Vinyl Review: "Code Word" by The Moles

Code Word

Famous face painter and noted lip syncer, Gene Simmons, has stated many times that rock is dead.

His partner, slightly less famous kabuki facer and even bigger lip syncer, Paul Stanley has said that ASCAP and the music industry should be taking care of the up and comers.

Much like Kiss's stance on lip syncing, their takes on what is happening in the world of new music is, shall we say, fractured?

Those faking old fogies aren't the only ones out there who're a bit concerned, confused, or outright wrong about the world of rock music though.

One just has to peruse Bandcamp, the blogosphere, or any social media outlet, they're going to find about 15,000,000 million new bands to check through. It's impossible to not find a single one to enjoy and fall in love with.  That's my current State of the Musical Union Speech.

Now, if you're an underground indie rock legend with a lot of friends and a record to make..... what could you do?

LP Review: "Soul For Sale" by Sires

Soul For Sale

What makes a good first impression?

How do you introduce yourself to someone new for the very first time?

Is it your firm handshake or your perfectly coiffed pompadour? Maybe your chin is covered in a moss like beard of which General Tecumsah Sherman would envy.

Meeting a new band for the first time is rather similar to a first date or a job interview. Both parties are looking for something. The band and the listener are looking to form some sort of new relationship.

Glacially Musical is proud to consider the debut release of Waterloo, IA's Sires, Soul For Sale. My first impression of this band was from a bearded photo. As someone who cannot grow a beard, it caught my attention.

Album Review: "Carnation" by Daughn Gibson

Carnation

I'll be the first to admit that for a little while now I have been stuck in a rut.

Ruts are not cool.

It has been the kind of rut that makes people think that this is a heavy metal site, and frankly, that is not how I see it personally. Yes metal, extreme metal in particular, is my favorite type of music, but it's not the only thing that I listen to.

So, in the coming days and weeks, there will be a change and I will be doing music that comes from all over the place. There is going to be some very interesting music here.

Please keep an open mind on this stuff.

Today we're looking at Daughn Gibson's latest album. I can't tell you precisely where he fits in the world. Media Player listed this music as an "unknown genre." I think that's pretty accurate....

Album Review: "At Best Cuckold" by Avi Buffalo

At Best Cuckold

For today's review, we will be slightly less metal. Actually, that's not really accurate. We will be significantly less metal.

In fact this review isn't metal at all.

There's just been so much of it sent to me lately so that is what I've been writing about lately, but it was never my intention to be a metal site.

Today's review subject, Avi Buffalo, is a group of younger musicians who were in high school while they were recording their first album, but that was 2010, and today we're looking at 2014.

Now they are releasing their sophomore effort, At Best Cuckold on SubPop records. Should listeners be concerned about the dreaded sophomore slump?

Album Review: "Three Poisons" by Elephant Stone

Three Poisons

Today's story begins in the historic city of Montreal, Quebec.

I have never been there, but I surely desire to go there one day, if not perhaps even live there for a time.

It has the reputation of being the most European styled city in North America, and perhaps my European heritage always has me looking eastward across the pond...to one day walk the streets of my forefathers....

I've lost the plot. This group was founded years ago by sitarist/bassist, Rishi Dihr. How many bands can you name that not only have a sitarist, but were founded by one.

Now think of all of the bands from the Sixties and Seventies that had Eastern vibes. Led Zeppelin? Pink Floyd? Even the mighty Spinal Tap had a sitar on a song.

Album Review: "Everything You Knew Before You Knew Everything" by Static in Verona

Everything You Knew....

Normally when do I an album review, I listen to it in the car or on my headphones so I am sequestered away from all distractions and I can feel the music. I then take notes on a single page.

I only have six words written about this album playing in my ears, but it's really so much more than those six words.

Static In Verona is a solo project by Rob Merz. I say solo project in the truest sense of the word.

He is handling all of the duties on this album from top to bottom. I've always been of the mind that even if you wrote an entire album and had hired hands play what you can't, it's not a solo album. Consider all of the albums by bands where one or two members wrote everything, but didn't play on them...

Album Review: "Mean Love" by Emmy Wildwood

Mean Love by Emmy Wildwood

Today our album review is a very different flavor that what's normally found here at Glacially Musical, but as music is always moving and ever changing, so do we.

Today's review introduces us to a new artist in the world, Emmy Wildwood. She has not only written this EP, but recorded every track and instrument on the album. Beyond simple artistic acumen, she is also a person of business.

The label releasing this EP, Tiger Blanket Records, is wholly owned by Wildwood. The Williamsburg based label also houses a record store, that of course she owns...

Aside from her business, her solo recording, the punk band, Velta...she has one other distinction as a musician. She plays guitar in Guns'n'Hoses, an all female Guns'n'Roses Tribute band.  However, we should move onto the current album.

Album Review: "The Dead Age" by Unicycle Loves You

The Dead Age

Noise Pop. Indie Pop. Fuzzy Rock.

I don't know what to call Unicycle Loves You other than by their name.

This is a band that likes to wear a lot of hats and they seem to desire to defy categorization.

Like many great bands, they have evolved record to record, and you may recall my saying that I look to the next album on a few bands to see if they have smoothed the edges or evolved into something a bit more than they were.

Unicycle Loves you wants to make sure that you cannot tell your friends what kind of music they are. Each album they have released has been vastly different than the one before it and this pattern will likely continue, but I'd imagine that would make it easy to notice the songs you know when they play them?

Album Review: "BIG WEATHER" by 1, 2, 3

BIG WEATHER by 1, 2, 3

On Boxing Day, 2012, Nicolas Snyder, the primary songwriter for 1, 2, 3 quit the band.

In time, he returned to some sort of normalcy in his life. Living as a human being again instead of a person consumed by finishing a double album about weather, inspired by meteorological disasters.

However, in time, the itch that anyone who's played a song on stage knows all too well, came back. He listened back to the songs they had finished, that they had not finished, and that were barely written.

He then convinced them all one by one to return to the fold and the band lived and breathed once again. After listening and learning, they returned to the studio. They holed away for five months and finished this mammoth of a record...