CD REVIEW - JESU – INFINITY – 2009

jesu infinity

JESU
‘Infinity’
CD/vinyl/download
49:31
http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk/jesu.html
THIs is one long track of the continued evolution of Justin Broadrick, the long, slow, gradual, career-length, fascinating shift. “Infinity” is one continuous piece, with all instruments handled by Broadrick, which is very cool considering how it sounds like an entire band. “Infinity” is something I’ve waited a long time for, a doom pop epic. It starts off quite heavy actually with a double-bass drum program that is just slammin’, as always. His beats are always immacuate! The sonic landscape changes throughout, instruments fading in & out but it’s not like a big ambient piece or even like a jam. Just a very long pop song! It dates from 2009 but this is already my top track for 2010 & I’ve only just heard it the one time this morning!!!!!!!
YOW!

CD REVIEW: TOD HOWARTH – OPPOSITE GODS – CD – 2010

TOD HOWARTH
“Opposite Gods” 2010
CD or download
www.todhowarth.com
So….Tod got the memo that all of the many KISS-related releases of the past year will be heavy, dark, tuned down and surprisingly well-done. (That list of albums includes Ace Frehley’s “Anomaly,” KISS’s “Sonic Boom” and Bruce Kulick’s “BK3″.) The advantage of Tod Howarth’s creative autonomy is that if he wants to put a relatively happy sounding-song in the middle of the playlist, or if he wants to put some keyboards way out in front of the mix, then he’s gonna do it! (That’s one thing about the current wave of of KISS-related stuff, it’s a bit one-dimensional, whereas Tod can layer all the vocal harmonies he wants since he doesn’t have to keep it simple enough for onstage reproduction, if ya know what I mean.) This is a full-on, Todd Rundgren-style do-it-yourself-er of an album, all the instruments, all the songs. And you’d never know this fact just by listening. The album is cohesive, the production is great & modern, the songs are complex & deep. I hope “Opposite Gods” finds a wider audience than KISS obsessives. I LIKE IT and it gets better with every listen. Plus occasional swearing. NICE.
Ian C Stewart

PODCAST: AUTOreverse Episode 1 – we invented the podcast in 1997

and yet we still don’t know what we’re doing.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/0f21a18b-b40b-4d72-a5ef-81400d90d62c/au20100423

things that start with the letter D except the ones that don’t
20100423

ian c stewart “start here” 2010
russ stedman “prowler” 2010
iron maiden “prowler ’88″ 1988
russ stedman “why am i alive” 2010
kiss “tomorrow and tonight” 1977
devilcake “deez nuts” 2006
drone forest “drone forest vs anne murray” 2003
samarkand “down in the valley (for diva)” 1992 from forthcoming samarkand box set
ian c stewart “dogs on a mousepad” 2003
r. stevie moore “paintings of pairs” 2003

CD REVIEW: RUSS STEDMAN – ALERT BUT WITHOUT ACUTE DISTRESS

RUSS STEDMAN
Alert But Without Acute Distress CD
www.russstedman.com
Opens with a funny & fun note-perfect cover of Iron Maiden’s “Prowler” (the opening joint from their 1981 album ‘Killers’), only missing maybe a touch of wah-wah on that main riff. Nitpicking. Track two, “Why Am I Alive” continues the hot-rockin’ air guitar & cowbell inspiring frenzy this time with KISS lyrics from the song “Tomorrow and Tonight” (from their 1977 album ‘Love Gun’), among other lyrical appropriations. “Find them and Kill them” is a moody jazzbo instrumental with kind of heavy metal guitaristic soloing a la maybe Al DiMeola. “My Haunted Heart” continues in a ballady, minor key manor. “Random Word Generator” could be from Frank Zappa’s Synclavier period. ie, a grooveless frenzy of MIDI tones, suitably pointillistic and information-dense. Closer “Penis Dimension” IS a Zappa cover, so there ya go. Maiden to Zappa in one album by way of KISS. & can I just say, the production is so damn nice. Everything sounds clean as a freshly shaved beaver.
BUY