Bardus - "Stella Porta" (Album Review)

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 01/04/2016

Label: Solar Flare Records

Bardus go straight for the jugular with “Smoke Bath”, a ragged adrenaline rush, like Nirvana tearing through early Kylesa and if the idea of Yob having their drinks spiked with amphetamines appeals to you, “Stella Porta” will be right up your street.  This record is a swift, addictive rush of all the best elements of heavy music and will ensure you keep coming back for more throughout 2016.

“Stellar Porta” CD//DD track listing:

1. Smoke Bath
2. Monolith
3. Sky King
4. Transcendence
5. Haze
6. Oracle
7. Clandestine

The Review:

With its trippy, mushroom-based cover art and track titles like “Haze” and “Transcendence”, “Stella Porta” sets certain expectations. The latest LP from Philadelphian trio, Bardus definitely delivers a far-out ride but not in the stereotypical stoner rock fashion you may have in mind.

Bardus go straight for the jugular with “Smoke Bath”, a ragged adrenaline rush, like Nirvana tearing through early Kylesa. They proceed to hone this combination of filthy grunge and gut-churning sludge to perfection over the course of the album. Justin Tuck’s raw howl is a key ingredient, imbued with an intensity that heightens the urgency of the band’s already frenzied assault.

This alone would be a sweet recipe for success but Bardus raise the stakes with frequent outbursts of acid-fried psychedelia. “Monolith” shifts from hard riffing into a delay-soaked voyage into the beyond, to mind-melting effect, while the band demonstrates all their strengths simultaneously on the spaced-out racket of “Oracle”. If the idea of Yob having their drinks spiked with amphetamines appeals to you, “Stella Porta” will be right up your street.

Bardus manage to pull off the difficult balance of high-octane punk aggression and unchained cosmic jams to perfection. A swift, addictive rush of all the best elements of heavy music, “Stella Porta” is sure to keep you coming back for more throughout 2016.

“Stella Porta” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Pigs - "Wronger" (Album Review)

By: Dan Caycedo

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 02/10/2015

Label: Solar Flare Records

“Wronger” is a great album with a lot of great songs and high energy. Not a ton of diversity in song writing but this is a pretty powerful album that stays the course on annihilation

“Wronger” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. A Great Blight
2. The Life In Pink
3. Bet It All On Black
4. Amateur Hour In Dick City
5. Mope
6. Wrap It Up
7. Mouth Dump
8. Make Sure To Forget
9. Bug Boy*
10. Wronger
11. Donnybrook
*vocals by Julie Christmas

The Review:

Hell of a racket coming from the Pigs' latest release, “Wronger”. These guys sound tough as nails even if it feels like I've heard this sound before. I want to put them in the same category of modern bands like Metz and Whores with vocals that sound like their being sung through a distortion pedal. A very agro bass heavy discordant guitar driven band. Too many adjectives? Yep.

First song, “A Great Blight”, is a total test of wills, with a song title that's indicative of the sonic sound of guitars. I'm guessing the band is trying to weed out the meek before dive bombing into the rest of the album. I wouldn't even call this a song but more of an intro as there is no real structure since drums do not stay in time the entire length of this track and there's 3 or more guitar tracks trying hard to pierce your skull with an invisible needle.

Track #2, “The Life in Pink”, pummels through like a freight train with full on guitar/drums and bass. Vocals sound shrill and upsetting. It's a fucking punisher.  “Bet It All On Black”, is another shredder with fist pumps in the air and car wrecks in my immediate future. Probably my favorite track on this album as it has some great riffs in the vein of possibly early Am Rep stuff ala Melvins and maybe a bit of the Jesus Lizard and plenty of Unsane.

They go off on a tangent with the song, “Mouth Dump”, which is an instrumental of sorts with banjo and a kick drum. Then you have some dialog in the background that is more or less political but with rednecks.  Another notable track is “Bug Boy” which has Julie Christmas (Made Out of Babies) singing vocals throughout. Sounds like she's hemorrhaging and it works. Lots of guitar noise with steady bass and drums. You even get to hear her hack something up at the end. Great track.

“Wronger” is a great album with a lot of great songs and high energy. Not a ton of diversity in song writing but this is a pretty powerful album that stays the course on annihilation. I'd recommend this to those of you that like to party with lots and lots of cocaine... or maybe you just like noise bands. Dig it.

“Wronger” is available here

FFO: Whores, Unsane, The Jesus Lizard, Helmet

Band info: facebook | twitter

Pigs Live in Rotterdam @ De Baroeg, 23/10/2015 (With Bonus Interview!)

By: Victor Van Ommen

Filmed by: Martin Luyckx

On October 6th the Yankees were eliminated from the MLB Post Season. It was on this day that New York City band Pigs decided that October had nothing left to offer if they stayed home, so they booked a European tour with French label mates Sofy Major to support their newest, gnarliest album, “Wronger.” True story.

I caught up with Jim Paradise and Dave Curran of Pigs during this tour to talk about the band. We had a friendly chat about how the new album came together, the future of their label Coextinction Records, and what it’s like to have Pigs be their main musical focus. You can watch that interview below this article. What struck me the most was the transition they made from being chilled out dudes during the interview, to a loud, sludgy beast up on stage.

They opened with “This Life in Pink” with mixed results. I didn’t get the feeling that the sound guy was ready for the set to start and the band seemed a little disappointed in the meager turn out of this Friday night show. That said, by the time the last chorus blasted out of the PA, I got the impression that Jim certainly had the attitude to just have fun with it, a vibe that Dave quickly picked up on. Eventually, the sound guy had things figured out, Pigs were ready to give it their all, and as a bonus, the meager turn out meant no lines at the bar. This is the holy trinity of any rock show and we were lucky enough to witness this. Jim pounded away like a lumberjack and Dave’s vocal chords were being torn to ribbons as Pigs made their way through a set comprised of older songs that created a solid foundation for the songs off of “Wronger,” which claimed the bulk of the hour they were on stage. I hope for Pigs that they get treated to larger shows further down the road because a band this loud and this powerful deserve it.

Band info: facebook

Fashion Week - Prêt-à-Porter (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:

Label: Solar Flare Records

‘Prêt-à-Porter’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Fendi Bender
2. Chorusace
3. Meek Is Miznabble
4. Summer Line
5. Fur Free Friday
6. Klosstrophobia
7. “FASHION”=~S/(\$)/COLLAPSE/GSO;
8. Haute Topic

Fashion Week are:

Josh Lozano (Inswarm, Jarboe),

Carl Eklof (Inswarm, Lidia Stone, Victory at Sea)

Oscar Albis Rodriguez (No Way, Nakatomi Plaza)

Review:

It seems that after a genre is created and "peaks" in the eye of the popular opinion that weird interpretations pop up of the genre. One such style is noise rock, which itself is loosely listed by Post-(Insert genre). Usually rock or metal, these styles are populated by bands that wish to play music, but don't really get the whole band thing. They simply play in the same room, throwing sounds like a toddler throws toys, hoping that it sounds eclectic enough to come off as artsy or at least fashionably tussled. What they really sound like is people who don't know how to play anything with anyone. It’s just a noise, and doesn't really give me anything to grasp inside my heart and mind. Don't just throw a jumble at me, give it some thought and make an intelligent mess. 

A band that breaks this mould is Fashion Week, who just dropped their new hot mess, Prêt-à-Porter. They have a burning energy, a binding passion in their sound, and it makes all the weird parts seem like perfectly normal touches. The band plays with a groove that is unmistakable, even when the singer(s) are screaming everything at you, and it gives you a road to walk down while you look at all the strange colors they paint with. They completely ignore the dumb all-the-noises song not-structure, and go with a strong song, based on some killer chord-heavy grooves, great drumming, and a very Deftones-esque execution (except listenable and not whiny). 

Prêt-à-Porter is really a fun listen, and receives a warm welcome from me. I didn't stop listening halfway through the opening verse of the first song, which is a glorious start. ‘Fendi Bender’ is an excellent intro for this album, has one of the sweetest melodies you'll hear out of a current band, and gets stuck in the brain pan for a while after. Really, it indicates some of what you should expect out of the album: smart writing, some tongue-in-cheek humor (if your fast, you'll get the possible joke behind ‘Chorusace’. Refer to band title), excellent playing, and honestly just having a fun sound. It's not reaching for obtuse art, nor is it vintage 80s death metal. It’s accessible.

Another great slice is ‘Meek is Meeznable’. For a sub 3 minute song, it sucks you in for what feels like much longer. It’s beautiful if you take the time to listen to the band and what they are doing.  The vocals, although slightly jarring if you haven't listened to much metal or hard rock, don't fall into lock step so much as hop a piggy back ride all the way through. 

If you want a new sound, and you don't mind giving it a couple listens to find the gold thread woven throughout, check out Fashion Week. It'll look great on you!

Words by: Hunter Young

‘Prêt-à-Porter’ can be purchase here

For more information:

http://www.facebook.com/FashionWeekBand  | http://fashionweek.bandcamp.com 

http://www.solarflarerds.com  | http://facebook.com/solarflarerecords 

http://solarflarerds.bigcartel.com 

The Sludgelord News: FASHION WEEK: Invisible Oranges Gives Up The Whole New LP From NYC Grunge Metal Weirdos Early

Get chic with a premier scuzz-induction courtesy of NYC's FASHION WEEK, as Invisible Oranges lines the carpet with plastic in advance of the clique's Prêt-à-Porter debut via France's Solar Flare Records next week. The top-tier grime bar they set on their debut LP, Prêt-à-Porter, now sees public availability through the metal forefront trendsetters at Invisible Oranges, who notes in their write-up of what the outfit has to offer, "If you like Steve Albini-style angularity and strange spoken word soliloquies, stark noise rock and '90s-style Am Rep abrasiveness like Hammerhead, you will love this band. The tongue-in-cheek titles are just a bit of a curveball that they throw into otherwise jagged aggression."

Your VIP invite to try on the illest auditory garments of the season, like wearing a bear rug before it's gone through the taxidermy process, is at THIS LOCATION.

A video for the track "Chorusace" was also hosted by American Aftermath RIGHT HERE.

Prêt-à-Porter material was just showcased by Brooklyn's connoisseurs of the crush on a pre-release live debut as FASHION WEEK took on a Southeastern US tour with Skyacre over the past two weeks.This Saturday, February 21st, the band will bring the damage to their hometown with a record release gala, as the band joins Primitive Weapons, Whores and Retox at trusted Brooklyn liquor/speaker cabinet, Saint Vitus Bar. Additional public displays of this lavish and ludicrously awesome filth will be announced in the coming weeks.

FASHION WEEK Tour Dates:

2/21/2015 Saint Vitus Bar - Brooklyn, NY *record release show w/ Retox, Whores, Primitive Weapons

FASHION WEEK unites a cast of musicians who have done time with Jarboe, Man's Gin, Nakatomi Plaza, Go Deep, Family, Vampillia and more, here unloading a brew of belligerence that remains somewhat unclassifiable, yet soaked in a brackish flood of underground grunge metal and noise rock runoff.Engineered by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane, East Of The Wall), eight scathing works jam a half-hour of dynamic, grunge and noise-soaked, metallic freakout on Prêt-à-Porter, the entire album throwing enough twists, turns and surprises at the listener than a blindfolded pogo-stick excursion through a field of landmine-lined trampoline pits. Solar Flare Records will release Prêt-à-Porter on 12" vinyl and all digital formats on February 23rd. Preorders for both physical versions which include digital downloads have been made available HERE and both versions in a t-shirt bundle HERE.

http://www.facebook.com/FashionWeekBand 

http://fashionweek.bandcamp.com 

http://www.solarflarerds.com 

http://facebook.com/solarflarerecords 

http://solarflarerds.bigcartel.com 

Source: Earsplit PR

The Sludgelord News: Fashion Week: NYC Noise/Power Trio Featuring Members of Family, Jarboe and Inswarm to Release Debut LP on Solar Flare Records

Solar Flare Records is extremely proud to announce the signing of NYC noise/power trio Fashion Week. Featuring guitarist/vocalist Josh Lozano (Jarboe, Cobalt, Family), drummer Carl Eklof (Victory at Sea, Lidia Stone, Inswarm) and bassist Oscar Albis Rodriguez (A Great Big World, No Way, Nakatomi Plaza), the group recently completed the recordings of their massive, hard-hitting debut full-length album “Prêt-À-Porter”, which will be released on February 23^rd and will be followed by a US tour.

The album will be available on CD, LP, as well as digitally and pre-orders will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, prior to the official release of “Prêt-À-Porter” Fashion Week will embark on a southeast tour with Austin-based rock trio SkyAcre.  Follow www.facebook.com/FashionWeekBand for more details.

Check out the album cover and complete track-list below.

1. Fendi Bender
    2. Chorusace
    3. Meek is Meeznable
    4. Summer Line
    5. Fur Free Friday
    6. Klosstrophobia
    7. _FASHION_=~S_(_$)_COLLAPSE_GSO;
 8. Haute Topic

https://www.facebook.com/FashionWeekBand
http://fashionweek.bandcamp.com
http://www.solarflarerds.com
http://facebook.com/solarflarerecords
http://solarflarerds.bigcartel.com 

Source: Viral Propaganda