![LH_RMX_1600[2][3][1]](http://themusicalmeltingpot.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/lh_rmx_1600231.jpg)
Click here for Part One.
To review Lazy Habits’ latest release – RMX – I sat on a Northern Line Tube train and got stuck in. I chose this location for two reasons: 1) I could sit down and go through the entire album uninterrupted, and 2) opposite my seat was an unevenly positioned sticker ordering NO EYE CONTACT – PENALTY £200. These were my (mostly unedited) thoughts: Read more…
Deep in my iTunes library sits a humble two-track EP by a long-dead band called Strobe 45. That band, when it was around, was completely insane. It was common for their detractors to dismiss them as either being unable to play or sounding so bad that it made no difference – but the truth was, Strobe just didn’t give a fuck. That singular quality made them a quality band. Once you were accustomed to their raw-as-a-Dirty-Sanchez-episode noise, tiny sparks of genius made themselves permanently known, enabling you to listen to something most would deem unlistenable not just out of some misguided musical masochism but rather out of genuine, ecstatic appreciation. Read more…
Gutterfly is a man of few words, and many notes. So I’ll keep this short, and let you get stuck into the streamable tracks below. Read more…
Well, fuck me. These kids are pretty angry! Hardcore prog-punk’s been a fairly trendy genre since the rock world wised up to the genius of The Dillinger Escape Plan, and few bands following in Dillinger’s wake have made a serious, crystal-clear-obvious effort to escape their heroes’ back-flipping, ceiling-walking, onstage-shit-flinging shadow. But on Tell-Tale Hearts Now, Voyager do precisely that. Read more…
This has to be the dirtiest album I’ve heard in a long time. The most recent instrumental offerings collected in TMMP’s archives have been markedly slicker than Spooky Action (Alon Tamir’s Terraforming and The Best Pessimist’s Love Is…) and/or Belgian (Celestial Wolves’ Wood For Wood; Marteleur’s My Anvil Is My Tuning Fork; Industroika’s North) – but thanks to The Fierce & The Dead, we now get to check out an album that not only promotes the joys of filthy instrumental noise, but was also created less than an hour away from TMMP HQ. Finally, London gets a well-deserved spot among its overseas art-rock contemporaries, represented in fine form by TFATD. Read more…
According to the greatest Facebook page ever, the term ‘alexithymia’ refers to “An inability to describe emotions in a verbal manner”. Although this definition only scratches the surface of alexithymia’s psychological repercussions, it serves perfectly well to describe my state of mind when listening to Love Is…. Read more…
Whether you love or hate these guys, one thing cannot be denied: Periphery are not your standard metal band. While many acts continue to follow the well-travelled offline career path – centred primarily around toilet circuit gigs, the occasional EP, and appeals to labels to fund an album – Periphery head honcho Misha Mansoor made his name online, releasing solo material under the alias ‘Bulb’ and constructing his brand through unconventional (but clearly super effective) communication channels. Although it is popular in some circles to regard online audience-building as the mark of the heretical, double-dealing cheater, in the music business it’s just good sense.
Today, as if to affirm that conclusion, new YouTube bands are born on a daily basis, while labels focus increasingly on ‘platform size’ and ‘audience engagement’ as key metrics when considering a future signing. In a world where everything is on the table – not just the likes of Alex Day and Dorje but more or less every musical performance that has ever taken place in front of a functional video camera – sitting on your laurels guarantees, now more than ever, the inexorable certainty of crushing failure.
Fortunately, Periphery have proven more than aware of this fact, making a clear and conscious effort to consistently push themselves out of their collective comfort zones. Of their work so far, nothing proves this point as effectively as Clear. Read more…