Idlewar - Impulse

I feel like a lucky man today. A new pre-release to review, and it's IDLEWAR, a band I've been following for some time now, and it's really, really good.

As you will know if you read my previous article, I was a fan of the E.P Dig In and thus a fan of the band. Dig In is a great release, with strong songs but it also sign posted what Idlewar could achieve moving forward.

So its very satisfying when you hear Impulse, and it shows a clear development in song writing whilst keeping the raw qualities that drew me to them in the first place.

What they retain is the strong vocal performances, emphasis on rockin' riffs and groove. What they add is even more accomplished songwriting, a slightly heavier feel in parts, (that's always gonna go down well with me), and the overall delivery has more thump, due to the strength and impact of the tracks, a great production and some mastering by Brian Lucey, who has worked with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Ghost.

Impulse

In this LP, Idlewar give you bluesy, groove laden heavy rock from start to finish. The opener, Stone In My Heel typifies this. A stomping opening riff, accentuated by a rolling drum beat heavy on crash cymbals really gets the party started in style. The track is a straight out rocker from start to finish, driven by heavy groove.

And there's so many stone cold rockers on the album to talk about. Innocent is quick and straight to the point with one of the best solos on the album. Burn is full of rock intent and has a great melody in the vocal. Criminal, the first single, can be listened to below. It is brilliant and it speaks for itself.

Whilst it's a heavy rock tour de force, there are tracks with other soundscapes on display.

Soul a heavy and mechanical track uses Zeppelin-esque chords in the verse which introduces and interesting element. The bridge is a moment of pure brilliance leading into a strong solo. All That I Got made me reminisce about Live, circa The Distance Here, as it's strong on vocal performance and musically atmospheric. Damage is pacey, with a swingy, not swinger, sound, it's one to get up and move to.

Glory is glorious (see what I did there, sometimes I astound myself). It has my favourite vocal on the album, it has a fantastically heavy feel and almost a Rage Against The Machine vibe, minus the political rantings of course.

Apathy, a rather ironic name given the drive in the track, carries on where Glory leaves off, propelled by a driving riff and rythm section. The bridge and solo throws in a nice surprise in terms of guitar tone which adds a great layer of interest in the track.

On Our Knees closes out the album in great style. It keeps your head nodding from start to finish and takes you back to the balls out Rock 'n' Roll style Idlewar do so well.

Overall

A couple of reviews I read of Dig In said Idlewar aren't reinventing the wheel. This critique of bands is a tired old cliche and example of lazy journalism. Fart down a microphone and call it FlatuCore and they might be happy.

Idlewar have never tried to claim they're here to re-invent hard rock and why should they? They produce well written, rocking tunes that are infectious and enjoyable. Impulse does however, provide some delightful twists and turns and unexpected moments adding to the enjoy-ability of the album.

Impulse is a great platform from which Idlewar can launch themselves to the next level. They've already gained the support of Planet Rock radio and are finishing off their UK tour by playing Plant Rock's sold out festival. They have been described as "immense" by classic rock magazine. It's time to believe the hype. Impulse will be here 30th September and it's going to blow your balls off!

Idlewar are James Blake on vocals and bass, Rick Graham on guitar and Pete Pagonis on drums.

Pledge to buy the album and support Idlewar here.

   Follow Idlewar: Twitter/Facebook

UK tour with Stone Broken, get your tickets here.

The Goatbox Rebels - Let Us Bleed Integrity

I don't know what a Goatbox is or why a Goatbox may be rebellious. I can imagine a goat in a box might be quite the rebel having been kept in a box rather than in a field or on a hill. However, ultimately this is unimportant as I am writing about a band, not a goat's quality of life. So here are a new band I've been lucky enough get some music from...

When listening to the EP "Let Us Bleed Integrity" I thought the best way I can describe this sound is dirty, bluesy hard rock with a punk like delivery at times. The general sound is heavy enough but also tuneful and catchy enough to be accessible to fans of multiple genres. 

They are made up of  Ivan Westley on Vocals and Guitars, Nate Anton on Drums and Colin James Gibson on Bass. Whilst originally from Montreal they are based in Toronto, which is good for me as I can now have a positive association with the place rather than the memory of visiting the CN tower as a child and my Dad forcing me to walk across the glass floor whilst I was shitting myself and blubbering. 

Let Us Bleed Integrity

Let Us Bleed Integrity is book ended with two tracks that are brilliant for different reasons. The opener Black Tooth Grin, is a balls out party track. Pantera fans may find themselves harking back to the Vulgar Videos with the songs subject, as I did. It's fast paced with a catchy riff, some fantastic, almost psychotic, drum fills and the bass parts have plenty to add to the rhythm of the track. 

The last track, Icarus, offers more stylistically than anything else on the E.P. Seamlessly and fluidly it travels from a proggy intro into the catchy dirty rock riffs they seem to do so well, capturing some metal influenced breakdowns along the way, with a great and not overdone solo to boot. 

So whats the filling in this sandwich of fuzzy rock brilliance? 

No Love Lost is an all out assault, fast paced and aggressive. It carries more of a punk/hardcore vibe than the rest of the tracks but manages to stay firmly in the heavy blues rock scope. Punchy and to the point with a chorus made for group participation, it's a track that should go down well with a live audience.

Opium Dozer, like No Love Lost, is another brilliant kick in the teeth of raw rock and attack. It has a sublime Doomy outro which is a direction I'd like to hear these guys expand on as they clearly have an ear for it, but I'm bound to say that, being a Doom head.

What I like about the E.P other than the music is the mix and production. It manages to keep a raw live, but at the same time you can clearly hear every instruments input. It's so good to here the nuances of the bass playing for instance, which is played brilliantly throughout. Whilst being raw and dirty in delivery, all the musical input sounds great from all three performers.

Overall this is a great release with 4 very strong offerings, two of which slightly edge it for me into the realm of excellence.

You can it here through Bandcamp, who as my readers know, I feel is a great place to purchase music and support artists. If you like what you've read/heard give it a spin and also follow them on Facebook or Twitter. Cor more info about them and their live shows check out their website.

TRUST THE BLACK TOOTH GRIN

Idlewar - Listen up, Nod Head, DIG IN

Who are Idlewar?

Idlewar are a 3 piece band from Orange County (California not the super tanned Essex).

If your only experience of Orange County is a gritty teenage drama with a broody lead who can't act then here's some musical history for you.

Orange County has brought us Tim Buckley, RX Bandits, Avenged Sevenfold, The Offspring and many others.... and No Doubt. O.k so it's not perfect, but the sin of allowing No Doubt to exist can be forgiven. The musical output from O.C has been good and Idlewar are no exception.

They are made up of vocalist and bassist James Blake, Guitarist Rick Graham and Drummer Pete Pagonis and play riff driven ass kickin' heavy rock. 2/3 of them have beards, so they're more Rock than you.... deal with it.

They're likened to AC/DC, Clutch, Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters on their website and these are fair comparisons to make. Thankfully, unlike Foo Fighters, their e.p has more than 1 rehashed song on it. (Oooh I'm so controversial)

Since releasing they're e.p Dig In they've visibly gained traction in the U.K having had air time on Planet Rock radio and have recently announced a UK tour towards the end of the year, to go along with the release of their first LP, "Impulse" which is due to be released at the end of September.

If you like what you read and hear below, head over to Pledge Music to pre order your album and support these guys.

The E.P - Dig In

I'm going to give a brief overview of the tracks with the videos where possible. Where they are not I hope I say just enough to entice you to listen.

The E.P opens with Chunk of me, a strong track with a driving chugging riff throughout, short, sweet and effective.

This then leads into the excellent Out of my Head. Musically, it follows the lyrical theme and has a great solo. Idlewar have just released a video of this track which you can watch here.

Eleventeen is an absolutely storming track. This was Planet Rock's playing choice and you can see why, it has the right song length and head nodding qualities required for radio.

Feel the pain is my personal favourite. It's a slow sludgy track with a vocal performance reminiscent of Robert Plant. The guitar parts for me, are really well thought out and overall it's class throughout.

The final track, Stronger, reminds me in parts of Tool, which can never be a bad thing, but the chugging riff and then lead guitar part is very effective.

Why are Idlewar so good?

As an initial E.P it makes me excited to think how Idlewar will develop song writing wise, as these songs already display great strength. The new album is almost certainly going to be a certified ball crusher! If you do pledge, then you'll get an exclusive download of new single Criminal.

As someone who has generally eclectic tastes I have still found myself navigating towards the more hardcore heavy side of music over the last few years. Idlewar have brought me back to my roots. It's no coincidence that having listened to this E.P, I've also dusted off my Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Skynyrd and Alice in Chains albums, all bands I've never lost an love for, but that have been missing from my C.D player recently.

Idlewar bring together so many great genres. There are classic rock quality vocal performances. The guitarist brings together sludge, groove, grunge, straight rock styles brilliantly to create driving attention grabbing riffs and interesting solos. The rhythm section throughout are not just their to play paint by numbers rock as so many bands do nowadays, it's tight, skillful and interesting.

I can't wait to see them in the U.K and hear the new album, in the mean time click here Pledge Your Support

Follow them on Twitter/Facebook

Slumlord Radio - To Pretty For This Blog!

Slumlord Radio - To Pretty For This Blog!

When I posted a picture on Instagram inviting bands to sendme some music, I got plenty of "likes" from plenty of bands. However, as usual it was lots of people fishing for follows rather than having the balls to say, "yeah here's my music listen and write about it".

That is, apart from Slumlord Radio. What they didn't know was I'd previously checked out a video of them on YouTube and really enjoyed it, so was very pleased when they came knocking with an album for me to listen to.

Who are they?

Slumlord Radio are made up of Tommy "Capt. Hollywood" Erickson on vocals and guitar, Matt "Rattlesnake" Claucherty on drums and Mike "Ace" Todd on bass and hail from Grand Rapids Michigan.

Style

They blend various styles from hard rock, grunge, metal and stoner with a sprinkling of some pop hooks for added audible pleasure.

The vocal delivery is at times Cobain-esque with the addition of some happy gas and a more positive outlook on life. There is plenty of vocal input from the bassist with lots of chant style choruses that will envoke audience and in my case listener participation.

As a band they are musically astute throughout. Although there is a comedy element within the bands' output, they clearly take their playing very seriously and thusly produce some great musical moments.

The Album - Too Pretty for Tijuana

The intro to the album really sets the tone with the first of three insights from the albums Cowboy narrator! This is going to be fun.

First up, the single "Bullwhip". The genius thing about this song is the mixture of the poppy hooks and tunefulness musically, that leads into an out and out heavy riff driven musical interlude. It's a mixture that transcends genre's, but in a way that works (let's face it, it doesn't usually work). Plus the video is balls out fun!

Debonaire Dolomite, has a stoner riffing lead guitar line. It plods along nicely while informing us "hustling is harder than it looks, gotta know how to cook the books". An important lesson to all aspiring business entrepreneurs!

Southpaw with it's intro that feels like you've been left in the desert, licking sand, breaks into a foot thumping, head banging stormer. It's driving force is the brilliant drum work, which is hard hitting and takes many different twists and turns. The solo and breakdown just top off this brilliant track.

Choke 66 has one of the most infectious riffs I've heard in a while. I keep finding myself tapping my foot and doing my rendition of it. It sounds great to me but I've been getting funny looks while in the supermarket looking at vegetables, especially as reproducing it requires a lot of tongue work.

This leads into the faster paced and brilliant Fort Knox. Full of great riffs and energy throughout, only slowing down briefly to let you catch you breath before starting up again. A great close before the proclamations of moistness from our Cowboy narrator. And I have to agree with him!



Pay Attention!

This is an extremely strong release throughout with such a great mix of styles executed brilliantly. Slumlord Radio are deserving of more attention and coverage. In a rock world where massive bands are getting away with recording the same songs over and over and getting hailed as genius (I'm looking at you Foo's and Chilli Peppers) here is a band blending styles successfully, writing good music and having a laugh with us all while doing it.

This album is available, along with their entire back catalogue, from bandcamp, and you can NAME YOUR PRICE, so I'd suggest you get along and download the lot, put it on, drink some beer and have a party (naming a price if you can).

Follow them: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram