank Fantasy', for example) and positively monolithic breakdowns ('Stoner Moms'). 

Teat Law is a thoroughly recommended slab of musical steak, and is available to download from Soundcloud by visiting http://soundcloud.com/stinky-wizzleteat/sets/teat-law/. Tuck in…

For more info on Stinky Wizzleteat, visit http://www.facebook.com/stinkywizzleteat.

Black Flag and Oxbow men form new band!!!

In what seems like a sort of punk-rock dream scenario, former Black Flag bass legend Chuck Dukowski has teamed up with Oxbow frontman Eugene Robinson to form a new band, Black Face. The band - completed by guitarist Milo Gonzalez (of Insects vs. Robots) and drummer Tom Dobrov (ex Oxbow) - have recorded four songs, which they will release on two separate 7" singles. 

These will only be available in vinyl form and definitely more than worth getting; not only will they feature such prestigious personnel, but in addition to this will consist of Dukowski-penned Black Flag songs that, until now, have never been recorded! Originally written around the band's My War era, shortly before Dukowski's departure, the titles are: 'Monster', 'I Want to Kill You', ''Where Will We Run' and 'Leave Me Out to Rot'.

If the thought of never-before-heard 'Flag songs with the insane vocals of Eugene Robinson doesn't excite you, then you really need help.

'I Want to Kill You' / 'Monster' 7" will be out soon on Hydra Head. Black Face will be playing live so here's hoping they grace our shores!

For more info click!: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Face/132339213524318?sk=info

Adam Beckley - Revere

This is the third release from Stourbridge experimental artist Adam Beckley, who uses samples and guitars to create enveloping freeform soundscapes. While his previous two EPs focused largely on walls of droning sound, the six tracks featured on Revere have eased up on this approach in favour of a more open, spacious style in which layers of harmonic and melodic phrases are gradually built up and intricately interwoven. The result is Beckley's most texturally rich and emotionally poignant recorded work to date.

'Unleashed, You Spoke' begins the album with a gentle shimmering sample which repeats hypnotically before opening up into dense, swirling melodies. This leads to the plaintive 'Freefall', whose sombre mood is carried into the slowly rising 'Bring Us Balance'. From here the listener is taken down into the depths of the stark, melancholic 'I Take the Form of Your Skeleton', and then lifted again by the delicate beauty of the title track. 'Take Me to the Secrets' brings the album to an understated conclusion, its haunting final note fading into muffled ambient noise and leaving the ears lingering. For fans of ambient, atmospheric music, Revere is essential listening.

Revere is out now via Carnage Club as a CD or can be downloaded from http://adambeckley.bandcamp.com. A cassette featuring artwork by Nathan Coyle is set for release soon. Adam Beckley is next playing at The Rose and Crown, Wordsley on Thursday 13 October so be there!

For more information go to:

http://adambeckley.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carnage-Club/165089033555573

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adam-Beckley/212223658812528

Awesome Upcoming Things!!

Well now I've dropped myself in it. Having started this blog I realise I have a shitload of catching up to do in terms of keeping it up to date with some of the downright awesome events and releases coming up in the near future. So here's a comprehensive list of everything I can think of right now…

 FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER will see Stourbridge's finest disco-spazzcore troupe Diamonds head to Stoke on Trent to play The Rigger with Werewolves on Motorcycles and Space Witch. Anyone in this area should feel nothing less than a burning need to attend this gig; Diamonds' live shows are highly reputable for kicking up a storm of chaotic energy, spontaneous violence and underlying perversion. And what's more you get the dirty rock n' roll of Werewolves on Motorcycles, a barrel of heavy psych-doom grooves from Space Witch AND DJs. So get on it.

For more gig info visit http://www.facebook.com/TheDoomDoctor . 

Diamonds' full length album, Crystal Ravens, is out now on Allegiance Records and available in CD and digital download formats. Visit http://www.facebook.com/diamondstheband or http://www.allegiance-records.com/ !

On THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER, solo artist Adam Beckley will bring his ambient dreamscapes to the Rose and Crown in Wordsley. Equipped with only a sampler and a mixer (and occasionally guitar), Adam constructs and dismantles ethereal musical movements that gradually envelope the audience with their rich, flowing textures. A live performance not to be missed. 

Adam Beckley has released three solo recordings to date; two self-released EPs, Our Given Sleep and Western; and one release, Revere, via Carnage Club records. Visit http://adambeckley.bandcamp.com/ to download all of these. Revere is available in CD form too from Carnage Club, and will also soon be released as a limited edition cassette so be on the lookout!

For more info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adam-Beckley/212223658812528

This takes us to SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER and Carnage Club's 'Boom! Headshot! 5', the fifth instalment in what has been a series of consistently awesome events in which gig organisers Carnage Club bring a collection of amazing bands and artists to Temple of Boom Studios, Amblecote, and proceed to tear the place a new one. The atmosphere is like that of a really great party, with the added bonus of really REALLY great bands! Previous 'Boom! Headshot!' nights have featured the likes of The Ergon Carousel, Burnst, Eyeball Eyeball, Stinky Wizzleteat, Howard James Kenny, Diamonds, Ephemetry, The Shogun's Decapitator, Inertia Blooms, Drop The Ball, Timothy Parkes, Sperare, Human Hands, Dying Giant and many others whose performances in the hearts and minds of those who witnessed them fell nothing short of legendary. 

At the time of writing, two bands have been confirmed for 'Boom! Headshot! 5', with another five acts to be announced. Thus far, local experimental hardcore crew History of the Hawk and supertechnical mathcore shit-kickers Antares are billed, both of which are bound to blow brains. The fact that five more slices of supreme musical talent are to be added to this line up is actually more than the capacity of the human mind can accommodate for.

Follow this link for more info and to join the party!  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205896986140825

Then, before you even get chance to get over your killer hangover, SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER sees the Flapper, Birmingham host an evening of experimental/progressive/post-rock styles. These come courtesy of fantastic mind-bending headliners Lite, Leicester-based instrumentalists Maybeshewill, local post-metal math-rockers Io and  S'bridge/Halesowen-based progressive-post-metallers Dying Giant. I've been fortunate to have seen the latter of these play a few gigs and each time I've been blown away; DG possess a masterful balance of crushing heaviness and heart rending emotional resonance in their work. Add this to the rest of the line up and we're in for a real treat. For further info see: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165200710212183

Finally, Birmingham riff monsters Stinky Wizzleteat and History of the Hawk will join forces for a show at the Fat Cat Cafe bar in Stoke on Trent on FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER. Further details of following shows in Manchester and Worcester  coming soon. Having seen these two bands share a stage earlier this summer it's safe to say they are truly a match made in Heaven. In other cool news these two bands will be releasing a split cassette in the near future! 

Stinky Wizzleteat's album, Teat Law, can be listened to now on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/stinky-wizzleteat/sets/teat-law

More event info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=216973771691528

Okay well that's about it for now, follow the links, go to the shows, enjoy the music!

-Luke Fewtrell-Bowers

History Of The Hawk - Ocean EP

This Stourbridge band have only been together a short time and already they're beginning to cause a stir on the underground scene. This can be largely owed to the tunes that have been showcased from this impressive debut, displaying a brand of frenetic hardcore that draws on a broad musical heritage to create a sound with a characteristic all of its own.

From the driving rhythms and blood-boiling riffage of 'X is the new Y' and 'Freyer' the EP takes the listener through a series of twists and turns; into Fugazi-esque stop-starting and catchy dual shouts ('You, Me, Let's Cybercide Baby'); slow doomy riffs that abruptly give way to an angular aural assault (the apocalyptic 'Little Parisians'); old-school hardcore stylings ('Social Heat'); before concluding with 'The Map is not the Territory', a slab of majestic bleakness coupled with a churning rhythm that fans of Drive Like Jehu would love.

With Ocean, HOTH have crafted a sonic rollercoaster which will leave you thrilled, dizzy and slightly nauseous. Need proof? Stream the whole EP from http://historyofthehawk.bandcamp.com

Ocean EP is set for release via digital download on 17 October by In at the Deep End Records and will be available from iTunes and other popular downloading sites. The EP will also be available in vinyl form, courtesy of Speedowax. 

For more details see:

www.facebook.com/historyofthehawk

www.iatde.com

Hello!! - An Introduction to RTL

So I thought a good place to start would be to introduce myself and explain the point of this whole thing. My name's Luke, I live in the town of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, UK, planet Earth. I decided to start this blog because in this area and those nearby there's a hell of a lot of interesting stuff happening musically, stuff that generally won't get a lot of media coverage. So, while I know that one person's little blogspot site isn't going to make the world of difference to this fact, at least I can "do my bit" to help promote some of the great bands and artists that I see and hear who are either from the area or come through on the gig circuit. That said this thing isn't area-specific and if I hear something amazing from elsewhere (as one can easily thru the wonders of the internet) then that's gonna get covered too. 

Basically to sum it up, I'm writing about music (and music-related subjects) that I like and that I feel doesn't get enough written about it. Hopefully this will point a few people in the direction of some music that will enrich and enhance their lives. But who knows, we'll see.