There are times — not many, but a few — when I sit down to write about an album and know I’m not going to need to pull out my gonzo rock n’ roll thesaurus in order to spin my praise. This is one of those times. As one friend recently stated, “Mark Lanegan has no peers,” and, really, what more needs to be said? The musician’s work with The Screaming Trees, Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, and others is well documented, but the landscape he’s laid out with his solo work is incredibly gorgeous and virtually untouchable. The majority of his recorded solo material is deep, dark, and gracefully tortured, but where the albums he’s released as just Mark Lanegan present it in a softer form, the Mark Lanegan Band turns it up and wraps it in a whole bunch of grit, fuzz, and noise. It’s been eight years since their only other album, 2004′s Bubblegum, but Blues Funeral picks right up where that one left off, turning drum machine chaos, savory sequencing, bluesy rhythms, and a malady of melody into something emotionally gripping and powerfully rock n’ roll. Of course, as with anything Lanegan does, it’s his voice that is the star, and Blues Funeral is no exception. His voice could sell me my own death and I’d buy it. And at least I’d be at peace knowing I’ve got an amazing soundtrack for the long, slow walk down. No one does it better.
Check out the video for “The Gravedigger’s Song” from Blues Funeral!
High Tension Wires Welcome New Machine
Dirtnap Records
Third album from Texas “supergroup” High Tension Wires, led by Riverboat Gamblers’ Mike Wiebe on vocals and Marked Men/Mind Spiders’ Mark Ryan on guitar/vocals (and rounded out by The Reds’ Chris Pulliam and newcomers Daniel Fried and Greg Rutherford of The Bad Sports), and that’s probably all I need to say because I know you’re already hearing the twitchy, over-amped punk rock in your head. Like the music associated with any one of the bands involved in this project, Welcome New Machine is full of catchy, fuzzy songs that playfully mix ’77 snark and Berry blues, and the whole thing will leave you reeling like you’ve been beaten with broken skateboard decks by a bunch of frazzled dudes in sweaty cardigans and black-rimmed glasses. It’s all over in about 26 minutes though, and while each of the 12 songs here last as long as bubblegum flavour, they’ve got exceptional melodic stamina, and the electric effects of “Get Weird,” “Incorporeal,” “Backbone,” “Temporary Gods,” “Lose Face,” and “Handicapped Hearts” will stay in your legs for a long time. Live shows are extremely rare with this bunch, so if you want in on some High Tension Wires action, grab a Welcome New Machine LP before they’re all gone.
From The Heart Attacks to Poison Arrows to Biters, the long road of rock n’ roll glory for singer/guitarist Tuk has been littered with trashy riffs, drug problems, and dead ends. The usual suicide story that sticks to every tight-pant Thunders junkie like a safety pin on a worn out leather jacket lands a lot closer to sad than success, but if the stigma doesn’t kill ya, it can only make you stronger, right? Probably, which is why Tuk hopes his latest bubblegum machine, Biters, will break through the bastard cliches and avoid the inevitable burst that comes when you sink your teeth into the cheap, sticky solution of reckless days and wasted nights. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but for now our springboard is this self-titled EP, and goddamn it if it’s not screamin’ at me like a gaggle of teenage groupies. With the five deliciously catchy glam punk ditties on board here, I don’t know how the Biters are ever going to avoid burnin’ out in the gutter like a bunch of high school dropouts. This is some magic marker mayhem, man, part Cheap Trick power pop, part New York Dolls lipstick rock, and all jukebox jive. If the Biters aren’t the biggest band in the world real soon, we’re all doomed.
Mark Lanegan Band
High Tension Wires
Biters