Steve Brodsky Needs a Manager

Jesus H Christ, Steve Brodsky needs a manager...and fast. The guy is signed to Hydra Head, the label that helped break Cave In and continues to develop Cave In-related projects, such as Clouds and Zozobra. They even put some love into Steve's Octave Museum and his amazing Pet Genius record last year. However, this time he's gone too far. For his fourth LP (even though it says his third, just as the Octave Museum did), Steve decided to name himself "Stove Bredsky". Look dude, selling your records are hard enough under your own name, let alone a bonehead one like Stove.

All that aside, The Black Ribbon Award is a terrific album. Of course they decided to give iTunes and Amazon's digital store three bonus tracks (one which is one of the best on the disc), so I had to buy it digitally. I will get it on CD as soon as I can find it somewhere, as the artwork is amazing, as most Hydra Head releases are. If you liked Steve's previous solo works, this will be a beautiful dream for you. It has lush pop melodies and hooks and his trademark falsetto tone all over this thing. If you're hoping for Cave In, wait for the new Zozobra (July 22nd). That will crush skulls.

The bottom line is that I fully support all Cave In alumni and if Steve wants to call himself Stove, I'm down. Just saying he needs a manager to rope that shit in. Just saying...

Pet Genius "Doomsday"

DOOMWOP!!!

A band that features (as the sticker on the CD states) "Sweet ass dudes from Cave In, Doomriders and Octave Museum"...It's just too awesome to go wrong. That is to say it WAS too awesome to go wrong. I saw Pet Genius last night at the Cake Shop in NYC and had my mind blown to shreds. First of all, the Cake Shop is a, well, cake shop but also a bar, cafe, club, another bar and a really impressive record shop, all rolled up into one. Secondly, Steve Brodsky can really do no wrong, especiailly with JR from Cave In on drums and Johnny from Octave Museum on bass/backing vocals. Seriously amazing.

They played all of their recently-released Elvis Unreleased EP and over half of their upcoming debut self-titled full length LP. When they busted into "Man Of The Mountain", I could literally feel my insides crumbling. LOUD as hell! They take the best aspects of pop, rock, stoner, early 90's alt rock, and anything else they can throw into their tunes...and called it Doom Wop. Brilliant!

To top this off, I made a fan out of a good friend who was hanging out AND got to purchase both the EP and the yet-to-be-released full length (out Oct. 23rd), both for just 13 bucks. Listened to em all the way home. Again, just amazing.

So it's not Cave In. That's ok. This shit is serious.

On-cue hardcore dork moment: Spotting a mustacioed Ben Kohller in the crowd rocking out. Ben is the insane motherfucker who plays drums for Converge and sat in for JR in Cave In on their last tour in 2005. He also played on the now-legendary Cassingle release. Here's a clip from that tour. Rad...