Vinyl Review: "Magician" by Vaudevileins

Magician

It may have escaped your notice that we have entered the holiday season. Our day today involved a fair few errands.

My personal favorite one was adding to our Christmas music vinyl collection. My daughter and I went to St. Vincent De Paul Thriftshop on South Kingshighway in beautiful Southtown St. Louis in order to bolster our collection on a budget.

Hey, fifty cents an LP can't be beat.

The seeds to my personal vinyl awakening were actually sewn about two years ago while we were decorating the tree in my in-laws' house and listening to the LPs my mother in law has had since she was a young adult.

We put to test what MC Chris said...we jumped so high that the records did indeed skip. Listening to those 40 year old records changed something in my soul. They sounded great. As they were well worn, well cared for, and well kept, there was no scratchiness, no skipping, etc.

I didn't realize it, but my world was changing.

Album Review: "Casino Drone" by Mike Adams At His Honest Weight

Casino Drone

There is a very serious problem going on in my household right now. We have been trying to remedy this for years now and there is no end in sight.

My five year old daughter cannot be convinced that there are other foods in the world besides the five she's willing to eat.

Fried rice?

Grilled chicken?

Hambrugers?

These have all been suggested to her by me. She's not having any of it. Mashed potatoes and corn on the cob are big hits at least. After years of cooking two dinners for her, I have nearly reached the end of the line on this business and don't even get me started on ketchup. With a whole world of condiment choices at her disposal...

But ya know what? When she's 15 I'm going to remind her that she hated nachos when she was a kid!

Album Review: "Perfect" by Half Japanese

Perfect

Our life experiences color so much.

I had jury duty recently and the lawyers intent on choosing the most impartial of those of us who weren't actively trying to weasel out of our constitutional duty.

They continually talked about not being able to turn off our experiences. I'd like to tell you about one of mine now.

It would have been around 1993 during the punk rock renaissance that many of us old timers remember. My friend, who wanted me to be in his band if only I had and could play a guitar, had the Sex Pistols in the CD player.

I swear, I must have heard that CD about 15 times that day. I remember thinking that they were so unprofessional putting such horrific things on this album...forgetting the words, etc... I frankly couldn't find the plot.

Album Review: "Land of the Low Tides" by Howardian

Let's say you've been a musician for a number of years and have put out several albums, you tour, and you have made your hay on being post modern...

Eccentric.

A bit out there.

What do you do when you really  have something out there, and that's even more out there than what you normally do?

SOLO RECORD!

For a few years, Ian Vanek of Japanther has been working on something outside of Japanther. Though this is a solo project, he's called it Howardian. I'm sure there's a great story behind that and I'd love to hear it.

Album Review: "It's All Down Here From Here" by Bo and the Locomotive

It's All Down Here From Here

Today we're reviewing the latest effort by another St. Louis band.

It's always nice when I get press emails about bands that I've heard of, at least a bit.

There was a time in my life when I nearly had my finger on the pulse of the local music scene and was a small part of it...though no one ever saw my band or at least no one ever wanted to but did because we dragged them to the shows....

Over the years the local music scene in St. Louis has really passed me by. It was never very strong in terms of metal or hard rock.

Yes Gravity Kills made it out, as did Nelly, The Urge, and some others.

Our scene has always been largely, well for lack of a better word, alternative. Ska, power pop, strange rock, avant garde music, etc.

Album Review: "The Birthday People EP" by The Birthday People

The Birthday People

From time to time there are albums that pass in and out of my view.

In this case, I was familiar with some of the musicians involved, but there was a bit more than just that.

It's that cover. That cover makes me laugh hysterically. My daughter looked at it last night and said, "Is that me, daddy?"

I just had to laugh and tell her that had that photo been of her, I would have most likely been arrested by now. She's still young enough that I'm pretty sure that these words don't mean a whole bunch to her...which is nice.

So, obviously, I was intrigued by the cover. I tend to think that it's easy to get an idea of the personality of a record based on the cover. At least that's how it SHOULD be....

Album Review: "Just Hip Enough To Be a Woman" by BRONCHO

Just Hip Enough To Be a Woman

In 2011, BRONCHO released their debut record, saw some success and took on two years of touring.

Well, any time that a brand new band who can tour for two years on their debut album, you'd have to think that everything is coming up rosy for them right?

Well in our heroes' case, that was simply was not how it would come to be.

While they were on tour behind the record, the record label collapsed and BRONCHO was left on the road without any tour support.

They pulled together and not only finished the tour but continued writing music and found another label and recorded their sophomore album, Just Hip Enough To Be a Woman. Thankfully for us, quitting was never an idea they considered. They believed in themselves and the songs.

Album Review: "The Maximalist" by Megafauna

Maximalist by Megafauna

 It's time to meet a celebrated guitarist out of Austin, Texas.

Dani Neff.

You've never heard of her either? It's a crime against nature that this very talented woman has not been heard by the wider world. She has been chosen as Austin's best electric guitarist by the Austin Chronicle.

Considering the music scene in Texas's favorite weird city, that's high praise indeed.

Though she's oft referred to as a shredder, but that feels like an inappropriate tag for her style of play. There's nothing wrong with shred, from where I sit, but it implies notes for the sake of notes and often at the expense of the song, and that's not what she does.

"Shiner EP" by Mainland

This band has an interesting genesis. The singer, Jordan Topf, lost his father and needed to get away.

What would you do?

He bought a van and went on tour. Just try to imagine that. After the loss of your father, you then head off into the world? Loss of stability and he gives up all stability and everything he's ever known.

Well every good song and good album starts off with an even better story. Mainland set off to write their story. This is a very staggering idea to me. Over the weeks and months, seeing new faces, they wrote, they created and they met a fellow in Austin who's got a recording studio and they wrote as much as they could and picked out these four to put into their debut EP.