Classic Spins with Vokonis

Vokonis

If you've ever thought to yourself, Pink Floyd was kind of awesome, but what if they started playing something a bit more on the sludge side?

You might be interested in meeting Vokonis. 

In a couple months, they'll be releasing their third album via Swedish label, The Sign Records.

In the meantime, let's find out what sorts of albums they like listening to.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. 

What's your favorite one and why?

Concept albums are very important for me. I think it’s a way to get a deeper sense for the music overall. 

LP Review: "Blue Haze" by Iron Lamb

Blue Haze

There's a dollar store movie theater in St. Louis Metro and we saw Deadpool 2 there. My buddy hadn't been there in a number of years and I told him, be prepared to see the theater that time forgot.

In that particular case, honestly, it was throwing shade on the place. Hey, I go to the dollar show kind of frequently, but the place could be a little bit nicer.

In some instances though, that can be a great compliment. Iron Lamb is a band out of Sweden. I've said it before and I'm not ashamed to repeat myself, Sweden has a brilliant, blooming Acid Rock Scene.

Iron Lamb fits right in with some of those amazing bands over there and it appears that The Sign Records has chosen to snatch them all up and deliver their dulcet tones all across the world. As it's always what's old is new again, there's been a great outpouring of love for current retro bands.

What sets Iron Lamb apart from their contemporaries is their ability to sound like they came out of 1977 without sounding like anything you've ever heard from 1977.

Release: 10/26/18 FACEBOOK ORDER (coming soon)

LP Review: "The GBG Sessions" by Hypnos

The GBG Sessions

McDonalds strives to make sure all of their food tastes the same no matter which store you go to, and they also strive to underpay their employees.

Well, that's not a bad idea, the same taste not the contributing to wage slavery bit....

But I prefer places that actually make their food rather than thawing and heating things up.

To that end, those restaurants are great. There's this Indian restaurant we go to and I always try to get something different. I know the general flavor of the dish, but not precisely what it's going to be.

The Sign Records is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to eat. Their menu isn't limited. They seem to be cooking up new meals and desserts constantly.

LP Review: "Madness Is Too Pure" by MaidaVale

Madness Is Too Pure

Years ago, when St. Louis was soaked in both kinds of beer, Budweiser and Bud Light, some friends and I were into craft beer.

In the Fall, there was The Microfest that benefited Lift For Life Gym and we always attended. My first year, they had a Fosters booth.

Now, this was back in my 20's and we could drink back then. By the time we hit up that table, we were all gassed and passed and sassed. I took a sip, and spat it out.

Then I realized...did I really hate this beer that much, or was I just being funny? Another sip of this foul liquid was imbibed.

Shockingly, it was just that bad and again, it was spat out onto the cold cold concrete as the wailing cover band played Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy....

LP Review: "När Isarna Sjunger" by Oblivious

När Isarna Sjunger

It's time to move past the paltry notions we have about language.

It's time to ignore that Bill Skarsgård said that most younger Swedes can speak English as well as Swedish.

Skarsgård also really made me want to visit Sweden more than I originally had wanted to. He made it seem like I wouldn't be killed in the fjords, but who knows what's accurate.

Before digging into När Isarna Sjunger, by Oblivious, consider that there are scores of thousands of millions of fans of American and English bands who don't speak English.

So, put yourself into the mode that music is the universal language and that the spoken word is a truly inelegant thing that barely can convey that snow is cold. Now that you're ready...let's dig in.

The Swedes have really gotten into classic 70's rock and blues in recent years.

LP Review: "The Rabbit Hole" by The Great Discord

The Rabbit Hole

A common trope in comedic movies, shows, etc is to have a character deliver bad news in a funny way, because then maybe it won't seem so bad.

In Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Roger Rees's Sheriff of Nottingham delivered the news to Richard Lewis's Prince John that he and his men were defeated by Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

For Prince John, the news was still terrible and the blow was not softened at all.

When it comes to music, the vast majority of music dealing with dark stuff is fairly morose or extreme. Blues is the king of the minor keys. Metal is often so angry that the subject matter, no matter what it is, cannot be broached by a civilian listener. This raises the question, can dark subject matter be dealt with in easier listening music?

LP Review: "Excerpts From A Future Past" by Hällas

Excerpts From a Future Past

He may have been spoken of before on these very pages, but his name shall never be forgotten and his legacy will be forever affirmed.

There was once a man whose eyes we've never seen. A man who stood behind curtains on stage as to confuse the spotlight operator.

This giant, also placed his leather coat on the mic stand while stalking the areas of the stage no man of woman born should ever trod.

His name you ask?

He was Mitch Hedberg. Where is he now? He has gone to join his ancestors on the other side or the veil. He was thrown off of the horse. What did he do?

LP Review: "Breaking News" by Grande Royale

Breaking News

It's my personal opinion that many people in this world hear music, especially popular rock music, with their eyes and not their ears.

Let's explore this concept a little bit.

There's a rock band on tour right now that made their name playing blues based arena rock with a side of hippy rock. The singer is a little left of center, but in the end, they were labeled heavy metal.

There's another band, who's famous for their outlandish stage get ups, make up designs, and pioneering the modern rock stage show.

This band though, sprouted out from a complete hippy rock band. Both of these bands wrote their first songs on acoustic guitars. The thing is, both of these bands are labeled heavy metal, but it's not like Ride The Lightning or Number of the Beast were written on Guild Acoustics....

LP Review: "Roll For Initiative" by Highrider

Roll For Initiative

During my formative years, cartoons and professional wrestling really ate up large swaths of my free time.

When it wasn't time for homework, perhaps the USA Cartoon Cavalcade was on and on Mondays it light straight into The WWF's Monday Night Main Event featuring Bobby The Brain Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon.

There was a genre of cartoons where strangely clad or equipped characters solved crimes without really knowing what they were doing. There was the (culturally insensitively named) Hong Kong Phooey and the master of the genre....

Inspector Gadget.

The ill-fated Mathew Broderick movie aside, this man perfectly exemplified what we're talking about. He "solved" crime after crime and foiled plot after plot. Most of the time, if he did anything useful, it was on accident.

LP Review: "Through The Ages of Sleep" by Siberian

Through The Ages of Sleep

It's time to let you into my life once again. At the time of this writing, my Chinese food has tarried so.

This brings up two very serious questions as this post moves forward:

1) Will this post be finished before my lunch arrives?

2) Will my low blood sugar affect my ability to write this post?

As this blogger is a mild sufferer of hypoglycemia, there are times when my personal chemistry can be off and really mahoober up everything I'm doing.

UPDATE! My food has arrived. Even though I'm listening to this album for the third time, there really are only sporadic inferences and ideas running through my dome. Allow me to eat my lunch and get back to you afterwards.

LP Review: "Tales of the Wicked West" by Maidavale

Tales of the Wicked West

There are times when our conversations yield some interesting omens.

Not two hours before this record began playing, my friend and I were knee deep in a conversation about rich rock stars and how as they age, the can become giant douches.

One in particular, whom I won't name, is very popular. He's been around for over 30 years in the sphere of popular, and mostly, quality music.

For the past 15 or so (HERE COMES LARGE SWATHS OF OPINION),  he's tried so desperately to be the second coming of Jimi Hendrix with his tales of love and such.

The problem is, as he grew up in an almost idyllic childhood in a virtual paradise, it's hard to see his claims as valid, unlike Jimi's as he grew up seeing the actual horror of life. It's kind of like the Spanish Inquisition, your confessions aren't genuine without torture.

EP Review: "The Hills Have Eyes" by Märvel

The Hills Have Eyes

Nobody, well besides myself, wants to be that guy.

That guy infests everything we do in society. It's a constant refrain when two or more humans are engaged in conversation about anything under the sun.

Well, I don't want to be that guy, but music sounds better on vinyl. I don't want to be that guy, but where is today's Led Zeppelin?

The list goes on and on. It's not just about music, or food, or beer, or child rearing..etc..etc...etc...

Seriously, we could probably spend the next thirty five to forty years discussing how awful that guy, and I are and can really be. Personally, I'm working on the "don't yuck on my yum" philosophy. If others like it, don't piss on it. OK?