The Meltdown 2.72

Hip-Hop vs Hardcore! Round 4!

Dwell Joins Blood and Ink Records

                                                DWELL JOINS BLOOD & INK RECORDS

                                      FFO: TURMOIL, BURIED ALIVE, REIGN SUPREME

DWELL officially formed in 2014 in Kernersville, NC, featuring its current lineup of Jacob (vocals), Isaac (Drums), Ian (Guitar), Ryan (Bass) and Jeremy (Guitar). But their history is much deeper… Ian and Isaac are twin brothers and they are longtime friends with Jeremy, Jacob and Ryan; playing together in a handful of local hardcore bands.

 

DWELL quickly grabbed the attention of Blood & Ink Records with their intense, chaotic live show and unique take on '90s style metallic hardcore. Their debut, self-titled EP, mastered by Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me) and with guest vocals by Joe Musten (Advent, Beloved), is made up of five heavy-hitting songs that you won't want to pass up. DWELL are sure to make waves in the coming year.

 

DWELL will release their debut selt-titled EP on March 10th via

Blood & Ink Records. Pre-orders are now available from the label's website.  Limited edition tapes of the EP will be available along with CD/Digital and shirt combos.

Stream "Voyage", the first song from the Dwell EP. Dwell will be released onMarch 10th via Blood & Ink Records.

Sollunar - The Observatory EP

There are moments when you hit play on a new record and within seconds you know you're listening to something special. That's how I felt my first time listening to Sollunar's debut ep, The Observatory. Maybe it's my unending love for good post rock. Maybe it's the excitement of seeing the growth of a friend culminate into a musical masterpiece. Maybe it's just because the ep is that damn good!

Sollunar is the solo project of Florida musician/engineer Josiah Bibb. And The Observatory is the type of record that reminds me of why I feel so in love with post rock in the place.

The discordant ambient guitar layers providing the bed for the main riff on Aperture/Overture before dying out to a piano bed which strikes out on it's lonesome for only a second before the song builds and decrescendos, offering a brief glimpse at what's to come. It's a tease for something more, which you want. Sure, it could've built into the next song, exploding in a triumphal cacophony of sound. But Bibb lets the intro die and gives the songs space to breathe. The dynamics play a key role in establishing a give and take between instrumentation and creating an environment for the listener to dissect and re-listen and engage the songs.

The quietness of Years makes you grab the volume knob and turn up the speakers, trying to catch the subtleties of the song. You can tell there's an intentional crafting of the songs, because if you expect the song to build to go one one, Bibb will add a little addendum to the track, taking it off the rails of convention, only to reemerge farther down the line, already caught up in the next wave of sound and expansion. At times the guitar seems out of tune and not quite in step with the rest of the song, but it shifts and swerves and finds it's way back into harmony.

Hoarfrost quickly finds it's groove and builds, never to a point where the song explodes, but it leaves you wanting it to go over the edge. And it takes you to the edge before quickly dethrottling. The title track is a beautiful ambient piece that serves more as a bridge between the first half of the ep and the second. The bluesy guitar riff  giving way for Permafractions to jump right in. No frills or silly introductions, just smack you in the face guitar goodness. The waltzing movement of the riff create a tension in the beauty and destruction happening at the same time.

Soliloquy closes the ep with this knowing that there's beauty in the simplicity of life. Abigail Bibb's simple vocal melody create a texture that stands so well on it's own, that you wish there had been more of it.

And then the record ends. I found myself going back and listening to The Observatory over and over again. It's the first great record of 2015. 5 out of 5 Stars

RIYL: Caspian, Gifts From Enola, Giants, The Mylene Sheath

You can download The Observatory EP at http://sollunar.bandcamp.com/releases

The Meltdown 2.71

The Meltdown - The Meltdown 2.71


Jeff Cloud, owner and founder of Velvet Blue Music joins the show.

The Meltdown 2.70

Music news from Lexi Elisha, Pacific Gold, Doug Burr, Strengthen What Remains, and more. 

Derek Minor - Empire

Music is subjective. It's what makes talking about music so much fun. What one person thinks is the greatest record ever, someone else will think is complete garbage. And that extends to people who listen to music in the same genre, as well as to those with different tastes in music. The conversations about what is great and what isn't could go on forever and no matter how much two people, at some point they will disagree.

Which brings us to Empire. I've read some cliff notes reviews that were all hype about Derek Minor's new record. "2015's first gem" and "great" were terms used to describe Empire. But I just don't see that...

To be fair to Derek Minor, I didn't like Lecrae at first either. It took a couple of records. But with the hype surrounding Empire, I thought for sure I'd love it! Reach Records had been on a roll. But much like Minor's previous release, Minorville, I'm a little ho-hum on Empire.

On Minorville, I loved Gimme. It had a great hook and felt fresh. But there wasn't a whole lot else on that record that I connected with. On Empire, I love the title track! It's a real standout. And thankfully, it's not the only track that I dig on Empire. But Empire is definitely my favorite track. It's the Gimme of Empire.

The beat on Kingdom Come is fresh. It has a great vibe that reminds me of Busta Rhymes and Nas. Slow Down took a couple of listens, and I still don't care for the hook, but the verses hit hard and even though it feels like a trap song, there's something about the rhyming style that I find myself enjoying. Stranger is the song Minor wrote in response to Ferguson and NY and touches on racism in the church. It's the kind of impassioned lyrics that I wish I was hearing more of from Derek Minor. There's pain and anger behind the words and delivery and it makes the song compelling in a way that I don't hear throughout Empire. Minor's delivery on Save Me is straight vicious and violent and I love it! But the song as a whole just doesn't grab me. It's like I wish the beat or hook was different. The laid back vibe of Oceans is nice and I like the guitar flourishes.

I like the Empire reaches out and has collaborations you might not expect. Guest appearances from Anthony Evans, Colton Dixon, Move Aside add to the usual Reach characters like Lecrae and Tedashii.

It's not that Empire is a bad record. It's just not my taste in hip-hop. I like it more than Minorville, so the needles moving in the right direction. It just goes to show you, you never know what you might or might not like. No matter what anybody else says.

3.5 out of 5 Stars

The Lonely Revolts - Broken Bones, Burning Hearts

It doesn't seem to matter how old I get, I am drawn to gritty punk that makes you want to dance and mosh. There's that part of me that always returns to junior high and high school. Watching skate and snowboard videos, listening to Screaming Giant Records. Nothing else mattered but punk rock and skateboarding!

Broken Bones, Burning Hearts is an album full of songs that are raw and passionate. Instantly I wanted to get up and move around. You can just imagine the fun you would have seeing The Lonely Revolts live. It's get up and move around punk. Its't the type of album that drew me to the genre in the first place. Intense, with a message, but remembering that punk rock is also fun!

There's something about the vocals on Extra Extra, the album's opener, that reminds me of Lemmy from Motorhead. Scum of the Earth is a social/political/theological take down song that makes for good punk rock. The system must be challenged! White Flags isn't a ska song, but it has that skanking beat that makes you want to dance. Open Graves, Chariots of Fire, Dead For You, Check Your Pulse, are all circle pit and mosh pit songs. Songs that get you up and moving.

There are a handful of sing-a-long moments, but Broke Bones, Burning Hearts is more about getting people up and moving more than having them sing-a-long. The production feels like the band recorded everything in one take, playing together in the same room. It's old school!

The Lonely Revolts have released a punk rock gem. It might not come with a lot of accolades or acknowledgement, but this is punk for the true punk rock fan!

4 out of 5 Stars

White Lighter - White Lighter

White Lighter makes sense. In, it's basically the same main components as Neon Horse. So it's a logical musical progression for Salomon and crew. Where Neon Horse seemed light hearted, shrouded in mystery, but never to the point where it took itself seriously, White Lighter seems like a more serious and "focused" project. Not that Neon Horse was a half assed attempt at making music. But it seems like it was the warm up these guys needed into stepping confidently into a new direction.

The liner notes say Trey Many (Velour 100, Starflyer 59) and David Brotherton provided drum tracks and that Andy Prickett laid down some guitar lines. But the main protagonist are Steven Dail (Project 86) and Mark Salomon (The Crucified, Stavesacre, Neon Horse, Outer Circle). Jason Martin is only credited as producer/engineer, but I'll be damned if he didn't play guitar on this record! Is his studio set up to replicate that sound and style so much that anything that comes out of there will sound like Jason played it? Did he teach Dail how to play exactly like him?

The album's opener, Swan, is a shadowy figure, tempting you to enter into the mad house. It's not a clear representation of what lies inside, but it hooks you and draws you in. That might be a stretch, but I like the imagery and I think it captures the essence of Swan. It's clearly from the same band, but as an opener, it doesn't represent the sound or feel of the album. It's just mysterious and intriguing enough to get you to keep listening. 

I don't want to make bold claims or "sum" anything up neatly, but most of the rest of White Lighter's debut plays like a darker version of Neon Horse. Like if Neon Horse joined the "Freaks" circus. There are more straight forward rock moments (Son of Dawn, That's Right, Breath Cancer, Heavy, Hard Love). But there are these pockets where things get twisted and slightly weird. Where the tone changes just enough to add a disturbing layer. The single note piano intro seems almost unnecessary on City Sailor because very quickly it gives way to what is obviously a Jason Martin guitar riff and veers into standard rock and roll territory. But that piano cadence continues underneath the whole song. And something about the guitar riff morphs and shifts into something just slightly off center as the song progresses. Omens (again, another song that is full of Martin's fingerprints) has a dark synth line mimicking the guitar line. Not throughout the whole song, but at moments to punctuate the melody. That synth line and tone adds a dark fun house/horror film soundtrack vibe. Make Fire also sounds like it was inspired by a horror film. 

The record almost ends without a bang. The acoustic guitar that almost sounds like a detuned harpsichord, Salomon's reverbed vocals creating that horror atmosphere. Spearhead's a quick 2:45 long song that has the potential to be something epic. It's like the closing statement from a twisted ring master thanking you for coming to his dark circus. I would've loved for this song to go on for another 2 minutes or so. Building into something epic and masterful. But it kind of ends on a whimper. The guitar note rings out briefly before we hear the fingers move up the neck of the guitar, ending the album. 

I instantly loved White Lighter. As a fan of Starflyer 59, Neon Horse, and all of Salomon's previous projects, I didn't think I'd feel any other way. And despite my feelings that the ending is a little lackluster, I love this record! It continues in the vein of what I loved about Neon Horse. But there's an added artistry here that makes it a new venture and an exciting new project. I hope this isn't a one and done project because the music has room to grow and become something spectacular. 

4.5 out of 5 Stars. 

A Common Goal/False Idle - Split Decision

I've always loved the split ep. A quick glimpse at new music from two bands. Potentially the discovery of two new acts. Or when established bands do a split with a newer, lesser known act (the Stavesacre/Denison Marrs split comes to mind). And always a chance for bands to covering each other. As a fan of both of these bands already, False Idle and A Common Goal's new split gives me two out of the three things I love about split eps.

I've previously described A Common Goal as blue collar punk rock. A band that's definitely a Boston band! The band's two new songs on the ep are less intense than some of the band's previous work. It's that laid back California cool, Social Distortion thing that ACG does so well. Nowhere Fast and Tow Steps Behind have an almost worn down feel. That life (and punk) isn't just about blazing a trail forward as fast as possible. The band's cover of False Idle's Where Do We Go is a great blend of homage to the original, while making it their own song.

Coming off of an acoustic ep for the band and their frontman, seeing False Idle hit hard and fast on this ep will give fans a reason to smile and breathe deep. The firebrand punk rock False Idle has delivered before isn't going anywhere. First World Last Place is punk rock in sound and lyrics. Political, meaningful, socially aware. It's a great song! Say Goodbye comes out even faster before settling into a great melody. False Idle's cover of The Calvary takes an already great songs, ramps up the intensity and takes the track to a new level!

The spilt ep is great for fans of both bands, those looking for an introduction to the two bands, or someone who just needs some new punk rock in their stereo. I'm looking forward to more new music from both of these bands. 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

The Meltdown 2.69

New music from White Lighter, Derek Minor, The Lonely Revolts, Judgement Day, and more.