REVIEW: Distant Trains - Congratulations On Your Suicide CD, 2010

Distant Trains - Congratulations On Your Suicide CD, 2010

DISTANT TRAINS
Congratulations On Your Suicide
CD, 2010http://www.sleeponthefloor.com/releases/016/016.htm
Distorted bass guitar with clean drum programming and wandering keys on top. Plus vocal. "Take Care" is like a doom metal version of Soul Whirling Somewhere. And the bursts of bluesy guitar, I should not be enjoying this. The production can be summed up in two words: clean scuzz. Just like the early work of one of my favorite bands, Idaho. "Desert" is probably more like Queens Of The Stone Age, maybe? I enjoy the distorto-bass guitar-forward songwriting, vocals waaaaay off over there in the semi-background. The elements are familiar, but the picture is still pretty.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: Bentwithlight - Burnt Offerings - 2010

BENTWITHLIGHT
Burnt Offerings, Bandcamp, 2010
Same dude as Tactil Vision, similar vibes, but more guitars, more rockin', more vocals, more humanness. This is closer to Ministry than Skinny Puppy. Hua! Darkly funky riffs and grooves and vocals. Little bit more of a band feel. And it's good.
Ian C Stewart

CD REVIEW: Greg Stomberg and Dan Susnara – The Second Acid Fest – 2010

GREG STOMBERG and DAN SUSNARA
The Second Acid Fest CD, 2010
Metroweb Studios
Greg Stomberg excitedly relates an apparently true tale about a drug party. Dan Susnara’s music bed is comprised of samples, sound effects, guitars, and other stuff. The vibe is folky and spacey, befitting the subject. “And Other Chemical Misadventures Of” opens the proceedings with eight and a half minutes of sprawl. “On Blackhawk’s Land” adds a hint of menace to the trippy vibe, with heavily-effected drones flying around in both directions. This album takes full advantage of the stereo spectrum, again befitting the hallucinatory subject matter. Expansive and grandiose, this is the opposite of easy listening. “We’re All Working For The Common Good” fires up a bluesy bit of distorted guitar and drum machine, which is like Ministry with Joe Walsh or something. “…what are you talkin’ about, man…?” looped. One might ask the same of you. “Exports, Procession And Wolfbiker” is eighteen and a half minutes of freaked-out funhouse vibe, which is like Skinny Puppy’s “Spahn Dirge,” conceptually, at least. Pretty in some spots, rockin’ in others. “Ambling Down,” the closer, is definitely more along the rockin’, riffin’, almost prog rock-like in scope. Lo-fi prog rock for stoned baby boomers.
Ian C Stewart

PODCAST: AUTOreverse 2010 Podcast Episode 2

AUTOcast 2010-06-22
WHEN ALL THE CALENDARS ARRIVE

dave stafford “wettonizer”
icy stew “chewing the rubber bands” / “contemporary cannibalism”
r.stevie moore “a clever combo”
james call “pictures of people”
samarkand “i’m so glad you’re back”
spazz “tangzigang”
mjbkc “mr mystery (mjb mix i)”
russ stedman “sophisticated elephant”
endt “gus hated peas”
dave stafford “ballet for a rainy day”
http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-07-04T07_12_40-07_00

PODCAST: AUTOreverse 2010 Podcast Episode 1 – Remastered & Expanded Edition

http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-24T13_18_21-07_00
AUTOreverse Podcast 1
2010-04-23
remastered edition

fzzy pmpr “crzytrn (c. reider train that won’t stop boy mix)”
ian c stewart “start here”
russ stedman “prowler”
jamie barnes “the fallen acrobat”
body full of stars “we’re all americans now”
any crowded ceiling “pigtown”
crook’d finger “ycd”
russ stedman “why am i alive”
devilcake “deez nuts”
drone forest “drone forest vs anne murray”
samarkand “down in the valley (for diva)”
velveeta heartbreak “i shot the invisible man”
ian c stewart “dogs on a mousepad”
r. stevie moore “paintings of pairs”
the verdant spiral “chiming breakdown”

http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-24T13_18_21-07_00

AUTOreverse is for

for one man bands

for we who toil

in permanent obscurity

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

REVIEW: ALICJACOPO - 1998 - 10" SINGLE

AUTOreverse: Alicjacopo 10" 1998

Clear vinyl EP recorded in late 1997. Alicia Wade recorded her guitar and vocal parts at home in Virginia, USA while Jacopo Andreini did his vocals, drums & sax at home in Pistoia, Italy.

The record was pressed in New Zealand, if memory serves, and finally distributed by Dekay Age, also out of Virginia. Also distributed by Frigorifero Productions in Italy.

Handmade on every level, this is an object lesson in How We Did Things In Those Days. Good times.

"Time" is like a fractured Portishead. "Cutting Paintings" features Jacopo out front, getting his Zorn on. Or, for the kiddies, imagine the White Stripes fronted by a Tasmanian Devil.

This record is a nice jab to the frontal lobe, just the right amounts of experimentation and rocking out. Dig it!

ALICJACOPO 10" EP
1. Free Angels
2. Time
3. Night Scene
4. Cutting Paintings
5. Je M'en Vais
6. It Is Very Simple