Head to The Meadows with Red Fang

And the winner for the most far-flung hard music tour of the year is... Communion of Sirens, featuring Opeth, In Flames and Red Fang. Should be interesting to see how the melodic, straight-forward rockers will fare with the more traditional metal-loving audience their Swedish cohorts attract. The package will be coming through New York City this December to perform at the horrendous Terminal 5, and with any luck I'll be catching it from the balcony. More dates listed below.

The Portland group have also just released a video for their Scion A/V collabo, "The Meadows," and it's as good humored as the gents that make up the group. Check it out! Couldn't be happier for their continued success.

Red Fang's Boozing Dead Video

A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to cap off my New Orleans trip by seeing old favorites Red Fang perform at the local dive, Siberia. It's really exciting to see them do so well after championing them for so long.

How well? The hilarious video (below) for "Blood Like Cream"—featuring Portlandia star Fred Armisen and plenty of product placement—premiered on Rolling Stone's site yesterday. And I'll bet it's the track they'll perform when they're the musical guest on Late Night with David Letterman! That's right, the bros will be on the January 10th show. (And I *know* they'll totally hook me up with passes.)

Hot Shower, Cold Beer

I effing love Red Fang... and I love that they cleverly managed to add a product placement to the intro of their latest "high" concept video, all while exposing one of my favorite male behaviors - showering and getting tanked at the same time.

Stranger on the L Train; photo by me.

My Top 11 Albums of 2011 & Then Some

This is not a purely metal list, just records that really stuck out for me in 2011.

1. The Kills - Blood Pressures - Ridiculously sensual, bluesy, diva-esque. This record is exquisite.
2. Pentagram - Last Rites - Groovy doom goodness. Metal in its most classic form.
3. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light - The first Foo album I've ever enjoyed. Undeniable hooks.
4. Mastodon - The Hunter - Far more loose than its predecessor, love hearing their Southern roots come to the forefront.
5. Red Fang - Murder the Mountains - Red Fang's refinement and hook-laden compositions continue to impress.
6. Cave In - White Silence - A perfect balance of their primal and prog sounds. Can't wait for more.
7. Hail!Hornet - Disperse the Curse - This supergroup of Southern-fried crustcore vets is better than your average vanity side project.
8. Revocation - Chaos of Forms - Blistering; riff-tastic with refined production.
9. YOB - Atma - Earthy, rapturous, rumbling doom metal.
10. The Duke Spirit - Bruiser - Clearly I have a thing for sultry sounding female-fronted bands from the UK.
11. Tombs - Path of Totality - Believe the hype.
  
Pretty Damn Good (in no particular order):
400 Blows - Sickness and Health
Deafheaven - Roads to Judah
This is Hell - Black Mass
Trapped Under Ice - Big Kiss Goodnight
Hank III - Ghost to a Ghost
Evile - Five Serpent's Teeth
Black Tusk - Set the Dial
Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination
Fuck the Facts - Die Miserable
Brutal Truth - End Time
Touche Amore - Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
Krallice - Diotima
Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual
Beth Ditto - EP

Who Knew?
Bitch is awesome. The Be My Slave & Damnation Alley reissues that Metal Blade put out kicked my ass. Raw & rotten, just the way I like it.

Ridiculous Guilty Pleasures:
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
Vampires Everywhere! - Kiss the Sun Goodbye
Pitbull - Planet Pit

Lackluster:
Landmine Marathon - Gallows
Young Widows - In and Out of Youth and Lightness

Not Into It:
Hammers of Misfortune - 17th Street- Not my steez at all. It sounds like RenFaire music.
Opeth - Heritage - Not into jazz fusion.
Ghost - Opus Eponymous - Not really into Blue Oyster Cult.

Didn't Bother Listening To:
Metallica & Lou Reed - Lulu - Not a single note. Not a single preview.
Anthrax - Worship Music

Haven't Had a Chance to Listen To Yet:
Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations
Mournful Congregation - The Book of Kings
Black Keys - El Camino
The Atlas Moth - An Ache for a Distance* 
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Okkervil River - Your Past Life as a Blast




*Blame the NYC earthquake.

Top 10 Albums of 2011 (So Far)

Full disclosure: I started this post on June 20, but became distracted by a number of things (finally slaying my EHG story and celebrating my birthday, plus other necessary deterrents) before focusing on finishing my half-year list of favorite releases.

The list doesn't pertain to any one genre and like my Kurt Vonnegut asshole, it's uniquely my own. With that, enjoy...

1. The Kills - Blood Pressures (Domino)

Though I was lucky enough to preview "Heart is a Beating Drum" during The Kills' set at Spin's SxSW '11 party, it wasn't until I heard the song tracked along with the rest of Blood Pressures that its soulful rhapsodic vibe completely crept over me. Alison Mosshart is a consummate rock goddess.

2. Pentagram - Last Rites (Metal Blade)
With its unrelenting doomy riffs and Bobby Leibling's haunting vocals, Last Rites is the kind of album that reminds me of why I fell in love with heavy metal in the first place. The crisp production on "8," "Into the Ground" and "Treat Me Right" adds a dimension to the already molasses-thick grooves, while a handful of vintage tunes (written in the '70s) contextualize Pentagram's 40-year history.

3. Cave In -White Silence (Hydra Head)
Not only did Cave In return after a six-year album hiatus, but they returned even heavier—almost as if they've been listening to a steady diet of vintage Converge. Everything about White Silence is simple, brutish and glorious. In fact, my chief complaint about the record is that's it's too damn short. I'll take four more songs in the vein of "Sing My Loves," please.

4. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (Columbia)
No one is more shocked than I to be WAY into this album. Frankly, I've never thought of Foo Fighters as being heavy enough. But Wasting Light came out of nowhere and beat me into submission with its ridiculously catchy melodies from start to finish. Welcome to my iPod, boys.

5. Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual (Metal Blade)
I don't really care for death metal, but I love the shit out of Black Dahlia Murder. And why would I look any further for a dose of brutality when Ritual delivers so much? Alternating screeches and growls from Trevor Strnad, cheeky lyrics and stark, driving blast beats work together to create a perfectly balanced metal meal.

6. Red Fang - Murder the Mountains (Relapse)
With their previous effort, Red Fang proved they were much more than a slacker metal band with a cool viral video. But on Murder the Mountains, their Relapse debut, they impress with their knack for writing hooky compositions that are further enhanced by flawless production. Want proof? Listen to "Wires."

7. Beth Ditto - EP (Sony)
In only four songs, the Gossip vocalist breaks out as dance diva that straddles a happy place between Robyn and La Roux. The real hit here is "Open Heart Surgery," a mid-tempo toe-tapping tale of love gone wrong, but the remaining tracks swaddle it with plenty of disco beats and glittery attitude.




8. Kvelertak -s/t (The End)
Well worth the hype, these Norwegian newbies combine everything you love from death n' roll-era Entombed with Turbonegro's tongue in cheek sensibilities and put their own new-school spin on it. The result is a volatile combination of balls and feedback, which can pose a physical threat in a live setting.

9. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (Vagrant)
Honestly, I partly ranked this eighth solo album from the English alt-siren so highly for the simple relief that it didn't suck. Thankfully far from PJ's muted disaster, White Chalk, this new record is filled with whimsy, introspection and classicism all at once. My girl's still got it... even if she does wear a dead bird atop her head nowadays.

10. YOB - Atma (Profound Lore)
There is so much delicious low-end rumbling in store on this stoner/doom power trio's latest release, I almost can't stand it. Though I haven't taken in Atma properly just yet, it's shaping up to be a bona fide thriller that's both savage and enthralling.






And the rest...

Guilty Pleasures
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale 
Vampires Everywhere! - Kiss the Sun Goodbye 

Still Ruminating On...
Young Widows - In and Out of Youth and Lightness
Twilight Singers -Dynamite Steps

Just Now Getting Into...
Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

Can't Wait To Hear...
Revocation - Chaos of Forms
Taking Back Sunday - s/t  (Haters gonna hate...)

Haven't Listened to Yet...
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Okkervil River -Your Past Life as a Blast

Still Don't Care About...
Bon Iver - s/t 
Adele - 21

And can I possibly get a hip-hop record I can vibe with?


Best Shows So Far: 
Prince @ Madison Square Garden (Feb 7) - Prince saved the best for last when he took the stage for his fourth and final show on this last MSG run. Playing for almost three hours and ending with a snippet each of "When Doves Cry" and "Little Red Corvette" among dozens of classics, the legend still left us wanting more.

Pentagram @ Scoot Inn, SxSW - Kind of amazing the difference good acoustics make when amplifying the gloriously guitar sounds of Victor Griffin in a wide outdoor space—as opposed to hearing them compressed in a Polish nightclub.

Foreigner @ P.C. Richard & Son Theater - One of my most enjoyable shows of the year, if only for the commentary and good company. But then you add in free booze and some of the greatest rock jams ever—I'm looking at you "Double Vision," "Urgent" and "Hot Blooded"—and the night became pure enchantment.

Deftones @ Best Buy Theater - A greatest hits set, last-minute upgrade for a bird's eye view and great interplay with Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato on "Passenger" ranked this as another stellar Deftones memory.

Fog Rising

West Coast stoner rock fans, rejoice: the Fog Rising Festival is coming to San Francisco on Saturday, November 7. The brainchild of Tee Pee Records and Secret Serpents, the Fog Rising event promises to be "a celebration of the twisted offspring of the fragmentation [that is the rock music scene]."

Among the bands performing are the above-pictured Witch (featuring Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis and my boyfriend, Mario Rubalcaba of Earthless on drums*), and will mark Witch's only West Coast performance of 2009. Other stoner-friendly bands to watch for are Saviours, the incredible Red Fang, and sludgy doomsters Ancestors.


*He's not really my boyfriend, but he could be...

Bands include:
Witch
Saviours
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound
Night Horse
Red Fang
Ancestors
Black Math Horseman
Imaad Wasif with Two Part Beast
Lecharis Gaze (members of Annihilation Time)
Citadelle

Artwork will be displayed by famed poster artists Alan Forbes, David DAndrea, Alan Hynes and Marq Spusta.

For more info, check out the official site: Secret Serpents.

And here's a bonus video of Red Fang's stellar "Prehistoric Dog."

Shut Up And Listen To... Red Fang

No matter how many parties and showcases I tried to squeeze in last week at SxSW, I still managed to miss a band I heard a ton of awesome things about: Portland's Red Fang. These guys sound like the missing link between The Melvins and Queens of the Stone Age, with a laconic Sword influence thrown in. I haven't been able to stop listening to their self-titled debut all goddamn weekend.

Here's a video for Red Fang's "Prehistoric Dog."


...And a bonus video of them performing "Sharks" in Austin.


Just shut up and listen.