Redd Kross and the Melvins at Cornerstone Brewing
The Melvins (photo: Karen Goldman) A few years ago, I came to really understand what living in the Bay Area was all about when I was invited to a group colonic. You didn't read that incorrectly. Group. Colonic. As tempting as it was, I declined the invitation. However, thanks to the solid sludge of The Melvins, I think I have some idea now what it is like to be part of a collective experience of mutual bowel purification. Every vibration came attached with a snarl, swimming through a sticky mess of low-end. Evoking the smart bass lines of bands like Big [...]
‘The Colossus of Destiny – A Melvins Tale’ beats Kickstarter goal
The Melvins’ heavy and experimental style of music is a story thirty-two years in the making. Strongly associated with the San Francisco Bay Area as a long-time home for core members King Buzzo and Dale Crover, the band started in 1983 in Washington State. King Buzzo used the name of a fellow grocery store clerk as his high school band’s moniker, and what happens from there is an uncompromising story that continues to be told in The Colossus of Destiny – A Melvins Tale, made possible due to a successful Kickstarter that has reached its goal with time still left for funding. [...]
Shredification: Washington State of Affairs
Music writers are suckers for geography. Tying up groups of bands in neat little localized bows makes for easy copy, with the added benefit that once you pigeonhole a bunch of quasi-related groups -- the "Seattle Sound," say -- you have that touchstone to deploy next time you feel like phoning in some cheap comparisons. Seattle bands are the order of the day today, though the comparisons will hopefully be hewn from finer stuff. Specifically, two Seattle bands that have recently released new records: The Melvins, and Black Breath. Black Breath - "Children of the Horn" The traditional route here [...]
Totimoshi @ Annie’s Social Club, Saturday
Enigmatic but electrifying, Alameda's Totimoshi turned heads with 2006's Ladron (Crucial Blast/Volcom). Having released 2008's Milagrosa (Volcom), the trio teeter on the brink of something bigger, ready to take their idiosyncrasies to the top along with a catalogue full of grungy, jagged stoner rock. Co-conspirators in The Melvins and Helmet are important influences and tourmates, with Melvins producer Toshi Kasai (now of Big Business) presiding over the new record along with Helmet frontman Page Hamilton. The tunes are an affecting mix of power and subtly, counterposing guitarist Antonio Aguilar's skittering licks and declamatory vocals against the thrumming bass and booming [...]