CR + Mass Appeal 56

Mass Appeal issue 56 is now online, including my interviews with Nikki Sneakers and Jessica Pimentel. 

Read it, here.

CR + Mass Appeal 56

My interviews with Nikki Sneakers and Jessica Pimentel are out now in Mass Appeal issue 56.

Recap of new releases

May 12 - Invisible Things - Time As One Axis - New Atlantis Records
• Noise-rock/free-jazz madness from Brooklyn and Chicago

• Ex-US Maple guitarist, ex-Parts & Labor drummer

• Produced by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Unsane, Herbie Hancock)

• US tour in May

• "A racket all you Lightning Bolt lifers will dig" 

–Self-Titled

• "Driving eccentric noise-rock" 

–BrooklynVegan

• "Skronky indie rock zaniness... a tapestry of gloriously messy tones" 

–Exclaim!

Jun 9 - Wolfnote - Wolfnote - Head2Wall Records
• Dark pop-punk from Chicago

• Guitarist and drummer of Harm's Way

• Produced by Andy Nelson (Harm's Way, Weekend Nachos)

• "Sonically diverging from the metallic hardcore of Harm's Way, their main influence is Alkaline Trio" 

–Alternative Press

• "Brilliantly crafting some of the most amazing music I've heard this year" 

–American Aftermath

Jun 9 - Tidemouth - Velvet and Stone - Melotov Records

• Raw, blackened punk with a goth streak, from LA

• A masterpiece of simplicity, melody, and angst

• The latest in Melotov Records' hot streak that has included releases by ACxDC, The Banner, Old Wounds, Outer Heaven, and more
• "Noisy, stripped-down punk, shot through with elements of goth" 

–Noisey

• "Blackened punk... brings to mind the lo-fi punk of Raspberry Bulbs" 

–Stereogum

Jun 9 - The Space Merchants - The Space Merchants - Aqualamb Records

• Co-ed psych rock/country from Brooklyn – self-proclaimed "country music for space travelers," inspired by The Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath, Bobbie Gentry, Waylon Jennings

• Drummer also plays in filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's band, SQÜRL

• Aqualamb Records is the new Brooklyn label known for releasing albums in the form of 100-pg softbound books

• "A unique brand of lo-fi psych rock... huge-yet-minimal sound, mixing psych with blues and country-style riffs to make something great" 

–Magnet

• "Neo-Paisley Underground" 

–CMJ

Jun 16 - Abrams - Lust. Love. Loss. - self-released

• Sludged-up post-hardcore from Denver

• Produced by Andy Patterson (Cult Leader, SubRosa, Call of the Void)

• US tour in June
• "Effortlessly meshing angular mathcore with chunky stoner metal... recalls Remission-era Mastodon" 

–MetalSucks

• "Post-hardcore, filtered through big Melvins-esque guitar rigs" 

–Invisible Oranges

Jun 30 - Old Wounds - The Suffering Spirit - Good Fight Music

• The crushing sophomore LP from New Jersey's finest young cannibals!
• Produced by Andreas Magnusson (The Black Dahlia Murder, Despised Icon)

• Takes cues from the heaviest hardcore of the late '90s – Turmoil, Disembodied, Buried Alive – and laces it with drama, soul, and melody inspired by Type O Negative and Deftones

• "Emotionally charged, stylistically diverse metalcore... Furious and meticulous..." 

–Pitchfork

• "Old Wounds are making a name for themselves the old-fashioned way: getting in people's faces and freaking them out with punked-out metalcore." 

–Alternative Press

Jul 10 - Power - Heavy Muscle - Twelve Gauge Records

• Pacific Northwest hardcore punk in the Black Flag tradition

• Recent shows with Cro-Mags, Harm's Way, Code Orange and more, West Coast tour in June
• Twelve Gauge Records is the SF label behind Sabertooth Zombie, Youth Funeral, Nervous, etc.

• "If Coliseum were Damaged fanatics, this might be what you would get." 

–PunkNews

• "The wild-eyed, antisocial, bloodied knuckles and beer-stained jeans flipside to the old school hardcore coin. Drawing influence from Black Flag... vicious and unpredictable..." 

–Tight to the Nail

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Coming soon: new releases by Great American Ghost, Stern, STATS, Graf Orlock, Nervous, White Widows Pact, Hollow Earth, Extinction A.D., So Hideous, and more!

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Sept 25-26 - Cold Waves IV Festival 

• 4th annual industrial music festival, Sept 25-26 at Metro in Chicago, featuring Godflesh, Frontline Assembly, Lustmord, Pop Will Eat Itself, Severed Heads, Prurient, Author & Punisher, High-Functioning Flesh, and more! 

THANKS

THANKS

THANKS

TODAY IS THE DAY + MDF X

The official soundtrack for David Hall's Maryland Deathfest: The Movie III, recorded live at MDF X in Baltimore, MD, in 2012, is now available here.

Features Godflesh, Napalm Death, Nasum, Unsane, and Today Is The Day with myself on drums. A fun memory from my time in the band.

CR + Haulix

The folks at Haulix interviewed me about my life in the music industry. Read here for ramblings about my first concert (Tina Turner), my first tape (Europe, The Final Countdown), my early journalism (that time VICE published my poems), and the many great people I've gotten to collaborate with over the years, as a publicist, musician, and writer.

CR + Decibel

Decibel Magazine, Feb 2015, Napalm Death cover story by Justin Norton

2015 update

Happy holidays, all!

Coming up in the first part of 2015:

New releases from longtime allies of mine like Good Fight Music, Vitriol Records, Melotov Records, and Twelve Gauge Records.

And...

I am thrilled to announce I am also joining forces with these two labels:

• Three One G Records – untouchable purveyors of cool, led by Justin Pearson (The Locust, Retox, Some Girls, All Leather, Swing Kids, etc.), a friend of mine since our bands toured the UK together in 2011. I wrote about Three One G's 20th anniversary for the new issue of Mass Appeal – check that out here – and now I am so excited to team up with the label as their publicist.

• Aqualamb Records – one of the best new approaches to releasing music I've seen, this label is run by a team of Brooklyn designers who create awesome, printed books in lieu of traditional packaging.

So, to get specific...

Here's how the 2015 release schedule looks so far:

Jan 27 - Youth Funeral - See You When I See You - Twelve Gauge Records

Feb 10 - Outer Heaven - Diabolus Vobiscum - Melotov Records

Feb 24 - Griever - Our Love Is Different - Vitriol Records

Feb 24 - Nasty - Shokka - Good Fight Music

Mar 3 - Hiram-Maxim - Hiram-Maxim - Aqualamb Records

Mar 3 - Sabertooth Zombie - Human Performance IV - Twelve Gauge Records

Mar 10 - Hot Nerds - Strategically Placed Bananas - Three One G Records

From the gut-spilling realness of Youth Funeral, to the doom-death of Outer Heaven, to the cartoonish beatdown of Nasty, to the dark psych of Hiram-Maxim, it's a lineup that reflects the wild range of my own personal tastes and I can't wait to work with you all, on behalf of these bands.

Stay tuned for more detailed info and updates.

As always, contact me for anything and everything.

THANK YOU, ALL, AND HERE'S TO 2015.

CR best of 2014

Personal favorites, not including bands I worked with this year.

1) Unit 731 - The Hive Mind
2) Raspberry Bulbs - Privacy
3) Code Orange - I Am King
4) Chain and the Gang - Minimum Rock n' Roll
5) Olivia Neutron John - Vulnerability
6) Mobb Deep - The Infamous Mobb Deep
7) Ocrilim - Beggar
8) Pyrrhon - The Mother of Virtues
9) Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts: Red Classroom
10) Black Veil Brides - Black Veil Brides

See my list and others', on MetalSucks.

BODY STUFF show

Mon, Dec 1 @ Saint Vitus, Brooklyn

Corrections House, Statiqbloom, Uniform, Body Stuff

2014, 2015

PRESENT:

Hollow Earth's debut LP, Silent Graves, came out last week on Panic Records and the band is now in the midst of a great big US tour.

My final release of the year is Greying, the third LP by The Banner, out December 9th on Good Fight Music.

FUTURE: 

New 2015 releases by Graf Orlock, Outer Heaven, Youth Funeral, and so much more! Look out for announcements very soon. And on a personal note, I'm revving up my own band, Body Stuff – the second EP is in the works, you'll be hearing a new song shortly, and we play this show on December 1st. The first EP is here.

PAST:

A full recap of my 2014 releases, for your year-end lists and other reminiscences:

Feb 4 - High Water - High Water - Vitriol Records

Apr 8 - Tiger Flowers - Dead Hymns - Melotov Records

Apr 8 - 1-800-BAND - Diver Blue - Almost Ready Records

May 27 - Jar'd Loose - Turns 13 - The Path Less Traveled

Jun 24 - ACxDC - Antichrist Demoncore - Melotov Records

Jun 24 - Gloom - Gloom - self-released

Jun 24 - HUSH. - Unexist - self-released

Jul 15 - Highlands - Dark Matter Traveler - Say Again Records

Jul 22 - Vices - New Breed - Melotov Records

Aug 5 - Holy Tongues - Weak People - Melotov Records

Sep 16 - Old Wounds - Death Projection - Good Fight Music

Sep 23 - Divider - All Barren - Glory Kid

Oct 7 - Seizures - The Sanity Universal - Melotov Records

Nov 11 - Hollow Earth - Silent Graves - Panic Records

Dec 9 - The Banner - Greying - Good Fight Music

...as well as campaigns for Circle Takes the Square, Gospel of the Witches, and Netherlands, who did not have new releases this year.

And in 2014 I also did some journalism of my own. These two pieces:

Justin Pearson / Mass Appeal

Lil Debbie / High Times

THANK YOU, ALL!