Chasers Ready. (demos 1998-2002)

August 9, 2009

Southeastern Michigan had two overwhelming musical trends in the early to mid ’90s.   One of those trends – ska – was a thoroughly unusual phenomenon which I’ll save for another post. The other major movement that virtually defined the Detroit scene –  in those days  – was the whole  ‘indie/emo’ genre.  Swarms of kids in […]

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King Of Kings…the ultra rare 2nd Album

August 4, 2009

Apparently zatme.com is no longer. Which is  a tremendous shame, since that’s where the ultra rare 2nd King Of Kings album was available for purchase & download. King Of Kings fans know the mystifying talents frontman/vocalist/bassist Desmond Horn revealed on the band’s sole “big time” DGC effort, the eponymous ‘Kings Of Kings‘.  In the pre-internet […]

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unbelievable Only Living Witness news

August 1, 2009

I’m flabbergasted. Jonah Jenkins (vox for Only Living Witness, Miltown, Milligram, Raw Radar War, etc) has wisely blogposted his recent experience with Century Media’s legal goons on the Only Living Witness myspace page.  You really need to read it, so click here. For those unaware: the reason this is so confounding is that Century Media […]

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Bloomsday ‘The Day The Colors Died’ (1996)

July 28, 2009

Bloomsday was always a curious CD in my collection – even amongst the numerous “Christian bands” of every flavor I’d managed to collect.  Truth be told, my reasons for bringing them up now are: a) they were a Seattle band, and b) there doesn’t seem to be anyone offering a shared rip of this masterwork. […]

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Grinder ‘Nothing Is Sacred’ (1991)

July 28, 2009

This is without a doubt one of my favourite thrash metal albums of all time. I would to listen to the cassette endlessly (thru Walkman headphones) as the soundtrack to my senior year of high school.   It wasn’t the greatest album in metal history, but there’s something genuine and magical about this record that I’m […]

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The Overtones ‘Straight To The Point’ (2009)

July 10, 2009

I know what you’re thinking: “I Googled the name, and there seems to be a ton of oldies-esque bands who’ve gone by the name The Overtones — how in heck could this one be any different?” Well, let me get (er…) straight to the point: My first actual listen to this Overtones was a few […]

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Sense Field ‘Fun Never Ends’ ep (2001)

June 21, 2009

Revelation Records was a unique beast in labels during the early to mid ’90s. They were home to many of my favourite bands (Into Another, Quicksand, Shai Hulud, Iceburn) and wisely aided the careers of several acts I respected but didn’t listen to (Gorilla Biscuits, Orange 9mm, Dag Nasty, Shelter). In addition to great art […]

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Detroit Rock City

June 21, 2009

It’s at the south-east edge of Van Dyke Ave. & 9 Mile Road in Warren, Michigan…and you can’t miss it: It’s the brick & mortar retail monolith that is Detroit Rock City. The place is equal doses late-’60s haunted roadside shop and early 70’s Kiss-mania boutique storefront, liberally blackened with hard-rockin’ paint layers, and gloriously […]

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Hinge ‘Accidental Meeting of Minds’ (1994)

June 21, 2009

Hinge was a band that confounded me from the very start. This, their debut (and only?) album, materialized on the Pavement label – which had thus far famously delivered such revered NOLA metal greats as Crowbar, Stressball, and Tungsten (not to mention New Idol Son, Fear Of God, Demented Ted…and a sprawling list of other […]

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Cave In ‘Sampler’ (2001)

June 2, 2009

Here’s a quick one (since I’m still deep into the move to Seattle, WA): Cave In‘s big moment – to most indie folk – was the release of ‘Jupiter‘ in 2000. That album ascended from their chaotic, brutal metalcore origins…and re-invented the ensemble as Pink Floyd-meets-Hum prog-metallers with space themed cover art… once again signalling […]

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