Why Biffy Clyro is Awesome

I admit it. When I first heard the name Biffy Clyro, I figured they would most definitely suck. And not just suck. They would suck at heights that only a band named Biffy Clyro could. Last year, a buddy of mine at Roadrunner sent me a copy of Puzzle, their criminally underrated masterpiece. I did and still do stand corrected. Biffy Clyro is fucking brilliant. Every song is great. Every b-side is stellar. Every cover they do makes the original sound like dog shit being pushed thru a Play Doh machine. Biffy Clyro is indeed awesome.

They have a new LP coming out soon, hopefully before the end of the year. The dudes are streaming a video for their new jam "That Golden Rule" on their website (and you can view it below as well). It's the most aggressive they've been in a minute...Just a barnburner of a track.

My point in all of this is: a)Don't misjudge bands with ridiculous names and B)This particular band with said name is damn near flawless and everyone should go buy all of their records and import singles with neato b-sides.

"That Golden Rule"

"Mountains"

"Umbrella" (acoustic/live)

New Jams

Been a while, yet again. Life is tricky. It's great to be super busy but also great to have five minutes to come up for air. I have 30 seconds, so here's what has been pleasuring my earholes for the past few weeks:

- Burnt By The Sun: Heart of Darkness (Relapse)
- 16: Bridges To Burn (Relapse)
- Dredg: The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion (Ohlone)
- Cave In: Planets of Old (Hydra Head)
- Jesu: Infinity (Avalanche)
- 65daysofstatic: Escape From New York (Monotreme)
- City of Ships: Look What God Did To Us (Translation Loss)
- Birds of Prey: The Hellpreacher (Relapse)
- Clutch: Strange Cousins From The West (Weathermaker)...and read MANHUNT too. The song "Abraham Lincoln" on this LP is based on this amazing book.

..and the hopes that the new Pearl Jam album is more awesome that the 4 songs I've heard from it.

Zao is KILLING it...For One Night Only

And they did, seriously fucking killed it. They have played one show this year and from the looks of clips that have surfaced, if you were there, the chances of you surviving were slim to none. Dan's voice is sicker than ever. How this guy can channel his inner-demons like this is astounding. And his mustache doesn't hurt things, that's for sure. That thing rules.

Check out this clip of "The Rising End" from 2004's Funeral of God and then quit your shitty little band, because you are no longer needed. Thank you very much.

Please play more shows dudes...Heavy music needeth you.

TORCHE!!!

Usually fan-filmed videos are horrid pieces of cinematography, showcasing the amount of liquor said videographer consumed earlier that evening (and sometimes during filming). This dude got it right. Kudos, sober Torche fan!

Here's some close-up awesomeness of a brand new Torche song, in all it's instrumental glory:

Go to Hydra Head dot com to pick up the recently released second pressing of Meanderthal Demos on cassette.

Pretty New Things

Just a quick update on a few new items that are most impressive:

- Young Widows 7" vinyl series (Temporary Residence)
- Pelican- Ephemeral 12" EP (Southern Lord)
- Coliseum- True Quiet/Last Wave 7" (Deathwish)
- Champions of Sound 2x7"- Unreleased gems from Stove Bredsky, Zozobra, Pelican and Kayo Dot (Hydra Head)
- Pearl Jam- Fan Club X-Mas 7" (Monkeywrench), yes just arrived in July...The Christmas single. Even late for Flag Day this year, dudes.
- Poison The Well- The Tropic Rot (Ferret)
- Killswitch Engage- s/t (Roadrunner)
- Disappearer- The Clearing (Magic Bullet)

Here's to a great week!

Disappearer- Unreleased Demo Track/Video:

Planets of Awesome

Cave In is back. You should know this. A new single hit the 'net shelves at iTunes today, called "Retina Sees Rewind", which is taken from the forthcoming 12" 4-song EP Planets of Old, coming July 28th on the ever-awesome Hydra Head Records. It will rule. You should also know this.

A lot of people have their fandom split between the metalcore originators era (1995-1998) and the Failure-loving days (1999-2004), but I seem to really dig where they've been going off and on since 2005's Perfect Pitch Black...They go wherever the fuck they want. It's like Led Zeppelin meets Old Man Gloom at Ken Andrew's house. The new track is killer and keeps with this freedom, leaving the listener with under 3 minutes of aural bliss.

The band reunites on July 19th in Mass for "reunion"/record release show of sorts. Tickets sold out in 2 minutes or some crazy shit like that.

In case you can't tell, I cannot wait for this.

A tasty nugget to get you excited: "The World Is In Your Way" Live, 2005

Pearl Jam Loves Turtles

The new PJ album will hit streets on 9/22 (possibly) and after their 3-minute appearance on Conan last night and their much-publicized deal with Target, there's a lot of info suddenly out there. The new song "Get Some" is pretty awesome. Ed didn't quite have a great night vocally but it was killer to see a song so bass/drum driven. It was almost Police-like, circa 1978. Like a long lost b-side. It has that familiar feel like "Save You", "Spin The Black Circle" and other vicious PJ tracks from years past, but it also has jerky start-stop breaks and a very infectious chorus. Look, nothing works better than some great power chords. We all know this.

Yes, the Target deal seems like horseshit, but it might be a good deal for the band and Target has always been an eco-friendly company, something that probably seems very attractive to Pearl Jam. They promise to still put the record out thru the indies and of course the Ten Club.

Oh yeah, the album is going to be called Backspacer...Either a reference to the backspace key on turn-of-the-century typrwriters or that damn turtle Stone Gossard sponsored in some stupid race for jerks. I hope it's the former cause the latter is fucking lame.

Bottom line: New Pearl Jam music is always a good thing.

Check it out if you missed it: