Yes, I’m still discovering music I missed during the year. And I will probably continue to do so well into next year (and the year after that, etc.), and while I realize I’m going to have to begin looking ahead lest I lose my mind, I just couldn’t let 2010 fade away without mentioning a couple of albums that really deserve mentioning. So let’s get “II” it! (That will make sense in a minute.) Then I’m done for the year, I swear.

Stone Axe
II
Music Abuse Records

Stone Axe are so good it’s stupid. How two men (in this case Dru Brinkerhoff on vocals and Tony Reed on everything else) excel beyond most any measure at harnessing the sheer muscle and genius of rock n’ roll, I’ll never know. And listening to songs like “We Know It’s Still Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “On With the Show,” and “Those Were the Golden Years,” I have to believe they can raise the dead too, as each one of ‘em are triumphs not heard since AC/DC and Thin Lizzy lost Bon Scott and Phil Lynott, respectively. Classic rock sucks for the most part, but rock that is classic never wavers, and from their debut to II, Stone Axe have flown that golden flag high and proud, boasting a groove n’ roll that not only honours the greats, but makes its own irrevocable hay as well. Expect a DVD, a deluxe reissue of their debut, Stone Axe, and a possible third record next year.

Listen to “On With the Show” from II!

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Black Wizard
Black Wizard
Self-released

Ok, so I’m not sure this album is entirely new, but it’s new to me, and as you’re reading this the young Canucks in Black Wizard are putting the finishing touches on the vinyl version, so that’ll be new, got it? And by finishing touches I mean they are silk screening every single goddamn record jacket. That’s instant cred right there, and not just because I have a raging boner for all things rock n’ roll and all things silk screen, but because there’s no doubt that during this awesomely messy DIY process one of ‘em will get ripped to the tits on cheap beer, lose a finger tip in a freak silk screening accident, and bleed all over the freshly painted jackets. I would kill a child with a shoe to get my hands on one of those soiled copies, let me tell you.

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Well, there’s no problem. If you have a gun, shoot ‘em in the head. That’s a sure way to kill ‘em. If you don’t, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat ‘em or burn ‘em. They go up pretty easy.

It was George Romero’s 70th birthday on Wednesday, so the wife and I celebrated by watching Night of the Living Dead. The original 1968 version, of course. It’s strange how on his birthday we’re the ones who get such a nice present. Anyway, I really love watching old horror movies because, more than anything, they’re good for a laugh. We’re so used to trillion dollar budgets and CGI this and green-screen that nowadays that when we come across something archaic and raw like a movie from the 60s, it seems comical in comparison. And most times it is, but that’s really not the case with Night of the Living Dead.

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