New Sounds: Magnus - Where Neon Goes To Die

When Belgian creative genius Tom Barman wants to take a break from dEUS he sometimes makes a movie. Or starts playing with his electronica project Magnus. They have a new album coming up with lots of guest musicians including Editors' Tom Smith. Where Neon Goes To Die will be released on September 1st and this is what it sounds like:





Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YoutTube | Spotify

Read more!

Wild Garage Rock Party With Thee Oh Sees And Traumahelikopter

Originally I had other plans and was a little bumped out that I had to miss the Thee Oh Sees at the Melkweg. I really love their energetic and creative psychedelic garage rock. At the day of the show I found out my plans were cancelled. To top it off that wild and crazy rock band traumahelikopter were playing the support. Needless to say where I was gonna be that night.

Thee Oh Sees at Melkweg Amsterdam, August 25 2014



traumahelikopter
The so called "old hall" of the Melkweg has already filled up nicely for traumahelikopter. The Dutch band from Groningen in the north of The Netherlands took our country by storm last year and played everywhere. This year they released their second album I Don't Understand Them At All, that shows the band are evolving and their new songs show more depth. On stage the three piece is still the same somewhat unorganized bunch of energy. The band knocks out their short songs in a fast pace and only slows down occasionally, while playing mostly on an almost dark stage (which explains my poor pictures). They don't forget about their new album and play a few new songs that go down well. It doesn't get as wild as some of their other gigs, but the pit in front of the stage shows they appreciate the howling rockers.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify



Thee Oh Sees
The Thee Oh Sees also show they mean business tonight right form the start. The three musicians put down an irresistible groove and never let it slip for the rest of the night. Master mind John Dwyer is the only true member of the band as the rest wanted to take a break from it all, after recording their latest album Drop. Dwyer found great replacements who know how to treat his music. You do kind of miss Brigid Dawson who added subtle keyboard parts, tambourine playing and vocals.



It's only a minor detail in a rock show that is one big garage rock celebration from one of the best in this scene. It's a very strong set where the band knows exactly when to stretch their jams and when to end a song. The lighting didn't get a lot better, but except for poor pictures it adds to the atmosphere and the psychedelic side of the music. Song by song the crowd gets more excited and by the end half of the hall is one big jumping pit. In the encore both the band and the crowd give it all one more time before calling it a day. If you haven't seen them before make sure you do next time they are around, since psychedelic garage rock doesn't get much better than this.



More Pictures

Official Website | SoundCloud | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify

Read more!

New Sounds: Elephant Stone - The Three Poisons

Canadian psych rockers Elephant Stone are streaming their new album The Three Poisons on SoundCloud ahead of its release next week. The band is showing some real progress and of course there's plenty of sitar around. Listen to the album over here: Three Poisons on SoundCloud.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify

Read more!

Bob Mould's Still Got It

After the legendary Hüsker Dü in the eighties and Sugar beginning of the nineties, Bob Mould started a solo career. By then the sound he had created was successfully being copied by many bands and his solo records didn't stick out that much. But Mould keeps expanding his discography and now adds Beauty & Ruin to it.

Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)

On the new album he's staying loyal to his own sound and qualities like always. Twelve short and compact songs result in an intense record, that show that the master's still got it. Mould even sounds inspired on Beauty & Ruin and a song like 'Little Glass Pill' sounds loud, intense and convincing, as does the two minute song 'Hey Mr. Grey'. As usual these aren't carefree light songs, but sharp tracks where Mould sings about life's uncertainties and broken dreams. His mostly dark lyrics are often spot on: "my map of failure covers every inch of skin, I want to carve it clean where do I begin?" he's wondering in 'Kid With Crooked Face'.

Because of the record's production the sound is full and builds a wall of guitar. Together with the intense songs it makes this record never hard to swallow, despite the quite hard-faced content. It makes a song like 'The War', which is about a long heavy battle between two people, less heavy on the mind and it sounds more hopeful than you would get from the lyrics.

It's nice to conclude that Mould hasn't lost his touch. Maybe it comes to a surprise to some people, that he doesn't sound like Foo Fighters, but it's actually Dave Grohl who's eagerly borrowing from him, without ever making a secret out of it though. Grohl always said Hüsker Dü is one of his biggest inspirations. With Beauty & Ruin Mould once again proves he's able to make this kind of intense rock music like no one else can. Hopefully he can keep inspiring new generations of rock bands and urge them to great deeds.



This review has been published on Festivalinfo in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Beauty & Ruin' on Spotify.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify

Read more!

Great Western Rock Band Rival Sons

With every record that Californian band Rival Sons releases, they get more successful and their popularity gradually increases. A few years back they were playing the smaller clubs, now they have no trouble filling up larger venues. And for a good reason, since the band is playing blues rock of high quality, both on recordings as on live on stage. And with every new record the four piece keeps improving themselves, which is no different for their fifth album Great Western Valkyrie.

Rival Sons - Great Western Valkyrie (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)

On this album they hired good friend Ike Owens, former keyboard player for The Mars Volta who also worked with Jack White. It makes the songs sound more full and dramatic where needed. Singer Jay Buchanan and his impressive voice, and guitar player Scott Holiday with his amazing guitar skills, still know how to leave an impression. Buchanan is flexing his vocal chords for wonderful belches or for powerful screams like on 'Secret'. Holiday showcases great riffs but always knows how to pace himself, so that moments where he's making his guitar scream, sound even more impressive.

The rhythm section, consisting of drummer Michael Miley and new bass player Dave Beste, is supporting the songs very effectively. It's striking how authentic the record sounds and is bringing the sound of the sixties alive. The beginning of the album is filled with roaring hard rock songs like 'Electric Man' and 'Play The Fool', where halfway the album ballads are taking over, without losing momentum. On the contrary, the band sounds at its best at these moments, with a crooning Buchanan now and then and weeping guitars. 'Belle Starr' is alternating between prog rock parts and ballad. The song is about the female outlaw Belle Starr from the Wild West period in the US. Buchanan is singing a tragic tale about her and calls her "the great western Valkyrie", a woman who decides about life and death, that gives the album its title.

Rival Sons once again have taken another step forward with the ten songs on Great Western Valkyrie. Maybe they don't go outside the boundaries of the genre, but at the same time they are staying loyal to their own principles. No use of superfluous production tricks, but as good as possible trying to record everything live, so the listener knows what he can expect. Kind of "what you hear is what you get" and that's a whole lot on this new record.



This review has been published on Festivalinfo in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Great Western Valkyrie' on Spotify.



Official Website | MySpace | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify

Read more!