The Importance Of Safety.

Is this formality?
Or, is it hope and heartache?
Are we supposed to feel so many headaches?
Another lost language, sullied by time.
I don't know if I am Hercules or Heracles...?
At least I can still breathe amongst these savages.
Amongst these...

My mournings are uneventful.
Until I make her dinner.
To see this look on her face, it's worth everything.
Why else would I wake up?
If it didn't consist of building her evening.

She owes me nothing.
She sows me something.
Milk & water & grain & lemon juice.
I owe her everything.

Manifest youth...

You sound like the worst assholes.
Maybe you kids are the nicest people ever.
Off in a distance, I shouldn't even venture a guess.
I imagine assholes.

Sun Eater - Sun Eater EP

Bandcamp Link
Facebook Link

     Normally, stoned-out, EPIC Psychedelic Rock isn't the first thing I think of when I think of Tacoma, which is where Sun Eater call home. Ben, who plays Bass and sings in the band was nice enough to send a review request my way, and seeing as how there are so many things that I adore about our neighbors to the south, I figured this would be an easy sell. I didn't know how right I was going to be. I have been mesmerized by these three songs for the last... What day is it? 
     Listening to these songs is like taking a reefer-laced space trip to the outer reaches of your own mind. The dark corners reveal themselves to be nothing more than repressed memories of a childhood spent exploring the dense forests and dead-end streets of another unfamiliar town. Deeper down the rabbit hole we fall, until we have only our own paranoia and insecurities to keep us afloat. There, some stoned rambling for all of you to coincide with this well-crafted Psyche masterpiece.
     There are very few vocals on this EP. You will hear Ben's voice near the tail-end of the title track and that is all you get. When the vocals did finally kick in, I was completely floored by what I heard. I was expecting some deep wail like Sleep or Dungen. What I was confronted with was a rabid beast, backed into a corner, screaming as if his life were on the line. That is one thing that really sets Sun Eater apart from the rest of the pack. These songs pack a punch that can only be described as dirge-heavy Hardcore-esque. Almost like a Jesus Lizard or later-era Black Flag or something...
     This genre has definitely been bogged down over the last few years with run-of-the-mill bands playing quasi-spiritual rock with little to no feeling or heart. Bands like MGMT, Stardeath And White Dwarfs, The Mars Volta and even The Flaming Lips to some extent have been lumped into this "Psyche" category due to the fact that they are "out there" enough to make dumb college kids feel like they are being dangerous and different by listening to these no-talent clowns because they heard a 30 second flash of some song on an American Apparel commercial. There is nothing forward-thinking or individualistic about any of that. Fortunately, Sun Eater are in no way, shape or form associated or affiliated with hackneyed fakery like the above mentioned bands. This is very dark, very honest drug music for the modern age.
     Fans of Marijuana, The Black Angels, Quest For Fire, Dead Meadow, Electric Wizard and Sun Araw will probably enjoy this. I am a fan of all those things and I enjoy this. There is no reason you shouldn't.

Call your friends, roll some joints, scatter the pillows on the floor and turn the stereo up LOUD!!!

Sea Oleena - Sleeplessness

Bandcamp Link
Facebook Link

     I am going to preface this early morning review by describing my current condition. The last two weeks have been filled with loving family, dear friends and the most debilitating lower back pain I have ever suffered. My Chiropractor tells me the pads between my two lowest vertebrae are either torn, bulging or bruised. Therefore, the nerves surrounding my lower spine are hyper-sensitive and prone to fits of unruly Hellfire. I have had so much trouble walking, let alone standing for any extended amount of time. The pain gets so intense at times, it almost feels like the world around me isn't real. Knee bucklingly painful!! I can't work, I can't shower, I can hardly take a piss on my own. It is getting to the point where I feel as if I am actually losing my grip on reality. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful woman in my life. She has taken care of me like no woman ever has (except you Mom, I could never forget about you!). Thank goodness for opiates!!
     So, it's about 5:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. I was able to get three hours of sleep before the pain got too intense. After consuming a couple little white pills, the pain seems to have subsided for the time being... And this is where the review begins:

     This album sounds amazing when listened to through the filter of Oxycontin and insomnia. The woman who wrote these songs is named Charlotte. She has the most intoxicatingly beautiful voice I have heard in a long time, reminding me of Liza Kate a little bit. I guess this would be considered Folk music by some people. To me though, there is just too much going on in these songs to limit them to one concrete genre or sound. In fact, I am just going to have to coin a new genre term and call it "Baroque inflected Chamber Slowcore". Try to imagine Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star with an actual smile on her face, singing for Codeine while the Postal Service play endless electronic loops in the bathroom next door. What does any of that mean? Well, it means this is Perfect Morning Music. Soft, lilting and cool to the touch. As of right now, during my third complete listen through this album, I feel no pain. Isn't that what music is supposed to do for us?

Envy-'Recitation' LP

Download

I don't have a lot of time before I head off to work.  I just wanted to post this because the record is still pretty new.  Envy, from Japan are what I would call the dictionary definition of EPIC, screamy Post-Hardcore.  They began life (almost 20 years ago!!) as a rather standard Screamo band but have since turned into another beautiful beast altogether.  Their compositions have expanded to include these awe inspiring dips and weaves and crashing crescendos.  I have described them to my customers at Sonic Boom Records as sounding like Explosions In The Sky with pained screamed vocals accentuating the beautiful melodies.   I saw them last weekend at El Corazon here in Seattle and they brought tears to my eyes.  One of the most consistantly exciting bands making some of the freshest sounds around.  Again, if you like Explosions In The Sky or Mogwai but always wished they had added some chaotically screamed catharsis over the top of it all, well, Envy is just what you need.