Singer James Velde has talked about wanting to make music “timeless,” but as far as his band goes, that seems to mean time-specific. The mid-’70s birthed that particular breed of electric blues focused on balls and the swagger they required. Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash, early Aerosmith, ZZ Top…this demon has gone by many names, but all the better when whatever incarnation it chooses to possess has dual lead guitars. Velde and crew do, and on tracks like ‘Angel Eyes’ and ‘Come Down Halo’, they do a terrific job of raising up those old ghosts and dragging them through this post-’90s metal, post-new millenium garage landscape.

Continue reading:  Album Review: Night Horse – ‘Perdition Hymns’ (Tee Pee) « LimeWire Music Blog.

Of course, I got mine in the end, as Tee Pee now releases the follow-up from these Toronto argonauts, Lights from Paradise. Sure enough, a promo of the record came in the mail, and I put it on, and now I want both albums. So yeah, thanks a lot.

Lights from Paradise is eight tracks of sprawling psychedelia from the Canadian four-piece, ranging from the ritualistic stillness of opener ‘The Greatest Hits by God’, which seems to capitalize on what Om might sound like with two guitars, to the semi-raucousness of ‘Set Out Alone’ or the Dead Meadow freakout of ‘In the Place of a Storm.’  Of the sundry personality traits the band shows on the album, I prefer the moody, subdued side that comes out on the first track or ‘Psychic Seasons’, which boasts one of Lights from Paradise’s few excursions into acoustics and also features some strings for a classy touch.

Of course, there’s something to be said for the extended Beatles-style solo in closer ‘Sessions of Light’ as well, which shows Quest for Fire as a band with more than just a reverb pedal and propensity for jamming, complex as its melody structure and progression are. Take your pick, really.

Continue reading:  Quest for Fire See the Lights | The Obelisk.
(Thanks to JJ Koczan for the very kind permission)

The trio take notes from Neil Young (‘Getting Through’) and The Black Keys (‘I Won’t be Stayin’), but occasionally let guitarist / vocalist Barry Dean ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre go off on a singer-songwriter tangent  (‘Truly (Hymn’),  (‘Give Your Love Away’) that pulls back from the full-band aesthetic. This interrupts the flow of the album, but also gives some ground to the material, which after a song like the spacey, bass-led ‘Ready to Shine’,  isn’t such a terrible idea.

Although “Ready to Shine,” on which bassist Ryan “Tito” Ida does just that, is among the highlights of Love Will Have Her Revenge, so perhaps The Main Street Gospel would be better off tipping over the edge of the acid folk abyss. It’s hard to say, and in fact, that statement could be extrapolated to apply more or less to the whole album. The first time I listened to it, I barely made it through, found myself skipping tracks later in the record and saying, “Okay, I got it, you like reverb. Next.”

On subsequent hearings, though, Love Will Have Her Revenge, with its subtle shifts from quiet to “loud” and back, its subdued movements and airiness, had me hooked solid for the duration. As far as listening recommendations, I’ll say The Main Street Gospel are better suited to stillness than motion. Love Will Have Her Revenge is not the album you put on speeding down the highway, but perhaps the one you put on once you’ve reached your destination and require decompression from the frustrations of traffic, life, etc.

Continue reading:  The Main Street Gospel Preach Love and, Somehow, Vengeance, on Tee Pee Debut | The Obelisk.
(Special thanks to JJ Koczan for the special permission)

Lodged somewhere between the bluesy scuzz of the Black Keys and the haunted highway ramblings of Neil Young, I Won’t Be Stayin is one of those rare cuts that sounds both oddly familiar and intriguingly fresh.

Formed in Columbus, Ohio in 2005 by former Brian Jonestown Massacre tambourine shaker Barry Dean (vocals, guitar), Ryan “Tito” Ida (bass) and Adam Scoppa (drums), the Main Street Gospel’s brand of “mystic trip-rock” caught the ear of fellow bearded Ohioan (and Black Keys guitarist) Dan Auerbach, who produced and pressed up a couple of their songs on an indie seven-inch back in 2008. One thing led to another, and the band signed to Tee Pee Records early this year. Love Will Have Her Revenge, a wonderful album which touches upon everything from Byrds-y country rock to Spiritualized-type psychedelic mantras, will drop June 29.

Continue reading: ShockHound – Features – WORLD PREMIERE: New Track From The Main Street Gospel.

“Andrew and I used to be in a garage rock band called the Deadly Snakes,” frontman Chad Ross, who also has a psych / folk / rock project dubbed Nordic Nomadic, told Noisecreep. “Mike used to be in a hardcore / metal band called Cursed. Mike and I were also in the recent touring band for Steve McBean’s the Pink Mountaintops. We like to jam for way too long.”

Ross admitted that ‘Lights From Paradise’ was “super fun to write and record. We spent a long timed holed up in our jam space and studio with a lovely potpourri of scents, refreshing beverages, comedy gold, moody lighting and exceptionally good vibes. Nothing too scary.” No wonder their creativity was fostered with all those special ingredients, especially the comedy gold and potpourri of scents!”

Continue reading:  Quest for Fire, ‘Lights From Paradise’ — New Album – Noisecreep.

Despite the apparently harrowing, down right depressing circumstances under which this record came to be, Love & Desperation is one hell of a good time. A testament to both the cathartic, healing power of rock, as well the undeniable joy to be found in an arena-sized riff, Sweet Apples’s debut makes for excellent listening.

Comprising indie luminaries Mascis (who primarily handles drum duties, and some guitar and vocals) and Petkovic, as well as Witch’s Dave Sweetapple, and Petkovic’s Cobra Verde partner-in-crime Tim Parnin on bass, Sweet Apple leans more in the direction of Cobra Verde’s cracked glam-rock, then Dinosaur Jr.’s thick syrupy pop shred.

Continue reading:  Dusted Reviews: Sweet Apple – Love & Desperation.

From the PR wire: Recorded in East L.A. at Infrasonic Sound (Beck, The Mars Volta, No Age), Night Horse’s Perdition Hymns is an album made by fans of rock, for fans of rock! Produced and mixed by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, PearlJam, Isis), the record is a classic for current times, made up of all the peaks and valleys, textures and nuances that timeless records yield over repeated listens.
Songs like “Choose Your Side” and “Shake Your Blues” demonstrate guitarists Justin Maranga (Ancestors) and Greg Buensuceso’s flair for intricately weaving guitar leads and rhythmic patterns, much like their classic predecessors Thin Lizzy or The MC5 did, while vocalist Sam James Velde (ex-Bluebird) invokes the ghosts of every classic rock singer you’ve ever loved by flat-out refusing to hold anything back; the singer teeters on the edge of total abandon while the band pushes him closer to the brink.

“Writing and recording Perdition Hymns was an amazing experience,” says Velde in a statement. “The collaborative effort and the productivity we all showed were intense, but fun. Everyone was so focused and enthusiastic. The songs just came to us so quickly. We’d start with a riff, then POW it was on! Same went for writing the lyrics. I’d get a few words or ideas stuck in my head and then the melody was just there. It was magical, really.”

Night Horse will offer fans a free digital EP (via Topspin). Beginning June 15, the Sympathy Ain’t Free EP — consisting of the new Night Horse tracks “Rollin’ On” (from “Perdition Hymns”), “Sympathy Ain’t Free” and “Black Clouds” (acoustic) — will be available for free download ontheir website come June 15.

“Recording the B-sides for ‘Sympathy Ain’t Free’ seemed so laid back in comparison to the energy we had during the ‘Perdition Hymns’ sessions,” Velde offered. “We wrote the title track ‘Sympathy Ain’t Free’ just a day or so before we recorded it. I wrote the vocal melody and lyrics the night before the session. But in true Night Horse fashion, it all flowed very organically.”

Earthless were among the undisputed highlights of the 2008 edition of the festival. The story behind the recording of Earthless  -- Live at Roadburn has been documented widely by various sites and magazines over the past two years, but in case you missed it: the band was originally scheduled to play in the Bat Cave, the smallest of the three venues within the 013 complex.  At the very last minute they were switched to the Main Stage, where they proceeded to dazzle 2,000 rabid fans.

For those who aren’t familiar with Earthless, they are a powerhouse freakout trio from San Diego, playing long instrumental jams, structured at times, improvised at others. Their rock ‘n roll sound has loads of cosmic space-psych influences. Earthless is scheduled to perform at the Midi Theater.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6SSdPPx460

The addition of Russian Circles and Earthless completes the lineup for the 15th Roadburn Festival. Tom Gabriel Warrior will announce the final band for his Only Death Is Real event on Friday, 16 April, any day now.
Stay tuned!

Sweet Apple

Their formation was announced with suitably dramatic language, claiming to have “been born by accident and friendship – out of death, after a cross-country drive”. Apparently, singer-guitarist John Petkovic went on a road trip after the death of his mother; he headed east from Cleveland, smoking cigarettes, not knowing where he was headed. Eventually, he met up with Mascis and Witch bassist Dave Sweetapple, both old friends. And Mascis told him to write some songs. “I tell people that I saved John’s life by starting this band,” he said. “But they don’t believe me.”

Petkovic enlisted guitarist Tim Parnin, his band-mate from Cobra Verde, and before long they were recording the album Love and Desperation in Cleveland and Massachusetts. “I hadn’t even played guitar for months,” Petkovic explained, “and then, out of the blue, there were all these songs.” The record was mixed by Don Depew and long-time Dinosaur Jr producer John Agnello.

Sweet Apple plans to tour and play South by Southwest. The band is also planning a video for Do You Remember, the straight-ahead classic-rock banger of an opening track. You can stream and download Do You Remember right HERE (courtesy of Pitchfork)

Continue Reading: Guardian.co.uk: Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis announces new band